April 01, 2008 - Broadcast Networks Bounce Back from Strike With Ambitious New Scripted Series... April Fools!

More scripted shows are trickling back into prime time in their post-strike incarnations -- both My Name Is Earl on NBC and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS return Thursday. But as some shows return, and others are benched until fall or buried forever, what's next?

Maybe it's better not to ask...

The selection process for new fall shows is quite different this year, because of the strike, but that's led, in part, to some decisions being made more quickly. That's not necessarily a good thing: NBC is expected to bring back an updated series version of Knight Rider, based on the telemovie the network aired in February. Maybe NBC didn't watch the movie. Or didn't watch its own woeful Bionic Woman update. Otherwise, if NBC is determined to bring back an automobile that talks, it probably would do better by reviving My Mother the Car. (Trust me, kids. That's an insult.)

NBC will announce its fall plans -- and, in fact, its plans for the entire 52-week year -- in a special presentation tomorrow it's calling an "infront." That's because it's "in front" of the traditional May network presentations known as "upfronts," where networks show clips from their new wares to potential advertisers. How clever of you, NBC. Considering NBC's fourth-place standing in the ratings, and the tackiness of so much of its recent programming, maybe the "infront" should have been called an "outhouse." But the network is expected to announce officially tomorrow that Friday Night Lights is returning for year three, and that forgives a lot of sins.

Similarly, I'm very excited by the prospect of a new Joss Whedon series called Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, who played the wayward Faith on his Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fox is excited, too, and committed to a fall slot without Whedon shooting a frame. Don't blame them a bit. Wow: Something new on TV I can't wait to see...

More imminently, we have the spring and summer seasons with which to contend. Don't expect great news. ABC just announced eight original summer series, all of which are unscripted and only one of which (a new season of the fine medical documentary series Hopkins) sounds worthwhile. The others include new cycles, or recycles, of The Mole and The Bachelorette, and such fresh (?) offerings as I Survived a Japanese Game Show.

It could be worse. And it will be.

Beginning April 30, the CW network presents a Bachelor sort of dating show with a rural twist: Farmer Wants a Wife. Not Farmer GETS a Wife, mind you. These days, when not even The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll has to bother finding the next Pussycat Doll, it's not the destination that matters. It's the journey.

This spring and summer, maybe it'll be the viewers who go on strike. Or star in their own series: I Survived an American TV Strike.