TV Gearing Up for Post-Strike Relaunch

All this operates under the assumption that the networks would even want the lion's share of their programs back before May. For instance, NBC could delay the return of Heroes until fall since creator Tim Kring thinks he can only complete three more episodes this season. That's barely enough time to relaunch the series with a new story arc entitled ''Villains'' (which they had planned to do with the second half of the season before the strike began). ''With a show like Heroes that's so strongly serialized, and given what we wanted to accomplish with the new storyline, to come back with just three episodes could be creatively dangerous,'' he says.

If NBC's low-rated but critically beloved Friday Night Lights gets a green light, five to six new installments could be shot by season's end. One line of thinking goes that new shows like NBC's Chuck and ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies would benefit from a relaunch in September rather than returning for a measly three- or four-episode run. As for the seventh season of Fox's 24 — well, who knows? Eight episodes are already in the can. It could begin airing this fall, but more likely, Jack Bauer won't be kicking bad-boy butt until the winter of 2009.

Of course, if the prospect of finally being able to watch something other than Don't Forget the Lyrics! has you pulling the Cristal out of the fridge, you might want to hold off before you pop the cork. Nothing can be decided until the WGA officially puts down its picket signs. After those promising weekend talks, WGA negotiating committee chairman John F. Bowman cautioned his 12,000 members that ''many significant points have yet to be worked out,'' and the union said it would schedule membership meetings on both coasts before it would consider calling off the strike. Fortunately for fans, many of those writers seem eager to pick up their pencils again. ''I'm going out of my mind,'' says Horta. ''I want to just get back to work, already!''

— Additional reporting by Jennifer Armstrong, Jeff Jensen, Vanessa Juarez, Whitney Pastorek, Jessica Shaw, Dan Snierson, Tim Stack, and Tanner Stransky