• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 13, 2008

Watch network TV right now -- or you may miss it. Either way, it could be a good thing.

Because of the three month disruption of the strike, many producers are trying to come up with shorter episode seasons for their shows -- all of which could be a blessing.  For example, instead of producing another eight episodes for "Lost," exec producer Carlton Cuse said the show will only be doing around five shows for the rest of the year.

"We're going to try to make as many as we can and do a good job of finishing out this season," he told Daily Variety. "We'll have to compress some of the storytelling we planned for this season, and that may not be a bad thing."

Even before the writers' strike, viewers were noting some issues concerning the often boring vamping of popular shows.

Last season, viewers told producers loud and clear some of the "Lost" survivors spent too much time on the other side of the island in the evil clutches of the "others." Viewers also complained "Hero"'s Hiro spent too much time in feudal Japan.

Now the writers' strike may give the impetus for the networks to do what they always wanted -- to cut back season-long episodes commitments from 22 to perhaps 18 or even 13 episodes. Cable networks have been in this programming mode for some time -- offering up 13 episode seasons, with many reruns throughout the season.

Who loses? In the short term, possibly upscale marketers. Scripted programming predominately attracts upscale audiences -- something marketers like a lot.  What they might be left with are lower-income viewers of reality shows.

Long term, networks may be able to gain from the concentration of fewer episodes for TV dramas, all with faster-moving storylines. Perhaps this could drive ratings higher.

Networks will then market them as bigger, more special TV events. In a dwindling TV broadcast ratings world, that's something all TV advertisers desire: making TV more special.