Letterman Steals a March Over Rival Show Hosts

As the writer’s strike continues to hit Hollywood, David Letterman has announced his first guest once his ‘Late Show’ returns on air would be Hollywood bigwig Robin Williams. One of his rival shows, the Tonight show, bereft of writers, would be having Mike Huckabee, the Republican presidential hopeful, on its first return show broadcast.

Letterman may be banking on the presence of a Hollywood big name, an A-lister in his own right, on his show to steal a march over rival shows on other networks that are anyway functioning without the services of writers who have been on strike since November 5, 2007.

The problem with other shows is that they may not even be able to pull in Hollywood stars on their shows, as a ripple effect of the writers’ strike spreads across Hollywood. IN this scenario, it will be interesting to watch the tussle between Letterman’s show and Jay Leno’s unfold.

Letterman has literally stolen a march over other show hosts, with Worldwide Pants, his production company, having negotiated a settlement Friday that allows him to use writers for his show despite the strike call by the Writers Guild of America.

An air of mystery shrouds the return of shows hosted by Leno and a couple of other peers, Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O’Brien Wednesday. The mystery is about how they will deliver quality content to viewers, as they are without the services of writers for their respective shows, thanks to the union strike.

Other comedy shows, such as The Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart and also the Colbert Report are scheduled to return on air by January 7. These shows too would be without the services of the writers.

Not only that, Leno and the others would also not be able to perform certain comic acts, including monologues, as these are restricted according to strike rules. Letterman, on the other hand, seems to be having things easy, as his Top 10 list remains intact despite the strike.

Worldwide Pants has managed to negotiate a deal for two of its shows, Letterman’s Late Show and Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show. The deals are what have got the major actor’s union of Hollywood, the Screen Actor’s Guild, asking its members to not hesitate to visit these two shows.

According to Alan Rosenberg, the president of the Screen Actor’s Guild, which has almost 120,000 actors on its roster, “Screen Actors Guild members will be happy to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson with union writers at work and without having to cross picket lines.”

The Robin Williams announcement has required Letterman to reschedule real estate mogul Donald Trump, who was supposed to make an appearance this Wednesday, to Friday.

On the contrary, things seemed different at Leno’s show and those hosted by Kimmel and O’Brien. There was no word from any of them about prospective guests for their shows come re-opening night, until Leno came up with the Huckabee announcement.

Huckabee hopes to make the best of his appearance on Leno’s show, as it comes at just the right time for him politically – one night before the Iowa caucus and a mere six days prior to the New Hampshire primary.