Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes was online Friday, Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. ET to figure out whether Letterman is winning with Leno in reruns, if Paige Davis's "Trading Spaces" return is a good idea or a sign of the apocalypse, and if viewers will be spending more of their their writers strike time promoting world peace, or sitting in a dark room watching static.

The transcript follows.

Lisa Watches So You Don't Have To: "Grey's Anatomy" | de Moraes on TV blog | On TV discussion transcripts.

De Moraes has written "The TV Column" for The Post since 1998. She served as the TV editor for the entertainment industry trade publication the "Hollywood Reporter" for almost a decade.

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Arlington, Va.: "Big Shots": What happened to this show -- was it bumped off in favor of "Women's Murder Club"? Does that mean Big Shots is done for good?

Lisa de Moraes: Hi. "Big Shots" has not been doing very well in the post-"Grey's Anatomy" Thursday time slot. ABC swapped out "Big Shots" this past Thursday, for "Women's Murder Club." Maybe the network thought it would be a good idea to try following chick-drama "Grey's" with a drama that would appeal to chicks. "Big Shots" for those of you who have not seen it -- and there are a lot of you -- is about a bunch of guys who are allegedly very big deal CEO types, but are put upon by the women in their lives -- or they say they are. In the first episode, one of them complained "Men, we're the new women" after which several million "Grey's Anatomy" fans said "no thanks." Oh but wait, you had a question. "October Road" is debuting in the time slot next week after which ABC says "Big Shots" will be back...

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Letterman's numbers: What I think is missing in the ratings for Letterman is that there is a core difference on who watches the show. People around my age (late 30s to late 40s) started watching Letterman from the start and may not watch the show on a regular basis anymore, but will depending on who is on. Leno's crowd tend to be much older devotees to Carson who stuck with Leno because the style of the show remained the same. Because people watch it on a regular basis, they will not watch repeats.

Sure, there always is some viewer shift if one happens to have a notable guest, or if one show is new and the other is in reruns. A big incident occurs and there likely will be a spike in "Nightline" ratings. I still see both shows coming back in a different set-up where they have more interviews, sort of like the format the show took when Dave had to leave when he had needed open-heart surgery, or the other illness he got where they had guest hosts. With Letterman you would see more stupid tricks and more of their unusual characters.

washingtonpost.com: Bad News for Leno, a Plus for Letterman (Post, Nov. 16)

Lisa de Moraes: Preaching to the choir, Pookie. People assumed that with Leno and Letterman in reruns, "Nightline" would score. But someone who watches Leno at night doesn't want to watch news, however sexed up and "inside the mind of Stephen King"-ed it is, when Leno goes to reruns. They want an opening monologue, scripted bits, music and celebrity suck-up interviews. So since Leno, the day-part leader, is in reruns, they went to watch Letterman instead and Letterman won the week, much to some people's surprise...

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Miami, Ohio: Lisa, what's missing from television today? It almost seems that the shows that are on now (non-reality) are meant to only be on for a couple of years and then fade away. "8 Simple Rules" was great until Jon Ritter died -- nothing you can do about that -- but most of the crap we see today that's come out in the past few years seems meaningless, shallow and a waste of time. Maybe it's best the writers are on strike.

Lisa de Moraes: Are you suggesting it's hard to be sympathetic in the strike issue toward the people who have perpetrated "Cavemen" upon us and, from the film side, "Deuce Bigelow." I saw a video on YouTube which suggested that if residuals go away, the writer of one of the Deuce Bigelow" flicks might have to resort to prostitution. It was supposed to be funny -- it was probably written by the guy who wrote "Deuce Bigelow."

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Writers' Strike: First, blech to Paige Davis! I stopped watching because of her. Second -- assuming the writer's strike drags on, will everyone be out of work when production shuts down? The production assistants, the lighting people, the associate producers, the cameramen -- everyone? Or do most of their contracts have clauses stipulating that they get paid anyway? Frankly, I'd be peeved if the writer's strike caused a significant disruption in my income.

washingtonpost.com: Writers' Kids, Bearing a Striking Resemblance (Post, Nov. 12)

Lisa de Moraes: The people who get really socked in this strike are the so-called "below the line" people who stop getting paid because production has been shut down due to writers strike. I'm talking about production assistants, cameramen, lighting, makeup, etc. ... They do not get residuals and they do not have the kind of contracts you suggested. It's very sad.

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Washington: Lisa, I was at the gym last night and the debate was on the TV there. There was no sound, so I could just look at the images. I know this is probably sexist, but do you think Hillary ever will wear a skirt? Those pantsuits are very unflattering to her, and I think she could look better in something else. I know this is shallow, but I'm a shallow person.

