It wasn't as much fun, but I managed to muddle through.

(Oh -- right. The question: How did you deal with the writers' strike?)

The three-plus months of writerless TV started to wear on me about January, when shows that took breaks for the holidays should have returned.

No "Grey 's Anatomy, " no "30 Rock, " no "Daily Show. " Seriously, how am I supposed to keep up with the oversexed surgical residents at Seattle Grace Hospital? And I tried, with the unscripted "Daily Show " and "Colbert Report. " I stuck with it for a few weeks, but gave up. Not that it wasn 't funny; it just wasn 't all that.

"Project Runway " soothed the anxiety a little; I also turned to DVDs. I caught up to "Nip/Tuck, " and was able to watch the end of the fifth season on time. (Am I the only one who thought the recent season finale went waaaay over the top? Even for a show that regularly trades on the bizarre and passes it off as the usual. I 'm still puzzling over that last episode.)

And I checked off the first season of "Dexter" (awesome) and the first two seasons of "Weeds" (not awesome, more fun-- and it puts Mary Louise Parker and Elizabeth Perkins in the same show so I can finally tell them apart).

I became a fan of "Breaking Bad, " the AMC show with Bryan Cranston as a high school teacher who turns to cooking crystal meth to pay for his lung cancer treatments. It 's funny and sad and simultaneously hopeful and hopeless.

Which kind of describes my attitude in the waning days of January.

The big promise of ABC 's "Cashmere Mafia " unraveled like a poorly knit sweater as I watched the first episode. It was "Sex and the City " without the whimsy, without the oomph, and, despite the credentials ( "Sex " creator Darren Star and "Sex " stylist Patricia Field both worked on "Mafia "), without the talent.

Lucy Liu and Miranda Otto were both miscast as powerful executive-types, and only Frances O 'Connor, the uber-capable, multitasking career mom, instilled any kind of sympathy.

Things were looking bleak. I almost wished I liked "American Idol " enough to tune in; that and "Dancing With the Stars " seem to be the two strike-proof shows of the reality bunch. Even "Big Brother " is more unwatchable this time around.

But then "Lost " came back, and all felt normal. For one hour a week. And then "House " burned off its last three unseen episodes, and normalcy extended past an hour.

It was short-lived. Because there are new episodes of "Lost " (and "America 's Next Top Model " and "The Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious " -- seriously, judge Robin Antin scares me into watching this show; I feel if I don 't, she 'll know ), I still have to wait a month or so before my reunion with "The Office " (they swear it'll be April).

But it 'll be a long, long summer before a return visit from everyone 's favorite computer nerd-slash-super spy, "Chuck, " or everyone 's favorite pie man, Ned, of "Pushing Daisies. " Both won 't return until fall.

This week, though, the schedule starts filling with familiar faces.

Tonight, the second season of "Dirt " airs on FX, starring Courteney Cox as a ruthless tabloid editor. It 's not a great show, but without competition from, say, "24, " which won 't return until 2009, I think I can find room for it.

And Monday, the CW brings back "Aliens in America, " the charming little sitcom about a Pakistani exchange student living in Medora, Wis. I 'll try to overlook the obvious Wisconsin stereotypes this time around.

So things are looking up. I figure with "Breaking Bad, " "Dirt, " a half-hour of HBO 's "In Treatment " a night (mesmerizing and exhausting to watch, but it 's so good), the slow trickle of returning shows (expect "Grey 's Anatomy " and "Ugly Betty " in April, along with NBC 's Thursday night comedies and CBS ' cadre of "CSIs "), and my CW guilty pleasures, "Top Model " and "Girlicious " -- and "Beauty and the Geek, " which starts next week -- I should have a schedule that keeps my TiVo feeling loved again.

I 'll even watch "Lipstick Jungle, " the other "Sex and the City "-linked show (this one is based on another book by "Sex " author Candace Bushnell) to the end.

Technically, it ranks slightly above "Cashmere Mafia, " if only because Brooke Shields is more watchable than Lucy Liu, but it quickly falls off from there. Really I watch it for the styling tips -- I just have to know how Kim Raver Nico gets that women-on-the-go look.

Yes, I 'll be fine soon enough.