With or without their writers, The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart are resuming production on January 7th. The return occurs deep in the thick of the primary season. The Iowa caucus is on January 3rd and the New Hampshire primary is on January 8. The retrun of Colbert and Stewart's late night talk shows, which are heavily writer driven, follows this week's news that Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien will be returning, with or without writers, on January 2nd. Today David Letterman's World Wide Pants production company, which still officially supports the aims of the picketers, meets with the Writers Guild of America to return to the air with their writers.

(image via rollingstone)