Late-night shows to shut down immediately after writers call strike
US talk shows won’t be so chatty from Tuesday night, as Hollywood shuts down for the writers' strike.
Thousands of screenwriters are staging a mass walk-out, as major studios and the Writers Guild of America failed to come to an agreement over pay.
It’s the first strike of its kind in 15 years, with The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show among those being affected by the industrial action.
However, not all talk shows will be cancelled during the strike.
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According to Deadline, Saturday Night Live and Last Week with John Oliver will be among the few shows that have yet to make a final decision about the upcoming strike.
It’s unclear whether this will affect Pete Davidson’s return to SNL, as he promotes his new comedy series Bupkis on May 6.
Ironically, the Suicide Squad star spoke about this issue on The Tonight Show and joked that he was taking it ‘personally’.
He teased his colleagues as he told the audience: “It sucks because it just feeds my weird story I have in my head, like, of course that would happen to me.”
As beloved talk shows like The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show all go silent, it’s thought that networks will show re-runs to fill the gap in programming.
Late Night and The Daily Show are also expected to do this as studios try to come to an agreement with the Writers Guild of America over pay.
It will be a massive blow to fans who’ve been looking forward to interviews with JLO, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Michael J Fox – all of whom were set to appear on late-night shows this week.
Despite the disruption, many late-night hosts have come out in support of their writers, including Late Night’s Seth Meyers.
Speaking to Deadline, the 49-year-old told the outlet: “I love writing. I love writing for TV. I love writing this show. I love that we get to come in with an idea for what we want to do every day and we get to work on it all afternoon and then I have the pleasure of coming out here. No one is entitled to a job in show business. But for those people who have a job, they are entitled to fair compensation.
“They are entitled to make a living. I think it’s a very reasonable demand that’s being set out by the guild. And I support those demands.”
Topics: US News, Film and TV, Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live
Katherine Sidnell