Tom Maurstad

It's been barely two months since the writers strike that shut down most TV production ended, and already it seems a dim memory of the distant past. That's partly because in our pop-culture overdrive, two months is an eternity, and partly because many of the shows most affected – Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and the late-night talk shows – were back up and running almost immediately.

But now, with the return of broadcast series television, a.k.a. "your favorite shows," we get a chance to see what all the fuss was about. In what's going to amount to a spring miniseason of new shows, this post-strike staging will give viewers a chance to catch up with already established favorites and reconnect (or not) with new shows that were just catching on (or not) when the strike brought the fall season to a screeching halt.

ABC

Gloria Garayua (from left), Winston Story, Tymberlee Chanel, Richard Keith and Katherine Heigl in Grey's Anatomy

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For some shows – 30 Rock, The Office, Ugly Betty – absence has only made viewers' hearts grow fonder. For others – Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy –the strike has revealed how easy it was to get along without them. And for a slate of new shows struggling to lock in an audience – Samantha Who?, Reaper – the strike was either an unfortunate case of viewerus interruptus or a reprieve providing a chance to retool.

Let's look at some of the probable high points and possible low ones.

NBC's (Channel 5) current slate of sitcoms returns with new shows tonight that together are better (there, I said it) than the classic comedy lineups of previous Thursday-night eras. The best and the brightest of that bunch is 30 Rock (7:30 p.m.), a comedy about the wacky world behind a Saturday Night Live-like show not coincidentally created by SNL alum Tina Fey. It's a measure of just how hot this show is that its heat has only intensified during the strike-imposed lag period.

30 Rock is the new cutting edge of great television. Things to look forward to include the escalating war between Alec Baldwin's network honcho and his archrival (played by Arrested Development 's Will Arnett) and the return of Liz Lemon's ex-boyfriend from Cleveland.

The other hit comedies returning tonight are The Office (8) and My Name Is Earl (7). Both are shaping up to become classics of ensemble comedy, each having developed a roll call's worth of vivid and hilarious support players. When last we saw Earl, he was lying unconscious on the street after being hit (again) by a car, next to the unconscious body of the girl he may be falling in love with (Alyssa Milano), who was also just hit by a car. Meanwhile on The Office, Jim and Pam's love is out in the open.

Despite a gimmicky setup (amnesia), Samantha Who? (8:30 p.m. Monday on ABC, Channel 8) is the best new comedy on television, thanks in large part to the acting skills and comic timing of its star, Christina Applegate. With wicked-smart writing and great support players (such as Jean Smart playing the world's worst mom), the only question is how long the show can keep the whole amnesia thing going before it collapses in on itself.

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Christina Applegate portrays Samantha, right, in a scene with actor Tim Russ in the ABC TV comedy series, Samantha Who.

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The other great new show to reunite with or discover is Reaper (8 p.m. Tuesday on The CW, Channel 33). Rumor has it the show is "on the bubble"; if so, let's hope a surge in ratings saves it from an early demise. This show, about a young wayward guy who finds himself indentured to the devil (by his parents, no less), offers that best and all too infrequent combination on prime-time television – smart and funny entertainment.

Two of the Wisteria Lane women appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly to promote the magazine's "Spring TV Preview," and pictures of Dr. McDreamy continue to be a fixture of media stargazing. But let's face it: The best days of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy are in the past.

Dana Delany has put a little fire back in the sleepy suburban street as the new villainous housewife, but the show was barely smoldering when the strike turned the lights out. As for Grey's Anatomy, the sizzle has fizzled on this prime-time soap opera. New Grey's Anatomy episodes return April 24 on Channel 8; Desperate Housewives returns Sunday at 8 p.m. on Channel 8.