# Writers' strike....why not show oldies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2007, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-strike-why-not-show-oldies/427897 "2007-11-27T10:12:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-strike-why-not-show-oldies/427897/1 "2007-11-27T10:12:54Z")
My husband and I are currently jonesing for The Daily Show and David Letterman. Obviously, due to the writers strike, they are just showing reruns. Why on earth wouldn’t they just go back and start showing the very first show and continue from there. ( I realize that they couldn’t go all the way back with Letterman, since it was on a different network.) I didn’t start watching the Daily Show until about a year ago and would love to catch some of the earlier episodes. Is there any reason why they don’t do this? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-strike-why-not-show-oldies/427897/2 "2007-11-27T15:57:47Z")
I haven’t been watching the late-night talk shows much since they went to re-runs, but last night I caught _The Tonight Show_ and they ran an old episode…Tom Hanks was the main guest, and he was promoting his new movie, _A League of Their Own_. It was strange watching it, particularly when Hanks started talking about the recent actor’s strike and how it had affected him and his family. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-strike-why-not-show-oldies/427897/3 "2007-11-27T16:30:09Z")
In fact, this week all Tonight Show episodes are classics, featuring the first appearance of certain people on the Leno version of the show. They’ll probably continue doing that for as long as the strike runs. Why don’t they just show them in order? Lots of reasons, starting with the monologues being so dated as to be incomprehensible, the “stars” on many shows being people no one has heard of today, and the fact that Leno was awful for the first couple of seasons. Watching last night’s show reminded me that he’s grown a hundred times better and more relaxed over the years. However, that particular 1992 monologue was hilarious because of the Bush as president references, the Hillary Clinton jokes, and endless comments on Saddam. Now that the Tonight Show is doing it, I wouldn’t be surprised if others copied. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-strike-why-not-show-oldies/427897/4 "2007-11-27T16:45:42Z")
[QUOTE=Hazle Weatherfield] Why on earth wouldn’t they just go back and start showing the very first show and continue from there. ( I realize that they couldn’t go all the way back with Letterman, since it was on a different network.) I didn’t start watching the Daily Show until about a year ago and would love to catch some of the earlier episodes. Is there any reason why they don’t do this? Thanks! [/QUOTE] I’ve wondered about that too. They only seem to do re-runs from about the past year. However, you do know that every single episode of The Daily Show since Jon took over is on line, right? [www.thedailyshow.com](http://www.thedailyshow.com). All the early stuff is wonderful. Supposedly they’ll be adding the Craig Kilborn years sooner or later.