The strike is claiming its earliest victims with sitcoms "The New Adventures of Old Christine," "Back to You" (pictured below), "’Til Death," "Rules of Engagement" and "The Office" already shut down. And of course the latenight shows immediately went dark. For more details see the story from our TV gurus (and fellow Season Passers) Mike Schneider and Joe Adalian here.

After this morning's rally by showrunners, who convened outside ABC, there should be several more shows going dark as more folks at the helm of shows realize they can't, in good conscience, picket the companies as writers and then turn around and work for them as producers.

"Ugly Betty" exec producer-creator Silvio Horta explained the dilemma succinctly saying “The perfectionist in me wants to participate, the Norma Rae in me wants to support my union.”

For more reactions like this, see the story above and Variety's new strike blog, Scribe Vibe.

Buckle up folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

— Kathy Lyford

"Pushing Daisies" held up pretty well in its second outing Wednesday, but it's "Private Practice" that's really looking like a hit for ABC. NBC's "Bionic Woman" dipped in week three, but not precipitously.

Meanwhile, Fox's "Back to You" and CBS' "Kid Nation" had a tough time in the 8 p.m. hour. "Pushing Daisies" (10.1 million, 3.6 rating/11 share) led the hour in the adults 18-49 demo and held the majority, if not vast majority, of its premiere aud last week (13 million, 4.3/13). NBC's "Deal or No Deal" (12.5 million, 3.1/9) regained some of the aud it lost last week to "Daisies" (pictured left). Same could not be said for "Back to You" (6.5 million, 2.2/7) or "Kid Nation" (7 million, 2.0/6).

At 9 p.m., "Bionic Woman" (10.1 million, 3.8/8) improved in the demo on its "Deal" lead-in. CBS' "Criminal Minds" (14.5 million, 3.8/8) led the frame in viewers but "Practice" (12.2 million, 4.8/12) won the demo by a comfortable margin, up slightly from its second outing last week. CW's "Gossip Girl" (2.9 million, 1.7/5 in adults 18-34) got lost in the fray but no matter; the frosh sudser earned a full season pickup from CW on Wednesday. Fox's "Kitchen Nightmares" (6.5 million, 3.0/8) was in its regular zone of the past few weeks.

At 10 p.m., it looks like time is running out on NBC's drama "Life" (8.1 million, 2.8/8). ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" (8.9 million, 3.4/9) is better off, but it also has a better lead-in. CBS' "CSI: NY" (13.3 million, 4.0/11) easily took the hour.

For the nightly bragging rights overall, it was ABC in 18-49 (3.9/11) and CBS in viewers (11.6 million.)

--Cynthia Littleton

Wednesday's newcomers got off to fair-to-middling starts, per the prelim Nielsens. (Click here for a full rundown of the night by Variety ratings guru and Season Pass contributor Rick Kissell.)

Fox's "Back to You" won its 8 p.m. timeslot in adults 18-49, but didn't have the kind of opening night drawing power you'd expect for the combo of Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. Sitcom averaged 3.1/10 ratings share in the key demo and 9.5 million viewers overall.

For all the advance hoopla, CBS' "Kid Nation" didn't do a whole lot of business for the Eye in its 8 p.m. debut, pulling in about 9 million viewers and 3.0/9 ratings share in adults 18-49.

Gordon Ramsay's numbers also cooled off after his hot summer in "Hell's Kitchen." Chef's new show "Kitchen Nightmares" followed Fox's sitcom block at 9 p.m. with 6.6 million viewers and 3.1/8 in the demo.

CW had something to talk about with the 9 p.m. bow of "Gossip Girl." Show wasn't so hot in overall viewers, drawing about 3.7 million, but scored in its target demos of women 18-34 (3.2/9) and femme teens (5.3/17).

--Cynthia Littleton

With the 2007 Emmys behind us, the obsessed among us are free to wonder (and then seek psychological help thereafter) which actors from the crop of new network shows are most likely to grab nominations in 2008 .

Not an easy question to answer -- especially because the coming TV season will bring even more one-hours that could submit as comedy or drama, such as ABC's "Pushing Daisies" or CW's "Reaper."

