The AP Reports...
LOS ANGELES - The first casualties of a possible Hollywood writers strike could be late-night laughs.

“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” will almost certainly be forced into reruns by a lack of fresh skits and monologues if writers walk off the job after their current contract expires at midnight Wednesday.

Contract talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers continued Wednesday evening with the help of a federal mediator, but there was no word on any progress. The guild said late Tuesday it would submit a revamped contract proposal, but details were not released.

“If the strike happens, we are very likely looking at repeats for both shows,” said Tony Fox, a spokesman for Comedy Central, which airs the shows starring Stewart and Stephen Colbert that lampoon political doings of the day.

“The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” could follow.

NBC declined to comment on what would be in store for the show. But a person with the network, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on condition of anonymity, said “Tonight” and other NBC late-night shows likely would have to resort to repeats with no writing staff to generate new material.

A key issue in negotiations involves giving writers more money from the sale of DVDs and the distribution of shows via the Internet, cell phones and other digital platforms. Producers have said they won’t agree to anything that would restrict their ability to experiment with new digital delivery options for films and TV shows.

It was unclear when writers might walk off the job if a new deal isn’t reached. More than 5,000 guild members recently voted, with 90 percent authorizing negotiators to call the first strike since 1988 if necessary.

The union has set a meeting of its 12,000 members for Thursday night at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

**OF COURSE we will keep you updated on this