NEW YORK — Despite the writers strike, the big TV networks have more than a hundred episodes of scripted series ready to roll out over the next few months.
The bad news for viewers: Few are fan favorites.
“Desperate Housewives” is done, the dust barely settled from a tornado that hit Wisteria Lane. “Grey’s Anatomy” has no more episodes left, as does Thursday competitor “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” No more laughs are coming from “Two and a Half Men,” “30 Rock” and “The Office.” “Heroes” is also done.
Several other shows are down to a precious few, the networks carefully rationing new material like a hiker lost in the desert with a half-empty canteen.
To this point, the two-month strike has had little effect on primetime television. Most networks already had their lineups set for November, and December is dominated by reruns and holiday shows anyway.
“It’s been pretty much business as usual,” said Brad Adgate, a research analyst at Horizon Media Inc.
The true test will come in February, a ratings “sweeps” month for which networks have always set aside original episodes of their most popular series, he said.
The number of homes watching television on a typical night is up slightly from last season, primarily because of what cable is offering.
Looking ahead, CBS’s stockpile of original programming is the shortest. “CSI: Miami,” “NCIS,” “Criminal Minds,” “Cold Case,” “Shark” and “Numb3rs” are among the series down to only one fresh show apiece. Two series set for a midseason return, “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Jericho,” have two months’ worth of episodes.
CBS also announced last week that it has ordered three new reality series, including one called “Game Show In My Head” from the “Punk’d” team of Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg.
Some analysts pick Fox as the network that will be least damaged by the strike, and not just because “American Idol” is back. It was the most improved network in ratings this fall, with growth from shows like “Prison Break” and “Bones,” and both these shows have at least a month’s worth of new episodes still unseen.
The midseason drama “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” had the strongest debut of any new series this season. “Fox has a well- planned midseason,” said Shari Anne Brill, programming director at the Madison Avenue firm Carat. “The other networks are dealing with strike contingency plans.”
Fox and ABC are taking different approaches with popular midseason entries. Eight episodes each are already in the can for Fox’s “24” and ABC’s “Lost,” but Fox is keeping Jack Bauer on the sidelines until a full season can be done. The new “Lost” episodes begin airing Jan. 31, even though their creators have complained they’d prefer that ABC wait until all 16 were done before risking that viewers are left hanging.
CBS and NBC are also taking the unprecedented steps of rerunning drama series that were originally aired on sister cable channels — Showtime’s “Dexter” on CBS and USA’s “Monk” and “Psych” on NBC.
