TV Hot Spot: News

'Last Call' Back on Call!

Post by: Sal


The latest of all late-night shows is going back into production, becoming the first network talker to go back into production since the start of the writers' strike.

"Last Call with Carson Daly" is likely to begin taping new episodes this week for air in early December, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The NBC show airs at 1:35 a.m. ET weeknights, the latest start time of any of the after-primetime talk shows.

The show will resume production without its writers, of course, who have been on strike for three weeks. The show's return will, however, let other members of its staff who would otherwise be laid off collect a paycheck. NBC has said it would pay employees of its late-night shows through the end of this month, but there are no guarantees beyond that.

While Daly's show is the first late-night program to resume duirng the strike, it's not the first talk show, period. That distinction belongs to Ellen DeGeneres' syndicated daytime show, and DeGeneres has taken a considerable amount of criticism for beginning to tape shows within the first week of the strike.

NBC's other late-night offerings -- "Saturday Night Live," "The Tonight Show" and "Late Night" -- along with CBS' "Late Show" and "Late Late Show" and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," remain in reruns. David Letterman's World Wide Pants production company, which owns both "The Late Show" and "The Late Late Show," has told its employees that they'll be paid through the end of the year, regardless of the shows' status.

Take Care,

Sal