Leno is feuding with Hollywood writers

PASADENA, Calif. — To say Jay Leno is not a favorite of Hollywood writers would be an understatement.

As far as most writers are concerned, Leno is at least indirectly responsible for costing them jobs. Because his new Monday-Friday, 9-10 p.m. show will be taking five hours of prime time out of play for them.

It's a charge that clearly annoys Leno. Annoys him enough that he can't help but let that I'm-such-a-nice-guy mask slip a bit when he's asked about it.

"Well, let's look at all of the fine scripted dramas. 'The Biggest Loser'? 'Dateline'? Not really," he said.

There's also lingering resentment against Leno for going back to work on "Tonight" before the Writers Guild of America settled its strike.

"I think Jay's very careful to say anything positive of writers after what he did during the strike," said veteran producer/writer Peter Tolan ("Rescue Me," "The Larry Sanders Show," "Home Improvement").

You could argue that Leno undermined the WGA, but you could also argue — as Leno did — that he returned to work to save the jobs of his entire staff, who NBC had threatened to fire.

And he's quick to point out that it's not like his show employs members of the WGA.

"The thing that sort of annoys me is the fact that we use writers," Leno said. In fact, he insisted, his writers are "in the top 5 percent of the highest-paid writers in the guild."

And, he said, he has lots of writers — "probably not as many as five different dramas, but you'd be surprised."

"So in terms of taking work away from people, I don't think so. I think you are just switching it over here. OK, instead of drama writers, OK, now you have comedy writers. If you want to say drama writers are better than comedy writers, you are welcome to say that. I don't necessarily agree."

That's going a bit beyond just defensive into just plain hostile. And a misrepresentation — no writers are saying that. However, Leno feels he's been unfairly put on the defensive.

"But the reality is 40 people, essentially, were put out of work by canceling five hours of dramatic programming," said writer/producer Graham Yost ("Boomtown," "Band of Brothers"). "So it's actually incredibly hard. There's great people out there. And it's kind of heartbreaking."