Just like the strikes in the olden days, the WGA strike is leaving people scrambling for guests. Wait, no. The strikes in olden days left people scrambling for food, not actors. It’s close, though, and certainly every bit as frightening. Human beings can live for months without food, but can only live for a maximum of seven days without Brad Pitt. Around day 5 your kidneys shut down, and the liver tends to go around day 6. The hosts of late night television, back on the air but without any actor guests, have been scrambling to fill their vacant spots in a desperate attempt to save keep us alive. The Screen Actors Guild has cruelly forbade any of its members from appearing on any non-WGA sanctioned shows. That effectively means they can only show up for David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, whose production company Worldwide Pants has come to its own agreement with the WGA. So what’s a late night host to do? Bring in other late night hosts as guests of course!

The talk-show hosts, who both returned to the airwaves last Wednesday without their respective writing teams and with picketers outside their respective studios, are turning into unlikely allies in the late-night race, with both agreeing to appear as guests on each other’s shows next Thursday, in the wake of a writers’ strike-induced guest drought.

“If Jay and I can come together and guest on each other’s shows, surely there is hope for peace in the Middle East,” Kimmel said in a joint statement released by ABC and NBC Sunday morning.

“There are only a few people in the world who know how tough this job is,” Leno said. “Jimmy is one of them. It will be fun to discuss who’s a good guest, who’s a difficult guest and everything else that comes with sitting behind these desks.” The mutual back scratching will help fill not only headlines but what’s proving to be hard-to-populate guest slots for the late-night shows since their return to air.

[From E! News]

I’m no expert, but it seems to me that writers and actors are incredibly loyal to their unions. And something tells me they have long memories. Jimmy Kimmel seems to have done himself quite the disservice recently by voicing his opposition to the writer’s strike.

And while Leno has teetered on the brink of violating guild rules since returning to the air, penning his own monologue jokes, despite supposedly standing in solidarity as a striking writer, Kimmel himself has voiced disapproval of the strict code and unwavering solidarity he’s meant to display with his unemployed wordsmiths.

“I don’t want to depart too much from the party line, but I think it’s ridiculous,” he said on his first night back of the strike and SAG’s insistence that members avoid the late-night shows that did not score a WGA-sanctioned agreement. “Jay Leno, he paid his staff while they were out. Conan did the same thing. I don’t know. I just think at a certain point you back off a little bit.”

Later, he stripped his opinions of all party-line vestiges, saying flat out, “I’m pissed off, I’ll be honest with you.”

[From E! News]

I’m pretty sure Jimmy Kimmel is going to find concrete in his shoes within the next three days. Wait, these are writers… so he’s probably going to find ink in his shoes. Maybe a few random letters stripped off his computer’s keyboard. Nothing teaches you to shut up like some blue ink stains and your favorite S and A keys smashed to pieces.

Jay Leno is in a world of hurt. Apparently he didn’t quite understand the WGA’s rules about writing material for his show. All of the late night acts are going back on the air in the next week or so, with Leno and Letterman back on this past Wednesday. Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, came to a separate agreement with the Writer’s Guild, essentially agreeing to honor all of their demands in terms of royalties and web payouts. That allowed him (and Craig Ferguson, who’s show is also produced by Letterman’s company) to go back on their air with his usual team of writers. The blogosphere was alive with excitement: lots of people noting that Letterman would finally beat Leno in the ratings. However the general consensus is that Jay Leno did a better job with just himself than Letterman did with his whole team. Ouch.

Technically, Leno’s only option was to perform his monologue spontaneously. That’s a tall order. As a writer and member of the WGA, he was not allowed to pen anything beforehand. Though it’s likely that late-night hosts Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel wrote something before they stepped on stage, Leno openly violated the rules, admitting that he wrote his monologue beforehand.

“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno could face disciplinary action from the Writers Guild of America for writing his monologue while the nearly 2-month-old writers strike continues.
Leno, a member of the guild, met Thursday with WGA West President Patric Verrone to discuss his decision to pen his opening segment. During the meeting, Leno was told that “writing for ‘The Tonight Show’ constitutes a violation of the [WGA] strike rules,’ the WGA said in a statement.

“[Leno] was pretty flagrant in saying he wrote his monologue,” said Sherry Goldman, a spokeswoman for WGA East. “The other hosts … found a way around it.” It’s not yet clear what would happen to Leno if he continues to write monologues in the midst of the strike, but he could be brought before the WGA’s disciplinary committee, Goldman said.

