Management in Action

Must-See Quarantine TV

Late-night TV has been a mainstay of network television forgenerations. Johnny Carson entertained audiences for a few decadesstarting in the 1960s before being replaced by the likes of DavidLetterman and Jay Leno in the 1980s and1990s.¹⁷¹ Today, the three most watched hosts,Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel, each bring in tensof millions of viewers and more than $400 million in ad revenue peryear.¹⁷²

Late-night TV shows may have different hosts, but their livestudio-audience format is largely similar. They typically startwith a monologue poking fun at the day’s news and prerecorded orlive skits. This is followed by celebrity interviews and musicalperformances. Most shows have an announcer, house band, and dozensof stage crew, writers, producers, and others that make it allhappen. It takes a high-performing team to deliver a high-qualityshow. But what happens when a pandemic leaves studios empty,prohibits famous guests from traveling, and restricts hosts totheir houses? That’s exactly what happened during the COVID-19outbreak.¹⁷³

Let’s shine a spotlight on what many called “Quarantine TV.”

IN-HOUSE PRODUCTION, LITERALLY

Samantha Bee, host of the Emmy Award-winning late-nightshow Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, was filming asegment for her show when she encountered an issue she had neverdealt with before. “There was literally a screeching hawk, circlingup in the sky,” she recalled. Bee wasn’t filming at some exoticlocation overseas, she was actually on set—at her house. She askedher new makeshift production crew, her husband and three children,to please hold shooting for hawk sounds. “You have to be OK withwhatever nature provides. This is really uncharted territory forany of us,” she said.¹⁷⁴

Bee wasn’t alone in a new world of late-night TV production dueto the COVID-19 pandemic. Social-distancing and self-quarantiningguidelines meant hosts had to work virtually with limitedresources. Molly McNearney, the co-head writer and a producer ofABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, said it took three hours toshoot a six-minute monologue with host Jimmy Kimmel. “He’s used tohaving a teleprompter guy and a team of 140 people helping himthere,” she said.¹⁷⁵ Instead, Kimmel and otherhosts used iPhones and videoconferencing tools to record segmentsand celebrity interviews.

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COLLABORATING TO SERVE AN AUDIENCE IN SHOCK

Hosts may be the face of a show, but there are dozens—if nothundreds—of individuals on these late-night teams making sure itall goes as smoothly as possible. Late-night show content typicallyreflects daily events and what society is thinking, which writersquickly incorporate into the show’s monologue, skits, and questionsfor celebrity guests. This requires efficient and collaborativeprocesses. First, producers source the most interesting andimportant material. After the material has been developed, writersscript it in a way that draws laughs. Then different crews, such asvideo, audio, and makeup, act to meet taping deadlines. After allof this has been completed, editors enter the process to make surethe show meets broadcast standards.

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted this interconnected system byshutting down lavish Hollywood and New York studios. Productioncrews scrambled from their homes, trying to connect virtually tomeet deadlines. The Tonight Show showrunnerGavin Purcell needed to change his team’s processes in order toensure the show could keep airing and entertaining the millions whowere quarantined at home. Purcell developed new virtual norms withan understanding that the same on-set resources everyone was usedto weren’t going to be there. “We’re now trying to create anormalcy, in a world where nothing is normal right now, but we’retrying to make it so that the actual production of it is a littlebit more simplified and put systems in place.”¹⁷⁶

These production systems were incredibly important in a worldthat was reeling from a pandemic and looking for some late-night TVstress relief before bed. “We are a staff of planners, and eventhough this is something you could never plan for, those skills arecoming in handy,” said Late Night with SethMeyers showrunner Mike Shoemaker. Shoemaker, whose showwas being filmed in host Meyers’ attic crawl space, needed to guidea team that was highly performing, but regressed to its moreprimitive days due to inexperience with virtual technology and theneed for new roles. “Every day a new problem arises that literallynever existed before and we problem-solve the solution for nexttime. Then something completely different goeswrong.”¹⁷⁷

Working in a virtual environment was particularly difficult forwriters whose creativity is predicated on timing, banter, andconstant collaboration with teammates. “If I had a joke idea orcould punch up somebody else’s joke, I would just walk over totheir office, say it to them, and walk back. It’s done in about 12seconds,” said The Tonight Show writer GerardBradford. “Now it takes maybe five minutes, because you have toe-mail or text that person and wait for them to reply.” Virtualshows also meant no studio audiences, so writers couldn’t gauge howtheir jokes landed in real time. “You forget how importantnonverbal communication is,” said LateNight writer Alex Baze. Writers are typically able to getperformance feedback from a studio audience’s laughter, raisedeyebrows, shifting in seats, etc. Without an audience, thatfeedback is missing, making it harder for changes to the next day’sshow. “Even when it’s done, you’re like, ‘Well, I don’t know ifthat was good,’” said Baze.¹⁷⁸

All in all, production teams were able to adapt to a new way ofproducing content for millions of viewers. Experts, however,believe audiences were more forgiving in their content and qualitycritiques because it was the first time in modern history that apandemic had made such a drastic impact on people’s dailylives.¹⁷⁹ Viewers may not be as understanding thenext time. For example, Jimmy Fallon’s creative use of hisdaughters to help him with skits or Samantha Bee chopping wood inher backyard will only go so far on shows that need fresh contentevery night.¹⁸⁰ Content that doesn’t intrigueviewers will lead to decreased viewership, which means less adrevenue for the network.¹⁸¹ With this in mind,late-night TV teams will need to be better prepared in case theyfind themselves in this situation again. Will they be?

1- Use Tuckman's Five Stage Model todescribe how the change in producing late night TV could havecaused teams to devolve.