The Writers Guild of America, the union representing 11,500 TV and film writers, went on strike Tuesday, and the late-night comedy shows went dark Tuesday night, in the first manifestation of what may end up being a long disruption for scripted TV. There are no talks scheduled between the WGA and the major studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The last Hollywood writers strike, in 2007 and 2008, lasted 100 days.
The late-night TV shows also stopped airing new episodes during the strike 15 years ago, at least for a while. Eventually, they came back on the air and tried to muddle through without scripts. Jay Leno, who hosted NBC's Tonight Show at the time, "angered WGA leadership when he began writing his own monologues," The Associated Press reports. For everyone else, the result was bizarre TV, as The Washington Post recaps.
For now, anyway, Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Daily Show, and — assuming the strike lasts through the week — Saturday Night Live will all air reruns. One latish-night show, Greg Gutfeld's Gutfeld! on Fox News,, will continue airing new episodes, the network said Tuesday, because "the show doesn't have WGA members among its writers," The Wall Street Journal explains.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Colbert, a WGA member, prepared his audience for the strike on Monday night's show, doing a scripted segment on future news events he would have made fun of if the writers weren't striking. "Everyone, including myself, hope both sides reach a deal, but I also think that the writers' demands are not unreasonable," he said.
And Colbert (and his writers) did manage to slip in a final poke at Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was fired last week while The Late Show was on break.
If the writers strike lasts for months, eventually all scripted TV shows, then film production, will be affected. And the Directors Guild of America and the actors union SAG-AFTRA could join the strike if they are unable to negotiate new contracts when their current ones expire in June. Maybe Colbert's joke about him "rambling about Lord of the Rings and boats for an hour" won't turn out to be so funny after all.
-
Should Britain withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights?Talking Point With calls now coming from Labour grandees as well as Nigel Farage and the Tories, departure from the ECHR 'is starting to feel inevitable'
-
5 outspoken cartoons about Epstein survivors taking center stageCartoons Artists take on cover-ups, Trump surrounded, and more
-
Codeword: September 6, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
Is the American dream still in reach?In Depth Generations of immigrants have come to America seeking a better life. Can they still do so?
