The death march with cocktails begins anew!

The Winter 2011 TCA Press Tour kicked off on January 5th with the MTV family of networks offering up panels from TV Land ("Retired at 35" and "Hot in Cleveland"), CMT ("Working Class"), Spike ("Coal"), and Comedy Central ("Onion SportsDome" and "Tosh.0"). From there, it was on to a working lunch, where we learned of the TV Guide Channel's new reality series, "The Nail Files," while indulging in a grilled chicken salad and, to ruin any possible health benefits, followed it with a cupcake. With our bellies full, we moved on to the National Geographic sessions: "Beast Hunter," "Explorer," "Alien Invasion" and "Area 51 Declassified," and "WILD on Snakes." Next, we got a look at two new TV One shows, "Love That Girl!" and "Way Black When," took a gander of Peter Lik's new series for The Weather Channel, and the whole thing wrapped up with ESPN's presentations for "Year of the Quarterback" and the BCS title game.

No, wait, I forgot: after all of the panels had concluded, the Comcast networks threw us a cocktail party which was attended by folks from E!, G4, and Style series. By then, though, I was running on fumes, so all I really did was enjoy the food (petite filets, buttermilk mashed potatoes, turkey sliders, and deep-fried mac & cheese balls...mmmmmmm), throw back a few bourbons, listen to Chris Gore rant about how awful "Tron: Legacy" was, and talk to Bruce Jenner for 15 minutes about his acting work, including "Can't Stop the Music." Indeed, the only time "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" came up was when one of his daughters called to tell him that they'd won Favorite TV Guilty Pleasure at the People's Choice Awards. (He applauded me for "going retro" with my questions.)

Also, somewhere in between all of those panels, I had a chance to ask Betty White a couple of questions, share an interview with Jane Leeves, and do one-on-ones with Wendie Malick, Henry Rollins, Phil Morris, and the anchors and executive producer of "Onion SportsDome." Arguably my most impressive accomplishment, however, was talking to Jerry Rice, asking a question provided to me by David Medsker (and tightened up slightly by Anthony Stalter), and having him seemingly believe that I know something about sports when I absolutely do not.

I'll be revisiting some of the individual panels on a case-by-case basis as time allows, but in the meantime, here are the top 10 quotes from Day 1 of the tour. Hope you enjoy them, and see you after Day 2!

1. "What is this Betty White business? This is silly. Really, it is very silly. You've had such an overdose of me lately. Trust me. I think I'm going to go away for a while. It's hard for me to say no to a job because you spend your career thinking if you say no, they'll never ask you again, and if you don't take the job, you know, that may be the end of it, but my mother taught me to say no when I was a girl, but that wasn't about show business. So the result is I'm trying to cut down. I really am." - Betty White, "Hot in Cleveland" (TV Land)

2. "Betty White is in the building. Did you hear that? I hope I get to touch her. I just had cataracts, and I'm still adjusting, but what I see is looking pretty good." - Ed Asner, "Working Class" (CMT)

3. "That mine (in Westchester, West Virginia) is a very complicated mine. It's not as easy as it looks on TV. It's 40,000 tons of steel, and it can run over you, and it can be on you in a heartbeat. Because I've been mashed by one before. And you really got to know what you're doin' working a coal mine. I mean, seriously, you really gotta know what you're doing to be a coal miner. That's the biggest thing. People think we're ignorant. 'They've got to work the coal mines because they can't do nothing else.' Well, me, I can do about anything. I can weld. I can...you know, I can do anything. But we're not ignorant. We choose that life because we like to live in an area, and we want to make good money for our family, and that's the reason we're there." - Robert Jerry "Wildman" Edwards, "Coal" (Spike TV)

4. "I don't know why I get away with some things. But I'm not a misogynistic, racist person. Yet I do find those jokes funny, so I say them. And I try to say everything kind of in a good spirit. I'm not up there preaching, by any means. They're not my beliefs. So...I don't know. I've done standup solidly for 15 years, and I've always kind of said whatever I wanted on stage. And the audiences have been pretty receptive. My goal certainly has never been to offend people, but I just...I'm not going to hold back because I think, 'Oh, that might upset somebody.' There was...the transgender group was upset with us for a joke we did for a while, but then I gained them back by...I don't know what I did. I did something that made them love me, because I love transgender people in general. I think that's a good organization. Are they here? Which table are they at?" - Daniel Tosh, "Tosh 2.0" (Comedy Central)

5. "The whole thing about (the man in New Jersey who was eaten by his pet Nile monitor lizards), if you know kind of the 'behind the scenes' on that, it’s actually still thought that he had a heart attack. And those animals were left without food, and they will feed on carrion, and then they depredated him as a food source as a last resort. So my thoughts on that are you should probably keep those animals locked up. But dead is dead, so if he died from a heart attack and then he was consumed, I think Disney would say that’s the circle of life." - Shawn Heflick, "Python Hunters" (Nat Geo WILD)

6. "Hollywood’s getting it wrong. There’s a lot of waste, not that I want to undercut anybody’s check, but there is a lot of fat that could be trimmed that brings these projects to market a little bit more economically, a little bit better creatively because you don’t have so many hands in the pie telling you what your vision can’t be. And I think that’s why the cable outlets are jumping on board. People want this. The audience aren’t the ones that didn’t want sitcoms. I think it was just the networks, and their paradigm was no longer appropriate for the dynamic, but audiences, especially African-American audiences, they want the whole ride. They want to laugh, cry, scream, shout, love. And shows like our show give them an opportunity to see themselves and feel that way. - Phil Morris, "Love That Girl!" (TV One)

7. "That is a total guy question (to ask if celebrities actually notice each other’s fingernails and toenails). Not to like point you out in the room, but it’s the guy in the middle right there, waving around his unmanicured hand. But it’s true. People are saying, 'Oh, what is this? Is this going to be like a show where you just watch people’s nails dry?' I’m, like, 'It’s not like that.' Nails are an accessory. It’s a six-and-a-half-billion-dollar-a-year industry, and it’s looked at like the black eye. And this is L.A., and I’m, like, 'Why can’t it be fabulous? Why can’t it be like the hair salons, the boutiques, the restaurants? Why is the nail salon like the little dump in the corner where you just run in and you pay your 20 bucks and get yelled at, and then you’re kicked out?' I think I can change that, and it’s definitely been working, and now we do have men. I mean, men aren’t afraid to come in. Granted, we do have free Jack Daniels. So if you’re going to have a free glass of whiskey, you’ll come in and get your feet rubbed for 20 bucks." - Katie Cazorla, "The Nail Files" (TV Guide Channel)

8. "Speaking specifically first and foremost to the TV One audience, parts of ('Way Black When') were, like, really cool. Sometimes you did have guests that that everyone don’t know who they are, (but) black folks know. On our 'New Jack City' program, we had...and his name escapes me for the moment, I apologize...we had the dude that shot Nino Brown at the end (Bill Cobb). Every black person knows who that is. 'You’re that dude that shot Nino Brown!' Come to find out, this dude’s been in, like, 100 movies. You’ve seen him in a gang of things. So we get to celebrate. It wasn’t like it was huge part of the film, but very, very memorable and something that I know the TV One audience will really gravitate towards. 'That’s that dude that shot Nino!'" - Chris "Kid" Reid, "Way Black When" (TV One)

9. "I was in diapers collecting jars filled with bees and getting stung over and over because I wanted to see what they felt like. I raised venomous snakes in my basement and lied to my mom about what they were. Yeah, it’s every mom’s dream, right? She expertly handles calls from the hospital." - Pat Spain, "Beast Hunter" (National Geographic)

10. "Do you guys ask questions for a profession? You’re pretty good. You don’t look like much as a group, but...good questions." - Steve Young, "Year of the Quarterback" (ESPN)

The characters of Sherlock Holmes and his trusty associate Dr. John Watson have been interpreted every which way but loose since their original inception in 1887, courtesy of Arthur Conan Doyle, and with Guy Ritchie's take on the Holmes mythos having only just hit theaters last year, it would seem to be a bit premature to put Baker Street's most famous detective onto the small screen as well...but, then, "Sherlock" - premiering here in the States as part of PBS's "Masterpiece" on Sunday, Oct. 24, bears precious little resemblance to Robert Downey, Jr.'s big-screen adventure. This is a modern-day look at the characters and their mythology, and for those who might be skeptical that they can successfully survive such a transformation, I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised. I've only seen a portion of the first episode ("A Study in Pink") thus far, but it was more than enough to sell me on tuning in on the 24th. Mind you, I also had the advantage of sitting down with the series' executive producers, Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis, whose enthusiasm for the project proved decidedly contagious.

Bullz-Eye: Steven, you and I met in passing a few years ago at the “Jekyll” panel…a show which I loved, by the way…

Steven Moffat: Oh, thank you. Oh, good!

BE: …and, Mark, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I now know that you made an appearance in that series.

Mark Gatiss: That’s right!

BE: So, Steven, what do you enjoy about the challenge of contemporizing British icons? I mean, you can argue that Dr. Jekyll is an icon of sorts, but then you’ve got Doctor Who, and now Sherlock Holmes.

SM: Well, being honest, for me, there isn’t really…it looks like there’s a narrative through that, that I’m trolling for things, but I’m really, really not. “Jekyll” was a totally different experience to this, the one big difference being that it was a sequel set in the modern day. And, really, it looks as if I’ve just been doing that, but, really, seriously, it wasn’t that. This is a completely different experience, and the challenge of this…well, they’re just joys, aren’t they?

MG: It’s true, yeah.

SM: There are so many things that…well, once having started talking about this, we realized it was going to work, because he can still be coming home from Afghanistan, a flat share is what we now call sharing rooms, we’ve gone back to sending telegrams by sending texts…it’s just perfect.

MG: Going back to first principles, on that train journey where we came up with the idea for “Sherlock,” one of the most fantastic things about that whole experience was that, as soon as that idea occurs and it’s the best thing you can ever have, you go, “Oh! Ooooh! OHHHHHH!” That’s how you want ideas to come, because you’re suddenly thinking, “Oh, well, then we could…” It’s one simple, clear thing that leads to a whole universe of wonderful possibilities. “We could this, we could that, and what if we did this?” Like Afghanistan. That’s an amazingly straight way in.

SM: I loved the way you suddenly said, “Blog!” Because, you know, people used to keep journals, people didn’t keep journals for a long time, and suddenly we doing it again with blogs!

MG: It’s funny, isn’t it? Because in a way…I was talking to a friend of mine who’s a real Luddite about all kinds of things, and I said, “Isn’t it odd that people are now composing E-mails?” I mean, they may not even be able to pick up a pen anymore… (Laughs) …but they’re writing more, and you would’ve predicted from the age of the telephone, say, 20 year ago, that that would’ve been it.

SM: Letter writing has just completely come back, and until the internet, I had probably written literally three letters in my life. And, now, I probably write twenty a day from my E-mail.

BE: I actually have to practice my handwriting once in awhile. I do it so rarely now.

MG: Yeah, that gets a bit frightening. I had to do this book were you had to write a letter to your 16-year-old self, and it was a really interesting thing, but when I actually came to do it, I was… (Fumbles across the tabletop) I tried to do it too quickly, and I found I wasn’t actually forming letters anymore!

SM: It’s true. I can barely write a check. Seriously. The age of computer technology has turned us all back into typists… (Laughs) …which is an extraordinary thing.

BE: Now, when you guys were writing this series, I just have visions of you having The Sherlock Holmes Encyclopedia on a desk, flipping madly through the pages, going, “Oooooooh, we could reference this!”

SM: Nah. We’ve got it in our heads. This comes from a place of us being fans. This wasn’t a case of, “Let’s grab that off the shelf and update it.” It was, “We love this, we think everybody’s been getting wrong, and we think we can get it right.” Unless you think you’re correcting everyone else, you shouldn’t be doing something. You should be saying, “Now this is the way it should be done.”

MG: But it’s a funny thing. It sounds so heretical, and you’re always immediately prepared for it, but an interesting dry run happened, which was that I was asked to address The Sherlock Holmes Society of London. I’d been a guest the year before, and they asked me to do it. And, essentially, I made the speech full of Sherlock Holmes jokes, but the bulk of the spine of it was basically the pitch for this series, because it seemed like an interesting argument. Now, with this group, the oldest Sherlock Holmes Society in the world, you would think they would be the most dusty, fossilized, Inverness cape wearing conservatives, but, really, they loved it. Because they love Sherlock Holmes, and we do as well. What’s been so refreshing and thrilling about the reception we’ve had at home is that people who were very skeptical go, “Oh! You got me!” Because it’s all there, you know? And what’s there is Doyle and these characters.

SM: We sort of took the Victoriana out, but put Donald back in…who’s been curiously missing from Sherlock Holmes for a long while. No, seriously, he has been!

(Writer’s note: Not being able to match Moffat’s knowledge of Sherlock Holmes lore, I have no idea what he’s referring to here, so if someone can fill in this gap for me, I’d be highly appreciative.)

BE: How did the casting of Benedict and Martin come about?

SM: Well, the casting of Sherlock Holmes was hilariously easy, given that it can be very difficult. Sue (Vertue) and I had been thinking about just who should play the part, we happened to be watching “Atonement,” we saw Benedict Cumberbatch, and we said, “He looks like Sherlock Holmes. He’s perfect!” I mentioned him to Mark, and Mark knows him, and he said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea!” So we sent him the script, and he came in and read for it, and we realized after the reading…it was, like, what is the point in carrying on looking? It’s him. There isn’t going to be somebody else. And then the challenge became to get our Watson who could match up to that. And, of course, as we keep saying, it’s a double act. Both characters are equally important. It’s only within the fiction that one’s senior to the other. Within the mechanics of the drama, they are equals. So who is going to be the other one? A host of brilliant people came in as Watson. The first person we saw, oddly enough, was Matt Smith, who is the new Doctor Who. A few days later, he was cast as The Doctor.

MG: He had a good week. (Laughs)

SM: (Laughs) He had a very good week! And then Martin came in, and when we stood him next to Benedict, he just became Watson instantly, and he somehow altered the way Benedict played it.

MG: They also had an instant chemistry, and it’s very interesting that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are like chalk and cheese, and, actually, Benedict and Martin are very different people who have very different approaches to their acting, but they just connected. They just have a spark, and you could see it in the room. The room lit up, and it just altered the way he was giving the lines. They changed. And…it was just there. It doesn’t very often. It’s a gift. I saw the other day where someone said, “Whoever cast these two should be showered with awards.” I thought, “Yes!” (Laughs) But, actually, I just liked the fact that they were pinpointing that. I thought it was great.

BE: Well, I must admit that I haven’t seen any more of the series than what was shown here today…

SM: …but those are the things that you will think. (Laughs)

BE: (Laughs) Probably. But something you touched on in the panel, and what was apparently in the clips, is that this plays very much like a buddy film of sorts.

SM: It’s even not “of sorts.” I really do think, as I said in the panel, that the real story of “Sherlock Holmes” is the story of the friendship, but nobody really talks about it because it’s told through the medium of detective stories. It really is. You warm to those two men, who…in different ways, but they’re quite difficult separately, and they adore each other, but…what’s the line you’re always quoting?

MG: I was just thinking that...because, of course, we’re always thinking psychically. (Laughs) I’ve forgotten the line, but Watson persuades him to go out for a walk because nothing’s happening, and he says, “We walked for the most part in silence, as befits two men who know each other intimately.” It’s beautiful. And then they come back, and it’s, like, “You bastard, I told you!” (Laughs)

SM: (Laughs) Yeah. And there are those details throughout it. Doyle, despite what people tended to say about him, didn’t do anything by accident. These are all very deliberate, cleverly written stories, albeit at the same speed. And the fact that it is a friendship is intentional, but there is that moment of total affection between them that happens once and is never repeated, and it’s there for a purpose. So when Sherlock Holmes works, it’s when you believe in the relationship between the two of them. Nigel Bruce departed a long way from the character of Doctor Watson in the stories, but why I absolutely believe those Rathbone / Bruce films is because they’re the two best friends in the world. They actually were best friends, Rathbone and Bruce, and it’s on the screen. You think, “They love each other!” Why do they live each other? Because they love each other.

MG: It’s also key to it…going back to “Doctor Who” or, really, any successful series or drama, you want to spend time with these people. And I think sometimes you can get very hung up on a kind of solemn, very grave version of Sherlock Holmes in which they’re getting the carpet details right but they forget to get people who actually like each other. (Laughs) And you find yourself not wanting to spend time with them, because they’re not having a good time. They look like they’re miserable!

BE: Lastly, talking about Rathbone and Bruce and, indeed, getting it right, are there any other incarnations of Holmes and Watson that either of you were particularly struck by?

MG: Oh, yeah. Jeremy Brett in the ‘80s…I can so vividly remember hearing that there was a new “Sherlock Holmes” series and being so excited, but for some reason, in my head, when I heard Jeremy Brett, I thought it was Nigel Havers. But I remember seeing the trailer, a big “coming soon” thing, and it was “The Speckled Band,” in which he’s wearing a sort of deer stalker, and Jeremy Brett had a proper hero close-up, and I was just like… (Gasps) “He’s got it! That’s Sherlock Holmes!” And that series has become an absolute icon for so many people. It’s a very interesting thing to do the stories much more as written, but without raining on anyone’s parade, there’s always an inherent problem, I think, in taking a very fast paced short story and making it an hour like that. And some of them do suffer just from, again, taking it too seriously. Well, taking it absolutely seriously, but taking it too gravely.

BE: As a teenager, I was always a fan of “Young Sherlock Holmes.” Not the best film in the world, but certainly an entertaining one.

MG: The other thing we must mention, because it’s absolutely key for us, is the Billy Wilder film “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes,” which is a masterpiece and, in so many ways, is tonally what we’re trying to do.

SM: There are a lot of things that we’ve taken from that, and we can’t say what they all are, but one of the things that Wilder and Diamond got right was the humor. The banter between the two was spot on. And, again, that Colin Blakely (who played Watson in “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”) had as big a part and his stature within the story was every bit as big as Robert Stevens (who played Holmes). The two of them were equals. That’s always the case in the successful versions of “Sherlock Holmes,” in my view. I rather liked Ian Richardson as Holmes. I don’t think they were necessarily the best films in the world, but he got a lot of the humor rather well.

MG: Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? There are two hundred odd films and 75 Sherlock Holmeses between them. That’s in the Guinness Book of World Records. I was talking to someone the other day, and one of the researchers in a horror documentary runs a silent movie festival and asked if we wanted to go open a festival of silent “Sherlock” films. There are so many that I don’t think anyone can ever really know which is the best. Some of them are lost, they’re so long ago. You only know them from stills in old books. I remember once, one afternoon when I was off school, one of the Arthur Wontner films was on…I think it “Silver Blaze” or something…and it was, like, “Oh, my God, how old is this?” (Laughs)

He's back.

That's right, the summer 2010 press tour of the Television Critics Association - that's TCA to you, see? - has come and gone, leaving in its wake a piece that I love to compile but hate to finish. It's just that kind of experience: there's always something else to write about.

I know I say this every time, so you'd think my mindset on the tour would've changed by now, but I still continue to get excited when I fly to California and spend the better part of two weeks ensconced in a hotel, watching and listening as closely as possible (which, admittedly, isn't often as closely as I'd like) to various stars, directors, producers, and writers as they do a dog and pony show to promote their program. I know they get sick of it sometimes, but for my part, I still haven't. I spend the better part of 48 weeks of the year in Chesapeake, VA, a place where I do not regularly cross paths with the people that you see on your TV screen. As such, I remain excited about the opportunity to participate in these ridiculously cool opportunities, and I still feel like I have to share the experience with you, the reader, lest they begin to seem normal to me.

It's not normal.

It's the TCA press tour.

And trust me, unless you're actually in show business, life doesn't get much less normal than this.

Most entertaining panel by a broadcast network: "Circus," PBS. Given the subject matter of the series - yes, it really is about the circus, specifically what it's like to be part of a traveling circus in 2010 - it wasn't entirely surprising that the panel kicked off with acrobat Christian Stoinev demonstrating some of his gymnastic abilities, but that didn't make his performance any less impressive.

Plus, he earned bonus points for incorporating a cute little dog named Scooby into the act, who jumped onto Stoinev's butt, strolled down his back, sat on his feet, and looked as calm as possible as Stoinev balanced semi-precariously on his parallel bars.

Most entertaining panel by a cable network: "Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town," IFC. When I walked into the ballroom and found that we'd all received autographed DVDs of the Kids' latest endeavor, I thought, "Can it get any better than this?" (I'm a sucker for anything autographed.) Indeed, it could, as the Kids - minus Mark McKinney, who'd been called back to Canada because of a family emergency - held court and kept us in stitches.

Some of my favorite moments:

QUESTION: How long had it been since you had cross-dressed professionally before ("Death Comes to Town"), and was that sort of a difficult readjustment for any of you?
SCOTT THOMPSON: Define “professionally.”
QUESTION: With a large crew.
SCOTT THOMPSON: Oh.
DAVE FOLEY: Not just any exchange of money.
BRUCE McCULLOCH: So if you shoot porn with a small crew, that wouldn’t count...?
KEVIN McDONALD: That’s not cross-dressing professionally.
DAVE FOLEY: Yeah. If you put on a nice shirt and give a handjob at the bus station, that still is professional.
SCOTT THOMPSON: Yes, it is.
BRUCE McCULLOCH: And by “handjob,” we mean "Bible reading," as we like The Bible.

* Dave Foley on the audience response to Scott Thompson's cancer being in remission: "I’m getting a sense that a lot of these people are on the cancer side. Well, I hope you are proud of yourselves. 'Oh, dammit, not another one beating cancer. Poor cancer. When will people learn to love cancer?'"

* Scott Thompson: "I had a much easier time making ('Death Comes to Town'), even though I was fighting cancer, than I did with 'Brain Candy,' honestly. It was tougher to fight Paramount. Because, at least with cancer, you can win."

QUESTION: Do you find that people, when they see you, wanted to just squash your head? Because, like, I’m sitting here, like, resisting.
DAVE FOLEY: Yeah, a lot of time it has no reference to that gesture. It’s people actually want to crush our heads.
KEVIN McDONALD: The first apartment I ever moved to in Los Angeles, 1996, I was in bed the first night, and a couple were having a fight in the floor above me. And he was crying, “I’m going to crush your head,” and I thought they were fans, but it turned out they weren’t.
DAVE FOLEY: Yeah, it was a bloody homicide.
KEVIN McDONALD: It was a bloody homicide, yes.
DAVE FOLEY: But still, you felt flattered.
KEVIN McDONALD: But still, I felt flattered.

* When asked about their current relationship with Lorne Michaels, who introduced them to the U.S., McCulloch said, "I watch him get a haircut once a year when I go to 'Saturday Night Live,'" while Foley claimed, "I chill his Amstel Light." ("And drink it," added McDonald.)

* Kevin McDonald made the bold choice of using the word "guff" at one point, receiving no end of ridicule from his fellow Kids. "It’s a tough word," said McCulloch,"I know it’s tough to hear." Thompson gasped and shrieked, "You said 'guff'!" Foley, however, offered a practical solution to the assembled journalists. "You can put asterisks in that. Just G-asterisk-asterisk-asterisk for your print," he said, adding, "Of course, you online media people can just change it to 'fuck.'”

* "Death Comes to Town" was filmed in North Bay, ON, but Foley said that it was a rarity for locals to come up and acknowledge their recognition of the Kids. "Canadians don't do that," explained Thompson. "Yeah," agreed Foley. "They'd just come up and start talking to you like they knew you. You know, you would be in the grocery store, and somebody would just come up behind you and say, 'Special K is marked down today. I’m getting the Special K as well. What are you doing later, Dave?' And that was how you knew they recognized you."

* The miniseries features Foley playing "the kindly old town abortionist," which made it a bit difficult to scout for locations. Foley said that they had to keep making up stuff to tell the people of North Bay, saying things like, “Yeah, this scene, it’s a gynecologist’s office," or "Oh, it’s an obstetrician’s office.” Or, as Scott Thompson claimed, "It's a very bad day care." At this, the crowd of critics erupted with a mixture of boos and laughs. "That was good," Thompson assured us. "That was bad," Foley assured him. At this, Thompson nodded, grinned, and admitted, "Very bad."

Most out-of-control panel by a broadcast network: “Raising Hope,” Fox. I'm not going to pretend that I didn't laugh really hard at Cloris Leachman's antics as she wrestled control of the panel away not only from her co-stars but, indeed, from the assembled critics as well, demanding that her chair be moved from one end of the stage to the other and requesting that those asking questions stand up and/or sit down.

At some point, though, I think most of us were left wondering how much of the chaos we were witnessing was intentional and how much was a woman not knowing when to stop trying to be funny. About halfway through, Leachman finally calmed down, going almost completely quiet and giving the others a chance to answer a few questions. By that point, it was very much appreciated.

Most interactive panel by a broadcast network: “Masterchef,” Fox. Last time, Gordon Ramsay had the assembled critics compete to see who could whip up the best topping for Baked Alaska.

This time, he tested our palates by passing out little cups of gazpacho to everyone and asking us to determine the ingredients contained within. The critic who determined the final of the 15 ingredients won a free dinner from one of his restaurants. Sadly, that critic was not me.

Guilty-Pleasure Panel of the Tour: "Jersey Shore 2," MTV. Love them or hate them, the "Jersey Shore" gang are ubiquitous in any discussion of 2010 pop culture, so it was nigh on impossible not to at least be intrigued when MTV quietly added a "Jersey Shore 2" panel to their proceedings. But who, we wondered, would be in attendance? The answer: every last (CENSORED) one of 'em.

(Actual panel wardrobe not pictured.)

Inevitably, though, it was the one and only Snooki who pulled the best quote of the panel, adding a new word to the vocabulary of American and Canadian TV critics: "snookin'."

"Snookin’ is when you’re lookin’," she explained. "So if I say I’m snookin’ for love, I’m snookin’ for a guy. If I snooked the night, then I took the night. Get it?"

Um...

"My snooktionary is coming out, and you’ll understand my language," she assured us...and, yes, she claims she's serious about that.

5 Greatest Moments of Complete Honesty During The Tour:

1) Alex O'Loughlin on "Hawaii Five-0": "If this one doesn’t go, I’m completely bewildered. I have no idea how television works at all."
2) Carrie Fisher on how it felt to walk onstage wearing a Princess Leia wig: "Like an asshole. A complete, undignified jerk-off. But other than that, really good."
3) Snooki on her run-in with the law: "Obviously, it wasn’t a good time, but, you know, I didn’t hurt anybody, and I just went out to have a good time on the beach, and you know, stuff like that happens in Jersey. I was in the drunk tank for a little bit. I had too many tequilas."
4) Billy Gardell ("Mike & Molly") on his waistline: "I think I’d like to lose some weight. I mean, everybody’d like to be a little bit better than they are, you know, but everybody has a different tick, man. Mine just happens to be pizza. It’s okay. You can laugh at that. I’ve got a mirror. Lighten up."
5) David Cross on poor decisions he's made in his life: "I shit myself one time. I mean, it wasn’t a decision. I just thought it was going to be a fart. So it turned out be a bad decision. What’s another poor decision? Oh, telling the thing about shitting myself. That was stupid. Why would I do that? It was unnecessary."

Most common recurring question during the panels: I'm pretty sure that every single actor whose ancestors can be traced back to India in any capacity whatsoever was asked for their opinion about NBC's "Outsourced."

Most awkward segue into an equally awkward question: During the panel for TV Land's "Harry Loves Lisa," the reality series starring Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna, a critic casually brought up the fact that Prop 8 had been repealed, then added, "Which reminds me of 'Making Love,' with Harry and Michael Ontkean. What are your thoughts about maybe a sequel to that movie with Michael? And Lisa, when you see that movie, what do you think? Does it get you going?"

The "So, Paul, What Do You Hear About Ringo's New Album?" Award: During the panel for "Mr. Sunshine," Matthew Perry...and, indeed, virtually the entirely assembly of critics, I'd have to guess...was left dumbstruck when he was asked, "Do you ever see David (Schwimmer), and does he talk to you about his goals?"

Strangest rant by a panelist: Yoko Ono. This probably isn't too much of a surprise, given the widow Lennon's tendency toward eccentricity, but many critics - including myself - were left flabbergasted by her explosion over one critic's innocuous question about why she decided to remain in the Dakota after John's murder. First, she declared it to be "a slightly racist remark, and maybe sexist, too," but then she really went off.

"You guys are doing that, but when somebody like me, who is probably not part of your culture, how you think, 'Why she still living there? We wouldn’t live there. Well, maybe because she has a different tradition and she doesn’t care about the fact that he died there.' You know, something like that. A little bit more barbaric or something. No. I think that you would want to live there, too, because you cherish the memory of that person. That’s one. But also the other thing is, for you to be able to say something like that, 'How dare she’s living there?' is sexism, because I know that all guys wouldn’t care. They would just live in the house, you know,whatever happens. They may not even care that they got a divorce or whatever happened. They would just live in the house, and no one’s going to comment. No one’s going to comment that you would go to maybe a whorehouse or something like that right after your wife died. 'I’m so sorry. He must be so sad.' I was still sad, so I’m still living in that house. Do you mind?"

I felt so bad for the guy who'd asked the question, who - once he could get a word in edgewise - explained, "Okay, I did not mean to be racist nor sexist, and I don’t know where whorehouses got into this conversation, but when my dad passed away, my mom wanted to go live in Florida, and it’s just...people grieve differently." Yoko halfheartedly tried to backpedal, saying, "I was being a little bit facetious, I’m sorry," and she probably was. But, wow, talk about lashing out...

Panelist most likely to have one of his comments thrown back at him when his series premieres: Joseph Fiennes, who plays Merlin in "Camelot," Starz's new take on the classic Arthurian legends. Fiennes said of his character, "I think of Merlin as a sort of cross between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Donald Rumsfeld." This, of course, resulted in an immediate follow-up question, requesting a bit more clarification on the resemblance to Rumsfeld. "Well, I don’t want to draw too many parallels and be boxed in a corner too much," Fiennes replied, "but I just think it’s really about political agenda." Toward the end of the panel, the matter was brought up again, leading him to muse that he'd basically shot himself in the face by having made the comparison in the first place. Muttered executive producer Chris Chibnall, "I knew that was going to get us in trouble..."

Panelist who looked the least thrilled to be in attendance: Maura Tierney, "The Whole Truth," ABC. I'm sure it was mostly because she wasn't looking forward to people quizzing her about her health, but she looked perpetually like she was going to burst into this song:

Cable series with the least sense of history: “Mad Genius,” Fuse. Any music fan worth their salt would be intrigued by a show which, according to the network’s description, “delves into the minds of musicians, the eccentricities, the world view, the influences of some of the major artists in the world and connects them to their artistic contributions to the groundbreaking music that they create.” We’re sitting around thinking about the possibilities: Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, Peter Green, Brian Wilson, and the like. Who does Fuse cite among the show’s subjects? Britney Spears and Li’l Wayne. Wow. Just…wow.

Most unintentionally off-color moment from a broadcast network panel: During the “$#*! My Dad Says” panel, executive producer Max Mutchnick had a moment of uncertainty about the proper verb to describe the process of sending out a message through Twitter and accidentally referred to “Dad” creator Justin Halpern’s “beautiful Twat.” Realizing his slip of the tongue, Mutchnick stammered, “I don’t know how you say it,” but not before William Shatner shook his head with mock dismay, saying, “That’s twisted.”

Later, Shatner used the phrase “people who Twit,” after which executive producer David Kohan smirked and countered, “I think it’s Twat.” A chagrined Mutchnick suggested that the proper verb was “Tweet.” Shatner snapped back, “Well, I know it isn’t ‘Twat’!”

Best use of a panelist's absence: Peter Tolan. It's not like his cohort Denis Leary was supposed to be there for the lunchtime "Rescue Me" session, but the fact that he wasn't gave Tolan the opportunity to relish the solitude of the stage. "I’m so glad to be here by myself and not with Denis Leary," he said, "because he is an attention hog, and the secondhand smoke, really, I’m lucky to be alive, frankly, at this point. It’s been seven seasons, and of course “The Job,” the show we did before, which was my idea, as was 'Rescue Me.' I am really lucky to be alive. I’m sure there are tumors just waiting to take me pretty much after this lunch."

Most promising new cable program that I didn’t know much about before going into the tour: "Teen Wolf," MTV. Turns out it's being executive-produced by Jeff Davis, the man behind "Criminal Minds," so suffice to say that it's darker than the original film. Bonus: the pilot was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who's had an affiliation with MTV since the day the network began...literally, since he directed this video:

Least promising new broadcast network program that I didn’t know anything about before going into the tour: "My Generation," ABC. It always takes me forever to check out ABC's new series, as I hate watching screeners on my computer (the network stopped sending out DVDs of its programs long ago), so I hadn't investigated "My Generation." Turns out it's a look back at a high school class from 2000 and how they've changed since they graduated. As I said to a compatriot during the panel, "I'm pretty sure the only thing that's going to make me want to tune into this show is if a killer starts picking off the twentysomethings one by one." Mind you, I haven't seen the pilot yet, but the trailer pretty well served to cement my theory.

Coolest anecdote(s) from a press scrum: Actually, it was less a scrum than an impromptu roundtable, but after PBS’s “Pioneers of Television” panel, my esteemed peer Marc Allan invited me to grab a chair and join the conversation he was having with Martin Landau, and others soon had their recorders out as well. It was Marc, however, who asked the two big-money questions.

First, Marc asked Landau if he had ever had the opportunity to meet Bela Lugosi, who he portrayed (and won an Oscar for doing so) in Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood.”

“No, I never met Lugosi,” replied Landau. “But I met Karloff…and had tea with him! I was doing some post-synching on a television show, and we both left our respective studios at the same time and met in the hall. At the time, Jack Nicholson was actually my student. Jack studied with me for three years, and Jack had just finished a picture for Roger Corman with Karloff. Jack wasn’t very good in it. He was much too contemporary. But, anyway, I saw Karloff in the hall, and we greeted each other. I said, ‘You just worked with a friend of mine.’ And he said, ‘And who might that be?’ And I said, ‘Jack Nicholson.’ And he said, ‘Oh, yes. Poor boy. Where are going now?’ I said, ‘Home.’ He said, ‘Would you like some tea?’ I said ‘yes,’ and we went to the commissary and had tea and little sandwiches, and I got to spend a little time with him.”

Then, as if psychic, Allan asked Landau about the one project I’d been chomping at the bit to hear his recollections about: “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island.”

“I had a good time doing that!” said Landau, offering surprising enthusiasm as he reminisced about working with “Chick Hearn and a bunch of robots, noting that it was the last time he’d worked with ex-wife Barbara Bain, who’d been his co-star on “Mission: Impossible” and “Space: 1999.” “People say that it was the worst moment in my career,” he said, with a laugh, “but I actually had fun on that show. The first day I was on it, though, was the day that Reagan was shot, so when we got to the set, everyone was…well, you know. So I told about three or four jokes and loosened everyone up, and from that point on, we had a good time.”

Really, I could go on about the conversation for several more paragraphs, since the next topic of conversation was how he was offered the role of Mr. Spock on “Star Trek” before Leonard Nimoy. Suffice it to say that I hope to get a one-on-one with Mr. Landau one of these days…but if it never happens, sitting in on this one was still pretty damned cool.

Favorite one-on-one interview at a TCA function: Tom Selleck. I'd been trying to confirm or deny the possibility of talking to Tom about his new CBS series, "Blue Bloods," but it was all very sketchy about how long he'd be at the CBS evening event. I therefore set up camp near the front door of the function, waiting for him to arrival. When he did, I followed behind him and his publicist, and once they reached their table, his publicist turned, saw my nametag and recognized my name, and waved me over to him. Tom smiled at me beneath his mustache and said, "No one will sit with me. Will you sit with me?" So I sat with him...and he was just as nice a guy as you'd want him to be.

Favorite one-on-one interview which took place elsewhere: Brad Meltzer. I've been a fan of Brad's thrillers for several years, and when he made the jump into writing comic books, by God, I was right there with him. I've even traded the occasional E-mail with the guy. This, however, was the first time I'd ever actually met him. It was worth the wait.

Most intimidating one-on-one interview: Spike Lee. Spike seems like someone who could be a prickly pear if you don't know what you're talking about, so I blew off a concert by Vinyl Candy (sorry, guys) in order to make sure I'd seen his new HBO documentary, "If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," before our conversation. Fortunately, it paid off: Spike was great.

Best party: CBS. These guys almost always take home the gold. Not only does lots of their talent show up, but they always hold them somewhere that you can actually move around without feeling like you're bumping into someone or on the verge of knocking someone down.

Worst party: Sony. It was a tremendous turnout of talent, so much so that in another locale it might've ended up being cited as the best party, but it was so freaking packed that you could barely move and rarely hear anyone well enough to do a decent interview.

Party that I usually don't enjoy but this time did: Fox. They like to use their "American Idol" money to rent the Santa Monta Pier for the night and let us and their talent go nuts with the food, the drinks, and the rides. Normally, I complain about how it's not terribly conducive to doing interviews, what with the loud music and the noise of the rides. This time, my wife was there with me. I still didn't do many interviews...but I did get to ride the Ferris Wheel with the woman I love. Yeah, yeah, we're disgustingly cute. Get over it.

My 5 Favorite Cheap Thrills of the Tour:

1. Getting a hug from Jayma Mays of "Glee." Yes, my wife was standing right there. (So was Jayma's husband, Adam Campbell, for that matter.) But even my wife thinks she's cute.
2. Talking to both David Cross and Bob Odenkirk on the same tour. Hopefully, there are "Mr. Show" fans out there who will appreciate this accomplishment as much as I did.
3. Telling Tom Hanks that I really loved "Mazes and Monsters" / Having Tom Hanks use me as a prop while telling a story (TIE). This was the third time I'd met my generation's Jimmy Stewart, and each time I'd told myself that I was going to bring up the classic TV movie from early in his career, but when my fellow Bullz-Eye buddy Ross Ruediger broached the subject of "Splash!" and got five minutes worth of stories about working on the film, I decided that this was my time to shine. All I got for my trouble was a smirk, followed by a look that may or may not have been pity.

In retrospect, I probably should have just stuck with my Hanks encounter from earlier in the evening, when he'd been telling some story or other and, since I was closest to him, used me to illustrate how the person in his story kept poking someone in the chest. Anyone who tells you that I was considering getting a tattoo of the resulting bruise is a dirty liar. (That was just drunk talk.)
4. Bill Lawrence telling my wife that I'm awesome. I've lost track of how many times I've talked to Bill Lawrence on the phone and in person, but my wife had never had the pleasure. At the ABC party, however, she spotted him holding court and decided to approach his assistant just to see if she could slip in long enough to introduce herself. She hadn't gotten past the words "my husband is Will" before she was informed that "we love Will" and quickly hustled over to Bill for introductions, where the good Mr. Lawrence echoed his assistant's statements. I should clarify that it's not the compliment itself that made for the cheap thrill but, rather, the fact that Bill Lawrence made my wife feel good about her lot in life. I mean, she's married to a TV critic, fer crissakes. She needs all the reassurances she can get.
5. Having William Shatner abruptly end our interview by clapping me on the shoulder and saying, "Thanks for your time." Ah, it wasn't going that well, anyway. And, besides, who cares? Captain Kirk touched me!

Cast most likely to get me into trouble: “NCIS.” I don’t know what it is about Michael Weatherly and Pauley Perrette, but I always end up finding myself on the verge of breaking some rule or other when I’m around them.

With Michael, he loves to tell stories when he knows you’re not recording him, and they’re invariably filled with some tidbit or other where you’d feel guilty running them intact. As such, I can’t tell you about what happened when he gave Robert Wagner’s E-mail address to Roger Moore…but if you ever meet Michael, ask him about the time he and Jessica Alba met Elvis Costello and Peter O’Toole. It’s a good’un.

As for Pauley, it’s become a TCA tradition that we take a picture together whenever we see each other: she holds the camera in front of us and takes the picture herself, and heaven help anyone who tries to take it for us. Unfortunately, as I learned after my first tour of duty with the TCA, it’s a no-no for members of the organization to take pictures with the stars. Pauley knows this. She just doesn’t care. This time, she assured me, “It’s seven years bad luck if we don’t take one every tour!” I’m pretty sure she didn’t have any documentation to back this up, but she took the picture anyway. Seriously, the woman’s a force of nature. Fortunately, I think everyone in the TCA knows this about Pauley, so I think they’d probably see her as an exception to the rule…but, just in case, I’m keeping the picture to myself.

Most awesome visit to the set of a network show: "Friends." Don't get me wrong, visiting Wisteria Lane is cool whether you watch "Desperate Housewives" or not, and the intricacies of the "Parenthood" set were remarkable to behold, but the power of pure sentimentality trumped them both. No, it's not where the show actually filmed, but it's all of the original items, and they look exactly like they did when they originally filmed the show. What I'm saying to you is that I stood in the middle of Central Perk. It doesn't get much better than that.

Most disappointing visit to the set of a network show: "Undercovers." This new NBC series has a certain amount of potential, and in fairness, the sets - one of which is a working kitchen - did look pretty cool, but the fact that none of the cast nor the producers could be bothered to make it to our visit ultimately made it feel like a bust.

Most pleasant reminder that, once in awhile, you make enough of an impression on the people you interview on the phone that they actually still remember you when you meet them in person: A month or so ago, I interviewed Nate Torrence in conjunction with “She’s Out of Your League” hitting DVD, and when he mentioned that he was in the cast of ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine,” I said, “Well, then, I’ll look for you when I’m at the TCA tour.” Flash-forward to ABC’s post-panel party, where I see Nate and go up to introduce myself, but before I can finish reminding him who I am, he quickly lets me know that he needs no reminder. “I get up there for the panel,” he said, “and I’m, like, ‘No one is going to ask me anything. I’m just going to sit here.’ But then I go, ‘Hey, wait a minute, what about the guy from Bullz-Eye? I think he said he was going to be here! Maybe he’ll ask me a question!’” Of course, when he said this, I immediately felt awful that I hadn’t actually asked him a question…

Most unpleasant reminder that, no matter how much you’ve enjoyed someone’s work on television, they still see you as a journalist and therefore don’t really want to talk to you if they can help it: Chandler was always my favorite Friend, I really liked “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” and unlike some of my peers, I laughed pretty hard at the pilot for “Mr. Sunshine,” but I can’t say that I’m as thrilled with Matthew Perry as I used to be.

I tried to be as polite as possible while waiting to chat with Perry during the ABC party, but on two separate occasions, although he clearly knew I was loitering in his vicinity for that purpose (the recorder in my hand was, to my way of thinking, kind of a dead giveaway), he pointedly opted to continue conversations with co-stars and friends rather than acknowledge me. One of my peers stopped by during my lengthy loiter and told me that I had the patience of a saint to wait the guy out, but in the end, even Francis of Assisi would’ve given up on Perry: once he finished the conversation, he turned to try and leave without turning toward me. Before I could stop him, though, the writer standing next to me snared him, then kindly gestured in my direction and said, “I was waiting for you, but he’s been waiting even longer.” Perry endured questions from both of us for a few minutes, but then he said, “I’m going to walk away now.” And he did.

I know the guy’s dealt with plenty of these TCA parties during the years that he was part of the NBC family, but given that he’s not only the male lead in “Mr. Sunshine” but also the creator and one of the show’s writers, I really expected him to be more enthused about the chance to promote the series.

I should add, though, that my wife – simply by speaking the truth – ended up kind of getting the last laugh on Perry. At the Sony party, she was talking to Megyn Price (“Rules of Engagement”) when Perry came up and started talking to Pryce. My wife waited politely for Perry to finish, but when he did, he turned to my wife and, with a decidedly dejected look on his face, said, “I suppose you want to interview me.” She looked right back at him and said, “Oh, God, no!”

Admittedly, all she meant was that she was just a guest at the party and therefore wasn’t doing interviews with anyone, but I am assured that the look on Perry’s face was priceless nonetheless.

Most awesome live performance of the tour: Michael Feinstein jazzing it up and occasionally even kicking out the jams with his 17-piece band as part of a dinner-and-a-show performance to promote his upcoming three-part PBS miniseries, “Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook.” I’ve respected Feinstein’s work since I heard him cover “Both Sides Now” on an Elektra Records compilation entitled Rubaiyat, and somewhere around here I’m pretty sure I still have a copy of his Isn’t It Romantic album on cassette, so I figured I’d get a polite but somewhat easy-listening performance that would make for a nice wrap-up to the evening.

My bad.

My jaw was left on the floor by how much energy the man put into the seven songs he played for us, which began with “The Lady Is a Tramp” and ended with “For Once in My Life.” Suffice it to say that I became the proud owner of Feinstein’s The Sinatra Project the next time I visited a record store…which, as it happens, occurred only a few days later.

Best off-site visit that was in no way connected to the tour: Amoeba Records. I usually make a point of swinging by my favorite Hollywood record store whenever I make it into town, but my schedule in January didn't lend itself to a visit, so it'd been a year since my last dig through Amoeba's always-awesome bargain bins.

Unfortunately, when I arrived, I found that what would've otherwise been a pretty cool coincidence - Elijah Wood was doing a DJ set for the store - totally screwed up my fun, as they'd set up a barrier to keep people from getting too close to Elijah as well as to keep too many people from rushing the DJ booth...and it was right in front of the store's fabled $1 bins. So if you happened to be there that day and heard a bearded and bespectacled gentleman grumbling, "Fuckin' Frodo," now you know why.

Best piece of swag: HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” flask. I think this is actually the third flask I’ve gotten in the last year: The CW gave them out last summer with the “Melrose Place” reboot, possibly because I needed a lot of alcohol to make the show endurable, and then Fox sent one out in conjunction with “Family Guy” not terribly long ago. What made this one so special? It was all in the presentation. Everyone was presented with a copy of The Anti-Saloon League Yearbook 1920...and when you opened it, you found a flask-shaped hole carved into the pages which housed our gift. How awesome is that?

Worst trends of the tour:

1) Networks attempting to squeeze as many panels into one day as possible. In fairness, CBS and Fox were fantastic with their respective families of networks, dividing their presentations into two days. Not so NBC-Universal, who forced us to endure a single day of panels and even between-panel events in order to cover series from NBC, SyFy, USA, Oxygen, Bravo, and MSNBC. And as an FYI to the Discovery Networks, if you’ve got things scheduled so that, after two questions, the moderator has to say, “We’ve got time for one last question,” you’ve got things scheduled way too tightly.

2) Networks neglecting to include panels for existing shows. It makes sense, given the tight quarters on the schedule, but it's no less disappointing. CBS gave us a "Big Bang Theory" panel, The CW offered "Gossip Girl," and Fox gave us "Glee," but for the most part, existing series were relegated to between-panel events in the lobby of the ballroom. Sure, it's nice to have coffee with the cast of "Modern Family" in theory, but the end result is lots of scrums and limited opportunities for one-on-one questions. I'm not saying I'm the most gregarious when it comes to asking questions during the panels, but it sucks to not even have that chance.

3) Networks missing from the tour altogether. AMC made a major splash at Comic-Con with “The Walking Dead,” and, hey, fair enough, the show’s based on a comic book. Similarly, Matthew Weiner seems to be pretty pissed at the press right now, so that’d probably explain the lack of a “Mad Men” panel.” But given that other members of Rainbow Media family of networks were in attendance (IFC and WeTV), it felt like a slap across the face that we didn’t even get a state of the union address from an AMC exec, especially when they announced their new series, “The Killing,” a mere three days after the tour wrapped. And wherefore art thou, Turner? All of those new series on TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and the like, and we don’t get a single panel for any of them? I know Conan doesn’t really need more promo for his new show, but it sure seemed like an opportunity missed.

And, as ever, we wrap things up with a bitch session...

Most annoying moment of the tour: having my request for a one-on-one chat with Tony Danza declined because, as his personal rep purportedly said, “This isn’t his kind of interview.”

Now, granted, this came through channels rather than directly from the rep, and I can't imagine that Tony Danza himself has anything to do with declining the interview, but that’s the reason that was cited in the E-mail from A&E, home of Danza's new reality series, "Tony Danza: Teach."

As someone who's the son of a retired teacher and the husband of a woman who works with autistic students, I'm well aware of the importance of education and how students affect the lives of teachers just as much as teachers affect the lives of students, so I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the series. Additionally, one of my friends had once had dinner with Danza and had nothing but nice things to say about the guy. No surprise here: I put in for an interview.

Now, please understand that I’ve been turned down for more than a few interviews in my time, and I’ve come to accept the heartbreak of rejection when it comes to an actor’s busy schedule, even when it’s patently clear that “busy” translates into “he only talks to the bigger, better-known outlets, and, frankly, I’ve never even heard of your site.” In the end, it really all comes down to this: I’m someone who needs closure on things, and if a rep is going to tell me that their client is opting out of talking to me because “this isn’t his kind of interview,” then I don't think it's too much to ask why it isn't his kind of interview. I mean, maybe it's something I can change, y'know? So I asked. But I never got an answer.

Do you know why? If so, drop me a line...or, better yet, if you're already that deep into the Danza camp, anyway, then go ahead and tell Tony that I'd still really like to talk to him. After hearing him talk during his panel, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that this teaching gig was a full-fledged life-changing experience for the guy. As such, I'd like to do whatever I can to help promote "Tony Danza: Teach"...and, yes, even after all of this whining, I do still think you should watch it when it premieres on A&E on October 1st.

Although the TCA Press Tour actually ended on July 8th, there were so many things going on and so many different series and specials being covered that I simply didn't have time to tackle them all while I was still out there. Plus, let's be honest: once we get past the broadcast networks, do you really need full-fledged coverage on every single one of them?

Well, maybe you do...and if you do, then I'll be glad to give it to you, since it's never too late for a TCA member to delve back into the archives and produce the highlights of the tour's various panels.

In the meantime, though, here's a quick list of what was covered during the course of PBS's two days of the tour, along with what the network itself has to say about the programs in question. If you want a straighter strain of dope on any of them, just say the word...

* American Experience: Freedom Riders:

Award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson returns to the Sundance Film Festival with his latest documentary "Freedom Riders," the powerful, harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives-and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment-for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders’ belief in non-violent activism was sorely tested as mob violence and bitter racism greeted them along the way.

"Freedom Riders" features testimony from a fascinating cast of central characters: the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the rides firsthand. Despite two earlier Supreme Court decisions that mandated the desegregation of interstate travel facilities, black Americans in 1961 continued to endure hostility and racism while traveling through the South. The newly inaugurated Kennedy administration, embroiled in the Cold War and worried about the nuclear threat, did little to address domestic Civil Rights. Organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the self-proclaimed “Freedom Riders” came from all strata of American society-black and white, young and old, male and female, Northern and Southern. They embarked on the Rides knowing the danger but firmly committed to the ideals of non-violent protest, aware that their actions could provoke a savage response but willing to put their lives on the line for the cause of justice.

