Photo: Getty Images

This morning, Carson Daly (via Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily) teaches us an important lesson about life: It's not fair. As you'll probably recall, Daly's Last Call was the first show to return to late night following the start of the writers' strike in November (after NBC threatened to cancel him and fire his staff if he didn't). Daly shouldered lots of undue criticism (the WGA called him a scab, even though he's not a member of the guild, like all other network late-show hosts), but he went on with the show to save his employees, outing himself as sort of a class act.

Now, his network is recognizing his sacrifice by axing his budget and nine staff members, including three of his four writers. Admittedly, Last Call is no ratings powerhouse, but if NBC needed to save money, we think it's pretty crappy that they'd extract it from a guy who's already taken so much abuse, especially when we're pretty sure nobody would've missed one American Gladiator (Mayhem, for example) or one of the uncountable Law & Order spinoffs.

Carson Daly's 'Last Call' Hosed By NBC [Deadline Hollywood Daily]
Earlier: Give Carson Daly a Break!
Carson Daly Heroically Avoids Picketing Writer Who Leaped in Front of His SUV