The "big four" late-night shows may return in January regardless of the outcome of the Writers Guild of America strike. Several prominent media outlets have reported that David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Craig Ferguson will probably all return around the same time.

Variety claims there's no definite agreement yet but allegedly Leno and O'Brien are most likely to return in early January, no matter what Letterman decides. The problem is that nobody wants to be the first one to come back, so it's highly likely they will reach some informal agreement to come back at the same time.

The risk is that the WGA will denounce hosts who come back. Carson Daly has had his share of trouble when has had to endure at least one disruption of his show by upset scribes. Also, Variety reports that writers for both Letterman and O'Brien have been quoted as saying they'd understand if their hosts returned to work, because they stayed off the air for nearly two months with serious consequences ratings-wise.

"Nobody wants to be vilified like Ellen DeGeneres or Carson Daly," two shows that broke with strikers and went back on the air early, said a source of The New York Post. "But it's getting to the point where they are beginning to realize that this [strike] could be going on for a while and they're trying to figure out a way to get back on the air sooner rather than later," alleges their source.

There's no end in sight for the Writers Guild of America strike which has crippled the movie industry. Negotiations between the striking Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have failed once again last Friday and talks broke off.

It's highly unlikely that a deal will be reached this year.

The WGA are pushing for more residuals from new media distribution (such films or TV shows sold online), while producers reject the guild's demands as unworkable and too expensive. Also, the WGA-requested compensation package for DVD sales would cost about $220 million over three years, a small fraction of the around $24 billion in revenues generated by U.S. DVD sales and rentals over the last year.