April 07, 2008 - More Shows Returning! Another Strike Looming?

How long has it taken for things to return to normal after the writers' strike? This long... and longer.

Scripted prime-time series began to check in with their first post-strike episodes during the past two weeks, but there are plenty left to come. This week, we finally get fresh episodes of ABC's Boston Legal (Tuesday); NBC's 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs and ER (Thursday); and ABC's Desperate Housewives (Sunday).

That's a total of six quality shows, five of which I watch faithfully each week. Or would, if they were on TV. (These days, I can take or leave ER... so I left.)

But talk about loss of momentum. (Okay, I will.) I never missed one of these series, but I'm hard-pressed to remember where things left off. I remember the tornado that hit Wisteria Lane, and that Carlos was blind -- but ask me what happened to Edie or Bree, for example, and I'd fail that pop quiz. As for Boston Legal: I'm not sure that it matters, but exactly who was obsessed with whom the last time we saw these oversexed attorneys?

I'm glad these shows are back, and that others are waiting in the wings to make their own post-strike entrances. (Hurry up, Lost!) But some shows, because of the strike, won't be seen again until the fall (ABC's Pushing Daisies, NBC's Chuck). The Fox action series 24 will skip 2008 entirely, and won't appear again until 2009.

That's presuming the Actors Guild doesn't mount its own strike at the end of June, and much things up even more. Let me be clear about this, with two months to go before that prospect begins looming seriously: The actors should not, must not, strike. Two work stoppages in a one-year period wouldn't just cripple television. It would cut the medium off at the knees.

There's only one kind of prime-time entertainment TV show that doesn't need writers, who struck last November, OR actors, who are thinking of striking this summer. That's the reality show -- and we need more of them like we need more global warming.