The Write Thing To Do

I find myself on the horns of a mighty dilemma. After resolving my ambivalence about Oreos without trans fat, I am now faced with a decision that I would rather not make. Late-night talk shows are beginning to surrender to the inevitable and ugly pressure of a protracted writers' strike. I found it easy to sneer at Ellen DeGeneres as she came back to work after a few days of intense introspection, or roughly the same number of shows that she missed because of the whole "Iggy Incident". Then Carson Daly caved. Would we have expected any different from a guy whose talent level puts him on a par with Tara Reid?

Now several more weeks have passed. There have been heroic stories of stars sacrificing their salaries and paying their writing staff out of their own pockets. There has been amazing shows of solidarity. Until now. Today, leaders of striking television writers plan to meet with David Letterman's production company in an attempt to reach a separate deal that could return the "Late Show" to the air with its writing staff. In a joint statement, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert said: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

I too am feeling that nuanced ambivalence. Do I continue to steer clear of shows that General Electric and Viacom dangle in front of me, relying on reruns or even (gasp) reading a book? I miss my nightly dose of snickering at the world through the lens of Stewart and Colbert. I have a couple of weeks off, and I could actually stay up late enough to watch David Letterman if I wanted to. The irony being this is precisely the kind of thing I look for these guys to provide me with some perspective.

Ah well, since I can't figure it out tonight, I guess I'll just nip out into the kitchen and have myself a few more of those Oreos.