Fox just made it official: It's a go for J.J. Abrams' "Fringe."

Two-hour pilot produced by Abrams' Bad Robot and Warner Bros. TV, stars Aussie thesp Anna Torv as a femme FBI agent who tackles cases involving spooky unexplained phenonena with the aid of an out-there scientist and his neer-do-well genius son. Yes, it does sound like "X-Files Redux" but because "Lost" is perhaps the Greatest Show Ever we'll give Team Abrams (whose fearless leader is pictured at left) the benefit of the doubt that they can put a fresh spin on the genre.

"Fringe" pilot was penned by frequent Abrams' collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and helmed by Alex Graves.

Speculation is that "Fringe" will be Fox's Big New Fall Launch series while Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse," which already has a seven-episode order, will be the Big New January Launch series. With these two shows plus "Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles" returning, there's gonna be a lotta reality-bending going on at Fox next season.

Earlier today, Fox handed pickup to animated comedy "Sit Down, Shut Up," from Sony Pictures TV  and 20th Century Fox TV, insiders said. "Sit Down" is exec produced by "Arrested" maestro Mitchell Hurwitz and features the vocal talents of "Arrested" thesps Jason Bateman (pictured right), Will Arnett and Henry Winkler, along with comic Nick Kroll. That greenlight comes on the heels of Fox's order dispensed late Friday for live-action comedy "The Inn," whose pilot Bateman directed.

"Sit Down" is based on a live-action Oz comedy and revolves around the dysfunctional faculty at a high school. Pickup had been expected. Toon vets Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were already recruited as showrunners last month (Daily Variety, April 28).

No official word yet on anything from Fox, but it's understood that in addition to "The Inn," Fox has have given the nod to a third season of Sony sitcom "Til Death" and has pinkslipped the Kelsey Grammer-Patricia Heaton starrer "Back to You" after one season.

Meanwhile, CW execs are expected to make their official pickup calls later today. It's a no-brainer that the spinoff of "90210," from Rob Thomas and CBS Paramount Network TV, gets the go-ahead. Warner Bros. TV's young femme-friendly drama "How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls" is also considered a safe bet.

"Inn" stars Niecy Nash (pictured left) and Jerry O'Connell in a multi-camera comedy set in a hip Gotham hotel. It hails from scribe Abraham Higginbotham (who is yet another "Arrested Development" alum), 20th Century Fox TV, Reveille and Principato-Young Entertainment.

Meanwhile, rumblings from the Fox screening room is that execs very much want to be in biz with Bernie Mac (pictured right), whose Warner Bros.TV  project "Starting Under" has a 13-seg commitment, but they were only lukewarm about the execution of pilot, revolving around a down on  his luck guy who's forced to move in with son, by comedy vet Bruce Helford.

So the project still seems likely to get a greenlight but it will undergo some major renovations, perhaps with another scribe brought in to work alongside Helford.

Biz watchers today are also intently focused on ABC and what it may or may not be announcing Tuesday ayem as it moves into the leadoff slot normally occupied by NBC (which already lifted the curtain on its sked last month).

Chatter late Friday was that the fate of a renewal of David E. Kelley's "Boston Legal" was still wrapped up in the prospect of Kelley and 20th Century Fox TV reaching a deal with ABC Studios to move the Kelley cop pilot "Life on Mars" from 20th to ABC Studios under the direction of new showrunners Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec.

Drama "Women's Murder Club" appears to be officially K.O'd after one season, but as of late Friday there still seemed to be some hope for renewals for ABC midseasoners "Eli Stone" and "Miss Guided."

It's a very weird year. That's what everyone in town keeps saying over and over again as the biz gears up for the annual upfront ritual, which will be a little less ritualistic this year.

Gone in this Very Weird Year is the time-honored way in which reporters get big hints on what pilots are getting picked up -- by tracking the talent that is being flown in to New York.

As we all know, there are a whole lotta pilots that have not yet been shot and are just now setting casts. Most of the chatter, good and bad, about 2008-09 hopefuls this week has centered around the projects that the nets have in hand as pilots or presentations, or at least have significant thesps attached, a la ABC's "Never Better," which landed Damon Wayans (pictured right) as its lead last week.

So with the caveat that it is all spin and conjecture at this moment in time, let's review the buzz out there.

ABC's the hardest to read when it comes to new stuff.

On comedy front, Cedric the Entertainer (pictured left) vehicle (ABC Studios) seems to have traction -- or not, depending on who you talk to!

"Bad Mothers Handbook" (ABC Studios), about three generations of femmes living together, has not lensed but has the benefit of Alicia Silverstone (pictured right) and another high-profile name in the offing.

"My Brother's Hot and Other Dilemmas" (ABC Studios) about a girl attracted to her new step brother, has Alyssa Milano (pictured left). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that either a Silverstone or Milano comedy vehicle could be a nice companion for ABC's frosh hit "Samantha Who?" -- assuming that either pilot satisfies the larger obligation to actually be funny.

"Never Better" (ABC Studios) shot up on the radar after Wayans signed on and Marc Buckland signed on to direct.

Drama-wise at ABC ... I just don't know.

Only "Life on Mars," offbeat time-travel cop drama, is in the can. David E. Kelley and Tommy Schlamme have bowed out of that project, they're looking to move this from 20th Century Fox TV to ABC Studios and retool it under prospective showrunners Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg.

There's been a lot of chatter in the biz that "Life on Mars" shuffle granted a reprieve to Kelley's "Boston Legal" for another season. (Biz watchers with long memories will recall that two years ago, the same thing happened when ABC was hot for Kelley's "Mars.") But I'm hearing that "Boston Legal's" fate also has a lot to do with Kelley and how involved he intends to be going forward, among other factors.

