MagneticMediaFed

The line for Wednesday’s show, the first in eight weeks.

These are dark times for fans of television. The writers are in the middle of a seemingly endless strike that has effectively wiped original scripted programming from the networks (both broadcast and cable) for the foreseeable future. While there are some new series in the can, only a few have any significant buzz behind them (like, say, half a season of Lost). Two and a half days into 2008 and there are only two television events that I was genuinely excited about. The first is the fifth (and final) season premiere of The Wire this Sunday (an episode which I’ve actually already seen on HBO On-Demand). The second, and dare I say the more culturally significant of the two (at least when it comes to ‘the now’), was Wednesday’s return of the late night talk shows, specifically The Late Show with David Letterman. More after the jump…

There will be plenty of time for me to talk about why The Wire is the most important television drama ever (like, say, Sunday evening), but its impact has much more to do with the state of our own society than it has to do with its place in the pantheon on television entertainment. Watching the show, it is clear that creator David Simon aims for his show to be compared more with Dickens or Tolstoy than The Sopranos or Hill Street Blues. Wednesday at 11:35PM, however, we could have very well seen the beginnings of a fundamental shift in not only what the masses turn to as they go to bed, but a shift in the very nature of how media companies are structured.

I watched four of the five returning shows (sorry Jimmy) and if there was one unifying consensus or theme between all of the shows it was that the strike was certainly going to be talked about. But it was how the strike was discussed (or not discussed) that was the most telling about what we can look forward to over the next few weeks and months as the strike continues. The CBS shows, which had writers thanks to a deal brokered by Letterman’s company Worldwide Pants, were as writing-dependent as they could possibly be, perhaps taken as a shot across the bow to producers who think what they do doesn’t matter. Craig Ferguson’s show went even further than The Late Show as it had no guests whatsoever but instead devoted the entire hour to written sketches and comedy pieces. Dave’s The Late Show almost seemed more defiant in its desire to not only trot out writers (literally, as the Top Ten List, “Demands by Striking Writers,” featured actual striking writers from shows all over town — including competitors Late Night, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report), but to prove that if The Late Show hadn’t brokered a deal, its show still would have had the best segments. “Meet the Staff” and “Hal Gurnee’s Network Time-Killers” (complete with NBC logo) were suppose to highlight why writers are absolutely necessary, but in a strange way the two bits almost seemed to be Dave saying, “I could do this stuff in my sleep because I’m a f@#king professional.” They were really odd and simultaneously awesome moments.

news-ticker spells out the drama’ />On NBC things were different… kinda. Both Jay and Conan addressed the fact that they were doing their shows without writers, but The Tonight Show was virtually indistinguishable from any other episode the show had ever done. Perhaps its no surprise as Jay is a stand-up first and a talk show host second, but his monologue was especially polished and ran nearly ten minutes in length. I couldn’t tell if this spoke highly of Jay and his ability to essentially carry the show on his back or if it was just a testament to how awful that show is to begin with that apparently the writers aren’t even necessary. I should probably add that Wednesday’s tonight show also featured a pre-produced year-in-review cartoon that seemed awfully flaunty in terms of what one can and can’t get away with as a WGA member who is suppose to be on strike.

Conan’s show was the one hour of the night that felt the most unusual, or at least the least typical. As big as The Late Show may have been in terms of spectacle it isn’t really something unheard of — Dave’s heart-attack, the post 9/11 show, etc. The man knows how to adapt his program to extenuating circumstances. Conan just seemed sad. When he walked out on stage he looked as though he were drained of most of his energy and while Dave’s beard was almost jovial in its absurd thickness Conan looked like a guy recently dumped. As the episode went on there would be those expected moments of improved silliness, but for the most part the whole thing seemed like everyone involved would rather be somewhere else. You have to assume this is because Conan is the one Late Night host who is at heart a writer. Jay is the comic, Craig Ferguson is the performer, Dave is the Broadcaster and Conan is the writer. Because of this it is no surprise his show — what makes his show unique — is its dependence on the writer over the performance of the host.

Now here is where things get interesting. Last night’s ratings don’t really matter. People were going to turn into the show they always tune into with a few likely flipping over to the competition to see how they’re coping. Now two weeks from now the ratings will start to matter. If the Tonight Show can’t book any A-List talent and still ends up on top, it would cement that show’s position as the champ now and forever, but more importantly, it could be seen as a major blow to the WGA. The union is taking a big risk with its deal for The Late Show. They’re banking on the fact that Dave’s show with writers will ultimately be more popular than Jay’s show without writers. If the latter ends up being true it suggests writers are not necessary for ratings (and ratings equal money) and thus there wouldn’t be reason for the producers to bargain in good faith.

However, if things do work out for Dave, he not only can claim victory in the battle for late night, but might also have found the first chink in the armor of major media conglomerates. By owning his show he has been able to circumvent the system. It just might be the case that all of that media deregulation of the 90s went too far and actually created corporate structures so large they have effectively tied their own hands behind their back. If the WGA can make more deals with independent producers and have those deals pay off monetarily for the companies it can cut out the suits of the big three from the bargaining process and make them irrelevant. This likely will not happen any time soon, as very few programs are entirely owned by smaller production companies, though the possible success of The Late Show could affect how all deals could be made in the future. There is a lot riding on all of this.

Tags: Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Personalities, The Late Show, The Tonight Show, WGA Strike

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Commentary, TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.