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Late-night talk shows are returning after a five-month absence brought on by the Hollywood writers strike, while actors will begin talks that could end their own long work walk-off.

CBS’s “ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live! ” and NBC’s “ The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ” were the first shows to leave the air when the writers strike began on May 2, and now will be among the first to return on Monday night.

Comedian John Oliver got his first take on the strike out, exuberantly returning Sunday night to his “Last Week Tonight” show on HBO and delivering full-throated support for the strike.

Oliver cheerily delivered a recap of stories from the last five months before turnings serious, calling the strike “an immensely difficult time” for all those in the industry.

“To be clear, this strike happened for good reasons. Our industry has seen its workers severely squeezed in recent years,” Oliver said. “So, the writers guild went to strike and thankfully won. But, it took a lot of sacrifices from a lot of people to achieve that.”

“I am also furious that it took the studios 148 days to achieve a deal they could have offered on day (expletive) one,” Oliver said. He added that he hope the writers contract would give leverage to other entertainment industry guilds – as well as striking auto workers and employees in other industries – to negotiate better deals.

Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO, is among the studios on the other side of the table in the writers and actors strikes.

Network late-night hosts will have their returns later Monday.

Colbert will have Astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson on his first show back. Kimmel will host Arnold Schwarzenegger. Matthew McConaughey will be on Fallon’s couch.

All the hosts will surely address the strike in their monologues.

“I’ll see you Monday, and every day after that!” an ebullient Colbert said in an Instagram video last week from the Ed Sullivan Theater, which was full of his writers and other staffers for their first meeting since spring.

Just hours after the union representing thousands of television plus movie writers announced that they were going on strike, hundreds of their members occupied an entire city block in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday.

Gathered outside an NBCUniversal event on Fifth Avenue, the writers chanted “No contract, nomor content” plus held up signs with slogans like “Pencils Down!!!” plus “Spoiler Alert: We Will Win.”

“These companies are absolutely destroying our industry,” Tony Kushner, the acclaimed playwright plus a screenwriter of movies like “Lincoln” plus “The Fabelmans,” said from the picket line, referring to Hollywood studios.

It was a noisy show of solidarity, echoed on picket lines outside the major studios in Los Angeles. But the immediate fallout of the strike — which shattered 15 years of labor peace in the entertainment industry plus will bring much of Hollywood’s production assembly line to a halt — was felt most acutely in the global of late-night television, which immediately went dark.

On Tuesday afternoon, NBC issued a statement that the upcoming edition of the “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” would be a repeat from April. “Late Night With Seth Meyers” canceled a show that was supposed to feature an interview with the actress Rachel Weisz, replacing it with a rerun from February.

New episodes from late-night shows hosted by Stephen Colbert plus Jimmy Kimmel have also been suspended. “Saturday Night Live” canceled a new episode scheduled for this weekend with Pete Davidson as host. NBC said it would “air repeats until further notice,” raising the possibility that the show will not be able to end its 48th season with a finale.

How long late-night talk shows stay off the air is an open question. During the last strike, in 2007, late-night shows gradually came back after about two months, even with their writers still on picket lines. (That strike lasted 100 days.)

Mr. Kimmel, ABC’s late-night host, was paying his staff out of pocket during that strike, plus he said years later that he had to return to air because he had nearly drained his life savings.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Late-night talk shows began their return to the air after a five-month absence brought on by the Hollywood writers strike, while actors completed the first day of talks that could end their own long work walk-off.

CBS’s “ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live! ” and NBC’s “ The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ” were the first shows to leave the air when the writers strike began on May 2, and were among the first to return with segar airings Monday night.

Colbert blew a leaping kiss to his audience, which chanted his name as he took the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York for the early evening taping of his show that airs at 11:35 p.m. Eastern.

“It feels good to be back,” the host said. “Now the writers strike is over with a new contract that includes protections against AI, ongkos of living increases, better pay for streaming, plus, thanks to the picket lines, my writers got segar air and sunshine, and they do not care for that. Now they’re back safely in their joke holes.”