Each time the Freedom Rides met violence and the campaign seemed doomed, new ways were found to sustain and even expand the movement. After Klansmen in Alabama set fire to the original Freedom Ride bus, student activists from Nashville organized a ride of their own. “We were past fear. If we were going to die, we were gonna die, but we can’t stop,” recalls Rider Joan Trumpauer-Mulholland. “If one person falls, others take their place.” Later, Mississippi officials locked up more than 300 Riders in the notorious Parchman State Penitentiary. Rather than weaken the Riders’ resolve, the move only strengthened their determination. None of the obstacles placed in their path would weaken their commitment. The Riders’ journey was front-page news and the world was watching. After nearly five months of fighting, the federal government capitulated. On September 22, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued its order to end the segregation in bus and rail stations that had been in place for generations.

“This was the first unambiguous victory in the long history of the Civil Rights Movement. It finally said, ‘We can do this.’ And it raised expectations across the board for greater victories in the future,” says Arsenault.

“The people that took a seat on these buses, that went to jail in Jackson, that went to Parchman, they were never the same. We had moments there to learn, to teach each other the way of nonviolence, the way of love, the way of peace. The Freedom Ride created an unbelievable sense: Yes, we will make it. Yes, we will survive. And that nothing, but nothing, was going to stop this movement,” recalls Congressman John Lewis, one of the original Riders.

Says Stanley Nelson, “The lesson of the Freedom Rides is that great change can come from a few small steps taken by courageous people. And that sometimes to do any great thing, it’s important that we step out alone.” (Winter / Spring 2011)

* American Masters: LENNONYC:

This fall, as the world remembers John Lennon on what would have been his 70th birthday, and the 30th anniversary of his death, American Masters airs "LENNONYC," a new film that takes an intimate look at the time Lennon, Yoko Ono and their son, Sean, spent living in New York City during the 1970s. “New York became a part of who John and I were,” said Ms. Ono. “We couldn't have existed the same way anywhere else. We had a very special relationship with the city, which is why I continue to make this my home, and I think this film captures what that time was like for us very movingly."

Following the breakup of the Beatles, Lennon and Ono moved to New York City in 1971, where Lennon sought to escape the mayhem of the Beatles era and focus on his family and private life. At the same time, he created some of the most acclaimed songs and albums of his career, most of them written at his apartment at The Dakota on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, including "Mind Games," "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night," "I’m Losing You," and "Woman." He also remained highly active in the anti-war movement as well as numerous other progressive political causes. As much as New York made an impact on Lennon and Ono by offering them an oasis of personal and creative freedom, so too did they shape the city. At a time when New York faced record high crime, economic fallout and seemed to be on the verge of collapse, Lennon and Ono became a beloved fixture in neighborhood restaurants, at Central Park, at sports events and at political demonstrations.

Lennon and Ono also bonded with millions of their fellow New Yorkers in their experience as immigrants. The film traces their struggle to remain in the U.S. when the Nixon administration sought to deport them, supposedly based on a narcotics violation, but which Lennon insisted was in response to his anti-war activities. "LENNONYC" features never-before heard studio recordings from the Double Fantasy sessions and never-before-seen outtakes from Lennon in concert and home movies that have only recently been transferred to video. It also features exclusive interviews with Ms. Ono, who cooperated extensively with the production and offers an unprecedented level of access, as well as with artists who worked closely with Lennon during this period, including Elton John and photographer Bob Gruen (who took the iconic photograph of Lennon in front of the skyline wearing a “New York City” t-shirt). (Nov. 22, 2010)

* The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!

Voiced by award-winning actor Martin Short, Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat guides friends Sally and Nick – with a little help from the Fish, Thing 1 and Thing 2 – on fun-filled adventures where they make natural-science discoveries, from how bees make honey to why owls sleep during the day. Filled with both adventure and silliness, "The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!", based on the acclaimed The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library book series, will appeal to preschoolers’ natural curiosity, and engage them in the process of scientific exploration and discovery. The series, created in response to recent findings that children graduating from kindergarten are less prepared to learn about science than about other subjects, supports young children’s science learning by introducing scientific inquiry skills, teaching core science concepts and vocabulary, and preparing preschoolers for kindergarten and first grade science curriculum - all in whimsical style.

A team of science and early childhood experts developed the curriculum for the first season’s 40 episodes, each of which begins with a question posed by Sally or Nick. Although the Cat knows a lot of things, his insatiable curiosity to learn more about the world leads to adventures with Sally and Nick in his one-of-a-kind Thinga-ma-jigger, a marvelously Seuss-ian contraption that sprouts wings, pontoons, booster rockets, skis, and just about anything else needed to find the answer. The inquisitive gang travels to the bottom of the sea to observe giant sea worms, zips to the rain forest to visit animals living in Kapok trees, and shrinks to bee-size to visit a hive and learn how honey is made. Guided by the Cat, the kids figure things out by observing, collecting and managing clues, making connections, constructing and evaluating theories, and having discussions -- all in a preschool-appropriate manner. (Premieres Sept. 6)

* Circus:

For centuries, the circus has captivated and delighted audiences around the globe, becoming a cultural phenomenon. Now, for the first time, step inside the ring, where the stories are true and the magic is real, for an intimate look at the mystery and thrill of it all with "Circus," a multi-part documentary. Over the course of six dramatic hours, Show of Force, the production company whose founding partners were two of the key creative visionaries behind the Emmy Award-winning PBS series "Carrier," turns its lenses on the world-renowned Big Apple Circus. "Circus" follows the company on an unforgettable journey from the big top to the “back lot,” where nail-biting drama unfolds both high in the air and down on the ground and the real heart of the circus beats, going behind the scenes to explore a distinctive world with its own rules and lingo and no fixed address. It reveals the sights, sounds and stories of the circus’ fascinating cultural legacy in unprecedented breadth and scope as viewers escape into a place of passion, excitement, perseverance and even heartache. From the training and rehearsals to the bravery and the intensity of life - and work - in the circus, the cameras capture it all.

Grab a front-row seat as members of the Big Apple family experience life-changing moments. Founder and artistic director Paul Binder announces his departure and faces the realities of leaving behind his home and his creation, the Big Apple Circus, after 30 years in the ring. New clown Glen Heroy searches for his place under the big top while dealing with a haunting past. Twin brothers Marty and Jake LaSalle, life-long juggling partners, battle with the decision to keep their act together or part ways professionally. Teen acrobat Christian Stoinev grapples with leaving the family circus legacy for a “normal” life in college. Love fizzles and blossoms inside the close-knit group of ring crew members. A long-time company member faces the challenge of a life-threatening illness. Acts are fired and hired as the circus - and its performers - face tough times. Still, the show must go on.

"Circus" offers an intimate portrait of the amazing performers from around the world, as well as those that construct the tent, fit and tailor the costumes and choreograph the show. The series highlights the physical demands of human performance as well as the confinements of living life on the road for 10 months straight with 150 other people of differing nationalities, belief systems and backgrounds. Throughout the series, viewers are provided with an exclusive look at unbelievable performances, including death-defying trapeze troupe the Flying Cortes, Russian barre act the Rodion Troupe, winners of some of circus’ most coveted international honors, dog trainer and 8th generation circus performer Luciano Anastasini, disciplined and stunning tightrope walker Sarah Schwarz, and veteran equestrian husband and wife team Christine Zerbini and Sultan Kumisbayev.

"Circus" is a never-before-seen look into how a traveling big-top show functions. Constantly in motion, startlingly insular and completely interdependent for months on end, the circus community demands a uniquely high level of sociability, diplomacy and flat-out patience. Audiences will quickly discover that running away to the circus does not always guarantee one’s troubles won’t eventually catch up. (Nov. 3, 2010)

* Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook:

Produced and directed by Amber Edwards of Hudson West Productions, the three-part series embarks on a dynamic road trip through the glorious history of American song by the acclaimed musician and five-time Grammy®-nominated vocalist. Viewers accompany Feinstein on-stage and backstage, hear him interpret great standards, listen in on personal stories about the songwriters and entertainers he’s known and worked with over three decades, and join him on his quest to find and preserve rare treasures of classic American music.

"Michael Feinstein's American Songbook" chronicles Feinstein’s lifelong mission to keep the Great American Songbook alive, as he preserves and passes along the lyrics and melodies of songwriters like George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Rodgers and Hart, all while performing more than 150 shows a year across the country. The series follows the meticulous musician as he rummages though cluttered basements and dusty attics, sifts through piles in cluttered storage lockers, and unearths obscure items in flea markets. Simultaneously, Feinstein digs deep into the artistry of performers like Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole, Ethel Waters, and Margaret Whiting, illuminating what makes them so iconic and timeless.

In all aspects of his life, Feinstein is a historical sleuth, obsessively seeking out and saving priceless musical rarities (alternate lyrics, long-lost arrangements, and unreleased recordings) from destruction. In addition to footage that documents Feinstein’s fabulous but exhausting life on the road, "Michael Feinstein's American Songbook" uses prized archival audio and film footage to tell its story. The clips, narrated and contextualized by Feinstein, reveal the social and historical forces behind the music, which helped to shape the style, attitude and self-image of America for more than a century. Filled with generous portions of live performance past and present, the series offers both an intimate portrait of a unique entertainer and a history of 20th century popular culture. (Oct. 6, 2010)

* God in America:

How has religious belief shaped American history? What role have religious ideas and spiritual experience played in shaping the social, political, and cultural life of what has become the world’s most religiously diverse nation? For the first time on television, "God in America," a presentation of "American Experience" and "Frontline," will explore the historical role of religion in the public life of the United States in the six-hour series, which interweaves documentary footage, historical dramatization, and interviews with religious historians. "God in America" examines the potent and complex interaction between religion and democracy, the origins of the American concept of religious liberty, and the controversial evolution of that ideal in the nation’s courts and political arena.

The series considers the role religious ideas and institutions have played in social reform movements from abolition to civil rights, examining the impact of religious faith on conflicts from the American Revolution to the Cold War, and how guarantees of religious freedom created a competitive American religious marketplace. It also explores the intersection of political struggle and spiritual experience in the lives of key American historical figures including Franciscan Friars and the Pueblo leader Po’pay, Puritan leader John Winthrop and dissident Anne Hutchinson, Catholic Bishop John Hughes, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, reform Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise, Scopes trial combatants William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, evangelist Billy Graham, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Moral Majority’s Jerry Falwell. (Oct. 11, 2010)

* In Performance at the White House: A Broadway Celebration:

“A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House” is a PBS music special in the East Room of the White House; WETA Washington, D.C., will produce the television program in association with Margo Lion, Ltd. and 101 Productions, Ltd., and it will be directed by Broadway luminary George C. Wolfe. President and Mrs. Obama will host the event on Monday, July 19.

It will feature a series of performances by major Broadway artists and new talent, presenting selections from American musicals that reflect the spirit, energy and ambition of America. The evening will include Nathan Lane, Idina Menzel, Brian d’Arcy James, Audra McDonald, Chad Kimball, Marvin Hamlisch, Karen Olivo, Tonya Pinkins, Assata Alston and a youth ensemble from the Joy of Motion Dance Center. (Oct. 20, 2010)

* Independent Lens: Bhutto:

A portrait of one of the most fascinating and complex figures of our time, Bhutto is the epic tale of the life and tragic death of Benazir Bhutto, who broke the Islamic glass ceiling as the first woman leader of a Muslim country. Beloved by the people of her native Pakistan, she was reviled by the nation’s military establishment and male-dominated ruling class.

More than two years after her death from a suicide bomber, Benazir remains a divisive figure, a symbolic metaphor for the fight between terrorism and moderation. That struggle continues today in Pakistan, the world’s most strategically important country and the Muslim world’s sole nuclear power. (March 2011)

* Independent Lens: Reel Injun:

Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes an entertaining, insightful, and often humorous look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema and examining the ways that the myth of “the Injun” has influenced the world’s understanding-and misunderstanding-of Natives. Narrated by Diamond with infectious enthusiasm and good humor, "Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian" is a loving look at cinema through the eyes of the people who appeared in its very first flickering images and have survived to tell their stories their own way.

Tracing the evolution of cinema’s depiction of Native people from the silent film era to today, Diamond takes the audience on a journey across America to some of cinema’s most iconic landscapes, including Monument Valley, the setting for Hollywood’s greatest Westerns, and the Black Hills of South Dakota, home to Crazy Horse and countless movie legends. Clips from hundreds of classic and recent Hollywood movies illustrate Diamond’s points, while celebrated Native and non-Native film celebrities, activists, film critics, and historians discuss their perceptions of the big screen Indian in candid interviews. Diamond meets with Clint Eastwood at his studios in Burbank, California, where the film legend discusses the evolution of the image of Indians in Westerns and what cowboy-and-Indian myths mean to America. Legendary Native American activists weigh in on pivotal moments in American Indian history, including Russell Means, who remembers being in the trading post during the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, and Sacheen Littlefeather, who recounts the acceptance of Marlon Brando’s Oscar in protest of “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.” Others offering their perspectives include notables such as Robbie Robertson, the half-Jewish, half-Mohawk musician and soundtrack composer; Cherokee actor Wes Studi; filmmakers Jim Jarmusch and Chris Eyre; and acclaimed Native actors Graham Greene and Adam Beach.

"Reel Injun"’s humor and star power is balanced with insightful commentary from film critics and historians, including CBC film critic Jesse Wente; Angela Aleiss, author and scholar of American Indian Studies; and Melinda Micco, associate professor of ethnic studies at Mills College, California. The film also explores the range of non-Native actors who have portrayed Natives onscreen and reveals the bizarre secret identity of the iconic “weeping” Indian, Iron Eyes Cody. (Nov. 2010)

* Masterpiece - Wallander II: Faceless Killers

Kenneth Branagh returns to his remarkable Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated role as the soul-searching Swedish cop created by bestselling novelist Henning Mankell, on "Wallander II," three gripping new Kurt Wallander cases based on the books that launched the craze for Nordic thrillers. "Wallander II" has Branagh back in top form in a performance greeted by rapturous UK critics as “a revelation” (The Telegraph), “close to perfect” (The Sunday Times), and “one of the great treats of contemporary television” (The Evening Standard). The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) could not agree more, honoring him with the Best Actor Award for 2010. Set in the Swedish port town of Ystad, a crossroads of international crime and home-grown misfits and psychopaths, the series pits Wallander against serial killers, vigilantes, organ harvesters, and sadistic armed robbers.

Branagh is joined by David Warner as the elder Wallander, a painter who is losing his mind to Alzheimer’s, but worries about his son’s soul; Tom Hiddleston as Wallander’s fellow cop Magnus, a crisp professional who both admires and resents his colleague’s chaotic style; Jeany Spark as Wallander’s long-suffering daughter, Linda; and guest star Rupert Graves as a wealthy philanthropist, whose altruism seems too good to be true. The new season finds the down-at-the-heels sleuth nearing the end of his emotional rope-at odds with Linda, his father, his gyrating blood sugar, and coming to terms with having killed a man. It’s almost more than a self-doubting crime solver can stomach, but circumstances throw the following cases into his lap:

Faceless Killers - An elderly couple on a farm are tortured and murdered in a way that suggests the killers were trying to extract information. The woman’s dying word to Wallander: “foreigner”-or something like it. Unfortunately, this uncertain testimony leaks to the press and a vigilante campaign against migrant laborers begins-with deadly consequences. Wallander faces his own conflicting attitude toward foreigners when Linda begins dating a Syrian doctor. Racism, revenge, greed, and the search for justice prove a volatile mix, as the darker side of human nature erupts. (Oct. 3, 2010)

The Man Who Smiled - Scarred by the experience of shooting a man and on the verge of resigning from the force, Wallander is approached by an old friend. The man’s father has just died in a suspicious car crash. Distracted, Wallander refuses to investigate, but then his friend is found hanged. Both father and son have the same unusual injury to a bone in the neck, indicating murder. This double homicide soon points to a heinous conspiracy, where Wallander’s chief informant is a resentful former Ystad cop who was fired for wrongful death. (Oct. 10, 2010)

The Fifth Woman - An elderly widower and birdwatcher is tortured and killed with shocking barbarity. Then, it’s the turn of a flower shop manager. Yet another older man dies hideously before Wallander begins putting the pieces together, pointing at an avenging angel who is dispensing justice for past wrongs-terrible wrongs. Complicating the picture is Wallander’s ailing father, turning the crumpled cop into an emotional wreck as he races to save the “angel’s” next deserving victim. (Oct. 17, 2010)

* Masterpiece - Sherlock:

Blowing away the fog of the Victorian era, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective Sherlock Holmes enters the 21st century in a thrilling contemporary version. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, Sherlock premieres with three criminally clever whodunits on "Masterpiece Mystery!" Created by the celebrated story-telling team of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock co-stars Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson, Holmes’s best (and only!) friend. Just as in the Conan Doyle original, John is a retired army doctor, wounded during service in Afghanistan. A chance encounter brings him into the strange and thrilling world of Sherlock Holmes whose cases he begins to write up – as online blogs.

The UK press greeted the new Sherlock with open arms and rave reviews: “Sherlock is a triumph, witty and knowing, without ever undercutting the flair and dazzle of the original,” wrote The Independent. “Meet the new Sherlock,” announced The Daily Telegraph, “an electrifying sociopath.” And The Times (London) proclaimed, “Sherlock makes every other crime caper on television look thin.” This is a brand new Sherlock made by people who love the original stories, so each adventure is packed full of details, places, idiosyncrasies, plot elements, phrases, each with its own 21st-century twist. For example, the first episode, “A Study in Pink,” includes the clue, “Rache,” which was pivotal in the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, published in 1887. But beware! Each mystery is fiendishly new. The cast also features Rupert Graves as Inspector Lestrade-the best Scotland Yard cop there is, but a man wise enough to know when to call in the consulting detective his staff call “freak.” In an age of forensic detection, it is still Sherlock’s brilliant brain and powers of deduction which crack the following baffling cases:

A Study in Pink - A wave of suicides grips London, but Sherlock suspects the victims are not, as the police believe, voluntarily swallowing poison capsules. “We’ve got ourselves a serial killer,” he declares. “I love those!” With his newfound friend and flat mate, John Watson, he seizes on the minute details of the most recent victim, a lady dressed entirely in pink, to reveal a mastermind with the perfect cover-and a diabolical motive. But can Sherlock escape becoming the next “suicide”? (Oct. 24, 2010)

The Blind Banker - A banker and a journalist recently returned from the Far East are both shot dead by a killer who can seemingly walk through walls. Sherlock and John follow the trail to London’s Chinatown, where an ancient Chinese puzzle, an antiquities curator on the run, and a mysterious book that everyone in London seems to own hold the solution to the murders. Meanwhile, John’s new love interest finds herself caught in the middle of a very memorable date! (Oct. 31, 2010)

The Great Game - Sherlock pits his wits against a devilishly clever bomber, who straps explosives to innocent people and has them call the detective with a series of baffling mysteries to solve. A twenty-year-old murder; a blood-soaked car; a lost painting worth millions of dollars - it’s just the kind of adventure our hero relishes, but who is the evil genius behind this deadly game? (Nov. 7, 2010)

* Nature: The Born Free Story: 50 Years Later

The year 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Joy Adamson’s milestone book, "Born Free," a book that forever changed the way we think about wildlife. The dramatic story of Joy and George Adamson becoming surrogate parents of an orphaned lion cub named Elsa and her eventual release back into the wild sold millions of copies around the world, and the extraordinarily successful film based on the book went on to win two Academy Awards. It was one of the earliest representations on film of animals as individuals and had considerable repercussions in the world of conservation. The idyllic story portrayed on film was far from reality. Behind its romanticized depiction of Elsa and the Adamsons is the compelling story of the daring and controversial life two lovers of wildlife chose to live. But it is also a celebration of how a simple act of kindness taught us all how to see animals in a brand-new way.

"Nature" goes behind the scenes of "Born Free" to examine the genesis and aftermath of this landmark story. The documentary takes viewers through challenges in making "Born Free" and the real-life drama of the Adamsons as pioneering conservationists. "Nature" will revisit the people featured in the movie and discuss the importance and dangers of their revolutionary views about animals. Illuminated by George Adamson’s journal entries, archival home movies, and conversations with the Adamsons’ close confidants, the film reveals shifting attitudes about conservation and their impact on lions in Africa.

Published in 1960 and followed by a film and Academy Award-winning song of the same name in 1966, "Born Free" became a phenomenon that stimulated a worldwide interest in the plight of wild animals that still resonates today. The many wildlife projects inspired by "Born Free" include the Elsa Conservation Trust, which propelled the Adamsons from maverick naturalists to global conservationists, and the Born Free Foundation, founded by Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, stars of the film. After the triumph of "Born Free," the Adamsons continued to rehabilitate wild animals in need. Joy worked with leopards while George continued with lions, including three of the 24 lions who played Elsa in the movie. The Adamsons introduced the radical idea that wild animals should be treated as unique individuals and fostered the concept of saving lions by directly relating to them. But the blissful bush paradise and Elsa’s rehabilitation described in the book and film are misleading. The Adamsons’ approach to working with lions, although successful, left people vulnerable to unpredictable attacks. For instance, McKenna broke an ankle when a lion jumped on her during the film’s pre-production. But worse, a child was mauled and a wildlife reserve worker was killed by one of the lions that had been featured in the film, which changed the public perception of the Adamsons from wildlife heroes to eccentrics in the bush.

In a dark twist ending to the Adamsons’ extraordinary lives, Joy was brutally murdered by a disgruntled staff member at her reserve. And nearly 10 years after Joy’s death, George was gunned down by poachers and bandits who wanted to shut down his camp. Since the heyday of "Born Free," experts estimate Africa’s lion population has plummeted by 80-90 percent, partly due to the ever-increasing human population that shares their habitat. But their loss will have an impact across the ecosystem, and with only about 20,000 lions left now compared with 200,000 just 20 years ago, the pressure is on to save them. Despite criticism of their work, the Adamsons developed intriguing insights about animal behavior and laid the foundation for future conservationist efforts. Before them, no one had attempted or knew how to rehabilitate a domesticated wild animal. Their ground-breaking experiment with Elsa profoundly transformed our view of the natural world. (Winter / Spring 2011)

* Nova: Making Stuff Stronger, Smaller, Smarter, Cleaner

Invisibility cloaks. Spider silk that is stronger than steel. Plastics made of sugar that dissolve in landfills. Self-healing military vehicles. Smart pills and micro-robots that zap diseases. Clothes that monitor your mood. What will the future bring, and what will it be made of? In NOVA’s fascinating new four-hour series, "Making Stuff," popular New York Times technology reporter David Pogue takes viewers on a thrilling tour of the material world we live in, and the one that may lie ahead-offering viewers a behind-the scenes look at scientific innovations that are ushering in a new generation of materials that are stronger, smarter, smaller and cleaner than anything we’ve ever seen. From the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age to more recent periods dominated by plastics and silicon, materials have defined the progression of humankind.

Now, we are once again poised on the verge of a materials revolution, as researchers around the globe push the boundaries further than ever before, using biology and chemistry to imbue materials with new qualities that are expanding our technological frontiers. For thousands of years, humans have been manipulating the elements and the world’s raw materials. Now, scientists are generating new materials that function differently and stronger, smaller, smarter, and cleaner than ever. Expected to revolutionize medicine and technology, these innovations are likely to result in an unprecedented trove of nifty new stuff that is sure to transform the way we work and play and live.

Making Stuff: Stronger: What is the strongest material in the world? Is it iron? Are Kevlar and carbon nanotubes the way of the future, or will the powerful properties discovered in natural spider silk one day replace steel? NOVA begins the ambitious four-hour program with a quest for the world’s strongest stuff. Host David Pogue helps viewers understand what defines strength, examining everything from mollusks to a toucan’s beak and testing the world’s strongest materials. Pogue travels from the deck of a U.S. naval aircraft carrier to a demolition derby to the country’s top research labs to check in with the experts who are re-engineering what nature has given us to create the next generation of strong “stuff.” (January 2011)

Making Stuff: Smaller: How small can we go? Could we one day have robots taking “fantastic voyages” in our bodies to kill rogue cells? The triumphs of tiny are seen all around us in the Information Age: transistors, microchips, laptops, cell phones. Now, David Pogue takes NOVA viewers to an even smaller world in "Making Stuff Smaller," examining the latest in high-powered nano-circuits and micro-robots that may one day hold the key to saving lives and creating materials from the ground up, atom by atom. Pogue explores the star materials of small applications, including silicon, the stuff of computer chips, and carbon, the element now being manipulated at the atomic level to produce future technology. “Smaller” and more portable stuff has already revolutionized the way we live. The nanotechnology to come could change the face of medicine, with intelligent iPills that know what medicine to release into the body and treat patients from the “inside” based on changing needs; robots that repair damaged body parts; and more. (January 2011)

Making Stuff: Smarter: What can nature teach us in building smarter materials? Can we create materials that sense and respond? “When describing ‘smart materials,’ one analogy scientists give is the evolution from the first Terminator robot, a machine made of metal and circuitry, to the shape-shifting ‘liquid guy’ in Terminator 2,” said Making Stuff producer Chris Schmidt. Smarter looks into the growing number of materials that can shape themselves–reacting, changing, and even learning. An Army tanker trunk that heals its own bullet wounds. An airplane wing that changes shape as it flies. Clothing that can monitor its wearer’s heart rate, health, and mood. For inspirations and ideas, scientists are turning to nature and biology and producing some innovative new developments in materials science. The sticky feet of geckos have yielded an adhesive-less tape. Studying the properties of skin has led to the development of self-healing protective foam. And Pogue literally goes swimming with sharks to understand a different kind of skin that is intriguing scientists. Scientists are modeling a material after sharkskin to develop an antibacterial film that, when sprayed in hospitals, could eliminate MRSA and other anti-biotic resistant bacteria from clinging to surfaces. Pogue also visits a scientist who has created a material that can render objects invisible. “Smarter” concludes with a vision of the future, the ultimate in “life-like” stuff: programmable matter that could create a duplicate of a human being. (January 2011)

Making Stuff: Cleaner: Most modern materials are dangerous to the environment, but what about cleaning up our world? Batteries grown from viruses, tires made from orange peel oil, plastics made of sugar, and solar cells that cook up hydrogen–these are just a few glimpses of a new generation of clean materials that could power devices of the future. In Making Stuff Cleaner, David Pogue explores the rapidly developing science and business of clean energy and examines alternative ways to generate it, store it, and distribute it. Is hydrogen the way to go? One scientist is even using America’s abundance of chicken feathers to create a cheap way to make hydrogen cars safer. What about lithium batteries? Does this solve an energy problem or create a new dependency–in this case, on South America for a different kind of limited resource than oil? Can scientists instead develop a process in which batteries run on molten salts found in cheap abundance in the U.S. or on genetically engineered viruses? Pogue investigates the latest developments in bio-based fuels and in harnessing solar energy for our cars, homes, and industry in a fascinating hour full of the “stuff” of a sustainable future. (January 2011)

* Pioneers of Television:

They were the stars of the small screen in the early years of television, and much of the nation came to a halt whenever their shows aired. They strolled, sprinted, fought, laughed, cried and loved through worlds that took viewers to places past, present and future. As the originators of these innovative television formats, they provided an essential escape for millions of viewers who eagerly waited to watch them each week. "Pioneers of Television" returns to PBS for a second season in winter 2011, offering the inside stories of these formidable visionaries who recall the fledgling medium they shaped with their creativity, foresight and wisdom. This four-part series once again transports viewers behind-the-scenes for a revealing look at the inception of four of the most popular genres in television: science fiction, crime dramas, local kids’ TV and westerns.

The first season of "Pioneers of Television," which aired in 2008 on PBS, explored the early years of sitcoms, late night, variety and game shows. Utilizing new interviews with legendary stars and program creators, never-before-seen images and timeless footage that still entertains decades later, each landmark one-hour episode brings to life the fascinating history of some of the most successful and beloved shows in television history. Stars such as James Garner, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Angie Dickinson, Bill Cosby, Robert Culp, Stefanie Powers, Martin Landau, Peter Graves, Robert Conrad, Linda Evans, Mike Connors, Fess Parker and writer Stephen J. Cannell are among those interviewed whose imprint on these iconic genres still impact the medium today. "Pioneers of Television" depicts the epic beginnings of the four featured television genres and explores the stories and influences of these groundbreaking television pioneers. The episodes are:

Science Fiction: Storytellers Gene Roddenberry, Irwin Allen and Rod Serling created the storylines and characters behind the best-loved futuristic television of their time. But as Roddenberry’s “Star Trek” competed for ratings with Allen’s “Lost in Space,” each show’s creator aimed for a very different direction. This episode explores how Roddenberry and Serling (of “The Twilight Zone”) used the future as a stage for modern morality plays, and William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols and other science-fiction stars describe how they prepared to interact on-camera with a malevolent alien force … or, perhaps, a giant radish. (Winter 2001)

Crime Dramas: As viewers reveled in being transported to shadowy underworlds, creative geniuses emerged in the forms of Jack Webb (“Dragnet”), Desi Arnaz (“The Untouchables”) and Bruce Geller (“Mannix” and “Mission: Impossible”). Groundbreaking actors Bill Cosby (“I Spy”) and Angie Dickinson (“Police Woman”) reveal the methods behind their successes as the first African-American and breakthrough female lead characters in a television series. Barbara Bain and Martin Landau share the secrets behind the success of the innovative hit “Mission: Impossible,” while the evolution of Peter Falk’s amazing characterization in his role as “Columbo” is recalled. And James Garner, in his only recent interview, along with series creator Stephen J. Cannell, recounts the success of the “The Rockford Files’” reluctant crime solver. (Winter 2001)

Local Kids' TV: In the early years of television, local kids’ programs shaped the childhoods of millions of American children. Performers such as Willard Scott, Ernest Borgnine and William Shatner all honed their skills performing on live TV with small budgets and little support. With the flimsiest of second-hand store costumes and their own imaginations, they learned how to make their audience laugh, smile and think. One early talent, Stan Freberg, got off the bus in the middle of Hollywood, became a cartoon voice talent and created “Time for Beany” - a show that captured seven out of 10 viewers, including Albert Einstein, during its run in Los Angeles. Freberg’s story is told along with the story of legendary Muppets creator Jim Henson (who started at age 16), animator Bob Clampett (co-creator with Freberg of L.A.’s “Time for Beany”), actor Chuck McCann (originator of New York’s famous “Puppet Hotel”), performer Pat McMahon (a star of Phoenix’s “Wallace and Lamdo” - the most popular kids’ show ever) and Nancy Claster, who developed the Baltimore kids’ series “Romper Room” - the first franchised show in television history. (Winter 2001)

Westerns: Known everywhere as the quintessential American cultural identity, Westerns filled small screens across the country night after night and were some of the most successful television shows in history. Fess Parker’s portrayal of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett channeled the bravery, independence, honesty and rugged individualism of a young nation - and made Walt Disney enough money to build an empire. Westerns also gave viewers James Garner, who starred in the giant television hit “Maverick,” where he developed the reluctant hero character that would cement his successful TV and film career. Parker and Garner tell their stories, and Linda Evans recalls how two strong female characters emerged with her onscreen interaction with Barbara Stanwyck in “The Big Valley.” This episode also examines the success of Robert Conrad in “The Wild Wild West,” the popularity of “Bonanza” and the creation of the classic series “Gunsmoke” with James Arness - one of the longest-running television series of all time. (Winter 2001)

* POV: In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee:

In 1966, Cha Jung Hee was an 8-year-old girl at Sun Duck Orphanage who became one of the thousands of Korean orphans adopted by Americans in the years following the Korean War. U.S. military presence, Cold War politics and the realities of a war-torn society still struggling to climb out of the ruins made Korea the primary source for international adoptions by Americans, and it would remain so for many years. All such adoptions can present daunting challenges to adoptees as they come of age and try to understand their split heritage. But this story had a further twist, as seen in Deann Borshay Liem’s "In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee."

For Cha Jung Hee, the good fortune of being whisked away to an affluent country by loving new parents masked even more troubling questions. For one thing, Deann Borshay, as little Cha Jung Hee became known in America, wasn’t an orphan. As related in Liem’s earlier documentary, "First Person Plural," lingering memories led the filmmaker to discover that her birth family was still alive. And there was another buried memory. Liem wasn’t Cha Jung Hee at all. She was Kang Ok Jin, another 8-year-old girl at Sun Duck Orphanage. Her identity had been switched with Cha Jung Hee’s just before the latter was to be adopted by the Borshay family in California. She’d been instructed to keep that secret even from her adoptive parents. But why was the switch made? And what became of the real Cha Jung Hee? (Sept. 14, 2010)

* POV: Off and Running:

"Off and Running" is an American coming-of-age story. But it is one shaped by the new realities of an increasingly diverse American population, especially as those realities affect family life. Brooklyn teen Avery Klein-Cloud is the African-American adoptive daughter of white Jewish lesbians. Her siblings, also adopted, are an older black and Puerto Rican boy and a young Korean-American boy. Avery has grown up loved, supported and happy. Off and Running opens with the popular high school track star in her junior year, looking forward to college and a successful life.

But the outside world, with its deep concerns about race and identity, begins to intrude upon this happy family. Avery’s upbringing in a Jewish household and her distance from black culture were not issues for her during childhood, but as she approaches adulthood, she grows more troubled by her ignorance of her own roots. With the support of her parents, she decides to learn about her past by writing to her birth mother. The result is a crisis whose depth takes Avery, her parents and the filmmakers by surprise - a crisis that threatens to sweep away the teen’s promising future. (Aug. 31, 2010)

* POV: Wo Ai Ni (I Love You), Mommy:

From Donna Sadowsky’s departure from her Long Island home, through 10 hectic days in China arranging the adoption of 8-year-old Fang Sui Yong and on through the girl’s first year and a half in the United States, "Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy" is an intimate account of a global phenomenon - transnational and transracial adoption. Little Sui Yong’s adoption takes place against a background of more and more Americans adopting overseas, especially in China. Since the Chinese opened their doors to foreign adoptions in 1992, some 70,000 Chinese children have been brought to the United States, making China the top choice for international adoptions by Americans. The trend has even spawned a stateside support organization, Families With Children From China.

The huge number of adoptions underscores the importance of investigating the varied motivations of the Chinese and of the adoptive parents, the attitudes of society toward multiracial families and the special challenges transracial adoptees face. Those challenges can be daunting and a lot to fall on the shoulders of an 8-year-old adopted girl. And Fang Sui Yong - who learns a few minutes after meeting her mother, Donna, for the very first time that her new name will be Faith Sui Yong Sadowsky - reacts as any self-respecting little girl would. She is alternately withdrawn, petulant, cute, rude, demanding, endearing, needy, manipulative, tragic, happy, loving, not so loving, confused, surprisingly perceptive about her situation - and a natural in front of the camera. (Sept. 7, 2010)

* The President’s Photographer:

For 50 years, presidential photographers have covered it all: upheaval, tragedy, joy - often developing friendships with the presidents they serve. Acting as both visual historians and key links between the public and the presidents, for these photographers no day is the same - whether they are aboard Air Force One, backstage at the State of the Union or in the heart of the West Wing. As the 44th president’s chief photographer, Pete Souza is never far behind President Obama. Now, in the new National Geographic Special, “The President’s Photographer: 50 Years in the Oval Office,” viewers get to follow Souza, and those who came before him, for a behind-the-scenes look at the everyday grit of the American presidency. It’s a chance to see what it’s like to cover the most powerful man in the world, for history.

The pictures serve as a visual tool that will help future historians understand what went on during the presidency; so far, eight professionals have served as official White House photographers. The idea of shooting for history took hold almost 50 years ago when President Johnson hired the first official presidential photographer, Yoichi Okamoto, known as Okie. He set the gold standard for presidential photography, and he did it on the strength of his unique access. To a documentary photographer, every presidency has defining stories, and those images are often how we remember a president. For Johnson, it was civil rights and Vietnam. President Reagan is forever tied to the end of the Cold War. President Clinton pursued peace in the Middle East. History has yet to define the Obama administration, but Souza is there to document it, every step of the way. (Nov. 24, 2010)

* The Tenth Inning:

Thousands of bats, three home run records and one “curse” have been broken since Ken Burns last explored the history of America’s national pastime with his landmark 1994 PBS series "Baseball." Now Burns and co-director Lynn Novick bring the series to the present with "The Tenth Inning." The program is directed by Burns and Novick and written and produced by David McMahon, Novick, and Burns, telling the tumultuous story of America’s national pastime from the early 1990s to the present day, introducing an unforgettable array of players, teams and fans, celebrating the game’s resilience and enduring appeal, and showcasing both extraordinary accomplishments - and devastating losses and disappointments. The film highlights dramatic developments that transformed the game: the crippling 1994 strike that left many fans disillusioned with their heroes; the increasing dominance of Latino and Asian players who turned baseball into a truly international game; baseball’s skyrocketing profits, thanks to new stadiums, interleague play, and the wild card; the rise of a new Yankee Dynasty; the Red Sox’ historic World Series victory; the astonishing feats of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds; and the revelations about performance-enhancing drugs that cast a shadow on many of the era’s greatest stars and their accomplishments.

Combining extraordinary highlights, stunning still photographs, popular music of the period, and insightful commentary by players, managers, experts and fans, "The Tenth Inning" interweaves the story of the national pastime with the story of America. In an age of globalization, deregulation and speculation, the film demonstrates that baseball has continued to be a mirror of the country - at its best and at its worst. "The Tenth Inning" also movingly shows that when America felt most threatened, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, baseball offered common ground, providing Americans with solace, distraction, and the hope that things could one day return to normal. A number of familiar faces from the first nine installments of the series add their welcome perspectives on events of the last 15 years, including writers Roger Angell, John Thorn, George Will, Gerald Early and Doris Kearns Goodwin, as well as broadcaster Bob Costas. The film also features revealing interviews with Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, managers Felipe Alou and Joe Torre, players Pedro Martinez, Omar Vizquel and Ichiro Suzuki, broadcaster Keith Olbermann, writers Marcos Breton, Tom Verducci, Selena Roberts, Mike Barnicle and Howard Bryant, and other players, writers and fans from across the country, as well as overseas. (Sept. 28, 2010)

* Wild Kratts

Animals can take you anywhere in science! Creature teachers Chris and Martin Kratt will take 6- to 8-year olds and their families along on extraordinary animal-powered adventures in "Wild Kratts." The show transforms the Kratt Brothers, creators of the award-winning "Kratts’ Creatures" and Emmy-winning "Zoboomafoo," into animated versions of themselves, allowing the real-life zoologists to visit wild animals in their little-seen habitats and showcase key science concepts along the way.

From elephants using physics to suck gallons of water with their trunks to a fleet of peregrine falcons that harness the force of gravity to speed through the air, each of the 40 new half-hour episodes of "Wild Kratts" presents age-appropriate science inspired by the natural abilities of the animals that the Kratt brothers – and young viewers – meet. (Jan. 3, 2011)

Much as the CBS family of networks split their efforts into two days worth of panels - one for CBS, the other for Showtime and The CW - so did Fox give us some breathing room by placing their presentations for FX's slate of new programming on a separate day. (I wish to God NBC / Universal would take a cue from their peers. I'm so sick of being rushed through a mishmosh of NBC, USA, Bravo, and SyFy series in one long can't-stop-won't-stop day.)

Executive Session

Your personal mileage may vary, but for my money, John Landgraf is one of the nicest network heads currently in the game. He's very low-key, but he's always ready to give you a quote when you're looking for one. Today, he offered up the following bits and pieces about the future of FX.

* "Louie" has been renewed for a second season of 13 episodes.

* Ben Garant and Tom Lennon, late of "Reno 911!," are going to do a pilot for FX called "The USS Alabama." It's another partially-scripted, partially-improvised series, and, according to Landgraf, "It takes place in space on the USS Alabama with a crew of spacefarers who might not be too much brighter than the cops in 'Reno 911!'”

* There are two other pilots in the works as well, the first being "Outlaw Country," which will star Mary Steenburgen. "Some really talented young actors have joined that cast," said Landgraf. "That goes into production in, I think, six weeks. It’s a fantastic script. Something we’re really, really excited about." The other is "Wilfred," a comedy pilot based on an Australian comedy series, which completed principal photography last week.

* The "Damages" deal done with DirecTV is different from the one that was done with "Friday Night Lights" in that FX will not be offering up the episodes after they've run on DirecTV. "The season that has aired, which was the third season of 'Damages,' is the last season it will air on FX," said Landgraf. "For us, we’re also producers on 'Damages.' We’ve been co-owners and co-producers through FX Productions, and DirectTV felt very strongly. They were willing to underwrite it, and to a very substantial amount financially, they enabled it to move forward. That was the deal that Sony worked on very aggressively, but they wanted it exclusively, so this was really the best and only way for 'Damages' to move forward. So we stepped aside as a network entity, and we’re still involved as a production entity."

Sons of Anarchy

I don't know that there's any series currently on the air that I feel worse about not watching than "Sons of Anarchy." Everyone tells me it's fantastic, I have every reason to believe that those people are right, and yet I just haven't had the time to go back and revisit the show's first two seasons. But that won't stop me from bringing you the info that creator Kurt Sutter and his cast provided to us during the show's panel, of course.

As far as the "big bad" for Season 3, as it were, Sutter says, "We have a couple dual storylines going in Charming and as well as in Belfast, but I guess if you had to pin it down to one specific adversary, I would say that it’s probably the Titus Welliver character, Jimmy O."

What of the theme of the new season? "I don’t know if there’s one specific overriding theme," said Sutter. "I think the theme is always about family and Jax sort of defining his role as a father and as a partner and as a son and as a member of this club, and the Abel storyline drives us through pretty much the entire season, and...I don’t want to give anything away in terms of what that means and where that takes us, but, you know, the thing is our seasons, the actual span of time within our seasons is very short. It’s potentially a couple, two or three weeks. So there isn’t a lot of time that passes where you can have a lot of things unfold organically. So it is a very concentrated period of time which I think helps feed, I think, the sense of urgency for the tasks that they have at hand this season."

Sutter also tackled the question of where Chief Unser would be heading this season. "I think we’ve defined this relationship between Unser and the club as being...you know, it’s not so much that Unser is in Clay’s pocket, it’s that they’ve made this deal a long time ago where they would each would do their part to keep Charming safe," he said. "I think what happens is that gets turned on its head a little bit this season and the nature of the violence that happens is perhaps what neither the club or Unser had in mind. I think that relationship will be tested in a very heated way this season."

"I’m in a bit of a pickle is the way the season goes," clarified Dayton Callie, with a grin.

Maggie Siff, meanwhile, addressed the future of her own character. "Tara's decided to stay, and she’s decided to be in this relationship and be a part of this family," she said. "And yet everything sort of just when she makes that decision, everything falls apart. So there’s a kind of chaotic commitment to being there. And it’s been very satisfying as an actor, actually, because it’s a lot more fierce, you know. It feels like she’s taking a stand in the world, and yet the world has completely fallen apart around her, and she has very little to hold onto. It’s just a fierce chaos."

That's really all that was said about Season 3, but I'll close with the decidedly entertaining comments made by Sutter and the cast when they were asked about the dearth of Emmy nods received by the show.

"Can I first say that - and not just to kiss all your asses because we’re out here, but - I so appreciated and it was so important to me to get the TCA nomination for the show and for Katey," said Sutter. "It was just one of those moments where I said, 'Okay, I’m not fucking crazy,” you know, that we are actually doing good work, that there is some recognition to that. And, you know, all I’ll say about the Emmys - and clearly I’ve had a very specific opinion – is that every year when the Emmys are announced, the stories that come out...half the stories are about the nominations, and the other half of the stories are about the absurdity of the nominations and the snubs. So to me, perhaps that suggests that the system is somewhat flawed. And that’s all I’ll say.

"I would just say that it’s the reaction of the people," said Mark Boone Junior. "When I hit the streets, you know, it’s amazing, the reaction. Emmy or no Emmy.

"Yeah," agreed Tommy Flanagan. "Emmy-shmemmy."

"Fuck ‘em," said Ron Perlman.

Charlie Hunnam's mindset was clearly in line with Perlman's. "I would just like to say, honestly, and this is kind of controversial, and I’m sure I’ll garner a little bit of disappointment or confusion from colleagues, but I personally was really happy," he said. "I don’t subscribe to Emmys or awards or any of that shit. I think it’s all a crock of shit. And I think it’s corrupting. And I was happy that we weren’t on the receiving end of a force that could change the dynamic that we have, because I think it’s working, and it’s an environment where we’re able to do good work and feel fulfilled as artists. And all of that crap, I just think, is secondary and completely unimportant...but it does have the potential to ruin a good thing. So like he said, fuck ‘em.

"Fuck 'em," repeated Perlman.

Katey Sagal, meanwhile, merely shrugged, smiled, and said, "You asked."

Terriers

There are so many reasons to like this show that it's hard to know where to begin, but since we've got to start somewhere, let's go with Donal Logue first. If I listed off all of the projects he's worked on over the years that I've loved, we'd be here all day, but just the trio of "The Tao of Steve," "Grounded for Life," and "The Knights of Prosperity" are enough to keep him my good graces for the long haul. Put him into a series created by Shawn Ryan ("The Shield") and Ted Griffin ("Ocean's Eleven," "Matchstick Men"), and you've definitely got my attention, but then you throw into the mix that Logue met his co-star, Michael Raymond-James, when they both appeared on NBC's late, lamented cop drama, "Life," and, baby, I am sold.

"Michael did an episode (of 'Life'), and it was one of those all-night-shoot-til-6-in-the-morning things where by the end of it, it’s, like, 'I’ve met a new best friend for life,'" said Logue.

"He was walking around carrying a copy of Kerouac’s 'Big Sur,'" said Raymond-James.

"That’s how we started talking: about Jack Kerouac," said Logue. "Michael and I became kind of good friends over the course of that night, and then I came in to meet Ted and Shawn and Craig Brewer, who directed the pilot, and was lucky enough to be asked to be part of this thing. So I became part of the casting sessions for the show, and, of course, you know, the really tricky one was who was gonna be Britt, and then I remember going in for the first set of auditions with a bunch of guys sitting around waiting to go in, and I saw Michael, we gave each other a hug. And then...you could see the deflation (in the room). 'Oh, great, man. They’re fucking best friends! I told you this kind of crap would happen.' But then when Michael and I did the show, we ended up renting a house together in San Diego, so it was kind of on 24/7 the whole time. I actually think that our friendship and just even the amount of work we did kind of when we weren’t working on the show...I don’t know, it really helped the kind of endeavor we had."

"My big concern when they told me they were going to live together during the entire shoot...I was, like, 'Please don’t hate each other by the end,'" said Ryan. "In fact, it seems like it brought you guys closer together. It’s such a great story that these guys would work 13 hours a day. There’s barely a scene in the entire series that doesn’t include at least one of them, and oftentimes both of them. We work them really, really hard, and then for them to sort of drive back to the same house..."

"It really made it a lot better," said Logue.

"A lot better," said Raymond-James. "It also helps that we shared an addiction to carne asada burritos."

"San Diego was fantastic, too, by the way," Logue added. "And I think it was such a great idea these guys had to go down there, because there’s something about San Diego that is quite different than Los Angeles, and something specifically about Ocean Beach’s community that we shot in, that it’s still this kind of working-class enclave that’s right on the beach that really fought hard against having big, kind of corporate condo development, no-Starbucks-type stuff, and it’s really - it really gave us this kind of foothold to create this universe in."

Although Logue is ostensibly best known for his work in comedic roles, he explained that it was a career direction that had less to do with personal desire as it did the luck of the draw with what projects proved to be the most successful.

"To be honest, when you’re young and when you watch 'The Deer Hunter' for the first time, that’s when you’re, like, 'That’s what I want to do,'” said Logue. "To be that guy to slap Robert De Niro...? That’s what I meant. But what happens is all of a sudden you have some success in comedy. I ended up doing these weird MTV shorts with my friend improvising this cab driver thing, and then at that point, you’re kind of like, well, that’s what this guy does. And you always want to do everything. I think, though, that I’ve been lucky enough to kind of go back and forth, and there was something about this, though. There was something about that form of comedy that...it’s just difficult. It never really felt like you could just fully commit to just all the kind of colors that you carry with you. I did a pilot for HBO called “1 Percent” that they didn’t end up picking up, but it was a pretty intense and dramatic piece, and there was just something about it that felt really right at that time in life. I feel more comfortable in this milieu."

"I love doing comedy," Logue continued. "I think our show’s quite funny in a lot of ways, but I love not feeling this hydraulic pressure that you have to create this kind of comic moment within every scene. You can just play it as it is. This is kind of where I vibrated towards for a while. I don’t know where else it will go, but I feel actually quite blessed that I can actually balance between the two worlds, that I can do 'Grounded for Life' and then do 'Zodiac,' because I think a lot of really talented actors I know, they end up getting set in a certain category, and no one will ever buy that they can exist outside that category, even though you know full well that they can, but it’s just difficult for people to be able to cross those fences, so I feel pretty blessed that I’ve been able to."

Although Ryan certainly has a solid history on FX, it wasn't necessarily where he first envisioned the show ending up.

"When Ted first talked about the idea of doing a PI show, dollar signs started ringing in my head," he said. "'Man, I got the guy from ‘Ocean’s Eleven.’ We’re going to be able to go out on the town and sort of sell this PI show, and ABC’s gonna want that. NBC’s gonna want that. We’re going to make a killing.' He was like, 'I really want to do it at FX. I don’t really want to do it anywhere else.' And which was fine by me. But then I said, 'How is it going to be different? How is it going to be different than the USA stuff? How is it different than that?' And he went away and came back with these pages that I read, and was like, 'Oh. That’s how it’s different.' And so for me, it was the joy sort of accepting the idea of how to do a PI show that isn’t going to seem like it could be anywhere else other than FX."

Lights Out

I'm not a sports guy and never have been, but for some reason, I still enjoy films and television series about sports. Go figure. Less easily swayed by the genre, however, is my wife, but she nonetheless found herself caught up in the pilot for "Lights Out," which revolves around a former heavyweight boxer who finds his financial opportunities drying up, leaving him to pursue slightly unscrupulous options to make ends meet and support his family. "It's kind of like 'Rocky,'" said my wife, and there were indeed some similarities to the more desperate times in Mr. Balboa's career, but what's particularly interesting about "Lights Out" is that, rather than existing in a vacuum, it acknowledges the existence of boxing in popular culture.

