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!

So you may have heard by now that the Golden Globes ceremony, easily the most interesting televised major awards show, has been essentially canceled. Yes, the red carpet has been rolled up, the parties have been nixed, and the doling out of the awards has been slashed to a press conference helmed by NBC News. Oh wow, how exciting! Please tell me Ryan Seacrest will be there to ask Brian Williams who he's wearing.

In related news, tonight's People's Choice Awards have similarly been downgraded to the reading of a leaflet at the Beverly Center, or the like. We were actually looking forward to PCA nominee Neil Patrick Harris rocking the red carpet with David Burtka (they do clean up so nicely!) but it looks like there will be none of that.

In fact, there may be none of anything, at this point. Aside from the SAG Awards (which worked out an interim deal with the writers, big surprise!), no other awards shows are a sure thing at this point, including our beloved, bloated Oscars. So like so many of you who are stocking up for a potentially starvation-inducing lean stretch of clumsy acceptance speeches and formal attire misfires, I actually watched the Critics' Choice Awards last night on VH1 and am here to share the highlights.

You can thank me later for taking this one for the team.

Aside from boasting possibly the worst host in the history of awards shows (D.L. Hughley) and the worst written jokes to go along with him (please settle with the writers, studios!! We can't take much more of this!), the affair was a complete trainwreck start to finish. They turned the lights off on Marisa Tomei, Feist and Snoop Dogg had no microphones, and the presenters all looked like the teleprompters were making fun of them. What, are the stagehands on strike again, too?

The highlights of the evening were thus:

By now you may have seen some of the online videos that various television talents have made in support of the writers' strike. (The "Speechless Without Writers" campaign is the biggest, although a recent bit about cute animals in viral videos featuring David Cross as a scab piano-playing kitten was my favorite so far.)

The ladies over at AfterEllen.com took the opportunity to toss in some gentle suggestions of their own regarding the woeful state of lesbian and bi characters on television, asking the striking writers to start writing more gals with pals when the strike is over. Now, we may think we have it bad in terms of gay visibility on television, but we've got a cakewalk compared to the ladies. Aside from The L Word it's pretty much crickets, which has driven the AEllen ladies to dangerous extremes, including creating their own online programming.

We of course fully support this cause. Actually, we're more behind this than we are behind getting stuff like Jay Leno back on the air, but that's another discussion. To check out the plea for lesbian and bi characters and some examples of their endearingly makeshift lesbian-inclusive replacement entertainment, click on through the jump!

• Brothers & Sisters scoop: Eric Winter will definitely be back for a buncha scenes before the writers' strike takes its toll, and Kevin and Sarah will both sing in a gay karaoke bar in episode 12. Okay, I might actually start watching this again...

• No mention of As the World Turns, but reports are coming in that soap writers are the first to break the strike.

• It's not so much the story here but the headline: "Republican guilty of soliciting gay sex." Shouldn't they just hard-code that at this point and cycle in the names of senators as needed?

• Hoyay in Rex Morgan, M.D. and crotch-shots and drag queens in Gil Thorp? Why, it's the 5 Most Unintentionally Hilarious Comic Strips!

• Boy George, aka "George O'Dowd, a musician of Ravey Street,", charged with false imprisonment related to that fateful coke-heavy "break-in" incident earlier this year.

Just a quick update on the writers' strike:

It's still on.

More stars have come out in support of their writers and showrunners (many of whom, like Marc Cherry and Greg Berlanti, joined the line earlier this week), including some folks in NYC, who picketed outside the Time Warner Center. The tourists shopping at Williams-Sonoma were no doubt thrilled to see some of their favorite stars chanting angrily outside as they browsed $80 colanders.

Sad news for Brothers & Sisters and Dirty Sexy Money fans: at this rate B&S's last ep will be the 12th, titled "The Missionary Imposition" (hmmm... wonder what that might be about?) and DSM's will be the 11th. That would mean both shows would end right after Christmas.

We've got a very cold January ahead, kids...

Entertainment Tonight posted a video that shows out actor T.R. Knight, Emmy-tastic BFF Katherine Heigl, and some of their Grey's Anatomy castmates supporting the picketing writers and explaining why the strike is important, even if it means their show may go dark as soon as next week. In a separate interview, Knight noted that next Tuesday may be the last day of shooting and that while the cast's contracts may protect them, the crew will essentially be unemployed within a week.

From the sounds of it Grey's won't be lasting much longer than the other gay-faves we mentioned yesterday, if the strike lasts (and all indications say it will, at this point).

Last Friday we posted on the writer's strike and its potential impact on some gay fave TV shows.

The walkout officially began on Monday. It's the first industrywide strike by writers since 1988. That strike lasted five months, and a lot of folks believe the current walkout could last as long or longer. The battle between the writers and the studios boils down to compensation for digital delivery of content. (Just before the strike, the union dropped its other demand for increased compensation for DVD sales - but got no counteroffer/concession from the studios on the digital issue.)

Both sides are digging in their heels and settling in for a long fight. We have some more specific information as to how that will affect some of your favorite shows:

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. These two gems are already in repeats. If the strike drags on into 2008, Comedy Central has hinted that The Daily Show show might come back in a predominantly interview driven format. (There's an important election coming up and the nation will need its fake news!).

Note: on Monday there was a story circulating that, even though his show has been shut down, Jon Stewart would personally be paying his writers their salaries for the next two weeks. Turns out that is not in fact the case. Stewart's reps have denied the rumor.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) contract expired last night, and talks between the studios and the writers have broken off — with no talks rescheduled. Even more ominous, the WGA has asked members to show up at the LA Convention Center tonight at 10:00pm for an "announcement."

It looks almost certain that there will be a writers' strike. The sticking issues? First, the writers want a bigger cut of the increasingly lucrative DVD market. The current formula, set in 1985 to deal with videocassette sales, gives writers about four cents for every DVD sold. The WGA wants a new formula that would essentially double that. Second and possibly more important, the WGA wants a share in the profits for internet broadcasts. The studios say they want to table that discussion until the internet market is "more mature."

Neither side appears willing to give ground, which is making a walkout seem inevitable. And if a similar strike in 1988 is any example, this thing could drag on for months.

So, what would a strike mean to television viewers (and gay television viewers in particular)?

First to be affected would be talk shows. As early as next week there would be no more David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, or Jay Leno.

Regis & Kelly and the ladies of The View might still go "live," but if they do they'll be ad libbing all their own material. (Oh the horror!)

Also immediately impacted: Saturday Night Live. Amy Poehler says the show has no backlog of scripts so, “Boom — our show just shuts down.”

Worse in my mind, we'd also immediately lose The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. The Bush administration might be cheering this turn of events, but the rest of us will need to get our daily fix of Stewart and Colbert via Comedy Central's online video archive.

But that's just the beginning.