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At a Loss for Words, Colbert Quits 'Race'

Late-night shows become first victims of TV writers' strike

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 5, 2007 5:10 PM CST

(Newser) – Stephen Colbert’s fake dreams of becoming president ended in South Carolina last week, and the Writers Guild strike has put the final nail in the coffin of his White House aspirations. “I am going off the air until I can talk about this without weeping,” the fake candidate said today—not coincidentally, the same day his show was forced into reruns, ABC News reports.

Colbert, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, and Jay Leno—who showed support by arriving at a Burbank picket line bearing doughnuts for the strikers—host some of the first shows to fall victim to the job action: All four, along with "Saturday Night Live," will go into reruns starting immediately, the LA Times reports.

Tina Fey and other members of the Writers Guild of America picket NBC headquarters in New York on Monday, Nov. 5, 2007. Film and TV writers resolved to put down their pens and take up picket signs after last-ditch talks failed to avert a strike. The strike is the first...
Tina Fey and other members of the Writers Guild of America picket NBC headquarters in New York on Monday, Nov. 5, 2007. Film and TV writers resolved to put down their pens and take up picket signs after...   (Associated Press)
Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus lends her support to Writers Guild of America members as they picket Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, Calif., on the first day of the writers strike, Monday, Nov. 5, 2007.  (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)
Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus lends her support to Writers Guild of America members as they picket Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, Calif., on the first day of the writers strike, Monday, Nov. 5, 2007....   (Associated Press)
Picketers march outside the entrance to Paramount Studios in Los Angeles as a strike by film and television writers got under way Monday, Nov. 5, 2007.  The contract between the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producer expired Oct. 31.  Talks that...
Picketers march outside the entrance to Paramount Studios in Los Angeles as a strike by film and television writers got under way Monday, Nov. 5, 2007. The contract between the 12,000-member Writers...   (Associated Press)
Stephen Colbert Gives Book Reading In New York.
Stephen Colbert Gives Book Reading In New York.   (Getty Images (by Event))
Stephen Colbert has abandoned his 2008 Presidential bid.
Stephen Colbert has abandoned his 2008 Presidential bid.   (Getty Images)
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