Chris W writes with the following question, which has also been asked by others…
Why can't Leno make an interim deal for the Tonight Show (with his writers, for that matter)? In theory, all he'd need to do is have a commitment that he and the writers would be paid retroactively according to whatever deal is reached, wouldn't he? It would be neat (and very funny) if he took the opportunity to go back, and dissed the producers at every opportunity.
They're taking the show away from him anyway, and since guests and entertainment would be sparse, why not? He can show how well he works under pressure, for a show he's going to lose no matter what, a show that NBC (presumably) regards as a jewel in its crown, and would be faced with losing in a way they hadn't considered with the re-runs. He might even have Letterman on as a guest, and just think of how much fun they'd have complaining about NBC. No writers needed, just two funny guys making fun of the suits on a prime network show when it's practically the only game in town. My info comes from your blog, but it certainly looks like Leno (and Letterman) believe in the strike, and aren't going to undermine it for bad reasons.
I don't know if they particularly believe in the strike or just in solidarity with their fellow writers or both. Both men are WGA members, both men receive writing credits on their shows and both men surely consider the verbal ideas they come up with, before and even during a show, to constitute writing contributions. If Leno's going to be back, doing his show without his writing staff and performing any sort of monologue, he's going to have to reconcile what he does with the charge that he is violating his union's picket line. Writing a joke for yourself to tell is still writing.
In any case, I would think the chances of Leno getting Letterman on as a guest, or Dave welcoming Jay onto his stage, aren't much better than the odds of getting Abbott and Costello back together again to perform "Who's on First?"
But to get to your main question: No, Leno can't just make a deal as Letterman is reportedly about to do. The Writers Guild enters into contracts with production companies. Dave's show is produced by his outfit, Worldwide Pants. Worldwide Pants can sign an interim agreement with the WGA that will cover all its shows. Jay's show is produced by NBC. The official position of NBC and its parent company, Universal, is presently that the Writers Guild's demands are outrageous and will destroy the industry and must be seriously reduced before any company with an ounce of sanity could sign onto them. NBC is part of that group that walked out of the negotiations and said it wasn't coming back until we came to our senses.
That is why it is a bit remarkable that CBS (which is also part of that Alliance in the AMPTP) is not forbidding Letterman to make such a deal. They are perhaps even seeing it as a good thing for them in that it will get a couple of their most important shows back into new episodes. During the '88 WGA strike, the networks were pretty firm in not allowing suppliers to make interim deals with the Guild. I would guess that CBS and/or the AMPTP will have a press release out in the next day or so which will try to spin this as follows: Yes, it might not be a disaster for David Letterman's company to sign an interim deal since it doesn't do reality programming, animation, shows with DVD potential, etc., but it would be suicide for any other company to sign the dreaded WGA agreement.
There would even be some truth to the idea that Worldwide Pants would not be impacted as much as, say, Sony or Disney. Still, it's a chip out of the stonewall that the studios have erected. If other chips follow, it might be quite significant.