Day One of the writers strike feels curiously like the dozens or so that led up to it.

Other than the incongruous sight of Jay Leno and Julia Louis Dreyfus hanging with picketers from the Writers Guild of America -- judging by the state of their respective shows, they must have been trolling for new contacts -- there hasn't been much direct impact for TV viewers from this strike yet. Letterman, Leno and the Daily Show are in reruns; mostly, it feels like December on the TV dial.

Of course, there may be another explanation: some TV shows already feel like writers left them long ago.

By now, its obvious the most lackluster crop of new shows in memory has produced the most passion-less fall TV season in memory. It's not that there's a deluge of awful shows -- even that would produce passionate hate, at least. Instead, we've got a bunch of mediocre underachievers, too bland to care about but not awful enough to even produce the cathartic comic relief that a true train wreck can provide.

Originally, I had planned to list the winners and losers of the new season this week. But even that didn't get me fired up, so let's list the Shows Which Already Feel Like the WGA Struck Them:

House -- Yes, I love me some Hugh Laurie. And whoever cobbles together the show's lines gets points for realizing the whole House-almost-kills-patient -with-rare-scary-disease-before-miraculously-curing-him formula really needed juicing. But the current tack of sticking a bunch of new characters in the show for Laurie's wisecracking misanthrope to torture isn't changing things much. Laurie is still stuck on a show that is never good as his performances.

Bionic Woman -- It's aimless, nonsensical, boring and the effects are cheesy. Otherwise, NBC did a great job updating its '70s tribute to the women's lib generation. There's too many plotlines -- heroine Jamie coping with her new bionic powers; Jamie coping with another bionic woman, played by Battlestar Galactica alum Katee Sackhoff; Jamie coping with a bratty sister who gets upset for some reason when her sister leaves town with no warning for days; Jamie coping with the lame assignments handed out by the super secret company which funded her new bionics. Sure, producers have confused gloomy visuals with arty realism and there's too many good actors with too little to do. But it still adds up to same thing: bad writing.

Law & Order: Special Victims' Unit -- Once upon a time, Criminal Intent was the most ridiculous Law & Order, centered on convoluted cases Vincent D'Onfrio would solve with a quirky twitch of his head. But SVU is gunning for the crown, in a spasm of melodramatic storylines which have seen Mariska Hargitay's character break the law to help a long-lost brother she suspected was a serial rapist, and an episode in which a guy who rapes a women in his sleep is the throwaway plotline. A recent speech where the squad's ousted captain detailed all the rule-breaking, illegal, absurd stuff these detectives have indulged in the past year was funnier than all the episodes of Cavemen put together. and that was before the punchline: the guy got his job back by the episode's end.

Every Single CSI -- Is it CSI: Miami star David Caruso's hackier-than-hacky quips, the ever-present aviator sunglasses, or his penchant for wearing blue and black suits in the Miami heat? Perhaps its the Einstein who had CSI character Sara Sidle survive a serial killer's beating, almost drowning and desert exposure only to see the actress leave the show anyway. or maybe its just the way they've stranded a fine actor like Gary Sinese in the pile of dung that is CSI: NY. I know viewers are eating it up; just shows that familiarity trumps creativity on TV almost every time.

What do you think? Nominate your fave shows for early strikes and I'll consider including them in a Floridian column soon to come. Beats throwing stuff at your TV screen.