"Back to You" is back to work and stars KELSEY GRAMMER and PATRICIA HEATON tell ET, who is first on the set, that it was none too soon.

"I enjoyed my time off, but certainly not the reasons for it," says Kelsey, who tells ET that he took a few ski trips and spent time with the kids -- and worried. "That was the chief thing I did. I worried about what was going to become of us all."

For her part, Patty joked, "I ended up sitting in front of the TV and eating bon bons and watching reality programs." Then she got serious and told us that with four kids, she spent her time chauffeuring them around.

"The strike in some ways was great, because I got Christmas and the holidays, but I was ready to come back," the former "Everybody Loves Raymond" star adds. "The show feels fresh now -- somehow easier. I was a little stressed out the first six episodes. I was having a hard time getting into the groove. It feels easier, more natural now."

The two Emmy Award-winning actors are also enjoying the time they spend together on the set.

"It is great because they are two ambitious people," Patty says of their characters -- local news co-anchors Chuck (Grammer) and Kelly (Heaton). "They are competitive. The competition is what makes the sparks fly. There is professional competition, there is personal competition, there is jealousy, there is a resentment and there is attraction, so there is this fantastic mix. It is a dream for an actor to have this part and work with somebody like Kelsey. It is easy to do because it is all there in the writing and all those emotions."