So…is Bill Maher going back to work without his writers? The HBO site says that all new episodes of Real Time begin on January 11, and Maher is listed on the CBS site as David Letterman's first guest this Thursday, which suggests the man has something to plug.
Robin Williams is Dave's first guest on the Wednesday night return. He may or may not be followed by Donald Trump, who wanted to appear because he has a new show to plug and also because a week ago when he was booked for that night, he thought he'd be able to cross a picket line on the way in. He always enjoys that. Anyway, the CBS website says Williams and Trump will be the guests, followed by musical guest Shooter Jennings. A piece in the N.Y. Times said that Trump will move to another night.
Letterman's first guest on Friday night is listed as Tracy Morgan. Maher and Morgan are both entertaining guys but I would have expected bigger names for this "return" week. Leno, meanwhile, has Mike Huckabee on Wednesday night. Which I guess means Huckabee is writing off the union vote.
No word yet on who else Leno will have on or who'll be crossing picket lines to guest with O'Brien and Kimmel. The shows are keeping the names secret as long as possible to prevent the guests from being pressured and perhaps backing out. Massive protests are planned for outside the studios. If you ever really wanted to hobnob with stars, you might want to go to NBC Burbank on Wednesday and join the picketing.