There's Got to Be a Morning After: The Strike is Over

That's right, folks: last night the WGA East and West voted to call off the restraining order initiated on Novemeber 5th, and the strike is over. Now all that remains to be seen is what will happen to the capsized television season ... will the survivors make it through the inverted liner to rescue? Will there be a shlocky sequel starring Sally Field and a wretched remake? And most importantly, who will sing the theme song!?

Very little is known at this point, but the biggest news is that the Oscars are still indeed on for Sunday, February 24th, so go ahead and start planning your party menu accordingly (Into the Wild Rice Pilaf! Charlie Wilson's Three-Bean Dip!). ABC had announced previously that their nine most successful shows have already been renewed for next season, which includes Ugly Betty, Brothers & Sisters, Pushing Daisies, Desperate Housewives, Dirty Sexy Money, and basically anything else with a gay, transgender, or vaguely queer actor or character. So all set on that front.

Otherwise the various networks are left to pick up their own pieces. Saturday Night Live will return on February 23rd, but no guest has been announced yet (UPDATE: Tina Fey will host the first episode and Ellen Page will host the following week). And 24 won't be back until 2009, if that matters to anyone anymore.

Long and short of it is that we now have a slew of emergency reality programming to suffer through, and the nets are left scrambling to push some actual quality programming into the pipeline. We'll let you know as we learn more about our faves!