EVERY year TV viewers complain summer viewing has been dull and dry with too much tennis and cricket, too many repeats and too much medicocrity in general.

All that changes on February 10 when the official ratings period starts and the season's new shows are launched with a flurry, interspersed with the return of old favourites.

Last year Channel 7 won the ratings both nationally and locally, but things could look very different this year as the networks prepare for the effects of the US writer’s strike.

Big rating winners on Seven such as Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy and 9's new show, Cashmere Mafia might run out of episodes as supply is threatened.

Australian networks claim they are well prepared with plenty of local drama in the form of Underbelly, Canal Road, Sea Patrol and the final series of McLeod’s Daughters from Nine; Packed to the Rafters, Home and Away and City Homicide from Seven; East of Everything, Valentine’s Day and Bed of Roses from the ABC and The Informant, Neighbours and Emerald Falls on Ten.

From a WA perspective there have been changes on the news front with Channel Nine Perth announcing that former Ten newsreader Greg Pearce will present the weekday National Nine News with Dixie Marshall from mid-February and Sonia Vinci will be hosting the new locally-produced A Current Affair towards the end of February.

Perth gardening experts Neville Passmore and Trevor Cochrane who will broadcast their show Garden Gurus around the country on Nine and WIN; are travelling overseas extensively for their international specials and have a new program, Delish – From Garden to Table with the pilot scheduled to air around Easter on the Nine Network. Postcards WA will be produced from Perth with a series of Postcards Australia also under development.

Channel Ten will mark their 20th anniversary with the News at Five weeknight bulletin to be hosted from Perth from the middle of the year. There is no announcement yet as to who the newsreader will be.

Channel Seven will continue to produce their staple of locally produced shows such as the News, Today Tonight, Nuts and Bolts, Home in WA as well as Telethonand the Christmas Pageant.

Some of the international product hitting the small screen includes Robin Hood, Life on Mars and Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple on the ABC; The CSI shows, Without a Trace and Cold Case on Nine; Boston Legal, Brothers & Sisters, Ugly Betty and Las Vegas on Seven and NCIS, Medium, the Law and Order shows, Cane and Numb3rs all coming back on Ten.

Local entertainment is also back with shows such as Spicks and Specks, Talking Heads and At the Movies on the ABC; Getaway, RPA and 20 to 1 back on Nine; It Takes Two, The Force, Deal or No Deal and The Great Outdoors on Seven and Thank God You’re Here, Rove, Australia’s Biggest Loser, Australian Idol and Big Brother back on Ten.

Sports lovers will also be glued to the screens with sport such as the US Open Tennis and Wimbledon on Nine; the Tour de France, FIFA World Cup and Euro 2008 on SBS; the Beijing Olympics, AFL Grand Final and V8’s on Seven and AFL, Formula One and the US Masters, US Open and New Zealand Open golf championships on Ten.