"There have been a lot of movies about boxing," admitted executive producer Warren Leight, "but I don’t know that there have been that many TV shows about it. So when we prepped, we watched, I’d say, dozens of mediocre and maybe a dozen great boxing movies and just tried to understand. And, also, there’s not just great boxing movies. There’s great boxing literature. It’s been one of the places writers have gone to prove themselves in a way. So we tried to draw on all of that, and what the advantage we have is almost every boxing movie – except for 'Rocky,' which kind of went on and on and on - it’s a one-off. And to serialize a story about the life of a boxer and what it’s like to try to put food on your family’s table when times have changed, to serialize that story over time really allowed us to open it up. The great challenge was to avoid the cliches and make the world come to life. And, of course, there’s usually some truth to the cliche. I hope and think we pulled it off, but we were aware we were walking where others had walked before."

Indeed, a member of the cast is one of those who'd done some of that walking: Stacy Keach, who starred as a boxer in John Huston's "Fat City," which he described to us as having been released "some years before you were all born." (He was close: it was only 2 in 1972.)

"Jose Torres was my trainer at the time," said Keach, "and it was a great eye-opener for me because I had never had this kind of close-hand experience with the boxing community, and my respect for boxers and what they go through in order to perform what they have to perform in the ring just grew enormously. I had no idea what kind of emotional and physical stamina is required in order to sustain the beating that you take when you go into the ring. I was in the best shape of my life in those days, and it was thanks to Jose Torres, mainly, because he drove me. He pushed me, and I think that one of the most important things about successful fighting is the will to win. You’ve got to be able to survive and sustain the tremendous amount of punishment and still come back and do your job."

So that's one cast member with boxing street cred. Plus, Holt McCallany - who plays Patrick “Lights” Leary, the aforementioned boxer with financial woes - played a boxing trainer in "Tyson," and his brother was a former Golden Gloves champion, both of which ought to count for something. In fact, Leight said that he was shocked at how easy it was to find people for the show who could both act and box.

"Actors will always rise to the occasion," said Leight. "Holt was a gift, and I think Holt is the reason the series was picked up, but Holt has a nemesis in this show played by Billy Brown who plays ‘Death Row’ Reynolds, and that guy is a terrific actor and was not an experienced boxer when the show began but became a terrific boxer. It was an odd experience for us because we stage fights in the course of the season, and to find people with that physical skill set who can deliver emotional truth at the same time would seem to be daunting, but I guess if you can box, you have the nerve to act, and if you can act, you have the nerve to box. It worked out. I think Holt can speak to some of the guys he got in the ring with."

"Yeah, you know, we definitely wanted guys who were going to be able to deliver on the physical side of things as well," said McCallany. "Warren was very adept. When I first come in the room to audition, it’s a bit like asking actors, 'Have you ever ridden a horse?' A hundred percent of them will say, 'Of course, I rode horses all my life as a boy. Did I box? Yes, I boxed, yes, back in summer camp when I was 14.'”

"They do all lie to your face telling you they box," admitted Leight. "And I'm thinking, 'You’re going to have to go in the ring with Holt!'”

Rescue Me

We weren't expecting to get a "Rescue Me" panel this tour, and, really, we only just barely got one as it was, since it was thrown into the mix as part of our lunchtime and therefore didn't last as long as most panels. Don't worry, though: series co-creator Peter Tolan is a man who knows how to make the most of his time.

"I have nothing really to say," began Tolan, "except I’m so glad to be here by myself and not with Denis Leary, because he is an attention hog, and the secondhand smoke, really, I’m lucky to be alive, frankly, at this point. It’s been seven seasons...and, of course, 'The Job,” the show we did before, which was my idea, as was 'Rescue Me.' I am really lucky to be
alive. I’m sure there are tumors just waiting to take me pretty much after this lunch."

The reason for the panel was to give Tolan the chance to discuss the impending final season of "Rescue Me," which is set to end at approximately the same time as the 10th anniversary of 9/11. He took full advantage of the opportunity, so if you're a fan of the show, you're going to love reading this stuff.

"Denis and I had talked about how the series would end," said Tolan. "Initially, around...let’s say, the fourth season or fifth season...when we had those conversations, they would sometimes go to a dark place where Denis was saying, 'I think Tommy goes and he gets in a fire, and I think he just sort of sits down in the middle of a room on fire, sits in a chair, and that’s how it ends.' I’m like, 'I don’t know if that’s going to really work. I don’t think that’s going to work for us.' Because, obviously, you create a series that lasts this long, there’s gotta be some reason at the end why people watched it. Otherwise, they will feel like they’re maybe watching 'The Sopranos' again. I’m just kidding, of course. That was very, in its own way, an inappropriate finale.

"So we kept thinking about that, and we thought about...you know, we thought at one time that he was going to end up with Maura Tierney’s character and find some sort of happiness, and she had a house by the beach, and then one day he sort of takes his clothes off, goes down to the water’s edge, and just keeps swimming out. And that’s the end of the series, like he’s going to commit suicide. That’s probably not going to do it either. And in the end, what we came to right around the time we started the sixth season was something that would justify the reason that people had sort of stuck with the series all that time. And we actually found a hopeful place for that character, and I think sort of a positive message in terms of...the idea of the entire series is will a person succumb to the pressures created by living through a life-changing experience. I mean, is that going to destroy them or are they going to overcome it? And I think at the end Tommy does overcome it.

"You’re actually seeing now, just in terms of where the show is right now, because the fifth episode of the sixth season...the fifth episode was the turning point for everything that happens from this point on. People always wondered if Tommy Gavin was going to hit bottom, and last week was it when he loses his daughter after a night of drinking, the two of them, and that really gave us sort of a starting point almost for the end. So I think all of the episodes, from 605 all the way to 709 follow a really strong line that ends in a very hopeful place. And actually, in a much lighter place than I had imagined. Even in writing it, I thought, 'Oh, it’s 9/11, and it’s the end of this era for these characters, and it’s gonna be very profound,' and we wrote a version that was that. But in the end, it didn’t turn out to be there. It turned out to be much lighter, and actually much more life-affirming and about the resiliency of people in the face of a tragedy. So maybe all those things don’t sound like 'Rescue Me,' but that’s what it turned out to be."

This lengthy speech inevitably led to someone asking Tolan if the show's relatively kinder and gentler conclusion proved creatively problematic for him, given everything that has come before.

"It was not a problem, but it really was a surprise," he admitted. "The way we wrote the show was there were really only three writers. It was Denis, myself, and Evan Reilly. Those were the only three guys who wrote that show. And many times, especially in the later seasons, you know, the day would come where you’d have pages that you were going to shoot, and we’d go, 'Are we really going to say this? What’s the quicker way, or what’s the funnier way, or what’s the way that’s a left turn that people won’t expect?' And I think I went into the finale thinking, oh, this is very important now. If you love the show and you love the characters, you want that thing to be a great experience for you, forgetting about your viewing audience. You want it to be good for you and you want to do right by the characters and the cast and the crew and everybody, really. You wanted to have it be a good experience. And like I said, there was some writing in that finale that was just was a little bit more momentous. You know, it was more like, 'Look at this moment and the time and how we’ve survived this and how this series is coming to an end.' And the day came and we threw it out, and what replaced it was much lighter and much more life goes on. And I had a moment. I really had a moment, because I directed the episode, where I was like, 'Boy, this is so not what we wrote,' and I went, 'But it’s right. It’s right. Let’s get off the soapbox and let’s not make a big speech about it.' It was right, but it was a little daunting in the moment.'"

You'll be able to see what Tolan is talking about next year, when the nine episodes of the seventh and final season of "Rescue Me" premiere.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Although it's never been must-see TV for me, "Sunny" is definitely one of those sitcoms I can always count on for a laugh when I need one, so it's good news that, even though the series is heading into its sixth season, the cast still seems to be enjoying themselves.

"The good news is we actually still like each other," said Glenn Howerton. "So even though it is a ton of work, we actually enjoy each other’s company throughout the process, for the most part."

"It seems that our audience is growing at such an accelerated rate for the past few years and so many people are new viewers," said Rob McElhenney, "and it’s sort of coinciding with us, I think, crescendoing in with our greatest creative season, and feel like, as long as new viewers keep showing up to watch, we’ll keep doing it."

And how much longer will that be?

GLENN HOWERTON: Ooohhh.
ROB MCELHENNEY: It’s hard to say.
GLENN HOWERTON: Tough to say. We’ll take it year by year.
ROB MCELHENNEY: Yeah.
GLENN HOWERTON: We’ve got at least one more year for sure after this.

As far as what to expect from this season, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard of the Phillies, along with Tom Sizemore, are guest-starring in an episode where the gang dares to go on an adventure outside the city...to the wonderful state of New Jersey!

I have to admit to you, however, that for as funny as "Sunny" is, the panel for the show was somewhat of a letdown. One of my peers commented that it's amazing just how seriously comedians take their art, and I have to agree: I'd even suggested to my wife that she might want to stick around, figuring it would be non-stop hilarity. It was pleasant enough, but I definitely wouldn't say it was more than that.

Still, there was a lengthy but interesting discussion that arose from someone asking how the group felt about the fact that, although "Sunny" began as somewhat of an envelope-pushing comedy, it now feels almost tame when compared to a show like, say, FX's own "Louie."

"Well, it was never our intention necessarily to push the envelope," said McElhenney. "Our goal is always to do what’s not being done elsewhere. And something that we’re really proud of and something that I think that the true fans of the show really understand that a lot of people don’t know is that we are not simply just going out and trying to push the envelope for pushing the envelope’s sake. We’re trying to introduce into comedy a part of the national conversation that we hear and see people talking about behind closed doors, but aren’t doing in public. I’ve never seen an episode of any show that deals with gay marriage, and we decided that that was something that we wanted to do. And we’re going to do an episode about that this year. We felt like we could have a very distinct and different take than any other show on television. And sometimes we do dick jokes. And, honestly, I feel like there’s a happy medium in there, and I think that if you do just go out and go for the low-brow or you are just pushing the envelope for pushing the envelope’s sake, that ultimately people are going to get bored with it and they’re going to move on. I think if you are building a foundation of a show that is a part of the national conversation and then you also can bring in some base humor, I think it cannot only appeal to a larger audience, but also can have some sort of setting in real life."

"Yeah, and has a certain social relevance," said Howerton. "That’s not to say that all those other FX shows are doing that. I mean, I happen to be a fan of 'Louie' also. I mean, I think that show is really smart, and I think it’s really funny. And I think with our show and with that show, if something happens to be shocking or, you know, crossing a line, so to speak, it’s not ever good if it’s just for the sake of crossing the line.

"It’s based in something else that’s smart," said Kaitlin Olson.

"Also," added McElhenney, "if you remember, the pilot of 'The Shield,' which was done many years before us, a cop kills another cop. I mean, that’s pushing the boundaries...and that’s your main character. And Vic Mackey’s one of the greatest characters in television."

"But it’s like Rob said: we’re just trying to do something different that we haven’t seen, that we aren’t seeing, something that we would want to watch as viewers," said Howerton. "And then oftentimes that happens to be something that pushes the limit or crosses a line or whatever it happens to be. But I mean, personally I think that’s just what makes something good."

"You haven’t seen it before, a lot of times," said Olson.

"It needs to be surprising," said Howerton. "It needs to be shocking a little bit. That's why I watch television, to see something I’ve never seen, to watch something unfold that surprises me and shocks me. And whether it makes me laugh or it makes me cry, that’s what is effective in telling a story, I think. So we’re always coming at it from the standpoint of telling an interesting story that you haven’t seen."

The League

When I first heard about "The League," I thought, "I know the cast of this show is funny, but...how much of it am I going to appreciate if I'm not into sports?" It didn't take very long into the panel for the series before creators Jeff Schaffer and Jackie Marcus Schaffer thoughtfully provided me with an answer to my question.

"The first thing is - and this is one of the challenges of the show - telling someone else about your Fantasy league is like telling them about your dreams: people just don’t care," said Jeff. "That was an original challenge of the show. But as we started to write the show and we started to shoot the show with these guys, the audience and us loved hanging out with them so much that the Fantasy Football is just a prism through which we see their lives. It’s all really about how they interact with each other."

"Also, people that do tune in to watch the show, we want to make sure that we don’t disappoint the Fantasy fans as well," said Jackie. "If we naturally feel like it makes sense to have our characters sort of go “Crimson Tide” and start speaking submarine-talk version of Fantasy, we let them do it, and that we just let it feel natural and hope that the audience enjoys that and catches up and feels like it’s authentic."

"The other thing about that is it’s Fantasy Football, not Fantasy j’ai lai," added Jeff. "It’s, like, 30 million people do play Fantasy sports, so while we don’t want to drown people in it, and while it’s not the sort of focus of the show- I think the focus is the dynamics - we’re never afraid of doing it, because I think a lot of people in our audience has said, even if you’ve never been in a Fantasy Football league, 'Oh, my God. I know someone like that. I know someone who acts that insane on Sundays,' and I think the other thing that we always say is to enjoy the show, you don’t have to know anything about sports. You don’t have to know anything about Fantasy Football. You just have to have friends that you hate."

"It’s such a fun world, because really, you know, the language is just part of it," said Jackie, "but it really is sort of the social structure for so many men and women of how they get together on a regular basis. Jeff used to say that my book club had nothing to do with the book, that basically the book was a coaster."

"For the wine glass," said Jeff, with a smirk.

"It’s the same thing in Fantasy sports," said Jackie. "Yes, people are very passionate about the sports. They’re very passionate about following the games, but they’re as equally passionate about using it as a time to get together and crush one another. So we would like to think we just are giving people an opportunity to sort of see great comedic talent in our cast sort of as an example of the kind of league that either they’re in or find entertaining to watch."

"And I think for us, the question is, 'How can we do a show about Fantasy Football?' Well, we couldn’t believe there hadn’t been one. There are shows about people who make wedding cakes and there are shows about people who drive trucks on icy roads, and I don’t know anybody who drives a truck in the Yukon, but I know a lot of people who just lose their minds every Sunday in the fall."

Archer

If you've watched "Archer," then you already know that, although it's animated, it's definitely not for kids...but just because it has a tendency to be filthy doesn't mean it can't be intelligent, too.

"I read about three pages of the pilot for this show and said yes because it was so funny and it was so filthy," said Aisha Tyler, who voices Lana Kane on the show. "I felt as if the heavens had opened and a pony had fallen into my lap, and then the pony was a script for this show. Do you know what I mean? It’s a dream show for me, and it has that combination of what we used to call when I did talks, sort of 'the thinky and the stinky.' It’s an intellectual show, and it’s also really, really dirty, and it’s for grownups. And I think it’s about time that you have a show that’s sophisticated and elegant and smart and referential and also, you know, really saucy and bawdy, and I think, you know, it’s really rare to be surprised by anything in television ever. Ever. So the fact that we get these scripts that are surprising and shocking and wonderful and terrible, and they make you cringe and make you laugh and make you call your friends and go, 'You have to watch this.' I’m really, really, really, really proud of it, and I’m not saying this because I’d like to be written more lines."

"And I invariably have to look up a word or several words in the script because I don’t know what they are," said Chris Parnell, who voices Cyrill Figgis. "Adam (Reed)’s a lot smarter than I am."

"You don’t get a lot of farrier jokes in regular TV shows," said Matt Thompson, executive producer.

"We had a long conversation about the Stuven reference last night at dinner," said Tyler. "It’s a really smart show. It’s rare that you learn from a show. There’s also referencing statutory rape in a really bold way, and then you learn something, and don’t we all?"

"I think there’s a joke that you guys just recorded," said Thompson. "There was an argument between the difference between ledger domain and bailiwick."

"We did," agreed Tyler.

"And, you know, in the next sentence, it’s like, 'Hey, you really shouldn’t be raping that 16-year-old girl,'" said Thompson.

"And, boom, magic unfolds immediately afterward," said Tyler.

Unlike a lot of ostensibly "adult" animated series, "Archer" has and will continue to have an over-arcing storyline.

"God bless it, you know, I love the shows like 'The Simpsons' and 'Family Guy' and stuff, but that’s not this show," said Thompson. "I hope that you won’t come back a year later and say, 'I am completely bored by Archer. He’s just doing the same thing over and over again.' So there has to be change that goes along into it. For example, for Judy’s character, how much further can we go with her getting off on being choked while she’s having sex? Only so much. So it does have to kind of constantly evolve, and what it fits in best with is an over-arcing plot line."

So what sort of storylines can we expect to see this season?

"There’s a couple," said Thompson. "One of them is Archer gets an illegitimate baby. And also finding out about Archer’s father. And, lastly, it hasn’t been written yet, but it’s been talked about a greatdeal with the FX executives and such, is a huge love interest for Archer with a femme fatale Russian spy. And as far as Cyril and Lana going, it’s kind of open-ended, you know. Adam is up to the sixth script, kind of playing around with it. Right now, we’re focusing on Cyril having sexual addiction and Lana being completely mad at him and wanting to punch him in the nuts."

"She's awesome," said Tyler.

"One of the cool things about the newseason for us is we have more people in our staff of drawers," said Thompson, "and stuff has gotten better. So I think it’s actually going to be a better-looking show, and we’re going to be able to see a lot and do a lot more action. The show that we showed at Comic-Con had a third act, which was entirely a snowmobile chase. And this isn’t a large-budget show, and we’re going to have to watch what we’re doing. And I think this season is going to look...well, I think it’s going to look awesome, at least according to me, unless somebody can tell me and hurt my feelings."

"It looked amazing," confirmed Tyler.

"It...it wasn't great," said H. Jon Benjamin, to much laughter.

To close, I'll just offer up the cast's response to being asked to compare their first TCA experience - which took place back in January - to their first Comic-Con experience, which took place last month.

MATT THOMPSON: You guys are a lot more handsome. A lot more handsome.
AISHA TYLER: The first TCA was just Jon and Adam and I. So we talked amongst ourselves on a podium while people ate croissants with chicken salad inside.
H. JON BENJAMIN: Most people left. They didn’t stick around.
AISHA TYLER: And people slowly streamed out, checking their watches.
H. JON BENJAMIN: Yeah.
AISHA TYLER: And then we went to Comic-Con, and there was, like, a thousand nerds crying and screaming, a lady who was pregnant and is naming her baby Archer, right? Stormtroopers who threw money at us and one white lady who looks alarmingly more like Lana than I do. It was awesome. It was great. And it was so nice to watch the show in front of a crowd, because I think the show is hilarious. I mean, I really love this show, and I would watch it even if I wasn’t on it. But, you know, you’re watching it with your friends or whatever. You’re watching it with your husband over and over again and making him pick out your favorite line. To see it in front of a crowd of fans, I think we heard about a third of the jokes because they were laughing so hard that, like, only every third joke landed.
H. JON BENJAMIN: In fairness, there’s at least 300 nerds here.

Well, when he's right, he's right.

Day 7 of the TCA Press Tour technically began on Day 6: just as the ABC all-star party wrapped up, Fox hosted a cocktail party which doubled as an early check-in for their day of the tour...and, better yet, it was hosted by Will Arnett and Keri Russell, the stars of one of Fox's upcoming new sitcoms, "Running Wilde."

You'll get more details about the show in due time, since there was a "Running Wilde" panel as well, but for now, I'll just mention that two other individuals affiliated with the show made unexpected appearances at the early check-in: executive producer / co-creator Jim Vallely and co-star Peter Serafinowicz.

I didn't really get a chance to chat with Russell (she was pretty well surrounded from the moment she arrived), but I did talk to Arnett for a few minutes. Thanks to my wife, though, I ended up having a relatively lengthy conversation with Serafinowicz and Vallely. I knew I'd recognized Serafinowicz, and he quickly reminded me why: he had his own series in the UK, one which many YouTube clips reveal to be extremely hilarious. Indeed, he's the one who told me I should check them out, particularly his Beatles-related parodies, of which he's quite proud. No wonder he was cast to play Paul in Robert Zemeckis's "Yellow Submarine" remake.

In a strange "small world" moment, I also learned that Jim Vallely is the father of Tannis Vallely, the actress who played Janice, the glasses-wearing, cello-playing prodigy on "Head of the Class." She's now on the casting side of the business, having worked on such films as "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "Oceans' Thirteen," and "It's Complicated." Eventually, my wife and I grew tired and retreated for the evening, but it would only be a few hours until we were back in the thick of it again, this time for the real beginning of Day 7.

Breakfast was brought to us by the casts of "Human Target" and "The Good Guys," shows which, back in the days when the networks weren't too cheap to spread their series across a two-day period, would've earned their own panels. Instead, we had to settle for chatting with them over bacon and eggs, bagels or donuts, and that sort of thing. In truth, the only person I really had the chance to speak with was Jackie Earle Haley on "Human Target," and that was mostly because I feel like I kinda sorta know him (he's friends with Bullz-Eye's own Ross Ruediger and, as a result, has come to recognize me on sight as "Ross's friend"), but as you can see, everyone was in the house from both series.

Soon enough, the actors headed out to start their own days, and having finished our breakfast, we took our seats and prepared for the first panel of the morning to begin.

Lone Star

"Lone Star" is a great FX series. Unfortunately, it's on Fox, and I'm not entirely sure that broadcast audiences are going to be willing to sit still for a show which moves at a such a slow, studied pace...but, hey, I'm a TV critic. It's my job to get the word out on a series like "Lone Star" and tell you to watch it. The premise finds James Wolk playing a second-generation conman who's living two lives, with a woman he loves in each of them, and has a crisis of conscience that makes him unwilling to give up either of them. Despite the fact that it doesn't have anything even remotely resembling an in-your-face vibe, there's always a chance that audiences could come for the cast - which includes Jon Voight, David Keith, and Adrienne Palicki - and stay for the drama.

That's certainly what Fox is hoping for, anyway.

"My understanding was that (FOX) were looking to try a cable show on network," said executive producer Kyle Killen, "and if we signed up with them, they would give us the leeway to really try that. You know, when you go out and you pitch shows, the truth is the things that you watch, the things that you love - 'Breaking Bad' and 'Mad Men' - they’re dirty words in pitch meetings because they’re shows that have a number of viewers that would not - it would get a show canceled on the network. So even if you respect them creatively and you want to say, 'This is what we hope to be. This is what we want to put on air,' your people will tell you, 'Talk about 'Dallas.' And I think at FOX, it wasn’t a dirty word. At FOX, they felt like the only reason those shows aren’t more popular is because they’re not on FOX and because they don’t have this machine. They don’t have this opportunity behind them. And I think we’re going to get that."

When asked how long "Lone Star" could sustain itself with its current one-man-two-families premise, executive producer Amy Lippman admitted that the show would need to reinvent itself periodically, not entirely unlike...you guessed it..."Breaking Bad."

"We look at shows that start with a very strong premise and by Season 2 have turned it in some way," said Lippman. "I think that’s our challenge: to keep it going, to keep it fresh and not to replay the same dynamic over and over again. We certainly have a sense of where we’re going this season with it, with the understanding that, if we’re lucky enough to be back in front of you next year, that something will be significantly changed in the show."

"Also, the show has a lot of different levels to it," said executive producer Chris Keyser. "There’s no question that the con is going to run all the way through. In fact, there are a number of cons that you’ll see played out, but the truth is also that we have a very broad, I guess, traditional soap canvas as well. There are two full families, and I think when Kyle wrote the pilot, he constructed in a lot of really clever television ways those triangles that give you a lot of plot to play with. There are three children whom Clint Thatcher has to deal with. There are two wives. There’s a triangle there. There are two fathers. So we have a lot of things we need to deal with. If anything, I think we’re finding that, as we begin, there’s so much to do, that we need to parcel it out from episode to episode."

"I think we want to err on the side of being aggressive with plot and having things change and feel dynamic as opposed to feeling like we are treading water episode after episode," said Killen. "The things that you’re interested in, the questions you want answered, I think that we want to be aggressive about taking them on. At the same time, it really is at its heart not just about the Swiss-watch mechanism of it all. It’s about these characters and the fact that the situations that they’re in they approach like real people would. So I think that’s where the soap side of it comes in. It’s not just giving people their fix. That’s actually what’s important, so that you understand why they do what they do with respect to the cons that move forward."

James Wolk is no doubt going to be labeled one of the fresh faces of the new fall season, since he's really only known for his work in the TV movie "Front of the Class," where he played a teacher with Tourette's Syndrome, an experience which kinda sorta put him on the map. ("Maybe I was a like small city you’ve never heard of," he said with a grin, "but on the map.") He loved working on that project, and he's equally psyched about the prospect of tackling "Lone Star."

“'Front of the Class' was a true story. This is not necessarily a true story, but the role is just as rich, and the world is just as real," he said. "So I’m really excited to sink my teeth into this with this truly exceptional cast and everyone involved, with the writers and directors. As soon as I read the script, I knew that this role had something very special in it. Originally it was written a bit older, so it was a question of, 'Can I be honest and true in this role? Can I really do justice to an audience that would watch it and actually believe in it?' And it was a really interesting ongoing conversation between myself and people that help me make decisions and these wonderful people you see behind me, and we figured out after a few auditions that, yes, this could work, and I was elated. I was so excited because I thought that this role is something that could really continue to challenge me, and it’s a really wonderful role. It was on the page. Kyle wrote a script that it was clear, I think, with all of our characters that there was some real stuff to play here, which I think is what ignites this cast and excites us that we’re going to go into a series where we’ll be challenged every day."

Running Wilde

I try to avoid putting chunks of the transcripts from these panels into my coverage, but sometimes a panel demands that you offer your coverage that way, just so you can get a feel for the rapid-fire back and forth going on between the panelists...like, say, this one:

Q: I have a question in the back, in the right. Keri (Russell), what inspired you to do a sitcom?
MITCH HURWITZ: Don’t be thrown by the way he said “sitcom.”
WILL ARNETT: But really run with the “inspired” part.
Q: A half-hour comedy, scripted show.
MITCH HURWITZ: Yeah, why did you decide to do a “crapcom”?
Q: I wasn’t implying...
MITCH HURWITZ: No. I’m sorry. Of course I did. It’s self-hatred. I’m sorry.

If you'd asked me after the panel, I couldn't have told you how Russell answered the question, but the word "crapcorm" has stuck with me ever since.

(For the record, Russell replied, "I just wanted to be interested, and it was interesting to me. I’ve been reading a lot of film scripts that were kind of more of the same, and the type of movies I really did want to make weren’t being green-lit, and this came my way, and it was just too good to pass up. And then I flew out and met these guys, and they were so wonderful. It was fresh and exciting, and I thought I’d try it.")

Hurwitz is excited at the prospect of working with Arnett on a show where he's more central to the series, as opposed to "Arrested Development," which was obviously more of an ensemble situation

"This is a true romantic comedy," said Hurwitz. "He really does have great skills as an actor and can play a wide range of things, but because he is so funny, and funny is such a striking quality, people tend to use that quality of his in movies and in guest spots on things, and you know, the fun for us in working with Will is finding those levels and finding those surprises and those dramatic moments, just like the fun with Keri is finding those moments where she’s more comedic, where she’s not the voice of reason. She has such a likability and such a relatability that I think there’s going to be a lot of fun to be had with playing against types for both of them."

Hurwitz is, of course, aware that critics will be unable to resist making comparisons between "Running Wilde" and "Arrested Development," especially now that it's been announced that David Cross will be joining the cast in a recurring capacity.

"I think we very much loved doing 'Arrested' and do miss it, and it’s why we do want to make the movie still, but this is a different project," he said. "It has just a different set of rules to it. I think there’s real peril in trying to repeat yourself and trying to apply rules that applied to something else to a new project. I will say Kevin Reilly has been unbelievably helpful in helping us ground this, and I really feel like he is helping me get out of my comfort zone, and it is kind of easier sometimes to write those dislikable characters because they do funnier things. And the next step for me is to try and go past that a little bit and have some courage about stepping into a new area."

Okay, time for another transcript excerpt. This one took place when Stefania Owen, who plays Russell's daughter on the series, was asked what it's like to serve as the voice of reason on the show.

STEFANIA OWEN: Well, in "Running Wilde," everyone is kind of, like, childish, and I’m the one that kind of gets them to...I’m sort of the mature one, and everyone is stupid and immature.
MITCH HURWITZ: You’re not just talking about people on this panel, right? You’re talking about the characters.
STEFANIA OWEN: Um...
Q: Are you like that in real life?
STEFANIA OWEN: What do you mean? Mature?
Q: Ultra-mature while people are stupid around you.
STEFANIA OWEN: I can be stupid too. But sometimes if...if it’s, like, serious, then I am mature. And it depends.
MITCH HURWITZ: There’s something about...I think she and the Steve character have the most in common in a way.
WILL ARNETT: They’re both raised in very protected environments and kind of secluded.
STEFANIA OWEN: And they all want the spotlight to be on them...
WILL ARNETT: (Interrupts) I was talking.

Unsurprisingly, "Arrested Development" continued to be brought up throughout the panel, but Hurwitz offered a particularly telling response when asked if he's worried about bringing yet another series with a unique comedic sensibility to Fox.

"I personally worry about success, that having to continue doing it is far more perilous for me than the fear of it being canceled," he said. "I guess I would describe as a hope of it being canceled. I don’t sound sincere when I say this, but I really am sincere in saying 'Arrested' was an amazing experience and an amazing opportunity, and I’m very grateful to FOX and 20th for letting us do it for three years. When I look at the climate of television today, I don’t think you could do it. Maybe you could do 'Arrested Development,' but you couldn’t necessarily do a show that took as many risks right off the bat, and that they gave me a lot of room to play, and I never had any entitlement or expectation that I deserved to just keep that on the air forever. They stayed with it for a long time.

"I’m certainly happy to be back at FOX," Hurwitz assured us. "I think they do some very interesting and adventurous things, but on top of that, you know, Kevin Reilly has just really been terrific to work with. As we’ve all experienced this, the three of us wrote this together. And we went through nine, ten drafts of this thing, and every time Kevin would give us some very specific idea, and we would curse, and we would gnash our teeth, and then we would say, 'He’s right. It’s getting a little better. It’s getting a little better.' We are still reshooting the pilot. We’re going to go off and reshoot about half the pilot because of some very insightful comments that he’s made and some recasting and things like that.

"We were very rushed in making a very ambitious pilot, and we were rushed because our favorite directors, the Russo brothers, were doing another show, which got picked up at ABC, so we didn’t have them until the last minute. We didn’t have a lot of prep, and I think we had like six or seven days of post from the end of shooting to deliver the thing. It’s a very short amount of time. And that affects everything. That affects casting. That affects how much time you get to spend with the characters finding it. So, you know, we threw a lot of stuff out there very quickly, and we were able to look at it and say, 'You know, here’s where we’re not as invested in the characters.'

"But even as we were writing it in the original drafts, it always kind of bumped us," added Arnett. "One of us, at some point, would be, like, 'Is this really the thing that we wanted? Is this really working?” And at the time when you’re under all this pressure and you don’t have the time and/or the money to change it, it’s hard to sometimes identify exactly what those problems are."

"Hopefully, the show will be very funny," said Hurwitz. "A lot of what we’ve already written and our reshoots...just to look at Will alone, everything this guy does is going to be funny. But it’s different. I think there’s a burden associated with 'Arrested Development' that it’s a...what’s the phrase when it’s a high-class problem to have? You know, we’re glad to be working. We’re glad to be trying to do something that appeals to a wider audience. I think if we can make that move, if we can get a big audience interested in the show, more and more of our subversion, hopefully, will be able to come out."

Executive Session

The Fox executive session is always good for a few interesting announcements and/or news briefs, so when Peter Rice, Chairman of Entertainment for the Fox Networks Group, and Kevin Reilly, FOX President of Entertainment, took the stage, we were all keeping our fingers crossed for some good material. We had resigned ourselves to little or no insight on the new season of "American Idol," and that's what we got, but Rice was at least kind enough to kick off the proceedings by addressing the recent changes with the series.

"In early June, I met with Ellen," began Rice. "We talked about the season and her feelings about the season, and, really, the idea that she wasn’t comfortable. She didn’t feel like it was a good fit for her. I tried to persuade her that it would be different in the future, but ultimately we came to an agreement that we would begin to look for new judges. We were doing that anyway because Simon was leaving. And as that played out over the course of the summer, that we would come to an agreement to either say to her we can’t replace you or to say that we feel that we can move on without you, so that’s sort of where we got to last week. It was precipitated in great part by this morning. We felt confident that we could come up with a panel that didn’t include Ellen as a judge. And at the same time, we knew we were coming here on Monday, and I thought it would be very disingenuous to sit here and to talk about Ellen being on IDOL next year when we knew that wasn’t going to be the case. So we decided to announce that last week. That created another round of speculation about who would be replacing Ellen and who would be replacing Simon on the judges’ panel next year.

"The only thing I can tell you with absolute certainty right now is that no one has signed a deal yet on either side of the camera to join 'American Idol' next year who wasn’t on it last year. And I know that that is it’s not particularly a fun announcement. It’s certainly not the choice I would have made, but it is the truth as we sit here today, that there are no signed deals with anybody. There has been tremendous speculation, and we live in a world where you guys are tremendous at the job that you do and you find out information, as you should, as journalists. And then we have to respond to that information. I can tell you that much of the information that has been written is accurate. And some of the information that has been written is wildly inaccurate. I’m not going to get into either confirming or denying which ones they are, but it does make it difficult for us and the job that we’re trying to do and the business that we’re trying to run. And at times, that is in conflict with the business that you’re trying to run. You’re trying to break stories, and we’re trying to run a television network and work with producers on television shows. And when we’re working with the No. 1 television show in America, that scrutiny is enormous. So I wish I truly wish that we were going to walk out a panel of judges for next year and that that could be a celebration for us and we could engage with you on that. I’m really sorry that that’s not going to happen. If we had signed deals, we would have done that. I can imagine that there are a tremendous amount of follow up questions to that which might be fantastic questions, and I’m not going to get into that speculation and I’m not going to live in sort of a fish bowl of a blow by blow account of casting the show right now, however much fun that would be for you or for your readers, which I recognize is the truth. So I’m sorry if that might lead to an endless round of, you know, “I’m not going to speculate on that,” but it is the truth that we are, sitting here today, dealing with.

"We start the auditions with the judges in mid September," Rice concluded. "We certainly plan to have a judges’ panel in place and signed by then, and as soon as we have that, we will announce it."

Okay, now that that's out of the way, we can talk about something besides "American Idol"...or, at least, we could if that hadn't continued to be the predominant theme of the panel. At the time, Rice refused to confirm or deny the return of Nigel Lythgoe as producer of the show (it has since been announced that, yes, Lythgoe will be back in the fold come next season), nor would he be tempted into saying anything at all about Kara DioGuardi's fate. There were many more questions about the show, but none of it was terribly illuminating. Ultimately, we're going to have to do exactly what Lee had been indicating all along: wait.

In the end, the only thing that *I* really cared about during the session was when the topic of conversation shifted over to the potentially-awesome sci-fi series, "Terra Nova," which we'll be seeing on Fox sometime next year...and by "next year," we don't mean January. They're actually going to hold the series until next fall, though the talk is that they'll do something like they did with "Glee," where they tease viewers with the pilot in the spring and then make 'em wait for the series 'til the fall.

"It was mainly due to the scope of what this show is going to take," Reilly said of the delayed premiere. "You know, we got into it knowing it was going it be ambitious, knowing that we had enormous you know, some groundbreaking digital effects we were bringing to it. We had to create an entire world and mythology. But frankly, even locking in a location has had a unique set of challenges. A lot of the world will be created digitally, but we’re trying to find a prehistoric world. We’ve explored everywhere from Louisiana to Hawaii to Australia to Orlando. Each has had its pluses and minuses. We’re getting very close to locking in a location. It’s actually been very, very exciting. We’ve got a great team. We’ve seen a lot of design work. It really became apparent, to do this show right, we were going to need the time. So we decided to make a virtue of it, slow it down for this season.

"The two advantages of doing the spring are the following: we’re going to be able to do the pilot right, have an enormous jump on that on the marketing side, hopefully recreate the same thing we did with 'Glee,' let people understand the show, give them materials over the summer that we’ve already shot, invest them in it. Secondly, in success, this is a show that needs to be ahead in cycle. This is not a show where they can finish on one week and three weeks later, it’s on the air. That’s just not going to be possible. We need to be ahead of it. This cycle sets us up for that."

"One of the other things about that is - and this tends to be more of an issue for movies than for television - when you’re doing something which has a tremendous amount of the visual effects in it, if you’re trying to then sell it and you’re trying to sell something of scale and spectacle and the visual effects aren’t done, it’s hard to say, 'It’s this huge adventure,' and the images you’re showing are not large in that same way," said Rice. "I think that, by slowing it down in that way, we will be able to present the images and the spectacle to the audience in a way which reflects the show that we’re going to be making."

"We have our team of writers, we have Jon Cassar, who was our in-house director of '24,' joining us," said Reilly. "So we’ve got really the A-team on it, doing a lot of work right now, generating stories and scripts and material and prepping location. Alex Graves is going to direct. All the elements that have come in have been top-notch. So hopefully, this will be better for it."

American Dad

Time for lunch...and for a table read from the voice cast of "American Dad," featuring Seth MacFarlane, Matt Weitzman, Mike Barker, Scott Grimes, Wendy Schaal, Dee Bradley Baker, and Erik Durbin. I'm not a huge "American Dad" fan, but if previous TCA tours have taught me nothing else, it's that table reads are fun whether you like the show they're reading from or not. You just kind of get caught up in the laughter around you. Plus, this was a slightly unique one, in that they actually brought the animation for the final act of the episode and showed it to us because they were so proud of the animation. I don't want to spoil it for you, but suffice it to say that it's a Christmas episode - title: "For Whom The Sleigh Bell Tolls" - and involves a stand-off with Santa Claus. Good times.

Arguably the most surprising revelation to come out of the session is that "American Dad" is working almost a year and a half ahead of schedule, with their table read for next year's Christmas episode set for next week, but we also got word about several guest stars who'll appear in the upcoming season, including Burt Reynolds, Anjelica Houstin, Hayden Panettiere, Jason Alexander, Carl Reiner, Ed Asner, Grace Park, and Lou Diamond Phillips, who'll be playing Stan's half-Native-American brother in the Thanksgiving episode.

Raising Hope

Fact: there is a moment within the pilot of "Raising Hope," Fox's new sitcom about a young man having to suddenly adapt to the responsibilities of being a father, that made me laugh harder than anything I've seen on television in probably two years. That alone made me want to make sure that I'd be in attendance for the show's panel, but I was further sold on being there when my wife and I spotted Cloris Leachman playing piano in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton. It was a rather surreal experience to see her sitting there, tinkling the ivories for any and all in attendance. Little did I know that Ms. Leachman's appearance on the panel would ultimately prove to be an even more surreal experience.

QUESTION: Were you guys afraid when you were conceiving this premise that, you know, the mom being executed with the baby present and all that fun little setup might be a touch too dark?
CLORIS LEACHMAN: We think it’s funny.
GREG GARCIA: I checked with Cloris, and she thought it was funny. We had different versions. We had versions where she got executed, electrocuted, but it didn’t take and then she stayed alive, and then we toyed around with different things. It’s dark, but I thought it was dark in a funny and absurd way, and it seemed like an interesting way to get this family a baby, so I figured we would go for it.

CLORIS LEACHMAN: Is she killed or not? I don’t know.
GREG GARCIA: She’s no longer with us.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Over?
LUCAS NEFF: Yeah.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: That’s sort of dark, isn’t it?

No, "sort of dark" is the original title of the show, which was "Keep Hope Alive." (The baby's name is Hope.) But I digress. You can tell from the above excerpt that, yes, Cloris Leachman is still hilarious and remains a master of comedic timing. The problem is that she's prone to eccentric tendencies that she sometimes takes beyond the point of being funny, and we were witness to such an occasion a few minutes later, which went a little something like this...

Q: This is for Cloris Leachman.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: She left.
GARRET DILLAHUNT: She left years ago.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: She had lunch first. Then she left.
Q: I’m way over here if you want to make eye contact.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Could you stand, please, and say your name? Stand up, please.
Q: Hi.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: What’s your name?
Q: I’m Ed.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Who?
Q: Ed.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Ed?
Q: Ed.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Ed? Sit down, Ed. Next question. I’m not comfortable here. I have to sit near you... (Gestures to Greg) ...or I won’t be happy.
GREG GARCIA: Want to come down here?
GARRET DILLAHUNT: (Shaking his head) Every day.

(At this point, Cloris stood up and Dillahunt carried her chair down to the other end of the stage, next to Garcia. Predictably, it was at this point that she changed her mind about where she wanted to sit.)

CLORIS LEACHMAN: You sit there. I would - you sit near him. I would rather sit near her. (Gesturing to the seat next to Martha Plimpton, which is where Dillahunt had been sitting)
GREG GARCIA: When the music stops, you have to be in a chair.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Ed, the next guy left, so you have to ask your question. Stand up, please.
Q: Seriously?
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Get up.
Q: All right. Yes, ma’am.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Take a breath and just relax.
SHANNON WOODWARD: Cloris, I’m not sure if I should be insulted that you wanted to move.
GREG GARCIA: This is why I told the studio we need 14 hours a day to shoot.
Q: I’m afraid this question is going to be entirely fruitless. You’re going to answer however you want. Can I sit down?
CLORIS LEACHMAN: No. You stand and ask the question.
Q: Make sure to make everybody else stand too. Anyway, your character in this program seems to sort of drift in and out of senility, which I don’t think you’re doing on stage, but…
CLORIS LEACHMAN: That wasn’t funny. He was not funny.
Q: ...but are you hoping to get a little bit more to do in future episodes?
CLORIS LEACHMAN: No. I just love it like this.
Q: To sort of parade around in your bra?
CLORIS LEACHMAN: I like to stand near him when he’s just about to enter in the kitchen while she’s putting on some dreadful, but carefully picked out, frozen food for the rest of them. What was the question?
GREG GARCIA: We have lots of fun stuff planned for Cloris’ character. It’s not just - she’s not just going to be in and out of being lucid. There’s a lot of fun stuff, and we find out some history of her character, and we’re going to find some really fun stuff for her to do.
GARRET DILLAHUNT: Sit down.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Did you sit down yet?
Q: Yes.
CLORIS LEACHMAN: Thank God.

Okay, enough borrowing from the transcript. You get the idea: Cloris can be crazy. Not everyone thought it was as funny as I did, but I laughed pretty hard...up to a point. She stayed on a roll for a few more minutes, with the highlight being the frustrated declaration, "I'm so sick of Betty White," but after a misguided attempt at getting a little blue with her material (one which Plimpton decried as "makeup trailer talk"), Leachman wisely let her castmates and series creator Greg Garcia have a chance to take center stage.

The big question to Garcia was in regards to the similarities between this show and his previous series, "My Name Is Earl," which he didn't hesitate to address.

"I think there’s some things that are similar and a lot of things that are different," he said. "I feel like the way it’s shot and the look of it will be somewhat like 'My Name Is Earl' because I kind of fell in love with that style. I like very much to try to do a little movie every week, so we’ll continue to try to accomplish that. Other than that, I think that it will be more grounded in spots. It’s similar. But this is a lower-middle income family whereas 'Earl' was thieves and criminals and such. So it’s slightly elevated from that."

Masterchef

I know what you're thinking: just how many shows does Gordon Ramsay need, anyway? Hey, I don't blame you. But if you've ever been in the room with the guy when he's holding court (and I realize most of you haven't), he never fails to be an entertaining speaker...and, you may be surprised to hear, he's impeccably polite, making sure to thank everyone for their questions, often going so far as to praise them.

The fact that are so many different faces of Gordon Ramsay led one critic to ask him if he ever gets tired of having to put on an act - if, indeed, it is completely an act - for his various series.

"It’s a very good question," he said. (See?) "I think what we have to do is understand the different situations in terms of 'Kitchen Nightmares' is something that, in our minds, you know, throwing the last lifeline in a way that we help try to turn these places around. 'Hell's Kitchen' is professional chefs. This is something that is completely different in terms of it’s an amateur king foodie that wants to step into the world of food on a bigger platform, and there’s no service connected. We’re high-pressure at moments with the wedding, for instance, and we’re very fortunate to go off and cook for the guys and girls at Camp Pendleton for their last meal before they go back to Afghanistan. We put them in those kinds of situations, and it’s not running a service or handling a service of a restaurant because I don’t think everyone on 'Masterchef' wants to go and open a restaurant."

"Can I comment on that?" asked "Masterchef" judge Joe Bastianich. "I think that, in the past, Gordon has dealt with professional cooks and chefs, as he said. And they need to be treated in a certain way, and that’s the way we do in our profession. I think in 'Masterchef,' with amateur cooks and truly home cooks, you see a side of Gordon...you see probably Gordon as husband, father, home cook. How does he interact with his family? How does he cook at home? And I think that that’s more the nurturing sensibility that he has and is what transmits itself in this show."

"Trust me, if they felt they weren’t giving their all as contestants or they were taking the easy option out, he would let them know," said executive producer Mark Koops. "The honesty and integrity that all of them brought then was to judge the dish as a dish and judge them on were they doing the best they could each and every time. So with that sometimes came praise, but sometimes with it came criticism and stern words."

"Absolutely," agreed Ramsay. "When it goes wrong, it goes wrong, and let’s be honest: even when we make mistakes, it’s in the process of learning, so we can’t be as hard on them because they’re not getting paid $60-, $70,000 as a line chef working for Wolfgang Puck. These are individuals that are dying to do well in this industry but have never been given the chance."

When asked if he was eager to have that softer side come out on the show, however, Ramsay answered the question by launching into an anecdote.

"Joe summed up one challenge," he began. "We had a wedding, and I thought we were going to make history by cooking for the wedding and having the divorce on the same day. Because the main course wasn’t coming out, and things were going seriously tits up. However, we turned it around, and Joe turned around and said, 'My God, you know, I’ve understood you properly now. You’re like a fine wine. The longer you leave him, the more mature he gets.' So, you know, we do have good days as well where it runs to perfection, even on 'Kitchen Nightmares' and even on 'Hell's Kitchen.' So it’s not all shouts and screaming."

The "Masterchef" panel wrapped up with Ramsay testing the assembled critics to see which one of them had the most discerning palate by asking us to determine the ingredients contained within a batch of gazpacho that had been whipped up for us. The winner would receive a free dinner at one of Chef Ramsay's restaurants. Suffice it to say that I did not win, but for what it's worth, it's not like the person who did win necessarily had the most discerning palate, either. They just happened to be the person who named the final ingredient...which, for the record, was vegetable stock.

From there, it was time for a sundae break brought to us by Fox's Sunday Night Animation Domination block of programming. I must admit, however, that I had to bail out of the proceedings for the sake of my own well-being: I was so tired and worn out that my hands were shaking, and I absolutely had to take a nap, lest I literally pass out in my chair. But thanks to Fox Publicity, I do have a photo from the event...

...and thanks to the TCA, I have a transcription of the subsequent event - the "Glee" panel - and can therefore still bring you the highlights:

Glee

First off, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan - the show's co-creators, writers and executive producers - were asked how they envisioned the show's future insofar as dealing with the progression of the students through the school. Would it be a case of treating each season as a year of school, consistently ending with the glee club going to finals?

"We haven’t thought about that," admitted Murphy. "We obviously have to deal with the cast and the fact that, you know, the show will hopefully go many, many years. We’ve sort of mapped out the first four years with our original cast. But I think, you know, we have an obligation to be true to the high school experience. I don’t want to sort of do a thing where we wake up and Episode 5 is five years in the future and they’re all living in the same condo complex. I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about that.

"We know the first four years," he said. "The thing about the show is you do sort of have a set of competitions that are true. You have sectionals and regionals and nationals, and then one year we want to go to Copenhagen or Moscow for the International Show Choir Competition. Beyond that, we just have the first four years mapped out."

Executive producer Dante de Loreto discussed the trials of securing song clearances for the show. "We always have a fair amount of lead time to clear the music," he said, "but even still, there are some songs that have such complex titles that it can take more time to clear than we actually have...although we rarely run into that. For the most part, everyone’s been very enthusiastic about how respectfully we use the music. It’s a show about music and about arts education and about arts in the school. And I know Ryan has received some fantastic mix tapes."

"Yeah, I got a mix tape from Paul McCartney a couple weeks ago," revealed Murphy. "It was amazing. I thought I was being punked."

He wasn't.

"It just sort of came out of the blue," Murphy said, "and it was in a package and it was sort of handwritten, and it was two CDs and it said, 'Hi, Ryan. I hope you would consider some of these songs for 'Glee,'” and then it said 'Paul.' And I opened it up and I think that it was 'Michelle' and it had, like, these huge songs. But I know that he is - so I’ve heard through our wonderful people at FOX, Geoff Bywater – is a fan of the show and just admires and loves that it’s about art education. I mean, I was gobsmacked. I grew up with that guy. So, of course, we are going to do something with...I don’t think a whole episode, but something with him."

(Note to Murphy: Seriously? Paul McCartney's a fan and you're not sure you'd dedicate a whole episode to him?)

As far as future guest stars, Murphy revealed that Cheyenne Jackson will be appearing as the coach of Vocal Adrenaline, John Stamos will be coming on the show to serve as Matt Morrison's rival, and Kristin Chenoweth will be making a return appearance as well.

Indeed, Murphy was surprisingly forthcoming about what we could expect to see in Season 2 of "Glee," though the revelations often came in conjunction with reflections about Season 1.

"I think we had such a whirlwind of a year," he said. "We didn’t know what we were doing when we started. We were kind of making it up as we went along. But the one thing that really clicked for me is when we went on tour, which was instantly sold out, which was amazing, and all the kids were there, and they would come out. Some of them would have two lines, three lines, and they got these huge ovations, and they had their sort of mini fan clubs, and I felt instead of going bigger and overstuffing Season 2, which I think people would expect us to do, let’s go under it. Let’s really sort of dwell on a lot of these supporting characters like the Santana character, the Brittany character and the Mike Chang character and the Tina character. So we’re giving all those actors big storylines this year because I think people want to know about them. And last year because we were with IDOL in the second half of the season, I personally kind of blew it out. Like that Madonna episode had nine numbers, which was insane. So we’re scaling back a little bit and concentrating a little more on the stories, and now I think we’re going to do five or six songs, but that’s just because I thought we were learning as we went."

The season premiere will be called "Auditions" and focuses on the idea that daily life is an audition for everyone, not just high school students, while the third episode of the season is faith-focused and finds the "Glee" kids discussing what God means to them. There will be a Britney Spears themed episode at some point, with one other themed episode set for after the Super Bowl, though Murphy will only describe it as "a tribute to a musical artist that we’re in negotiation for." Similarly, Murphy is attempting to wrangle Susan Boyle for this year's Christmas episode, though she's apparently not been locked in yet. There's also going to be an episode during the second half of the season which will feature original songs, something which comes about when the students get an assignment to write their own music.

