Stuck in a Rut?

I don't have cable or satelite TV. I don't really watch a lot of TV. There are a few shows that have caught my interest, and I have started to notice a theme.

On the Fox network, I watch Bones and occasionally House. At the close of the 2008 season, both Booth and Dr. House were experiencing trauma, losing their minds, and being put into a mental ward.

On the ABC station, I have watched Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters. The recurring theme here is to make everyone gay, or at least experimenting with it.

The shows I have watched on CBS, seem to focus on twenty somethings and their sex lives. These young people spend thirty minutes talking about their sex life, or lack thereof, and plotting on how to make it better.

Do they have the same writers for all the shows? Or do the "themes" come from the producers? I understand the pressure these writers must face in having to have new material for the shows. I applaud them on producing it quickly and consistently. But lately it seems that they are stuck in a rut. The shows share the same underlying theme.

I agree with the episode of Boston Legal, in which the little retired lady tried to sue the networks because there was nothing on TV to watch. This was one of their best episodes. They revealed the demographics of the network shows, how they're all geared to a younger audience. Boston Legal was the only show on Network television that all the stars were over fifty. Sadly, their last season was their best. The entire season they threw caution to the wind, and poked fun at themselves, at the networks, and thumbed their nose at everyone. I found it refreshing.

As writers, it is our job not to re-hash the same old thing all the time. We must constantly find a new angle, a fresh way of presenting an idea. I realize that is a challenge, and getting harder all the time. (How many different ways can you say I love you before you run out of ways to say it?) Is the challenge not what drives us, though?