Strike Update: ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ Returns January 2, 2008

And following swiftly on Conan O’Brien’s heels is Jay Leno with the following statement released this morning regarding the return of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to the airwaves on January 2, 2008.

This has been a very difficult six weeks for everybody affected by the writers strike. I was, like most people, hoping for a quick resolution when this began. I remained positive during the talks and while they were still at the table discussing a solution “The Tonight Show” remained dark in support of our writing staff. Now that the talks have broken down and there are no further negotiations scheduled I feel it’s my responsibility to get my 100 non-writing staff, which were laid off, back to work. We fully support our writers and I think they understand my decision.