The Return of Mother, Life and, Oh Yeah, Lost

Lost is back! Oh, wait, that happened two weeks ago.

What I mean is, Lost will be back-back, after the strike. And even better, we've just checked in with inside sources, and we have dates! Yes, dates! So, break out your calendars, 'cause we're hearing this is the approved plan:

The last episode of the current pod (episode seven) will air Mar. 13. Then the show will be off the air a little more than a month and return Apr. 17 at 9 p.m.

(That Apr. 17 episode will be the already-completed episode eight, which was filmed prestrike, but which apparently works much better as a minipremiere than it does as a minifinale.)

Anyhoo, the following week, on Thurs., Apr. 24, a little show called Grey's Anatomy returns to its usual 9 p.m. time slot, so Lost will move to 10 p.m., where it will stay for the rest of the season.

"Yippee" just doesn't do it justice, does it?

To find out what this all means for the season-four story, I checked in with my personal Jesus, Damon Lindelof, who explains how his writing team plans to squish the eight episodes of plot they had planned into only five more episodes.

"We are going to execute our full story plan for season four," D.L. says. "This simply requires a shift from high-octane storytelling to superhigh-octane storytelling. It requires no cramming, only a slightly heavier foot on the gas pedal...so, hold on to your hats. Those of you waiting for the long-anticipated Jin and Hurley Ping-Pong tournament, however, will be very disappointed."

Um, yippee! Now, read on for a little more schedule-related goodness from NBC and CBS, and then post in the Comments about which returning show you're most anticipating...

The Boys Are Back! Chuck, Life & Heroes Will All Return Next Season 

Oh, happy day! NBC has just announced that three of my favoritest shows will all be returning next season. We kind of knew Chuck and Heroes would be back in the fall, but the wires were silent on the fate of Life. Now that I know I get more Damian Lewis, I can rest easy!

Other official news from the official release includes the following goodness from Ben Silverman, "[Heroes] will run in all original episodes in the fourth quarter." Fourth quarter means fall, I think, and whoo. We're marking that one down in your favor, Benny. Good job, Peacock, and thank you.

CBS News: Anybody Wanna Watch a Procedural?

By the way, in case you didn't hear the news this morning, those nice people at CBS sent out a handy-dandy chart on what's what on their network over the next couple of months. (Whoo, more HIMYM!) Check it:

Monday, Mar. 17
How I Met Your Mother (9 episodes)
The Big Bang Theory (9 episodes)
Two and a Half Men (9 episodes) 

Monday, Mar. 24
CSI: Miami (8 episodes)

Sunday, Mar. 30
Cold Case (5 episodes) 

Wednesday, Apr. 2
Criminal Minds (7 episodes)
CSI: NY (7 episodes) 

Thursday, Apr. 3
CSI (6 episodes)
Without a Trace (6 episodes) 

Friday, Apr. 4
Ghost Whisperer (6 episodes)
Numb3rs (6 episodes)

Tuesday, Apr. 8
NCIS (7 episodes)

Friday, Apr. 11
Moonlight (4 episodes)

Monday, Apr. 14
Rules of Engagement (6 episodes)

TBD
Shark (4 episodes)

Altogether Unknown
Cane
Swingtown 
The Unit