How the ‘Late Night Wars’ Parallel the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes

The current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are born of the same corporate foolishness that spawned the ubiquitous ‘wars’ that helped destroy late-night TV.

In the age of the Streaming Wars, the Late Night Wars seem almost quaint. So much drama about which middle-aged white guy got to host which variety talk show after the local news. Yet, when broadcast television was still the biggest game in town, The Tonight Show was one of the most profitable franchises to ever hit the medium. It was so powerful, hosting a second show with the exact same format immediately after it became a TV kingmaker. The Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists are both on strike. It’s such a rare thing, it last happened before Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show. There is little the two situations have in common, practically. But both conflicts reveal those who profit most from creative labor inevitably destroy it because they don’t understand it. And when they do, they blame the failure on “creatives.”

The so-called Late Night Wars came about because of just how successful Johnny Carson was as the host of his show. Folks who are only aware of Carson through cultural…