Your On - Just Don't Say Anything Funny

Amid Strike, 2 NBC Hosts Will Return to the Air - Conan and Leno promise to return to the air on January 2, without writers if need be. Leaders of the striking writers union acknowledge that it is possible to air an interview show without writers, but warn both hosts that writers are responsible for comedy. Conan and Leno will be shunned as scabs the first time they say anything funny. This may be a problem for Conan. Letterman is trying to sign an interim contract to get his show back on the air with working writers. Both studios and writers will be queasy about a gap in their united fronts - this deal would not normally happen in a bitter strike, but the writer's union may prefer a one-off interim deal with Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company (which also produces Craig Ferguson's show) to the scab alternative offered by Leno and Conan.