Lisa de Moraes: I'm guessing she will wear a skirt when Mitt and Rudy do. ... Have you seen the male candidates? Do you have any idea how unattractive some of them are? Wouldn't Edwards be in the lead if this was a beauty pageant?

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Washington: Would a long-term strike impact the conclusion of "Scrubs" this year? Not all the episodes are written, so if this does drag on into April or May, could viewers be left without any closure (given that Bill Lawrence, Zach Braff and NBC want to move on)?

Lisa de Moraes: Bill Lawrence said he refused to turn the last episode he wrote into one that could serve as a series finale and that he would write the series finale the way he wanted to, even if he had to call everyone on the phone and read it to them. All 20 of his viewers. What a guy!

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Silver Spring, Md.: Has "What About Brian" been cancelled? I noticed that "Brian" is on "Samantha Who?" now. I also heard that "What About Brian" was released on DVD recently.

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, it's gone...

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Ashburn, Va.: Who makes the decision as to whether the late-night talk shows go dark or not during the strike? Is it the producer's decision or the network's?

Lisa de Moraes: The shows could go on without the writers -- and will. Johnny Carson eventually came back on the air without his writers, back in the strike of '88. What happens initially is that the show stars do not want to cross the picket lines. But, they also do not want to see their "below the line" staffs lose their houses -- see previous post. Meanwhile, NBC owns "Tonight Show," for example, and has the right to bring the show back -- without writers and without Leno. But of course NBC does not want to piss off Leno -- at least not until 2009 when it is replacing him -- so they were not going to do that right away. But eventually they will tell the show to get back to work. One of the sticking points now is that none of the late night hosts wants to be the first to cross the picket line and return to air. I'm told all the networks are discussing how and when to bring back their late night shows as we chat. The possibility of guest hosts is being discussed.

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Pittsburgh: Is "ER" as bad as its commercials make it look? I mean, if just 30 seconds makes me want to rip out my eyes, how can a full hour be anything but excruciating?

Lisa de Moraes: Ironically, the rest of NBC's schedules has sunk so low in the ratings that last week, for example, it was one of NBC's highest rated series! But typically the promos take the most incendiary bits -- a bomb goes off on ER tonight!, blah, blah, blah...

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Mortified: Lisa, I was recently watching "Jeopardy" with my 9-year-old niece, and as soon as the show was over, this ad come for some ABC show and the ad basically show a naked woman (covered with a sheet) on top of a man in bed. I changed the channel as quickly as I could. Since when are they showing this kind of ad at 7:59 p.m.? I mean, can't we have a kid moment until 8:01 p.m.?

Lisa de Moraes: I'm curious what show was being promoted. Was it the show that immediately follows at 8? I hear from parents all the time about ads and promos they think are inappropriate for kids running during kid-friendly programming. So what do you do when you're driving down the street with your 9-year-old and you stop at a corner where there's a billboard with the promo for "Nip/Tuck" showing the naked except for translucent panties angel/Victoria's Secret Model, with the long slashes on her back where the wings have been sliced off? Seriously, I'd love to know.

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Washington: What do you think about FOX continuing to produce "Family Guy" without Seth McFarlane? He's a show runner who spans the producer-writer worlds and has chosen to side with the writers. Fox is continuing to produce "Family Guy" and plans to air an episode without his involvement -- which has got to mean without his voice for several main characters -- on Sunday. Seth said this would be a colossal "d--- move." What do you think of this in terms of both business practice and show quality?

Lisa de Moraes: I think Seth is exercising his right to protest and Fox is exercising its right to continue its business operation. Both are legally within their rights. The best part of the story is how shocked Seth was that Fox would go ahead and finish up the episode without him. He apparently thought he was dating Fox. He was wrong.

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Hillary in a skirt...: I hate to say it, Hillary, but all of America know the culprit -- cankles. Don't shoot the messenger!

Lisa de Moraes: That reminds me of a funny story: when I lived in Tokyo I had a friend who was Canadian and an attorney. She worked for a Japanese firm and the men commented that her ankles looked like daikon -- a big Japanese radish-like thing that looks like a white carrot on steroids. They implication was that she had thick ankles. They were, of course, jerks. I'm just sayin'...

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Re: Late Night Guest Hosts: They should hire my Uncle Clyde to be a guest host. He's hysterical and works cheap. He just needs the attention, and we'd like to get him out of the house. Remember, you heard it here first -- Uncle Clyde.