In a cold open to his show, Kimmel was shown on a psychiatrist’s couch.

“The strike has been going on so long, I just don’t know if I’ll be back,” Kimmel said. The shot then reveals that the therapist is his first guest Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declares, in a variation on his best-known catchphrase: “You’ll be back.”

Fallon taped segments for his show with Matthew McConaughey and John Mayer. He then said a third guest would be Bono from U2, who played the opening of the new Sphere venue in Las Vegas over the weekend.

A phony Bono came out encased in a small sphere. The bit fell flat, and Fallon suggested it may take some time to shake the rust off.

“I should mention not all the writers are back,” he said.

NEW YORK (AP) — The first Hollywood strike in 15 years began Tuesday as the economic pressures of the streaming jaman prompted unionized TV and film writers to picket for better pay outside major studios, a work stoppage that already is leading most late-night shows to air reruns.

“No contracts, nomer content!” sign-carrying members of the Writers Guild of America chanted outside the Manhattan building where NBCUniversal was touting its Peacock streaming service to advertisers.

Some 11,500 film and television writers represented by the union put down their pens and laptops after failing to reach a new contract with the trade association that represents Hollywood studios and production companies.

The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show and shorter exclusive contracts, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom driven by streaming.

“There’s too much work and not enough pay,” said demonstrator Sean Crespo, a 46-year-old writer whose credits include the former TBS show “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.”

The labor dispute could have a cascading effect on TV and film productions depending on how long the strike lasts, and it comes as streaming services are under growing pressure from Wall Street to show profits.

Late-night television was the first to feel the fallout, just as it was during the 2007 writers strike that lasted for 100 days.

All of the top late-night shows, which are staffed by writers that pen monologues and jokes for their hosts, immediately went dark. NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live,” CBS’s “The Late Show” and NBC’s “Late Night” all made plans for reruns through the week.

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” which had been scheduled to air a new episode Saturday, will also go dark and air reruns instead.

“Everyone including myself hope both sides reach a deal. But I also think that the writers’ demands are not unreasonable,” host Stephen Colbert said on Monday’s “Late Show.”

“We’re back, baby!” That was the message and the theme as late-night television returned to the airwaves Monday after a writers strike that shut down new shows for around five months.

Stephen Colbert featured a dolphin, Jimmy Fallon opened with a musical skit, and a despondent Jimmy Kimmel was on the couch with his therapist (Arnold Schwarzenegger, who reassured him, “You’ll be back”).

Without writers, late-night talk shows stopped airing new episodes after the strike began May 2.

On Tuesday, a three-year agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was approved by the writers guild negotiating committee, the WGA West Board and the WGA East Council — meaning writers could go back to work.

“It feels good to be back,” Colbert told the live audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.

“Check my math on this — I believe we have been off the air for 154 indictments,” he said, referring to former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles. “It was a crazy summer to be off.”

Colbert opened his show as a bearded captain on a boat in the ocean. When a squeaking dolphin informs him what he has missed — “Really, she’s dating Travis Kelce?” — he then rides it through the sea spray and to Broadway.

“We’re back!” said the situs for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” before Monday’s program on ABC, which had Schwarzenegger on, as well as musical guest Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.

In the opening of his show, Kimmel lies on a couch talking to Schwarzenegger, saying, “This strike, it’s been going on so long, I just don’t know if I’ll be back.”

“You’ll be back,” Schwarzenegger responds, recalling his famous line from “The Terminator.” Asked when, Schwarzenegger looks at his watch and says, “Now.”Fallon of “The Tonight Show” said everyone in his world was excited to see late-night hosts return.

“Today my dad called me up and said, ‘Finally I can watch Kimmel again,’” Fallon joked.

(“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and NBC News are entities of NBCUniversal.)

Actors remain on strike. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, went on strike July 14, around two months after the writers.

The two sides plan to resume bargaining Wednesday, the union said in a statement Monday.

