New episodes at last!

It's a good thing we're finally starting to see some new episodes of TV shows, because it seems that the recently ended Hollywood writers' strike had an unfortunate effect on yours truly.

My tolerance for crummy TV shows has, perhaps, increased.

Hopefully, it's a temporary thing. Tonight, when we get new episodes of "Big Bang Theory," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men" — hip, hip hurray! — it might go a long way toward recalibrating my personal junk-o-meter.

Not a moment too soon.

What with the three-month strike by the Hollywood writers, we were left with a dearth of new episodes of scripted series. There are some great reality shows out there, but they're the exception. And the strike did nothing to increase my tolerance for crummy reality shows.

But under normal circumstances, I would not have watched five episodes of "Cashmere Mafia" before giving up on it as a lost cause.

Two episodes, maybe, but not five.

I definitely would not have seen every episode of "One Tree Hill" that's aired since January. It descended into unwatchability three seasons ago, and it's still laughably bad.

This is a show that both of my daughters watch, too, and all we do is complain about how awful it is.

And it's not like I gave "Canterbury's Law" a glowing review or anything, but maybe I would have been less forgiving if it had come at a time when the networks were airing loads of new episodes of loads of shows.

Or maybe I was distracted by Julianna Margulies' face, which doesn't quite look like the same face she had when she was on "ER."

For those of us who love TV — and, yes, I still love TV — getting new episodes of old favorites is the greatest gift television can give us. Watching new episodes of "Big Bang Theory," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men" is like opening presents on Christmas morning.

Now, if only we could be certain that the actors won't go on strike when their contract expires in June. ...

---

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com