Return of late night, or train-wreck TV?
NEW YORK - Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Jon Stewart all plan returns to late-night television the next two weeks, but aside from their familiar faces, viewers may not recognize much.
After two months away because of the still-unresolved writers strike, NBC's Leno and O'Brien, and ABC's Kimmel, resume their programs next Wednesday, Jan. 2. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert come back to Comedy Central the following Monday, Jan. 7.
Barring a New Year's miracle, none of their writers will be joining them.
David Letterman is also pushing to return Jan. 2, but his Worldwide Pants production company is still trying to reach its own deal to bring his show's writers back onboard.
The hosts — with the exception of NBC's Carson Daly — are also members of the striking Writer's Guild of America, making them subject to union rules that would severely limit what they can do.
The union's strike rules say members cannot write or perform any material that would normally be written for them. Under this interpretation, for example, Jay Leno couldn't perform a monologue, because his staff of writers normally crafts his jokes.
The comic skits that are a part of several late-night shows would also be off-limits without writers.
"I think that people will see some interesting television," said Chris Albers, former president of Writer's Guild of America East and a comedy writer for O'Brien. "Obviously, these are some of the funniest people in the country so they're probably going to do a very good job. It's just a different animal than what they're used to and what we're used to."
In a conference call with reporters last week, producers of NBC's "Tonight" and "Late Night" said they were still trying to figure out what their shows would look like. They weren't willing to talk further this week, a spokesman said.
Comic ad-libbing, musical performances and lengthier appearances by interview subjects willing to cross picket lines are the most likely recourse.
"I don't know what they're going to do," said Mike Sweeney, head writer for O'Brien's NBC show. "My obvious speculation would be more guests, and maybe talk to them more slowly."
Stewart and Stephen Colbert would appear to have the toughest time reconfiguring their programs, which have a large amount of scripted material. By a strict interpretation of the guild's rules, a member would be prohibited from performing as a character if union writers normally write material for the character.
Colbert performs his entire show in the character of a blowhard political commentator.
"We don't know how he's going to do it," said Sherry Goldman, spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America East, "and I'm not so sure that he's figured it out yet."
Comedy Central would not let its executives talk about planning for the shows' returns.
Only two late-night shows were affected when writers went on strike in 1988: Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show and Letterman's program, both on NBC. Carson was not a writer's guild member, so he wrote his monologue himself for the few weeks that he worked without writers.
His monologue, part of the fabric of American life, was welcomed back but Carson's writer-less debut in May 1988 didn't draw raves: "The whole show seemed lame," wrote the Washington Post's Tom Shales at the time, "unfunny comic Joe Piscopo, Ed McMahon showing photos of his little girl, a hackneyed arrangement of Irving Berlin tunes by the band and film of mating condors."
Letterman's "Late Night" substituted comedy with freewheeling filler. One gag had the show's associate director playing "Lady of Spain" on the accordion, night after night.
"Fifty-five minutes, ladies and gentlemen, 55 minutes to go!" he said early in one show. "That's all we're really trying to accomplish, is to eat up valuable network time."
Letterman weighed in frequently on the strike, calling network management "money-grubbing scum."
While the strike raises the possibility of train-wreck television, some performers may thrive in without-a-net circumstances. A critic in The New York Times wrote that Letterman's strike programs were often "downright exciting," a throwback to the early years of late-night television when there was more improvisation.
It's uncertain whether Letterman will get the chance to repeat the experience. His representatives were still talking with the union on Thursday. Donald Trump and Shooter Jennings are booked as a guest for Letterman's Jan. 2 show — if there is one.
There's a difference of opinion among union members about whether cutting a separate deal with Letterman is wise, Albers said. Some believe it would put pressure on NBC to settle the strike because Leno would be at a competitive disadvantage; others think it would be wrong to effectively reward CBS with a show using the services of writers, he said.
Sweeney has his own secret wish for O'Brien if he returns without writers.
"I hope he tries to hold a telethon to raise money for us," he said.
Apple, Fox to offer iPod movie rentals
Apple Inc. is partnering with entertainment giant 20th Century Fox to offer movie rentals through its popular iTunes program, according to a news report.
Through the proposed online video-on-demand service, consumers will have the chance to download time-limited copies of Fox DVD releases, according to a source familiar with the deal cited in the Financial Times Thursday.
