Late-nighters will look 'a little different'

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2007 | by Gary Levin

Viewers itching for a return to their late-night habit will see a different sort of show when Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien are back at their desks Jan. 2.

Producers said Monday that they hadn't booked guests or formulated plans for the talk shows, which are due back nine weeks into a writers' strike. But expect more ad-libbed patter and unscripted interviews. It's also unclear whether some actors will boycott the shows in support of striking writers.

"Obviously, the shows will look a little different," O'Brien show producer Jeff Ross says. "We'll really have to fill the time without some of the stuff we've had before."

NBC late-night chief Rick Ludwin says that when Johnny Carson and David Letterman returned to work amid a 1988 walkout, "performers...