The actors’ plus writers’ strikes have left countless people out of work for months as the two unions, SAG-AFTRA plus the WGA, fight with the studios for better working conditions for their members. The strikes have also pushed the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards (originally set for Sept. 18) to January, stalled TV plus film productions, plus delayed the return of late-night talk shows indefinitely. With so many in the entertainment world out of work, actors plus talk show hosts have found ways to raise money through the Entertainment Community Fund, the SAG-AFTRA relief fund, Quinta Brunson’s strike fund, nontraditional auctions (have Adam Scott walk your dog), plus the Strike Force Five podcast featuring Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, plus Jimmy Fallon, who was recently the subject of a damning Rolling Stone investigation about his toxic work environment.

This, of course, isn’t the first time Hollywood has been on strike — plus received support from late-night hosts.

During the previous Writers Guild of America strike that began Nov. 5, 2007 plus ended Feb. 12, 2008, David Letterman paid The Late Show with David Letterman plus The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson staffers out of his pocket.

Bill Scheft, who wrote for Letterman for 24 years, says that Letterman was unwilling to move forward without his writers.

“To me, it was one of his finest moments,” Scheft tells Rolling Stone.

While he says it’s unfair to compare Letterman to current late-night shows due to declines in viewership plus a shifting fasilitas landscape, Scheft is ultimately glad hosts like Bill Maher, who he worked with during the first season of ABC’s Politically Incorrect, decided to stay off the air.

“I’m happy that he reconsidered,” Scheft says of Maher. “I just think that it was a bad look.” Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, issued a statement at the beginning of the ‘07-’08 writers’ strike that it would continue to pay its non-writing staff of The Late Show plus The Late Late Show to the end of the year, making it the first company to guarantee its staff financial support during the strike. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart did not offer compensation to its employees, while NBC’s The Tonight Show With Jay Leno later promised to pay staffers for at least a week.

Meyers, a union member, has been particularly vocal in his support for the writers.

‘I love writing. I love writing for TV. I love writing this show,’ he said on Monday afternoon.

‘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.’

Other immediately-affected shows include Real Time with Bill Maher, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and Saturday Night Live – which Pete Davidson was due to host on Saturday, the final night in the season.

One SNL star told Deadline: ‘We have to think about our crew too.

‘I absolutely support the writers, and I want the writers to get what they deserve and need, but I don’t want our crew to be out of work. We can’t make this art without each other.’

The decision is the culmination in a months-long battle with studios over pay in the streaming era.

‘The Board of Directors of the @WGAWest and the Council of the @WGAEast, acting upon the authority granted to them by their memberships, have voted unanimously to call a strike, effective 12:01 AM, Tuesday, May 2,’ the union announced on Twitter.

They said the decision was made following six weeks of talks with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, Paramount and Sony.

‘Though our Negotiating Committee began this process intent on making a fair deal, the studios’ responses have been wholly insufficient given the existential crisis writers are facing.

‘Picketing will begin tomorrow afternoon. #WGAStrong #WGAStrike’

In a statement, they said writers are facing an ‘existential crisis.’

It’s official: The Writers’ Guild of America strike has begun. The news was announced on May 1 after last-minute attempts to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke down ahead of the final bargaining deadline. Late-night television shows will be the first productions to be affected, since they’re unable to bank episodes ahead of time due to their topical content. These shows are technically allowed to remain on air according to WGA rules, but if they do, they’ll bear little resemblance to the shows you know and love. They’ll feature nomor monologues or prewritten sketches and desk bits — just guest interviews and other unscripted passages of time. Look nomor further than this clip of Late Night With Conan O’Brien during last WGA strike in 2007–8, in which O’Brien wastes time on the air by timing how long he can spin his wedding ring on his desk. The immediate future of late night may very well be this bleak.