Bring it on, Murphy. We're ready.

Day 6 of the TCA Press Tour was all about the American Broadcasting Company - that's ABC to you and me - presenting their slate of programming for Fall 2010, along with a couple of new entries that are technically midseason entries but will likely find themselves slotted into the schedule sooner than that. (You know how it goes: there's always a show or two that gets the boot within a couple of episodes, thereby giving one of the relief squad a chance to go in early.)

Give Kevin Brockman, ABC's head of publicity, full credit for getting the first big laugh of the day: he walked onto the stage holding a giant stuffed pink elephant named Binky, allowing him to be flanked by the real elephant in the room while addressing the metaphorical one, which was the somewhat unexpected departure of Steve McPherson, the network's former President of Entertainment.

"On Tuesday, we issued a statement announcing Steve McPherson’s resignation from ABC Entertainment Group," said Brockman. "I realize you all may have questions, obviously. That is what you do for a living. But to save us some time and hopefully make this as productive as possible, I just want to say that Tuesday’s statement still holds. It is literally all we are going to say on the subject. So you may ask, but you will get the same answer. So I’m just saying please know that is the statement. We have given it. We will give it again if we need to. But in the spirit of trying to make things as productive today, just realize that that’s where we are. We really have nothing more to add."

And, indeed, they did not. Someone tried a bit later in the morning to get Paul Lee, McPherson's hastily arranged replacement, to say something on the matter, but...well, we'll get to that in a moment. First, let's talk about the panel that preceded Mr. Lee's executive session.

Detroit 1-8-7

Can it really be possible that "Detroit 1-8-7" is the first police drama to be set within the city of Detroit? That would seem to be the case, and yet it seems like such an incredible oversight that it's never been done before. More impressive, however, is the fact that the show is actually being filmed in Detroit.

"There are a lot of benefits to shooting in Detroit," said producer David Zabel. "Included in that is that there is a bit of an infrastructure forming of crew. We are filling out our crew with a lot of locals. A lot of locals are working on the show, and hopefully in the long run what will then happen is that a lot of the locals who are working at mid-level positions are going to get better at these jobs and rise up and be doing more of the key department-head work as well. Overall, they’ve been doing quite a bit of feature work in Detroit, so there’s some aspects there that are well in place, but there are some things that are a little bit of a learning curve, and we’re sort of going through that together. A lot of the key department heads are from Los Angeles for now, but the vast numbers of the crew are largely local hires. In certain key departments we had to bring from L.A. in order to have qualified people so that we could deliver the show. Also, they are shooting seven features right now in Detroit, so even the talent pool that exists locally in Detroit is spread a little thin right now. But as the series goes on, I think we’re going to get more and more people that are local working on the show."

As happy as I am for Detroit that they've got this series filming in their fine city, I must say that I got more than a little bored with the plethora of questions about that particular aspect. I was much more interested in the fact that the original conceit of the series as seen in the pilot which was screened for us in advance of the TCA tour - the detectives were being filmed as part of a documentary - has been thrown out the window due to the fact that, as a result of an unfortunate event in Detroit, the city has banned documentary filmmakers from following police officers around. With that having been put into play, they couldn't exactly show such a thing going on within "Detroit 1-8-7," now, could they?

Fortunately, Zabel is convinced that the show can rise above this change in format.

"We have this tremendous cast, and hopefully we’re going to have great writing and great directing," he said. "We have it so far, and we hope we’re going to keep having it. In some ways, while the documentary conceit was very interesting and compelling as a pilot, in the ongoing series in the long run, we were actually going to feel a little hampered by that and hemmed in, and it certainly was going to limit the ability that we had to sort of send characters into different directions and explore different character arcs and emotional lives and what the actors were going to be able to do. So it freed us up as storytellers, writers, directors, and actors to explore a lot more than, I think, in the long run we would have been able to do had we stuck with the conceit of the overt documentary."

They're now in the process of doing the re-shoots for the pilot which were necessitated by the change in format. Zabel estimates that they only needed to adjust 15% of the show, but in some cases they had to rewrite, redirect, and re-shoot an entire scene just to eliminate one little moment where somebody looked at a camera. Ugh.

Given that Michael Imperioli is in the cast, the question was posed as to whether he would be forced to hide his decidedly New York tendencies in favor of going a bit more Detroit-ian with his vocabulary. "My character was in New York before he was in Detroit," explained Imperioli. (Hey, what luck!) "He has been on Detroit homicide for 10 years, and he spent time working as a detective in New York, and something happened there that hasn’t been really specified. I just read Episode 3, and I learned a little bit more. I learn a little bit more about this character every two weeks as the scripts come in, but something happened that is obviously dark, and it brought him to Detroit, and either he’s escaping something, or it propelled him to go, but he’s not necessarily native."

Although he's played both cops and criminals, Imperioli hesitated at the suggestion that there are similar motivations behind following both occupations, though he admitted that their origins may be related.

"In New York, which is the city that I know the best, and where I grew up in New York, which is very close to the Bronx, Mt. Vernon, New York, people who lived in the same neighborhood could have gone in either direction," he said. "You know, they might have been brought up with the same traditions. And in my neighborhood it was Italian-American. And they may have had similar...you know, they went to the same schools, maybe economically they were on the same level, and socially they were on a very similar level, but because of certain influences and causes and conditions, one goes this way, one goes that. I think the motivation to be a police officer is very different than the motivation to be a criminal. I mean, what I’ve noticed, doing research into police and detectives, is that they really believe in what they do and they want to make their city a safer place to live for the citizens."

To bring this thing full circle, I've got to close by mentioning the jab one of the critics made at poor James McDaniel regarding one of the previous occasions in which he played a cop. Perhaps you're familiar with a little show called..."Cop Rock"? McDaniel grinned at the reference to the series, but it sounded like he might be getting serious for a moment when he first began to talk.

"A lot of people talk about Detroit, and they haven’t been there, yet they have a negative impression of it," he said. "I’m from Harlem. I moved to Harlem in 1985, and people would say, 'Oh, you live in Harlem. You know, I can’t go above 110th Street.' They’ve never been there. Well, a lot of people talk about 'Cop Rock'..."

That's when we knew he was teasing us.

"They talk about 'Cop Rock' and they tear it apart, but a lot of them have never seen it," said McDaniel. "It’s the Detroit of series. But i’s the little engine that could...and my heart will always be with 'Cop Rock.'"

ABC Executive Session

Normally, the reason I write about a network's executive session is because there's a series of random comments and announcements about various programs within their roster, be it upcoming guest stars, special events, or even new programming for the midseason, but in the case of ABC's executive session, all anyone really wanted to know was what Paul Lee, a.k.a. the new guy, was going to be bringing to the network. The problem was that the poor fellow had only been in his new position for all of 36 hours and simply didn't have a great deal to offer in the way of specifics insofar as what's coming up for his reign at the top of the network food chain.

Make no mistake, though: Lee wanted to be here.

"I was on vacation with my wife," he began, and I shaved off the vacation beard this morning, because I’ve been, I think, about 12 years in the U.S., and I’ve done probably more than 20 TCAs, and I do have to say that I really don’t think the success of either BBC America or ABC Family would have been anything that they were without sort of the debate and the controversies and the buzz and the interest that comes out of this room. So I wanted to thank you guys all for that.

"I’m clearly very excited with this opportunity," Lee continued. "As far as I’m concerned - and you can probably tell from my accent - at least 12 years ago I was an outsider. This is one, in my view, of the premier, iconic American storytelling brands. I grew up watching this on far-off shores, and it’s a great honor to be a part of that. So I am, as you can probably guess, super unprepared. I’ve been in the job for 36 hours. I apologize in advance if I don’t have all the answers to all the questions. I’m looking forward to rolling my sleeves up and getting those answers over the next few weeks."

Unfortunately, he didn't actually have any answers...and, really, why would he? But since the remainder of the panel was really just a lot of hypothetical questions followed by best-guess answers with no assurances of accuracy, there's little point in wasting any further time here, except to wish Mr. Lee the best of luck with his new gig...because - all together now - he's going to need it.

Mr. Sunshine

It's a good time to be a former member of the "Friends" cast: Courtney Cox has a hit series with "Cougar Town," Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow both have series coming to Showtime, and Jennifer Aniston...well, her movies might not be great, but you can't say she isn't keeping busy. If Matthew Perry's of a mind to make a comeback, now's certainly as good a time as any...and since he's actually the one who came up with the idea for "Mr. Sunshine," one would presume that he is recovered from the disappointing showing of his last series, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," and ready to take on television once more.

"One of the things that I came away from that show and watching Aaron (Sorkin) and all those brilliant people writing it is that I thought I wanted to take maybe a shot at writing something," said Perry. "Actually, the reason that my character is selfish and has only thought about himself is because I know somebody, you know, who that was the case for for a long time. So to take a comedic look at that, I thought, was interesting."

As the panel progressed, Perry eventually clarified that the character was, for all practical purposes, based on the man he used to be.

"I like to say that this character is me, like, five years ago before any possible enlightenment could have come into my life," Perry said. "But, you know, I’m very in touch with that kind of drive. You know, a selfish guy trying to have a better life and how confused a selfish person would get if he were told that the way to have a better life was to just be nicer to people and care about people. You know, that kind of person is confused when the answer is, like, 'Be really nice to Nate, and ultimately you’ll be happier.' I don’t know that that’s for all people. So that’s a character that I thought would be fun to explore in a sea of sort of dysfunctional people and a fun arena in which for it to take place."

So you're really nice these days, huh?

"Me?" asked Perry. "I'm much nicer."

In "Mr. Sunshine," Perry's character runs a sports arena, a job we haven't really seen before on television. In order to get a feel for the position, Perry spent a day with the gentleman who does the same job for the Staples center. ("I will continue to bother this guy throughout the process," he assured us.)

"You know, what drove us to want to do a show at this place was, if you have sort of a dysfunctional family working in such a huge venue, what if we had cameras on how crazy some of these people who are, but they have to get it together every night because 18,000 people are showing up. As a kid, I was just real excited and thrilled to go to any of those places. When I was a kid, it was The Forum, and I just had this feeling of just sort of excitement, and the people work there must feel that, too. We were just trying to think of a place where kind of the most interesting, insane things can come in. So, you know, the first few that we’re talking about is...you know, there’s a Bruce Springsteen concert, but the next night, there’s a lingerie football game, and that’s actually an episode that I’m very much looking forward to shooting. Because they’re women. And they’re wearing lingerie. And they’re playing football...which gives a whole new meaning to the term 'illegal use of the hands.'"

After a charity laugh from the crowd, a dejected Perry claimed, "I worked on that all the way here."

I promise you, the show's funnier than that. Or, at least, I thought it was, anyway.

Body of Proof

It seems all too easy to look at the visions of gorgeousness that are Dana Delaney and Jeri Ryan and make a joke about how they put the "body" in "Body of Proof," and yet throughout the panel it was all I could think of. So let's just pretend that I've made the joke, and that way we can just move on with our lives, okay?

Dana Delaney is coming off a pretty decent couple of years, having spent some time on Wisteria Drive as a cast member of "Desperate Housewives," then turning in a great guest appearance on "Castle." Frankly, it's about time she got her own show, and from what I've seen of the pilot of "Body of Proof," it seems to have the potential to succeed as a Friday night series. But, then again, I thought sure that "Women's Murder Club" would pull an audience then, too, and that thing sank like a stone, so you might not be able to trust me on this. Either way, though, she's excited about playing the role of Megan Hunt, a former neurosurgeon who, after being injured in an accident, becomes a coroner.

"She’s complicated, she’s smart, and she’s definitely complex," said Delaney. "I just met and had dinner with a female neurosurgeon, and she said she watched the pilot with trepidation because nobody ever gets it right, but she was really pleased. It’s very rare for a woman, especially at my age, to become a neurosurgeon. It’s a lot of years of work, a lot of years of school, and you’re not really allowed to have a personal life, so I kind of see her as an addict that was addicted to the job, addicted to the power, addicted to all that kind of thing, and then she lost it all. She lost her husband. She lost her child, and lost her job. It’s almost like she’s now needing to redeem herself. It’s basically like the character Charon, where the River Styx and carrying the bodies over. I think she sees this now as her redemption. That that’s what she’s doing."

As far as Kate Murphy, Jeri Ryan's character in the series...well, actually, I wasn't really even going to talk about her, since Dana's really the thrust of the pilot, but why miss an opportunity to offer up a picture of Jeri Ryan, y'know? Besides, the producers talked about her character, anyway, so we might as well.

"We actually wrote the role for Jeri," said executive producer Matthew Gross. "Originally, the character was of Indian descent. But when, you know, she came across our eye, we felt that we had to have her in the show because she does add another element to the chemistry, as you put out, and what’s interesting about the show and the dynamic between the two is that Jeri’s character, Kate, is basically going on the same track that Megan went on in terms of putting career first, about identifying herself through her job, and Megan’s going to try and impart and imbue in her the mistakes that she made in the past, and of course, she’s not going to listen."

"At first," added executive producer Christopher Murphey. "The pilot is so centered on Megan’s character, and the rest of the characters in the pilot seem basically there to service her, but I think it’s our obligation in telling our stories that are multilayered and complicated that we open up the universe in which Megan is the center of. Peter (Dunlop, played by Nicholas Bishop) is her right-hand man medical investigator. Kate is her titular boss, but they will all be part of Megan’s journey, and they will have journeys of their own as well. I think the idea is to have a rich, fully sort of fleshed-out world and the characters that lived in it."

My Generation

When I first watched the trailer for this series, which takes a faux documentary format as it takes a look at a high school class ten years after its graduation to see where the students are today, my first reaction was to lean over to one of my fellow critics and say, "The only way I want to watch a show about this bunch of twentysomethings is if it involves them getting picked off one by one." Unfortunately, that doesn't happen...although it looks like at least one of them bites it, so, y'know, you take your solace where you can find it.

"My Generation" comes to us from Noah Hawley, whose previous series, "The Unusuals," I liked better than this one...although, yes, I know, it's a little early to start throwing stones at a show when its pilot technically still isn't even intended for review purposes yet. Fair enough: I'll put a moratorium on making any further comments and just let Hawley tell us the origins of his new series.

"The show was born in Sweden, as all great shows are," explained Hawley. "There was a half-hour program in Sweden called 'On God’s Highway,' which Warren Littlefield found and brought to ABC, and they brought it to me. It was a half-hour. It was more of a mockumentary, basically following these three guys in high school and then coming back, in their case, 15 years later and just seeing what that gap was. It was a really funny show, but there was also a poignancy to it because of the time gap and what they thought they would be when they grew up and sort of how they turned out, and it seemed like a really fascinating premise to me, the 'Seven Up!' series premise with a lot of inherent drama in it, but also comedy as well.

"In terms of why you would make it an hour," Hawley continued, "what justified turning it into a drama instead of just a comedy, there were two things in the coming up with the American version of it. One was that we would use the documentary format in a different way. Instead of making it a classic mockumentary, which is basically just some verité-style filmmaking with some interviews, we would make an investigative documentary. We would use a lot of the tools of great documentaries, 'Capturing the Friedmans' to be one of them, where you really are investigating who these people were and what their journeys are, sometimes pushing these characters further than they want to go. There’s a feeling that you’re invading their privacy a little bit and that, as a viewer, you’re seeing stuff that they don’t necessarily want you to see. And then the other element of it was in shortening the time frame between the year 2000 and the present day and making it 10 years, we sort of looked at the sea change that had occurred around the world in the last 10 years. And that seemed like really fertile ground as well to tell stories not just about these characters’ personal lives, but putting it in the context of the larger world around them."

Additionally, the documentary style gives Hawley the flexibility to move around chronologically with a little bit more freedom as the series progresses.

"Hopefully you’ll see the show for a few years," he said. "We had to decide, in going forward in the series, what the present is versus the past because the past is that this documentary film crew shot for a year in the year 2000 and followed the senior class of the high school. Now coming back 10 years later, we’re saying that the first season takes place over three months, basically from April 2010 to June 2010. And what this allows us to do is not only contextualize the past in terms of real-world events, but also to tie the episodes in the present to sort of real days, you know, and to real events so that we can tie it in. This also allows us, at the end of the first season going forward to the next season, to jump ahead a year.

"Let’s say that we hypothetically with two characters who are going to be getting a divorce at the end of Season 1," said Hawley. "But then you could come back in Season 2, it’s a year later, and maybe they have a child. And you’re like, 'Well, what happened?' Because this show is kind of based on the idea of character mysteries. How did the overachiever in high school turn into the surf bum 10 years later? And how did the woman who was going to go off to Hollywood and be famous end up as sort of the real housewife of Austin, Texas? By jumping ahead a year, you know, we’re able to sort of refill that well. What it also allows us to do is hopefully, by Season 3, we don’t really have to tell high school stories anymore because where the past is kind of moving forward. So really in a 'Seven Up!' kind of way, we’re watching these characters grow up."

In truth, I do like the idea of this show. It may just be a generational thing, where I'm looking at these twentysomethings with the eye of a 39-year-old, thinking, "These kids are going to be complaining about how bad they've got it, and they have no freaking idea how much worse it may yet get for them." Hopefully, the show will rise above that, though. We'll just have to wait and see.

No Ordinary Family

Now this is what I'm talking about! Yeah, I know, selling me on a superhero show is like shooting fish in a barrel, but I watched the pilot, and I just thought it was loads of fun. There's no attempt to set a dark tone, a la "Heroes." Instead, it offers a look at how a real family might deal with suddenly finding themselves in possession of superhuman abilities. Yes, there's a slight resemblance to "Heroes" just by virtue of its subject matter, but there's arguably even more similarity to "The Incredibles," which might be why creator Greg Berlanti views "No Ordinary Family" as being - shocker! - a family show. At the very least, he's not afraid to acknowledge that it might hold echoes of other existing properties.

"I’m not sure I would say it's a total original as much as it’s kind of, in some ways, a fun throwback to some of the action adventure series that I used to love and watch as a kid, blended with, hopefully, a great family show," said Berlanti. "I think as audiences get more and more sophisticated, you look for ways to sort of blend genres, so with this, we tried to sort of blend all the fun of a show, a big action show, with a real fun, intimate family show and see what happens. I think that distinction is not something that everybody can find everywhere else on the dial. I think, in addition to that, there’s a real broad appeal. There’s something for everyone, you know, different ages. These days more and more it seems like shows are structured towards this niche or that niche, the show’s for men or the show’s for women above 30. And it seems like with this, we wanted to make something that the whole family could watch together...and, unfortunately, those shows, I think, are fewer and fewer."

Star Michael Chiklis, however, prefers to make a musical analogy. "Everything comes from somewhere, from some influence, and if you look at any great musician, they have influences throughout their lives growing up," he said. "They listen to all these different musicians, and they take and they borrow from all of them, and that sort of amalgam of different influences manifests itself in them being an individual artist. That’s the way I kind of feel about this show. It borrows from a lot of different things that we’ve loved, and because it’s an amalgam of all those things, it ends up being something completely unique and different."

Chiklis's co-star, Romany Malco, earned some serious bonus points from me when it was his turn to chime in on the situation, successfully convincing me that his guy may be almost as big a TV geek as I am!

"I grew up watching 'Man From Atlantis' and 'Greatest American Hero' and, you know, 'The Fall Guy' and 'Superman' and 'Batman,' but they all seem to have gone away," said Malco. "As Greg mentioned, the times have changed. The audiences have become a lot more sophisticated. One of the things that I think is really interesting about this particular show is you actually see these superpowers being used rather than necessarily to save the world, but to save a family. Also, I notice in Michael’s character, particularly, this newly found independence, this sense of purpose, and it’s interesting seeing like a regular human being going through the process of identifying what his purpose on the planet is gonna be, and then Jimmy’s character and the way he keeps his superpowers a secret to basically make a mockery of the teachers. So it’s, like, comedic, but it’s very heartfelt and inspiring. It’s just like a really nice balance for what I consider to be more sophisticated audience."

"I really don’t think of this show as a sci-fi show," said Chiklis. "'The Fantastic Four' is a superhero movie. It’s sci-fi 100 percent. Yes, there’s that element of the superhero thing, but what we’re trying to do is meld different genres together and make a new thing. And this is really at its core - I can’t emphasize this enough - a family show. It’s a family drama about a family that’s somewhat dysfunctional and is trying to work through all manner of different problems that all families face in this day and age. The superhero element or the super-power element, rather, really just creates such a broad palette for us to paint on and have fun with and be that much more entertaining, so this has great appeal to people who might not be interested at all in sci-fi. Some people’s heads turn off when you say sci-fi. They just go, 'Oh, that’s not for me.' I submit that people who aren’t really particularly interested in sci-fi would be interested in this show because it’s innately relatable on a familial level. Yet, people who are into sci-fi will be into the show too, because it has that element. So again, like a musician who borrows from all these different great musicians, their own style comes out of it, and this is something entirely new."

"In the writers’ room, when we come in, it’s always, 'What do we want to say with these characters this week?'” said Berlanti. "And that’s the same rule that it’s sort of been in any of the character shows I’ve ever worked on. If we’re fortunate enough to go many, many years, it would all lead up to...the end of the show would be the comic book. You know, the end of the show would be how the family finally all got together and did whatever they did in the sci-fi world. But to me, there’s a billion stories to tell before that moment."

"One last little caveat," said Chiklis. "This isn’t 'Heroes.' It isn’t 'The Incredibles.' This is 'No Ordinary Family.'”

Hey, I'm in.

The Whole Truth

Maura Tierney could not have looked or sounded less thrilled to be part of the panel for "The Whole Truth," and it made me very, very sad. She's one of my favorite actresses, but, man, you would've thought that the proceedings were to be followed by the arrival of a firing squad. I'm sure it was predominantly because she was dreading the idea of having to answer a steady stream of questions about her cancer, which - hallelujah! - is now in remission, but even so, she was starting to drag me down with her lack of enthusiasm.

Prior to her diagnosis, Tierney was originally set to take on the role on "Parenthood" that ultimately went to Lauren Graham. In the case of "The Whole Truth," however, the role was originally written for her by series creator Tom Donaghy, given to someone else because they didn't think she was available, but, due to the ever-changing circumstances of Hollywood, ended up back in her lap after all.

"I wasn’t really thinking about doing another show," Tierney admitted. "But I really responded to the character that Tom wrote, I guess, because (he) wrote it for me. My ego’s not involved there at all. But I thought it was a really, really appealing character, it’s funny, and I thought it was interesting to find a character that had such sort of a great sense of humor, yet was so driven."

When asked if her health scare had affected her perspective on the importance her work in any way, Tierney hesitated for a moment at the immensity of the question, then said, "I probably have a new perspective on everything, in general. It’s a really wonderful feeling to know that people are caring about something that you do, that I’ve been doing for 20 years. I think it’s a blanket statement that my perspective has, and probably should change more than it has, quite honestly, but as far as work goes, well, yeah, partially. You know, Tom and I are friends, like actual real friends, not Hollywood friends. We went to college together. We’ve known each other for over 20 years, and it’s a priority for me now to be able to work with people who I really like and trust. So that will be a factor because I feel like, yeah, it’s too much time involved of your life to not enjoy it. So I guess that’s somewhat adjusted."

Better With You

Although I must admit that "Better With You," with its heavy-handed laugh track and often groan-worthy punchlines, is probably my least favorite of ABC's sitcom offerings this season, there are still a couple of pretty decent reasons to give it a shot, the first being JoAnna Garcia, who's as super-cute as ever and, at one point, delivers a line so perfectly that I had to hit the "rewind" button so that I could hear her deliver it again. What I didn't expect, however, was that the premise of the show - a young couple gets engaged after dating for only two months, which causes her sister and her parents to reevaluate their own relationships - would result in a moment in the panel that was arguably funnier than anything in the pilot.

The question was addressed to Garcia and her co-star, Jennifer Finnigan, and it started out like this:

"How would you react in real life if someone had that quick of a marriage proposal in two months? Jennifer, you were engaged for a couple years, I think, before you were married. And, JoAnna, you’ve been engaged a couple times..."

As the laughter started, Garcia held up her hand. "I just want you to know," she began, "that is going to go down in record books. I might tell the story on the talk show at some point, so we’re going to need to talk later, and I’m going to need a little bit more about you so we can make this whole thing work."

Then, as she attempted to answer the question seriously, she started to stumble. "I got engaged after...well, my current engagement that I’m actually going to follow through with..." She stopped. "This is an absolute nightmare. I just want you guys to know that I have started to sweat."

Eventually, Garcia confirmed that she and her fiancee got engaged after dating for 10 months...but later in the panel, she admitted, "I'm still sweating."

Secret Millionaire

Hey, look: it's another heart-warming reality series that I'll probably never watch! This one, however, didn't originate on ABC. You may remember "Secret Millionaire" from when it made its debut back in 2008 as part of Fox's lineup. Now it's moved over to ABC for its second season, and...what a surprise...it's supposed to be even better now than it was then!

"The FOX show was successful when it aired and won four of its time slots," said Natalka Znak, executive producer. "As producers, we’re delighted, though, that it’s now on ABC because it feels like a totally natural home for it. It’s also been produced in the U.K. for a number of series, and I have to say I love the U.K. show, I thought the FOX show was good, but I think this show is amazing, and it’s impossible not to watch it without getting to the end and, you know, feeling like you need to go and do something, feeling that, you know, something extraordinary has happened while you’ve watched the show. It’s an incredible show. It really is."

James Malinchak, one of the show's millionaire participants, admitted to skepticism when first pitched the idea of doing the show. "I’ve dedicated my life to helping to serve people and uplift people," he said, "and I was nervous about folks on the show being hurt in some way. And when (the producers) and I were talking at my house, I could just see it in their eyes that they really wanted to do something good and try to bring a positive awareness to America and put more hope back into not just folks on the show and into us, but into America as a whole. Leslie really wanted us to have a life-transformational moment. I think when we’re successful in a certain aspect, I think we start to drink our own Kool-Aid, and we seem to forget some tough times that maybe we had. And for me personally, it was one of the greatest experiences I ever went through. And I went on the show, thinking I was going to be some guy writing some checks to some deserving people, and by, like, the second day, I mean, I didn’t really worry about my business. I didn’t care about any of it. And I met some of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever met in my life. And it just...it brought me back down to earth, let’s put it that way, and put my feet back on the ground. So I’m very grateful that I had this opportunity, because it changed me more than I think I changed them with the money."

Tony Branch, one of the recipients of the money, was completely dumbfounded when he learned the true identity of his new friend James. "When you watch television and you hear things like this or read it in the newspaper, it’s always happening to someone else in someone else’s state or country or city," said Branch. "When Mr. Malinchak told me, I literally looked him in the eye and said, 'No, you’re not. Me and you was just sweeping floors and passing out basketballs. What are you talking about?' Then I realized, looking at Leslie and a couple of the camera crew, and there was tears coming out of their face; and at that point in time, I was out on my feet. I’ve been knocked out before, but now I know what it feels like. The only thing I heard was 'Waa-waa waa-waa-waa.'”

Another one of the millionaires, Gary Heavin, made a very interesting comment about how much can be accomplished by tackling poverty and financial woes on the grassroots level and by having good people just help out other good people

"Going out into the community and hands-on and being immersed in that poverty, we saw good being done in extraordinary ways by amazing people, I’m an entrepreneur. Diane and I are the founders of Curves, the women’s fitness franchise. So we know what it takes to care for people. The solutions that we have in our country, they’re going to come from good people like these guys who get up every day and give it their all...and it restored our faith in humanity, to tell you the truth."

Happy Endings

I've been writing up today's panels for so long that I'm no longer sure exactly when I started, so I'm glad that ABC ordered their day so that I'd know I'd reached the conclusion of their coverage. Sure, it's kind on the nose for the network to have ended the day with a show called "Happy Endings," but at least it's funny...which was a pleasant surprise, actually. I have to say that I wasn't entirely sure about a sitcom starring Elisha Cuthbert, given that "The Girl Next Door" did far more to show off her assets than it did her gifts as a comedienne, but given that the ensemble includes Eliza Coupe (late of "Scrubs"), Casey Wilson ("Saturday Night Live"), and Damon Wayans, Jr. (who's very much his father's son) and is produced by Jonathan Groff ("Andy Barker, P.I."), it's easy to give it a little bit of room to grow.

Plus, for what it's worth, Cuthbert is willing to admit that she herself has room to grow.

"I wish I could say this is what I was looking for and it came about and it was all perfect," she said. "I just knew that if I was going to come back to TV, I really wanted to be a part of something that I felt passionate about and that I was excited to go to work to do every day. And at that time, this script came, and I read it, and I just felt like it would be different. It was a little daunting, but I kind of got excited about that, and these guys have been helping me, and I’ve just been really excited about it all. When it came my way, I went, "Wow, this actually might be the right next step.' This is so great because we all get to bounce off one another and find the relationships between one another. We’re all so different, but it’s been really comfortable. I mean, it’s been just a lot of fun. Honestly, sometimes we have too much fun. We have to zone it in and go, 'Wait, we have a scene to shoot!'"

The premise of the show involves Alex (Cuthbert) abandoning Dave (Zachary Knighton, late of "FlashForward") at the altar, an event which seriously throws a wrench into a group of friends who, at their own admission, haven't met any new friends in more than a decade. When the question was raised as to whether "Happy Endings" would follow a plot arc or stick to more of a traditional sitcom format, Groff seemed indicated that they'd try to do a bit of both.

"I think we dealt ourselves a pretty hefty hand at the end of the pilot, which is this huge seismic issue which is going to affect this group of friends," said Groff. "So we want to respect that and explore that as far as it’s really interesting. On the other hand, you do want to be able to have every episode stand alone, and the reality that sometimes they’ll want to change the air order for various reasons or people will just watch things out of order these days...you want to make sure everything is not completely reliant on what came before it. So it’s sort of an in-between answer, honestly.

"Dave and Alex have a lot to work on and a lot to deal with to really live up to the promise of the pilot, which is that we’re going to try to not break up this group because of what happened to us, so we’re going to sort of back up and dig in deeper and see how they actually manage to do that. And then we’re also just going to do lots of stories that maybe deal with the impact of some of this. Alex might need a new roommate. That’s Elisha’s character. Or are Jane (Coupe) and Brad (Wayans) going to move to the suburbs? What’s it like for Dave and Max to live together? But a lot of it is just also telling stories about friends in their late 20s and what that’s like and when a couple of them are married, a few of them have different career trajectories, and sister relationships and all that stuff.

"I think the main thing we’re going for, to some extent, is a funny reality where people talk to each other," Groff explained. "It’s not a lot of hugging and telling each other that they love each other. It’s people who deal with issues, and when somebody bugs them, they deflect it through humor or sarcasm or whatever. So there will be a lot of that, I think, where the characters are just interacting with each other in a way where they have their shorthand that will be entertaining to watch as they kind of go through their lives."

Given that the annual "Doctor Who" Christmas special is still several months out, I knew full well that Steven Moffat wouldn't be willing to offer up much in the way of information about what we could expect to see come December, but since I'd been fortunate enough to sit down with him - along with Mark Gatiss - in connection with their work on "Sherlock" (which comes to PBS in October), I couldn't very well miss the chance to ask about it, anyway.

I started off with a non-specific question, asking how Michael Gambon had found his way into the "Who"-niverse.

"We sent him a script, asked him to do it, and he said, 'Yes,'" said Moffat. "Simple as that."

Had Gambon been a fan of the show?

"I don't know," he admitted. "I didn't get the impression that he was a fan of 'Doctor Who,' except insofar as everyone in Britain is at the moment, but it's really...with these guys, send them a good part and there's a really stonking chance they'll do it. I mean, if it's a good script...and you think it is...they're being offered prime-time on Christmas day, really, so there's a real chance you can get anyone for that. But it's very exciting. He's brilliant. Of course he's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. What a voice."

The time had come to make the jump and ask something specific, so I wondered aloud if the teaser line at the end of season finale about the Orient Express in space would indeed come to pass come this Christmas.

"Who knows?" replied Moffat, stonefaced.

I told him he was a terrible person...which caused the stone face to break into a laugh.

"You wouldn't really want to know," he said. "I can tell. Also, what you have to keep in mind that I genuinely lie. I do. I actively lie to people about what's going to happen in 'Doctor Who.' I'm not officially employed with the BBC. I can say any old thing I like. Even if I told you something, there's no guarantee that it's true. Disinformation and the white noise of nonsense is how we get through this!"

Mercifully, there were no panels to attend on Day 5 of the TCA Press Tour, thereby allowing me a brief chance to breathe...and, more importantly, to spend some time with my lovely wife Jenn, who arrived from Virginia in the wee hours of Day 4. Although I ducked out to attend the TCA business meeting that morning, I passed on a chance to visit the set of "Big Brother" in order for Jenn and I to have lunch at the South Beverly Grill with my friend Dileep Rao, who I knew way back when he was just a member of the Trashcan Sinatras mailing list. Now, of course, he's a big shot movie actor who can't even finish his lunch without having someone come up and say, "I loved you in 'Inception.'" Either way, it was still good to see him again.

After that, it was back to the hotel to get ready for the TCA Awards, an evening which always proves to be one of the most enjoyable evenings of the tour. It's the opportunity for the members of the organization to pay tribute to our favorite programs and performances of the previous year, and it's also a chance for us to interact with the individuals responsible, but we do so with our tape recorders put away for the evening. There's no red carpet. There's no video document of the proceedings. It's just us, the stars, and the night...or does that sound too pretentious? Yeah, it probably does, especially when you're talking about a night that's hosted by Dax Shepherd.

Given that the first two TCA Awards ceremonies that I attended were hosted by John Oliver ("The Daily Show") and the Smothers Brothers, respectively, you'd think that Dax Shepherd would feel like a step down...but then you factor in how awful Chelsea Handler was as last year's host, and darned if Dax doesn't seem like a decent choice. Indeed, he proved to be extremely funny, much funnier than I think a lot of us were expecting him to be. He kicked things off by pretending he was addressing a group of HerbalLife salespeople, claimed that he was only hosting because Dog the Bounty Hunter dropped out, then acknowledged he was a little hurt by the fact that just about every review of "Parenthood" that mentioned his performance invariably began with some semblance of the phrase, "You're never going to believe this, but he's actually pretty good." There was also a funny story about how he's a god at CostCo, thanks to having co-starred in "Employee of the Month" with Dane Cook, and he did a spot-on impression of Owen Wilson calling his brother Luke and mocking him for his telephone commercials. Really, the only disappointing thing about Dax's appearance was that I didn't realize he'd brought his fiancee, Kristen Bell, until after she'd already gone. DAMN!

From there, we entered the awards portion of the evening.

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: “Glee” (FOX)
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM: “Glee” (FOX).
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: Jane Lynch, “Glee” (FOX).

Alas, Jane Lynch was suffering from laryngitis and was unable to attend, but Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan accepted the award in her stead, offering as solace a list of four things we'll hear Sue Sylvester say in Season 2.

4. "A female football coach is like a male nurse, Will: it's a sin against nature."
3. "I secretly hope you're in the middle of a midlife crisis, William, as that means you're halfway to an early death, affording me a blissful demented convalescence spent peeing on your grave."
2. "Don't go soft on me, Will. I realize you're mourning the loss of that bony little redhead you're in love with, and I understand. It's not just a loss for you. As she appears to be the link between early hominids and man, it's also a loss for science."
1. "Should've taken the poop cookies, Will."

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: “Modern Family” (ABC).

Steve Levitan accepted his award by admitting that he'd written his speech last week and hadn't had a chance to rewrite it. That would explain the reference to Steve McPherson.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: TIE - “Lost” (ABC) and “Breaking Bad” (AMC).

Vince Gilligan, God bless him, gave a heartfelt speech wherein he thanked us for all of our praise. Damon Lindelof, however, took a slightly different tactic, offering up some of his favorite Tweets that he received in the wake of the final episode of "Lost."

* "My very first tweet! I started this account just to let you know how disappointed I am in you!"

* "Has anyone accused you of being an emotional terrorist yet? And research these words: closure and actual explanations."

* "Hey, douche! Instead of backpacking in Europe or whatever the fuck you're doing, how about you just give me six years of my life back?"

* "Please don't ruin Star Trek by ending it in Klingon purgatory."

* "'You're a dirty liar. You never knew, you made it all up, you betrayed us all. You betrayed me and I hope you rot, motherfucker.' And that was from Mr. J.J. Abrams!"

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife” (CBS)

Margulies wasn't able to attend, due to filming commitments, but she did send a video thank-you, though it received a lot of probably unintended laughs when it ended with her cutting her eyes to the side, which looked for all the world as if she was about to say, "Are we done with this fucking thing now?" But she probably wasn't.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION: “Life” (Discovery)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN YOUTH PROGRAMMING: “Yo Gabba Gabba” (NICK JR.)

Best. Acceptance. EVER.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES, MINISERIES & SPECIALS: “The Pacific” (HBO)

Executive producer Tom Hanks took the stage, acknowledged the strange creatures who'd taken the stage immediately before him, and declared, "This is the last fucking time I'm dressing up for you people." (This was his fifth appearance at the TCA Awards.)

HERITAGE AWARD: “M*A*S*H*” (CBS)

Producers Burt Metcalfe and Gene Reynolds were in attendance, as were Mike Farrell (B.J. Hunnicutt) and William Christopher (Father Mulcahy).

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: James Garner

Sadly, no Jim Garner...but we were assured that, as grateful as he was for the award, he didn't necessarily believe that he deserved it, anyway.

Once every six months, I head out to L.A. for the Television Critics Association press tour, and whenever I'm there, I check in with John Landgraf, President and General Manager of FX, to get a status update on the network's pilot for their adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis's awesome comic book, "Powers."

The first time, he said, “It’s in development We’ve seen a draft of the script, we’ve given the notes on it, and we’re waiting on another draft. But I liked it.”

The second time, he said, “We have a new writer who came in and who’s working with Brian Bendis. He’s a really, really good writer who got really excited about the project. The new writer and Brian have got a good take on it. They came in about two months ago and pitched what they were doing, and it was great.”

You'll no doubt note, as I did, that he didn't reveal the name of Bendis's collaborator, but he assured me that he'd tell me the writer's name as soon as he was permitted to do so...and, to my amazement, he did so a few days later. The new writer turned out to be none other than Kevin Falls, late of NBC's much-mourned "Journeyman."

Well, here we are again, sir. What have you got for me this time?

"We're working on it!" said Landgraf, who - as you might expect - remembered me as soon as I came up to make my bi-annual request for information. "We just had a meeting, actually, with Brian Bendis and Kevin Falls and Michael Dinner, who’s a writer/director, about 10 days ago – just before Comic-Con – and it went great! And a lot of what it is, really, is…Brian, I think, has said this, but the best adaptations are not slavish in the way they translate the adaptation from one medium to another. ‘Powers’ is obviously just a great series of books in and of itself, but a lot of it is how to translate that into the right tone of series. We’ve made headway all along the way; I think we just wanted to put a finer point on it.

"From our standpoint, we don’t feel that the world of costumed superheroes on television has been very successful. Not only hasn’t it been that successful from a commercial standpoint, but more importantly to us, it hasn’t been that successful from a creative standpoint. Part of what you have to figure out is how to use the medium. If you’re making a Marvel movie, you have a $150 or $200 million budget, you can do massive stunts, and use CGI to create a big, bombastic, larger-than-life version of the world. How do we bring the same level of innovation to the genre that ‘The Shield’ brought to the cop genre, or that ‘Nip/Tuck’ brought to the medical genre, and how do make the sort of scale and production of television an asset? I think what most people who’ve gone down that road have done is tried on a limited amount of time and budget to do as close to what a feature film would do with the material as possible, as opposed to really honing in on the virtues of television, and I think ‘Powers’ is a uniquely good property to do that with, actually. That’s what Bendis and (Michael Avon) Oeming were doing: looking through the whole world through a different prism. As opposed to coming through the front door, they were coming through the side door. I’m excited about it.

“We just want to get it right if we move forward," Landgraf continued, "but the truth is…gosh, I’ve been at the channel for seven years, and we’ve only made one drama pilot in seven years that we haven’t gone to series on. For us, we work really hard and as long as possible on the script, and then we work as hard as we can on getting the pilot exactly right. We don’t make pilots experimentally. Once we move forward on the pilot, we’ve sort of honed in and understand what the creatives are trying to execute and how to help them get there. I hope we’ll be able to move forward with ‘Powers.’ I’m really excited, and I’m very encouraged by the process so far and where it sits now, so I’m pretty optimistic.”

So you might have some good news for me in January, then?

"I might!"

Let's all keep our fingers crossed tightly for the next six months, shall we?

The 4th day of the TCA tour started out not with a panel but with a poolside breakfast with the cast of USA's new series, "Covert Affairs." Like several of my fellow critics, I'm not a huge fan of events where the network publicists divide with the cast members and conquer the room by bringing the actors by the various tables and saying, "Oh, have you met (INSERT ACTOR'S NAME HERE) yet?" I'm not saying it isn't kind of cool to be finishing up your danish and have Peter Gallagher and Keri Matchett stroll up...which, as you might've guessed, is exactly what happened to me...but at the same time, my concentration is on my breakfast, not on whatever questions I might have for them, so it's kind of a stilted conversation. I mean, c'mon, man, I haven't even finished my coffee yet! I did manage to ask Keri if this new gig meant that we wouldn't be seeing her pop up on "Leverage" again anytime soon, and, alas, she sighed and admitted that it probably did. Damn.

Before I headed back upstairs to the ballroom to get ready for the first proper panel of the day, I waited around for a few minutes in hopes of chatting with Sendhil Ramamurthy and Anne Dudek, but after loitering for 10+ minutes as they talked with someone from TV Guide, I could see no signs of their conversation abating. I finally gave up and decided that I'd just try to grab them at the NBC party that evening...which, FYI, I successfully ended up doing.

The Event

When I watched the pilot for "The Event," a new sci-fi / action series that will immediately remind viewers of "Lost," "Fringe," and possibly even "24," I was instantly captivated and loved every minute of it. Even as I watched it, though, I knew that my wife would be far less thrilled, owing to the fact that there is a tendency for the proceedings to bounce back and forth in time...and she hates that. Clearly, she's not the only one, since the topic was addressed almost immediately during the show's panel, but the show's executive producers - Nick Wauters, Steve Stark, Evan Katz, and Jeffrey Reiner - reassured us as much as possible.

"It’s definitely something that we’re going to keep using, at least in the near future, as long as it serves character and story," said Wauters. "But you may not see as much of it as we go along."

"Also, I think if you look at the pilot, the pilot was about 50 percent flashbacks, believe it or not," said Stark. "A little over that, actually. That’s not going to be the idea moving forward. In episode 4, there’s a whole series of just getting to know Sean and Leila from a character standpoint, but it’s just that."

"Time will move forward from episode 2 on," said Katz. "It will be a more linear approach, and there will be flashbacks, but the story will continue to thrust forward."

I don't know if that'll make my wife feel a heck of a lot better, but it's something, anyway. It also serves as a reminder that, although "The Event" has a tremendous cast, one which includes Zeljko Ivanek, Laura Innes, Jason Ritter, Sarah Roemer, Scott Patterson, and Blair Underwood (as the President of the United States), as a serialized drama, it's the producers who hold the answers to all of the truly important questions. Heck, the actors don't really know anything...and they're not afraid to admit it!

"Before we each shot the pilot, we each got these character dossiers that explained to us who we were so that we weren’t just blindly going into it and not knowing anything, so that’s what we knew when we first started," said Ritter. "Now, as the episodes come out, we learn more about who they are. But generally we don’t know a whole heck of a lot!

This begs another question for the producers, then: how quickly will viewers start to get answers to the questions that are posed in the pilot?

"I’ve been a big fan of '24' and 'Lost' and 'Battlestar (Galactica),' all those shows for years and since I was a kid, so that definitely influenced my writing and I’m very conscious of that, which is why we’re going to try and reveal as many answers as we can as we go and then set up new mysteries," said Wauters. "So in a way, you will have more immediate answers to your questions, but you still have to kind of go on faith that we know what we’re doing. I came in with this bible, and all the characters were really developed from the beginning, even though that’s not really shown in the pilot because the pilot had so many characters and so many things going on. The pilot is kind of an invitation to the series, really. It’s an appetizer. I think as a viewer myself and a fan of 'Lost,' I think I’d ask for people’s trust."

"We’re not waiting till episode 4 to find out more about these people," confirmed Katz. "The pilot is very unique and very fragmented and really, really good at keeping things moving forward. I mean, it’s terrific, but, yes, you don’t know a terrible amount about these people. Starting in episode 2, episode 3, episode 4, you will not only find out about their backstories and more about, literally, their biography, but in how they react to the dilemmas, you will learn who they are as well. I think it’s about what you emotionally connect with. I think the pilot is emotionally affecting. I think you connect with the people. People, I think, connect to their dilemmas, and frankly, it’s whether or not you’re posing questions that you want to come back next week to see answered. And, you know, right now the show is really designed with a lot of cliffhangers at the end of episodes and a lot of, you know, what I call 'holy-crap' moments...although I use a different word."

"Before NBC bought the pilot, I think the bible that we developed was longer than the script," said Stark. "They were very clear where we’re going. So we have sort of tent-pole benchmarks we’re going to hit as the series progresses into even season 3. The dance of intrigue and satisfaction is what we’re going to be doing all the time, but ultimately we have these sort of benchmarks plotted out."

"We would hope that the pilot elicits some trust," said Reiner, reiterating Wauters' point. "We would hope that it’s a good enough hook. That’s what we all set out to do. You know, in television sometimes the pilot is the hook, you know, because you’re 22 episodes. So I would hope that the pilot has served that purpose."

"In my opinion," said Katz, "the pilot speaks for itself."

As far as I'm concerned, it does. I'm not yet willing to go out on a limb and declare that it's my favorite pilot of the new season, just because we haven't gotten final versions of all of the series yet, but I will say that it's the one that I find most intriguing. When it premieres, I'll be there...and I'll definitely be sticking around to see what happens.

Undercovers

You've probably already read my comments about how disappointed I was by the "Undercovers" set visit on the first day of the TCA tour, since none of the cast members were in attendance. That wasn't a problem with the panel for the show, thankfully, although I couldn't help but notice that series co-creator J.J. Abrams was once again MIA...though given that I don't get a whole lot of the Abrams feel from the pilot beyond the premise (a husband and wife who have been retired from the spy game for half a decade are asked to return to their former profession), maybe that's not a coincidence.

One element of "Undercovers" that stands out - even though, obviously, it shouldn't - is the fact that its lead actors, Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, are both African-American. According to executive producer and co-creator Josh Reims, it's a development that came about organically during the casting process.

"When J.J. and I wrote the script originally, we decided we wanted to write it like 'The Philadelphia Story,'" said Reims. "You know, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn? But they’re dead, so we didn’t hire them. So when we finished the script and went into the casting process, we started out by saying, 'Let’s just see every possible incarnation of a person. We don’t want to see the same people we’ve seen on TV 10 million times because it will look like many other shows that are on TV, which are perfectly good, but we want it to look different.' And so we saw a bunch of people. And when Boris and Gugu came in, which was much later in the process, we sort of knew immediately, like, 'OK, these are them.' We didn’t go out of our way to say, you know, we’re hiring two black people to be the leads of the show, but we certainly did not ignore the fact that it would be great if we could do that and if we found actors who were great enough. And luckily, we found one of them in Gugu, and then we hired Boris, too."

A fair enough answer, perhaps, but it was one which was accused of being somewhat disingenuous, resulting in a follow-up question wherein Reims was asked what he thinks the decision to cast two African-American actors means.

"We don’t consider that we’re revolutionizing TV, but at the same time, we do realize it is a big deal," said Reims. "Yes, we all wish it wasn’t such a big deal at this point in time that there are two black characters who are the leads on a major TV show on a major network, but unfortunately that’s the way it is right now. And, you know, even since the casting of this show was announced, we’ve seen other shows have cast black leads that maybe, who knows, wouldn’t have happened. So if we can do that and other people realize, you know, 'Oh, look, this is working well,' then that’s great. But our plan was not, like, 'Let’s, you know, revolutionize all the history of TV and cast black actors.' It’s, 'OK, if we can cast black actors who are great, it will be great.' And it worked out. We’re already writing episode 7 or something, and they’re already shooting episode 4. It’s much more important now that we’re just trying to figure out who the characters are than worrying about how we cast at this point."

Kodjoe agreed with Reims but also wanted to offer his two cents worth. "I think it’s important to recognize the fact that it is somewhat...I don’t know if you want to call it revolutionary, but it’s not the norm," he said. "Although it should be the norm, because that’s what the world looks like. The world is diverse, and we come in all kinds of different shapes, sizes, and shades, but as you mentioned correctly, traditionally in TV it hasn’t been the case, and therefore it needs to be commented on. So I want to make a point that it is important that we get a chance to, I don’t know, be trailblazers or door openers or whatever you want to call it. On the other hand, let’s keep in mind or let’s inspire people to regard it as normal, so that more and more people don’t consider it taking a chance but just being creative. And at the end of the day, that’s what we all try to be. Even though it’s a corporate industry and even though it’s show business, to have that freedom is something that we aspire to. So Josh and J.J. have, I think, led the way, and hopefully the world will open up to it."

As far as what we can expect from the series itself...since, really, isn't that more important?...Reims said that we can expect the proceedings to be far easier to follow that Abrams' previous spy series, with episodes that are more self-contained.

"The idea is, certainly, that every week you will have a case come to a conclusion," said Reims. "That’s happening no matter what. As far as over-reaching stuff, you know, they are married, they do have their own business, there will be certain secrets that will be coming out that will be hinted at, so there will be some stuff that is carried throughout the season. Some of it will not be revealed until much later. Some of it will be revealed earlier. The great thing about the concept of the relationship is that they didn’t tell each other anything about their pasts. So they can find out stuff about each other the same way the audience can find out stuff about them because they don’t know anything from the past five years, you know, before that. So we will be laying certain things in there that will then play out, but there is no big, over-riding arc, though there will certainly be twinges here and there of stuff."