[From MarketWatch]

The WGA’s strike contract is notoriously hard to interpret, however most people outside of the WGA (including NBC) agree that anyone outside of prime time is allowed to write their own material.

“The WGA agreement permits Jay Leno to write his own monologue for `The Tonight Show,’” NBC said in a statement Thursday. “The WGA is not permitted to implement rules that conflict with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the studios and the WGA.”

[From the Associated Press]

This strike is getting pretty tiresome. And I say that not as a reflection on the writers, but on the corporations. The WGA is fairly rigid: I’m pretty sure they’d get mad if one of their members wrote so much as a grocery list at this point. Remember that note you jotted down on a Post-it, reminding you to call your aunt? Violation. But they have a point. If they start making a bunch of exceptions, pretty soon the strike won’t stand for anything. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers website has a counter on their website of how much money the writers are losing in the short term by striking. What they don’t have a counter for is how much money the writers would lose in the long term if they didn’t strike. This is pretty much a battle between principles (writers) and egos (the alliance). Get ready for a lot of game shows and reality TV next year.

David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert will return to their respective talk shows this week. Letterman’s company has struck an agreement with the Writers Guild of America that allows him to use writers for “The Late Show.” Craig Ferguson’s “Late Late Show” is controlled by Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, and also has the advantage of falling under the interim agreement and being able to use writers. Leno and the rest of the late night hosts will have to make due with whatever they can muster that doesn’t violate the WGA contract. That is expected to entail longer celebrity interviews and more off the cuff audience interaction. “On the street” segments are also anticipated.

The first celebrity guest booked on Letterman’s show is Robin Williams. Both Letterman and Ferguson have an added edge over their talkshow host competitors in that guests don’t have to cross picket lines to appear. Williams is one guest who certainly wouldn’t need a scripted Q&A to appear, however. He is particularly gifted in off the cuff absurdity which can sometimes be hard to follow.

Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart are expected to be scrambling to come up with material that’s not prepared. They rely on scripted segments for their shows and will be hard pressed to ad lib. Under the WGA contract they can’t even use ideas that are prepared ahead of time by writers. These two strike me as cleverer than most, so we’ll have to see how they deal with the situation. It will also be interesting to see if Letterman and O’Brien have shaved their “strike beards,” or if they’ll grace us with their unshaven faces at least for one night.

As for how the writer’s strike continues to affect television, I read an interesting article that compared the 1988 strike to the current strike and said that there’s evidence that television lost 10% of its viewership almost permanently after the five month strike from March to August. This current strike could result in a nearly 30% drop in television viewers and could go a long way toward strengthening the audience for online content and web-based shows. And we may have to make due with more open-ended interviews with lesser-known celebrities on the talk shows. Maybe that’s an added benefit to refusing to cross picket lines - celebrities don’t have to worry about sounding stupid if they can’t rehearse their answers ahead of time.

Here’s a link to a wikipedia article that has an updated list of how many episodes are available for specific shows.

Thanks to the NY Times and The Wall St. Journal for the details for this story.

Letterman is shown on 10/20/05 with a horse, but I swear to you this picture is captioned “Madonna Visits The Late Show with David Letterman” by the photo agency, PRPhotos.

The writer’s strike is at an impasse, with studios and the union unable to negotiate a fair settlement for Internet airings of television shows and movies. There was a rumor that talks should be resolved by Christmas, but this was an incorrect story and/or an overly positive one, because the talks have stalled and the latest news is that both sides are nowhere near a compromise. This means that the upcoming awards shows like The Oscars and Golden Globes are likely to be scrapped as many high-profile celebrities will refuse to cross picket lines and most everyone else will follow suit.

The Golden Globes are most likely to go if the strike is still on as they’re scheduled for January 13th. If the strike is still not settled by February 24, the air date for the Oscars, the Oscars won’t be happening this year either:

“Golden Globes? Not happening. Oscars? Not happening.”

That’s the word — or the words — from a Writers Guild insider who knows the score concerning the long-running strike against the studios.

The Guild will, without a doubt, picket the Golden Globes on Jan. 13, my source says. This person knows the business. The Guild also will picket the Oscars, the Spirit Awards and, presumably, the Grammys. They’ll also picket shows such as the People’s Choice Awards.