What happened to late night during the 2007–8 WGA strike?
When the WGA went on strike on November 5, 2007, The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, The Late Show With David Letterman, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Real Time With Bill Maher, and Last Call With Carson Daly all halted production immediately. About six weeks later, when negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP broke down, all of these shows announced plans to return to the air in January 2008, citing a need to get their other crew members back to work. (Last Call With Carson Daly was the sole show to return earlier.) The Late Show and The Late Late Show were able to return to air with writers because Letterman’s Worldwide Pants company licensed both properties to CBS, allowing it to negotiate a separate deal with the WGA. All other shows were produced without writers until the conclusion of the WGA strike on February 12, 2008. With the exception of Carson Daly, all other late-night hosts were able to secure payment for their non-striking staffs during their periods off the air, either through working with the network (Colbert and Stewart) or by paying their salaries out of their own funds (Leno, Letterman, Kimmel, and O’Brien).

12.01am PT on Tuesday morning, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) called on its 11,500 members to go on strike. By Tuesday afternoon, many were on picket lines outside major studios in New York and Los Angeles, and the impact of a work stoppage over compensation, streaming-based residuals, minimum staffing guidelines and other concerns cascaded through Hollywood – though, given the timing, the proliferation of streaming, and the ability of studios to bank episodes ahead of time, it’s unclear how many people will notice.

Workers and supporters of the Writers Guild of America protest at a picket line outside Paramount Studios after union negotiators called a strike for film and television writers in Los Angeles.
‘Pens down!’: Hollywood writers strike as late-night comedy shows go dark
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At the frontline of impact were late-night variety shows, which rely on writers to craft topical jokes based on up-to-the-minute headlines. On Tuesday, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers all halted production and will air reruns during a strike that could potentially last several weeks. (The last writers strike 15 years ago stretched for 100 days, from November 2007 until February 2008.) HBO paused production on the weekly shows Real Time with Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, in the middle of a guest-host run by longtime contributor Dulcé Sloan as part of a rotating audition to replace Trevor Noah, also switched to reruns. And NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which had three episodes left in its 48th season, announced a production shutdown on Tuesday afternoon, beginning with former cast member Pete Davidson’s hosting debut this Saturday.

It’s not unfamiliar terrain for many of the late-night brethren, who have developed a friendlier camaraderie compared to the more cutthroat ratings wars of the 90s and 2000s, particularly after the mutual upheaval and uncharted terrain of the pandemic. (Several filmed a farewell segment for the Late Late Show’s James Corden, who conveniently ended his eight-year run last week.) In recent weeks, late-night hosts and top producers have been on group calls developing a coordinated response in anticipation of a strike, which several hosts have experienced before.

LOS ANGELES —
Late-night talk shows are returning after a five-month absence brought on by the Hollywood writers strike, while actors will begin talks that could end their own long work walk-off.

CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” were the first shows to leave the air when the writers strike began on May 2, and now will be among the first to return on Monday night.

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Comedian John Oliver got his first take on the strike out, exuberantly returning Sunday night to his “Last Week Tonight” show on HBO and delivering full-throated support for the strike.

Oliver cheerily delivered a recap of stories from the last five months before turnings serious, calling the strike “an immensely difficult time” for all those in the industry.

“To be clear, this strike happened for good reasons. Our industry has seen its workers severely squeezed in recent years,” Oliver said. “So, the writers guild went to strike and thankfully won. But, it took a lot of sacrifices from a lot of people to achieve that.”

“I am also furious that it took the studios 148 days to achieve a deal they could have offered on day (expletive) one,” Oliver said. He added that he hope the writers contract would give leverage to other entertainment industry guilds – as well as striking auto workers and employees in other industries – to negotiate better deals.

Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO, is among the studios on the other side of the table in the writers and actors strikes.

Network late-night hosts will have their returns later Monday. Colbert will have Astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson on his first show back. Kimmel will host Arnold Schwarzenegger. Matthew McConaughey will be on Fallon’s couch.

All the hosts will surely address the strike in their monologues.

“I’ll see you Monday, and every day after that!” an ebullient Colbert said in an Instagram video last week from the Ed Sullivan Theater, which was full of his writers and other staffers for their first meeting since spring.

