• by Wayne Friedman , January 4, 2008

Writers or no writers, the results were the same when it comes to late-night TV talk shows: Jay Leno still dominates.

On late-night television's first night back from repeats--due in large part to the writers' strike--"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" kept its top slot over "Late Show with David Letterman" on Wednesday night. That's notable, since "Letterman" had a full staff of writers; Worldwide Pants, its production company, cut a deal with the Writers Guild of America. Leno did not.

"Leno" got a 2.2 adult 18-49 rating against "Letterman," which earned a 1.7 number--a typical margin of victory for Leno. In terms of total overall viewers, "Leno" beat "Letterman" handily as well: 7.2 million to 5.5 million.

Other late-night shows fell into their same seasonal trends with respect to each other's ratings. "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" had a 1.2 rating among 18-49 viewers and 2.8 million overall viewers; "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" had a 0.7 rating and 2.2 million viewers; "Jimmy Kimmel" had a 0.6 rating and 1.8 million viewers; and "Later with Carson Daly" took in a 0.5 rating and 1.4 million viewers.

Good news for all late-night shows: Almost all scored higher-than-average viewership, thanks to a dearth of fresh late-night shows going back to the beginning of December.

"Leno" was 66% higher than its total viewership average; "Letterman" was 52% greater; "O'Brien" improved 55%; "Ferguson" had 31% more; and "Carson Daly" was up 25%. Only "Kimmel" witnessed a drop--albeit slightly--down 5%.

Explaining Leno's performance over Letterman, some analysts say viewers might have been more curious to see how Leno would survive without writers then how Letterman would perform with writers. Other analysts say historical trends were at work.

"It's not surprising," says Brad Agate, vice president and corporate research director for Horizon Media. "Late-night ratings are less volatile because viewers are more loyal. It's more personality-driven." But Adgate noted that with a longer strike "you might see some shifts in viewing."