He'll be back on the air on Jan. 2 with or without writers, reports the NY Post, and considering that his production company has no new talks scheduled with the Writers Guild, the guessing is that it'll be without. The two sides met late last week, with the Letterman folks hoping that the guild would agree to an interim deal that allows their writers to go back to work (essentially letting Letterman go along with whatever contract is eventually worked out). But while the WGA and Letterman's Worldwide Pants called the discussions "constructive," no deal was cut. Meanwhile, Jay Leno is coming back on the 2nd without writers. That makes it a pretty easy choice.