From: nebusj-@-rpi-.edu   
      
   "Tony Linguini"  writes:   
      
   >On 22-Oct-2007, Jim Ellwanger  wrote:   
      
   >> In article ,   
   >>  nebusj-@-rpi-.edu (Joseph Nebus) wrote:   
   >>   
   >> >   1.  Nine-tenths of the Writers Guild has voted to authorize   
   >> > their representatives to call a strike should it prove necessary, as   
   >> > it is awfully anticipated to be, after the current contract expires   
   >> > at the end of November.  Assuming that the strike does happen, what   
   >> > does Late Night do?   
   >>   
   >> Same thing "Late Night with David Letterman" did for the last writers'   
   >> strike in 1988 -- go into reruns.  (And then, if I recall correctly,   
   >> they eventually came back, without much actual comedy material -- no   
   >> jokes in the opening announcement, no Top Ten lists, and so on.)   
      
   >I remember that.  Wasn't there some loophole which allowed Dave (and Johnny   
   >Carson on the "Tonight Show") to write his own material without violating   
   >the strike rules?  I missed having "Viewer Mail" during that time period.   
      
   	Yes; if I'm not mistaken the argument was that if they didn't   
   actually write anything but instead improvised, then they weren't doing   
   anything which required writers and therefore they were in the clear.   
   I believe that both also waited several months of gradually driving   
   themselves crazy before starting this, so that there wasn't a particular   
   odor of them being scabs even if it was honest scabs.   
      
   	That's why, yeah, Jim's really right; the show goes into reruns   
   for an indefinite stretch if the strike happens.  But I do expect that   
   Conan's workaholic traits, if he isn't able to channel them into a book   
   or something harmless like that, will drive him eventually to start   
   doing new writer-free shows, which would be exciting.  Think of the   
   loose weirdness of Conan rambling on his own without script and little   
   chance to turn his thoughts about gold robots (or whatnot) into something   
   that makes literal sense; that usually stands out even above a really   
   good scripted segment.   
      
   	Of course, that's a great deal of fun as a breaking away from   
   the confines of a normally written (and well-written) show.  It would   
   be different as a regular diet, and maybe less fun.   
      
      
   	As for the other question -- I haven't bought anything that I've   
   noticed from a banner ad, and to be honest notice them so little that   
   they're probably safer than readme.txt as a way of hiding material from   
   me.  But obviously someone is buying stuff through them, or else the   
   whole of Silicon Valley is built on a whimsical soap bubble of capitalist   
   folly and surely we wouldn't be in that situation again so soon, would   
   we?   
      
   --   
   								Joseph Nebus   
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