Ellen is an interesting situation, and a sore point for the WGA.

Ellen is a writer and a WGA member but she kept her show going, according to her, because her show is syndicated and she's contractually obligated to provide a product to the stations that paid for the show.

As far as what she's doing on the show, Ellen claims that she is not writing or presenting written material, but is just performing in her capacity as a host and is just "being herself".

I guess I can't speak for Conan. I know on Letterman, they are not "scripted." They are pre-planned, perhaps, and a pre-interview is conducted by one of the producers. Researchers find other things to talk about. But nothing is actually "scripted."

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" will resume production on Jan. 7 without their striking writers, the Comedy Central network announced Thursday.

Both late-night shows were shuttered after the Hollywood writers strike began seven weeks ago. The comedy duo are the latest late-night hosts to announce their return to the air while the ongoing writers strike continues to devastate much television and film production. Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel have all recently said that they will resume their programs on Jan. 2 with or without their writing staffs.

On Friday, leaders of striking television writers plan to meet with David Letterman's production company in an attempt to reach a separate deal that could return the "Late Show" to the air with its writing staff.

But "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" rely far more on scripted material than those shows, which are more centered around interviews and musical guests.

In a joint statement, Stewart and Colbert said: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

A spokesman for Comedy Central said neither the network, Stewart nor Colbert would have any further comment. A call to the Writers Guild of America was not immediately returned late Thursday.

NICE!!
I dont see how those two shows will work without writers since they're both so heavily scripted.

Only when I see the OCEAN'S movies.

On Conan, the 'In The Year 2000' bit with various guests are clearly written. On Letterman, whenever he has guests like Bruce Willis or Bill Murray, they always seem to do some extra bit that has to involve the writers.

Although I'm happy with Daily/Colbert returning, I really don't see either working without writers.

Conan was horrible last night although his beard was awesome :D

Leno didn't seem any different to me at all.

Saw on the news that it looks like Stewart/Colbert are on hold again...

I thought Conan was great... the rock band bit was hilarious...and him and Dave both rocking beards was pretty funny.

I agree Conan was great, the comedian he had I did not find funny, that's when I turned the TV off.