NBC - TONIGHT SHOW STAFF RECEIVE LAY-OFF NOTICES

TONIGHT SHOW STAFF RECEIVE LAY-OFF NOTICES

NBC has notified the staffs of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night With Conan O'Brien that they will be laid off at the end of this week, Broadcasting and Cable reported on its website Monday. The trade publication also noted that the Tonight staff could be brought back as early as Nov. 19 if NBC goes ahead with plans to air the show with guest hosts on that day. Executive producer Debbie Vickers told the trade publication, "We want to protect the staff, who have been loyal to this show for decades, in the same way that Johnny Carson reluctantly returned without his writers in 1988." The show's head writer, Joe Medeiros, expressed anger at the decision of the network to lay off staff so precipitously and noted that it had already turned off his NBC email account.

13/11/2007