The Tonight Show, Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and More to Shut Down Immediately Amid Writers Strike

On Monday, the Writers Guild of America officially ordered its members to strike after talks between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) went to the wire with no deal in place, and now, we know the first productions that will be impacted. According to Deadline, late night talk shows — including The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon are shutting down immediately following the calling of the strike with the shows all going dark beginning Tuesday, May 2nd. Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Daily Show will also be impacted. The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, Late Night and The Daily Show will move to airing reruns.

The report also notes that Saturday Night Live, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as expected to also be impacted, though final decisions for them will be made later this week.

"I love writing. I love writing for TV. I love writing this show. I love that we get to come in with an idea for what we want to do every day and we get to work on it all afternoon and then I have the pleasure of coming out here. No one is entitled to a job in show business. But for those people who have a job, they are entitled to fair compensation. They are entitled to make a living. I think it's a very reasonable demand that's being set out by the guild. And I support those demands," Meyers said on Late Night on Monday.

Negotiations between WGA and AMPTP broke down on Monday.

On Monday, AMPTP indicated that no deal had bene reached between the two groups.

"Negotiations between the AMPTP and the WGA concluded without an agreement today. The AMPTP presented a comprehensive package proposal to the Guild last night which included generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals," the AMPTP said. "The AMPTP also indicated to the WGA that it is prepared to improve that offer but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the Guild continues to insist upon. The primary sticking points are 'mandatory staffing,' and 'duration of employment' — Guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not."

The WGA alerted members on Sunday that they should picket should a strike begin this week.

"The greatest amount of leverage we collectively bring to a strike action is the withdrawal of our labor," the guild wrote in an email to its members Sunday afternoon (via Variety). "Picketing is a key tactic to demonstrate that we are all in this together, and that until a strike is resolved, it's not business as usual."

Why is the WGA going on strike?

The main reason is the desire for better pay and residuals in the land of streaming projects. Given this is the first round of serious talks for a new agreement since streaming platforms became the new norm, members of the writer's union feel the pay for shows on streaming doesn't match that of network programming.

According to THR, another sticking point is the WGA's proposal of minimum staff size and employment window. The trade says the AMPTP is seeking out smaller writing staffs and shorter windows writers could be employed.