The hosts haven’t been entirely idle. They teamed up for a podcast, “Strike Force Five,” during the strike.

The writers were allowed to return to work last week after the Writers Guild of America reached an agreement on a three-year contract with an alliance of the industry’s biggest studios, streaming services and production companies.

After weeks spent negotiating a new and fair contract with Hollywood’s major studios, the Writers Guild of America is moving forward with a strike—the union’s first in 15 years. Roughly 12,000 writers plan to walk out and begin picketing on Tuesday, effectively pausing or impacting all productions. Late-night TV shows will be the first to get hit.

These shows, which are sometimes typically written the same day they air, are expected to either go dark or be delayed by the writers strike. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night With Seth Meyers, and The Daily Show will go on hiatus and expected to begin airing reruns, Deadline reports. Weekly programs such as Saturday Night Live, Real Time With Bill Maher, and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver are at a similar standstill, although they could resume depending on when a deal between studios and writers is reached.

Pete Davidson, who is scheduled to host this week’s SNL on May 6, told The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon last week that a canceled show would fit his personal branding, joking: “It sucks because it just feeds my weird story I have in my head, like, of course that would happen to me.”

In a statement shared with Vanity Fair, the WGA said: “The WGA Negotiating Committee began this process intent on making a fair deal, but the studios’ responses have been wholly insufficient given the existential crisis writers are facing. The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing.”

Ahead, a look at how each late-night host bid a temporary farewell to their shows on Monday. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert, who welcomed guest James Marsden and delved further into Tucker Carlson’s Fox News ouster, devoted a segment of Monday’s show to the writers strike in a segment called, “Future News Jokes Now…Just in Case.” Before riffing on potential headlines involving Ron DeSantis, Joe Biden, and the Barbie movie that would be missed should the show go dark, Colbert aired photos of his writing staff. “Without these people, this show would be called The Late Show With a Guy Rambling About The Lord of the Rings and Boats for an Hour,” he quipped, adding, “The writers’ demands are not unreasonable. I’m a member of the guild. I support collective bargaining. This nation owes so much to unions.”

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CBS’ Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers are all shutting down after the Writers Guild of America called a strike Monday night and will air reruns for the time being. Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is also shutting down and will air repeats, and HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver are going dark as well. Later Tuesday, NBC’s Saturday Night Live also shut down.

Colbert and Meyers both addressed a possible strike on their shows Monday — which were taped before the guild called the work stoppage.

“Without [our writers] this show would be called The Late Show With a Guy Rambling About Lord of the Rings and Boats for an Hour,” Colbert joked. “This negotiation affects our whole staff, who work so hard to bring you this show every night, which is why everybody, including myself, hopes both sides reach a deal.”

He continued, “I support collective bargaining. This nation owes so much to unions. They’re the reason we have weekends, and by extension, why we have TGI Fridays. So the next time you enjoy a whiskey-glazed blaze burger, you thank a union.”

Meyers also expressed support for the union and his writers, saying, “Strong writing is essential to this show — it’s essential to any show where the host, like myself, is at best a C+ performer. I really gotta have the jokes. I love writing, I love writing for TV and for this show.

“No one is entitled to a job in show business, but for those who have a job in show business, they are entitled to fair compensation. They’re entitled to make a living — I think it’s a very reasonable demand that’s being put out by the guild, and I support those demands.”

The Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing studios and streamers, called off negotiations Monday night, after which the guild called for a strike. The writers’ contract with studios expired Monday; the union’s demands include increased residuals for streaming programs, knowledge transparency, minimum staffing levels for writers rooms and regulations on the use of artificial intelligence in writing.

The first Hollywood strike in 15 years began Tuesday as the economic pressures of the streaming jaman prompted unionized TV plus film writers to picket for better pay outside major studios, a work stoppage that already is leading most late-night shows to air reruns.

