When the writers' strike ended and production resumed on TV shows that had been stalled by the work stoppage, the rollout of new episodes was expected to occur in several stages: fully staffed talk shows and Saturday Night Live first, then sitcoms, then the dramas. Tonight, with the return of the full CBS comedy lineup, we finally enter phase two.
The Big Bang Theory is up first, followed by a new How I Met Your Mother (which, because of short post-strike deadlines, was able to peg its plot to today's St. Patrick's Day) and Two and a Half Men. The New Adventures of Old Christine is a first-run episode, too, but it's actually an old New Adventure, because CBS has been stockpiling this sitcom.
But it's good to have the comedies back. It's good to have any scripted prime-time shows back, since we've been so inundated with tacky unscripted reality shows. And yes, I know I'm saying this on the night that Dancing with the Stars also returns on ABC.
While it's nice to embrace the imagination of TV writers, it's a lot tougher to support the network writers of the ad campaigns letting viewers know the cycle of reruns is over. At CBS, they corral the comedies in a promo featuring a lot of animated animals -- gnus, to be precise. These promos advise viewers that the programs are "All gnu!" and ask viewers to "Start spreading the gnus."
Really? Five months to plan, and this is the best CBS could do?
Sorry, but in this case, no gnus would have been good news.
And at NBC, they're using the John Sebastian theme from "Welcome Back, Kotter" to "Welcome back" the network's Thursday lineup, which is resuming with new episodes soon. It's a little annoying to have the networks welcome us back when we weren't the ones who went anywhere. The programs went away because of the strike, and because the networks forced that issue by walking away from the negotiating table.
So let's be grateful for the next phase of the resumption of regular programming, but please, networks, don't insult our intelligence with your promos. You're already doing it with too much of your programming.