So far, the WGA has been very effective with picket lines — far more so probably than the studios ever expected. Hollywood already is shut down because of picket lines.

Interestingly, Variety — “the bible” of show business — is taking a subtle pro-studio stand on the strike.

Tuesday night, the publication’s story indicating a Golden Globe picket line made it seem like the physical picketers would be so far from the Hilton that no one would care. Alas, a modern picket line is as virtual as anything else in 2008. If the Writers Guild says it’s boycotting the Globes, its members, and members of other guilds, are highly unlikely to attend.

It’s not just that the Guild turned down requests for waivers from the Hollywood Foreign Press (the Globes, Jan. 13) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars, Feb. 24). That happened on Monday.

According to this high-level source, the Guild will not negotiate a separate deal with Dick Clark Productions, the company that produces the Globes show for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and NBC.

Instead, the Guild will picket the show. And if the strike is still on when Feb. 24 rolls around, the Guild will picket the Oscars, too.

And this means that millions of dollars in advertising spent by the networks and the movie studios will go down the drain. So far, the Hollywood Foreign Press has pretended as if this weren’t happening. But it is.

Jan. 13 is less than a month away. A picket line around the Beverly Hilton Hotel means that big stars like George Clooney and Steven Spielberg will stay away. It’s that simple. And once they’ve announced their intentions not to cross, the rest will follow.

[From Foxnews.com]

I wonder if they’ll carry on with the shows with whomever will attend or if they’ll be scrapped entirely. From the way this story is worded, it sounds like The Golden Globes will probably not happen at all and that the Oscars are at risk depending on how quickly the strike can be settled. The only reason I watch the shows is to see what the stars are wearing as I find the ceremonies incredibly boring, although last year’s Oscars weren’t bad. I can’t say I’ll miss either of those shows and to me it’s more about the effects of the strike on tv and movies.

I live overseas and unfortunately can’t watch US television until the older episodes are shown over here, but ironically I finally scored an invite to Hulu.com, which offers real streaming current TV shows legally on demand. Hulu is put out by NBC and has lots of current shows from NBC, Fox, Bravo, and FX, among others. 30 second commercials are shown in place of full commercial breaks. This is the type of content that the writers want to be paid for, but the studios are holding their ground.

The FoxNews article points out that the studios want to pay the writers almost nothing for Internet broadcasts of their shows. They also say it would cost $150 million for the studios to settle the strike with the Writer’s Guild, which is the cost of one medium budget flop. Instead of giving writers a fair share, they’re refusing to consider the offer. The result will be much more expensive for them as very little content is created for next year and advertising revenue and viewership goes way, way down.

Update: The Peoples’ Choice Awards have been all but canceled, with no press allowed and no red carpet. The event will air partially on CBS on January 8th, most likely to announce the winners.

Last week we briefly mentioned that there was a possibility that the late night talk show hosts would return to work in the next few months. It’s looking like that will definitely happen, and all five of the hosts are trying to coordinate their return so they all come back on the same night. Their hope is to avoid some of the ire of the WGA and skirt the criticism that Ellen DeGeneres and Carson Daly received when they returned to work. Ellen hardly stopped work at all – a week at the most – and Carson returned a few weeks ago. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Ferguson are all talking with each other behind closed doors, trying to agree on a date when they’ll all go back to work.

If the late-night shows go back into production before the strike is settled, at least some members of the Writers Guild will understand - the late-night comedy writers themselves. “We will never be able to repay [Letterman] for what he did for us,” says “Late Show” writer Bill Sheft, who also serves as the show’s union rep for the Writers Guild. “Dave Letterman on the air without writers and pissed off about it would be as powerful as anything we [union members] can do. He will rail nightly at the greedy pinheads that put him in this position.

“He made the right decision, and when and if he decides to come back, it will be the right decision,” Sheft said. Letterman was the first late-night host who said he would continue to pay his staff out of his own pocket while the strike was on. The other late-show hosts soon followed when the networks began informing the idled late-night staffs that they would be laid off. “We understand the ‘Late Show,’ ” Sheft says. “The fact that other shows fell in line after him is enormous . . . We can march in a circle all day and blog all we want, but, to me, he’s been an off-air supporter. Maybe his greatest potential is as an on-air provocateur.”