Executive Session

The last time we saw Jeff Gaspin, Chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, and Angela Bromstad, NBC's President of Prime-Time Entertainment, it was in the midst of the great "Tonight Show" wars, so you can imagine that the duo were breathing a little easier this time around, if only because there wasn't such a pressing agenda on the table. They still had plenty of new information to impart, however, and here are the highlights:

* There will be plenty of special premieres this season. First, "Parenthood" will be returning on Sept. 14, placed behind the next-to-last episode of "America's Got Talent" in order to give it the greatest possible chance for strong ratings; similarly, after the "America's Got Talent" season finale on the 21st, "Outlaw" will get a sneak-preview airing. Then, on the 23rd, "The Apprentice" - now with 100% less celebrities! - will have a two-hour premiere from 9:00 - 10:00 PM before settling into its regular 10 PM timeslot. Lastly, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" will also kick off on Sept. 22 with a two-hour premiere, s 9 PM slot the following week.

* "30 Rock" will be doing a live episode on Oct. 14, not from their usual set but, rather, from the famed Studio 8H, home to "Saturday Night Live."

* "Law & Order: Los Angeles" has added Terrence Howard and Alfred Molina to the cast as district attorneys. Molina's character is Deputy District Attorney Morales, the name of Howard's character has yet to be revealed, but the actors will be alternating episodes.

* Rob Lowe's status on "Parks and Recreation" - he plays state auditor Chris Traeger - has been upped from guest star to series regular. Series co-creator / executive producer Mike Schur said in a statement, "I am beyond thrilled that Rob will be joining the cast for more episodes. I have truly come to value his fashion sense, grooming habits, and workout tips. Also, he is hilarious and adds a wonderful dimension to the cast. But, really, it's the workout tips."

* On the guest-star front, Drew Carey will be appearing on "Community," Kathy Bates is returning to "The Office," and "Law & Order: SVU" is providing roles to Henry Ian Cusick, Joan Cusack, and Maria Bello,

* Speaking of "The Office," Bromstadt said of Steve Carell's impending departure that "Greg Daniels and Paul Lieberstein do have a plan in terms of who’s going to replace Michael, and so there will be a lot of storylines leading up to that, and there will be some mystery as to who that will be."

* When asked about the differences between "Heroes" and NBC's upcoming midseason superhero series, "The Cape," Bromstad was predictably diplomatic on the subject of the lessons she may have learned from the network's experience with the former. "I think that 'Heroes' was a great show, we had four tremendous years with that, and it was a very good business for us," she said. "So if we could replicate that, we absolutely would. 'Heroes' was so much about the discovery of their powers. This is really more of a procedural, and this character in 'The Cape' doesn’t have super powers. He’s trained in a way that he just is able to manipulate things, but he doesn’t actually have super powers the way that the 'Heroes' characters did."

* Other midseason series include "Love Bites," "Harry's Law" (the David Kelley series starring Kathy Bates), "The Paul Reiser Show," "Perfect Couples," and "Friends with Benefits."

* Peter Berg and his production team will be taking on the long-promised adaptation of the BBC series, "Prime Suspect." It’s being written by Alex Cunningham, late of "Desperate Housewives" and “NYPD Blue.” According to Bromstad, there's a story outline which is planned as a two-hour pilot, and having heard that outline, the network is very excited about it.

Law & Order: Los Angeles

Although Dick Wolf began his appearance at the TCA Press Tour by saying, "We are here today to talk about the future, and basically the past is the past," no one has ever accused TV critics of being able to take a hint, which is why the very first question unabashedly went against his explicit statement:

Can you confirm that "Law & Order," the mothership, is dead?

Even though I think most of us were resigned to its demise, you could nonetheless hear a slight rumbling in the crowd as Wolf replied, "I can confirm that it has moved into the history books." Damn. I'd really been hoping that someone might save the day.

Oh, well, at least we won't be completely without "Law & Order" series. In fact, technically, we'll still have the same number. Since nature abhors a vacuum, in addition to "SVU" and "Criminal Intent," we'll now have "Law & Order: Los Angeles," starring Skeet Ulrich, a man who, by his own admission, has seen almost no episodes of any entry in the "Law & Order" franchise. (The only exceptions, apparently, were a few episodes of "Criminal Intent," and only then because it stars his friend Vincent D'Onofrio.)

"Basically," said Ulrich, "we had a meeting, we talked about what the show was going to be, and fortunately Dick
felt like I fit into that mold. I’m just grateful to be here."

Ulrich admitted that, having only read one script thus far, he couldn't really offer up too much about his character, but he gave us as much as he could. "He’s a second-generation LAPD," said Ulrich. "I imagine there’s a lot to come, obviously, in terms of the character development, but he’s sort of a brass-tacks kind of guy. I mean, he’s to the point. I think one of the descriptions given is whereas it takes (Corey Stoll) many, many words to say something, I can sum it up rather quickly. So he’s pretty much an all-business kind of guy in terms of what he sees in his time at work."

Stoll knows even less about his character, but, like Ulrich, he did the best he could to tell us about him. "I think our characters really play off each other in a great way," he said. "I’m a second-generation American, and my father was a DP, and so I come from the entertainment industry. And there’s just sort of a skepticism and a street smartness within the entertainment industry that I think I bring."

"I’ve never played a cop," admitted Ulrich, "and as I’ve started to delve into this lifestyle - I have friends who are on LAPD and are on the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and stuff - and it’s fascinating. I can tell you, living here, I’m extremely grateful for these guys, having gone on a homicide scene recently and seeing what they do. And we are very fortunate to have the police department we have here. And I hope to live up to what it is they do on a daily basis because it is honorable to the nth degree."

Rene Balcer balked at the suggestion that Los Angeles, in addition to having been done to death on cop shows over the years, simply isn't nearly as interesting a setting as New York. "As far as divide between rich and poor, I don’t think you get any more dramatic a divide between East L.A. and West L.A.," said Balcer. "The essential difference between New York and L.A. is New York is a big stew of people. It really is the melting pot. And it’s also been the site of innumerable TV shows, like 'The Naked City.' So I could argue that New York has been mined as much as L.A. has. L.A. is a mosaic of communities, and I think that’s going to be part of the fun of these shows is each episode can focus on a separate community, a separate piece of that mosaic. And though New York has Central Park, we have the beach, which is the great equalizer. It’s where everybody goes to. We even have an episode about surfers and the beach and how that played a part in the mythos of Los Angeles. So I think there’s all kinds of territory that has not been mined by a lot of shows. We have an episode on an oil rig, for example. So, you know, a lot of things, we can do here that have not been done by other shows."

"One other thing to put to that is that, overall, the shows that have been in L.A., most of them show you one facet," said executive producer Blake Masters. "More often than not, if they’re a cop show, they’re in one specific area of L.A.: 'The Shield,' 'Southland,' etc. The beauty of our HD is they cover all of L.A. County so that we can go and show very specific areas, and we only have to be there for one episode. We can go to Koreatown for an episode. We can go to East L.A. for an episode. Then we can go to the beach for an episode. So the idea is you’ll actually get a much wider variety of socioeconomic places."

Facing Kate

I'm always embarrassed to go into a panel without having seen the show that it's dedicated to, but in my defense, it's not like we were provided with an advance screener. Our only option to watch the pilot was on the Beverly Hilton's TCA channels, but although the networks kindly provide us with the opportunity to watch their shows' pilots, they only show them late at night and early in the morning, and...well, I tend to be asleep at both those points, frankly.

Here, however, is what they have to say about "Facing Kate" on the USA Network's website:

“Facing Kate” centers on Kate Reed (Sarah Shahi), a top litigator who has grown frustrated with the endless bureaucracy and injustice she has witnessed on a daily basis and decides to become the ultimate anti-lawyer -- a mediator. Using her knowledge of the law, along with intuition and a whatever-it-takes approach to resolve conflict, Kate finds the middle ground for a wide variety of adversaries -- from Fortune 500 corporations to bitter divorcees. Following the unexpected death of her father, she finds herself at odds with her new boss, her stepmother (Virginia Williams) -- and back in bed with her lawyer/ ex-husband (Michael Trucco). Helping her keep all of this chaos at bay is her trusted, geek-chic assistant Leonardo (Baron Vaughn).

Executive producer Michael Sardo went into a little more detail on Kate's profession, for those of us who aren't legal scholars.

"A mediator can be someone who’s just trained to resolve conflicts, or lawyers can resign from the bar, which is what Kate
has done, to become a full-time mediator," he explained. "In mediation, you basically bring people into a room who are in a conflict, and you resolve it according to the way that they want to resolve it. Mediation is exploding in this country. It’s exploding all over the world. In China last year there were 7 million mediations. In Florida, you can’t get divorced in a court until you’ve gone through a mediation. And what it requires is simply sitting down face-to-face with the person you’re having a conflict with and talking it out. In courts, on a regular law show, you have all this artifice around, and you have someone speaking for you and speaking instead of you, whereas we just get right to the heart of it and do our little anti-law law show where you put two people in a room in conflict, send in Kate, and things happen."

Shahi was cast for the role of Kate because, unlike those who auditioned before her, she impressed Sardo with the way she reacted to a moment within her scene: she's waiting in line for coffee, a guy comes in to rob the store and pulls out a gun, and another guy pulls out a bat.

"The reason we cast Sarah, in addition to her loveliness and her acting ability, is that we had looked at 100 women, and in that scene, whenever someone pulled out a gun...and there was no gun, it was just someone saying, 'Give me the money'...100 people backed up, and Sarah was the only one who moved toward it and went, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa!'" said Sardo. "Because you can’t solve conflicts from a distance...and in life, I think (Sarah is) a little bit of a conflict divining rod. Kate is someone who’s very comfortable with conflict and moves toward it and solves it, and if she walks into a room where there is none, she stirs some up."

"Except in her own life," added Shahi. "She doesn’t have as much gumption in her own life as she does in the work force to confront some of her own issues."

As far as what we can expect from the series, Sardo says that cases will come to Kate in different ways.

"Each one, in the writers’ room, we discuss in terms of a question," he said. "'What is your identity?' 'What is a life worth?' 'What is a hero?' The episode after the pilot involves Kate negotiating a settlement between the City of San Francisco and the lawyer for a man who was wrongly imprisoned for 22 years for a crime he didn’t commit, and though initially it’s about the settlement, what it becomes for Kate is about healing this man who hasn’t dealt with this 22-year lapse who wants to go right back to where he was when he was 19. The show we just shot is 'Who is a hero?' and 'What is a hero?' and involves a woman who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, but not until high school did she find out that she wasn’t a legal citizen of the United States. So she bought a Social Security number from a woman she believed to be dead and served two tours in Afghanistan as a hero, and it wasn’t until she came back to the States and tried to get a credit card that she found out the woman was alive. That gets reported to immigration, and Kate, in trying to clear up the credit problem, winds up with a woman in jail in immigration who’s going to be there for nine months and sent back to a country where the language spoken is not one she’s ever spoken because her parents raised her to be the all-American girl. So each one deals with a fundamental precept of the human behavior."

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

I'm not a news junkie, so the name "Lawrence O'Donnell" doesn't mean anything to me personally, but if you're a regular MSNBC viewer, you almost certainly know him, since - as Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC, noted in his opening remarks - he's been with the network since the very beginning.

"We debuted July 15th, 1996," said Griffin, "and Lawrence was the first guest in the first hour, at 9 AM. Now, here we are 14 years later, and he has a show at 10 PM."

"Yeah, I’ve said it before: I’ve been working part-time there for 14 years, and we’ve finally gotten to know each other well enough for me to go full-time," said O'Donnell, laughing.

As for the title of the show, it came to him on a flight. "I just started thinking about, 'What should I call this thing?' And I started thinking about, 'Well, it’s going to be the last word of the day,' and I realized there was a title in the concept that I started thinking about, which is the last word. For people who have been following what’s been going on from 'Morning Joe' maybe through the day through our primetime schedule, at 10 o’clock we’ll be able to deliver a succinct and real last word on that subject or where a particular news story stands at the close of our news cycle. And I think what we’ll also have in the show is my last word on certain things: 'This is what I think you need to know about this. This is what it comes down to.'

"There will be nights when I’m handing the last word on a subject to a guest, and it could be someone who I agree with. That will be very likely. It could also be someone who I’m not sure of or who I might not agree with. It’s conceivable to me, for example, that somewhere in the hundred days of the BP coverage, I might have given the last word to a BP executive on whatever their tactic was on that particular day that they thought was going to be the new advance on how to solve this problem. That doesn’t mean that what that person is saying is the final truth on something, but it might be the most important point to know as of this point in the development of a story.

"I’m at the beginning...or maybe it’s the middle...of the creative process of coming up with this show," O'Donnell said. "It’s an interesting experience for me since I’ve only done this on the entertainment side and the drama side, creating television. And I’m finding that...at first I thought there were no translatable skills from that side of the TV box to this side, but it’s been a great few weeks now sitting around with Phil and others, trying to figure out how to deliver what it is I think we want to get delivered at 10 o’clock. And so we’re in the middle of that. I think some of the questions you might have about what this show is going to be like...? The truth is I don’t know yet. Some of it I do. Some of it is in my head in a way that I can’t really articulate. But it will be broadcast quality by September 27th."

Outsourced

Most controversial series of the new season? Possibly, though having seen the pilot for "Outsourced," it strikes me as little more than a tempest in a teacup. Not being in any way Indian, perhaps my perception of what is or isn't offensive to Indians shouldn't be considered the definitive barometer of good taste, but I just saw the show as a culture-clash comedy which is more about poking fun at clueless Americans. Again, though, that's me, ever a possible poster boy for Very White Americans everywhere.

"I think where we approach this is certainly not a mean-spirited place," said executive producer Robert Borden. "A lot of us have a life experience that’s relevant, and a third of the writing staff is Indian, so we’re not going to be wallowing in (Indian stereotypes), but we are going to have a lot of fun with characters who behave like relatable characters in a workplace comedy. For example, Parvesh, his character is modeled after that guy that everyone works with that will not stop talking to you. If you talk to them in the break room, they’re going to follow you out and talk to you on the floor, so you can’t get rid of the person. That’s neither American nor Indian. That’s how we’re approaching the show.

"We’re going to deal with culture clashes," Borden continued, "and both sides of view will be represented. For example, down the road we’re going to have one character, Asha, starting an arranged marriage, something that the Western characters perhaps don’t understand and disagree with. And she’s going to represent her point of view by questioning Western marriages. 'You know, 50 percent of your marriages end in divorce,' and our character here, at a loss for words, will say, 'Well, we crushed you in the Olympics.' Like, he has no response for that. So we’re going to be dealing with cultural clashes in that way."

Diedrich Bader is particularly excited about his character, Charlie, one of the resident Americans on the show, because it gives him a chance to be the guy who says what everybody else is thinking.

"It’s not exclusively American," said Bader. "You know, like a Frenchman will want to go and hang out in the French community when they go to, say, Germany or something like that. I remember when I was a kid in France, there’d be a Mickey D’s there, and I would think, 'Why would an American come all the way here and go to Mickey D’s?' Well, a guy like Charlie would be that guy. He would be that guy that would be at McDonald’s going, 'I just want what I want. Give it to me. I want it hot.' He just tries to replicate his world wherever he goes, and for him, it’s really just a job, but it’s not without interest, you know. But the interest is mostly that he gets paid."

For what it's worth, the Indians amongst the cast don't seem to be terribly offended by the show. Yeah, I know, they're getting paid, so there's an incentive to not be offended...but, dammit, for some reason, I believe them.

"I think a lot of people are commenting on the East, the Indian side," said cast member Sacha Dawan. "I think with 'Outsourced' it’s very much about the West as it is the East. I think people assume that the gap between the East and West is so huge. I think what 'Outsourced' is doing is kind of making that gap very small and making loads of comparisons and similarities. Like my character, Manmeet, or 'Man Meat,' is, you know, very close to Todd. You know, they’re kind of roughly the same age, and they have a lot in common even though they’re from different sides of the world."

"I’m Indian, or that’s what my parents told me," said Rizwan Manji, "and my friends and family, they’ve seen the trailer, some of
them have seen the show, and surprisingly, they are very supportive and find it hilarious and quite accurate."

"Also, a call-center job back in India is a really, highly prestigious job," said Parvesh Cheena. "My mom was back in India when I found out, just visiting, and I called right before I got on the plane, and the whole family at the wedding just freaked out and erupted, and they’re excited."

"I think all my family and friends are just really excited to see such a large Indian contingent on television," said Anisha Nagarajan. "They’re just really excited that that’s happening and that we’re getting out there."

Outlaw

"Outlaw" may be the fastest moving and most preposterously plotted drama of the new season, with Jimmy Smiths playing a conservative Supreme Court Justice who decides to throw caution to the wind and quit the Court in favor of traveling the country trying cases, some of which go against everything he's ever believed in his legal career. So why is it that I walked away from it, thinking, "Ah, maybe I'll give it a chance, anyway"?

Behold the power of Jimmy Smits.

"One of the joys about doing this show with Jimmy in the part is that he has a body of work that I think the public feels is virtuous and liberal," said executive producer John Eisendrath, "and he’s going to play a character filled with vices who is conservative, so I feel like we will have a great deal of leeway to lean into the vices, to let Garza do and say things and be certain ways that we might not otherwise be able to do without someone with Jimmy’s persona playing Garza. I think that there will be many instances where he will play with fire, and he will risk a great deal in order to seek the justice that he’s set out to do. And I wouldn’t suggest that it’s just in his professional life that he’s going to toe that line. I think there will be many instances in his personal life too where he will do things that the audience will be like, 'Oh, wait, he can’t do that. Oh, but I love Jimmy Smits. He’s got to be doing it in a way that we like.' So I think that we will have him pay a price sometimes, but I think part of the joy will be to see him toe that line and find a way around the barriers that other lawyers and other judges live by. The whole point is that he’s going to not stop at the line that everyone else stops at in his quest for justice. He’s going to find a way around the barriers."

There's another thing that's kind of ridiculous about this show, and that's that the character of Garza is about 100x more in-your-face than any Supreme Court Justice we've seen in many moons: he's a gambler, he employs a sexy private investigator who wears leather and flirts up a storm whenever an opportunity to do so presents itself...in short, he couldn't be less private if he tried.

"I would say that the point-of-view character on this show is unlike any point-of-view character on another legal show you’ll ever see," said Eisendrath. "It is about, yes, a Supreme Court Justice. None of them ever leave that way, so is it a heightened reality? I would say that it is in some ways a little bit of a fantasy. Every week they are going to go to a different city, taking up a different cause. One week it will be Detroit, Miami, Los Angeles. And wherever the case is that Garza thinks needs the most attention, looking out for the little guy, fighting against the system, this group will parachute in. Wouldn’t you want this lawyer and this legal team to come to your city to represent you in the case that matters the most to you? "

"There’s a certain amount of license," admitted executive producer David Kissinger. "But, you know, the reality is there were colorful Supreme Court Justices. I’d say the current group is probably, given the process that they have to go through, a little bit tamer. But people like William O. Douglas, who we talked a lot about in the development of this, had some very Garza-like qualities. So it’s not as far-fetched as I think you’re suggesting."

"For me, the bottom line is what’s on the page," said Smits, "and I think it was an opportunity to deal with legal matters and hot-button issues that are substantive in terms of a legal show but, at the same time, have a character that is outside the box in a lot of different ways. And since we’re at a point where we’re logger-jammed in terms of the political right and left, the fact that, because of what happens to him in the pilot, has made such a radical switch and then surrounds himself with a team of people that have different types of political viewpoints, it does give an opportunity for us to tackle these hot-button issues in a new and kind of fresh way."

Chase

I hate to break it you folks, but I found this to be the least interesting pilot amongst NBC's crop of new series for the fall. Sure, it's full of action, but by the time the closing credits rolled, I couldn't tell you a single thing about a single character...and it's an ensemble show! Some of my fellow critics have shrugged and said, "Well, that's what you expect from a Jerry Bruckheimer produced series," but, look, I like most of Bruckheimer's productions and I still think this is a big ol' bore...and the fact that NBC could only spare 20 minutes for the panel for "Chase" made me suspect that perhaps the network felt the same way.

Apparently not, though...or, at least, that's what executive producer Jennifer Johnson thinks. "NBC has been so incredibly supportive," she said. "I believe them when they tell us that it’s their favorite show. We are thrilled to be with NBC."

Maybe NBC does feel that way. After listening to "Chase" star Kelli Giddish talk about the series, I'm beginning to think I might've missed something. I mean, I'm pretty sure I didn't, but, damn, she's just so enthusiastic...

If Giddish looks familiar to you, then you must've been one of the few people who saw her as the star of Fox's short-lived midseason series "Past Life." Obviously, she managed to land on her feet, but if you go back and check the dates between when "Past Life" was canceled and when she was picked up for "Chase," you'll see that she barely left the ground in the first place.

"I think Fox had made the call after a couple of episodes it aired, and thank goodness they did and let me go, and Warner Bros. as well, because they're the studio that did the show. They let me come over here, and I got it," said Giddish.

Giddish launched into her new endeavor with all due enthusiasm, proving from the moment she stepped foot on the set that she was ready for anything. "It’s called 'Chase,' baby," she said, laughing. "I show up on set the first day of filming, and they say 'All right. You signed on. Go.' So I did, and I was sprinting the entire first day."

Prior to moving to Texas to film "Chase," Giddish was in decent enough shape, but there's more to playing a U.S. Marshal than just being fit. "I went down to train with the U.S. Marshals because...I mean, I’m from Georgia, I’ve been around guns, but, you know, I hadn’t gone and actually trained," she said. "I got to do five days with them, riding around for 15-hour days, hearing the stories, serving warrants, and going out and really getting with the guys. A whole day of firearm training with five different types of firearms. It was absolutely awesome."

That's as may be, but I'm still not convinced that "Chase" itself is absolutely awesome. Still, Johnson's assurances about what we can expect from the series sound good, anyway.

"We hope to keep the audience on their toes with very unexpected moments with the fugitives," said Johnson. "With my background on “Lost” and “Cold Case,” a big difference of this show is we are really going to get to know the fugitives and then really get to know our U.S. Marshals, so the two points of view really make the show stand out."

We'll see about that.

Hunting Hollywood

I won't be spending long on this show...not because it doesn't sound interesting, but because it serves to remind me of how, when Sci-Fi changed their name to SyFy, they did so with the comment that they could therefore open up their programming and not limit it solely to science-fiction-related series. That really pissed me off. I mean, what, like there's not enough room on the cable dial for a network that's 100% science fiction...? Instead, they've taken to putting shows like this on their schedule...which, annoyingly, I would probably watch if it was on another network. I just don't want to personally encourage SyFy.

Still, you deserve the right to watch it if you so desire, so here's the deal with "Hunting Hollywood." Treasure hunter Joe Maddalena tracks down some of the most sought-after showbiz and pop-culture memorabilia, ranging anywhere from Margaret Hamilton's original Wicked Witch of the West hat from "The Wizard of Oz" to Mary Poppins' carpet bag to original art from issue #12 of "The Fantastic Four" (first crossover with the Incredible Hulk), featuring Stan Lee's original notes in the margins.

See what I mean? It's an awesome concept...dammit.

Executive producer Jerry Shevick swears that SyFy was always his first choice for the show. "We had several offers for the show," he said, "but we thought Syfy was perfect for us for two simple reasons. One, obviously, all the sci-fi, fantasy, horror stuff - that’s a big portion of Joe’s business in the memorabilia and collectible market, so, you know, we had a good overlap on Syfy’s core audience. The second big reason is...what we liked a great deal is with Syfy’s expanded branding now with 'Imagine Greater' and everything, all of these kinds of objects that Joe and his team are going to be tracking down really are so much more relatable to a broader audience, and so again, we thought that with where they’re going, it fit our show just perfectly. We really have the best of both worlds."

Make no mistake: Maddalena's got some terrific tales to tell, including one about a client who found an original poster for "Frankenstein" - valued at a million dollars, the most expensive movie poster in the world - in a trunk at a yard sale...and they'd gotten the trunk for free! Great story. I just wish "Hunting Hollywood" was airing somewhere else, so that I'd have more of a desire to watch it.

Destination Truth

I have to admit that I don't regularly watch the show, but I do at least know that it's at least an appropriate show for the network, so it gets a pass. (I know, I'm sounding ridiculously hard-ass about this. But I feel very strongly about it.)

According to host / executive producer Josh Gates, "New episodes come back on September 9th, and we’re going to be in the Pacific and Micronesia, the world’s very first overnight at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. They’ve never allowed cameras in there before. So we’re really excited about that. Our season premiere is going to be in Pompeii in Italy which is a really terrific episode, and then a bunch of stuff in various countries in Africa. So it’s a big season."

School Pride

Cue Will's inevitable comment about not being a huge fan of reality shows, but even if I probably won't watch this one, it certainly has its heart in the right place. From executive producers Cheryl Hines and Denise Cramsey, “School Pride” is described by NBC as "a pro-active, alternative series that tells the stories of communities coming together to renovate their aging and broken public schools."

Hines got involved in the series as a result of her daughter...sort of. "Don’t ask me why, but I was inspired to reach out to schools," she said, "and my first thought was to reach out to schools in other countries that were in need. And my friend said, 'Well, what about our country? What about our schools?' And I foolishly said, 'Oh, I think we’re OK.' And he said, 'No, we’re not OK.' And at the time, I was volunteering with Read Across America, a reading program. And I was volunteering at this school in Compton. And I literally just picked up the phone and cold-called the principal there, a woman named Dr. Jackie Sanderlin. I said, 'I don’t even know why I’m calling. Do you guys need help there?' And she said, 'Yes, we do. When can you be here?' And I got in my car; I drove over. And Jackie and I started working together. We started renovating her school. And my friend said, 'This should be a TV show. You should show the country what you’re doing and how to do it.' And I said, 'That sounds really hard.' And then Denise Cramsey and I met, and she made it seem easy. It’s not easy, but she makes it seem easy."

"The whole idea of 'School Pride' is to bring the community together, to empower the community to make changes in the school," she said. "We’re not going in and changing the infrastructure of schools. We’re going in and saying to that school, 'Reach out to your community, to local businesses. Everybody join together with the district. Work together and show the kids that you care about their school.'”

"And we’ve had great cooperation from the cities and the towns that we’ve been in," said Cramsey, "so that, you know, everyone gets behind the idea of the school project, and they just help us get it done."

"When people in their own community get together and say, 'Regardless of what what’s going on in the world, we’re going take care of our community and we’re going to take care of the people around us,' I think you can make changes because it doesn’t seem like we have to change the world," said Hines. "It seems like we just have to take care of our community and each other. And I think when you break it down...you know, I was calling one other person. I wasn’t going to Capitol Hill and banging down their door, not to say that I wouldn’t do that because it’s probably in my future, but...what you can say is, 'What can I, as an individual, do to make one tiny bit of difference?' And you find out, actually, you can do a lot. And even if it’s just on one Saturday out of the year, it could really mean a lot to those 600 kids that walk through the door of that school. It doesn’t feel so overwhelming, and it feels doable. That’s what we’re trying to do with 'School Pride.' We’re trying to show people what they can do."

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon / The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards

The last time we saw Jimmy Fallon at a TCA event, he was just preparing to start his talk show and seemed more than a little bit nervous at the prospect of stepping into Conan O'Brien's shoes as the host of NBC's "Late Night." These days, he's had enough to success to earn himself a pretty high profile side gig, too: serving as emcee for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. But don't expect to see too much crossover between the two shows.

"The Emmys, I think, is not 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' hosting," said Fallon. "It’s me hosting. So I don’t want to push too hard. I want the Academy to be happy, and I want Don Mischer to be happy, and I want NBC to be happy. You know, it’s not really about me. It’s more about celebrating television and getting all of those face time."

Fallon took a few minutes to step into the Wayback Machine and reminisce about his very first show, which featured an interview which he's able to admit wasn't exactly the best of all possible starts.

"First of all, I just want to say how cool Robert De Niro was to come on the show," began Fallon. "He had nothing to promote. He just did it because he’s a New Yorker and I’ve worked in the past and he did me a favor. That being said, he does not like to talk. It’s a lot of head-bobbing and one-word answers. But I figured, 'Baptism by fire. Jump into the fire, baby, let’s see what it’s going to be.' And there’s so many things that I wish I could have done. I wish I could have made the temperature cooler, because I was sweating so much flop sweat during that first show. It was like I just came off a water slide. Oh, my God, I was so dewy during that interview. And I was like, 'Whaaaaaaa...' And, of course, it’s your first show, which...I don’t know why anyone does this, but my mom and dad want to come to the first show. And I go, 'Can’t you come to the tenth show? Can’t you come to anything, but not the first.' There’s so much pressure, you know. And I’m worried about if my mom. Is she going to sit in her seat? What if she has to go to the bathroom? Who’s going to take her? I got to worry about these things. I gotta worry about the show!

"I just remember going, like, 'Well, now, this is it.' I was behind the curtain, you know, just standing there. Higgins was announcing. If you go back and listen to it...oh, my God, Higgins is even off. He’s, like, 'Live from Studio from 6H…NBC…Jimmy...' It’s like the worst intro ever. And I was just standing, like, all right. And it’s almost like when the curtain opens, like you’ve seen that shot in movies before where, like, the curtain opens and you just see the silhouette of the comedian walking out like a gladiator. And I was, like, 'It’s on. This is it.' It’s, like. game on. And I think I had a good first joke. I forget what it was. I think someone was...was Rush Limbaugh rooting for me to fail? I think that was the first joke, I think. He just said it about Obama. It's a dated reference now. But I remember going out there, and I go, like, 'This is just it. You just have to do it.' And I was so nervous about time cues and going out to commercial and, like, OK and just the story’s getting good, I cut him off and go like, 'Thank you. We’ll be right back, bye. Thank you, bye.' And it’s like...now, a year later, I know to just keep going, or if it’s not working, to go to commercial. I’m much more calm, and I kind of understand it better now. It’s, like, 'Oh, we don’t have anything to worry about.' But the best way to learn is that you have to just do it."

Okay, back to the Emmys to bring this thing home. What can we expect from Fallon as the host of the show?

"Personally, as a fan of the Emmys and a fan of awards shows in general, you just want them to move along," said Fallon. "You just want to keep them moving and keep it fast and tight. And so I think...I mean, we’re all with the same goal in mind. I mean, even the people in the crowd. I mean, there’s just like, 'OK. I already lost. Let’s get this over with. I mean, I want to keep it moving and keep it fresh and fun and respectful, too. We’re going to do something with Twitter. We haven’t figured that out yet, but we have a couple of ideas for that just so maybe the people at home can somehow get involved with the award show somehow, make it a little bit interactive."

Day 3 of the TCA Press Tour continued with the CBS family of networks, offering us a split day between Showtime and The CW...and if I'm to be honest, my enthusiasm was decidedly higher for the former. I've made this comment before, but The CW so unabashedly caters to an audience that's far younger and prettier than myself (or, really, almost anyone I interact with on a regular basis) that it's hard for me to get but so excited about their shows...but, of course, that doesn't mean I won't be reporting on them, anyway. First up, though, is Showtime, which I am excited about. Seriously, it's reached the point where I'm pretty sure I prefer Showtime to HBO.

There, I said it...and it feels good.

· Showtime Introductory Remarks

Matthew C. Blank, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Showtime, took the stage to welcome the assembled throng, then launched immediately into a series of announcements and remarks, including the following:

"Weeds” guest stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Alanis Morrissette, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Mark Paul Gosselaar, Peter Stormare, and Linda Hamilton.

“Dexter” guest stars: Julia Stiles, Peter Weller, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Shawn Hatosy, and Jonny Lee Miller.

“Californication” guest stars: Carla Gugino, Rob Lowe, Tommy Lee, Zoe Kravitz, Michael Ealy, and Callie Thorne.

Liam Neeson will be joining his former “Kinsey” co-star Laura Linney for an episode of her new Showtime series, “The Big C.” Also guesting on the show: Cynthia Nixon and Idris Elba.

The network has committed to ten episodes of “Web Therapy,” a comedy developed by and starring Lisa Kudrow.

“Nurse Jackie” and “United States of Tara” will be both be returning for third seasons, as will “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” for Season 4.

Producer John Wells is premiering his new Showtime series, “Shameless,” starring William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum, on January 9th. Also coming in 2011 is “The Borgias,” starring Jeremy Irons and created and executive-produced by Neil Jordan, who’s directing the series’ first two episodes as well. The trailer for “Shameless” looks like the start of another great dysfunctional-family drama for Showtime, and…well, actually, I guess you could say the same of “The Borgias,” although they haven’t really filmed enough of it yet for us to get much of a feel for it. Most of what we were shown was interview clips with Irons and Jordan and footage from the photo sessions for the series, so all I can really confirm is that it looks awesome…but, then, what else would you expect from the network that brought you the gorgeousness of “The Tudors”?

· The Big C

If Showtime can take a person suffering from a multiple-personality disorder and make a sitcom out of their situation, then it should come as no surprise that they'd be willing to take on the challenge of making cancer funny, but when you see "The Big C," you'll discover that laughter is only one of the things you'll experience while watching the show. As you might expect, much of the humor within the series is of the "you've got to laugh to keep from crying" variety, but let's face it: life is funny, and if you don't try to find the funny in everything, you'll have a really depressing ride ahead of you.

"I had had a conversation with a network executive about what they were looking for and what they wanted to buy, and the response had been, 'We want something that's relatable,'" said executive producer Darlene Hunt. "At the time, I had a couple of friends who were battling cancer, and it occurred to me that I didn't know anybody who wasn't battling cancer who wasn't doing it with a sense of humor. And so I, in trying to find something I could sell that people would want to watch and would respond to, that was kind of what we talked about."

The show stars Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison, a woman who has just received the diagnosis that changes her life and, at the same time, makes her realize how much shorter that life has suddenly become.

“When this script came to me,” said Linney, “what hit me the most was the theme of time and what do you do with time, what are the choices that we make, how we spend our time, the fact that we all have a limited amount and that it's a privilege to grow old. That's something that I think a lot of people have forgotten in this very fast-paced world where youth is overly celebrated, so it was meaningful to me. It was more what the whole story was about than just the wonderful character that's there. Clearly, I thought was something that I could spend some time with and would be challenged by, but more than anything else, it's more, for me, about time.”

In addition to starring the show, Linney will also be serving as one of its executive producers, but she laughed when asked what this title means. "What it has allowed me to do is that I don't have to keep my mouth shut if there's something that I see (or) if there's an idea that I have," she said. "We also sort of have our areas that we have more involvement in. Mine deals much more with the atmosphere on the set and how things function day to day."

"The thing you need to know about Laura is she really is executive-producing." said Linney's fellow executive producer, Jenny Bicks. "I mean, this is an actress who is showing up for concept meetings and production meetings long before her call. She's being humble, but she wears many hats, and she wears them very well. She's a good hat-wearer."

When a show's central character has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, you can be forgiven for wondering just how long the series can possibly go on, but you probably also won't be surprised to learn that this is something the producers have already considered.

"Every season is a season," explained creator Vivian Cannon. "In the pilot episode, it's the first day of summer. So the first season of the show would be summer, the following would be autumn, and so on."

As far as how long Cathy can be expected to live, "I think the thing that we wanted to do going in was just be truthful about the disease," said Bicks. "The thing about melanoma - she's at Stage 4 melanoma - there's a truth to how long, generally, you will live, but at the same time, there's a huge amount of research coming out, a huge amount of clinical trials, which has kept us busy, making sure our research is up to date. We don't think in terms of when or if are we going to kill her because it's much more about the exploration of what she's going to be doing while she's alive. It honestly really is that. But if it comes time that she goes, she goes. We are not going to be afraid of that. And the nice thing about doing it on Showtime is that we don't have to sugarcoat the situation that she's in."

I was originally going to wrap up my discussion of "The C Word" with a comment from Hunt about how the show shouldn't necessarily be the go-to place for those who have just been diagnosed with cancer and are looking for how to proceed, but I think it's much more appropriate to close with a trifecta of observations which emerged from the panel as a result of someone asking Linney what advice her character would give to someone who had just been diagnosed with cancer. I think you'll agree that the comments reveal that this is a show written, produced, and starring folks who are treating their subject appropriately: with respect, intelligence, and, yes, a sense of humor.

"I don't think (Cathy) would give any advice," said Linney. "I don't think she'd give any advice at all. She's pretty self-consumed at the moment, and I don't think she would dare take anyone's advice. But she's learning from experience. She's learning from the mistakes that she makes. She's learning from the actions that she does that are positive. And more than trying to have a bucket list, I think she's trying to figure out who she wants to be more than what she wants to do. Although what she wants to do is certainly part of it, there's a lot of fun stuff that she does do because there's a sense of liberation in a way...which is so odd. When you're dying, you're sort of liberated to do what you want to do. You give yourself permission. So I don't think she would dare to (give advice). I think everyone's experience with a terminal disease is so deeply personal and so deeply unique to the person and the context in which they're living and the relationships that they have."

"We wanted to kind of turn some expectations on its ear a little bit," said Hunt. "You know, there's a lot of support groups, and there might be a handbook for if you get diagnosed, some places to go, some advice, some books to read, but I think some things that we wanted to explore is what would be, like, a knee-jerk reaction to just wanting to feel good and live life differently and on your own terms and...things that weren't maybe typical."

"I think the key is, she's not the pinup child for how one goes about dealing with cancer," said Bicks. "She's one woman in one place in time dealing with this specific kind of cancer and this is how she's doing it. I don't think we set out to try to deliver lessons on how to do it, except maybe...I would hope that people watching it at least will feel like, you know, don't wait until you get cancer to make yourself happy.

"I am the affirmative action cancer survivor of this group," Bicks continued, "and I'm sure many of you have been through it or know people who have been through it, and there isn't one way that you go through it. I think that's the most important thing. You're going to have very odd reactions, very funny reactions, and tragic reactions. It's all part of life."

Is your curiosity piqued? Well, this is your lucky day: Showtime has made the first episode of "The C Word" available to everyone...yes, even you, sir...for advance viewing. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

· The Real L Word

There's no point in - if you'll pardon the expression - beating around the bush on the matter of "The Real L Word": I don't tend to watch reality shows, and the only reason that I'd find myself watching this one is that I'm a straight male, and everyone knows that most straight males are - if you'll pardon the word - titillated by lesbians. Throw in the fact that the first season of the show is only a few weeks from wrapping up, and there's really only one thing from the panel that needs to be addressed: are we ever going to see the kind of nudity on this show that we saw on the original "L Word"?

"You should check out this Sunday's episode," said executive producer Jane Lipsitz.

"I think Episode 7 is going to make up for the whole entire 1 through 6 not having that shock value," said Rose Garcia. "Without giving away too much, it's probably going to be...well, there's only one word: epic. That's all I can say."

"Honestly, Episode 7 really, I think, was pioneering on many levels," said Whitney Mixter. "The thing is, in terms of nudity, I think we had different boundaries. I know for myself when I went into it, I said, 'If I'm going to do it, I'm going to go in a hundred percent, just, like, balls to the wall,' for lack of better phrasing. And I said I wasn't going to close the door, whether it was the kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom. It was just basically, for me, about whether my...well, the partner I was with at the time was comfortable, because we are consenting adults. I'm very, like, sex-positive, comfortable with my body. And I think it's time for women to really, like, own that and step up to the plate. Men have been doing it for years. So I think that with my storyline, you'll see several sexual situations and some nudity throughout the season, but it definitely increases in the next three episodes."

"In other words," said Nikki Weiss, "if you have not watched anything, this would be the one."

· Dexter

Even if you weren't watching "Dexter" last season - and, unfortunately, I have to admit that I wasn't, though I have really good intentions about catching up soon - it's still very possible that you might've heard the rumble about John Lithgow's Golden Globe winning performance as Arthur Mitchell, a.k.a. the Trinity Killer. And the season finale...? Viewers are still talking about it, and ever since it aired, they've been chomping at the bit to find out where Dexter's path will take him now that the love of his life is dead.

To get at least a little bit of insight into what we can expect, let's start by looking at the trailer that Showtime has released to get folks jazzed for the new season:

I'll tell you, man, that makes me want to throw aside all of the TCA stuff I've got on my plate and just watch "Dexter" for the next few days...but since that's not an option, I'll go ahead and offer up a few highlights from the panel.

Although that trailer would have you think that Seasons 4 and 5 were conceived jointly, they actually weren't. "We rarely go beyond one year, because that has to have a season-long arc that has its own story from start to finish," said executive producer Sara Colleton. "But when we got to the end of Season 4 and after the finale, it very quickly became clear to us what Season 5 had to be about. We felt we needed to start the season right where we left off so that the audience would participate in seeing Dexter deal with the blow-back for his culpability in Rita's death. To cheat that would be to cheat our audience."

It may not surprise you, however, that no one amongst the cast was particularly forthcoming with details about what we might expect to see in Season 5.

When asked if Vince Masuka's off-the-job interests and DVD collection might result in him figuring things out than others might not, C.S. Lee offered the kind of answer that revealed nothing but his own optimism, saying, "I certainly think it's a possibility. You know, he works in close proximity with Dexter, and we share labs. That certainly can happen. You know, I certainly hope he doesn't get too close to that. He will have to be the next one to go!"

When Jennifer Carpenter was asked where her character, Debra, would be going this season, she would only say, "She's going to work. You know, she's literally going to work, hiding there, being seen there."

Not much to work with, right? Fortunately, the show's executive producers were willing to offer up at least a little bit more information.

Chip Johannssen tackled the matter of how the police are once again taking a long, hard look at Dexter this year. "Obviously, from the clip, it's going to be spearheaded by Quinn in some form," he confirmed, "and it's really going to look a lot different because, first of all, he's going to have more actual information. He's not going to be this bull in a china shop thing just going after Dexter. And the other thing is, because he isn't the bull in a china shop, this sort of outsider in the bull pen, Quinn has, you know, found a home there, which is one of the nice things about this show, I think, that there's this kind of work environment that feels very family-like. He's going to have a much, much more difficult time eventually pushing forward with this investigation as kind of the personal relationships around him weigh on him. So it's going to look a lot different."

We were also able to get at least a tiny bit of insight into what we can expect from three of the season's most notable guest stars, Peter Weller, Julia Stiles, and Jonny Lee Miller.

"Peter Weller is going to be a big problem for Dexter, especially in the back parlor," said Johannssen. "We called (the character) Weller when we originally conceived him, and then we had to change the name once we got the guy we had actually wanted. So he's kind of an ex-cop, a kind of cocaine, cowboy-era guy who gets into some trouble with the corruption thing and ends up kind of posing a problem for Dexter.

"We are taking a break this year from what has been the way we've plotted out our seasons in the past four years, which is to have one, sort of, season-long adversary for Dexter," said Colleton. "And we thought this was the perfect year, because of what Dexter has gone through, to take a break from that. And so, as he's going through different stages of his grief, really, even though, for Dexter, it's completely unarticulated and it's a range of human emotion that he doesn't know what he's feeling, but as he goes through different stages, there will be different characters who will come in, who will interact. And so, as the season progresses, some of these characters interlock, but it's a very -- the through line is, this year, Dexter's atonement, and different people help him along the way in different capacities. And that's why we have a very interesting array of new actors.

"We have an ensemble this year with Jonny Lee Miller and Julia Stiles and others that help illuminate what Sara is talking about, which is this discovery of atonement," said executive producer John Goldwyn.

"Yeah, one of the things we wanted to do this year was shake up that single big bad, especially in the wake of John Lithgow, and it did seem like the thing to do was try to top the baroque serial killer thing," said Johannssen. "Also, given where Dexter was coming from, it does become a series about atonement. He's not a character who experiences guilt or grief like any of us would, so it's not his intention starting out, but the season kind of becomes about this as he slides into it. As Michael (C. Hall) sometimes says, he trips into it, this kind of oddly human experience, at a time where he just feels that everything that he has done that had to do with connecting with humanity has melted down in this horrible, horrible way. The last thing he wants to do is be involved with people, and yet part of the amazing thing about this character, who is so outside of everybody and so alienated, is that he keeps trying to claw his way back in. In the wake of Rita's death, you see that over the course, really, of the whole season."

· Episodes

Hey, everybody, Matt LeBlanc's back!

Those of you who just made cricket sounds should be ashamed of yourselves. If you'd been on "Friends" and hadn't had much luck making the move to films, you would've jumped at the chance to spin off your character into his own sitcom, too. Besides, it's not LeBlanc's fault that "Joey" kinda sorta sucked, y'know? For my money, the guy deserves another shot at success...and, frankly, I've been excited at the prospect of seeing his new Showtime series, "Episodes," ever since the network released this promo in conjunction with the last TCA tour:

Funny stuff, right? Mind you, it's only a promotional trailer and won't actually be part of the show, but it's still a good look into the sensibilities of the series, which will finally make its debut in a few months. To keep us enthused, we were provided with a couple of scripts and shown a few clips from what they've filmed thus far, and I have to tell you: I'm very psyched. If you want to call LeBlanc a one-note comedic actor, fair enough, but if that's the case...well, what can I say? I never fail to laugh at that one note.

LeBlanc certainly seems to be happy about being back...as well he should, since he hasn't really done much of anything since "Joey" left the air in 2006.

"There were a few network shows that came and went that crossed my desk and I said no to," said LeBlanc. "You know, 12 years, every day, was a lot. It was a great time, but I wanted to take some time off and spend time with my daughter and just sort of take some time away from the business. It's nice to be back now in something with writing that I have real faith in, with a cast that's really talented, and it was a lot of fun.

"I got a call from Jeffrey (Klarik) and David (Crane), and they said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'Just hanging out. Nothing.' And they said, 'We have an idea. Let's get together.' So I met them for lunch, and they pitched me the idea, and I committed right there at the table. It's been a real joy to have them on set every day. There was no writing staff on this. David and Jeffrey wrote all of them by themselves in advance. So when we got to shooting, unlike episodic television, where the writers are off in a room with a staff breaking episodes, they were on set every frame that we shot. And it really helped to give life to the voices that they created, and it was a real joy. I think everybody really enjoyed that.

"It was a little different," LeBlanc admitted. "This is single camera versus multi camera in front of an audience, so when the punch lines came up and you say the punch line and there's no crowd laughing, it's a little unnerving. But aside from that, I think we had a really good time, and I think it shows."

The premise of "Episodes" revolves around a married couple who are forced to endure the process of taking the popular British sitcom that they've created and turning it into an American sitcom, but executive writer Jimmy Mulville assured us that the series will not have as much of an industry-insider feel as its concept might imply.

"I think what happens to the couple is it's not about television," said Mulville. "This whole thing is about a triangle. Beverly and Sean come to Hollywood. He wants to go there. She's reluctant, but she loves him. So she goes, and they try and make this work. Enter Matt LeBlanc. There the triangle is formed, and it's about that, really. It's about a comedy about these three people and the brilliant characters very beautifully drawn at the network, and they all conspires to make a mess of these people's lives. So a marriage goes through a real crisis, and the backdrop is this crazy world of network TV, which apparently Jeffrey (Klarik) and David (Crane) know quite well."

"It's sort of about show business like 'I Love Lucy' was about show business, you know?" said Klarik. "I mean, it's really on the periphery of all of our stories. The story's really about the three of them and their dynamic."

"And hopefully that's what the audience will invest in," said Crane, "It's really about what happens between the people."

· CW Executive Session

And so we enter the realm of The CW, beginning with a few introductory remarks from Paul McGuire, the man who handles publicity for the network. McGuire offered up his Top Ten Favorite Moments in TCA History, but there are so many inside jokes within the list that there's no point in sharing all of them. Still, there are a couple worth mentioning...

10. Music impresario Ron Fair is the first panelist in press tour history to reference Jean-Paul Sartre...and during the infamous Pussycat Dolls session, no less. Critics are unswayed by the show's clear female empowerment theme.

8. Two words: "Shasta McNasty." Come to think of it, two more words: "Desmond Pfeiffer."

6. At the NBC panel for miniseries "The '60s," original hippie Wavy Gravy nods off and audibly snores. If you remember it, you weren't there.

1. Indefatigable reporter Joe Adalian, does a Tommy Lee Jones, chasing the Fugitive...in this case, Jamie Tarses...down a swank hallway of the Pasadena Ritz-Carlton, followed by the biggest gaggle in press tour history. ABC executive sessions: once exciting, always exciting.

Actually, that last one was pretty much just for the TV geeks...but if you know who Jamie Tarses is, trust me, it's a riot.

After a few words from Paul Hewitt, it was time for the executive session from Dawn Ostroff, the network's President of Entertainment, who offered up the following tidbits of information:

The fifteenth cycle of "America's Top Model" is going to be focusing on the high fashion world. "We have models, designers, judges, and photographers who are all very respected in the high fashion world," said Ostroff, "and our prize for the fifteen cycle is going to be the cover of Italian Vogue, which is considered to be the most influential magazine in the world for the fashion business."

The first few episodes of the new season of "Gossip Girl" were filmed in France. We saw some footage, and it looks like the usual cheese but with an international flair...and by calling it "cheese," I'm trying to hide the fact that, although I almost never watch it when it actually airs, I invariably devour the "Gossip Girl" full-season DVD sets whenever they're released.

Fans should not be concerned about the changes that are going on behind the scenes of "Supernatural." "Eric Kripke, who has been a fantastic creator/executive producer of the show, felt that the show really should go on, that he still had more stories to tell," said Ostroff. "Sera Gamble, who has been a number two on the show for a while, was eager to kind of step up and take on the role of executive producer. While Eric is still involved on a day-to-day basis, Sera is really running the show. And Bob Singer, of course, is there. He's been there all along as well. When they came in and pitched us ideas for the season, we were really excited about the direction that they wanted to go in, a bit of a throwback going back to the first season, a bit of a switch in the characters where Sam is a little bit more like Dean and Dean is going to be a little bit more like Sam. But they had some innovative ways to approach the season. We all thought it probably will be maybe even stronger than last year. So we are excited that the show will be back.

"I don't know if you saw the show in the first season," Ostroff continued, "but it was pretty much they were hunting something different every single week, and they're going to go back to that format. The one twist aside from the guy's personalities kind of changing a bit is that their mother's side of the family is going to turn out to be hunters also, and so there'll be some storylines involving their mom's side of the family. I think we're all feeling really enthusiastic about 'Supernatural.' Everybody on the show still feels that there's a lot of juice left in the characters, and we hope it goes on for more seasons, for sure."

The door has been left open for Michael Rosenbaum to return and reprise the role of Lex Luthor. "We have left the door open, we hope that he will come back, but we don't know if that will happen, but we've certainly left the door open," said Ostroff. "They do have the entire season planned out, and I think it's going to be a really thrilling last season for them. I know that a lot of the actors and the writers...I mean, everybody feels this sense of wanting to give the audience a really fulfilling season finale, and so I think it won't disappoint. The big villain this year is going to be Darkseid, and I can tell you that they're going to have Brainiac back. They're going to have Supergirl back. They're going to have Hawkman back. So they've got a lot of interesting surprises."

