Bill Maher plans to bring back “Real Time” to HBO without writers, the first of TV’s phalanx of late-night hosts to try and re-start one of the programs despite the continuing Hollywood strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
“Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing.” Maher said on social media Wednesday night. “It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction, but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns.” All of TV’s late-night shows, ranging from NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” to Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” have gone dark since the writers went on strike earlier this year.
Maher is likely to draw some ire. Drew Barrymore has started production on her daytime talk show and writers and others picketed the New York production.
An HBO spokesperson could not be reached immediately for comment, nor could Sheila Griffiths, one of Maher’s longtime executive producers on “Real Time.”
Maher said the version of “Real Time” he does without writers will be significantly different than the show’s typical format. “I will honor the spirit of the strike by not doing a monologue, desk piece, New Rules or editorial, the written pieces that I am so proud of on Real Time. And I’ll say it upfront to the audience: the show I will be doing without my writers will not be as good as our normal show, full stop. But the heart of the show is an off-the-cuff panel discussion that aims to cut through the bullshit and predictable partisanship, and that will continue. The show will not disappoint.”
But he also indicated he felt the show had to go on, no matter who would not be able to participate. “I love my writers, I am one of them, but I’m not prepared to lose an entire year and see so many below-the-line people suffer so much.”
More to come…