Five late-night TV hosts: Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, and John Oliver, have announced their return to television following the end of the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) strike.
In a joint statement posted on social media by their podcast, Strike Force Five, which was created to support their staff during the strike, they revealed that their shows will resume on Monday, October 2nd. John Oliver’s show, Last Week Tonight, will also be back on cable TV on Sunday, October 1st.
The statement shared, “Of course, in a greater sense, the Strike Force 5 will never end, because Strike Force 5 is not a place, Strike Force 5 is not a people, Strike Force 5 is barely a podcast… nay, Strike Force 5 is an idea, an idea that five men could talk on top of each other for 12 episodes, and maybe somebody would listen. As we say goodbye, we would like to thank all those somebodies. Truly, you were the heroes. We were mostly the heroes, but you were there too.”
The writers’ strike, which lasted 148 days, came to an end when the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative agreement for a new three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
This agreement was the result of negotiations aimed at addressing the important provisions for the writers. On the other hand, the SAG-AFTRA strike, involving actors and other media professionals, is still ongoing.
It started two months after the WGA strike in July, and the union is waiting for a fair deal from AMPTP. While there is speculation that the success of the writers’ strike could lead to progress in the SAG-AFTRA negotiations, there are no confirmed dates for the meetings between both parties yet.
