Carson Daly: The jokes aren't on him

There were some rumors earlier this month that "The Tonight Show" would be returning to the airwaves without Jay Leno. Leno refuses to  
cross picket lines, and according to reports has been providing support on a daily basis to the writers. According to Reuters, NBC has instead decided to air "vintage" episodes of "The Tonight Show" while production stays shut down.

David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, which produces "The Late Show" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," has announced that they intend to continue paying crew members despite production being halted during the strike.

Carson Daly is the first late night show host to cross the picket lines and restart production of his late night show. Did Daly learn how to write all of his own material and produce the show with his experience on MTV's Total Request Live? No, but he did make some contacts that he hopes will build enough material for him to put together his show.

According to The Smoking Gun, Daly sent out an e-mail to a small group of e-mail contacts, asking them to contribute jokes to a telephone  
hotline that he has set up. The full email is online  
at TSG.

Presidential debate cancelled

The writer's strike has forced the Democratic National Committee to cancel the debate previously scheduled for December 10 at the CBS studios in Los Angeles. According to Reuters, several of the candidates said that they would not cross the picket lines to participate. The DNC has no plans to schedule to the debate.

Reality TV comes early, despite show pickups.

Big Brother fans may be interested to hear that CBS is looking for Big Brother Winter contestants to go into the house in the midseason.

The show normally starts during the summer TV season. There are no definitive plans for an early run, but auditions did take place last weekend.

NBC has announced that "Life" and "Chuck" have both been picked up with full season orders. FX has renewed the legal drama "Damages."  
Production cannot begin on the new episodes until the writer's strike has come to a close.

Fundraisers and fan support continues

Have you ever wanted a call from Lex Luthor? Recently "Smallville" fans received an e-mail from executive producers of "Smallville," which
announced that Michael Rosenbaum will select and call a few people who contribute to the upcoming Pencils2Moguls campaign. When you donate, simply tell them you are supporting "Smallville" and your name will be added to the drawing. To see the full email, visit UnitedHollywood For information on the Pencils2Moguls campaign click here.

A major "Criminal Minds" fan blog has setup a "Criminal Minds Appreciate Fund" to go towards paying the crew members who are out of work due to the strike. Check out their blog Criminal Minds Fanatic or their eBay auction.