WGA Strike: Should Stewart/Colbert Writers Get a Waiver?

Hey, I agree with Michael Winship, president of the Writers Guild of America East, as reported by David Carr in the Times today:

"These two shows are a big source of news for a whole generation that was not around for the 1988 strike," he said. "Losing Stewart and Colbert is something like losing Cronkite during the Vietnam War. And because they are accessed in any number of ways both on television and on the Web, 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report' are exactly what we are talking about at the bargaining table."

Can the Stewart and Colbert writers get some kind of exemption?

Comments

[brijcorns]

Although it would be a further blow to television news (something we surely don't need), I hope the rumors are true that the CBS news writers will join the strike. If other news writers follow suit it would truly show the industry that the writers mean business and completely destroy the 24-hour news networks.

[timbrehse]

I too agree with Michael Windship.
But how indicative. What a sad and scary commentary.
If you were to ask the writers of Stewart and Colbert, they'd tell you frightening it is to hear how many viewers "Get Their News" from their shows. Forget about the ones who think they actually ARE NEWS PROGRAMS!
Ahhh Folks, these writers pore over hundreds of newspapers & webzines every day to find out what is really going on in the world so they can then
MAKE FUN OF IT ... WRITE JOKES ABOUT!
Anyone doing current topic comedy today knows you basically have to recite a news article in a joke's setup otherwise NO ONE WILL GET THE PUNCH LINE.
Colbert & Stewart's shows could have twice the jokes, be twice as funny
IF THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO TAKE THE TIME TO EXPLAIN THEM ALL FIRST.
"Good Evening. We read the news because you are too lazy, indifferent, or illiterate to do so."
I wonder where we'd be as a nation if before you were granted the right to vote, you had to pass some sort of test. Not a hard test say ... the one they give people before they're allowed to become naturalized citizens of this country.

"Can the Stewart and Colbert writers get some kind of exemption?"
Sorry, during wartime, only a future President and Vice President can "get some kind of exemption".
I hear Colbert's off the ballot.

[zaneblue]

Hey, I'm going through withdrawals too, but stay strong--the writers deserve to get paid. And frankly, at this point it's PERSONAL! Viacom destroyed all the fans' loving fanvids. I understand that they had to take down full episodes, but they took down everything, including fanvids like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eTyf5BpwQ4

And the reason they did that was because they were complaining that they were losing revenue, that youtube was making ad revenue off of their clips, substantial ad revenue.

Well if it's so goddamned substantial that it's worth deleting all the fangirls' affectionate fanvids, it's substantial enough that the creators, the writers deserve to get their cut. And that's worth a wait, even if it is half a year. I just feel bad for all the writers who are having to go without any money at all during the strike.

[katiekat489]

Oh Please let us have our guys back!!I am going thru some serious withdrawals here!!They need to be on the air for some comic relief not to mention just the plain newsworthiness of the shows!!And I am a middle-aged woman who loves them.

[brijcorns]

I've thought from the beginning that TDS and TCR writers should be under the news-writers' union. What they do certainly isn't that much different from Olbermann's staff and definitely more news-worthy than O'Reilly's.

[research]

If the WGA allows it, it would be wonderful to have the Daily Show and Colbert back on again. They are sympathetic to the writers, so the writers would get some good PR.