Networks roll out scripted shows

Despite the Hollywood 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; nor 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 finished for now.

Several other shows are down to a precious few episodes, the networks carefully rationing new material like a hiker lost in the desert with a half-empty canteen. One of the three remaining “House” episodes, for example, is set aside for maximum impact right after the Super Bowl.

To this point, the two-month strike has had little effect on prime-time television, unless you were really looking forward to the Golden Globes. 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,” says 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, Adgate says.

So far this season, the four networks are down 5 percent in viewers from the previous year, according to Nielsen Media Research. That’s about the same rate of decline as last year, as cable and the spread of digital video recorders inexorably cut into the live audience for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

The decline accelerated to 9 percent in the first two weeks of 2008. But 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’ 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.

One advantage for CBS is that its procedural dramas do much better in reruns than serials like “Desperate Housewives.” CBS also announced this 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 of those shows have at least a month’s worth of new episodes still unseen.

Because they are animated and needed to be produced well in advance, Fox’s popular Sunday night lineup of “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” has a season’s worth of shows done.

And the network’s new midseason drama “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” which had a two-part premiere Sunday and Monday, had the strongest debut of any new series this season.

“Fox has a well-planned midseason,” says 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 also are taking the unprecedented steps of rerunning drama series that were originally aired on sister cable stations – Showtime’s “Dexter” on CBS, and USA’s “Monk” and “Psych” on NBC.

“Law & Order” and “Medium” are set for two or three months on NBC, and the network is also pleased with how its “American Gladiators” game is doing.

ABC has “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Bachelor” ready to return, and has two or three months of new episodes of “Cashmere Mafia,” “Eli Stone,” “Notes From the Underbelly” and “Men in Trees.”