“No contracts, nomor content!” sign-carrying members of the Writers Guild of America chanted outside the Manhattan building where NBCUniversal was touting its Peacock streaming layanan to advertisers.

Some 11,500 film plus television writers represented by the union put down their pens plus laptops after failing to reach a new contract with the trade association that represents Hollywood studios plus production companies.

The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show plus shorter exclusive contracts, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom driven by streaming.

“There’s too much work plus not enough pay,” said demonstrator Sean Crespo, a 46-year-old writer whose credits include the former TBS show “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.”

The labor dispute could have a cascading effect on TV plus film productions depending on how long the strike lasts, plus it comes as streaming services are under growing pressure from Wall Street to show profits.Late-night television was the first to feel the fallout, just as it was during the 2007 writers strike that lasted for 100 days.

All of the top late-night shows, which are staffed by writers that pen monologues plus jokes for their hosts, immediately went dark. NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live,” CBS’s “The Late Show” plus NBC’s “Late Night” all made plans for reruns through the week.

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” which had been scheduled to air a new episode Saturday, will also go dark plus air reruns instead.

“Everyone including myself hope both sides reach a deal. But I also think that the writers’ demands are not unreasonable,” host Stephen Colbert said on Monday’s “Late Show.”

“This nation owes so much to unions,” Colbert said. “Unions are the reason we have weekends, plus by extension why we have TGI Fridays.”

Playwright Tony Kushner (“The Fabelmans”) plus “Dopesick” creator Danny Strong were among those demonstrating in New York on Tuesday.

The strike’s impact on scripted series plus films will take longer to notice. If a strike persisted through the summer, fall TV schedules could be upended. In the meantime, those with finished scripts are permitted to continue shooting.

During the 2007 strike, late-night hosts eventually returned to air plus improvised their way through shows. “Tonight” show host Jay Leno angered WGA leadership when he began writing his own monologues.

It won’t be a late night with Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert or either of the Jimmys for a while.

Movie and television writers moved ahead with a costly industrywide walkout for the first time in 15 years. The Writers Guild of America, which represents 11,500 television writers and screenwriters, announced late Monday that a strike would begin early Tuesday, with picketing commencing in the afternoon, after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Hollywood studios, failed to yield a new deal before the current guild contract expired.

For TV fans, it means that the writers behind your favorite shows, like ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” and Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” are headed for the picket lines. And depending on the duration of the strike, the move either will have a swift or delayed effect on TV production.

Late-night talk shows are the first to be affected, including “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” as well as those on cable networks like “Real Time With Bill Maher” and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.” All rely on guild writers to pump out topical monologues and skits.

Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel and Meyers have already openly agreed to pause production on their shows, which will revert to reruns on Tuesday until further notice. Maher and Oliver’s shows will go dark immediately, with nomer reruns scheduled.

Meyers addressed the strike with viewers on Monday night on his show, saying it would be interrupted if the strike happened. He voiced support for the writers, telling the audience that the show was built on strong writing. “Look, nomer one is entitled to a job in show business. But for those people who have a job in show business, they are entitled to fair compensation. They are entitled to make a living,” he said. “I think it’s a very reasonable demand that is being set out by the guild, and I support those demands. But I also believe that everybody at the table right now, be it from the writer side or the studio side, knows that the future of this business is dependent on storytellers.”

After going dark for a few weeks during the last strike, some of TV’s late-night hosts returned to work without their writing staffs in order to keep other employees working and attempted to pull off their shows as usual; however, others leaned into the bit. Conan O’Brien, then the host of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” filled airtime by spinning his wedding ring on his desk and zip-lining over the studio audience.

Late night television is finally starting to return after the end of the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike, with numerous fan-favorite shows officially being back on the air.

Following the 148-day writers’ strike, major studios plus the WGA reached a deal, providing the writers with residual payments, higher pay plus more that they were lacking before.

Some notable returns are those of “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and, as of Oct. 14, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Since the strike has come to an end, these shows are now able to air again, bringing back late night entertainment.

