In the end, truthiness always triumphs

Politicians who have enjoyed six weeks free of late-night ridicule - your time is up.

The gurus of fake news on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" are back - with or without their writers - on Jan. 7. As other late night hosts prepare for their return to the airwaves, Comedy Central announced yesterday that both shows will resume production, despite the ongoing writers strike. The Writers Guild isn't too happy about the decision, issuing this statement in response:

"Comedy Central forcing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air will not give the viewers the quality shows they've come to expect. The only way to get the writing staffs back on the job is for the (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) companies to come back to the table prepared to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild."

Stewart and Colbert - both members of the guild - would rather return to work with their writers, but I speak for viewers everywhere when I say this is a win for America (Colbert would be proud). As enjoyable as it has to see reruns of some of Stewart's and Colbert's best work from the past year - watching Colbert engage Sean Penn in a "Meta-Free-Phor-All" contest refereed by the U.S. poet laureate has to be one of the top ten TV moments this year - a Presidential election year without late-night TV is so, well, 1988.

Worried that no writing staff will make Stewart and Colbert stale? I wouldn't be - they've got two months worth of material to riff on, not to mention all the political gaffes sure to be committed before and after the Iowa Caucus on Jan. 3.

With the Associated Press naming Colbert as their "Person of the Year," it wouldn't be right not to see the mock pundit use his newfound celebrity status for good. Perhaps Colbert could challenge the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to a "digital-sell-through-for-all."

-- Malavika Jagannathan, mjaganna@greenbaypressgazette.com