Some WGA members are disappointed that the late night hosts are going back to work despite our strike. I think it hurts the strike effort but only a little. The networks still cannot produce most of their prime-time shows. The movie studios still cannot deliver most of the desired product to their marketplace.
One upside to Dave, Jay, Conan, Jimmy, Craig, Jon and Stephen restarting their shows is that the news coverage in their country will be less impaired. Earlier today, I was talking to a friend of mine who I'd consider well-versed in what's going on in the world. He had not heard of the recent embarrassment where Mitt Romney was found to have fabricated a tale he's been telling for years about watching his father march with Dr. Martin Luther King. Romney's staff has admitted it's not true — one spokesperson said "He was speaking figuratively, not literally" — which sure doesn't square with the actual quotes.
A candidate for public office lying? I have a feeling it's not the first time. But Mitt is lucky that Dave, Jay, Conan (etc.) aren't on to make it into the week's running gag. Not all that long ago, Al Gore said a few things that were not really lies but could be viewed as such if you were out to slam the guy. His opponents did a good job of selling the idea that the alleged fibs proved not just that Gore said something untrue but that they were proof that he was a congenital liar, incapable of speaking the truth…someone not to be believed if he just told you what time it was.
And now here we have Romney getting caught telling a truly untrue tale and repeating it on many occasions…and he may get a pass on it because the late night hosts aren't taping. People aren't hearing about it the way they'd hear about it if The Daily Show was current. Hillary Clinton and her husband have said some embarrassing things lately in besmirching her opposition and they're not paying much of a price for it, either.
So while I'm disappointed those hosts are coming back, there is this. Maybe now more people will know what's going on in the world.