(Ostroff also acknowledged that talks have begun to see if there are other possible DC Comics properties to adapt. "We haven't picked anything up to develop yet, but we would love to see something on the air, so we're going to work on it.")

And, lastly, The CW currently only has one show set to premiere at mid-season. It's a reality show called "Shedding for the Wedding." I don't think you really need to know any more about it than that.

· Nikita

Oh, sure, you've seen "Nikita" before, both as a movie and as a series on the USA Network. But have you really seen "Nikita"? Apparently not, according to executive producer Craig Silverstein, who has - along with fellow producer McG - done his best to make the "La Femme Nikita" concept fresh.

"Warner Bros. had that title ('Nikita'), and, you know, my first thought was that I love 'Nikita,'" said Silverstein. "I love all those iterations of it. My second thought was, 'It's been done.' Could it be done fresh? Could we have a take where you didn't know how this story was going to end? And that's when I came upon the idea of following Nikita after she had left the agency which is a chapter that's never been told, and at the same time doing justice to the origin story of Nikita, that dark fairy tale of taking a girl and changing her life, changing her identity, and the kind of 'My Fair Lady' aspect, the 'Pygmalion' aspect of transforming her into a killer, a beautiful killer and giving her etiquette lessons and all that stuff. We're doing that with the character of Alex. So you're kind of following Nikita. You're also following Alex, who is not Nikita. So you don't know which way this girl is going to go. You don't know how the story is going to end. So it's not a rehash."

"Also, I think we're all very excited about the notion of empowered female characters, and we like those shows," said McG. "And you meet someone like Maggie Q, and you can hear it just in the first couple of questions she answered, she's a very extraordinary talent. You meet someone like that, you get excited about the notion of a show like this being on the air, and I have very fond memories of those shows. From my experience with 'Charlie's Angels,' on down, it's just I like the idea of empowered female characters that don't apologize for being beautiful, but are very, very intelligent and multi-dimensional, and I think Maggie nails that voicing."

· Hellcats

After I watched the pilot for "Hellcats," I immediately went to Facebook and indicated that, although I wanted to embrace the cheesiness of the show, I ultimately found it so ridiculous that the only thing I could find to latch onto were the cheerleaders...and that just made me feel old and lecherous. While watching the preview for the show that was played before its TCA panel, though, I was surprised to find that my reaction had softened somewhat: I still don't think it's great, but damned if the clips didn't make me smile. Also, as a father, it would be disingenuous for me to pretend that I don't sympathize with the idea of somebody's daughter struggling to pay for their college education and having to fall back on a cheerleading scholarship in order to get to law school.

In short, it's still not really my cup of tea, but I'm starting to be more appreciative of where they're coming from.

One of the other critics tried to paint the show as an anti-"Glee," with cheerleaders coming across more as heroes than villains, but executive producer Kevin Murphy seemed mystified at the suggestion.

"If there's any sort of antecedent to this," he said, "it goes back to those, like, awesome aspirational sports movies from the late '70s and the early '80s, like 'Breaking Away' or 'Vision Quest' or 'Flashdance.' It's really about finding characters who are in difficult circumstances, often economic circumstances, who kind of come together, and they form these relationships that happen in sports teams, where sort of a de facto family is found and built. This is a show for either optimists or people who are interested in learning the trade. I think the catch phrase for Ashley (Tisdale's) character is 'Positive outcomes only.' So I would hesitate to say anything is anti on this show."

Murphy was, however, willing to accept the premise that "Hellcats" is to dancing what "Glee" is to singing.

"Yeah, I think that, absolutely, the dancing is a huge component of the show," he said, "but it exists very much with one foot in the world of the characters, because I think that nobody is going to tune in to the show to watch the awesome three minutes of dancing that we are going to provide. They are going to tune in because they really care about what's going on with Marti and her law career and what's going on with the relationship between the two central girls and the family relationships. That's really, I think, where the sweet spot where the show lives. I would never have the temerity to try to compete with 'Glee' in terms of razzle dazzle and music things and, you know, all of that. They've got that territory pretty well staked out."

As far as the casting process for Savannah, played by Ashley Tisdale, and Marti, played by Alyson Michalka, Murphy seemed pretty amused when telling the story about how they came into their roles.

"For Ashley, when she came in, I laughed my ass off, and I wanted to get up and hug her at the same time," he said. "I think that Ashley is an actress who can sort of hold multiple colors in the same palette, and the thing that's really wonderful about her take on Savannah is that she can be chirpy and annoying as a character, and at the same time, she's so irresistible that you just...you want to hang out with her and be her friend. And as far as Aly...it was just a long and arduous process finding Marti. I don't know if you realize this, but when you actually walked out of the room, I just had one of those moments that you only see in, like, MGM musicals. I was, like, 'Okay, well, that was Marti!' That was the only time I had met her until we had callbacks, and there just never was anyone else. It's like that mixture of sort of determination and grit and assertiveness and vulnerability. Again, it's a case where there's so much going on. I'm being kind of goofy about it, but...I'm so lucky to have both of you."

I could go on about "Hellcats," but I don't know that there's any point, really. It's a show about cheerleaders. You'll watch it or you won't. But if you feel like you need more details from the panel, let me know, and I'm sure I can oblige.

· Gossip Girl

As I indicated above, I'm kind of a closet "Gossip Girl" fan: I don't care enough about it to watch it only a week basis, but I'm the first to devour it when it hits DVD, so, basically, I won't be watching Season 4 'til sometime next summer. For better or worse, though, the presence of Ed Westwick on the panel kind of answers a question left unanswered in the Season 3 finale...or, as Paul Hewitt put it, "Spoiler alert: Chuck Bass lives!"

Westwick offered no details about how Chuck managed to escape certain death, but he did provide insight into the experience of shooting the first episodes of Season 4 on location in Paris...and how insane the French fans were.

"It was pretty crazy," he said. "But they were parked outside our hotel most days, so I was holed up watching the remaining games of the World Cup semifinals from the comfort of my hotel. It was absolutely nuts, but the show of support was fantastic down there. Everyone was great, so it was amazing. Good times."

Thankfully, executive producer Josh Schwartz was willing to give up a little bit of info about Chuck's fate. "Well, obviously, where we left Chuck at the end of last season was in a pretty dramatic place," he said. "And, you know, reconnecting with that character and where Blair's head is at regarding Chuck. And, obviously, you know, there are some photos that have been circling through it in the promos where you see them in a French location seeing each other, and that very act in itself will have explosive consequences for the rest of the season as well as introducing Clemence's character."

That would be Clemence Poecy, if you're wondering, and she's made quite an impression on the cast already. "I was just absolutely blown away by Clemence," said Westwick. "I think she's absolutely fantastic. I had to, like, catch myself in moments in the scene and remember how much you're supposed to be acting. She was really, really great, so, you know, another great dynamic to bring to the team.

"And a really fresh, different energy for our show," added executive producer Stephanie Savage.

"Yeah, definitely," agreed Westwick.

So what can we expect from "Gossip Girl" after the gang gets back from Paris?

"We're doing Fashion's Night Out," said executive producer Joshua Savran. "It's an event that we're doing in the third episode. We are sort of dealing with that in multiple episodes, the planning of it, the people that are involved with it on the New York side, which is a really fun, great event in New York City that happens in September that our characters of our world can really fit in."

"And we've had incredible participation and cooperation from Vogue magazine and all of the people who are really creating Fashion's Night Out, having cameos on our show, bringing models in," said executive producer Stephanie Savage. "We shot in Diane von Furstenberg's store, and she showed up."

"She was great," agreed Savran. "It's just been really fun. It's one of the things I most love about 'Gossip Girl' is the events every week and sort of just dreaming up new events and new places for the characters to go. And I think we have a lot of great ones coming up."

"Katie Cassidy has a big, nice, juicy arc this season that I think is going to be a lot of fun and raise a lot of trouble," said executive producer Josh Schwartz. "It's always good to have a character who can come in and turn everybody on their heads and stir the pot."

Now that "Mercy" has been canceled, we'll be seeing more of Michelle Trachtenberg...and we do mean that literally, based on the shot of Georgina Sparks that we saw in the preview trailer. (If you're not taking the hint, she appears to be with child.) Taylor Momsen will also be returning, though the producers are loathe to give out any details about her return, aside from the fact that it will likely take place at some point during the first half of the season.

"We want to keep it a little bit up in the air," said Savage. "Obviously, her character left at the end of last season in a fairly dramatic fashion, and it felt kind of anticlimactic to just have her appear at the beginning of this season as if all of that didn't happen. So we're excited about being able to create some tension while she's not in the show and bring her back with as much drama as possible at the right moment."

CBS's big day of TCA panels kicked off with an Executive Session from the one and only Nina Tassler, the network's President of Entertainment, who brought us the following tidbits and newsbriefs:

“The Big Bang Theory”: The show is moving to Thursdays. “Certainly, it was difficult, but not in the sense that you don’t have complete faith and belief in the show,” said Tassler. “The time felt right. The show is certainly enjoying an extraordinary amount of support and love, and this was a great opportunity for us to really move it into a strategic place and open the night.”

“Survivor”: The new season of the popular reality series will find the castaways divided into Young vs. Old. The members of the La Flor Tribe will all be aged 30 or younger, while those in the Espada Tribe will all be 40 or older.

“Undercover Boss”: Four of the companies which will appear in the show’s second season have been revealed: NASCAR, DirecTV, Chiquita Brands, Inc., and Great Wolf Resorts.

“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”: Justin Bieber will be playing a character in the season premiere, playing a character that is “quite different from his wholesome real-life persona.”

“CSI: Miami” and “CSI: NY” timeslot changes: “Going into this season, we had very strong development, we really wanted to get a number of those new dramas on the air, and both ‘Miami’ and ‘New York’ are still strong players for us, so we said, ‘Look, we can use them to improve the time periods they're going into, as well as support new shows that they're launching side by side with.’"

"Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior”: Janeane Garofalo has been added to the cast.

New gay characters: GLAAD will no doubt be pleased to hear that, according to Tassler, there are three on the horizon for the new season. “You're going to meet Alicia's brother in ‘The Good Wife,’ a gay character. We're also going to be adding a new character to ‘Rules of Engagement.’ Jeff and Audrey's surrogate will be a member of Jeff's softball team, and she's a lesbian. We're also going to be recurring a character in ‘$#*! My Dad Says,’ the character Tim Bagley played.” I’m particularly happy to hear about that last one, mostly because the scenes between Bagley and William Shatner are arguably the funniest in the pilot.

After Tassler's remarks and Q&A were completed, she evacuated the stage in order for the day's show panels to begin, starting with...

"The Big Bang Theory"

At first glance, the fact that “The Big Bang Theory” is the only pre-existing CBS show to get its own panel on the network’s TCA day would lead one to deduce that it’s because it’s so popular. In reality, though, it’s much more likely that the series got the spotlight because they want to make sure it’s still a major player when it returns on Sept. 28th and shifts on the CBS schedule from Mondays to Thursdays. Ah, but who cares why they’re here? It’s just good to see the gang again. Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, and Kunal Nayyar were all in attendance, along with creators / executive producers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, and, as usual, they gave us some great, fun stuff.

Jim Parsons commented on his occasional difficulties in mastering the slight variations of his famous knock (which, for the record, was the idea of executive producer Lee Aronsohn), admitting, “It’s easy to get tripped up, and I have to do it a few times to figure out, ‘Well, where the hell is the rhythm of this new one?’”

Parsons and his co-stars also regaled the crowd with the story of filming the scene with Sheldon diving around in the ball pit.

“That was a blast,” said Parsons.

“Once they cleaned the balls, it was fun,” said Galecki. “They were filthy.”

“Every single one of those balls was Purell’d,” said Helberg.

“(Jim) came in from rehearsal from that,” said Cuoco, “and he’s looking at me, and I’m, like, ‘Have you showered today?’ It was like a film of black across his face.”

“It was awful,” admitted Parsons.

“Dirty balls,” Cuoco sighed.

“I washed my hands, and the sink was black water,” said Parsons. “Then I wiped my clean hands on a towel, and it would be damp, and I brushed it over my face, and there would be this swath of pink and gray.”

“And we had disinfectant spray for one another,” said Galecki.

“It was good for my hair, though,” said Parsons. “I realized that I need a drier product. I don't need to use a gel or something.”

“Ball pits are kind of on the way out,” explained Prady. “They don't really make them anymore. And we're looking at the set, and we kept saying, ‘More balls!’ They said, ‘This is all the balls in Southern California!’”

“I think we emptied every bin at every Chuck E. Cheese’s in Los Angeles,” said Lorre.

Possible guest star in the new season: Steve Wozniak.
Definite guest star in the new season: Mayim Bialik.

When asked point blank if Sheldon would “finally get it on this season,” Parsons’ first reaction was to scoff and say, “Oh, come on.” Pressed to consider the possibility that he might get close, he admitted that he didn’t know but added, “I wouldn’t hold it past anybody at this point. I think I might’ve said ‘no’ for sure six months ago, but now…? I never thought we’d even stumble upon a female that communicated with, but we did that.”

“He’ll have a very specific relationship with Mayim Bialik,” said Lorre. “A unique relationship.”

Lorre’s dream guest star: Neil Gaiman.

“Neil deGrasse Tyson is a big fan, and he passed along a comment that he got on the Hayden Planetarium website, which was a suggestion as to how he might appear on the show,” said Prady. “He’s famous as the fellow who demoted Pluto from planet status…and, actually, that does sound kind of fun. There are some other things we want to do, but we're just, at this point, talking to people, and it's a matter of scheduling, so it's a little too soon to talk about.”

Galecki and Cuoco are in agreement that the time was right for Leonard and Penny to break up.

“I thought it said natural to where they’re at in their lives right now,” said Galecki. “They have a whole lot to learn in the ways of love.”

“I think it was super realistic, actually,” said Cuoco. “I mean, relationships are up and down, and people get together, and they break up, and they're not friends, and they're friends. I mean, you know, this stuff happens all the time. So I think it actually was perfect timing…and you never know what's going to happen with them.”

On a romance-related note, Melissa Rauch will be returning this season to reprise her role as Howard’s girlfriend, Bernadette.

Lorre admitted to being surprised when he got the news that the powers that be at CBS were moving the show to Thursday nights, but while not entirely thrilled with the move, he also doesn’t have a real problem with it, either.

“One assumes they've given it a lot of thought and that it's a good thing for the show,” said Lorre. “Given where we are now after three seasons, I'd be crazy to argue with the choices that CBS has made along the way because it's been…just look at this. This is wonderful. So if they think this is a good call, then that's great. Our job is to make a good show. It's not to program the show. You know, we grow the crops. We don't have the truck that brings it to market. With the time slot moved to 8:00 on Thursday night, it's almost like a re-launch of the show, establishing it. It feels like a do-over in a way, so we are really doing everything we can to make it everything we believe it should be.”

"Mike & Molly"

I don’t know if you’ve seen the previews for this new sitcom from the Chuck Lorre camp, but it’s about a man and a woman who cross paths at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting and fall for each other. Having seen the pilot, I’ll be the first to stand up and applaud the instant chemistry between the two leads, Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell, but, man, they’ve really got to cut back on the fat jokes. This should be a sitcom about a cute couple, with the weight class of the stars something that’s acknowledged but not constantly dwelled upon.

When someone suggested to Lorre that he might be tackling a politically incorrect subject with the series, he claimed otherwise.

“It’s about real people with real issues trying to have a relationship,” said Lorre. “Television would normally have cast Chris O'Donnell and Courteney Cox as the people who meet at Overeaters Anonymous, but in this case we had the courage and, I think, the wisdom to just cast people that are just…you know, they're trying to make their lives better and find someone that they can love and be loved by. It may be odd for television, but I hope it's reflective of some kind of reality that people will experience.”

“I think it's good just to have something a little more realistic so people aren't always, like, ‘Oh, I could never be that perfect,’” said McCarthy. “Guess what? No one is, except in this little set somewhere in Hollywood. I think anytime a show kind of bridges into the real world…I don't know, I think it just takes the pressure off some people, so maybe subconsciously it will make people take it a little easy on themselves.”

When asked if he was comfortable with his weight or if he felt he should lose a few pounds for health reasons, Gardell couldn’t resist first mentioning that he actually has a better cholesterol level than his wife, who’s smaller than he is.

“Of course, I think I'd like to lose some weight,” he said. “I mean, everybody'd like to be a little bit better than they are, you know, but everybody has a different tick, man. Mine just happens to be pizza.”

When there was a moment’s silence from the audience, Gardell said, “It's okay, you can laugh at that. I've got a mirror. Lighten up.”

Continuing, Gardell explained that wanting to lose weight doesn’t always make it easy to do so. “When you're not great at coping with all your emotions, sometimes you push 'em down with a piece of cake. That's just how it works. Some people do it with booze. Some people do it with gambling. Some people do it with other things, and that is a part of this. But make no mistake. This is a love story. And the great thing about this love story is, this is a show people can look at and go, ‘You know what? I'm like that,’ or ‘I look better than that,’ instead of looking at the show and going, ‘God, I'm never gonna look like that.’"

Gardell admitted that he's had his troubles getting good parts in Hollywood because of his weight. "I don't know how your experience has been," he said to McCarthy, "but when you're a fat guy in Hollywood, you're the bad guy, the cop, or the neighbor. That's what you're doing. 'Bring them to me!' 'You kids get out of here!' 'She's going to kill us both!' That's what you're doing. To be at this weight and this age in Hollywood and to be one of the leads of a show of this caliber, with this team...? I'm absolutely humbled. It's like I got the Willy Wonka ticket, you know? 'Run, Charlie! Run home as fast as you can!' That's how I feel. I can't wait to go to work. This is unbelievable, and...I think it has a lot to do with my age, too. I'm 40. You know, if I'd have got this at 20, I wouldn't have been able to handle this. I'm looking so forward to this. Man, I've been a road comic for 20 years. I'm not in a Holiday Inn this weekend. You understand? I'm excited."

McCarthy agreed wholeheartedly with Gardell's sentiments. "I'm thrilled," she said. "I always think back to when I was 22 in New York, and I was somewhere between a size four and a size six, and she said, 'First of all, you're never going to work at that weight.' I wish I remembered the agent's name. I would love to call her in her studio right now and tell her, 'Oh, yeah?' I just feel like I got hit with the lucky stick."

"The Talk"

Fair warning: I'm not going to spend a heck of a lot of time discussing this new CBS daytime talk show. I'll admit that I'm intrigued by the blend of individuals they've selected to serve as the six (!) hosts of the show - Julie Chen, Leah Remini, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, and Marissa Jaret Winokur - but I can't tell you that it's something I'm chomping at the bit to watch, and I rather expect that the majority of Bullz-Eye's predominantly-male readership will probably feel the same way.

The idea for the series – all of the hosts are mothers – came from Gilbert, who does double duty as one of the show’s executive producers. “I was a new mom when I thought of it,” she explained. “I was feeling overwhelmed. Was I giving the baby enough? Was I giving my son enough attention? And literally, I started going to this mom group, and I thought, ‘Wow, people need this kind of support,’ and it was just sort of like a light bulb. I thought, ‘What if there were a show where a bunch of women sat together and talked about the world through that perspective?’”

So there you go. That's what the show is. I don't know that anything else really needs to be said.

Oh, okay, one more thing: the most entertaining part of the panel came when someone asked the ladies to reveal the most annoying pet peeve they have about their significant other, so I'll close by sharing their answers with you.

Marissa Jaret Winokur - "My husband is just a procrastinator. Basically, I'm the one who's, like, 'I want to buy the carpet. Let's buy the carpet,' and he'd rather sit around and go through 20 different stores and find the perfect carpet."

Holly Robinson Peete - "He's a really bad snorer. I mean, he just got really bad. I tried to put on one of those Breathe Right strips in his sleep. He doesn't want to wear them. So picture me sort of straddled over him trying to press it down. And I ran out of his size, so I had to go to the kids and get the small size. I put one on each nostril, and it just didn't work. You know, that's something that we would be talking about if we were on the air this morning and the New York Times had a story about one in four couples are sleeping in separate bedrooms, and I'm not lying. Last night, I was thinking about, you know, it might be time. 15 years, I love the man, but we are on different schedules. I had to get up early this morning. He's snoring. It doesn't work for me. I think it's by year 2015 the New York Times said something about 60 percent of houses are going to have double masters. I'm okay with this."

Sharon Osbourne - "There is nothing. He's perfect. Let me tell you something: he doesn't even know I am doing this show. I am here today, and he thinks I've gone to 'America's Got Talent.' He has no idea. He gives me all the freedom in the world that I want. He's just a perfect partner for me. He does his thing. I do mine. We have the best family. We adore each other. You know, yeah, my husband snores. He farts. He pisses on the seat. On the toilet seat, that is. But, hey, that's life. That's what we all do. It doesn't annoy me. It would annoy me if he was sleeping with a room full of women. That would annoy me. But if he throws food on the floor and he's messy, it doesn't bother me. So he's perfect."

Sara Gilbert - "Ali is much taller than I am. So if we get dressed, I just think that clothes always look better on her, and I think that that can be kind of annoying."

Julie Chen - "When I got married, I said to my husband, 'One of the reasons that I know this is going to work is because you're the first person in my life who doesn't annoy me,' and when someone gets on my nerves, there's very little turning back, if at all. But...my baby is ten months old, and my husband works very hard. Quite often he leaves in the morning when the baby is just waking up or is still sleeping, so he doesn't have a lot of time to bond with the baby. We put the baby down hopefully by 7:00, and he doesn't always make it home by 7:00, but when he does make it home, it doesn't matter if we just put him down, he wants to go look at the baby. And to make sure that everything is okay, I'll go with him, and if we can see him breathing, I'm like, 'Okay, don't touch him.' And one day we went in...and he still does this now...and we could see the baby, he moved around, and he touched him. And I said, 'What are you doing?' And the baby woke up. I said, 'What are you touching him for?' He's like, 'That's how we connect.' I said, 'You're not connecting. You just woke him up. You pissed him off!' But he has this thing. Even though I made him promise me, 'If you see him breathing, don't touch him,' he still touches him!"

Leah Remini - "There's so many things, but for me the most annoying thing would be that for every holiday or every birthday, I go, 'What do you want?' 'Sex.' 'I have a headache.' 'What can I get you?' 'Sex.' It's like that's all that's on his mind. Everything that he does like on a daily basis that's sweet is to have sex. And I guess that's the most annoying thing to me. I guess I should be happy that my husband wants to have sex with me. But when you know that everything he does is because of that, you're like, 'Just stop. It's not going to happen tonight. Just be you.'"

Hawaii Five-O

Although "Hawaii Five-O" is a reboot of the classic CBS series that ran for 12 seasons, neither Alex O'Loughlin nor Scott Caan - who play Steve McGarrett and Danny "Danno" Williams, respectively - have gone out of their way to revisit the original in order to get inspiration on how to play their parts.

“I purposely didn't go back and look at too much of the old show,” said Caan. “I wanted to start fresh, and I didn't want to have any old ideas, so, no, I didn't do any of that.”

O’Loughlin remembers the old show from his childhood, but he’s extremely conscious of how far things have come since then.

“There's been a lot of changes in television and in the way we act stylistically and with technology and with what we can do with the money that we have with special effects and stunts and all the rest of it,” said O’Loughlin. “So it's not a remake. We're not kind of picking up where they left off. It's a reboot, and the characters are very different. My character, Steve McGarrett, in the old show, you didn't know much about the character that Jack Lord played, whereas in the pilot on our new show, you learn a lot about my Steve McGarrett. I didn't look to that to make decisions. I just did my character work based on the script that these guys wrote.”

As for the show's chances of success, it's clear that O'Loughlin is pretty well putting all of his remaining eggs in this basket.

"I don't want to take anything away from the other shows I've done," he said. "I've worked with some incredible people and some wonderful showrunners and...well, 'Moonlight,' I don't know if I ever met the showrunners. There were about 17 of them. But the other shows were great in their own ways. The thing is, there's a reason things either work or don't work in television, and I don't know what the answer is. I just sort of keep blundering along to the next thing and hoping. But the team behind this, the two men here who are at the helm of this show, Peter (Lenkov) and Alex (Kurtzman), and the writing staff that we have, everyone feels so capable. I read the pilot, I did the pilot, and I saw what they did with it, and...there's something special about it. So, I mean, if this one doesn't go, I'm completely bewildered. I have no idea how television works at all."

The Defenders

First of all, if you're old enough to remember the original "Defenders" series with E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed, I hate to disappoint you, but this "Defenders," while also about a pair of attorneys, is in no way connected to it. Then again, maybe it isn't a disappointment. I guess it really all depends on how you feel about Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell.

As it happens, the show was originally going to be a reality series based on a pair of real-life Las Vegas attorneys, but although it eventually evolved into a dramatic series, Belushi and O'Connell still ended up meeting with their real-world counterparts, Michael Cristalli and Marc Saggese, in order to get some insight into their characters.

"They're great," said Belushi. "We hang out with these guys. They were on the set the whole time. We went to Piero's in Vegas and drank those big martinis. They can hold their liquor, these guys."

"They're fascinating," said O'Connell. "And from a professional standpoint, they represent a lot of people that I'm not even sure public defenders would represent."

"There was one case where a guy goes into a liquor store, holds up the liquor store, 'Give me all your money,'" said Belushi. "The guy gives him all the money, and the guy says, 'Now, give me that handle of vodka, that Johnnie Walker scotch, and that Jack Daniels.' And the guy said, "Oh, sir, I'm sorry. I can't give you the alcohol.' And he said, 'No, give me the alcohol. I want it.' He says, 'No, no. It's obvious you're underage.' And the guy goes, 'I am not underage.' 'No, sir, it's obvious. I'll get in a lot of trouble with the state. They'll lose their license here.' He goes, 'I am not underage!' And he pulls out his ID. I mean, they get some really stupid people..."

Despite being set in Vegas, much of "The Defenders" is actually filmed in California...not that the show's stars are so terribly heartbroken about that.

"My relationship with Vegas has switched from being a person going to enjoy the weekend to an employee of Vegas: I have a band, and I do a lot of corporate work with my band in Vegas," said Belushi. "It changes the whole chemistry of the town. So what I do is I go there, and I perform with my band and have a nice dinner and play roulette for 20 minutes and go home. I'm kind of a boring guy."

"I used to go to Vegas with about 20 or 30 friends, and we'd share one hotel room," said O'Connell. "There would be 30 of us sharing two single beds. So that's how I remember Vegas, but now that I'm married, look, I go there with my wife. A lot of shopping is done. To be honest, my credit card maxed out the last time we went there. I had a call, and I'm glad it maxed out, because then the bleeding stopped at some point. But, really, for my wife and I, we left the kids with my parents when we worked up there for close to a week when we did 'The Defenders' thing. We saw shows. The dining is great. It's just a really fun grownup experience...and I don't have to share a room with 20 other male friends and get passed-out drunk."

Blue Bloods

Tom Selleck certainly hasn't been hurting for work over the past several years, what with the success of his "Jesse Stone" series of films for CBS, so it's a little surprising to see him make the decision to settle into a regular series role. Given that he's done so, however, it isn't surprising to find that the resulting program - "Blue Bloods" - is a top-notch drama. Indeed, when asked what brought him back to series television, he admitted that there were two reasons: 1) the show was good, and 2) it was an ensemble piece that would require talented actors to fill the parts.

"Having done a lead, as I did in 'Magnum, PI,' I was in every shot," said Selleck. "And I wasn't complaining, but it's a tough road. And 'Magnum' was never canceled: I kind of left it after eight years because I was tired from it, not tired of

Donnie Wahlberg, who co-stars as Selleck's son in the series (it's about a family filled with cops and law-enforcement types), was also impressed by the ensemble nature of the show, particularly during the family-dinner scene in the pilot episode.

"A lot of people try procedural shows - there are many successful procedurals - and some people try character-driven shows," said Wahlberg. "And a lot of times when people try to do both, they don't really work because there's not a sort of a consistent element that ties the two together. I don't know if it was by design, but the dinner scene (in the pilot) almost serves as that. It's really a place where the work and the procedural stuff comes into the character stuff directly, and you see how everyone is connected. Tom plays the chief of police, and I play his son, who is a detective, and if I'm on a major case, he's going to deal with it. So all the characters ultimately are intertwined somehow, so it makes it much easier. If one was a baseball player and one was a fireman and one was a doctor, it would be probably difficult to follow all the storylines. But we all work in the same thing. We all work within the law to uphold the law."

By the way, if you're wondering, Selleck's role on "Blue Bloods" will not prevent him from making further "Jesse Stone" films...indeed, that was one thing he made sure to confirm before he ever took on the series...and if the reason you aren't wondering is because you think those films are for old folks, well, Mr. Selleck would just like to point out that "Jesse Stone: No Remorse" is, as of this writing, #2 in video sales, behind only the "Clash of the Titans" remake.

"I don't see any conflicts in the two guys because they're so different," said Selleck, "but it's my job to make these two characters, I think, different enough where the audience enjoys both. I hope people want to keep watching him because I love playing that guy, enough to make sure I could do him if I took this role."

$#*! My Dad Says

All hail the Shatman...if not necessarily his new series. Despite being based on a consistently hilarious Twitter feed by Justin Halpern, what we've seen of the show thus far - which is, to be fair, a pilot which has since had one of its characters recast and one of its major plotlines dropped - has in no way lived up to its source material. Still, it's William Shatner, so I'm still going to give it a chance and see if it manages to get any better.

In regards to the changes that are taking place with the series, executive producer David Kohan said, ""You know, it really came down to a question of...we feel like we have a great concept and a great brand and a great star, and we just wanted it to be perfect. It just came down to the question of, 'How do we make this as good as it can possibly be?' The character (of Henry) isn't going to be changing that much except inasmuch as that there this kind of alchemy that goes on. You cast an actor, and the role necessarily changes because the person inhabiting that character changes. And you end up writing to who that actor is to a certain degree, but the dynamic also changes."

"We're telling the same story, and all of the things that we thought were great about the pilot that we first shot will be in the second take," said executive producer Max Mutchnick. "The same team is in place. Jim Burrows will be directing. And we just kind of...we're streamlining the first paths of the pilot, and this love story that we had threaded into the first pilot, we've taken out because we saw that there was so much fun in just writing this buddy-buddy comedy. At least that's the way Henry sees it. So that's what we're going for."

For his part, Shatner seems beside himself with excitement about doing the show, even though he admits that he wasn't familiar with the Twitter feed that inspires it when he got the pitch. Instead, it was the creative team behind the series that caught his eye. " I was aware of the limitless talents that were attached to the whole thing, and the people that are connected with this show are the top-talented people in the business," he said. "I didn't want to do another series, but I wanted to be connected with these talented people."

Shatner was also intrigued by the opportunity to play a part that is - relatively speaking - somewhat low-key. "I'm trying to get another dynamic as an actor and make a character that comes from a different place," he said. "There's a stillness, and yet there's an anger, a passion, perhaps better than anger, that's inside that we don't yet know. We're all fumbling for what this character is because the character emerges out of the writer's imagination. Then I flesh that out, and exactly what the facets are will come about as we do it. And it won't become known to any of us until several shows go by as to what exactly it is."

In addition, Shatner admitted that he has been attempting to capture the warmth of Halpern's father that, while often sometimes hard to find in the Tweets, is evident when one reads the book based on Halpern's life and times with his father.
"To sustain a character like that over weeks to make it palatable so people will watch and learn to love the character even through his idiosyncrasies, you've got to be careful that you are not overbearing, overwhelming people. And so I'm sure that was a writing choice, although we never discussed it as specifically as we are now. But it was certainly an acting choice, realizing this isn't just one moment. We are aiming at wanting all of you to listen in every week, to look in every week and see the evolution of this relationship between the sons and the father, and to condemn hardly all the time is unpalatable."

The best moment of the panel came when the topic of the show's title came into play. Mr. Shatner, it seems, is growing more than a little bit tired of the whole controversy.

"Do you know what I wish?" he asked. "I wish they would call it 'Shit.' What's wrong with 'Shit'? I've got grandchildren. I brought up three girls. They've all got kids. Okay? You say 'boopy doo-doo, you've got to make poo-poo. Come on, make poo-poo in the toilet.' Eventually, 'poo-poo' becomes 'shit.' 'Go take a shit, and you'll feel better.' You say that to your kids. The word 'shit' is around us. It isn't a terrible term. It's a natural function. Why are we pussyfooting?"

And that, my friends, is why William Shatner is a legend.

Welcome back, my friends, to the experience that has been lovingly described as being "like the Bataan death march, but with cocktails." I speak, of course, of the Television Critics Association press tour...but, then, if you're a regular reader of Premium Hollywood, then you already know that I visit California twice a year - first in January, then in July - in order to get the details on what new programs the broadcast and cable networks will be bringing you over the course of the next six months. Myself and my TV critic peers will be spending the better part of the next two weeks in a big ballroom at the Beverly Hilton, watching and listening as the casts and creators of the various new series trot onto the stage, answer our questions and address our issues, and make room for the next series. Then, at the end of most evenings, there's a big party with most of the folks we've seen during the course of the day, and we get the opportunity to chat one on one with as many of them as we can wrangle. Oh, sure, there are free drinks to be had, but when you're trying to play the part of a proper journalist, you can't indulge but so much...well, not 'til you've gotten all of your interviews, anyway.

Fortunately, the first day of the Summer 2010 TCA Press Tour started slowly, providing visits to the sets of a few series, a trip around the Warner Brothers studio lot, a ride on the latest addition to the Universal Studios tour, and - to ease us in slowly - only two proper panels. We did, however, get a few Q&A ops while at the various sets, some of which were decidedly more impressive than others.

“Desperate Housewives” set visit

Having never watched a complete episode of “Desperate Housewives (I rather expect I’d like it, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to play catch-up at this point), I had no personal investment in visiting the set for Wisteria Lane, but when you’re a heterosexual male and you’re presented with the opportunity to stand within a few feet of Eva Longoria Parker, you don’t turn it down.

Unfortunately, it took us for-freaking-ever to finally make our way to the set, as our bus driver apparently had no clue as to its whereabouts, aside from the fact that it was located somewhere on the Universal Studios lot. As a result, instead of getting to enjoy a leisurely breakfast on the set before beginning our interaction with series creator Marc Cherry and members of the show’s cast (Longoria Parker, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, and new addition Vanessa Williams), I got off the bus and barely had a chance to grab a cup of coffee and a bagel before the proceedings had begun.

Cherry and the cast appeared, cheerily greeted the assembled critics and thanked us for coming to the set, then split the group, with Huffman and Williams setting up camp in one house and Cherry, Cross, and Longoria Parker in another. Even if Eva hadn’t been in the mix, I knew from previous TCA experience that Cherry is always entertaining, so I followed him and his Housewives inside to hear what they had to tell us about the upcoming season of the show. At first, Eva was going to speak to what we could expect from Gabrielle’s storylines this year, but she stumbled almost immediately, admitting that she couldn’t remember what Cherry had told her she could say and what she couldn’t.

“And here’s where I step in,” said Cherry, to much laughter from the crowd. “The very first scene and what we start to deal with in the first episode (of the new season) is the ramifications of her friendship with Brie, because she finds out something that we’ve been holding back for six seasons: Andrew, Brie’s son, has run over her mother-in-law.”

“Oops,” said Cross.

“That comes out,” continued Cherry, “and that starts to affect their friendship in a major way. In the second episode, two families are again put into conflict, because there’s another hit-and-run.”

“Oops,” Cross said again.

“There’s another accident involving both families and stuff, so that’s one of the things we start to explore: their friendship. One of the things that I learned on ‘The Golden Girls’ is that you want your ensemble of ladies to be very close and very friendly, but it gets a lot funnier if they’re in conflict, so we’ve decided to put them into some conflict this year. We also have coming up…Brie will have a new love interest in the form of Brian Austin Green.”

After the hoots and hollers died down, Cross assured us, “He’s making me do it!”

“When we had the first table read…we always do a thing at my home where we read the first script of the season, and I introduced Brian as Marcia’s new love interest, and…Marcia blushed,” said Cherry.

“I’m still blushing!” said Cross. “I’m not really acting yet! Seriously, we did a scene yesterday, and he’s touching me, and I’m, like, ‘Aaaaaah!’ So I don’t have to act yet!”

“So, anyway, we’re off to a good start,” said Cherry, “and we’re just thrilled as all get-out to have Vanessa joining the cast. She’s been just a sweetheart, and we’re having fun with her. One of the things I’ve learned over the evolution of the show is that a lot of different talents are required to be on ‘Desperate Housewives.’ You have to be able to do both drama and comedy. The drama, you have to have a twinkle in your eye, and the comedy has to be very rooted in reality. Over the years, some of the additions have been more successful than the others.

“What was interesting was that the idea for this came from Steve McPherson. He never, ever suggests casting to me, but he called me a couple of months ago, just before I was going on my yearly 2-year vacation in New York, and he said, ‘Hey, what about Vanessa? Because ‘Ugly Betty’ is ending.’ And I, at first, was very skeptical because she was just coming off another ABC show, and that hadn’t really been on m radar, so I said, ‘Well, let me meet with her.’ So I walked into a restaurant in New York, my arms crossed, and about halfway through it, I went, ‘Please do my show!’ I just fell in love with her, and I found what was so great about her was that she really got the tonality of the show. I knew that she was capable of doing some wicked comedy based on her performance in ‘Ugly Betty,’ but what really struck me was her understanding of what it is that we do here, and I was convinced amazingly quickly.

“Just a little piece of trivia: it was, like, the quickest deal in the history of ‘Desperate Housewives.’ I met with her for lunch on Thursday, and her deal was closed by Tuesday morning, before ABC’s presentation. And I was, like, ‘They closed it?’ And I was thinking of all the deals we’ve done in the past, which went on for weeks and weeks and weeks…and it just happened, and that was both due to the fact that Vanessa really wanted to be on the show and ABC really wanted her here. So it was kind of a dream come true that’s been delightful ever since, and we’re having a lot of fun with the character.”

Warner Brothers Animation panel

Given that I’ve just started a column over at Popdose.com where I’m interviewing voice actors (“You’re The Voice”), you can imagine that I was pretty psyched to attend a panel which promised to provide us with several voice actors from a trio of Warner Brothers’ current crop of animated series on Cartoon Network: Diedrich Bader, who voices Batman on “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” Frank Welker, who voices Scooby Doo and Fred (he’s been doing the latter since the character’s inception) on “Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated,” and Jeff Bergman, who’ll be voicing both Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck on “The Looney Tunes Show.” I know that not all of my fellow critics shared my excitement, but, hey, like I said, I wasn’t all that thrilled about “Desperate Housewives,” so, y’know, different strokes, as the cliché goes.

I’ll be providing you with some of my favorite quotes from the panel as soon as the folks at Warner Brothers get around to sending over the transcript they assured us they were doing for us, but for the moment, I’ll just tell you that Bergman’s one-man “Flintstones” scene was a riot (he’s masterful at both Fred and Barney), Welker told a funny story about how excited he was to work with Jonathan Winters on “The New Scooby Doo Movies,” and Bader’s awe of his fellow voice actors was downright sweet, as was his acknowledgement of how tight-knit the voice actors’ community is and what lovely people they are.

At the conclusion of the panel, we were all treated to a viewing of two of the new theatrical shorts starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. I think a lot of us were skeptical about the shorts…partly because they were in 3D, but mostly just because it’s hard to accept than anyone can match the classic work of Chuck Jones…but I’m here to tell you that a lot of us left the theater in awe: the cartoons were absolutely hilarious, and they made fantastic use of the 3D medium. Look for them at the beginning of the next few Warner Brothers’ family releases. I’m not saying that they’re good enough to make you want to see “Cats & Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” but, you know, you can always leave afterward and sneak in to see a different movie. I’m just sayin’…

Warner Brothers Studios tour

When I saw on the schedule that we were being treated to a general tour of the Warner Brothers lot as part of our day at the studio, my first thought was one of uncertainty...as in, "Why are we doing this when we could be visiting the set of some show or other? I mean, we're TV critics, aren't we?" I have no idea where this sensible reaction came from, however, as the geek in me quickly fell in love with the tour, as I surely must've known in my heart that I would.

Admittedly, some of the moments that would've been showstopping to others were slightly less so to some of the other critics. I mean, I've only been doing this since 2007, but as the guide pointed out the buildings which housed "Two and a Half Men," "The Big Bang Theory," and "Chuck," or the studios which once were home to "E.R." and "Cold Case," I have to admit that my first thought on each location was, "Seen 'em," but they were immediately followed by memories of the occasions when I did those tours, and it reminded me just how awesome a job I have.

Plus, I have to admit that I had no idea that "True Blood" filmed on the Warner Brothers' lot. I don't know if it's all filmed there, but as you can see, the exterior of Merlotte's is there, and there's also a lagoon not far away from that set which is used on the show. I don't know if that's where Sam's infamous skinny-dipping scene during Season 2 took place, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

In addition to being geeked out by such sights as the last surviving set from "Casablanca" and the small-town area that formerly served as Stars Hollow on "Gilmore Girls," I also got a cheap thrill out of being able to see the "Friends" set (which saved from destruction by Jay Leno, we were told, and remains more or less intact, at least from what I could tell) and several cars from various Warner Brothers films and television series, including the General Lee, Michael Keaton's Batmobile, Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, and...well, you'll probably recognize the rest of them. Enjoy the shots, and we'll reconvene on the other side.

"Undercovers" set visit

It must be said that, of all the things that were on our agenda, this is the one that proved to be the most disappointing. I've seen the pilot for "Undercovers," produced by J.J. Abrams, and I thought it was decent enough, so I figured, "Okay, this should at least be interesting," and I kept my fingers crossed for an appearance by J.J. during our tour of the set. Apparently, I didn't cross them tightly enough, though, because not only was Mr. Abrams MIA, but, geez, there wasn't even a single cast member in attendance!

Now, don't get me wrong: it's cool to get to tour the set of any TV show, and this one was no exception. In particular, there's a kitchen set - the premise of the series involves two former spies stepping back into their former profession, but in their "retirement," they've started a catering business - which is pretty mindblowing, and in fairness, the couple's house looks pretty sweet, too. But, really, how excited can you possibly get about seeing the set of a series that you've only watched for the sum total of 42 minutes? Yes, the show's food stylist and production designer were in attendance to answer any questions, but...well, maybe I just don't think far enough ahead, but I really just didn't find myself with any burning questions to ask them. Perhaps I'll be kicking myself for not taking advantage of the opportunity if the show should become a big hit. Probably, though, I'll just find myself thinking, "Man, I still can't believe that no one from the 'Undercovers' cast came to the set..."

"Parenthood" set visit

...unlike the cast of "Parenthood." Some of them were on the set while we did our tour (Peter Krause and Monica Potter were hanging out in their characters' kitchen, and Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia did the same on the set of their characters' house), but the entire cast sat down for a Q&A after the tour, then joined us for a barbecue on the external set for the Braverman's house.

Now, come on, you can't tell me that's not cool.

This is, unfortunately, another case where I'm still waiting on the transcription of the panel, so for the moment, I can't offer you much more than the revelation that Billy Baldwin will be playing the boss of Peter Krause's character, Adam Braverman, in the new season. But I will say that Dax Shepherd was pretty damned funny. The only unfortunate part was that I didn't get a chance to do much in the way of one-on-ones after the panel, owing to the fact that A) I was hungry and needed to take advantage of the free food at the barbecue, and B) the majority of the writers opted to scarf down their food in order to take advantage of another opportunity.

"King Kong 3D 360"

That's right: I could either do interviews or ride the brand new Peter Jackson-designed "King Kong 3D 360" portion of the Universal Studios tour.

I have no regrets. It was AWESOME.

Some people got scared out of their wits, some people got nauseous, others found it utterly "meh," but as far as I'm concerned, it's an instant reason to go on the studio tour for...well, basically, for as long as "King Kong 3D 360" is a part of it. It's a short experience, lasting for less than 3 minutes long, I believe, but it's one that you won't soon forget.

With that, Day 1 was at an end...and Day 2, with all of its panels, loomed in the distance. Time to go back to my hotel room and work, right? Well, actually, no: it was time to go to Roni's, a pleasant little drinking establishment within a 10-minute walk of the Beverly Hilton, and toss back a few beers. And then it was time to return to the hotel, descend to Trader Vic's, and have one more. But then it was time to go back to the room and...sleep.

C'mon, I had three beers. Like I was ever going to do anything else.

Adrian Hodges has been beloved by fans of BBC America's ever-growing sci-fi lineup ever since presenting them with "Primeval," which he created along with Tim Haines, but they'll soon have a new reason to give him a hug when they seem him on the street. Americans may not be familiar with the 1970s British TV series known as "Survivors," but, hey, that's okay: it just means that they'll be able to dig into Hodges' new take on the series - which premieres this Saturday night on BBC America - without any preconceptions. Plus, as you'll soon read in my chat with Mr. Hodges, which took place a few hours after the TCA panel for "Survivors," he's taken great pains to make sure even those who are familiar with the original series will, by the end of the first episode of this new version, realize that he's got plenty of surprises in store for them, too. Oh, and listen up, "Primeval" fans: you'd well to read beyond the bits about "Survivors," as we chatted about the status of the third series of "Primeval" as well as the oft-discussed feature film based on the show. There's also some stuff about other items on Hodges' C.V., and...well, you'd just better go ahead and read it for yourself, hadn't you?

Adrian Hodges: Wow, look at your recorder. I used to do a bit of journalism when I first started out, but my tape recorder was… (Holds his hands several inches apart, then laughs) That’s technology for you!

Bullz-Eye: Hey, mine’s shrunk by two or three times in size just in the past few years! (Laughs) Well, first off, I just want to say that I’m a big “Primeval” fan.

AH: Thank you! Cool!

BE: I was not familiar with the original 1970s version of “Survivors,” but I take it that you were at least somewhat of a fan of it.

AH: Yeah, I was, in that kind of general way we are when we’re kids and we watch TV. I was maybe 15 or 16, something like that, and I remember very clearly the impact of the first episode. If I’m honest, I’m hazy about some of the other, later episodes, but I do remember the extraordinary shock of the imagery of a husband dying, of things that were stand-out images in my head, and you carry that through the years. It was something I remembered very well, so it was really kind of great to be asked to have another look at it, you know?

BE: So they pitched it to you, then?

AH: They did. What happened was that I’d done “Primeval,” as you know, and I was very actively looking for a genre show that I could do in a slightly…well, in Britain, it’s in a later timeslot. Something that was a bit more…I don’t want to say more adult, because I think that “Primeval” is adult, but not a family show in the same way. However you define “family.” (Laughs) So “Survivors” was perfect. BBC had had this great success with reviving “Doctor Who,” so they were looking at some of their old shows and saying, “Well, that one wouldn’t work, but maybe this one would.” And “Survivors” was one they thought might work again, so they basically came to me and said, “What do you think?” And I thought it was great, not so much because of the set-up, not just because of the post-apocalyptic thing, which is fascinating, but it’s kind of not the point. The point is what happens afterwards, and that’s the fun of it for me as a writer, ‘cause you don’t often get a chance to write about people in the most extreme situation. So that’s why I wanted to do it.

BE: What was the profile of the original show? Was it semi-high? I ask because I’m a kind of an Anglophile, so I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of it.

AH: I don’t think it was, really. In terms of being a success at the time, it was, but it wasn’t, like, a thing like with “Doctor Who,” where you carry that memory with you, and so that when it was revived, there was this huge desire to like it. It was one of those shows where…people didn’t want to not like “Doctor Who.” They wanted to like it. It was a nice thing to happen, and it doesn’t often happen. There aren’t many shows that people are so fond of that they can go with that attitude to them. Usually, as you know, when you remake or re-imagine a show, you get the opposite reaction, which is that people don’t really want you to do it, because they liked it the first time. And, now, there’s been such an acceleration of remaking of formats. It’s a very dangerous area. I thought “Survivors” was a good one because it was a success at the time, which proved that it was a strong idea, but it wasn’t so well known that it would be something that everybody would be saying, “Oh, but you didn’t do that scene, you didn’t do it like this, you didn’t do that.” The truth is, it was the best part of 40 years ago, and it’s not a classic. It’s a very good show. The first episode of the original is a model of brilliant series set-up writing, and, indeed, much of the rest of it. But it is fundamentally a show which was well-liked but probably not as well-remembered as some. Not everything can be a classic, you know. That’s the way it is. I couldn’t believe that “Edge of Darkness” was being remade. It’s amazing, after all these years, to suddenly see it. So stuff comes around.

BE: So did you revisit that first episode of “Survivors” before you made this new version, or did you just kind of go from memory and dive into the new version?

AH: I watched the whole of the first series before I started writing, and I don’t usually do that with things where there’s existing material. I mean, in a completely different genre, I’ve just done a new version of a film called “The Go Between.” I’ve adapted the L.P. Hartley novel, and I didn’t look at the film of that, because I deliberately didn’t want to be influenced by it. I’ve only looked at it relatively recently, and it’s interesting to see what they did and what I did, and that’s fine. But with “Survivors,” I thought that it was…well, because I was basing some of my material on that original material, it seemed respectful and sensible to look at the way they’d done it, and also to remind myself what they’d done well and maybe what they hadn’t done quite so well, just to see how it would go. I always knew I was going to move away from that version quite quickly, but I wanted to make sure that whatever was good…I mean, I’m not crazy: if it’s good, I’m going to do it again. (Laughs)

BE: How did you go about selecting your cast? Was it a case of finding folks you’d worked with in the past, or was it more of a standard audition process?

AH: There’s a little bit of that. I mean, because of the way television works, as you know, there’s a certain pressure to use a certain profile of actor in certain roles. We knew we needed a leading lady that meant something to the British audience, and that’s, in truth, not that big a pool of people. It’s tough to find exactly the right person, particularly a woman who’s grown up, a woman with children who’s believable as an ordinary woman. So Julie (Graham) was actually pretty straightforward, because she was one of only one or two who really fit the bill…and, luckily, she wanted to do it! So at that point, we closed that. That was done. The other guys…it’s an interest process. Paterson (Joseph), funnily enough, was a very early choice, and then we went ‘round the houses looking at other people and then came all the way back to Paterson. And that sometimes happens, ‘cause it’s a bit like when you get something right first time, and you think, “Have I really got it right?” And you go and try prove it sixteen other different ways, but you still come back to the right answer, so that was Paterson. The others…it’s just a question of trying to find the right faces for the roles, the right talent and the right look, and that’s hopefully what we did.

(SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched the first episode of “Survivors” yet, then you’ll want to head off for a bit and pop back ‘round after you’ve had a chance to see it.)

BE: Freema Agyeman, I would think, would be considered high profile, especially here, given her time on “Doctor Who.”

