If David Letterman jumped off a bridge, would his fellow late-night hosts do the same?   

Possibly, if by jumping off a bridge you mean returning to his post at the helm of The Late Show, which has been in repeats since the writers' strike kicked off Nov. 5. 

Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Kimmel—all Writers Guild of America members—have remained adamant in their refusal to cross picket lines and have dipped into their own pockets (Letterman's Worldwide Pants also produces Ferguson's Late Late Show) to keep their nonwriting staffs on the payroll.  

But as the sixth week of the strike comes to a close with the warring sides on more publicly hostile terms than ever, the moral and ethical implications of resuming production aren't the only thing on people's minds, especially the minds of people who aren't on vacation this holiday season by choice.  

While Letterman is viewed by many as the sage whose lead will be followed by others, Variety reported Thursday that NBC is aiming to have Leno and O'Brien back in early January—perhaps as soon as Jan. 7—regardless of what the Late Show host decides to do. 

NBC, which on some nights has gone for the nostalgia factor and aired 15-year-old shows, has been having a harder time of it in the ratings department.  

CBS has been coming out on top in the Letterman-Leno repeat battle, while new installments of ABC's Nightline have been beating the both of them, and Jimmy Kimmel Live is benefiting from people who might normally have tuned into the other networks and are watching the Kimmel repeats for the first time.  

Longtime Late Show writer Bill Scheft told the Los Angeles Times this week that he and his fellow scribes will not be angry if Letterman returns to work. 

"I'm sure he's struggling with it," Scheft said, adding that he feels having people like Letterman who are in the writers' corner, back on the air could be a real boon to the WGA's cause.

"David Letterman, on the air without writers," he said, "is the greatest ally the writers would ever have, because he would rail nightly. He could be more influential as an on-air stone in people's shoes. The leverage for us might be him and Jon [Stewart] and Conan talking trash." 

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have also spent the last six weeks in rerun mode, with Stewart and Stephen Colbert arranging for Comedy Central to keep paying their nonwriting crews' salaries. 

Although the return of late-night will surely cause mixed feelings and could hurt the WGA's morale as much as help it in the form of piercing off-the-cuff remarks directed at the networks and studios, a little more laughter in these strike-ridden times (the kind not wrought by reality shows) would be a welcome thing. 

The WGA's announcement Thursday that it was filing charges against the Alliance of Motion Picture & TV Producers with the National Labor Relations Board was a reminder that the writers and studios aren't just not close to settling their differences—they're not even at the table right now. 

Meaning, the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards scheduled for Jan. 13 will likely find itself not only without union writers, but without top talent, as well, if the WGA ends up picketing the event, billed as the most glamorous Oscar preview around.  

Nominees Aaron Sorkin (screenplay, Charlie Wilson's War), Tom Wilkinson (supporting actor, Michael Clayton), and The Kite Runner director Marc Forster (foreign language film) have said that they will honor picket lines. 

"If actors can't have solidarity with writers—the people who put the words in their mouths—fthen who can they have solidarity with?" Wilkinson told the Times. 

Eastern Promises director David Cronenberg, whose film is up for best drama told Variety that it would be a very hard decision to make, while Glenn Close, nominated for acting in a TV drama for Damages, said, "I would never cross a picket line." 

"I want to talk to Tom Hanks about it because I imagine he always does the right thing," suggested Ryan Gosling, up for best actor in a comedy or musical for Lars and the Real Girl. Hanks is competing in the same category, having received a nod for Charlie Wilson's War. 

Then there are others, like Christina Applegate, John Travolta and Jeremy Piven, who are going to pay attention to what develops in the coming weeks before making a decision. 

"I have faith that as long as communication and consultation are happening, things will work out," Travolta said. "We just have to respect the process."

Then again, Plan B sounds pretty good, too.

Alec Baldwin posted a message on the Huffington Post Friday informing his fellow nominees that "barring any imminent settlement of the WGA strike, the 2007 Golden Globes will be held at my apartment on the Westside of Manhattan this year...

"The [Hollywood Foreign Press Association] makes only one simple request and that is that you pre-order your meal selection NO LATER than Friday, January 4th, 2008."

Baldwin is offering up one heck of a deli spread and complimentary beer, wine, Snapple and softdrinks. Who needs Hollywood?