Lisa de Moraes: "Late Show with Uncle Clyde." I love it...

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"Grey's Anatomy": I watch this show sporadically ... the drunk dad was done in the early '90s with 90210, and before that on an After School Special, though, wasn't it? I hope these particular writers stay on strike.

washingtonpost.com: Channel This: 'Grey's': Everything We Know About ER's, We Learned in High School (washingtonpost.com, Nov. 15)

Lisa de Moraes: Didn't Shakespeare have a drunken dad? Really, you can't expect a TV show writer not to recycle a perfectly good 90's After School Special plot. That's just unfair...

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Indianapolis: Hey, Lisa. Re: Your reply to person asking when Hillary would start wearing skirts ("when Mitt or Giuliani do") -- need I remind you of the photos of Rudy in major drag on at least two different occasions, one as a Rockette and the other a society madam (I guess). Doesn't that count?

Lisa de Moraes: Gosh, so now we're down to just Mitt ... we may see Hillary in a skirt sooner than we thought.

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Washington: Hey you gotta give "Scrubs" credit for surviving on mediocre ratings for seven years (currently the longest-lived prime-time sitcom!) on a network that didn't make any money off it and changed its time slot lord knows how many times!

Lisa de Moraes: It's a miracle of modern TV, really...

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Letterman/Leno: What about all the 18-25 year olds who likely have seen Colbert already? I would think they would prefer Letterman's sense of humor over Leno's.

Lisa de Moraes: I'm guessing they went on the Web at 11:30 last week, maybe to Comedy Central's site to look at every Colbert episode ever...

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Not Philadelphia: Even with all the writers' strike coverage, I don't remember reading any quotes or commentary from the "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" guy who thinks people compare him to Seinfeld. Where does he stand on this mess? I'm sure his stance is hi-larious.

Lisa de Moraes: I'm guessing he's waiting to see where Seinfeld goes to picket and will shadow him...

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Re: "Family Guy": Fox is finishing production on "Family Guy" episodes without Seth McFarlane, but because the voices are recorded before animation is even started on cartoons, it can be assumed it will indeed be with his voice. Which might make it even more of a d--k move.

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, I'm told his voice will be in the episode ... why is that a [little colonel] move? He was paid for that voice work. It's work he had already done before going out on strike...

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Baltimore, Md.: Lisa, did you ghost-write Robin Givhan's review of "Project Runway" a couple of days ago? It was hysterically funny. I watched the new episode, and the contestants were wonderfully catty and entertaining. Tim Gunn's "Guide to Style" is boring, but he's the best thing in "Project Runway."

washingtonpost.com: 'Project Runway,' Falling Into a Pattern (Post, Nov. 14)

Lisa de Moraes: Am I the only one wondering why Heidi Klum never seems to get any better as host of this show? She really is the worst host ever. Pretty yes, but absolutely stiff and dreadful and sometimes she makes no sense...

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Arlington, Va.: I'm glad to hear Paige Davis is coming back to Trading Spaces. My partner and I stopped watching when she was fired. The more public version of why she was fired was something like "moving in a new direction," but the real reason was that Paige was appearing in "Chicago" on Broadway and, while there, participated in the annual "Broadway Bares" fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. As frequent supporters of said charity, my partner and I have boycotted TLC for the past two years.

Lisa de Moraes: Ratings on the show had dropped a lot when she was let go, and the network's general manager was let go around the same time because of larger ratings problems at TLC. Yes, Discovery said at the time they were letting her go because they were taking "Trading Spaces" in a "different direction." And they did -- down. Ratings in the fourth quarter were under a million viewers. In its heyday, the show averaged about 4 million viewers and one episode, in which they gave the designers gobs of money for each room do-over instead of the paltry thousand bucks, clocked about 9 million viewers. Now Paige is being brought back and there's a new producer, but I hear the show is once again being taken in a "new direction" as in having couples who are divorced have to work together, people who don't necessarily like each other, polar opposites, etc. It seems they going to try to ratchet up the conflict...

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Heidi Klum -- stiff and dreadful: By that do you mean "German"? Ha ha. Actually, I love when Heidi turns on the evil German thing -- like when she said "the party is now over" just before the contestants were made to run to the tents for fabric.

Lisa de Moraes: No, by stiff and dreadful I mean getting by on her good looks and pretty outfits. She is so scripted I don't think she has ever once said anything spontaneous on this series.

