Journey with me to the sepia-toned days of fall 2007. An innocent nation grappled with the news that Dumbledore was gay. Hillary Clinton girded for her inevitable presidential race against Rudy Giuliani. And the networks, after launching a roster of fall shows to anemic ratings, were hit by a three-month-long writers' strike.
The networks faced two problems. Their highest-profile new shows were unable to air complete seasons. And the strike disrupted development, giving them little new product to launch in fall 2008.
The two-birds-with-one-stone solution: bring back fall 2007! The networks kept many of their new shows off the air after...