And you should be hoping for that, too.

Many of the returning series, including "24" and "Heroes," have either had shortened seasons or none after last year's debilitating writers' strike.

That means writers and showrunners have had plenty of time to think and rework scripts for the new season. After all, what else is there to do while you're walking around in a circle with a strike sign over your shoulder?

If they haven't taken advantage of the exta time, then they've wasted a rare opportunity to take a look at their past shows and evaluate what's working and what isn't.

Fortunately, that's what the producers of "24" are doing. Executive producer Howard Gordon mentioned last week that the production was shutting down before filming on the last six episodes - because Gordon didn't like the way the season was going after the first 18.

So he told his writers to throw out the scripts for the end of the season and start from scratch, a luxury that's never happened to a series before (at least that I know of).

But thanks to the strike, and the fact "24" skipped an entire season last year because of it, producers can stop and figure out where the writing went wrong before they wasted time and money filming more.

Production is supposed to resume in early October, and the show will be able to premiere in its usual January time slot and have a completely uninterrupted season through May, despite the shutdown.

Considering how bad last season was, this will be a boon for the once-great series.

And the more heavily plotted or scripted shows like those I mentioned, as well as AMC's "Breaking Bad," NBC's "The Office" and others, hopefully have taken advantage of the extra time. Let's all hope it bears sweeter fruit for the upcoming season.

A Paris Seacrest production

No amount of top-tiered writers or all the time in the world is going to make this a standout series.

The E! network interviewed "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest last week, who revealed that his production company is working with Paris Hilton's production company to create a new scripted series for the vacuous socialite.

I think of it as Seacrest and Hilton consummating a marriage and producing - what? A dumb blond baby? A loud blond baby?

Just the thought of the pairing baffles the mind.

Seacrest wouldn't say what the series' concept would be about other than that it "will be loud." That's not exactly the kind of word I'd like associated with Ms. Hilton. And it doesn't offer much to look forward to.