Writers strike left big winners, losers in its wake

The Writers Guild of America strike, which lasted three months, irrevocably changed the TV landscape. There were victims, of course, and not just in Hollywood. Faithful viewers were deprived of favorite shows, and new programs lost potential followings.

But in any war (and this was war), there are profiteers, too. During the past three months, some shows and personalities gained something from the strike.

Here's a rundown of some of the strike's biggest winners and losers.

Winner: Fox
Thanks to "American Idol," the Super Bowl and the new game show "Moment of Truth," Fox weathered the best. The network always plans its season in two parts, stockpiling scripted and unscripted shows for January and spring launches to ride "Idol's" coattails, and it is used to having to rely on strong mid-season material after its usual substandard fall fare fizzles. Plus, most of its Sunday animation block of programs wasn't affected by the strike.

Post-strike outlook: If shows such as "House" and "Bones" can get a few more new episodes filmed by season's end, FOX and its viewers will do OK.

Loser: CBS
Thanks to a slew of crime procedurals that repeat well, CBS doesn't usually have to rely on many strong midseason entries. So when it was faced with filling a suddenly open schedule, it was forced to unleash a new season of "Big Brother" upon the world.

Post-strike outlook: The upside to having so many crime procedurals is that fans don't have too many long-running storylines to worry about, so catching back up with Horatio and the gang on "CSI: Miami" will be a breeze.

Winners: Network late-night talk-show hosts.
David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Craig Ferguson were welcomed back to TV in January with a substantial boost in viewership. The strike gave us a reason to watch them again — not their guests. We wanted to see how Leno and O'Brien would waste time without scribes. And we wanted to take a closer look at just what it was writers brought to Letterman and Ferguson. The latter's decision to return with no guests — just scripted sketches — created the night's most entertaining return and biggest tribute to the cause.

Post-strike outlook: Once shows are back in production, the guest lists will beef up, the spotlight will be off the hosts and these shows will settle back into their pre-strike existences.

Slide show   Hollywood silenced A Daryl Cagle editorial cartoon roundup digs into how the writers' strike is leaving Tinseltown speechless. msnbc.com

Losers: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
The strike took the hosts of Comedy Central's "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" off the air just as the craziness of the current election cycle was heating up. And though their return sans writers in January offered a few choice zingers, both have been forced to cut back on the cutting critiques and resort to adding interviews with lame book authors or recycling old sketches.

The "Indecision" election coverage are these shows' bread and butter, and they need their writers to cover it right. Besides, how is Colbert expected to properly argue for his rightful place as Huckabee's running mate without writers feeding him his lines?

Post-strike outlook: Once they have their writers back, these shows will once again offer the best election coverage on cable.

Winner: Corporate synergy
With holes to fill on their schedules, networks looked to their corporate partners for help. CBS will start airing episodes of Showtime's bloody good "Dexter," and in March, NBC will import episodes of USA Network's crime-fighting duo "Monk" and "Psych" to Sunday night. It's a wonder ABC hasn't filled its schedule with reruns of Disney's "Hannah Montana."

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

Post-strike outlook: Networks are always looking for cheap filler, so if these trial runs go well, viewers could see more of the cable shows on the networks. But the big boon here could be for the cable shows. "Dexter" and "Psych" deserve much larger audiences, and this exposure could give it to them.

Loser: "24"
The strike presented this popular Fox show with a choice between two evils: Air a partial season now of completed episodes with no set date for when that season would be completed, or wait to air any episodes until a full season can be scheduled. Fox wisely chose the latter option, but it still has yet to decide how it will proceed. Will viewers get two seasons next year, or will fans have to wait until January 2009?

Post-strike outlook: Reception to the sixth season was cool, and if fans have to wait more than a year and a half between seasons, interest in the aging show might wane completely. Still, one should never count out Jack Bauer.

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