Late Night TV Returns Tonight

It’s a big night for all you night owls and I suppose TV in general. Tonight marks the return of late night TV as Letterman, Leno, O’Brien, Kimmel and Ferguson all resume their posts behind their desks. As you probably all know, the late night talk shows have been dark since the WGA strike began back on November 5th. Controversy surrounds the decision of these hosts to return to the air, but with the networks threatening to fire all the employees working on these shows, the hosts are reluctantly going back to work.

Don’t expect business as usual for most of these shows. Only The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson are returning with writers due to a special deal that Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, struck with the WGA. For all the other guys, they’re going to have to rely on their own wit and charm to get them through the shows. There’s an assumption that the opening monologue will be canned but no word yet on how the formats of these shows will be affected by the lack of writers.

But here’s what really has me intrigued – just how will the talk show hosts cover the WGA strike? Obviously everyone will have to address the issue at some point, but just how much will they say, and more importantly what will the networks allow them to say? As all eyes will be on late night programming tonight, it would be a wonderful forum to help build up support for the plight of the WGA, but will the networks allow it on their dime?

As this came together so quickly, there hasn’t been much news as to who the celebrity guests will be tonight. Letterman has announced that Robin Williams will be on the couch (and hopefully on his Ridalin), and I believe Leno has Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (which to be honest, I’m not sure I can stomach watching), but as for the other shows, I just don’t know. If I find out anything, I’ll be sure to come back and let you know. No matter who the guests are, it’s going to be an interesting night of television.

I’ll be watching all of the late night shows tonight. Will you?