What to expect from Strike Force Five, the new podcast from the hosts of Late Night TV Shows: NPR

The late-night heavyweights are putting their strength to shame in a new podcast, sharing this photo on the show’s Instagram page.

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The late-night heavyweights are putting their strength to shame in a new podcast, sharing this photo on the show’s Instagram page.

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Late night’s biggest names have turned their group chat into a podcast on Spotify. Fifth Strike Force. All proceeds will go to support their employees during the writers’ strike.

who are they?

• The hosts of the shows are arguably most immediately affected by the strikes: Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon.

What is the big deal?

• We are about to enter the fifth month since the Writers Guild of America strike on May 2. Since then, all night shows have ceased and the staff has remained unemployed. According to the first episode of Fifth Strike Force podcast, all proceeds from the show will go to support their employees during the strike.
• Members of the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA have also been on strike since July. Under the strike agreement, union members are not allowed to promote the Hollywood products of which they are a part — the bread and butter of many nightly shows.
• In the first episode, the hosts explain that when a strike was imminent, the five of them spoke regularly via Zoom to find out ways to support their staff. This show was the result.

Writers march in a picket line on the second day of the TV and film writers’ strike outside Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on May 3.

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Want more about popular culture? Listen to Consider this Explore whether we are offline Witnessed the death of movie stars.

What do people say?

• “I immediately thought it was a great idea,” said Bill Carter, author of two books on late-night television. Late shift And Late night war. “These guys have been sidelined, along with everyone else. They also get along really well, which is unusual for a late-night date.”
• Back in the writers’ strike of 2007 and 2008, David Letterman had his own company, which allowed him to strike his own deal with the union and return to broadcasting. Other shows returned with the union’s blessing before the strike ended and produced shows without their writers to help support the rest of the show’s staff.
• Carter notes that he is a dues-paying member of the Writers Guild of America. Some NPR employees are also members of SAG-AFTRA, but they work under a different contract.
• The first episode of Fifth Strike Force It performs well on the charts. As of this writing, it is currently at the top of the Apple Podcast Which is number two on the Spotify chart.

So what now?

• The show is scheduled to be 12 episodes.
• If the premiere is any indication, we can safely assume that there will be more stories, banter, and war than the hosts’ time in the Hollywood trenches.

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