‘Gutfeld!’ Will Be Only Late-Night Talk Show to Keep Cranking New Episodes During Writer’s Strike

Fox News’ new late-night juggernaut “Gutfeld!” will keep cranking episodes during the writer’s strike, the only network-based late-night show to stay on the air – and its viewers shouldn’t notice any difference.

That’s because “Gutfeld!” writers are non-guild, according to the network, and are not participating in Hollywood’s first labor stoppage in 15 years. The late-night broadcast writers for Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers are all members of the Writer’s Guild of America, and all went dark on Tuesday.

Other shows, like “The View,” are forging ahead without their guild writers. The ABC roundtable talk show went on Tuesday, with host Whoopi Goldberg apologizing in advance that their banter would be less polished with all its writers out on strike.

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But “Gutfeld!” will continue as if nothing happened. That’s fortunate for Fox, which re-launched the late-night entrant two years ago to wild success; “Gutfeld!” often out-paces its broadcast late-night competitors in total viewers (though its shifted air-time and demographic frailties means it’s not a clean, apples-to-apples comparison).

As its once-mighty 8 p.m. slot hemorrhages viewers now that Tucker Carlson is out, Fox will be grateful to keep that train rolling while its competition founders.

“Gutfeld!” averaged 1.8 million total viewers in the month of April, better than “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” and “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.” And three times now “Gutfeld!” has bested “Late Night With Stephen Colbert” in total viewers, putting it in the conversation for “most-watched” show in late night, depending on the month.

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