For example, what happens with Lee Pace of the heralded "Daisies"? There are spots opening up in both the drama and comedy actor categories now that "The Sopranos" (James Gandolfini) and "Extras" (Ricky Gervais) have concluded their series runs. Putting aside the competition from returning actors who got passed over this year (ahem - Kyle Chandler), where would Pace best fit in? The show and his role might just be a 'tweener.

The most likely actor nominee from a new network series might be Peter Krause of "Dirty Sexy Money," another ABC show. If "Dirty" finds traction with viewers, Krause will benefit from a juicy role and his past nominee track record (three nods for "Six Feet Under," though no wins).

On the drama actress side, Edie Falco of "Sopranos" drops off the nominee list next year, but the category had an atypical six official candidates in '07, so that doesn't exactly free up a spot. Still, by stepping out of the popular but crowded "Grey's Anatomy" cast, Kate Walsh has the clearest path among network contenders to Emmy success via spinoff "Private Practice." 

Walsh's main challenges: The show needs to convince voters that it is better than de facto first episode last spring, and Glenn Close will carry big support from her towering presence on FX's "Damages." If "Practice" doesn't make perfect, perhaps Michelle Ryan of NBC's "Bionic Woman" will gain some voter momentum.

Among the laffers, there's no getting away from vets Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton of "Back to You" as the most likely to step into the '08 Emmy race. But keep an eye on Johnny Galecki from CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" and, if it were to submit as a comedy, Anna Friel of "Daisies."

Obviously, there are many more worthy possibilites than listed here -- including those on midseason replacements -- but as we go from Emmys to season premieres, I couldn't resist thinking out loud.

— Jon Weisman

After staring at the disc for weeks on the table next to my TV, I finally caught the much-hyped Fox comedy "Back to You" over the weekend.

My first impressions: They're all trying real hard, maybe too hard, to be funny. But for the most part it works because we want to like these actors so much we're willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

That goodwill comes in the form of Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, who are coming off their megahit comedies "Frasier" and "Everybody Loves Raymond." They were each so good in those — and made it look so easy — that it might be hard to see them in new roles. To ask them to relish in those retired characters forever, however, and not try something new wouldn't be fair.

Hey, a few million in syndication only goes so far.

Writers/creators Steve Levitan ("The Larry Sanders Show") and Christopher Lloyd ("Frasier") have great material to work with here and they know how to write a set up and punchline as good as anyone.

Three-camera/studio audience sitcoms seem the way of dinosaur these days, with laffers like "Curb Your Enthusiam" (for Variety's review, click here), "Ugly Betty" and "30 Rock" leading the charge in a world where drama is dominating the primetime schedule. Comedy, however, is still viable and can come in many forms. And there's nobody better than director James Burrows in knowing what makes us laugh.

So I'm on board "Back to You." With a stellar turn in "Damages," folks such as Ted Danson have proved this year that even actors with iconic characters on their resume can move on. The bigger question with "Back to You" could be will audiences too?

— Stuart Levine

Welcome to Season Pass, Variety.com’s blog for dishing about fall’s new scripted TV shows.
We wanted to give readers a wide range of opinions on the fall fare so eight of us spent a good chunk of our summer watching all of it. We like to complain, but it was really kind of fun.

Each of us has rated all the shows using four categories:

Love it, setting a season pass now

Worth another try

OK, but not for me

Won't watch again

"Reaper" (below) was one show that took us all by surprise. I did not expect to like it and it ended up being one of my favorites

The shows that rated the highest (one or two thumbs up) among our group of TV junkies were: ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” (seven season passes), NBC’s “Chuck” (four season passes), the CW’s “Reaper” (six season passes), CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” (three season passes), the CW’s “Gossip Girl,” (one season pass), Fox’s “Back To You” (one season pass) and CBS’ midseason entry “Swingtown” (one season pass).

See the chart for more details.

Our opinions are meant as a guide only. We encourage you to give all the shows a try and see for yourself what shows speak to you.

We’ll be blogging after each episode to track the shows’ progress. And we’ll weigh in on topics related to the season.

Have fun and happy channel surfing!