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"Biggest Loser": I have friend who pointed out that now that the "Biggest Loser" people have lost significant weight, we only see them in T-shirts, whereas at the beginning it's sports bras and no shirts. She said it's to hide the excess skin hanging down and that's the dirty little secret of the show -- losing the weight alone doesn't guarantee you'll look good with no clothes. I'd never thought of this. Any thoughts?

Lisa de Moraes: Too much information! Ick, ick, ick...

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Oh no you dih-int: just slam Heidi Klum! She is hilarious. She is soooo beautiful and uptight. Who do you want to host the show, that awful Nina Garcia? What a hag!

Lisa de Moraes: I'd like to see someone with a pulse host the show.

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Menomonie, Wis.: Hmm ... with the writer's strike, do you think anyone might actually open a book? Yes, I am a heretic...

washingtonpost.com: Prime Time for Reading? Survey Looks at Viewers' Plans During Strike (Post, Nov. 15)

Lisa de Moraes: According to a study conducted by Pepperdine University in Malibu, 40-something percent of people said they would spend more time reading. Hahahahahaha. And about 40-something percent said that instead of watching the reruns the networks would have to air when they ran out of original episodes, they would spend the time watching reruns ... I think the air is thin in Malibu....

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Re: Old After School Special scripts: Couldn't producers theoretically remake old scripts with new actors? Would anyone really notice if someone outfitted Navy NCIS with retrofitted "T.J. Hooker" teleplays?

Lisa de Moraes: What a wonderfully frightening idea. ... Maybe "Murder She Wrote" scripts for "The Closer"; "Dynasty" scripts for "Cane"; "Highway to Heaven" episodes for "Ghost Whisperer"...

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"Dancing With the Stars"!: Why doesn't ABC do a quick turnaround and have another season during the strike period? They even can double up and have a separate male/female series (and fill four nights), then pit the two winners against each other in a grand-grand finale!

Lisa de Moraes: ABC already does two "Dancing" editions and year and they're doing something "Dancing"-esque to fill the time until the new one debuts. What's more interesting is the possibility of CBS airing its skankapalooza reality series "Big Brother" during the official TV season where FCC chairman Kevin Martin is more likely to see it ... now that's risky...

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"Family Guy": Why the pity for poor Seth McFarlane? Sounds like his part of the work for those episodes is over and done with, and Fox (as much as I despise the whole network) has every right to show the episode. What, should they just black out all the shows that already have been completed and not even air them? And yes, "Scrubs" has way outlived its welcome. It was an okay sitcom when it started, when there were very few good sitcoms, but it has gone way downhill.

Lisa de Moraes: like I said, they're not dating, this is a business. And, as some have argued, keeping shows in production means keeping the below the line employees, um, employed. In re "Scrubs" I think it's just another show that has run out of gas, though it did have a tougher time than many shows during its run, what with NBC yanking it around like it did.

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House's Lyme disease: I'm thinking the writers for "House" are running out of ideas. This week's mystery was at least the second case that I already had seen on "Scrubs." As Maxwell Smart would say, "the old Lyme disease rash hiding under the hair trick." Any doctors out there have some new diseases?

Lisa de Moraes: Could it be we're running out of diseases? I sense a trend story coming on. But really, does anyone actually watch "House" for the plotlines? I only watch to see Hugh Laurie's performance. I couldn't care less what dread disease the doe-eyed little moppet with the sad face in the hospital bed has contracted, and I wish all of the hospital's residents would evaporate -- they make me tired. Same with NBC's "Life." I watch to see a Damien Lewis performance -- don't care who got whacked or who dunnit.

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Pittsburgh: Hey, if the strike is still going on a month and a half from now, will this column go into reruns too?

washingtonpost.com: "Lisa de Moraes: I love a good cry, so I couldn't stay away..." (Editor's note: response recycled from April 22, 2005)

Lisa de Moraes: Oh, thanks a lot for giving my producer, Chris, this idea ... I'm going on strike after this...

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Reston, Va.: Once the writers strike ends, how long will it be before scripted shows start airing new episodes again?

Lisa de Moraes: Well, they haven't really run out yet, on most of the shows, though that's not so far off. I'm told it would take a show a couple weeks to get back up and running once it's out of scripts. Don't forget the networks have ordered a boatload of non-scripted stuff for the first quarter. Heck, CW is going to be almost all reality programming in the second half of the TV season and that was the plan all along...

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Arlington, Va.: I still don't understand "30 Rock." Other than Baldwin, there's really no reason to watch it. Am I in the minority here?

Lisa de Moraes: But Baldwin is reason enough to watch the series. I'm out of time. Bye.

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