For James Goldston, executive producer of "Nightline," the prospect of a prolonged writers' strike that paralyzes much of the television industry offers an awkward upside.

The longer a work stoppage keeps "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "Late Show With David Letterman" in repeats, the better shot the ABC late-night newsmagazine -- which is remaining live -- has at drawing more viewers.

Indeed, "Nightline," which introduced a new anchor team two years ago, already has enjoyed an immediate lift. During the first week of the writers' strike, the usually third-place program drew the largest number of households, according to early Nielsen data of 56 metered markets. The newsmagazine pulled an average of 2.8 million households, while Letterman had 2.7 million and Leno had 2.6 million.

"We take no pleasure in there being a strike whatsoever," Goldston said. "It's no good for anybody. What's also true in the odd circumstance this presents us with is that it is an opportunity of sorts for people who have maybe not sampled the new 'Nightline' or who are looking around for alternatives to come to the show."

"Nightline" is not the only news program that stands to benefit from the strike. As the broadcast networks ration their dwindling supply of original comedies and dramas, news divisions have been instructed to prepare to pick up the slack. If the walk out drags into next year, the prime-time schedule could be filled with NBC's "Dateline," ABC's "Primetime" and CBS's "48 Hours Mystery."

For newsmagazines, the situation offers a chance to flex their muscles. In their 1990s heyday, they were on as much as 20 hours a week, but since, their roles have diminished. "Dateline," which once aired five nights a week, was not scheduled to be back on until after football season ends early next year.

Now newsmagazines are readying to be tent-pole shows again.

"The reality is that '48 Hours' is the utility player for the network, a role we cherish and consider part of our core responsibility," said Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of the CBS newsmagazine.

In anticipation, producers are sketching out story ideas and stockpiling shows, with an eye toward delivering new material in January. Last week, "Dateline" staffers were instructed to be ready to produce as many as three hours a week after the new year. The show, which has long served as a fill-in for NBC, has spent this fall readying new episodes, including new installments of its "To Catch a Predator" series.

ABC's "Primetime," which did not get a regular time slot this season, has sped up production of limited series like "Family Secrets," "Medical Mysteries" and "The Outsiders" that already were in the pipeline. Over at CBS, "60 Minutes" likely would be called upon to package some of its most popular interviews into thematic specials, while "48 Hours Mystery" could end up producing extra episodes.

But as much as news producers relish extra air time, gearing up to meet the expected need won't be easy. Cutbacks have deeply eroded the news divisions' long-form units, some of which have lost more than half their staffs in the past 15 years, according to producers.

"You'd love to use this opportunity to strut your stuff," said one producer who did not want to publicly voice misgivings about the extra work. "But there's not a lot of money and not a lot of time. It's not like I don't want to be a savior to the network, but it creates such a sense of chaos and irregularity."

And once the strike is resolved, it's unlikely that the programs will be able to retain prime real estate.

On top of that, the news divisions might have their own labor disputes. On Thursday, more than 500 CBS radio and television news writers represented by the Writers Guild of America are scheduled to vote on whether to authorize a strike after working without a contract since April 2005. While a walkout would hit local and network radio operations the hardest, the network television news division also would be affected. Meanwhile, negotiations between ABC and its 200 WGA news writers have stalled, raising the specter of another work action. (Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times)

Clark, Seacrest in

Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest will ring in 2008 as co-hosts of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" on ABC.

It will be the 36th consecutive year that "Rockin' Eve" has been on the air.

Clark, 77, missed the show in 2004 when he suffered a stroke. He has been back in business for the past two years with Seacrest as co-host, counting down to midnight from New York's Times Square before a TV audience of millions.

Seacrest, 32, is expected to eventually succeed Clark as host of the show. (Associated Press)

Network pulls medical show

Cable network Discovery Health has pulled the series "Plastic Surgery: Before and After" from its lineup this week after reports that the show's host, physician Jan Adams, operated on the mother of hip-hop artist Kanye West before she died Saturday.

Donda West, 58, died at a Los Angeles hospital from what the coroner's office described as "complications of surgery."

Adams hosted "Plastic Surgery" for five years, from its premiere in 2002 until its final episode, which aired in June. Repeats of the show continue to run on the network, but Adams has not been affiliated with the network since production of the show ended this year.

"At this point, with a lot of questions out there, we decided to hold off" airing the series, network spokesman Chris Finnegan said Tuesday. "We're trying to be sensitive to everyone at this point."

Finnegan said the network has decided only to remove four episodes of the series scheduled for this week; whether Discovery Health will resume rerunning the show has not been decided. Wednesday night's repeat episode was scheduled to feature former "Apprentice" star Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth and her mother going under the knife together. (John Maynard, The Washington Post)