Following a five-month hiatus caused by the Hollywood writers’ strike, late-night talk shows are preparing for a comeback. Shows like CBS’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon were among the first to halt production when the writers’ strike commenced on May 2. Now, they are poised to return to the airwaves on Monday night.
On Sunday night, comedian John Oliver made his return to his HBO show, Last Week Tonight, with a resounding display of support for the strike. While he infused his trademark humor into the show, Oliver also recognized the gravity of the strike, describing it as “an immensely difficult time” for everyone in the industry.
“This strike happened for good reasons. Our industry has seen its workers severely squeezed in recent years,” Oliver noted. “So, the writers guild went on strike and thankfully won. But, it took a lot of sacrifices from a lot of people to achieve that.”
He also expressed frustration that it took the studios 148 days to reach a deal that could have been offered from day one. Oliver is hopeful that the writers’ contract will serve as a source of leverage for other entertainment industry guilds and workers in various sectors to negotiate improved agreements.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO, is one of the studios involved in both the writers’ and actors’ strikes.
Late-night hosts from network television are set to make their return on Monday, with Colbert hosting astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson, Kimmel featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Fallon conducting an interview with Matthew McConaughey. All the hosts are expected to address the strike in their monologues.
Last week, writers were permitted to return to work after the Writers Guild of America reached a three-year contract agreement with a coalition of major studios, streaming services, and production companies. Union leaders hailed the deal as a clear victory on key issues such as compensation, staffing levels, and the use of artificial intelligence.
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