“Desperate Housewives” will begin production on February 25, with plans for eveyrone to work six days a week to get shows pulled together.

That means we can expect new episodes of “Desperate Housewives” to air in April and May!

“My Name is Earl” creator Greg Garcia is taking the order and running with it — hoping to return with nine new episodes.

According to Greg Garcia,

“I’m in a position where I want to have a table read a week from Tuesday and start shooting two weeks from tomorrow. We had two first drafts of scripts, so I’m going to read over those and see where we’re at because I haven’t even looked at them. I’m going to look at some other stuff to see what we have left in the way of stories. But the majority of my day will be figuring out the schedule, booking out directors, talking to casting — to hopefully get all the scheduling stuff out of the way so when the writers come on Wednesday, I can concentrate on the writing.”

Since the writers’ strike agreement has just been made and writers are getting back to work, there’s no news on who will be the guest host for the first show back on February 23.

Rick Ludwin, head of late-night entertainment at NBC said, “It’s been a long dry spell without Saturday Night Live on the air. They’ve been sitting on the sidelines watching all this happening in politics and the primaries. SNL thrives during an election year, and they can’t wait to get back on.”

Naturally, “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ugly Betty,” “Lost” and “Brothers & Sisters” will return… but four new shows have also been given the network’s blessing for a second season: “Pushing Daisies,” “Private Practice,” “Samantha Who?” and “Dirty Sexy Money.”

Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment said of the renewals, “The strength of our schedule this fall was unprecedented and speaks for itself. We’re looking forward to building on that success.”

Of course, the news leaves people hollering about their favorite shows that weren’t on the list: “Boston Legal,” “Men in Trees” and “Women’s Murder Club,” to name a few.

While the specifics are unknown, industry experts are making their best guesses for the remaining new episodes of each series this season. The San Jose Mercury News provides this excellent overview of all of the shows and their expected remaining episodes, with the promise to update the list as more details become availalble.

Writers’ Guild leaders met today to review the contract terms and are now asking writers to vote — and end picketing. Finally, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

According to Patric Verrone, president of the WGA’s West Coast branch:

“This is the best deal this guild has bargained for in 30 years, after the most successful strike this guild has waged in 35 years. If they [producers] get paid, we get paid. This contract makes that a reality.”

While the terms are acceptable, Verrone did add that “it is not all we hoped for and not all we deserved.”

With the end to the writers’ strike, writers are expected to begin working on Wednesday. What does this mean for new episodes though? Best guess by those in-the-know is about six weeks. Hey, it’s somethin’.

Former Walt Disney chief executive Michael Eisner told CNBC, “It’s over. “[The major media companies and the Writers Guild of America] made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. It’s going on Saturday to the writers in general. A deal has been made, and they’ll be back to work very soon. I know a deal’s been made. I know it’s over.”

So, we’ll see what comes of things on Saturday — there is still a chance that the writers could reject the agreement.

With that good news comes the promise of (finally!) new episodes!

The rumors are flying about when new episodes of fan favorite series will return — insiders say that “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” could return to production in March. That means new “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” episodes (four or five new eps) could land on our TV screens in April and May!

ABC hit shows “Ugly Betty” and “Brothers & Sisters” are expected to follow a similar schedule.

Oscar nominees are after the jump. We’ll keep you posted about the Academy Awards ceremony, which is scheduled to air on ABC February 24; Jon Stewart will host from the Kodak Theatre.

Best Actor:

• George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”
• Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”
• Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
• Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises”
• Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”

Best Actress:

• Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”
• Julie Christie, “Away From Her”
• Marion Cotillard, “La Vie En Rose”
• Laura Linney, “The Savages”
• Ellen Page, “Juno”

Best Supporting Actress:

• Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”
• Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”
• Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”
• Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”
• Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton”

Best Supporting Actor:

• Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
• Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”
• Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”
• Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton”

Best Director:

• Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
• Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
• Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton
• Jason Reitman, “Juno”
• Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”

Best Picture:

• “No Country for Old Men”
• “There Will Be Blood”
• “Atonement”
• “Juno”
• “Michael Clayton”

Zach Braff writes in a MySpace bulletin:

“Many of you have asked about the fate of the final episodes of Scrubs. If the strike goes on too much longer there is a good chance they will never be written or shot and the series finale will remain in the mind of our show’s creator, Bill Lawrence …”