Matt Roush gives his opinion on Moonlight's return this season

Since the writer's strike is over, a viewer wrote to Matt Roush asking if that means Moonlight will begin production again for this season, or if we will have to wait for next season for more episodes. He answered in his Ask Matt column today on the TV Guide website. Of course, this is just his opinion. All the tv gurus have said the same thing thus far.

Question :

I'm concerned that shows will be in such a hurry to get new episodes on the air after the strike finally ends that the result will not be as good as what we might have gotten if there had been no strike. What are the odds of this happening? I've heard that some shows had episodes written but weren't filmed because so much is rewritten during production, and that couldn't happen during the strike. So those shows should be OK. I've also read that some shows will not finish this season but will hold new episodes until fall. As much as I miss some of my favorites, I think I'd prefer this over hastily written and produced crap. Do you have any intelligence on this? What's your best guess? The shows I'm most interested in are Supernatural, Ugly Betty, Lost, Heroes and Moonlight. I also greatly miss my Monday-night laughs with the gang at How I Met Your Mother. Thank you for an informative and often thought-provoking column.— Cindy B.

Matt Roush :

Once the dust settles from the strike (let it be soon), each show will be judged on a case-by-case basis. The decision to wait to produce new episodes until next season for many series has more to do with economics than creativity, but some long-running shows are enough of a well-oiled machine that they can probably pick back up without too much effort — especially those that knew where their stories were going for the next part of the season. It's all a mess, but of the shows you name, it's most likely that Heroes, Moonlight and possibly Supernatural will make do with what they've already produced. Lost is in such an odd position, having already planned to do a short season, that I'll have to wait to see what they decide before commenting. Ugly Betty is so plot-driven at this point it would be nice for them to move the story a little bit further along, in the way that Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters appear likely to do in April or May. And comedies are the most likely of all shows to resume production for at least a handful of episodes, so I'd be surprised if we don't get more How I Met Your Mother (along with the other CBS comedies) before season's end.

mailto:end.askmatt@tvguide.com