SNL returns with strong debut

While the SAG-AFTRA strikes are still taking place, “Saturday Night Live” cast members plus hosts are allowed to perform on the show as it is under a separate agreement plus doesn’t violate the rules of the strike.

“Saturday Night Live” season 49 premiered on Oct. 14, with host Pete Davidson plus musical guest Ice Spice. Davidson was initially set to host in May, but the season was cut short due to the strikes.

Davidson left the show following season 47, along with fellow “Saturday Night Live” stars Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant plus Kyle Mooney. All of these cast members left their marks on the show, so it was certainly an interesting transition with them gone.

However, Davidson finally got his opportunity to come back plus host the season 49 premiere.

To begin the episode, Davidson started off with a heartfelt, cold story about losing his father on Sept. 11, 2001. He used this experience to address the conflict between Israel plus Gaza.

The episode included many iconic moments, such as the sketch “I’m Just Pete” plus surprise appearances from Taylor Swift plus Travis Kelce. It was a ridiculously funny episode, filled with a lot of fun, character-driven sketches.

Davidson’s debut did not disappoint, plus having him back on the show was very refreshing.

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. 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.

Thousands of screenwriters went on strike overnight after six weeks of negotiations for a new film and scripted TV contract came to a stalemate.

The existing contract between the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which includes Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony — officially expired at 12 a.m. PT, kicking off the walkout.

Writers have been seeking a major overhaul in compensation for streaming residuals, as well as higher pay overall, greater protections and a solution to the increase of “mini-rooms” in which a small grup of writers pen multiple scripts for a show’s potential first season prior to production beginning.

As Deadline notes, both the WGA and the AMPTP agree that despite a content boom in recent years, writers are bringing in less money overall. Ideas on how to fix the problem, unfortunately, is where the conflict originates. “WGA proposals would gain writers approximately $429 million per year; AMPTP’s offer is approximately $86 million per year, 48% of which is from the minimums increase,” the guild said, according to the outlet. The impact of the strike will be felt immediately. Aside from picketing — which will begin on Monday afternoon — production on daily late-night shows including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Daily Show will shut down immediately, with networks airing reruns.

Saturday Night Live confirmed hours after the wave of late-night announcements that it had canceled that upcoming weekend’s episode hosted by Pete Davidson with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert.

“I support my writers,” Fallon, who is also an SNL alum, told NBC News Monday on the 2023 Met Gala red carpet. “We have a lot of staff and crew that will be affected by this but, you know, they got to get a fair deal.”

The four network talkers — ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, CBS’ Late Show With Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers — will all return to the air Monday, Oct. 2. HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver will precede them by a day, settling back into its usual Sunday night spot on Oct. 1.

The five hosts, who together did the Strike Force Five podcast to lift money for their out-of-work staffs, jointly announced their returns on the show’s Instagram account.HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher is also returning Friday, the host wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Tuesday night. Comedy Central said Wednesday afternoon that The Daily Show will resume on Oct. 16, with guest hosts continuing to lead the program for the remainder of the year. A permanent host will be named in 2024.

After reaching a tentative agreement with tempat companies, leadership of the Writers Guild of America voted on Tuesday to end the strike, allowing its 11,500 members to return to work. The contract still has to be ratified through a vote by the full membership, set to take place in early October. (Early reaction on social tempat to the details of the contract has been overwhelmingly positive.)

Late night shows were among the first programs to shut down after the WGA called its strike on May 2, as they rely on freshly written material for each night’s show. Maher said Sept. 13 that he would restart production on his show without writers, then reversed course a few days later as negotiations resumed.

Daytime talk shows that employ WGA writers — including The Drew Barrymore Show, The Talk and The Jennifer Hudson Show — are also likely to return soon, though dates haven’t been announced. NBC’s sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live also has yet to set a season premiere date.

Guest lineups for the shows’ returns have yet to be announced. Actors union SAG-AFTRA remains on strike, but talk shows are covered under a different contract (the so-called Network Code) that would allow union members to appear on them — provided they don’t promote any work for struck companies.