The deal is expected to be announced at the Macworld show in San Francisco on Jan. 14.
The news follows a similar move by Microsoft Corp. in 2006 in partnership with Xbox 360. Together, they launched a digital video download service that allows Xbox 360 owners to buy television shows and rent movies.
The service, which was made available to Canadians just this month, lets people with broadband internet connections purchase standard and high-definition content through the Marketplace store on its dedicated Xbox Live network.
However, analysts say the sheer strength of iTunes' popularity will make the partnership between Apple and Fox highly lucrative for the two companies, including a boost in sales of video iPods.
"Fox and potentially other studios are coming around to the idea that there is nobody out there to challenge iTunes," Jonathan Weitz, a principal with IBB consulting in the United States, told the Times.
"This deal is a sign that media mobility is coming to the mainstream."
Apple shares hit the $200 mark for the first time Wednesday — largely on the strength of the iPod brand. The company unveiled a new line of personal media devices this year, updating its flash-based Nano model to enable video playback as well as introducing the iPod Touch.
The touch-screen unit includes Wi-Fi wireless capability that allows users to connect to the internet, as well as Apple's online music store iTunes and purchase songs.
According to the Times, new Fox DVD releases will include Apple's FairPlay digital rights management system, allowing the films to be legally copied from the disc onto a computer or iPod.
Limited Disney, Paramount and other films are already for sale — although not for rent — through the iTunes platform.
Apple was also said to have been in negotiations with Sony, Paramount and Warner Brothers about similar deals to make their content available through the iTunes store.
'Back To The Future" And 'Wuthering Heights' among 25 top films
WASHINGTON - From "The Naked City" to "In a Lonely Place" and "Oklahoma!" the Library of Congress is adding 25 more classic American films to its national registry.
There are "12 Angry Men" to be heard, "The Strong Man" to be viewed and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" to be dealt with.
"Even as Americans fill the movie theaters to see the latest releases, few are aware that up to half the films produced in this country before 1950 — and as much as 90 percent of those made before 1920 — are lost forever," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington in announcing the selections.
"The National Film Registry seeks not only to honor these films, but to ensure that they are preserved for future generations to enjoy," he said in a statement.
The 25 chosen this year bring the registry total to 475.
Both recent and early films are eligible for inclusion, and hundreds are nominated by the public each year.
The films are chosen because they are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.
Among those selected this year:
• "The Naked City," 1948, filmed on actual locations in New York; this movie won Oscars for best photography and editing. It was a gritty crime film combining slices of several stories.
• "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," 1977, an intelligent sci-fi film in which the climactic scene is set at Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming.
• "In a Lonely Place," 1950, a scathing Hollywood satire with Humphrey Bogart playing a screenwriter, brilliant at his craft yet prone to living with his fists.
• "Oklahoma!" 1955, brought the fun and famous musical to the screen.
• "Back to the Future," 1985, explored the possibilities of special effects when a man stranded in 1955 by a time machine must not only find a way home, but also teach his father how to become a man, repair the space/time continuum and save his family from being erased from existence. All while fighting off the advances of his then-teenage mother.
• "12 Angry Men," 1957, a classic filmed in a spare, claustrophobic style — largely set in one jury room — relating a single juror's refusal to conform to peer pressure in a murder trial.
• "The Strong Man," 1926, features Harry Langdon, widely considered one of the great silent comedians, as a meek man in love with a blind woman.
• "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," 1962, director John Ford's last great Western. The film shows that the conquest of the West meant the triumph of civilization, embodied in Jimmy Stewart, over wild innocence — John Wayne — and evil — Lee Marvin.
Also being added to the registry:
• "Bullitt" (1968)
• "Dance, Girl, Dance" (1940)
• "Dances With Wolves" (1990)
• "Days of Heaven" (1978)
• "Glimpse of the Garden" (1957)
• "Grand Hotel" (1932)
• "The House I Live In" (1945)
• "Mighty Like a Moose" (1926)
• "Now, Voyager" (1942)
• "Our Day" (1938)
• "Peege" (1972)
• "The Sex Life of the Polyp" (1928)
• "Three Little Pigs" (1933)
• "Tol'able David" (1921)
• "Tom, Tom the Piper's Son" (1969-71)
• "The Women" (1939)
• "Wuthering Heights" (1939)