Late Night Talk Shows Return

After a two-month hiatus due to the writers strike, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and David Letterman will soon be back to work, Access Hollywood has learned.

“The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” will return to the air with new episodes beginning January 2, NBC announced today.

Guest lineups will be announced at a later date.

Both shows have been airing repeats since production was suspended on November 5.

“This has been a very difficult six weeks for everybody affected by the writers strike. I was, like most people, hoping for a quick resolution when this began,” Leno said in a statement on Monday.

“I remained positive during the talks and while they were still at the table discussing a solution ‘The Tonight Show’ remained dark in support of our writing staff. Now that the talks have broken down and there are no further negotiations scheduled I feel it’s my responsibility to get my 100 non-writing staff, which were laid off, back to work. We fully support our writers and I think they understand my decision,” he continued.

Conan also released a statement, saying the choice to go back to work was a difficult one.

“Since the strike began, I have stayed off the air in support of the striking writers while, at the same time, doing everything I could to take care of the 80 non-writing staff members on ‘Late Night.’ Unfortunately, now with the New Year upon us, I am left with a difficult decision. Either go back to work and keep my staff employed or stay dark and allow 80 people, many of whom have worked for me for fourteen years, to lose their jobs,” Conan said.

“If my show were entirely scripted I would have no choice. But the truth is that shows like mine are hybrids, with both written and non-written content. An unwritten version of Late Night, though not desirable, is possible – and no one has to be fired. So, it is only after a great deal of thought that I have decided to go back on the air on January 2nd.”

And while he is ready to get back to work, Conan admitted that the quality of the show may very well be compromised due to still being without writers.

“I will make clear, on the program, my support for the writers and I’ll do the best version of ‘Late Night’ I can under the circumstances. Of course, my show will not be as good. In fact, in moments it may very well be terrible. My sincerest hope is that all of my writers are back soon, working under a contract that provides them everything they deserve,” he added.

“The Late Show With David Letterman” is taking a different approach to getting back on the air. Letterman has reached out to the Writer’s Guild in an effort to come to his own agreement between his company and the union. The Writer’s Guild said over the weekend that it is willing to work with individual production companies to negotiate deals, including Letterman’s.

The following statement was issued from Rob Burnett, President and CEO, Worldwide Pants and Executive Producer, The Late Show With David Letterman:

“Worldwide Pants has always been a writer-friendly company. Dave has been a member of the WGA for more than 30 years, and I have been a member for more than 20. Because we are an independent production company, we are able to pursue an interim agreement with the Guild without involving CBS in that pursuit. Therefore, since the beginning of the strike, we have expressed our willingness to sign an interim agreement with the Guild consistent with its positions in this dispute. We’re happy that the Guild has now adopted an approach that might make this possible. It is our strong desire to be back on the air with our writers and we hope that will happen as soon as possible.”

Letterman’s return date has yet to be announced.

Worldwide Pant is also the producer of, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.”

NBC’s Carson Daly returned to production last week.

Access has also reached out to Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show on ABC and was told that Kimmel had no news to report at this time.

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