AH: Well, Freema was…you’ve seen the first episode?

BE: I have, yes.

AH: As you know, we do something with Freema where…I was very keen that we make it clear to people that nobody was safe, and that was the thinking behind that. The decision to actually approach Freema wasn’t mine. That was the BBC who thought that would be a cool thing to do. I wanted to do something both to the original fan base and to the people watching the show now, and…the character that Freema plays – Jenny – was one of the ones who did survive in the original. I wanted to make sure that people didn’t think they knew where it was all going. In the original, Jenny goes to see the doctor, and the next morning, the doctor’s dead and Jenny goes off to London. But in this, the doctor survives and Jenny dies. So, y’know, it’s kind of funny, that. (Smiles)

BE: Speaking of that aspect, where nobody is safe, one of the things I liked best about the first episode is that with Julie’s character, Abby, you constantly believe that her son could very well be dead. That made it extremely gripping.

AH: I hope so.

BE: Obviously, that’s a thread that continues throughout the series…

AH: And he may well be dead. We’ll just have to see! It’s very important that you believe it, I think. And I think the thing there that I find so moving is tha,t if you knew he was dead, you could either commit suicide or begin living again. If you don’t know, you’re in a state of suspended animation. You are forced to hope. As I say more than once in the show, and it’s a phrase that other people have used, it’s not despair that kills you, it’s hope.

BE: You mentioned during the panel that you have high hopes for a third series of “Survivors.” Do you have an end game in mind? Not necessarily how long you’d want it to run, but whenever it does end, do you know how you’d like it to end?

AH: Yes, pretty much, I do. I have a very clear idea of where I want the characters to be...if I keep the same group of characters. And some of that depends on actors wanting to do it. I really would like to get three years of the show, so if I could do that, I would think that it’s up to me to give a satisfying ending. If we then found that people wanted more, then we’d regenerate it and keep doing different things. There’s plenty of options. It’s just that I think, for this group of characters, three years would be about right. At that point, you’d probably begin to see where they were going. And you want to settle them. I don’t like stories where you’re left in mid-air at the end of a season.

BE: If you can answer this without giving anything away for people who haven’t seen the show yet, which character would you say will surprise viewers the most insofar as how they change from the beginning to the end?

AH: I think that’s an easy one, in some ways. I think that Tom Price, played by Max Beasley, is a constant source of surprise even to himself.

BE: Now, he’s also someone who was pretty high profile…at least from my point of view, anyway, as I was a big “Hotel Babylon” fan. He seems like a pretty decent “get.”

AH: He was great, and he was the only actor we approached for that role. I should’ve mentioned that at the beginning. He was literally the only one that we saw, and he liked it, so that was easy.

BE: He’s certainly a complex character, at least based on the first episode, where you’re thinking, “Surely he’s going to change, given the current circumstances.” But, uh, no. Not really. (Laughs)

AH: No, not really. (Laughs) And he’s…I was kind of anxious to avoid the word “redemption,” but…there is a journey to go on, but it’s a complicated one, and it’s certainly one towards levels of feeling that he didn’t know he had. But whether that makes him a good man, I kind of doubt.

BE: Did any of the characters develop as a result of the people you cast in the roles? In other words, were they originally going a different way, but you realized it was easier to play to the actor a bit more?

AH: Yeah, there is a process that goes on there. I think one of the things about writing a series that’s such a wonderful challenge all the time is that you keep on developing the series right up to the point where you shoot a scene. There was a quality, for example, about Philip Rhys as Aal that I found…there’s a kind of sweetness about him, a softness, a gentleness, that’s very appealing, and as soon as he was in that role, Aal’s character became clearer and clearer to me. I mean, I had a starting point for Aal, but writing is sometimes a bit of a mystery. You don’t always know why you go somewhere with a character. It just seems like a good idea. And I think that the interaction between Philip and Aal was just so interesting that…with another actor, it might’ve gone in a different way, but Philip’s a really masculine man who, at the same time, seems soft and gentle as well. He found something in himself that I really liked. So Aal’s journey towards a kind of uneasy but paternal relationship with Najid is very touching, I think. That could’ve gone in a different way, but as soon as I saw Phil, it began to make sense.

BE: Are there any other series that you’d consider tackling a reboot of?

AH: I’d consider it, but…is there any one thing in particular? No. That’s tricky. There are books that I’d like to do that I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to do. There’s a book called “The Magus,” by John Fowles, which is a massive obsession of mine, but the rights are held by United Artists or something, and it’s impossible to get them. Um…are there any other series? Let me think about that. (Considers the question) In this genre, possibly not, because there aren’t that many that have the ability to be of their time and also timeless, which I think is the appeal of “Survivors.” “Blake’s 7” is the other one that people often talk about redoing, and I know that somebody’s trying to do that. That seems to me to be…in a way, other shows have come along and done the same thing and done it well, and in a way, what would you be adding if you went back to “Blake’s 7”? You have to see where the changes are that make it interesting. So off the top of my head, no. But that isn’t to say that I wouldn’t if the right thing came along.

BE: I’ve never actually seen it, but there’s a British series I’ve read about on Wikipedia that sounds like it’s ripe for revival. Have you ever heard of “Timeslip”?

AH: Hmmm. Okay, I’m trying to place that one…

BE: It was a kid’s show, I believe.

AH: It’s funny, somebody mentioned another show to me today, and I’m struggling to remember that one as well. When I was kid, time travel was absolutely my #1 fun thing, and I still love it. There’s no time travel in “Survivors,” obviously, but there’s lot of it in “Primeval”…and even more of it in the next series! (Laughs) It’s just something so endlessly appealing about the notion of time and history being rearranged, you know? It’s just very attractive.

BE: Speaking of “Primeval,” I wanted to ask you a few questions about that series as well.

AH: Sure!

BE: I was actually here when you guys kickstarted the series at the TCA tour.

AH: Two years ago, yeah.

BE: It’s a great concept and great use of special effects.

AH: Oh, thank you.

BE: Now if I remember correctly…and I may not…the person who helped to design the show’s creatures actually based them in some way on scientific fact or, at least, scientific speculation.

AH: Well, what happened was…Tim (Haines) is really a scientist, anyway. That’s his background. He comes from a science background and a journalism background. Before he was a drama guy, he was a documentary guy, so the expertise that he brings to the show, apart from his storytelling ability, is in that area. And because he did “Walking with Dinosaurs,” he really made himself an expert in the special effects area. I think Tim is probably ahead of anybody in England in terms of appreciation of what special effects and CGI can do. I mean, he knows about animatronics, too, but those are slightly out of fashion because of cost, and CGI is obviously in, and Tim is brilliant with CGI. I’ll be the first to admit that that’s his thing…and it’s not mine! (Laughs) So we…yeah, obviously, we kind of muck about with the creatures and things, but their starting premise is always more or less true.

BE: To talk again about the whole nobody-is-safe thing, man, Douglas Henshall’s departure from the series…? Talk about startling!

AH: Yeah, well, it was meant to be! (Laughs) One of the things that can happen with a show like “Primeval” is that, because you’re dancing with death every week and being saved by the skin of your teeth, the audience begins to get lazy about thinking that there’s no real danger, that it won’t actually be real. And it was particularly kind of shocking to me that he would die at the end of a gun, because…it’s not a dinosaur in the end, it’s his crazy ex-wife with a gun. And that worked. That was always the ending I imagined for him. I always knew that Helen would be the end of him. It was not intended to be so early in that season, however, but unfortunately that was how it worked out with Douglas, because he wanted to go on and do different things, so we brought it in early in the series.

BE: How thrilled was he about his demise?

AH: He was great about it. He wanted the character to die. He didn’t want to just step through the anomaly and maybe reappear one day. He wanted it, so he was fully behind it and was okay with that. When he told us that he was going to move on, it was a big shock, because I thought that he was going to do the whole series, and it was very late in the day and we’d done a lot of storylining at that point, so we had to really reconsider everything pretty sharpish. But he was cool, and I said, “Look, you know, I think Cutter’s going to have to die, because it’s better from a storytelling point of view. I’ve got to give him that, because I can use that legacy in the drama for the rest of the series.” And he was absolutely on the side of that. He was cool about it.

BE: So what’s the status of the series? Is there going to be another series? And is there going to be a movie? Because I know there’s been talk about it for awhile.

AH: I hope there’ll be both! There will be another series, yeah. There’s going to be 13 more episodes, which we start shooting in March, so I’m right in the middle of that when I get home. We’ll start…I imagine they’ll start transmitting in the UK early next year, so it’s probably right about the same in America. It’s a longer gap than I would’ve wanted, but unfortunately there was a problem with ITV, and it took us awhile to get it sorted out. The film, I’m afraid, is just endless. It’s… (Sighs) Man, you know, my whole life is ticking by during these negotiations! (Laughs) There is still every intention of doing it, but we are still not completely finished with the deal with Warner Brothers, and the guy who’s writing it…oh, now it’s gone out of my head for a second, but…oh, Akiva Goldsman! He’s absolutely cool, he wants to do it, he’s very, very keen. We talk to him on a fairly regular basis. But it has been a living nightmare trying to get a deal sorted out. But I think we’re nearly there.

BE: When you do that, is that going to be moving on from the series, or will it be a different tale altogether?

AH: Yeah, it will be a different tale, but that’s going to be an interesting question, because what we have to do with Akiva when the deal is finally signed is sort out the parameters of where he can go with it and where we can’t let him go because it would ruin the franchise. So, clearly, we don’t expect him to follow the storyline of the TV show particularly, but we do expect him to make it possible for us to come back to the TV show intact. He can’t do something with the big-screen version that would make ours completely wrong, you know? So we have a three-month option with him at the outset whereby he comes to us with his story ideas, and Tim and I have the right to say “no” if that doesn’t fit with what we want to do with the show. I mean, I hope we won’t have to say “no,” but Akiva understands that, and he’s known that from the beginning, so it would be pretty silly if he came and said, “Oh, we’re going to do it completely differently.”

BE: A minute ago, you talked about a book you’d like to adapt. You actually adapted “Metroland” a few years ago.

AH: I did, yeah!

BE: How did that come about? Was it something you’d wanted to do?

AH: No, that was a weird one. It’s a long time ago now, so I’ll have to stop and think about it… (Laughs) …but the guy who produced it, Andrew Bendel, absolutely was crazy about the book. I think he really identified with it – he was kind of from that part of London – and he just kept showing it to me and kept saying, “Look, we should do this.” And I hadn’t been writing very long at that point, and I wasn’t sure of it, because it was a pretty hard book to adapt. It was in three separate parts, and it’s very hard to make that work in a movie. But he kept on saying, “Come on, come on, come on, there’s something good in it, we can do it,” so in the end, I did. And I’m glad I did.

BE: What’s the project you’ve worked on that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved?

AH: (Laughs) From the critics? Or from the audience?

BE: All of the above. Whichever one you think just deserved more appreciation.

AH: Let me think about that for just a minute. I’ve been very lucky, to tell you the truth. Things find their own level. But let me think about my CV for just a minute. (Considers the question) I did a two-part thriller a couple of years…no, more than that, more like seven or eight years ago…called “Heaven on Earth,” which probably hasn’t been seen here, but it’s about a young couple who end up in a religious community because she came from one of those communities. It’s not exactly Amish, but that kind of community, of which there are more in England than people realize. That was sort of a thriller, because basically the guy’s crazy when he goes in, and he takes it over. It did okay, but it never quite clicked, you know? And I kind of wish something had clicked for that show. I don’t know why it didn’t. So that’s one that I kind of regret not doing better. In America…not in Britain, where it won the BAFTA…I did a show called “Charles II: The Power and the Passion,” which was called “The Last King” over here for reasons that I still don’t know. That didn’t really click over here particularly, and that is a real shame. The reason that A&E showed was much shorter than the one that I wrote and the one that was seen here. It was an hour shorter than the one that was shown in the UK, and that was a horrible thing to do to it. They wanted to show it as one three-hour show, and…that was the worst of both worlds, because it was too long at three hours for anyone in their right mind to watch in one go, but it was too short for the story to make any sense, because it had lost an hour! That was a source of great upset to me, and to this day, I won’t watch the three-hour version. It’s…it’s crazy. So in this country, that would be a source of real regret, because it’s a show I’m hugely proud of. It was Joe Wright’s first big television series, and he went on to do “Pride and Predjudice” afterwards. And it’s brilliantly directed. So I remain very passionate about “Charles II” and I kind of regret that no one in America has seen the proper version.

BE: You should check with Acorn Media. They’re putting out a lot of the BBC material that Warner Brothers isn’t putting out.

AH: Oh, really? I’d like to think that they’d do it. I think that A&E obviously still owns the DVD rights, but it would be nice to think that it could be seen properly.

BE: Last question, just to bring it back to “Survivors.” I don’t know how American television you watch, but is there a point of comparison at all to one of our programs? Because to me, it certainly reminded me of “Jericho.”

AH: Yes, I did watch “Jericho,” and to me, that’s a compliment, because I think “Jericho” is a very good show, particularly in its first season. I was aware of “Jericho,” as I say, but…it’s not so much a similarity to that show in particular, although the premise is obviously not all that different. But there’s been such a kind of confident upsurge in really good American sci-fi, fantasy, or whatever you want to call it shows in the last few years. It was more a general appreciation on my part of the incredible surge of creativity in that area in recent years. There is no point of comparison between “Survivors” and “Battlestar Galactica,” but I was very inspired by “Battlestar” because it showed what you can do when you look at an older series in a fresh way. Just like “Primeval” is in no way like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” but was very inspired by it. So it’s that kind of thing. The great work that’s being done in America, the really good stuff, is very inspiring.

BE: Excellent. Well, I think that’ll do it, Adrian. Thank you very much for your time!

AH: It’s been a pleasure.

Temple Grandin is a Doctor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, a consultant to the livestock industry in animal behavior, and a best-selling author. She's also autistic, a fact which you may have already known if you happen to have a connection to someone with autism, be it first-hand or indirectly. For instance, I came to know about her, as you'll soon read, through my wife, who works with autistic students and is the proud owner of a copy of one of Grandin's books, The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's.

When an advance screener of the new HBO movie based on her life - entitled, appropriately enough, "Temple Grandin" - landed on our doorstep in advance of the TCA press tour, you can imagine that we popped it into the player post-haste, and I'll tell you right now, I was blown away: Claire Danes gives a phenomenal performance as Grandin, but director Mick Jackson ties for MVP with his visual presentation of how Grandin's mind works. I immediately went about trying to set up interviews in connection with the tour, and although Danes was unavailable, when HBO asked if I'd like to chat with Grandin herself, you'd better believe that I didn't hesitate for a moment before saying, "You bet!"

Bullz-Eye: I just wanted to start off by telling you that my wife works with autistic children.

Temple Grandin: Oh, okay.

BE: She hadn’t actually trained in the field, but she ended up stepping into a job as a substitute teacher in a special education classroom, and she had such aptitude that the teacher gave her a gift: a copy of your book. She basically said, “Not everyone has the heart and the temperament to work with children who need a little extra effort, but I really think you do, and I think you’d get a lot out of reading this.”

TG: Which book was it?

BE: “The Way I See it.”

TG: All right.

BE: So as soon as she found out that I was going to be speaking with you, she immediately passed it on to me and said, “You’ll be wanting to read this.” (Laughs) But we also watched the movie together, and I thought it was fantastic. How did that first come about? Did someone read your book, then come to you and pitch the idea of making it into a movie?

TG: Well, that’s actually been going on for a good long time. Emily Gerson Saines started working on this about nine years ago and went to, like, two different directors and writers. Then, finally, it came together with the right people.

BE: Did you get final say about who would play you in the film?

TG: Well, that was just decided. Claire Danes did an absolutely brilliant job. Absolutely brilliant. I met with her for about six hours, and I gave her the oldest VHS tapes I could find of me, where I’d be more autistic-acting. Like, in old programs from the late ‘80s, where I was on a TV show, and some lectures from the early ‘90s. We dubbed those over onto DVDs, and she had those to practice with. I didn’t have any video older than that. Or movies. We didn’t do movies as a family, so I didn’t have that.

BE: I thought the visual aspects of the film, which try to give the viewer an understanding of how your mind works, were outstanding. I guess that was Mick’s idea…?

TG: I thought that was absolutely brilliant, the way Mick showed all of that. Wonderful. Like, the scene where it shows all of the shoes coming up…? That’s exactly how I think. Mick was absolutely brilliant with that.

BE: It really gave me more of a feel for what my wife does, I’ll tell you that. At the moment, she’s working one on one with a boy, and she has described working with him as being like an ever-changing maze, where she’s never sure from day to day at which turn she’ll be able to reach him.

TG: Well, my mind works more like Google for Images, and they’re coming up with some new ways of searching for images that puts them into categories, so I’ll be very interested to see how those work. Both Microsoft and Google are coming up with something like that. My mind can put images into categories…like, okay, let’s take shoes. Then you put them into work shoes, ladies dress shoes…see, there’s different categories. So if you say “ladies dress shoes,” then I get a different set of pictures than if you said “men’s work shoes.”

BE: I have to tell you, after watching the movie, the first thing I wanted to do – aside from reading your book, that is – was go watch an episode or two of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (Laughs)

TG: Oh, yeah! That and the classic “Star Trek” are some of my favorite shows.

BE: I liked how you observed that you related to Spock.

TG: Yeah, he was my favorite character in the classic “Star Trek.”

BE: Some time ago, I heard you on NPR discussing the system you designed to make the travel of cows to the slaughterhouse as humane as possible. What was the time frame as far as how long it took you to really get things from design to implementation?

TG: Well, I started going up to visit feed yards back in 1971, I worked for a short time for a company that built feed yards, and I learned a great deal while I was working on the feed-lot construction company, but I had some of my first jobs…ones that were strictly mine, that I did from scratch…in around 1974. ’76 and ’78 was when the dip vats actually got built. So they were all in the ‘70s. And I spent a lot of time learning, you know. It didn’t happen overnight. I spent three years going to every feed yard in Arizona, working cattle. I’d measure their work area and then make a drawing of their cattle working area, and then I kept track of what worked and what didn’t work in different systems, sort of like piecing all the little puzzles together. Taking lots of specific examples and putting it together to make new holds. But I didn’t learn that overnight. It was a lot of information that had to be loaded into my mind. (Smiles) You see, sometimes the crafting kind of magically appeared, but there was a long period of time of putting information into my head to learn how to relate the lines on a drawing to an actual building. Like, if you have a bunch of squares on a drawing and those represent the concrete posts that hold up the building, to understand that, I had to walk around in a building and say, “Okay, here’s the square and there’s the concrete post,” to relate the real thing to the more abstract marks on the drawing.

BE: We saw in the movie how everything was when you got to college, and we saw a little bit of your high school years, but what was it like prior to that, when you were in, say, elementary school?

TG: In elementary school, I had my problems, but elementary school was smooth sailing compared to high school. Totally. Because in high school, you got into all the teasing stuff, and the only places where I could get away from all the teasing was with the shared interests: horseback riding, model rockets. And Mr. Carlock did do model rockets. The ones in the movie were bigger than the ones we had. (Smiles) The ones we had were only about this big around, about half the size of the ones they had in the movie. But we did actually do that, and there was the electronics lab. And we were doing stuff like stretching rubber over loudspeakers and gluing mirrors on them, and they would bounce in time to the music. When we were doing these shared-interest things, there was no teasing. It was, like, the dining room and the parking lot, that’s where the teasing was.

BE: How did David Strathairn do at portraying your teacher, Mr. Carlock?

TG: He did a good job of playing him. In fact, he was Mr. Carlock, but they made him Doctor Carlock, and I did not correct them, because I wanted him to have his honorary doctorate. He deserved it.

BE: He came across as a very sweet guy in the film…

TG: …and that’s the way he was. He was always Mr. Carlock. His real name was Bill Carlock, and that’s the way he was, just getting kids interested in science, and…yeah, the way that was portrayed was excellent. He worked on spaceships for NASA, so having an actual astronaut helmet in there… (Voice cracks) I, uh, get choked up when I think about this, because…I can’t emphasize enough the importance of really good teachers. And he was one of those really good teachers.

BE: I can still pinpoint my high school journalism teacher, Mrs. Holton, as being the teacher who made the biggest difference for me. She heavily edited me, which cut into my confidence as a writer, but what I learned from it ultimately made me more confident…

TG: …because she showed you how to fix it. You see, the problem we’ve got now is that teachers aren’t copy-editing kids’ work. I mean, that’s how I learned to write when I was in elementary school. They red-marked up the work, and then you had to do it over again.

BE: Exactly.

TG: But that’s how you learn. But high school…that was absolutely the most miserable time of my life, with the teasing and all of that, and Mr. Carlock was just crucial for my success. I mean, your journalism teacher probably had a lot to do with your success.

BE: Every time I’ve seen her since then, I’ve made sure to tell her how far I’ve come since then. So once you got to college…in the movie, it’s painted as kind of a feel-good thing, where you start off rough but at the end you’re successful.

TG: That’s right. And there’s some things in the movie where they kind of change some stuff, but the stuff in there that’s absolutely accurate was…well, the sexual discrimination at the feed yard, with the bull testicle thing, that happened. Kicked out because the cowboys’ wives didn’t want me there? That happened. A chance meeting with somebody that got me into the plant? That… (Hesitates) That happened, meeting that lady who got me in the planet, but in real life it happened a little bit different. But it was a chance meeting very similar to that. They had to kind of change some things around, but all of my projects that they showed, those were built right off my original drawings. That dip vat actually worked. It was a real, working dip vat. And the squeeze machine, that was built off the drawings, and the magic gate. Those things were absolutely accurate. And the stuff I had a lot of input into was the cattle stuff, to make sure that was accurate. Like, making sure they bought the right kind of cattle to be in the movie.

BE: What you’ve brought to those who have autism, showing them what they can do despite it, is…well, it’s pretty amazing.

TG: I get worried about it. I’m seeing kids today who have milder autism than I had, and they’re taking social disability payments because, when they were kids, nobody made them do stuff. I originally didn’t want to go out to my aunt’s ranch when I was 15. I was scared. But she said, “It’s two weeks, or it’s all summer.” You’ve got to push them out, get them out there doing stuff. When I was in college, she made sure I was doing internships in the summer. I worked at a research lab one summer, the next summer I worked at a school for autistic kids, doing a whole lot of different things. You’ve got to get them out doing stuff, because that’s how I learned.

BE: Now, you go around the country and speak. At one point did you decide that you wanted to start doing that and, y’know, kind of spread the word?

TG: Well, you just sort of fall into it. There’s a lot of things where you fall into stuff. Originally, in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I was working on all of my design stuff and livestock stuff, and then I went back and…we had kind of a big recession in the early ‘80s, where there just wasn’t any work for two years, so I went back to school, got the coursework done during the recession, but then it took me forever to get my thesis done. Then after I got that done, I went out to Colorado, and…sometimes in your career, you just sort of go on more and more speaking engagements. But I still want to do my livestock stuff. I don’t want to let the autism stuff take over totally from the livestock stuff, ‘cause that’s my real job. I was just getting book sales figures, and I was very happy that my little livestock book, “Humane Livestock Handling,” had sold 1,400 copies. (Laughs) That’s a best seller for that kind of book! Because that’s my professional life, and I want to keep that. I don’t want to give that up. I don’t want ot give up my professional life.

BE: I would think not. Yeah, actually, I was going to ask you if you still wrote articles about livestock.

TG: Yes. I do eight a year, and I still teach my class. I have to be home for half the semester on Tuesdays for that. This is during the time when I’m not doing the class, though.

BE: Is it bizarre to see your life shown on the small screen like this?

TG: Well, watching Claire play me during the ‘60s and ‘70s was like going in a really weird time machine, and she did an absolutely brilliant job. She’s a brilliant actress.

BE: How much input did you have into the film, as far as, like, Mick’s direction?

TG: Well, I had a lot of input on the stuff like how my thinking was displayed, and I had a lot of discussions with Mick about the scene with the shoes. I explained to Mick how I think, and, you know, they collapsed and changed some stuff around, and I didn’t have much input into that, as long as they didn’t have me doing something out of character, like a big romance or something. That would be totally out of character. (Smiles) And the other thing I had a lot of input into was accuracy. Autism accuracy, and my projects. My actual drawings got to be in the movie. That was really cool! And the cattle accuracy, I had a lot of input into that. In fact, that was the one thing where I actually went down on the set and supervised the filming. That one afternoon, I kind of got to direct…and it was really, really cool! (Laughs) You know, showing them where to put the camera to get the really good pictures! Claire Danes was with the A-crew, going through the door, doing the door scene, where it opens up to the big feed lot, when I was doing the other. I said, “We can’t have a stupid thing like that ‘City Slickers’ movie.”

BE: (Laughs) Oh, yeah?

TG: That was so stupid! Holstein cattle? They had all the wrong kind of cattle, and…it was just ridiculous.

BE: I’ll see if I can get Billy Crystal on the phone for you.

TG: (Shakes her head) Oh, I just thought that movie was so ridiculous. Even the tack on the horses was wrong. No, the cattle accuracy in this movie was good.

BE: I’ll be sure to spread the word. Well, Temple, it’s really been an honor and a pleasure to meet you.

TG: Thank you!

The 2010 winter press tour of the Television Critics Association took place at the Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa from January 8th - 18th, which you probably already know from the various postings which were done during and have continued since my attendance at the event. It's a regular tradition, however, that I do a wrap-up piece which summarizes my experiences during the tour, and since I invariably seem to get a positive response from those pieces, I always try to make it as entertaining a read as possible. Here's hoping I've succeeded as well this time as I have in the past...but if I haven't, I feel certain you'll let me know.

Most enjoyable panel by a broadcast network: “Great Performances: Macbeth,” PBS.

I’ll freely admit that I was predisposed to enjoy the panel due to the fact that it featured the newly-knighted Sir Patrick Stewart, but I spoke to others afterwards who declared it to have been the best panel of the tour up to that point. Partial credit for the success goes to the critics in the audience, who consistently offered up intelligent questions about the subject matter at hand…and let me assure you that this is not always the case. Even on an occasion when an attempt at going in a unique direction fell flat, such as when one writer asked Stewart if he was familiar with FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” (it’s been called a Shakespearean saga on motorcycles), it led to the revelation that Ron Perlman has played an interesting place in Stewart’s life. “I was having dinner with Ron Perlman the day that I was offered Jean-Luc Picard in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation,’” he said, ‘so I have always looked on Ron as being a lucky omen. So you mentioning his name today, I hope, means that the rest of the day is going to be brighter than it begin.” At the very least, Sir Patrick’s remarks during the panel brightened mine.

Most interactive panel by a cable network: “The Choir,” BBC America.

Gareth Malone is a man on a mission to bring music to those who may not think that they have an interest in it, creating choirs in various schools in England and helping the youth of today raise their voices in song. We soon discovered that this extended to television critics as well. “In England, everyone knows that when I enter a room, everyone’s going to sing,” Malone began ominously, “so I would like to invite you to leave your Apples and come up onto stage, and we’re going to have a little singsong.” The immediate reaction was less than enthusiastic, with at least one person piping up, “It’s against the bylaws!” Malone would not be denied, however. “It will be very brief,” he assured us. “I’ll be very, very, kind. I promise not to do opera. Honestly, it’s going to be very, very gentle. I promise. Risk it. There won’t be very much. Typists, abandon your typing!” In the end, he managed to get a couple of dozen of us up there…yes, I was among the huddled masses…to perform a not-as-bad-as-it-could’ve-been chorus of “Barbara Ann.” As there is neither an audio recording nor a YouTube clip to prove otherwise, you may feel free to believe that I personally sounded fantastic.

Best intro to a panel from a cable network: "Dance Your Ass Off," Oxygen.

All I know about this show is what I've learned from watching clips on "The Soup," but when a panel starts off by having its panelists literally dancing their way down the aisles and onto the stage, at the very least, it gets your attention.

Best stunt by a broadcast network during a panel: In order to keep the rumors in check about Simon Cowell's reported departure from "American Idol," the network's executive session kicked off with Cowell coming onto the stage, announcing that he would be leaving "Idol" in favor of an American version of his hit British series, "The X Factor," then proceeding to sign the paperwork to seal the deal right in front of us.

You know, I don't watch "American Idol," and I probably won't watch "The X Factor," either, but I have to admit: watching Simon sign those documents was one of those moments where I felt like I was witnessing TV history in the making. Granted, it's because people will look back at it as the moment that most of America said, "Oh, man, now the show is really going to suck," but, hey, it's still history.

Best question asked during a cable network panel: The panel in question was for Animal Planet’s “Fatal Attractions,” a three-part miniseries which explores why some people are driven to bring dangerous, wild creatures like chimpanzees, big cats, and venomous reptiles right into their homes. The trailer for the program was decidedly disconcerting to just about everyone, I think, but it was Jonathan Storm of the Philadelphia Inquirer – the man who once kicked off a “Kardashians” panel by asking, “Who are you and why should we care about you?” – who got the mike first, and, boy, did he let his feelings show. “Where does this end?” he asked. “Here you have crazy people who take dangerous animals into their homes, and you’re going to present and tell their interesting stories…? Is there a point at which the behavior of the people that you are glorifying in these reality shows becomes so ridiculous that you will refuse to put it on, or is it simply a question of keeping your digital channel and making a little bit of money off of it?” Marjorie Kaplan, the President and General Manager of Animal Planet, looked like she’d had the wind knocked out of her, responding at first only with a flustered “My goodness!” She quickly recovered, however, arguing that “we are not trying to present outrageous things; we are telling stories that happen in the world.” Methinks, however, that Jonathan remained unconvinced.

Most common recurring question during the panels: "What do you think Conan should do?" / "What do you think of Conan's letter?" Simon's departure from "American Idol" was one thing, but it couldn't touch the evolving Conan vs. Jay saga. The anticipation for NBC's executive session was such that even Showtime's Bob Greenblatt admitted in his opening remarks, "I’d love to get my temporary TCA card so that I could sit in," so it was no surprise when Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC-Universal Television Entertainment, kicked things off by saying, "I see we have a full house. I heard there were some scalpers outside..."

While it was fun to watch Gaspin squirm (though, in fairness, he held his own pretty well), it became a full-fledged sport to see what kind of comments we could get from others about the late-night fracas, particularly folks on the same network.

* Greg Daniels, producer of "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation," has been friends with Conan since their days on "The Simpsons," so it stood to reason that someone would ask if he'd talked to his old buddy. "I spoke to Conan yesterday," he said, "and he and I agreed that the 'Parks and Rec' panel at the TCA would be the most appropriate time and place to announce his plans." He was kidding, of course...though I swear I heard some exasperated grunts when he admitted as much.

* Jerry Seinfeld was in the house to promote his new production, "The Marriage Ref," and although he clearly has a long history in stand-up with Leno, I think it still surprised a lot of people when he asked rhetorically, "What did the network do to him? I don’t think anyone is preventing people from watching Conan. There’s no rules. Once they give you the cameras, it’s on you, so I can’t blame NBC for having to move things around."

* “Oh, I hope to God he stays,” said NBC News' Brian Williams, when I brought up the subject during the network's all-star party. “We feel, I think, like east coast Irish-Catholic brothers. We came up and followed prominent people into our jobs and kind of came up at the same time. We talked about it a lot on the air. Conan’s got a great New England, almost blue-collar for a Harvard kid, work ethic. He drives himself hard, and I have just always found us to be kindred spirits. I love his sense of humor.”

* In a press scrum later during the aforementioned party, Chevy Chase - himself a veteran of the talk show wars (albeit one with a decidedly shorter period of service) - was typically outspoken, indicating that Conan was getting the shaft from NBC. "I think he's too good for 'The Tonight Show' in terms of intellect," he said, "and maybe too bad for it because of that, too. the way I look at it, from where I stand, Conan is getting screwed and it's because of (NBC's) long life relationship with Jay. I'm not saying Jay's screwing him, because I wouldn't deign to do that. I'm just saying, I don't think he's getting much respect, so it wouldn't surprise me if he were gone. I think he's too intelligent and too bright and funny and will find whatever he needs to find so he can do his sort of humor."

A few days later, the shit really hit the fan...and, man, you cannot imagine the electricity that was coursing through the room when Conan dropped his hell-no-we-won't-go letter bomb. (I swear, Bill Carter of The New York Times was literally glowing.) Bill Lawrence, producer of "Scrubs" and "Cougar Town," was grinning from ear to ear when he brought it up during the ABC comedy show-runners panel, describing it as "ballsy."

"I love it, man," said Lawrence. "It's just the way that I hoped it would go. What a talented dude, and I’m sure it’s going to lead to good things for him. It made me happy."

Dude, you're preaching to the choir.

Most promising new broadcast network program that I didn’t know anything about before going into the tour: “Code 58,” Fox.

In my defense, however, no one knew much about “Code 58” beyond the fact that it was going to star Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks as an old-school cop and a modern-day detective…and we didn’t even know that much until the panel was being introduced. Even then, the series was presented with a parenthetical reminder that it’s in possession of a working title, which means that we don’t even know for sure that it is going to be called “Code 58.”

Fortunately, in a move reminiscent of NBC’s pre-premiere “Parks and Recreation” panel from the last January tour, Fox opted to pass out the script for the pilot to all attendees. Not only does the script make it seem as though the show has potential, but Whitford and Hanks were on fire during the panel, thanks in no small part to the amount of riffing opportunities provided by Whitford’s new ‘stache. “My growing this mustache,” mused Whitford, “I gotta say, it reminds me of a lot of the work DeNiro did in ‘Raging Bull.’’) Alas, we won’t know ‘til May how the end result will turn out, but my fingers are crossed.

Panelist most prone to talking in circles: Al Pacino, "You Don't Know Jack" (HBO). When asked if doing an HBO movie felt any different than doing a theatrical release, Pacino replied, "Well, it’s television. It’s HBO, and so HBO is television. And television is you have to do a lot in a short period of time so that’s the difference, the only difference. Otherwise, it’s the same." Oh, okay.

Then, on the matter of the film's title, he said, "I don’t think a lot of people know can really say that they know Jack Kevorkian, especially when you get to know him or you get to get his read on things and get to know more about him. When you see the image that was portrayed of Jack Kevorkian during his time, and you get you get a sense of someone quite different than the personality that I got to know. Not that I got to know him personally, mind you, but just to the research I did and the work I did, in order to get closer to who I could sort of interpret. I think the title is apt because you don’t know this guy. And, hopefully, in the movie you still don’t."

Al, I love you, but sometimes you make my head spin.

Best anecdote(s) during a panel: Louis C.K.

His new FX sitcom, “Louie,” offers a look into the stand-up comedian’s life as a divorced dad, showing both his interactions with his kids and his attempts to reenter the world of dating. During the course of the panel, he proceeded to tell a worst-case scenario situation from each side, and they were both pretty awesome.

On the topic of his worst date, Louis hemmed and hawed at first, explaining that pretty much all of his dates have been pretty bad. “Dating is horrible,” he said. “It’s awful. I don’t get it. It’s just…you’re standing there, going, ‘Hi, do you want to have sex and later wish you hadn’t?’ It’s horrible. And it’s awkward at 42 because I don’t have the body or the drive. I don’t have sex drive. I have sex sit-in-the-car-and-hope-somebody-gets-in. And I’m amongst young people, because most people my age aren’t dating unless there’s something wrong with them…like me.”

Finally, however, he conceded that maybe one of dates did kind of stand out. “I went out with a woman once,” he said, “and I flew her to New York City. I was living in Boston. I said, ‘Hey, I’m not going to tell you where we’re going,’ and I had this romantic image that we would get on the shuttle and go to New York and go to Tavern on the Green and then fly back, but it was just a debacle. The flights were delayed – y’know, security problems – and we got to New York really late, sat in a cab in Queens for about two hours, and Tavern on the Green…you can’t just walk in there. I’m an idiot. We got turned away. And I stand outside Tavern on the Green with her, going, ‘“I’m sorry, I guess I didn’t plan this well,’ and a pigeon shat directly on top of my head. Just a huge amount of shit. White pigeon shit. With black streaks.

“That one,” he admitted, “was pretty bad.”

Insofar as his kids were concerned, Louis focused on a moment with his daughter, and although you’ll soon see that the subject matter was, in general, about as unfunny as it gets, I couldn’t help but laugh, because as the father of a 4-year-old daughter, I’ve had to battle back from similar bouts of speechlessness in order to come up with a halfway intelligent answer to a very serious subject.

“I was on the subway with my daughter,” he said, “and she said to me that her friend in school told her that his grandparents were put in an oven during a war. And, I mean, this is the kind of high wire act parenting is, because you don’t get warned that you’re going to have this conversation. I’m just holding onto a strap, and she says (this), and I was like, ‘What the fuck?’ And she says, ‘Daddy, does that happen? Do people put each other in ovens?’ And what do you say, because you can’t just go, ‘No, your friend’s a liar.’ And you also can’t go, ‘Oh, yeah. That was Hitler, and just,” you know. And you also can’t just go, ‘Yeah, that happens sometimes. You never know. Sometimes somebody will grab you and shove you in an oven.’ So she’s standing there, waiting, and you have to come up with the thing. And what I ended up saying was…like, to me, with my daughter, it’s always the truth. I try to tell her the truth. And so I told her the truth, which was, ‘I don’t know what to say to you about this right now.’ I said, ‘I’m not sure you should know about it. If you really want to know, I’ll tell you.’ I was just buying time while my brain was working behind me. But she said, ‘Yeah, don’t tell me yet.’ She’s smart, but she doesn’t need to know about Hitler yet. She was six years old when this happened. How do you take a kid from Santa Claus to the evil of Hitler and Stalin and all that shit? I don’t know.”

I don't know, either, of course, but I know that Louis should be very proud of his daughter: not every little girl would allow their father to retain his dignity in such a manner, let alone give him a story that he can use during the TCA tour.

Largest panel that really only needed to consist of two people: “The Pacific,” HBO. Surely the network knew full well that the cast of this upcoming WWII miniseries weren’t going to be asked nearly as many questions as its producers, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, but it was a pleasant surprise to find Hanks taking the reins of the panel as often as not. He tackled the first question – about the differences between this program and its predecessor, “Band of Brothers” – with the seriousness it warranted, but when the second question was posed, he began, “If I can be so bold to continue talking and not let anybody else have a moment…”

Spielberg soon managed to find his way into the conversation with some frequency as well, though he and Hanks often slipped into Abbott and Costello mode when trying to determine who was going to get to answer a question.

Tom Hanks: Go ahead.
Steven Spielberg: You go.
Tom Hanks: No, no, no. Go ahead, because I’ll pontificate for an hour and a half. I’m going to sound like Ricky Gervais in 20 minutes.
Steven Spielberg: Now I can’t follow up, because I was going to get really serious here
Tom Hanks: Oh, please.

When Spielberg cracked a joke about how they maintained their relationship with HBO because the network gave them a lot of money, Hanks added, “I’m going to assume that all you cracked members of the fourth estate can appreciate sarcasm when it comes your way.” With that assumption made, he then later claimed that the network had approached them about continuing their collaboration by saying, “We are more successful, we make more money than all the commercial networks combined, we’ve got $250 million to blow. Do you want to do anything with it?”

Eventually, fellow producer Gary Goetzman acknowledged that he and his fellow panelists knew their place in the proceedings and, as such, weren’t even trying to answer any of the questions. “Why would we?” he asked. “We’ve got Steven and Tom!”

Best opening line from any interview that I did during the tour: Jonathan Demme. I opened by telling him that I was a huge fan of his Robyn Hitchcock concert film, “Storefront Hitchcock.” His reply: “I love you very much.”

Best one-on-one interview with a fabricated American: Warren the Ape. I hope to talk to him at greater length before his new MTV series premieres, but in the meantime, I'll always have these moments to treasure.

Best one-on-one interview with a human: Patrick Stewart. And, believe me, no other human even comes close.

We were originally only supposed to chat for ten minutes, but when his publicist came back to check on us at the 10-minute mark, we’d talked solely about Shakespeare, so I asked if I could ask him a couple of questions about his work in comedy. The next thing I knew, I'd virtually doubled my interview time and was left reeling from the fact that not only he was telling me about how much he enjoyed the “Phil McCracken, Scottish Therapist” sketch he’d done on “Saturday Night Live,” he'd actually launched into the character for a line or two.

It’s a testament to Stewart's career that it wasn’t until I stood up to leave that I finally managed to mention “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Turns out we both have the same favorite episode: “The Inner Light.” You know, I knew there was a reason I liked that guy...

Most unnecessary event by a cable network: TV Guide Network’s “‘Curb’ Your Appetite” Luncheon, which the network staged mostly to let critics know that they’d soon be running “Curb Your Enthusiasm” reruns, throwing in a reminder about their then-upcoming Golden Globes coverage. Yes, it was nice to see Cheryl Hines, and her remarks about the experience of working with Larry David were entertaining enough, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who beat a hasty retreat as soon as they’d finished their meal. I kind of wanted to talk to Hines for a minute, but it wasn’t worth having to feign interest in chatting with the network’s red-carpet regulars, Carrie Ann Inaba and Chris Harrison.

Best party by a cable network: the Discovery Networks’ 25th anniversary reception.

Even though there isn’t a single 100%absolute-must-see series for me anywhere within the Discovery family of networks, there was just way too much going on at this function for me to give the award to anyone else. There was barbeque and ribs from the guys from “BBQ Pitmasters,” cupcakes from the “Cake Boss,” and a huge cast of characters from the various series, including Ed Begley, Jr., Bill Nye, Stacey and Clinton from “What Not to Wear,” the Little Couple, and – courtesy of Animal Planet, of course – a baby giraffe who was quite happy to accept some leaves or even a pat on the nose.

On a side note, this was also the event which found me witnessing one of the funniest moments of the tour, but I’d feel guilty if I called out the person who was involved, as she’s such a complete sweetheart. As such, I will only say this: if you’re about to approach someone who you think is Adam Savage from “Mythbusters” but not you’re not 100% sure it’s them, be sure to lead by asking, “Are you the guy from ‘Mythbusters’?” Because if it turns out they’re actually Mikey from “American Chopper,” it could be really embarrassing.

The party by a broadcast network that I was clearly supposed to think was awesome, even though I was personally only “meh” to it: CBS’s gala to celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Survivor.”

I am assured by the network’s press release that it was the largest gathering of former “Survivor” contestants ever, but if I’m to be honest, I’ve only ever watched one episode of the show (the season finale of the first season), and the only person I had any real interest in meeting – Rudy Boesch – is from my area, anyway, so it’s not like I had to fly to California to accomplish that. Still, I did remember a buddy of mine telling me that Jonny Fairplay from Season 7 was from Danville, VA, where I went to college, so I approached him and told him that I’d attended Averett University. He replied, “Oh, so you paid too much for your education, huh?” He then proceeded to reply to my request for a photo with the following pose:

That’s right, Jonny, keep it classy. You’ve got a reputation to keep up, after all.

Best all-star party by a broadcast network: Fox. You know how you can tell Fox is #1? The open bar at their all-star party offered 18-year-old Scotch.

I wasn’t the only one impressed by this, either: by evening’s end, I was getting tips on the proper way to drink the beverage by Tyler Labine (soon to be starring in “Sons of Tucson”), a scenario made even more surreal by the fact that he was imparting me with this wisdom with Tim Roth sitting next to him. I’ve been led to understand that I might’ve been less impressed with the festivities if my goal had been to talk to the kids from “Glee,” since most of them were apparently in possession of personal publicists who were trying to shield them from conversations lasting longer than 60 seconds. Personally, though, I had a blast.

Best cocktail party by a broadcast network: CBS. I might've been indifferent to the "Survivor" function, but CBS really came through for me by kicking off the first night of the tour with "Drinks with the DiNozzos," an "NCIS"-themed cocktail soiree which served to spotlight the then-upcoming 150th episode of the series.

The pluralization of Michael Weatherly's character's last name was due to the appearance of the man who played Tony's father in the episode: Robert Wagner. As someone who grew up worshiping at the altar of "Hart to Hart," just being able to meet RJ - it's totally cool to call him that, btw - was enough of a thrill for me, but as ever, it was wonderful to once again see my photo buddy, Pauley Perrette, who remains one of the sweetest people I've met during the course of my TCA tour experiences. I also had the opportunity to speak with Cote de Pablo (Ziva) for a few minutes, as well as to ask executive producer Shane Brennan about the challenges of making southern California look like the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, but the best bit definitely came when I was chatting with Wagner and Weatherly together.

When I told Weatherly that I hailed from Norfolk, he said, "I might've told you this one before, Will, but...hey, RJ, I've got a joke for you." He then launched into a joke which, rather than relate in full, I'll just tell you that the punchline was, indeed, "Norfolk, Virginia," with the second half of "Norfolk" pronounced with a decidedly obscene inflection. We all had a good laugh, I turned off my recorder, and as the conversation closed, Wagner and Weatherly decided to work out their golf plans for the next day.

"Now," said Wagner, "you should go home to your wife."

"What are you going to do, RJ?" asked Weatherly...and RJ, with a perfectly deadpan expression, told him rather explicitly what he was planning to go do. Immediately after doing so, however, he adopted a horrified look, and I watched his eyes move from Weatherly down to my recorder.

"Oh, no, don't worry," I said. "I turned that off back at 'Norfolk, Virginia.'"

RJ roared with laughter and clapped me on the shoulder. "You're a good man," he said, then strolled off to, I can only presume, do exactly what he'd said he was going to do, the lucky bastard.

I should add that, while this was the first thing that I attended after arriving in Pasadena, it wasn't the first event of the tour. It was actually the third. I'd planned to attend all three, but...well, therein lies a tale.

Biggest disappointment of the tour: missing the opportunity to visit the sets of ABC’s “FlashForward” and NBC’s “Community.” Since I live in Virginia and don’t always have the opportunities afforded by my L.A.-based peers, I’m always excited by the prospect of a visit to the set of a TV show. The idea of hitting the “FlashForward” set was intriguing, given that the show’s had some turmoil, but since I’d declared “Community” to be my favorite new series of the 2009 fall season, I was really psyched at the thought of touring the campus of Greendale Community College. Heck, I’d even checked in with my Facebook friend Yvette Nicole Brown to tell her to keep an eye out for me! As such, when I arrived at the airport in Newport News and got word that my flight was delayed such that I would likely miss my connecting flight in Atlanta, you can probably guess how crestfallen I was. Still, I am a professional, so I sucked it up and only wept openly for about five or ten minutes. Later, one of my peers told me that the cast of “Community” made them laugh ‘til they cried, and I rationalized that I’d been given the opportunity to cut to the chase and avoid all of that time-consuming laughter.

Most awesome visit to the set of a network show: “How I Met Your Mother.” Although it’s tempting to include “Glee,” particularly since both Lea Michelle (Rachel) and Amber Riley (Mercedes) gave us phenomenal performances of “Maybe This Time” and “Don’t Make Me Over,” respectively, I cannot describe the trip to the set of “How I Met Your Mother” as anything but legen…wait for it, and I hope you’re not lactose-intolerant…dary. Not only we were treated to breakfast while sitting in McClaren’s (or, at least, on the set of it, anyway), but we were witness to the cast’s table read for an upcoming episode (“Hooked”), and although Carrie Underwood was unavailable to read her part (she plays Ted’s new girlfriend), Bob Saget turned up to read his narration in person.

Cheapest thrill of the tour: shaking hands with Alyson Hannigan after the “How I Met Your Mother” table read.

I’ve always been a sucker for a redhead, but, c’mon, this is a redhead who manages to be both cute as a button and sexy as hell…which is, for the record, why she’s one of very few actresses who could successfully play a kindergarten teacher who loves porn.

I was so caught up in my enjoyment of the table read…seriously, it’s one of the funniest episode this season…that I managed to resist blatantly staring at her, but when things wrapped up, even though we were being hustled back to the bus, I couldn’t resist going up to her to shake her hand, thank her, and tell her that I’d had a great time. I realize I’m reading between the lines here, since all she did was smile and say, “Oh, thanks,” but I’m pretty sure it was good for her, too.

Coolest moment of the tour that had to be seen to be appreciated: Chevy Chase doing a double-take when he turned around to do an interview with me.

Most awesome live performance of the tour: Nope, it's not the "Glee" kids here, either. It's Mary Chapin Carpenter, who turned up to help hype PBS’s upcoming airing of Rounder Records’ 40th Anniversary Concert.

Like the majority of her fans, I came aboard with the release of Come On Come On, so the fact that she opened with “The Hard Way” and closed with “Passionate Kisses” was enough to make the evening worthwhile for me, but he also threw in some songs from her more recent records, along with two tracks from a forthcoming release that were good enough to make me want to pre-order it the moment the house lights came up.

Best off-site visit that was in no way connected to the tour: Pie ‘n’ Burger. I can’t vouch for any other items on the menu, but if the goal of this Pasadena institution was to name themselves after two things that they make spectacularly well, then, by God, they succeeded in spades.

I actually ended up hitting this fabled joint on two occasions – first with one of my closest friends and her beau, then again with some of my compatriots from Popdose.com when, even after a delicious and filling Mexican dinner, my description of the pie proved far too tempting a lure to resist – but it was my initial trip which resulted in concrete proof that I can’t escape from the TCA even when I try.

Within five minutes of sitting down for a well-done cheeseburger and a piece of coconut meringue pie, Jorge Garcia, a.k.a. Hurley from “Lost,” strolled in. Guess I wasn’t the only one who was disappointed by ABC’s decision to take a pass on offering an evening event. Fortunately, we both found solace at the Pie ‘N’ Burger.

Best in-joke amongst a small handful of TCA members: Zombie Harry Chapin. There is very possibly no way to make this funny to anyone who either wasn’t part of the original conversation or doesn’t enjoy zombie humor, but I'll give it a shot.

It all started with someone in the midst of the panel / performance for PBS’s “Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert” forgetting the name of the actual performer, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and asking if it was Harry Chapin playing. After explaining that Harry Chapin had been dead for almost 30 years, someone began to riff on the idea that we would soon be seeing a rare concert appearance by none other than Zombie Harry Chapin. Soon, we began to consider ZHC’s possible between-song patter (“Here… another… song… about… brains…”), and by the time the Golden Globes had rolled around, we were imagining how he might accept his award. (“Zombie… Harry… Chapin… not… know… where… to… begin…”).

Rather than ending with the tour, this strange one-note joke has since expanded to include a Facebook presence (Zombie Harry Chapin – Official Fan Group), and with the recent announcement that AMC has greenlit a pilot based on Robert Kirkland's zombie comic, "The Walking Dead," I have every reason to believe that Zombie Harry Chapin is poised for global domination...but, then, what else would you expect a zombie to do?

