Who needs writers anyway?
Before I begin this post let me declare here and now that I am very happy the writers have returned to work. They are a welcome re-addition to the entertainment world and my own personal God (In Joss we trust) is a writer so don’t hate me for what I say……
Who needs writers anyway? At least on the Late Night Circuit. It was with those shows where I felt the loss of the writers first. Tuning in to get my late night fix of humor, fake news, real news made humorous, and interviews with celebs and to be met with reruns was a miserable experience. I truly missed them. I first cursed the writers under my breath and hated them for their damn reasonable demands when I had to end my 2007 without Jon Stewart. I hated the idea of staring the year without him to clsoe out the past. Then a miracle happened. One by one the late night crew decided to come back sans writers to help save jobs. Letterman, Leno, O’Brien, Stewart, and Colbert. I gotta say I hadn’t watched the network 3 in a few years even though I grew up loving them all. Yes you can like Leno AND Letterman. As each returned I tuned in to see how they’d fare sans writers. Not only were they all good, they were great! It almost felt like live television where everything could go wrong except we weren’t hoping for blunders rather It was as if the adrenaline of having to improv drove them to new heights. They all made me laugh like they had never before. There were hilarious bits that grew out of the strike. The Conan/Colbert/Stewart feud being the most memorable but also Conan’s daily imrovisational skills seemed to improve with each episode. Stewart, who seemed to falter the most in the beginning, not only regained his grove but improved upon it. Knowing everything was his own somehow made you appreciate the show even more. Seeing how well the other staples did I even took the time to switch over and catch a few moments of Jimmy Kimmel just to see if the same events had pushed him to not be good ( as I feel its nearly impossible ) but at least be watchable. He was! He truly was! A friend said today “I’m gonna miss Conan unleashed” and I couldn’t agree more. They were no longer tethered to a script that had the input of many. They were no longer demanded to get in that one joke which would’ve fell flat. They were no longer required to stick to the old and rather spent time inventing the new. It was fantastic. I watched each of these shows again tonight with writers (sans Letterman who has had his writing staff since he returned) and there’s something missing. All the hosts seemed to have slipped complacently back into being mouthpieces. No one has that fervor in their eyes trying to think at a mile a minute and come up with the next funny line. No one is trying anymore. I know its just been one day but Argh! The writers are back–hooray? Of course I admit these hosts would’ve burned out eventually. They can’t keep up these daily schedules without someone to bounce ideas on. They do need their writers but my hope is they learn from this experience and grow from it. Because if it takes a 3 month strike to get these guys to give us some of their best material then I’m ready to see the writers walk away from these shows again.
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