Late Night Shows To Return

NBC is already rolling out the ads promoting the return of "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and "Late Night" with Conan O'Brien, scheduled (right now) for Jan. 2.

Both shows had been pulled for the WGA strike, but both are set to return -- without writers. What's another name for a late-night comedy show without comedy writers? Usually, it's train wreck.

This is actually a good thing for the writers, since late-night shows without jokes for the hosts are going to wear thin real quick for viewers, and ratings are likely going to drop fast, putting more pressure on the studios to return to the bargaining table.

Meanwhile, "The Late Show With David Letterman" is negotiating individually its own deal with the WGA through Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants. Once a deal is struck, "The Late Show" would return with a full writing staff. Again, with individual deals being struck, it would again force the studios as a whole to return to the negotiations, something they have refused to do for nearly two weeks now in a gamble to try to break the union.

And once Letterman does return, he's one of the most vocal pro-union guys anyway, so it would give the writers a great forum on the air to plead their side of the strike.

AROUND THE DIAL: Some people have been asking, when will the lone filmed-but-unaired episode of "Desperate Housewives" actually return? According to TVGuide.com, Jan. 6. This is the follow-up to the cliffhanger about the tornado that hit Wisteria Lane. If you don't want to find out who lives and dies before the episode, then DON'T go to TVGuide's Web site, because spoilers are posted. ...

Not a TV item, but the new, frakkin' awesome trailer for "The Dark Knight" is posted here: http://www.atasteforthetheatrical.com. I can't believe I've got to wait another seven months for this movie! ...

MONDAY RECAP: So, I checked out "Duel" last night on ABC. Not bad, not great. Mike Greenberg was solid as a host, but enough with the freaking commercials already. It's as bad as "Deal or No Deal," where they try to make every big moment a cliffhanger by inserting another commercial. Even the contestants last night were exasperated, which was actually pretty amusing. Meanwhile, the contestants themselves seemed to be an annoying group of wankers, with the exception of the girl who is leading right now. She seems OK. The questions themselves haven't proven too difficult, either. You can check it out again tonight at 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, "Journeyman" continues to show great flashes of brilliance, which makes it a shame that Wednesday's episode is the series finale. However, producers have said they anticipated this might be the end, so expect several questions about Dan's (Kevin McKidd) time-traveling to be wrapped up.

TUESDAY'S BEST BETS: The networks continue to horde new episodes like squirrels with chestnuts, offering them slowly and reluctantly. But CBS is all-new tonight, with "NCIS" leading things off, followed by "The Unit" and "Cane."

"Duel" is followed by new installments of "According to Jim" (ABC, 9:30 p.m.) and "Boston Legal" (ABC, 10 p.m.)

NBC is all-reality tonight, continuing with "Clash of the Choirs" at 8 p.m. and followed by "The Biggest Loser" season finale at 9 p.m. Fear not, "Loser" fans; NBC is returning with "The Biggest Loser: Couples Edition" in January.

Finally, cable puts out some interesting offerings, with a new episode of "Nip/Tuck" (FX, 10 p.m.) But the pick of the night is the insanely clever "Life On Mars" (BBC America, 9 p.m.)