Leno and Conan are coming back to TV.

[priceguy]

I saw on the Today show that Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien are returning to there late-night programs in January.  Earlier this fall, Leno and O'Brien quit producing shows as sign of respect for their striking writers.  Both hosts are coming back to TV because they no longer want to put the rest of their staffs out of work.  David Letterman is ironing out some details at CBS and he may return to "Late Show" later inthe new year.

[Bgamer90]

Cool. I kinda figured that most of the talk shows would come out with new episodes during the beginning of next year whether the strike ended or not.

[Johnnya2k4]

Even though they'll be back on during the strike, it would be too late to do all those year-in-review skits like Conan's Clutch Cargo interview roundup or Jimmy Kimmel's "This Year in Unnecessary Censorship."

Jonathan Allen

[priceguy]

This is a bit of a bump, but nonetheless, late night television is back and bearded.  Letterman and Ferguson made a contract with the WGA which allowed their writers to go back to work.  On the other hand, Leno, Conan, and Jimmy Kimmel have returned without writers.  Both David Letterman and Conan O'Brien grew beards over the break to show solidarity to their writers and it seems they have no plans of shaving anytime soon.  Since Letterman has his writers, he is back to the regular shtick he does best.  The others have been forced to improvise.  When Leno returned, he took questions from the audience after his self-written monologue.  Conan has been doing a combination of freeky dancing and wedding ring spinning (which proves to be oddly hillarious).  Conan also climbed into the rafters of his studio and did part of his monologue from there.

What are your thoughts on the new state of late night TV?

[therealcu2010]

Well, as a fan of Letterman, I'm personally glad he's back.  With his writers.  Of course, the writer's strike goes on, and he lets us know that.  Wednesday, he had the Top Ten with the striking writers (with even one of Conan's writers), and today, he had "Fun Facts, Writer's Strike Edition".

I also managed to sample a bit of Conan, and his improv was actually funny.  He's getting by without his writers.

I must also say, I like the beards. Letterman, of course, makes jokes about it.