“Believe me, all these guys are going crazy,” says one late-night talk show executive. “They’ve had to sit on the sidelines for the last six weeks and watch the world go by without having their soapboxes. It’s hard for them, and it’s getting harder “The fact is they’re talking, but no one wants to be first or the only one, for that matter,” says a knowledgeable network executive. “But I think their power will come in their solidarity. It’s a hot potato.”

[From the New York Post]

It actually does make a lot of sense that the late night hosts could be very vocal advocates for their writers if they choose to come back on the air. It seems like they’ve done the best job they could, and will have stayed off the air for several months in a show of support. A lot of crew and staff members lost their jobs, and most of the late night hosts covered their salaries themselves. If they’re on the air and able to plug their writers every night, that could actually be a good thing. And considering how supportive all the hosts have been so far, I think that’s a reasonable expectation.

In more lighthearted news, both Conan O’Brien and David Letterman have been showing off their “Strike Beards.” Conan even made a YouTube video plugging the strike beard. That’s really not fair, as a woman I can’t show my solidarity by growing a strike beard. I’m trying to figure out what I could do instead… strike hairy legs? Yeah, I’m going with that. “No I’m not lazy, I’m supporting writers!” I will be so extra-dateable now.

Talk about awkward. Former cast member Isaiah Washington joined the cast of Grey’s Anatomy on the WGA picket lines on Wednesday. Washington was fired from the show after he “reportedly” referred to gay castmate T.R. Knight as a “f*g.” According to pretty much everyone who was there and has talked about it, Washington was referring to Knight. According to Washington, he was referring to himself and/or Patrick Dempsey (depending on which of his interviews you read) in a derogatory manner. However he definitely repeated the word at the Golden Globes, leading to one of the most awkward cast interviews in history.

The WGA dubbed Wednesday “Diversity Day,” and requested that writers and actors who are gay or a minority show up on the picket line. Washington is currently on NBC’s “Bionic Woman.”

Even without a script, the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy” generated plenty of drama Wednesday when they showed up to support picketing writers outside the fabled Paramount Studios lot. Katherine Heigl, who plays Izzie Stevens, and T.R. Knight, who plays her on-screen love interest George O’Malley, were posing for pictures and giving interviews - when controversial former cast member Isaiah Washington showed up. Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke, was fired from the show in June amid tension that began when he allegedly used a gay slur to refer to Knight and used the word again during a Golden Globes appearance.

He has since apologized, met with gay leaders and checked into rehab on the advice of his handlers. Grey’s creator and writer Shonda Rhimes [who made the decision to fire Washington], considered one of the most powerful black women in Hollywood, was among those picketing at Paramount. Asked if Washington was with the Grey’s group, Heigl, who had previously publicly criticized Washington told The Daily News, “He’s not with me.”

But Washington denied there were problems with his former co-workers. “They’re former castmates. I’ve been in over 25 movies, I have lots of former castmates.” he said.

[From the Daily News]

Sounds like a pretty awkward reunion to me. And while I’m sure Isaiah Washington has lots of former castmates, to my knowledge he hasn’t referred to any of them with unsavory gay slurs. Frankly if I were in his shoes, I would try to keep a low profile for a few years and do my best to keep getting steady – but not attention-producing – work.

In other WGA strike news, there are some pretty loud rumblings that all of the late night hosts - including Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel – will be returning to their shows in mid-to-late January. Though they all stood by their writers and refused to cross picket lines from the beginning, their shows have lost a massive amount of viewership and most of their staff and crew have been fired. No word on how they’ll return. One would assume less or no monologues or sketches, so probably a mostly interview format. Here’s a funny video about the strike starring Saturday Night Live cast member and writer Fred Armisen as fictional studio head/Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers member (they’re the Writer’s Guild’s foes) Roger A. Trevanti.

Recently engaged author and first daughter Jenna Bush is getting some flak from the Writer’s Guild for crossing picket lines to film a promotional appearance with Ellen DeGeneres. Bush Junior junior is still plugging her book “Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope” about a young woman she met in Latin America who was born with HIV and got pregnant. Touching premise. **Cough cough ghostwriter cough cough** [JayBird looks around nervously]. Remember Jenna is the less-intelligent/harder-partying twin who couldn’t get into Yale even though her dad-the-current-president and her grandfather-the-former-president and twin sister all attended. I know Yale requires the absolute best of the best, but how bad must your grades be if they have to say, “I’m sorry Mr. President, we can only take one twin.” Alright I’m done with the Bush bashing. Jenna’s being called a scab for crossing the picket lines and going on “Ellen” yesterday (airing today). It was ironically pointed out that it’s the President’s job to prevent labor strife. Whoops.

