We’ve all heard enough about the writers’ strike by now that we could all write our own made-for-TV movie about it, complete with Newsies-style dancing and hats. Fortunately, however, no one need resort to such desperate measures to entertain themselves. As Mark Burnett has long been preaching, who needs writers to have TV? Reality shows and leftover scripts are still there for you. So before you start enacting “Twelfth Night” with your quadmates, remember that your old friend Stevie the TV will never let you down, especially not with these best-of-the-scabs shows on now.

American Gladiators

The new American Gladiators, on NBC, is a revival of the show that ran from 1989 to 1997. Former enthusiasts will be pleased that the format is similar to that of the original show — but now it has enormous water tanks and FIRE! Ordinary people become contestants to attempt to best the show’s gladiators in games including: “Assault” (attempt to shoot a tennis ball crossbow, air cannon, etc. at a target before a gladiator shoots you with a tennis ball cannon), “Joust” (use your giant Q-tip to knock the gladiator off the platform before he knocks you off), and “Gauntlet” (try to get by the gladiators as they smash you with various foam-filled shapes). You can cheer for the everyman or root for your favorite of the gladiators. The female gladiators include Crush, Venom and Fury (as opposed to the original lady-gladiators who had names like Gold and Lace); the male gladiators have equally terror-inspiring names such as Justice, Mayhem and Militia. Hosts Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali add a touch of serious badass. The entertaining show also allows ample room for entertaining your own dreams of besting the gladiators — and if you’re serious, you can always fill out an application!

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

For those of you who haven’t seen “Terminator” 1 or 2, the robots want Sarah Connor dead because her son will one day grow up to lead the human resistance against them. (Incidentally, at some point, the robots have indeed taken over.) This new show, Mondays on Fox, is set after “Terminator 2” and before “Terminator 3,” and Sarah (played by Lena Headey) and her adolescent son John (Thomas Dekker) are just trying to stay alive, evade the robots from the future who want to terminate them, and hopefully prevent the rise of the machines. Either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, instead of sending a future governor robot back in time as protection, the human alliance has sent back a lithe young robo-babe, Cameron (Summer Glau — sci-fi geeks will remember her as River Tam from “Firefly”), who literally kills people without blinking. The show has occasional moments of humor, like when Cameron tries out some slang she picks up in the high school girls’ restroom, but is often weighed down by the burden of the future under which Sarah and her son live. It’s hard to lighten up when the fate of humankind rests on your shoulders and invincible metal dudes keep trying to kill you every single day. The show does earn points for loads of ass-kicking action: someone dies at least once an episode. Woohoo! If that’s what you’re into, that is.

Crowned

Crowned, the CW’s new filling-in-for-America’s-Next-Top-Model-show, brings reality TV to a world even less rooted in reality than the fashion industry — the pageant circuit. Pairing mothers and daughters in a competition to be crowned beauty queens, contestants participate in challenges designed to show that they are talented, attractive, well-spoken and caring enough to win, though it often seems like the teams are only trying to out-crazy each other. The combination of mother-daughter conflict and the inevitable cattiness that emerges from so many women in one house (sorry, Roth) spells near-constant drama, or, in other words, some serious guilty-pleasure entertainment. Perhaps the best part of the show is the inherent irony in combining pageants, designed to showcase women at their best, with reality TV, guaranteed to reveal people at their worst. Or maybe the best part is the bitchy women in sashes. Decide for yourself on Wednesday nights.

Breaking Bad

AMC’s new Sunday night drama features a high school chemistry teacher who decides to start making methamphetamines. What more could you ask for in a show? Well, yes, you could ask for a main character from “Malcolm in the Middle,” and bam, you’ve got Bryan Cranston, who played Hal, the dad. Cranston now takes on the role of Walt, the main character and aforementioned teacher-turned-meth-cooker. The show explores the two worlds that collide through his decision and also provides some reasonable practical information about creating meth, which, as viewers learned in the first episode, is both a science and an art, particularly if attempted in the least attractive underwear anyone has ever seen on television. Jesse, played by Aaron Paul (notable for appearances in both “K-Pax” and “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder”! Yes, both!), plays Walt’s new drug-dealin’ BFF, handling the “business” side of things, which so far has consisted of getting beat up by some rival drugsters. Find out for yourself why exactly Walt has chosen this moment in his life to take up meth-making in an engaging and realistic, if not exactly pretty, portrait of a desperate man breaking bad and breaking loose.

An episode saved is an episode earned...

In case none of these scabs earn your devotion, some of your favorite shows have cleverly saved a few more new episodes. “Chuck,” NBC’s spy + everyman show (imagine Seth Cohen and Sydney Bristow on one set), references Stanford so much that we should at least give them our viewership. Eye candy of both genders, espionage and copious adoration of our alma mater? Hell yes! “House,” featuring the most sarcastic character on television, also has bizarre diseases and intra-hospital drama. Did we mention the sarcasm? Find the good doctor on CBS. No discussion of saved-episodes-worth-catching would be complete without “Gossip Girl,” the newest baby of Josh Schwartz, creator of “The OC.” Watch gorgeous, well-dressed teen angst on the east coast this time around!

Old friends return!

“America’s Next Top Model, “ Cycle 10, begins airing on the CW on February 20. This cycle, it’s back in New York and no more Twiggy, who has been replaced as a judge by Czech supermodel Paulina Porizkova. Big Brother returns to CBS with its 9th season on Tuesday, February 12 at 9 p.m. Hope for lots of hot tub shenanigans and the usual scandal that results when you lock 12 people in a house with absolutely nothing to do.