Dec 20, 2007 10:10 pm US/Pacific
Daily Show, Colbert Report To Return In January
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
Comedy Central's faux news programs "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" will return to the air with new shows on Jan.7, following the lead of late-night talk show hosts who plan to resume live programming despite the writers' strike.
"The January 7 return follows a scheduled two-week, end-of-year hiatus that was previously built into the shows' production calendars," Comedy Central officials said in a statement. "We continue to hold out hope for a swift resolution to the current stalemate that will enable the shows to be complete again."
In a joint statement, hosts Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert said, "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."
Late-night talk show hosts Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel have all announced plans to return to the air on Jan. 2. David Letterman's production company has been negotiating directly with writers in hopes of returning with new programs after the new year.
The hosts all said they respect the striking Writers Guild of America members, but want to return to work so their non-writing staffs will not be laid off.
The writers strike is in its seventh week, and no new talks are scheduled between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The two sides are at loggerheads over payment for work distributed over the Internet.
"Comedy Central forcing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air will not give the viewers the quality shows they've come to expect," the WGA said in a statement. "The only way to get the writing staffs back on the job is for the AMPTP to come back to the table prepared to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild."
Meanwhile, the WGA, West announced that it has agreed to allow its striking writers work on the Independent Spirit Awards ceremony, which is scheduled for Feb. 23 in Santa Monica.
"Film Independent came to us before the strike, and the WGAW board decided to grant an interim agreement allowing for writing services for the Spirit Awards," according to the WGA.
The WGA turned down requests for waivers from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for writers to work on the Golden Globe Awards. The union also refused a request by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to use clips from films and past Oscar broadcasts during the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
