The Bud and Don Show returned to the air on Tuesday, and all you can figure is that the writers must still be on strike.

Bud Selig and Don Fehr were still using the same script they brought to the congressional hearing into baseball’s steroid problem in 2005.

Selig, the commissioner of baseball, squinted and twitched and misspoke and answered questions to the best of his ability, which isn’t all that good.

Fehr, the executive director of the players’ association, played the part of the villain once more, the obstructionist union lawyer who is turned on a spit for the crime of protecting his clients.

It was repeat programming of the worst kind, with only the appearance of former Sen. George Mitchell to set it apart from the earlier broadcast. Later on, when a fresh batch of players is brought before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, things might get livelier. No player is likely to wag his finger at the representatives this time, but you never know.

What happened Tuesday in Washington was a lot more predictable. Mitchell was welcomed back before the committee like the old club member he is, a Hall of Famer, so to speak. The questioners were deferential, and were kind enough to either ignore the slim, wildly incomplete findings of the Mitchell Report, or to considerately ascribe them to the investigator’s lack of subpoena power.

The most interesting part of the session came when the committee indicated that the Justice Department has been asked to look into whether Miguel Tejada lied to the committee in 2005 about Rafael Palmeiro.

The Mitchell Report indicated that Tejada did have knowledge of steroid use by Palmeiro, knowledge having to do with Tejada’s sticking a needle in Palmeiro’s butt, which even the congressmen recognize as pretty direct knowledge.

While everyone in baseball generally speaks of looking forward and not back in regard to the investigation and the commission’s report, the government doesn’t have to play the same game. Congressional committees don’t enjoy being lied to, and, once someone is deposed or speaks under oath, there is the risk of prosecution. These guys like to flex their muscles, no pun intended, and it plays well on camera.

So, if you’re waiting breathlessly for Roger Clemens to raise his right hand and say the same things before this committee that he said to kindly old Mike Wallace, the chance of that happening was greatly decreased Tuesday.

Clemens is involved in a lawsuit now, suing former trainer Brian McNamee for defamation, and he could claim, at the advice of his lawyer, that he should not speak publicly about the case. That’s one way out, and Clemens might hide behind that exit.

The House committee, which does have subpoena power if it chooses to use it, is merely inviting players to testify. They don’t have to appear. After the unpleasant experience in 2005 endured by Mark McGwire and, a little later, by the finger-pointing Palmeiro – and now with the possible federal indictment facing Tejada – it is hard to imagine any attorney advising a client to testify voluntarily.

We’ve seen it all before, when the same program was broadcast three years ago. The new episodes that follow could be more entertaining, if the players named in the Mitchell Report actually follow in the soiled footsteps of McGwire and Palmeiro and show up. They would be wise to get better writers than the previous group did.