Jenna actually filmed a pretty cute sounding interview. We, the naïve and trusting viewers, are meant to believe that Ellen talks Jenna into an unplanned phone call to her parents, live on the air. It comes off pretty well, which means there’s no way in hell W was surprised. That man can barely string three rudimentary words together with a Speak & Spell; there’s no way he could sound like a semi-normal human being when he’s “surprised” by his daughter calling from a TV show. But let’s play dumb and pretend to think it’s adorable.

Pleasantly prodding the First Daughter during a taping of her show… DeGeneres inquired if Bush could get her high-powered papa on the phone any time she wants. “I usually call him in the evening or in the morning, when I know they’ll both be at home,” said the 26-year-old. “Could you just pick up the phone like right now and call him?” wondered a wide-eyed Ellen. “Sure,” replies Bush. “He’s going to kill me, though.

DeGeneres, meanwhile, says that if Jenna’s parents don’t answer, she’ll get Jenna’s grandfather, former President George Herbert Walker Bush, on the phone, and observes: “We’re not barging in while they’re in their pajamas or something.” Once Bush gets through to First Lady Laura Bush, she says, “Hi, Mom.” Asking how the show is going, Mom says, “I’m not watching you because you’re taping right now.” She also tells her daughter, “I’m just sitting here with Daddy.”

Pipes up Ellen: “I wanted to say hi to Daddy.” And so, the President of the United States comes to the phone, and is told by his offspring, “This is the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Are You Mad?’

“Well, that’s great!” says the surprised Chief Executive, who asks DeGeneres, “How’s my little girl doing?” “Oh, she’s great,” answers the host. “She’s scared she’s going to get in trouble [and] not going to get any Christmas presents.” Pause. “Dad?” asks Jenna. “Yes, baby,” he replies. “Are you mad?” she inquires. “No, not at all,” says President Bush. “I’m excited to talk to you. I’m glad to talk to Ellen.”

[From People]

Yeah it made me feel annoyingly warm and fuzzy too. I’m hoping once it actually airs I’ll find that it’s trite, hackneyed, and cold. Or other negative adjectives. I feel like I’ve been duped, as to read it, it came off as mildly adorable. Now I feel cheap and used. Ahh, now that’s the feeling I’m used to from the Bushes.

The writers’ strike could be over by Christmas. Rumor has it that talks have been successful and that networks and The Writer’s Guild have worked out a deal that is agreeable to both sides. It may take a little while to hammer out the details, though:

As the WGA strike begins its 4th week, I’ve been told positive news about today’s resumption of contract talks between the writers and the producers. So positive, in fact, that I’m almost fearful to post it. But here goes: a very reliable source tells me that there appears to be a deal seemingly in place between both sides.

“It’s already done, basically,” the insider describes. That’s because of the weeks worth of groundwork by the Hollywood agents working the writers guild leadership on one side, and the studio and network moguls on the other. I was told not to expect an agreement this week. But my source thought it was possible that the strike could be settled before Christmas.

[From Huffington Post]

If the strike isn’t settled by December 10, the scheduled Democratic Presidential debate could be postponed as candidates refuse to cross picket lines. It is up to the WGA whether or not they will picket outside the debates, but Edwards, Obama and Clinton have issued statements saying they will not attend the debate if a protest is staged by the WGA. Maybe the impending resolution of the strike will convince the union not to protest, even if they haven’t yet reached an agreement at that point.

The WGA held a rally in NY City’s Washington Square Park yesterday, and were supported by other trade unions including teachers, doctors, and garment workers. Danny Glover, Tim Robbins, and John Edwards spoke at the event.

Carson Daly set himself up for a lifetime of shunning by being the first late night host to defy the strike. He says he is doing it “to support his staffers.”

Meanwhile Ellen Degeneres is not winning any fans by crossing picket lines. The National Enquirer reports this week that guests, including Betty White and Patrick Dempsey, have refused to appear on her show. Ellen canceled a planned trip to NY to tape the show there amid security and protest threats. She was said to be warned by her girlfriend Portia de Rossi that “People are starting to hate you.”

