"IT'S time to dream again," according to an emotional advertisement on ABC. "It's time to feel again. It's time to come together again."
It also seems to be time to promote the long-awaited return of scripted shows to television, deftly omitting any mention of the three-month writers' strike that crippled most production and took viewers' favorite shows off the air.
"It's been a long winter," ABC reminds us, although none of the commercials for its returning shows explain why.
The networks say they want to avoid stirring up unhappy memories or offending anyone involved in the Writers Guild of America strike. A settlement was reached in February, and many shows resumed production within days. Many of the most popular shows, like "Desperate Housewives," "CSI," "House" and "The Office," will be back with fresh episodes by mid-April.
"I don't think there's any benefit to the audience" in rehashing the strike, said Michael Benson, the co-executive vice president for marketing at ABC. "What's important to the viewer is that the shows are coming back."
George F. Schweitzer, the president of the CBS Marketing Group, concurred, and called the strike "inside baseball."
Far from going negative, many of the post-strike commercials take a triumphant tone, seeking to play off the affection that most viewers feel for their favorite shows. ABC invites viewers to "start fresh" by watching old episodes on ABC.com before the new ones appear. NBC displays behind-the-scenes looks at cast and crew members accompanied by the "Welcome Back, Kotter" theme song from the 1970s. CBS showcases a large African antelope whose name is well-known among crossword puzzle fans: the gnu. Get it? "All gnu" shows?
Mr. Schweitzer of CBS gets credit for the "all gnu" slogan. "I only have one really weird idea a year, so I've used it up now," he said in an interview.
NBC sought to capture the backstage camaraderie of the actors by filming the first days back at work on the sitcoms "30 Rock," "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office," said John Miller, the chief marketing officer for NBC.
The resulting commercial for "The Office" is unusually heart-warming. "You know the first moment you see someone you haven't seen in a while?," the narrator gently asks. On-screen, actors and crew members hug each other, smile and laugh. "On April 10, everyone's back at their desks," the narrator adds, "and Thursdays are right again."
NBC's other commercials emphasize the return of its Thursday comedies. "The 'Welcome Back' song is very memorable and it makes you feel good, and that's exactly what we were going for," Mr. Miller said.
The stakes are high: television executives will nervously eye the Nielsen ratings to see whether viewers return to a television season that has been truncated by the strike and dominated by reality shows and repeats. (Early evidence suggests that they will: new episodes of two CBS comedies posted season highs last week.)
But marketing executives specialize in trying to take a less-than-perfect situation and make it seem like a boon.
"Just like we have a fall launch, we're calling this a spring launch," said Mr. Benson of ABC.
Commercials with actual scenes from the new episodes are now supplementing the behind-the-scenes ones. In some spots, the networks are reminding viewers of the story lines that were put on pause months ago.
On "My Name is Earl," the lead character was hit by a car at the end of the last original episode, which was shown in January. When the series returns April 3, Earl will still be lying in the street, so the on-air promos are reminding viewers of his predicament.
Similarly, three days before "Desperate Housewives" returns on April 13, ABC will repeat the last two episodes, showing a tornado that devastated Wisteria Lane.
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