Jay Jay the Jet Plane

JAY LENO says he supports the striking writers, but the feeling ain't mutual. The Writers Guild of America said yesterday that The Tonight Show host broke its rules by writing and telling jokes when his late night program returned Wednesday night for its first all-new show since the strike began nearly two months ago. The Guild didn't specify what, if anything, it plans to do in response to Leno's infraction.

The issue appears to be that Leno is a WGA member, which means when he wrote and performed his own jokes Wednesday night, he broke the rule prohibiting members from, quote, "performing any writing services during a strike for any and all struck companies."

Leno didn't address the budding controversy on last night's episode of The Tonight Show, but NBC spoke out on his behalf. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the network defended Leno by saying, quote, "The WGA agreement permits Jay Leno to write his own monologues for The Tonight Show. The WGA is not permitted to implement rules that conflict with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the studios and the WGA."

Leno hasn't been shy about expressing his support for striking writers, handing out doughnuts on the picket line and mentioning on Wednesday's show that he's on their side. When asked to comment on the alleged infraction, a publicist for Leno said the comedian was, quote, "busying himself with the show."

And now....Jay Scab-eoo!!

NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was one of five late night shows to resume broadcasting yesterday, but it did so without reaching a deal with the striking writers, which seemed to throw off Leno's first guest, Republican presidential candidate MIKE HUCKABEE.

The former Arkansas governor created a stir before he appeared on the program when it was pointed out to him on the Iowa stump that he would be crossing a picket line to appear. Huckabee responded that he thought the writers had come to an agreement to keep all late night shows on the air. In fact, that deal was only reached with The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The Tonight Show did not use any writers on last night's show.

Huckabee elected to keep his commitment to appear on the show, but his campaign released a statement prior to the broadcast that read, in part:

"The Governor would only agree to join Jay, an active member of the Writers Guild, for the taping after he was assured that no replacement writers were being used in the show's production. Governor Huckabee believes that the writers deserve to be fairly compensated for the sale of their work. Governor Huckabee is glad that Jay Leno was able to put his 160 employees back to work and he strongly encourages both sides of the current labor dispute to work diligently toward an equitable solution for all parties involved."

Several protesters picketed outside The Tonight Show studio yesterday in Burbank, California, one of whom carried a sign saying, quote, "Huckabee is a scab." WGA chief negotiator JOHN BOWMAN said of Huckabee's professed ignorance, quote, "Huckabee claims he didn't know. I don't know what that means in terms of trusting him as a future president."

The Writers Guild of America released a statement about Huckabee's decision to sit down with Leno. It said it was, quote, "disappointed" in the politician and recommended he, quote, "respect our picket lines in the future and urge the media conglomerates to return to the bargaining table..."

Strrrike Three...Yer Out!

Hollywood and New York film and television writers are on strike today after last-minute efforts to negotiate an agreement failed yesterday. A federal mediator had called a meeting between both sides -- the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers -- but those talks ended after East Coast members of the writers union declared they were on strike.

The writers, whose most recent contract expired last week, are striking for the first time in nearly 20 years. One of the key issues is how much writers receive from DVD sales and use of their work on the Internet and in other new media. Late-night talk shows will immediately suffer from a strike, since their monologues reference current events. Perhaps in anticipation of the strike, The Tonight Show and The Daily Show have scheduled reruns for this week.

Primetime TV shows and the movie industry won't be as affected by a strike -- at least in the short term -- since they have scripts in reserve. However, if those scripts run out before the strike ends, many television seasons will be shortened.