Funniest case of mistaken identity than was funnier to me than the other person involved: Right before I left, I had a copy of David Bianculli's new book, "Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," sent to me at the hotel, but although it was scheduled to have arrived on the first Monday, it never made it to my room.

I went down to the front desk and asked about it, and they said that, yes, it had arrived, yet no one could seem to figure out where it had gone. I said, "Well, it's not in my room, and it's not in the TCA suite, so I'm pretty sure I can guess where it is." You see, there's a suspicious character in the TCA who goes by the name of Bill Harris. He writes for the Toronto Sun and, owing to his encyclopedic knowledge of all things "Simpsons," he refers to me as "Senor Spielbergo," since I'm his non-union American equivalent. I told the concierge, "I guarantee it was accidentally delivered to his room."

Within a few minutes, there came a knock at my hotel room door, and it was a hotel employee holding the book in one hand and the press release and envelope in the other. "You were right, sir," he said. "It was delivered to him. He wasn't in his room, so I just went ahead and picked it up. Unfortunately, he'd already opened it. I hope that's all right." Stifling a laugh, I thanked him, then sat down and composed an apologetic E-mail to Bill entitled "The Case of the Mysterious Disappearing Book," explaining that he could request a copy of the book from the publicist. He accepted the apology, but he admitted, "That's just not nearly as much fun as getting your copy."

Best trend of the tour: confirming that Facebook has helped me create friendships rather than just fly-by-night encounters. Okay, that sounds dirty, so let me clarify that a little bit. As a work-at-home writer who sits in front of his computer all day, it's somewhat of a given that I tend to frequent Facebook on a way-too-regular basis, but in order to feel a little less guilty about it, I tend to befriend folks I've interviewed, publicists that I regularly deal with, and, of course, my fellow TV critics. As a result, I felt more a part of the TCA tour than ever before, and it was awesome.

Worst trend of the tour: actors with belligerent or just plain rude personal publicists. The problem with complaining about this issue, however, is that you don’t know for sure if the problem is really the publicist. It’s possible that the actor has simply given the publicist specific instructions to be the bad cop. I have heard through the grapevine, however, that the network publicists are generally no more thrilled with the personal publicists than we are. It doesn’t change anything, but, hey, at least we both get someone to commiserate with.

And on that note, allow me to close with...

The If-You-Don’t-Want-To-Be-Here-Then-Why-Don’t-You-Get-The-Hell-Out-Already? Award: Jerry Seinfeld. After offering up an entertaining performance during the panel for NBC’s new reality show, “The Marriage Ref,” on which he’s serving as an executive producer, Jerry decided to take up residence in a little alcove within the area serving as the location of the network’s all-star party. Sounds great, except for one thing: he apparently decided from the get-go that he wasn’t going to be doing any interviews.

When I first spotted him, nestled in his little hideaway, he was having a bit of wine with Chevy Chase, but when Chevy departed to fulfill his own publicity duties, I approached the gentleman hovering on the fringes of Jerry’s private area and, as there were no other writers nearby at the moment, politely asked if I could just ask Jerry two questions. The gentleman said, “I don’t think so, but just a moment.” He leaned over and talked momentarily to a woman who I cannot definitively identify (but who others seemed to think was Seinfeld’s missus), then returned to me and said, “No, I’m afraid not. He’s very tired.”

Really, Jerry? Sorry, but at the risk of maintaining the status quo and never getting an interview, I really feel as though I have to ask: why did you bother to attend the party in the first place? It’s not as though it was held as a social event. It was a working function for the television critics to chat with the cast and producers of NBC-Universal’s new series. If you wanted to have drinks with Chevy, then the least you could’ve done was go somewhere where your presence wasn’t serving solely to taunt the critics with the possibility of an interview that they were never gonna get.

Hear me and hear me well: the day will come...oh, yes, mark my words, Seinfeld...your day of reckoning is coming, when an evil wind will blow through your little play world and wipe that smug smile off your face, and I'll be there in all my glory, watching, watching as it all comes crumbling down!

By the way, I totally stole that last bit from the "Seinfeld" finale, but, oddly enough, I think the sentiment works just fine here, too.

Although the new Starz series, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," may involve a lot of guys and gals running around and committing all sorts of swordplay, you should in no way take the fact that it's executive produced by Robert G. Tapert to indicate that it will in any way resemble earlier Tapert productions like, say, "Hercules" or "Xena." I mean, heck, if the warrior princess herself doesn't see any similarities, then anything you think you've spotted is strictly a case of looking too hard to find something that isn't there.

"It's totally different to me," said Lucy Lawless, who plays Lucretia on the show. "Completely different, tonally. The fighting, the technology, everything has changed so much. I don’t recognize the fights at all. The way they do them is foreign to me."

At the very least, there's one element inherent to Lawless's new gig that, for better or worse, her former series did not possess: lots and lots of sex. Despite the incredibly graphic nature of the intercourse, Stephen K. DeKnight - creator of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" - does not seem to be overly concerned about how audiences will react.

"Well, who doesn’t like sex?" he asks, quite rhetorically. "I mean, seriously, I think we’re all sexual beings, and back in the Roman times, it was a completely different idea about sex. It was much more open and free, and it was pre-Christian constraints. So we wanted to explore all that, quite frankly. It was very common to have sex with your slaves. It was extremely common. So we wanted to explore that, too. And part and parcel is the sensuality of the human experience, and we certainly didn’t want to shy away from that. Is it graphic? I personally don’t think it’s that graphic, but that’s me. I think it’s beautifully shot. There are some very steamy things. You know, it’s not pornographic in any way, and the sex scenes almost always come from a place of character. There’s always something going on. It’s not just 'cue the funky music,' and they start having sex. It’s not that. Somebody is always angling. It’s always about power. It’s always about love. It’s always about loss. Every sex scene has a purpose. It’s not just sex for sex’s sake."

DeKnight described the series' two distinct sides - one sexual, one violent - as going together like chocolate and peanut butter, and while he may have been kidding a bit with his Reese's-inspired comparison, there's a certain logic to his position. "It’s a violent time," he said of the show's era. "Much like their views on sex, the Roman views at the time on violence was you did not shy away from blood. Blood and death, it was part of being Roman. You embraced it. You liked to watch it. And also, just the sex and violence is part of the show, but if you’ve seen the first four or five, the plot lines become incredibly intricate. We really play with the idea that everybody wants something, everybody is after something, and everybody is against everybody else. Everyone is maneuvering, and it becomes very complicated and messy, and out of that comes blood...and often sex."

Well, fair enough, then.

The title character in the series is played by Andy Whitfield, a veritable newcomer who was picked from a casting process of considerable length. "We did an extensive search in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Great Britain," said DeKnight, "Andy was in L.A., and he came in and auditioned, and we auditioned the hell out of him. We brought him in multiple times because we just had to be really, really sure, and we always kept coming back to Andy. I mean, his audition was fantastic, and he just felt like the part. He just exudes what you want in a Spartacus."

Not that the role didn't still require a rather ridiculous amount of training and preparation. "It was kind of pretty brutal, actually," said Whitfield. "The first, I think, two days after I got the job, I flew to New Zealand, and I was in gladiator boot camp, which is a month of four hours a day getting smashed to pieces by big stunt guys and learning how to fall and sword fighting and not eating anything, and it was really hard. And then you get to the end of that first month, and then they’re going to do an eight-and-a-half-month shoot where you have to stay in that shape."

As gigs go, Whitfield could do a lot worse than having the title role of the series - talk about being guaranteed a certain amount of job security - but now that the series has been granted a second-season pick-up before even premiering, one wonders how long the story of Spartacus can be told. After all, the Stanley Kubrick film might be long, but it isn't that long.

"Without getting into details, the plot continually thickens," said DeKnight. "Obviously, we’re looking at a show that hopefully will go five, six, seven years. People know the basic story of Spartacus, (but) there’s a lot of interesting bits and pieces of that that people don’t know about that we want to explore, and we want to really take Spartacus the man from where we are starting in Season 1 and slowly open him up to the idea of trying to end slavery in the Roman Republic. It’s not an overnight process for him. That is not his main goal through the first couple of seasons. It’s something he comes around to, basically putting aside his own feelings and his own emotions of what he wants and giving over to the greater good.

"There is a message in the 'Spartacus' story, but it all depends on who is interpreting that message," he continued. "The Russians who translated most of the scraps that were known about Spartacus had their own agenda about how they wanted to present that story, and that’s how you get a wonderful, wonderful book and movie that’s the Howard Fast novel and the Stanley Kubrick movie, but there was an agenda to that movie. I’m taking a very different tack. I always go the David E. Kelley path. The thing I love about David E. Kelley shows is that, when it gets down to the final argument and the prosecutor gets up and he finishes his argument, you say, 'Well, yeah, of course.' And then the defense attorney gets up and presents his argument, and you say, 'Oh, I agree with him, too. I don’t know which one.' So when we finally introduce Marcus Crassus...Laurence Olivier in the movie...we’re going to get a different view of slavery altogether.

"I want to really explore both views of slavery," said DeKnight, "because, in a lot of ways, slavery in Rome was not the horrible, horrible thing that we think we know. A lot of slaves had their own homes. They had their own families. They were free to come and go. They were highly trained artisans. It was more like a job. It was more like working for a corporation, honestly. And that’s something we want to explore, too. So we always want to get both sides of the argument. It’s not just going to be, 'Oh, my God, the Romans are horrible, and slavery is awful.' There will be two sides to the argument. But will it ever be, 'This is our message'?" No. We just want to tell a really, really great story."

Although Syfy's "Caprica" is a prequel to "Battlestar Galactica," the fact that the series are separated by 58 years and an apocalypse (give or take) doesn't mean that the two don't share similar elements. Indeed, writer / executive producer Jane Espenson immediately offered up two words that link the shows: moral complexity.

"There’s no stark bad guys and good guys," she explained. "This is a world that is perceived by some of its residents as sort of sliding over the edge, there’s a whole bunch of people who think they’ve got the answer, and it’s not at all clear that any of them have the answer. The guy who believes in technology thinks that’s the answer. The person who believes in religion thinks that’s the answer. And if everybody has moral shadings, we can tell very complex stories as a result.

Espenson's fellow writer / executive producer, David Eick, clarified another similarity: the two shows take their genre very seriously. "We really do try to involve depth of character, realism, grounded-terrestrial naturalism to a science fiction world," he said. "That sort of came from what we always admired about the greats and the classics, from Asimov to Heinlein to Philip K. Dick, this idea that science fiction was not just fun and games. We wanted to go sort of the opposite direction of George Lucas, if you will. We wanted to make it less about escapism and more about moral complexity, as Jane was saying, and great characters."

For those who have seen the pilot to the series, which will air again tonight on SyFy, you may be wondering if its tone and content will remain consistent when the series officially kicks off next week. Apparently, so were stars Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales. According to Eick, both actors wanted some reassurance that the pilot was not going to be a one-off, with the series going in a different direction altogether.

"I think, if anything, we go towards that even more rather than shying away from it," said Stoltz, "because that’s what interests all of us as actors: playing these ambiguous, conflicted people living not in a black-and-white world and trying to find their way in it. We wanted to be exactly like that, so we’re all striving to make it as good as possible."

"Also," added Morales, "the naturalism in what I see from my fellow actors and their acting, it’s very unlike anything I’ve seen on television. The atmosphere of the show as well. The planet feels like it has a presence, a consciousness, in a sense, that I think is taken from the pilot, and it moves. It's rooted in the pilot, but I think the show will evolve from what you saw in the pilot."

Rest assured, however, that you don't have to have to know "Battlestar Galactica" to appreciate "Caprica." In fact, as Eick is quick to point out, the network's marketing strategy for the series involves a notable lack of the words "Battlestar" or "Galactica" in the title of the show. Still, it's not as though there's a single article that's been written about the show that doesn't mention the connection, so why should newbies join in the fun?

"The same reason they come to any well-marketed and, hopefully, well-executed television show," replied Eick. "That it’s compelling in its own right, that it has ideas embedded in it and a visual style that looks inviting and exciting. On that front, I’m not terribly concerned. From the standpoint of the execution within the show once you’re in, new viewers will find that there’s virtually no tether to 'Battlestar Galactica' from a storytelling standpoint whatsoever. There are the occasional Easter eggs and nods and acknowledgments for the faithful to enjoy or maybe deepen some of their appreciation for it, but I think legitimately the show stands on its own. Other than the fact that, if you happen to know 'Battlestar Galactica,' you know that that show had its roots in some of the stories we’re telling now, there really is no relationship between the two shows whatsoever."

"Imagine you were watching a show that you knew nothing about and they were developing sentient robots," added Espenson. "You might very well get a glimmer that these sentient robots are going to be trouble down the road. You don’t need 'Battlestar Galactica' to tell you that. In a storytelling sense, ('Caprica') tells you that."

"I have a lot of friends who have never seen “Battlestar Galactica,” don’t like sci-fi, and they watch it because of me," admitted Magda Apanowicz. "But when they actually end up watching it, they love it. Like, they’re shocked, and they’re, like, 'There’s so much that you can take away from it. There’s so many different storylines that you can relate to.'"

"We just have fun, guys," said Morales. "We hope you do, too."

Who says persistence doesn't pay off?

On Sunday, I spoke with John Landgraf, FX’s President and General Manager, to get the latest update on the network’s attempts to transition Brian Michael Bendis’s “Powers” from comic book to the small screen. Not only did he confirm that the pilot was indeed still in the works, he also let slip that Bendis was now collaborating with an outside writer, describing this other individual as "a really, really good writer who got really excited about the project. The new writer and Brian have got a good take on it. They came in about two months ago and pitched what they were doing, and it was great.” What Landgraf did not tell me was the name of this writer, as he wasn't sure if he was allowed to release the information yet, but he assured me that he would get in touch with me once he could.

Well, he just did...and, frankly, I couldn't be much more excited about it. Bendis's collaborator is none other than Kevin Falls, the man behind NBC's late, great "Journeyman." Given how well Falls kept the mythos and storylines of "Journeyman" weaving in and out, he seems like an excellent pick to work on such a complex series as "Powers" is likely to be. I've already dropped a line to Mr. Falls' folks, in hopes of chatting with him about the gig, so keep your fingers crossed just as tightly this time as you did last time. (It worked pretty well, after all.)

What say you? Are you as jazzed as I am...?

I loved the first season of "Damages," but time constraints kept me from following the second season of the series as closely as I would've liked. Still, my dedication to the show was such that, when I heard there was going to be a panel for its third season, I wanted to make sure that I'd checked out the screener of the season's first two episodes before it took place, so that I'd be fully prepared for the event. What I hadn't realized, though, was that I would be so caught up in those episodes that my first task upon returning home from the tour would be to immediately put Season 2 into the DVD player and watch it immediately. Yes, my love of "Damages" is back with a vengeance...which, given the theme of the series, is absolutely apropos.

There's only one problem when it comes to discussing Season 3 of "Damages" and it's this: a key event occurs in the season premiere that I can't possibly give away. As such, I'm forced to dance around it...which sucks, because, man, I reeeeeeeally want to talk about it with someone.

What we can talk about, at least, is the general premise of the season, which revolves around a suspiciously-familiar concept: a high-profile financier who turns his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme that defrauds thousands of investors of billions of dollars. But, c'mon, this panel took place before an audience of intelligent critics (and, no, that's not a contradiction in terms, thank you very much), so no one was going to ask, "So, is it a coincidence that this resembles the whole Bernie Madoff situation?" The better question, obviously, was whether or not any other news stories were in competition for use as the thrust of Season 3.

"Well, I don’t know if I’d call it competition," said executive producer Daniel Zelman, laughing. "But there were several stories we were looking at, not just the Madoff case. There was an attorney named Marc Dreier who fascinated us. You may have seen; he did an interview on “60 Minutes.” But he had perpetrated some $700 million con essentially. And also, a businessman named Allen Stanford had basically created a bank in Antigua that supposedly had billions of dollars in it, but had nothing in it. So we were really drawn to all of these stories, and we’re using elements of all these stories in the story that we’re telling, although coming through the front door, it’s sort of more around the Madoff scenario."

Those who've been watching "Damages" regularly have seen unexpected casting choices like Ty Burrell ("Modern Family"), Ted Danson ("Cheers," "Becker"), and Darrell Hammond ("Saturday Night Live") pay off handsomely, but even so, it's a bit of a surprise to find both Martin Short and Lily Tomlin turning up in Season 3. For executive producer Todd A. Kessler, however, it makes perfect sense.

"One of the things that we try to strive for on 'Damages' is that nothing is as it seems," he says. "Starting in the first season, when we cast Ted as Arthur Frobisher, it continues to just amaze us to work with actors and performers who aren’t always given the opportunities to do something other than what they’re primarily known for. When the casting came up this season...Lily plays the matriarch of a family that Patty Hewes is going after, and Marty plays the family’s attorney...we just thought it would be an amazing opportunity to work with both of them and then also have them embody this sense of 'nothing is as it seems.' And while there’s a familiarity with both of them as actors and their career work, on our show I think they’re both giving pretty iconic performances that are thrilling us daily."

"I wouldn’t say I’ve done an endless amount of serious roles," admitted Short, appearing at the panel via satellite, "but I think of myself as a character actor, and you play characters in a sincere fashion. Even if you’re playing Franck from 'Father of the Bride,' if you’re trying to be funny as that character, you won’t be. But if you sincerely play him as this eccentric person who exists in the world, then you’re basically acting the character, who happens to be an unusual character. So I don’t really look at it as a differentiation between comedy and serious. It, to me, is just what the role is, what it requires, how you can most effectively give the author what he had hoped to achieve."

Although Short never clarified whether or not he was a fan of the series, Tomlin - also appearing via satellite - couldn't stop gushing about her unadulterated "Damages" fandom.

"It’s the only show I’ve ever run home to see, no matter what," she said, excitedly. "If I were working on another show even, I’d say, 'I have to get out of here!' That first season, it was on Tuesday nights, and I’d say, 'I have to get home. I have to see it!' And I wanted to see the 7 o’clock feed. I didn’t want to see the 10 o’clock; I wanted to see it from the get-go. And when I’d see Glenn (Close) anyplace at an event or anything, I would just jump all over her, and I’d say, 'You’ve got to tell us. What’s going to happen? Why can’t you be on every night? Why can’t you be on all year? Why do I have to wait now?' But I think what got me a part was I ran into Todd Kessler at a photography show in L.A., and when someone told me who he was, I completely lost it. You know how women throw themselves, like, they’ll jump on a guy they know really well and put their arms around his neck and their legs around his waist...? I think when it came to do the third season, they thought, 'Remember that girl that jumped on you at that photography show? She really likes the show. Let’s see if she’s going to pass.” So I was thrilled to get it. I didn’t have a hesitation. I wanted to be on the show very, very much."

And Close, for the record, is quite glad to have her...and Short, too, for that matter.

"My first scene with Martin and Lily is when I was deposing Lily," Close said, "and I was sitting across from the two of them in our conference room on the set, and it was a very surreal experience, having watched them my whole career and loved them. I can’t tell you how invigorating, inspiring, fun it is. For me, it’s just pure fun. You get a well-written scene, and you have actors that can do anything that’s asked of them and have a million ideas. As Marty was saying the other day, because of the pace that we work at, in many ways it’s like an improv, because you have to be very quick on your feet. You have to be able to learn lines very fast and then to be able to kind of move around in those lines and make it authentic and believable. It’s just a great process. And to have people that are just so much fun! You two are not even here, but I’m jealous because I don’t have a lot of scenes with these two. There was a scene with Lily and Martin and Campbell Scott, and one of the crew guys said it was a gift to watch them, not only when they were in the scene, but what they did between the takes. They said the comedy, just the flights of fancy..."

"They never say that about us," sighed Tate Donovan.

"No," admitted Close, "they don't. We're the boring ones."

We can't say too much about what goes on with Ellen Parsons this season, mostly because it's a given that she's going to be in the heart of whatever happens, but without being too specific, we can at least acknowledge that, as a character, Ellen gets fleshed out a bit in Season 3.

"I think this season is exploring the theme of family," said Parsons. "You get to see Ellen with her parents and her sister, and I think it reveals a lot about where she’s come from. (It's) the polar opposite of the life with Patty and at the office, and I think it really reveals a lot of why she does what she does. When we meet her, she’s actually very different again this season from the last two seasons in that they’re actually quite separate when we first start. She hasn’t spoken to her for six months, and she’s really moved on in a real genuine kind of sense. Patty doesn’t get under her skin anymore, but the complexity of their relationship is definitely something that we still kind of end up exploring throughout the season."

"From the beginning of the show, in the pilot, we didn't want to give one specific label to Ellen," explained Todd A. Kessler, "that she went to this law school and so she must be great, or she had this experience, and so that explains why she seeks out someone like Patty. We wanted it to develop, and we don’t really believe that there’s ever one formulative experience that defines someone’s existence. So in this third season now, we’re going to really be exploring Ellen’s relationship with her family and get more of Ellen’s past, in addition to Patty’s past. But it’s something that’s been very intriguing to us to kind of give pieces of that without having it be a nicely wrapped-up package early on before you actually see the person interacting with other characters."

That's just about all I can offer up from the panel without delving into stuff that, frankly, you'd be better served by learning yourself while watching the season premiere of "Damages" on January 25th. I can, however, close with a highly appropriate bit where, playing off Ms. Tomlin's earlier comments, Ms. Close was asked if she ever does relent when someone comes up to her and asks for spoilers.

"I never let the secrets out," Close confirmed. "And that’s very easy because I know they really don’t want to know. I’ve had people come up and say, 'What’s in the box? Don’t tell me!' So, no, I never tell." Turning to Donovan, she asked, "Do you tell?"

"All the time," he replied with a grin, before quickly clarifying that "we don't even know."

"No, we don’t know," agreed Close."

"I would tell," clarified Donovan, "but I don’t even know. The secret is that we don’t know the secrets."

"I don’t even know if Todd and Glenn and Dan (Zelman) know the secrets in advance," said Tomlin. "Maybe a few hours."

"But that’s kind of the liberating thing," said Donovan. "One of the liberating things about the show as an actor and anything else is that you don’t have time to judge yourself or your character or what’s happening or your scene partner because you don’t really know what’s going to happen and who you really are. I mean, I know that sounds terrible, and we as actor love to know our arc and stuff like that, but...I find it just so much fun to not know."

Legal dramas come and legal dramas go, with some succeeding admirably (congrats to Julianna Marguiles for her Golden Globes win for her performance on CBS's "The Good Wife") and some failing miserably (stand up, please, TNT's critically-berated "Raising the Bar"), but they're a proven commodity, so it's rarely a surprise to hear that another one's being rolled out. Tonight brings the premiere of ABC's latest contribution to the genre, "The Deep End," and when the cast and producers of the series sat still for their panel during the TCA press tour, it was only to be expected that someone would ask them if they're bringing anything new to the table.

"I kind of see this show as kind of the reboot of the legal show," said executive prodcer David Hemingson. "I think if you go all the way back in television history, back to 'Perry Mason' and 'The Defenders' and certainly the incredible job that Steven Bochco did with 'L.A. Law,' and David E. Kelley, there’s a rich tradition. Like with medical shows, there’s a rich tradition of legal shows, but I think there’s never been a legal show that has taken it from the perspective of these newly minted lawyers, these newbees, these kids who’ve come out and they’re confronting the reality of their practice for the first time and they’re being dropped into this intensely political, highly charged environment and also, you know, having the partners kind of reflecting on how they’ve changed in relation to the kids. So I think the interpersonal aspects of the show, I think the comedy of the show, the sexiness of the show, the fun of the show is something we haven’t quite seen, especially from a 20-something perspective. And when you consider the fact that it’s also sort of conflated with some really realistic kind of ripped-from-the-headlines cases that we’re doing, I think it distinguishes itself from anything that’s been on thus far. At least, we hope it does."

Hemingson also acknowledged that the timing couldn't have been more perfect to get the series onto ABC. "I would say it was sort of like a confluence of circumstances or a wonderful moment," he said, "because I actually started out as a lawyer coming from New York to L.A. some years ago, and it was a story that I always wanted to tell, a story very near and dear to my heart. And I felt like with a couple of decades I had some perspective and it just so happened that it coincided with ABC’s need for new drama, a new dramedy. And so the stars kind of aligned for us, and I just feel fortunate to be doing it this way with Jan and with this fantastic cast."

Of that cast, the face that will likely leap out to most viewers is Billy Zane, who gets yet another opportunity to tear into a larger-than-life character as Cliff Huddle. Someone immediately made the observation that the actor's name rhymes with another famous TV lawyer (Denny Crane), but it's apparently complete coincidence.

"This character was based on someone that came directly out of David’s experience," revealed Zane. "Now, obviously, we have the flesh and bone and the odd bit of spin on the free throw, but it’s all there. This is writing at its best, which is why we’re all here and, I think, is a testament to what hopefully will be the success of this show and what people will find endearing and identifiable about the characters. As repellent and attractive and inspired as they are, you cannot wait to see what they’re going to do next."

Hemingson quickly clarified Zane's statement about the source of his character's inspiration. "I practiced basically as an attorney for three years, three months, two days...but who’s counting?" he asked, rhetorically. "It was definitely one of the transformative experiences of my life, and I got to know a lot of really supercharged personalities, (but) the lawyer’s answer would be that any resemblance to any character living today is purely coincidental."

That's probably the best possible tactic to take when discussing Cliff's origins, given that the next person to question Zane about his character used the phrase "Prince of Darkness" to describe him. Zane clarifies, however, that Cliff isn't the Devil nor even a devil.

"The guy’s a shark," he clarified. "Always moving, always calculating, a 3-D chess player. You never really are sure of the moves he makes until they are later revealed as completely brilliant, deductive reasoning, and he keeps the associates on their toes. He’s the coach you hated on the day, but owe everything to as you’re getting your championship trophy. As a result, he operates by his own code, which finds its way into his interpersonal relationships as a result of working with the head of litigation, also his wife, who have a very passionate relationship. They can’t keep their hands off each other. Unfortunately, Cliff can’t keep his hands off someone else in the firm – which I can’t reveal, you’ll have to tune in to see whom - and that leads to some complexities. But what’s fascinating is we’re already operating at a level of rarefied air. To be as good as you are at this job, to be in this firm, you marvel at how they navigate these very common, almost pedestrian shortcomings and human limitations. That’s what we want to see: how the hell are they going to handle infidelity? How do the guys navigate working together while handling infidelity? And it would take a prince of darkness in order to kind of retain his sanity and his job, basically."

The flip side of the show's coin comes through Hart Sterling, played by Clancy Brown, an actor who's played his fair share of bad guys. ("I’m glad to see Billy playing the villain," he said, with a grin.) Although Brown comes from a background where he knows a bit about ethics - his father was a Congressman as well as a newspaperman - he says that he doesn't even need to venture into his own personal history to appreciate his character's view of the world.

"You just look at the headlines and you see the struggle between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law," he said. "I think we all get to a certain age where we think, 'Well, okay, I’ve ridden this horse as hard as I can ride, now what good can I do?' You look at Bill Gates, and he was a son of a gun. He was really mean to a lot of people in his business and now he’s saving the world. I think a lot of people have that transition. I think Hart had that transition to a certain extent, and it’s kind of taken some of the partners by surprise. But I don’t think it’s unusual, and I don’t think there’s any particular insight that I gain by being the son of a congressman or son of a newspaperman. I think it’s a human story through time."

As a longtime "Veronica Mars" fan, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one other familiar face amongst the cast of "The Deep End": Tina Majorino, the actress formerly known as Mac, though you might also know from her work as Heather on "Big Love." Given these two series, you can understand why one of the critics asked how she felt about being part of a show that will, at least theoretically, give her the most mainstream exposure of her career.

"It’s really fun," said Majorino. "I’m really excited that I’m getting to be a part of a show that is not so much...a niche show. I think that there’s something to be enjoyed by everyone in this project, and I’m really ecstatic about getting to play a part that’s more.." She hesitated for a moment, then explained, "I’m not saying this with any distaste or no love for the characters that I’ve played, but I’ve tended to play more of the outcast and...I don’t know, just more of nerdy types. It’s kind of nice to be able to play someone different. I’m just really excited about that. I think that all of the characters on this show have a lot to offer in their own right, and so I think that there’s something to be enjoyed by everyone in this show. It’s nice to be a part of something knowing that more people are going to see it. You don’t have to have a specific opinion about something to connect with the show, whereas some of the other projects that I’ve done, I think people either love them or they hate them. This is fun. It’s really, really fun."

You know when Chi McBride is at one of Fox's TCA parties because you can smell him. Not him personally, but, rather, his omnipresent cigars. When he was at the tour in the summer of 2009 to preview the network's then-upcoming series, "Human Target," I ran into him smoking a stogie with Ron Perlman of "Sons of Anarchy." The scent stuck with me, so when I stepped into the Fox party at the winter tour and caught a whiff of cigar smoke, I immediately followed it to its source and soon sat down for...

Chi McBride: How are you?

Bullz-Eye: I’m good. I hope you saved one of those for Ron Perlman. I remember last time around…

CM: Yeah, you know what, I’ve got a couple with me, so… (Trails off) Is Perl here?

BE: He’s supposed to be.

CM: When he gets here, I’ll make sure he gets one. (Grins and puts his cigar case back in his pocket)

BE: Well, last tour, I talked to Darryl Bell.

CM: Did you?

BE: Yep. We were talking about “Homeboys in Outer Space," and he said you had a chat with him after you had gone through "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer." He said you just told him, “Look, everyone who is criticizing what you’re doing would take your job from you in two seconds. This is one blip on both of our careers, and we are moving on.”

CM: That’s the way I looked at it, you know what I mean? I knew what I was doing, and I knew what I wasn’t doing, you know? People had to say whatever they had to say about it. You know, everybody thought my career was over but me. I said something that my old, wise aunt always told me: “Boy, this, too, shall pass.”

BE: So how did “Human Target” come on to your radar? Was it pitched to you?

CM: Well, what happened was… (Hesitates) You know, what’s funny about it is, it was the first thing I read during pilot season. But, you know, it was the first thing that I read, and what happened was, there wasn’t anything in it for me. Winston was this British character, and the guy was kind of a nervous Nelly kind of guy. So I told my agent, I said, “Listen, there is nothing in this for me, but if somebody does it right, this could be a good show for somebody. Good luck to them.” And, you know, as time progresses during the pilot season, people’s names get bandied about on all different kinds of projects. And I started hearing that people wanted to talk to me about a variety of things. So one of the meetings that I took was with Jon Steinberg and Peter Johnson, the producer and creator of “Human Target." So we met and we talked about it, and I said, “Well, I’ve got to tell you: there doesn’t really seem like there is going to be a lot to do for me in this, so I don’t know that I’m that interested. And as far as the British accent...I mean, I can do it, but it just seems to be that for the sake of it.” And he agreed. And I told him, "You know, the way I would want to approach it is that I was a guy who was ex-law enforcement, you know, and there is something about my past on the force that I got into this business." But I didn’t want to, as an actor, be stuck behind a desk. But I wanted the character to feel like this was his chance to be stuck behind a desk with a nice cushy job, getting plenty of money...and that’s good. And that he would end up going out in the field in a sort of “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” kind of thing. And that’s the attitude that Winston has toward going out in the field, but he goes out there and he definitely shows his skill set. You know, the thing about Winston that you’re going to learn is that his temperament is not what it seems. He’s a guy who doesn’t have an off switch. And that’s one of the other reasons why he wanted to get out of the chasing-guys-down business. So it’s going to be really interesting. And we agreed on all of these things, and they decided that they wanted us to work together. And you know, I’ve got a wonderful relationship with Warner Brothers Television, so they signed off on it, and here I am.

BE: So how would you say that Winston has evolved from the pilot to the first actual episode? Because I know characters usually change a fair amount.

CM: It’s different. And you’ll see just that, about the whole getting back involved, and Winston’s whole involvement in terms of going in to the field. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It takes place on a plane, and it’s really a lot of action. Some good comedy, some great moments, a lot of drama and suspense. I think you’ll like it. In my opinion, it’s better than the pilot.

BE: During the panel, one of the other critics made a comment about how you packed more of a wallop into the one-hour pilot than “Passenger 57” did in its entire run time.

CM: Oh, yeah, man. I mean, it’s pretty intense, but it’s really entertaining, and we had a lot of fun doing it. And I’m just glad to have the opportunity to do this, because, you know, Hollywood is a town and a business where people will only let you do what they think you can do. And so I’ve gotten a chance to showcase a lot of different things and a lot of different characters, and hopefully that will be what helps me continue to survive in this business.

BE: Jackie Earle Haley kind of downplayed how much he actually brought to his character, but...

CM: Jackie kicks ass, man.

BE: (Laughs) Yeah, I think he’s a little humble.

CM: Well, I mean, to the credit of the writers, the writers are very, very good. They come up with some great things. And they allow us to contribute in our own ways. You know, we certainly have conversations about dialogue, about character direction, about things of that nature, but they have given us a really great jumping off place in terms of the story is always really great, the dialogue is bang on, and the action is great. There are minor tweaks, but that’s why you hire people that you really trust. So that when they come up with something, it’s not just a lot of pretentious artist bullshit. So these are good guys to work with, all of them.

BE: So were you aware of the comic book? Not necessarily that familiar with it, but you had heard of it, at least?

CM: Oh, yeah. I mean, I’m old enough to remember the Rick Springfield series. (Laughs) Somebody asked me a crazy question today, like, “I heard that there was a rumor that Rick Springfield was supposed to be doing this one." I was, like, 'What are you, goofy? The Human Target in a walker?" (Laughs) Do you know what I mean? But I remember that old show, and...that was pretty bad. But we’re the 2.0 version of that, and it will make you forget about that thing.

BE: You landed pretty quickly on your feet after “Pushing Daisies."

CM: Yeah, I mean, look, man, I’m a pretty fortunate guy as far as TV is concerned. I mean, I’ve been lucky enough to have been afforded some great opportunities to work with some wonderful people who have treated me well. I try to pay them back in kind by doing a good job and knowing my business and showing up on time. And not being a pain in the ass. And if you can do that, you know, people will remember you. I have a wonderful relationship with Warner Brothers. And having worked with people like Barry Sonnenfeld and Don Reo and Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen and a couple of Oscar winning producers, you know, if you give them what it is they need, then they remember you. And I’ve been very fortunate. And I’ve got a pretty good agent and a really good manager too, so that don’t hurt. (Laughs)

BE: So when is "The John Larroquette Show" coming out on DVD?

CM: (Snorts) I wish. I really wish it would.

BE: So do I.

CM: Because it was really good, especially the first two seasons. I really loved it then. I mean, I’m hopeful that at some point it will happen. I don’t know what the holdup is. But, you know, we’ll see. Time will tell. I hope so, though.

BE: It was a nice, quirky sitcom at a time when sitcoms weren’t really that quirky.

CM: Exactly. What’s funny about it is that I think that show might have been a little ahead of its time, you know? You couldn’t have made a “Modern Family” during the time that we were making "The John Larroquette Show." And “Modern Family” is brilliant. I’m just glad to see TV starting to turn back to its real roots of entertainment and really good writing and really good acting. And, I mean, they’ve got to compete. Networks have to compete, because when you’ve got shows like “Breaking Bad” on AMC, or “Damages” and shows like that on FX and on various cable outlets, people are turning to it, man. And you don’t have to have 15 million people watching “Breaking Bad." You can get a tenth of that and stay on the air. So they’ve got to compete if they want to continue to have their audience.

BE: What’s your favorite project that you have worked on that didn’t the love that you thought it deserved?

CM: Probably “Daisies,” because I had the most fun on it. Because I really got a chance to do comedy, and I really got a chance to just have a good time. I was really having a good time. I was having a ball when I was playing Emerson. But, you know, I mean, that’s life in show business man. I mean, you just can’t become so emotionally invested in any project, because you just never know what is going to happen, you know?

BE: Yeah.

CM: And the audience is the audience ,and they are going to…my job is to do my job. Their job is to love it or hate it. So there it is, man.

BE: Let me bring it full circle, mostly because I’m a TV geek and I really am curious: with "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer," when you originally got the job…

CM: I loved it. I had a great time doing that, too. I had a lot of fun doing that.

BE: When I talked to Darryl about “Homeboys," he said that that show was originally a really smart and clever comedy, but then it fell apart almost immediately when the executives wanted to make it a lame "Planet of the Week"-type scenario.

CM: Right.

BE: Was there a time when “Desmond Pfeiffer” was clever and you really thought it had a shot?

CM: I think it was all the way. I think that what happened was this whole thing came up because people get emotional and somebody touched a hot button. Here comes Jesse Jackson, and the next thing you know, you’re in the middle of a fucking circus. So there are guys like that that just wait for opportunities to go and just basically advance their own agenda. So what can you do, you know what I mean? But it is what it is. It’s part of my television career. It didn’t kill my career. so all’s well that ends well.

AMC may have broken its streak of perfection in late 2009 when their miniseries remake of "The Prisoner" met predominantly with either indifference or annoyance, but there's plenty of reason to expect that the network will regain its good name in full in 2010.

For one thing, there's the announcement that Kurt Ellis, the screenwriter behind HBO's "John Adams," is setting his sights on Warren Harding and developing the miniseries "Black Gold: The Teapot Dome Scandal." Then, of course, there's the fact that we've been chomping at the bit for Season 4 of "Mad Men" ever since the dissolution of Sterling-Cooper back in November, which means that we'll pretty much forgive the network anything when the series returns later this year. Joel Stillerman, AMC's Senior Vice President of Original Programming, Production, and Digital Content, gave us this one-liner: "Betty is off to Reno, Don is shacked up in the village, Sterling Cooper is held up in a hotel room, but maybe most importantly, Joan is back, and it should be another great season of one of the best shows ever." Sounds good to me. More details are also emerging about the latest addition to AMC's slate of original series, "Rubicon," which Stillerman describes as "an incredibly compelling mystery that pays homage to the great conspiracy thrillers of the ’70s like 'The Parallax View' and 'Three Days of the Condor,'” adding, "We thought, if we could find a way to take that style of storytelling that has stood the test of time so well and spin it off into a serialized drama, we would have something really great." Let's hope they do.

But enough about the new kid on the block. Let's talk about the network's other high-profile series: "Breaking Bad," which will kick off its third season on March 21st.

It will, I'm sure, not surprise you that there will be little in the way of revelations in this piece, what with the season premiere still more than two months away as of this writing, but I can tell you that, within the first five minutes of the panel, the discussion had already veered between a religion called Santa Muerte and a teddy bear's eyeball, so, y'know, make of that what you will.

Like many dramas on TV, the cast members of "Breaking Bad" have almost as little idea what's going to happen next as the viewers do, rarely knowing how things are going to unfold until they get the script for the next episode.

"That's what makes it exciting," explained Bryan Cranston, who plays the show's cancer-ridden meth dealer, Walter White. "Just like you watching it, we are reading it, and the feeling has the same impact, as much surprise as you have. We often comment to each other, 'Did you read it yet? Did you read it?' 'Yeah, don’t tell me. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me.' 'I’m only halfway through it.' 'Oh, yeah. Oh, my goodness. You are not going to believe it. You are not going to believe it.' So you have that kind of anxiety and anticipation of what’s about to happen, so it’s never boring and always a surprise and a turn here and there."

As expected, Cranston wouldn't offer specifics about what Walt would be going through in Season 3, but he was willing to speak in general terms, at least. "There are actually a couple turns that happen emotionally, some physically," he said. "I’m starting to completely accept the metamorphosis of my character. I’m breaking out of the cocoon and ready to become a different person, and that transition over time is one of the things that was the most compelling for me about wanting to do this show is that (creator) Vince Gilligan said he wanted to do something that he’s never seen before, and that’s, as he famously puts it, turn Mr. Chips into Scarface. And it hasn’t been done on television before unless someone can cite an occasion where you actually see a person completely change who he is by the end of the series or near the end of the series. I will be a completely different person from the milquetoast person you saw in the pilot."

(You may recall that Cranston spoke to this issue when he chatted with Bullz-Eye in conjunction with the most recent TV Power Rankings.)

Those who enjoyed his introduction in Season 2 will be pleased to learn that sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman will be back on the attack in Season 3. Saul was never intended to play such a substantial part in the show, but as Gilligan freely acknowledged, the part got beefed up because Bob Odenkirk was just so damned good in the role.

"I think the idea started the impetus was just watching 'The Godfather' over and over again, which I’m wont to do pretty much every other weekend," said Gilligan. "We’re just ripping it off shamelessly at every turn. We figured Michael Corleone has a consigliere, so Walter White needs one too, but perhaps Saul Goodman is the type of consigliere that Walt and Jesse would get."

"It’s a blast to play this character," said Odenkirk. "People tell me it’s funny, and it’s certainly there’s a lot of funny lines, and he’s a funny guy, funny, slippery character to play. But I think, too, in a show where so many of the characters are they have such high stakes all the time, and my character is a little bit removed. It’s a little bit of a game to him to move these pieces around and see if he can make some money off them."

"You’re sort of like the hooker with the heart of gold, though," said Gilligan.

"Does he have a heart of gold?" asked Odenkirk.

Gilligan hesitated. "Well..."

"He had it removed," decided Odenkirk. "So he can sell it and see how much he can get for it."

Probably the most telling responses during the course of the panel came when the group was asked en masse if they could nail down a theme for Season 3 of "Breaking Bad." Gilligan immediately passed the buck, claiming, "I can't see the forest for the trees."

"Well, its very different this year in the sense that, in Season 2, we were all leading toward that final midair collision, and everything led up to that," said Cranston. "This changed all that. I know, Anna, you were talking to me about the whole conceit of Walter feeling like he had to keep this secret to himself."

"Yeah," agreed Anna Gunn, who plays Walter's long-suffering wife, Skyler. "At the end of last season, he had to balance that he decided to go down this road, but the whole time it was essential, obviously, to not let Skyler find out. And then what we’re left with is that she knows something. She doesn’t want to know what it is, but she knows something. And he knows therefore that he doesn’t know exactly you don’t know exactly what I know at the end of last season."

"I know what you think you know," said Cranston, smirking, "but I don’t know what you really know."

Gunn laughed, but she pressed on, explaining, "I think that the actions that he took are starting to have consequences. That’s what it seems to me. The chickens are coming home to roost."

"That’s well put," agreed Gilligan. "Perhaps this season is, 'The best laid plans of mice and men...' I don’t want to get too much into detail, because it would ruin a lot of fun things that are coming up, but I see Walt this season a little bit like Dr. Frankenstein, in the sense that Dr. Frankenstein, with good intentions, creates a monster. And maybe we’ll see a little of that with Jesse."

"I think this season is really a season of change for all the characters involved in this show," said Aaron Paul, who plays the aforementioned monster in Gilligan's comparison. "With Jesse, it ends off with him feeling completely 100 percent guilty for the death of Jane, his first real, true love. I mean, maybe it was just like a chemical romance, but he lost her, and he completely blames himself. So he is thrown into rehab, and this first season starts with him kind of trying to make an executive decision on staying focused. he kind of accepts who he is...and it’s kind of a sad reality."

Since I'm currently sitting in southern California with a bunch of TV critics and watching the Golden Globes, it seems a little ridiculous for me to do anything other than live blog the thing...well, the TV portion, anyway. I wouldn't dare take away anything from Mr. Westal's coverage of the film portion. With that said, however, I can't exactly ignore the show's host, Ricky Gervais, so I'm definitely planning to give him a shout-out whenever he offers up a great line.

I've never done this before, so be gentle with me...

8:01 PM: Gervais suggests that most people probably know him as the guy from the original British "Office," then shakes his head and says, "No, you don't, do you?" The highlight comes when Gervais suggests that "quality, not quantity" makes his version of "The Office" the better one, which results in Steve Carell's mouthing of "I will break you" to Gervais.

8:02 PM: "I'm not used to these sort of viewing figures. Then again, neither is NBC."

8:03 PM: "Actors: they're just better than ordinary people, aren't they?" Hugh Laurie seems amused by Gervais's remarks about he plays a doctor on television better than a real physician would, while Kiefer Sutherland is perhaps less so by the suggestion that some of the fights on "24" aren't scripted.

8:04 PM: "Let's get on with it before NBC replaces me with Jay Leno."

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy: Toni Collette, "United States of Tara." Although I'm a little surprised that Tina Fey didn't take home the award, I acknowledged in my nominations piece that I figured a lot of people might favor Collette. I guess it was an easy pick. It just wasn't mine. I still think it's John Corbett and the kids who are the real stars of that show.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television: John Lithgow, "Dexter." I still haven't seen his performance yet, and yet I still picked it. That's how strong the buzz was. Glad to see it paid off.

8:29 PM: "We've seen some worthy winners...aaaaaaand we've seen some not so worthy winners."

8:30 PM: After observing that one can't officially buy a Golden Globe Award, Gervais concedes that he's probably never going to be allowed to do the show again.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama: Michael C. Hall, "Dexter." I think that, at three (TV) awards in a row, you can officially begin to suggest that Showtime is dominating the proceedings. Given the acclaim that this season has received, I'm not surprised that Hall beat out my pick (Hugh Laurie), and once you've factored in the fact that he's battling back from lymphoma, who could complain, really?

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama: Julianna Marguiles, "The Good Wife." Holy crap! My dark horse pick took home the win! What an awesome line from Julianna about CBS keeping the faith by continuing to air quality drama at 10 PM. I announced to my fellow critics that I'd gotten this pick right, and I was accused of being Nostradamus. Somebody cue up "We Are The Champions," please. I'd like to enjoy this victory as long as possible.

8:43 PM: Gervais bashes Paul McCartney by claiming that he shared a flight with the former Beatle, with Gervais in first class and Macca in coach because he's "saving money." After receiving several boos for his trouble, Gervais assures the crowd, "Uh, I think he's still doing all right!"

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: "Grey Gardens." No complaints. I picked "Taking Chance" for this category, but I picked Drew Barrymore for her performance in the film, so I can hardly argue with this selection.

8:59 PM: Gervais decries the boozing, brawling Irish stereotype, then introduces Colin Farrell. (Farrell admits, "When I heard Ricky Gervais was gonna be introducing me, I said, 'Oh, balls...'")

9:09 PM: When Helen Mirren said, "Life," then paused, I was really hoping she was going to follow it by saying, "Don't talk to me about life." But she didn't.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Kevin Bacon, "Taking Chance." Same situation as above. I wanted to see Chiwetel Ejiofor take it home for "Endgame," but given how much I loved "Taking Chance," I've no complaints.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Drew Barrymore, "Grey Gardens." Exxxxxxxcellent. Someone here just referred to the performance as "her first acting award," and there's a certain amount of truth to that, as she offered up more in "Grey Gardens" than most people would've expected that she had in her. You know, I've watched "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" a lot of times, but that reference to "Jeff Spicoli's girlfriend" flew right over my head. Anyone...?

9:22 PM: Gervais notes how actors want to be ever-changing and constantly moving, then says, "Please welcome Rachel from 'Friends' and that bloke from '300.'"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock." You can never go wrong with Alec Baldwin, I guess. But I still wanted Steve Carell to win it, if only to hear what Gervais had to say about it.

9:36 PM: God love Zachary Levi and Amy Poehler, but...really? Those were the best jokes you could provide for the stars of two of NBC's best shows? The network needs all the help it can get!

Best Television Series – Drama: "Mad Men." This is a category where there were no losers, but with that said, I really couldn't imagine any other series than this one taking home the win. Look at the beard on Jon Hamm..and the breasts on Christina Hendricks! I couldn't believe the music kicked in so quickly on Matthew Weiner, but as someone here said, it's a basic-cable network. That doesn't buy you much time, no matter how much acclaim your show gets.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television: Chloe Sevigny, “Big Love." The only thing more upsetting than her win is her dress. I kid. Well, about the win, anyway. (I love Rose Byrne, but after seeing her today at the TCA panel for "Damages," I was beginning to wonder if she was even capable of smiling anymore.) Seriously, though, that dress is horrid.

9:48 PM: Gervais sips from what is almost certainly a glass of real lager, then struggles to get a laugh from his "Catwoman" joke...which is probably almost as much of a struggle as it took to get Halle Berry into that dress she's wearing.

9:57 PM: Am I the only one who was just creeped out by DeNiro's bit about Scorcese having sex with film?

10:00 PM: Great clipfest for Scorcese. Methinks it might be time to go order a copy of "The King of Comedy" from Amazon.

10:12 PM: The lager's back, as Gervais admits, "I've had a couple, I'm not gonna lie to you." He then blames the alcohol for anyone he might've offended, after which he quickly offers up the most incredible introduction of the night: "I like a drink as much as the next man...unless the next man is Mel Gibson." And just like that, Ricky Gervais is officially the best host of the Golden Globes EVER.

10:16 PM: James Cameron wins for "Avatar," and Dileep Rao's Golden Globes party suddenly gets kicked up a notch. I only mention this because he went to that party instead of having dinner with me. You got lucky, Rao!

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy: "Glee." That's going to be one happy set when I go visit it tomorrow. Nice shout-out from Ryan Murphy to Miss Barbra Streisand and the show's "fake sexy teen cast," as well as the dedication to everyone who ever got a wedgie in high school. Aw, that's so sweet of you to include me, Ryan...

Well, that's it for the TV awards, but I have to hang in there to see if Ricky Gervais has anything else left to say...or anyone else does, for that matter. Like, say, the governor of California...

10:34 PM: Damn, even Schwarzenegger can't resist getting in a jab at NBC!

10:35 PM: Gervais really must be scared of Mickey Rourke if the best he can offer up is, "I haven't gotten a bad word to say about him, mostly because he's got arms as big as my legs."

10:42 PM: I hope the kazillion ads they've shown for "Parenthood' actually earn the show some viewers. I really liked the pilot. I can't say the same for "The Marriage Ref," partially because they haven't produced a screener for us yet, but mostly because of my feud with Jerry Seinfeld. But that's a story for another time.

10:52 PM: Do you get the impression that, were it not for Chrysler, we might've been stuck listening to the Golden Globes on the radio?

10:55 PM: What? Straight into Julia Roberts and Best Motion Picture - Drama without a last appearance from Gervias? Gyp! Oh, well, at least "Avatar" won. Congrats again, Mr. Rao. I just hope that party was worth it...

10:59 PM: Ah, there we go. "If I had one wish, it would be for peace on earth. No, wait, can I change that? It would be for everyone to watch 'The Ricky Gervais Show,' on HBO on Feb. 19th." Way to end on a plug, sir.

So there you go: my first-ever live blog. I hope it made for at least a semi-entertaining read, and stay tuned for Bob Westal's movie portion of the proceedings, coming soon!