For show runners, time to write a new beginning

With the writers strike drawing to a formal close, Hollywood’s show runners are heading back to work – some as early as today. Here’s a look at four high-profile creators who are looking to pick up where they left off:

Greg Garcia, the creator and show runner of “My Name Is Earl,” is a very funny man. But he’s not playing.

His network, NBC, and studio, 20th Century Fox Television, have told him they would like to air as many new episodes of his single-camera comedy as possible by May 15. At best, that would be nine episodes – and Garcia is going to give it his best shot. How will he spend today, his first day back in the office?

“I’m in a position where I want to have a table read a week from Tuesday and start shooting two weeks from tomorrow. We had two first drafts of scripts, so I’m going to read over those and see where we’re at because I haven’t even looked at them. I’m going to look at some other stuff to see what we have left in the way of stories. But the majority of my day will be figuring out the schedule, booking out directors, talking to casting – to hopefully get all the scheduling stuff out of the way so when the writers come on Wednesday, I can concentrate on the writing.”

The show’s 17 writers are excited to return to work, Garcia said. “But I’m sure there’s going to be a little bit of shock of reentry after having been off work and having this big thing take over your life for three months and all of a sudden, guess what? You’re sitting on a couch trying to come up with the next story. And be funny too.”

First order of business: “I’m having a very specific no-talk-about-the-strike policy at work,” he said.

And what happens if you slip?

“You’re fired!” he said. “You’re back on strike! That’s what’s going to happen … leading up to the strike for two months, that’s all I heard coming out of the writers’ room. And that’s all I’ve heard about for the last three months. And now it’s over. I’m not going to sit and listen to them talk about it now. If you say the word ‘strike’ and you’re not talking about bowling, you’re fired.”

One potential crisis: If “My Name Is Earl” begins shooting in two weeks, will star Jason Lee have enough time to grow back his moustache? Lee typically shaves it when he’s on hiatus.

“There was some concern if the strike was going to be short, but that went away around December,” Garcia said. “So, yeah, he just grows a beard, but the moustache is in there somewhere. We just have to go in and find it when we need it.

“The hardest part is that [costar] Jaime [Pressly] has to shave her moustache because she lets it grow,” Garcia continued. “That’s going to be the hardest part. I think she’s grown attached to it too.”

Prolific writer-producer Shawn Ryan reentered the lonely life of a writer on Sunday night. After his wife and children went to sleep, Ryan delved into cuts from a Fox pilot and the last four episodes of “The Shield,” which will begin its final season later this year.

The show runner of FX’s “The Shield” and CBS’ “The Unit,” and executive producer of a new Fox series, “The Oaks,” Ryan was also a member of the guild’s negotiating committee. He had a lot on the line when the strike began: Filming on “The Oaks” was just beginning, the third season of “The Unit” was underway and the final episode of “The Shield,” the police drama that made Ryan one of Hollywood’s most respected TV writers, was shooting.

With the picketing now behind him, Ryan said he was looking forward to meeting with the writers of “The Oaks,” that is, if Fox still intends to air the series. He also is awaiting word from CBS on whether it will air more episodes of “The Unit” this spring.

“I don’t think I’ll miss [the picketing], but what I will miss is the camaraderie,” Ryan said. “I got to meet so many writers during this process. It’s a very intelligent, dedicated group of people, and I’ve been so very lucky to meet so many of them.”

The days ahead will be busy and somewhat daunting for all show runners as they try to get their programs back on track, after having been off work for three months.

“Every show is different,” Ryan said. “It depends on where the shows were and what was left behind when the strike hit. All show runners will be looking at prepping, scheduling, scripts that were left, if there were any, things that need casting, things that need editing. There’s a lot to do.”

Anyone who has been watching the fourth season of “Lost” knows that the writers have managed to raise about 100 more questions than the million already on fan’s minds.

But no question will have more effect this season than the one co-show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse face as the end of the strike approaches. When the walkout began in November, eight of the season’s 16 scripts were completed. Will ABC order the final eight to be aired this TV season? Or will some of the episodes get tabled for future seasons?

“I think the big task ahead of us is to basically come up with the best plan both creatively and logistically for ‘Lost’ moving forward,” Lindelof said. “If they go along with what we kind of want to do, my guess is it will be fairly aggressive. So every day counts.”

If all goes as planned, the producers will begin talking about stories with the writers on Wednesday, Lindelof said. The difficulties, he added, might lie in remembering all of the characters, mysteries and island secrets.

Like the Dharma Initiative? (If you don’t know what this is, it will take the length of another strike to explain.)

“Everything I’ve forgotten about the Dharma Initiative is best left forgotten,” Lindelof said. “The good news about time away from the show is that you remember the good stuff. If you’ve forgotten about it, it’s probably best not to be reminded. We’re looking forward to executing the resolution of Season 4. Who are all the members of Oceanic 6? What happened to everybody else? What is the secret the Oceanic 6 are keeping and why are they keeping it? And who are these freighter folk?”

In addition to facing their creative dilemmas, Lindelof said, he and Cuse face piles of paperwork.

“There’s a significant build-up of administrative work that we haven’t been doing over the course of the last three months,” Lindelof said. “It’s all the fun stuff. We’re just going to be having lots of fun.”

“Pushing Daisies” creator and show runner Bryan Fuller is embracing the good with the bad. The ABC freshman comedy will not return to the schedule this spring but will definitely be back in the fall for a second season.

Because of that, executives from Warner Bros., the studio that produces it, told Fuller on Friday that writers should not come back to work until next month.

A little disappointing? Yes. But that’s not stopping the imaginative minds behind Ned the Pie Maker and his magic (or is it undeadly?) touch.

“All the writers are itching to get started, and even though it’s voluntary, I’m gathering them at my house for waffle warm-ups,” Fuller said. “I’m making the writing staff waffles, and we’re just going to start informally and slowly and get everybody started on arcs I’ve been thinking about since we’ve been away and looking back at the stories we had at the end of the season and we’re going to continue. Our writers are super enthusiastic about getting back to work.”

Fuller said that ABC considered ordering a handful of new episodes to air in May but decided against that when the network considered the reality of relaunching the one-hour comedy when “American Idol” is in the final stages of picking a winner. ABC has not decided on how many episodes it will order for the second season, but Fuller said he expects it to be 13 or 22.

“I think the best thing for the show would be to come back in the fall, to do a big push for a new season,” Fuller said. “Even if we come back to only 13 episodes, hopefully we will regain our audience in the fall and ABC would wind up ordering more. It would be almost like our first nine episodes were a mini-preview season.”

The only problem, Fuller said, with waiting to air in the fall is that production won’t begin until June, leaving crew members who have been out of work for 15 weeks without jobs for another four months.

“On the one hand, I love the idea of spending four or five months of pure writing and stockpiling episodes,” Fuller said. “That’s a big plus. But the big drawback will be that it will be another four months before we can get the crew working again. That’s the biggest downside to the strike: how adversely it has affected people who have no dog in the fight. What I hope happens is that crews take jobs on pilots and things that wrap quickly so they can return when we begin because it was a fantastic crew, and I’d hate to lose any of them.”

maria.elena.fernandez @latimes.com