As the writers' strike enters its fourth week, The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers were scheduled to resume talks Monday, and that's good news for Scott Jacobson.

Jacobson grew up in Cameron, N.C., and graduated from the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics in Durham and UNC-Chapel Hill. He writes for Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart."

Nobody, including Jacobson, expects the dispute over Internet-content residuals to be resolved any time soon. But at least the two sides are talking again. And that may shave a few weeks off the time Jacobson spends marching around with a handmade sign, instead of writing political satire.

When Jacobson spoke recently, he had just spent the day picketing at the Disney Store on Fifth Avenue in New York.

"Tomorrow, I believe, it's the Viacom building, which is our parent company," he says, then laughs. "That ought to be of particular interest to 'Daily Show' writers."

Jacobson and his fellow strikers are enjoying some holiday time off from the picket line, but, otherwise, the WGA requires them to put in four hours a day, three times a week.

Jacobson says the monotony is worth it -- particularly for him and his co-workers, because the Internet is so important to the success of "The Daily Show."

"The only logical conclusion for this is that we're going to end up with a contract that includes residuals for that stuff," he says. "Most people I know watch 'The Daily Show' online. Now we have a great new Web site; you can access clips from the entire history of our show. Now more than ever, people are going to be watching our stuff there."

With the strike hitting late-night talk shows such as "The Daily Show" the hardest, Jacobson says he feels bad for host Jon Stewart.

"He has to walk through a fine line because obviously he's concerned about the staff getting paid for as long as possible while we're striking," he says. "His job is the toughest of all right now. He's privately very supportive of us."

While the strike is in effect, Jacobson is doing some work on the side -- he wrote a piece for Maxim magazine recently. He says he gets nervous about the prospects of a long walkout, considering the last one in 1988 lasted 22 weeks.

"We know we're in it for the long haul, if that's what it takes," he says, "but we really hope that isn't what it takes."

He says the experience has taught him a few things about labor issues.

"It just seems like a system from another era," he says. "I don't really know why it exists today. It's childish. It is a game of chicken, and who blinks first. So many people's livelihoods hang in the balance while these two sort of bullheaded sides just wait it out. It's like a Wild West duel or something."

He also learned something about his fellow writers from his days on the picket line.

"It's hard to get writers to chant," he observes with amusement. "We had Eric Bogosian [of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"] in the line, and there's always a very energetic guy from the union with a bullhorn, marching up and down in the middle, trying to get us to chant.

"I mean, you're not going to see Eric Bogosian poking a sign in the air and chanting, 'Hell, no, we won't go,' or something like that. I think our chanting stamina leaves something to be desired."

Coasting along

Meanwhile, in Wilmington, the strike has implications for the crew of The CW's "One Tree Hill."

The fifth season of the show premieres with a two-hour episode on Jan. 8, and the show has been in production in Wilmington for the past few months.

David Hayes, a production driver for the show, says he's been told "One Tree Hill" has enough scripts to continue shooting until just before Christmas.

"After that, it's sort of up in the air," he says.

If Hayes and his fellow crew members are left hanging by a lengthy strike, he says workers may have other options in Wilmington.

"There are rumors of some features coming in that already have scripts," he says, "so we may get some business out of that, on that end."

Or he and others could work on locally shot commercials. But with the events of the writers' strike setting the stage for talks with the actors' and directors' guilds next June, we may see even more pickets next year.

"It should be an interesting year, anyway," Hayes says. "We may have to travel out of town to work."

That's OK -- Hayes says that most people in his line of work plan on layoffs as a rule.

"It's kind of like construction work in that way," he says.

Calling all airheads

To all you air-guitar virtuosos who developed your chops windmilling to The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," here's a question: What's the matter with you?

No, I'm not talking about your devotion to your pastime (really, I'm not). I'm simply asking why more of you haven't entered WRAZ Fox 50's "Search for the Next Great AIR Band" Contest?

As of three days before Thanksgiving, only one brave entrant had submitted a video of a guitar-syncing version of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine."

Come on, people, we can do better than that! The winner of the contest (details are at www.myfoxraleigh.com/myfox) will be flown to Los Angeles for a few days for the finale of Fox's "The Next Great American Band" in mid-December.

WRAZ's Kevin Kolbe says he's not worried about the lack of interest so far. He figures the situation may turn out like Fox 50's contest for local bands to audition for "The Next Great American Band" this past summer, when bands seemed to wait until the last minute to enter. (The local winner was the band Pull, which made it to the cut of 60 bands during auditions for the show.)

So why air bands?

"I think in all of our lives, we need a little air band," Kolbe says. "We wanted to do something fun."