Somehow, Leno stayed on top
The late-night host comes out of the writers strike unscathed in the ratings.
The strike by the Writers Guild of America ended not a moment too soon for Jay Leno. After 100 days, the guests were wearing thin.
Larry the Cable Guy made his fourth appearance just this week on NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." Animal ambassador Joan Embery -- the sixth animal act in as many weeks -- dropped by with another passel of critters.
"We thought we had seen every animal there was, but we dug around the backyard and found some more," Leno said during Wednesday's show as he welcomed Embery, whose menagerie included chinchillas and Siamese fighting fish.
In danger of falling behind his chief rival, "The Late Show With David Letterman," Leno in fact emerged from the strike unscathed -- even with one hand tied behind his back because, for much of the writers walkout, he was operating at a disadvantage.
"The Tonight Show" and the other late-night talk shows went into reruns when the strike began Nov. 5. To demonstrate solidarity with his staff of 19 striking writers, Leno frequently visited picket lines outside NBC in Burbank, where his head writer served as a strike captain. Like other late-night TV talk-show hosts, Leno paid nonwriting staffers out of his own pocket for a few weeks.
But NBC, which has been struggling in the prime-time ratings, was anxious to get "The Tonight Show" back on the air. The show is one of the most reliably profitable programs on the network: Last year it generated more than $150 million in advertising revenue and earned a profit of about $50 million, according to people familiar with the show's finances.
So, two months into the strike, Leno crossed picket lines to go back on the air with new shows.
At the time, Leno was facing a depressing coda to his successful career on NBC. With only about 18 months left on his contract, the ratings race had tightened during the reruns, threatening his crown.
Then the WGA struck an interim deal with the company owned by Leno's nemesis David Letterman, which produces "The Late Show With David Letterman" and "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson." The two CBS shows were able to return to the air in January with their writers penning fresh Top 10 lists and jokes.
But not Leno. NBC, which owns "The Tonight Show," was a struck company and writers were forbidden to work for it.