The first Hollywood strike in 15 years began Tuesday as the economic pressures of the streaming masa prompted unionized TV plus film writers to picket for better pay outside major studios, a work stoppage that already is leading most late-night shows to air reruns.

“No contracts, no content!” sign-carrying members of the Writers Guild of America chanted outside the Manhattan building where NBCUniversal was touting its Peacock streaming layanan to advertisers.

Some 11,500 film plus television writers represented by the union put down their pens plus laptops after failing to reach a new contract with the trade association that represents Hollywood studios plus production companies.

The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show plus shorter exclusive contracts, among other demands – all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom driven by streaming.

“There’s too much work plus not enough pay,” said demonstrator Sean Crespo, a 46-year-old writer whose credits include the former TBS show Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.

The labour dispute could have a cascading effect on TV plus film productions depending on how long the strike lasts, plus it comes as streaming services are under growing pressure from Wall Street to show profits.

Late-night television was the first to feel the fallout, just as it was during the 2007 writers strike that lasted for 100 days.

All of the top late-night shows, which are staffed by writers that pen monologues plus jokes for their hosts, immediately went dark. NBC’s The Tonight Show, Comedy Central’s Daily Show, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, CBS’s The Late Show plus NBC’s Late Night all made plans for reruns through the week.

NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which had been scheduled to air a new episode Saturday, will also go dark plus air reruns instead.

“Everyone including myself hope both sides reach a deal. But I also think that the writers’ demands are not unreasonable,” host Stephen Colbert said on Monday’s Late Show.

“This nation owes so much to unions,” Colbert said. “Unions are the reason we have weekends, plus by extension why we have TGI Fridays.”

Playwright Tony Kushner (The Fabelmans) plus Dopesick creator Danny Strong were among those demonstrating in New York on Tuesday.

The strike’s impact on scripted series plus films will take longer to notice. If a strike persisted through the summer, fall TV schedules could be upended. In the meantime, those with finished scripts are permitted to continue shooting.

During the 2007 strike, late-night hosts eventually returned to air plus improvised their way through shows. Tonight show host Jay Leno angered WGA leadership when he began writing his own monologues.

Late-night talk shows were the first casualties of the Hollywood writers strike, with production on the nightly programs shutting down almost immediately as Writers Guild of America members demand better wages and greater job security.

More than a week into the protest, scripted TV shows are also being forced to air reruns, since nomor new material is being created.

Viewers will likely start to notice a lack of new content on streaming platforms and television networks soon, as well.

“Pretty much every show is being affected in one way or another,” said Reed Alexander, a reporter on the business of Hollywood for Insider. “It depends on the lifecycle the production is in.”

For example, production on popular shows including “Billions,” “Severance” and “Stranger Things” has been halted or delayed.

“The things we see most immediately are exactly what you pointed to — the late-night shows, because we tend to see those shows that involve scripted members of the Writers Guild of America in writers rooms shut down right away,” Alexander told CBS News.

Late-night talk shows like “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC, “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” on NBC and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on NBC have already turned to reruns due to the strike.

Broadcast news shows aren’t affected because the journalists who make up their staffs aren’t WGA members, Alexander added.

“But essentially anything that’s scripted that in effect involves a script that writers would gather and work on — so, shows that are being taped and produced in Hollywood — they largely grind to a halt,” he said.

Writers aren’t permitted to discuss new ideas with studios or each other, which pauses new concept development, too. Shows with a repository of unreleased episodes still have segar content to air for the time being.

“If you’re a streaming viewer or if you’re a viewer who is watching shows that have already been stockpiled for networks, you may not see any immediate impact, but if this drags on — which experts say it will — that could cut into the kinds of programming that we might get excited to watch and we could see less of that going around,” Alexander said.

The goal write now for streaming platforms is for viewers not to notice disruptions “for maybe the next quarter,” Alexander said.

Reality TV shows which aren’t based on scripts could also start taking the place of scripted content.