He's Not Your Monkey

Been meaning to get to this all week. The New York Times got all catty about Jon Stewart's return without his writers, people who he's worked with for close to a decade and to whom he owes his success. How dare he not treat us all to some of that acerbic wit, and how dare he "educate" his viewers about why he's been off the air for nine weeks:

Instead of the latest primary mishaps, Mr. Stewart devoted most of his mock news show to the writers’ strike and to his own decision to return to work without writers (or censors: he let off several obscenities that were not bleeped in time) [...]

Last night, Mr. Stewart’s vexation was keener than his wit.

He likened the “Speechless” ads, a series of bleak, self-righteous black and white video spots on the guild’s Web site, to an anti-AIDS public service message. He noted that late-night talk shows stayed dark for just one week after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, whereas the current strike — a dispute over Internet revenues — had lasted nine weeks. And he joked, somewhat sourly, that by that calculation, “the writers’ strike is nine times worse than 9/11.”

His sole interview for the night was with Ron Seeber, a professor of labor relations at Cornell University, who failed to clarify why the strike was going on so long. (That's silly - he was brought on to talk about labor relations in general -ed.)

Mr. Stewart had funny moments. But overall, the show was a jarring display of solipsism from a performer famous for expertly tweaking the vanity and self-importance of politicians and conventional news organizations. Mr. Stewart is just as merciless when it comes to the self-serving compromises and moral ambiguities of other institutions. And his position was certainly ambiguous: he was resentful of the producers and angry at the writers’ representatives, who so far have failed either to reach an agreement or to grant Comedy Central a special exemption for “The Daily Show.”

It's solipsism, then, to discuss an issue which has far broader importance than who's winning or losing in New Hampshire. Just because labor issues rarely, if ever, appear in newspapers like The New York Times doesn't mean they don't have significance to anyone who works for a living. The WGA strike is a teachable moment, an opportunity to understand a labor issue because it involves something we all experience. Just because Stewart isn't being funny about what you want him to be funny about, doesn't mean he's not being funny. Or instructive.

For the record I thought both Stewart and Colbert did a great job this week under tough circumstances. As more companies settle with their writers, hopefully they won't have to continue that way for long.

(I don't know whether the Director's Guild negotiations set for next week are good or bad for the writers. Perhaps it will create pressure for an industry-wide agreement, but the DGA hasn't put up much of a fight in year's past.)

UPDATE: The AMPTP being a bunch of assholes. What a surprise.

AMPTP staffers, consultants and members (especially corporate publicity departments) are busily posting comments on WGA-friendly websites and blogs that Hollywood visits regularly and filling them with hate-filled rants against the WGA leadership, the A-list actors, and the companies who've made WGA side deals. The goal is to turn off readers and drive traffic away and in the process spread pro-AMPTP propaganda and make it look as if the strike is breaking apart.

News Corp. No. 2 Peter Chernin realized the AMPTP was losing the PR war and was most responsible for bringing in Fabiani and Lehane as the AMPTP's public affairs consultants since his company has a close relationship with them. Fabiani and Lehane were paid by News Corp. to orchestrate a 2004 campaign organizing advocacy groups by race and ethnicity to hammer Nielsen Media Research over its plans to modernize how it measures viewing habits.

Warner Bros Chairman Barry Meyer has handpicked the AMPTP paid mouthpieces who have spread the AMPTP's insults and disinformation about the WGA leadership.

The other day, an AMPTP consultant tried to start a rumor that a WGA exec was connected to child pornography.
The AMPTP repeatedly lies that the WGA has "a $30 million PR fund" to spread public information about the strike when the reality is that the WGA's entire communications budget is several hundred thousand dollars.