Writer's strike - what SHOULD air if it goes on long

So with the writer's strike, all the TV execs are scrambling to figure out what programming to air. Already we've lost 24 until at least 2009 (since they like to show the thing non-stop beginning in January), and Heroes is ending its season after episode 11. The Office has shut down production. If the strike is too long, then the Screen Actors Guild will likely also call a strike - and with some of the Grey's Anatomy cast joining the writers on the picket lines during their breaks, it seems that it may be inevitable.

So network execs have come up with the grand solution of filling the airwaves with a ton of reality TV and game shows. While this may be the only approach they're thinking of, I wonder if another approach hasn't occured to them: the re-run. Why not? There are PLENTY of shows each network (save for The CW - more on this later) could show. In the case of NBC and CBS, they have close to 60 years of programming they could show, ABC a tad over 50, and Fox has 20. The CW would have to draw upon The WB and UPN archives to fill the gap - which I wouldn't mind seeing Voyager and Buffy side-by-side. Fox could put Married... with Children on Monday night, since that seems to be comedy night these days, and a Monday airing of The Simpsons - hell, they have enough of that show to run it an hour a night five nights a week and not run out for nine months. NBC could have Must See TV again, with reruns of My Name is Earl and The Office running alongside Cheers and Seinfeld. They're covered in one-hour shows - the Law and Order franchise is vast enough to keep it going, and throw in Bonanza and Monk for good measure. CBS has an assload of comedies they could bring out that are still relevant - All in the Family comes to mind. And if Seinfeld were to come back to NBC, throw I Love Lucy against it. And pit WKRP (with all the original music intact!) against The Office. It'd be a battle royale between those two on Thursdays if they went to the backlog. ABC is ABC and couldn't be saved if they brought back some of the classic TGIF shows. However, if they were to have Home Improvement on Monday's up against any CBS comedy, it'd give ABC more power ratings! There is talk of importing shows from cable or even the BBC. Can you imagine Battlestar Galactica competing against Voyager or Enterprise?

This way, the networks won't turn themselves into broadcast versions of VH1, E!, etc. But I think the reason they want to go with reality/game programming is because they realize if they were to go to a classic re-run schedule, then once the new shows came back on the air, they'd be screwed! There's hardly anything new that I watch, save for 24 and Heroes. Nothing appeals to me.