Late Night Talk Shows Eyeing October Return Amid WGA Strike’s Imminent End

Forum 7 months ago

Late Night Talk Shows Eyeing October Return Amid WGA Strike’s Imminent End

Following the official announcement that the WGA and AMPTP have finally reached a tentative deal, Variety brings word that producers of late night talk shows have already started planning their broadcast returns for as soon as the WGA confirms the end of the strike. The outlet’s sources note that late night shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert are currently targeting an early October return.

“I think that the calculation for all these shows is how quickly you can get your crew back to work,” a late night insider said. “There’s probably some conversations to be had with labor relations. We’re so close to the finish line that no one wants to step on a guild landmine. But from a production standpoint, I think you could turn it around pretty quickly.”

Late Night Show Hosts’ Strike Force Five Podcast

After all of their shows went off air by the end of April, late night show hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, and John Oliver of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver have band together to start their very own podcast called Strike Force Five. Proceeds from the podcast are given to their employees, who have been out of work since the WGA strike began last May 2.

After it went live on August 30, the Strike Force Five ranked number one on both Apple and Spotify. The first seven episodes are now available on major podcast channels, where the five hosts share stories about their personal lives, interesting career moments, and other topics that may come up during their improvised conversations.