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."
"And it's not just writers, man," said writer/producer Kurt Sutter ("The Shield," "Sons of Anarchy"). "Look at the roster on a TV show. You're employing hundreds and hundreds of people."
Leno points to the proliferation of dramas on cable, which he sees as more than offsetting the five hours of NBC prime time he'll soon be occupying as of Sept. 14.
"I think you have the best scripted dramas. There's more of them on TV now than you ever did before," Leno said. "There are places to go now where you can get that. So I don't see that as a problem."
And Leno has a point when he says that it wasn't his idea to take over the 9-10 p.m. time slot Mondays through Fridays. NBC came to him.
"And the idea is, look, we are going to do this anyway. Do you want the job?" he said.
That's not exactly true. NBC executives have made it clear that they wouldn't be doing a talk/variety show in prime time if Leno had turned it down. But they certainly might be doing reality shows or something else other than hourlong dramas.
"NBC tried scripted programming at (9) o'clock. 'Lipstick Jungle.' 'Kidnapped.' 'My Own Worst Enemy.' Hugely expensive shows," Leno said. "I thought they were OK, but for some reason, they didn't catch on. So now you try something different."
The writers' anger does seem not so much aimed at Leno as it is at NBC. Because of what that network once stood for — a schedule filled with quality dramas.
"There was a level, a quality of work, and an elegance of work that NBC was known for," Tolan said. "And I don't think, unless I'm wrong, that (Leno's show) will approach it. This variety show — or whatever it's going to be, because nobody's seen it — you can't stack that up against 'Hill Street Blues' or anything else. They're entirely different animals."
"I think the reason you're hearing a very visceral backlash in the creative community to this is specific to NBC," said writer/producer Shawn Ryan ("Angel," "The Shield," "The Unit"). "I think you've got a generation of writers who grew up on their shows. I know I did. I mean, going all the way back to 'Cheers' and 'Hill Street Blues,' forward to 'L.A. Law" and 'Friends' and 'ER,' it was a network that really inspired me to write ... So to me, when I look at it, it's something that feels offensive to me, because it's that network. That network used to stand for something better, I thought.
"And that's not to say ('The Jay Leno Show') won't work. And it's not to say that there aren't plenty of other places (for writers) to go. But in my opinion, it has something to do with the shows that used to air on NBC."
That isn't Leno's fault. As the writers admit.
And it might do Leno some good to realize that. And stop being so defensive that he's offensive.
That doesn't help his nice-guy image one bit.
e-mail: pierce@desnews.com