Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Jay Leno, who joked on his show that more people were picketing NBC than watching it, attracted more viewers than David Letterman's scripted show last night following two months of reruns.

NBC's ``The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,'' produced without writers, posted its highest ratings for the season that started in September, holding off second-place Letterman, the network said in a statement today. Letterman's ``Late Show'' also posted season- high ratings, CBS said.

Five late-night talk shows came back on the air yesterday after a Nov. 5 walkout by entertainment writers forced them into reruns. Leno, who has beaten Letterman in ratings in the past year, wrote his own comeback monologue. Letterman's production company reached an agreement with the union last week, allowing his comedy writers to work on the show.

``See Dave was able to get a deal because Dave has his own company,'' Leno said on his show. ``I don't blame him for getting a deal, God bless him. We have to go by ourselves up against the CBS machine. One man against a monolith.''

Out of every 100 U.S. households in a metered market, 5.3 tuned in to Leno, according to ratings data released by NBC. CBS said 4.4 percent of households watched Letterman.

``The stuff that was really well done, I thought, was Jay Leno,'' Mark Young, professor of entertainment business at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, said in an interview. ``He's obviously writing his own stuff.''

Wages Loss

The writers have lost about $165 million in wages since the strike began, Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said in an interview.

The union and the studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, are split over the writers' demands to be paid for use of their work on the Web and mobile devices. Negotiations between the guild and the studios broke down a second time Dec. 7 and haven't resumed.

Writers have said the accord between Letterman's company Worldwide Pants and the Writers Guild of America will pressure NBC and ABC to return to the bargaining table. Studios said the deal shows that the guild ``doesn't have what it takes'' to negotiate an agreement for the industry.

CBS Corp. fell 53 cents to $25.893 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The New York-based company has declined 6.4 percent since the strike began. Burbank, California- based Walt Disney Co., owner of ABC, dropped 7 cents to $31.77 and is down 6.3 percent since Nov. 5. NBC owner General Electric Co., based in Fairfield, Connecticut, gained 4 cents to $36.80 and is down 8.8 percent since the walkout.

`Top Ten'

Striking writers delivered Letterman show's ``Top Ten'' list with tongue-in-cheek demands for ``hazard pay for breaking up fights on `The View''' and a ``complimentary tote bag with next insulting contract offer.''

Using writers from other shows was ``a great point of solidarity,'' Young said.

Letterman opened his show with kick-line dancers holding strike signs and a monologue on the beard he grew in the hiatus.

``David's been off the air for eight long weeks,'' Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said via satellite from Iowa for the show's opening lines. ``Tonight he's back. Oh, well. All good things come to an end.''

Highest rating

Leno, who scored his highest rating for a Wednesday in two years last night, said he tried his jokes on his wife, and told viewers to blame her if they aren't funny. He interviewed Mike Huckabee, a Republican presidential candidate who says he supports the writers guild. The union said in an e-mailed statement Jan. 2 that it appreciates Huckabee's support and asked him not to cross future picket lines.

The strike by the show's 19 writers put 160 employees on the program out of work, Leno said. He decided to come back for their sake, he said.

In the first four days of the strike, Leno's show posted the steepest drop in viewers among the late-night TV shows forced into reruns, losing more than 750,000 homes, according to Nielsen Media Research figures supplied by the network. Letterman lost about 330,000 homes.

Letterman, a guild member for more than 30 years, delivered a written monologue poking fun at the show's own writing. Craig Ferguson, whose ``Late Late Show'' follows Letterman's on CBS and is owned by Worldwide Pants, also returned with writers yesterday.

Jimmy Kimmel came back to Disney's ABC without writers, as did a bearded Conan O'Brien, who follows Leno on NBC.

Growing Beards

``I grew it out of solidarity for my writers, and to prove that I have some testosterone,'' O'Brien said in his monologue.

Out of every 100 U.S. households, 2.5 watched O'Brien last night, NBC said. About 1.9 percent of households tuned in to Ferguson, CBS said.

Unscripted talk shows face difficulties booking guest appearances by actors who don't want to cross writers' picket lines. A majority of actors who have been nominated for Golden Globe Awards won't cross the picket line for the ceremony or talk shows, Screen Actors Guild spokeswoman Pam Greenwalt said.

Letterman's ``Late Show'' featured actor and comedian Robin Williams.

``My God, man, you've aged,'' Williams said in a stream of jokes about Letterman's new beard. ``Eight weeks seems like only a moment.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Rabil in New York at srabil@bloomberg.net; Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 3, 2008 16:29 EST