Writers' Strike Autopsy

Description: Did quality suffer without the writers?

Question:  Did quality suffer without the writers?

Transcript: Well I don’t really watch them, and I do . . . I do pieces for the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, and I love the writers over there.  But I do have to say that Jay Leno just demonstrated remarkable readiness and grit.  And yeah I mean he . . . He’s never been a critical darling, but my goodness.  That was quite a feat. I think it ended just soon enough.  I think that that was a . . . I think it was . . . I think that . . . I don’t think that the shows that were working without writers could have sustained themselves much longer.  I think they simply would have become exhausted.  I think there was sort of an all hands on deck kind of emergency measure taken at a lot of these shows.  I know in the case of a couple I happen to know that.  And so I don’t think they could have sustained their quality for much longer without a writing staff.  And . . . But certainly the late night shows, the reputation of writers vis-à-vis the late night shows were the most precarious because those shows went on and didn’t lose a lot of viewers.

Recorded on: 2/14/08