Here’s a list of how many episodes all the shows currently in production have left.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures from yesterday’s rally in NY.

Television shows aren’t the only things suffering because of the writer’s strike. Though they’re impacted in a much more immediate sense (the lag time between when a show is written and when we see it on TV is a lot shorter than with a movie) the film industry is also suffering. Not only are scripts not being written, but rewrites can’t be done for movies that are in (or near) the filming process. One movie that’s suffered is the adaptation of the BBC series “State of Play” which was to star Brad Pitt. But Brad has grown so disillusioned with the current script – which can’t be rewritten – that he’s walked out on the film, leaving everyone in the lurch and potentially exposing himself to litigation.

Brad Pitt is facing possible legal action after quitting his new film amid script concerns. Pitt was set to join Dame Helen Mirren, Edward Norton, Robin Wright Penn and Rachel McAdams in a big-screen adaptation of hit BBC series State of Play. In recent weeks, the heartthrob actor had been in a series of meetings with director Kevin MacDonald over the script, which cannot be worked on at the moment due to the current Hollywood writers strike.

Sources say Pitt, 43, was unhappy the movie did not follow his vision and his sudden departure has left the film’s schedule in limbo. Filming was set to begin on November 15. U.S. reports claim Universal Studios are considering their legal options and may even sue the actor. Hollywood trade paper Variety reports Universal would have the option to sue Pitt if they cannot find a suitable replacement.

A statement from Universal reads: “Brad Pitt has left the Universal Pictures production of State of Play. We remain committed to this project and to the filmmakers, cast members, crew and others who are also involved in making the movie. We reserve all rights in this matter.”

[From the Daily Mail]

The script must be really bad for Brad to walk out on his contract like that. Not only could he possibly get sued, but it will certainly sully any future negotiations with Universal. And it doesn’t make him look very professional. Though to be fair, putting out a bad movie wouldn’t help his career, so he probably weighed his options and figured leaving the project was the least damaging route to take. At first I was a little surprised that the script – which one would assume was written by British writers – couldn’t be worked on because of the Hollywood strike. But several other writer’s guilds aren’t working on any projects involving US productions as a show of solidarity. Something tells me no matter what happens, not much could hurt Brad’s career at this point.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Brad Pitt is shown at the Beowulf movie premiere in London on 11/11/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

The writer’s strike – which shows no end in sight – has led to another round of mass firings, this time by NBC. According to the New York Post, nearly the entire staff of Saturday Night Live has been fired by NBC, including longtime employees. The show immediately ceased production when the strike began – most of its actors started as writers on the show and are members of the Writer’s Guild of America. SNL has had a spotty history in terms of ratings, and hasn’t been doing phenomenally in the last few years. Though they’re certainly not doing their worst, either.

The writers and actors of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock (a lot of whom are SNL alums) got together this weekend and performed their shows live at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in Manhattan. Tickets quickly sold out last week, and all the proceeds went to the Writers Guild’s strike fund.

In its first dramatic move since the beginning of the Writers Guild strike, NBC has fired “nearly the entire production staff” of its struggling, late-night staple, “Saturday Night Live,” sources told Page Six. One tipster told us, ” ‘SNL’ laid off all their staff until further notice. Their production staff, even long-term employees, were let go.” Another source confirmed that “90 percent of the ‘SNL’ staff was fired.”

And while The Washington Post reported yesterday that NBC might lay staff off at Jay Leno’s “Tonight” show, “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and “Last Call With Carson Daly” - all of which immediately went into rerun mode on Nov. 5 - those staffers would at least get paid for two more weeks. But an insider confirmed to us that “SNL” staffers got no severance.

Although no official announcement had been made as of last night about firings at any of NBC’s late-night shows, multiple sources confirmed to us that “SNL” staffers learned of their axing yesterday morning. Reps for NBC declined comment.

[From the New York Post]

I wonder what kind of trickle-down effect the strike could have on other industries. Arnold Schwarzenegger is supposedly working quietly on negotiations and has said that the strike could really impact California’s economy. It seems like most of the talent has squarely lined up behind the writers. A lot of the producers have too – even though the writers are striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers – because a lot of them used to be writers too. According to what’s been reported so far, negotiations this weekend failed to produce any result.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Thanks to the NY Times for these pictures of Saturday Night Live performed this weekend live on stage in Chelsea.