It seems a safe bet that "Women's Murder Club" is headed for the morgue, though ABC is said to be anxious to stay in biz with star Angie Harmon. Midseason drama "Eli Stone" is said to be 50-50 for a sophomore year. And surprisingly, ABC is said to be considering a pickup for midseason comedy "Miss Guided." Can't swear to this but I heard the actors' options have been extended for a few more weeks.

At CBS, it's always a dangerous game trying to predict what Team Moonves is going to announce at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday. But some chatter about returning shows seems to be firming up.

Mundane news about the TV biz is overshadowed by the strike drama these days, but in the late afternoon today I caught up with the fact that Sunday was a pretty good night for business, for all but NBC. I can't believe I missed the rare opportunity to enjoy a primetime oater with part one of CBS' three-part Larry McMurtry mini, "Comanche Moon," a "prequel" to "Lonesome Dove." (That's what screeners are for.)

Fox's pre-strike decision to hold "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" back for midseason paid off, with a big assist from the NFC playoff game between the Giants and Cowboys. Sure, the football overrun with a gazillion viewers and 35 share in adults 18-49 helped it get off the tarmac but "Sarah Connor" didn't fold in its second half-hour, which was a good sign.

(Pictured left, Linda Cardellini and Steve Zahn in "Comanche Moon.")

It's hard to not feel a little melancholy when you're working on a year-end obit package.

Assembling a list of notables who died during a 12-month time span is like taking stock of how much the world you once knew is disappearing. Although I don't often admit it in the company of non-journos, I (usually) like working on obits. It's challenging work, usually against a tight deadline, and I feel a certain responsibility to do right by the person. I often hear Mrs. Loman's famous command in my head: "Attention must be paid."

In that spirit, here is an electronic chronicle of those who left their mark on the TV biz. 2007 saw the  passing of industry titans the likes of Jack Valenti, Merv Griffin, Tom Snyder  and Roger King; influential hyphenates including Sidney Sheldon, Mel Shavelson, Martin Manulis, Mel Tolkin and Bob Carroll, Jr.; and a local TV news icon in Hal Fishman.

It was a tough year for "Match Game" fans, with Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers heading in to the blank hereafter. And no obit in the pages of Variety this year was more heartbreaking than that of Cartoon Network exec Jennifer Davidson, 38, who was a charter member of the cabler's staff and a mother of three.

(Here's the link to part one if you're just joining us.)

AUGUST

Hal Fishman, 75, news anchor who was a fixture of L.A.'s airwaves for 40 years, primarily on KTLA-TV. Fishman was known for his rat-tat-tat delivery style, his occasional conservative-leaning editorials and his interest in aviation. Here's the tribute to Fishman that ran on KTLA's 10 p.m. newscast on the day Fishman died, Aug. 7.

Merv Griffin, 82, multihyphenate who began as a band singer and died a billionaire real estate mogul. In between, Griffin hosted a popular syndicated talk show for more than 20 years and created two of the most successful shows in history in "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy." Merv, as he was known to all, was one of those ubiquitous entertainers who was seemingly everywhere when I was a kid, as I waxed on about in this remembrance. And here's a fun clip of Merv and Don Rickles going at it on "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1985.

Melville Shavelson, 90, prolific film and TV scribe whose credits include "The Danny Thomas Show." Also a three-time prexy of WGA West. Here's a link to part 1 of his nine-part Archive of American Television interview from 1999.

SEPTEMBER

Alice Ghostley, 81, actress, a Tony-winner best known for her nervous-housewife persona exemplified by her role as the ditsy Aunt Esmerelda on "Bewitched."

Martin Manulis, 92, producer, creative steward of CBS' "Playhouse 90" who was responsible for such landmark TV drama productions as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" and "The Miracle Worker." Manulis was a guy Rod Serling respected, and that's saying something. Here's a link to part one of his 11-part Archive of American Television interview.

Brett Somers, 83, stage actress known for her long stint on "Match Game." She played Oscar Madison's ex on "The Odd Couple" and was Mrs. Jack Klugman for a time in real-life too. Here's a representative clip featuring Somers parrying with "Match Game" host Gene Rayburn.

OCTOBER

Joey Bishop, 89, the stone-faced, cool cat comic who was the last surviving member of the Rat Pack. Bishop made a number of stabs at TV, including a domestic comedy and a bid to challenge Johnny Carson's dominance of latenight with show that ran on ABC from 1967-69. Below are two great clips, and more Nehru jackets than you can shake your love beads at, from the latenight "Joey Bishop Show."

In the first, Sammy Davis Jr. tries to teach Joey to tap dance. The second is a nice long monologue clip that also features Bishop's sidekick, Regis Philbin.

Gary Franklin, 79, L.A. TV reporter and film reviewer for KABC-TV Los Angeles and KCBS-TV Los Angeles, who was known for rating films on his "Franklin scale of 1-10, 10 being best."

NOVEMBER

Mel Tolkin, 94, writer-producer who had the formidable job as head writer on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows." He was a guy who could make Caesar laugh, and corral a room that featured such wits as Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbert, Lucille Kallen and Woody Allen. Here's a link to part one of his eight-party Archive of American Television interview from 1997.

Verity Lambert, 71, pioneering femme British TV exec and producer. Lambert was the first female and youngest exec to work for the BBC in the early 1960s. She also was the first producer of the worldwide cult fave "Dr. Who." Here's a fan video tribute that hits the highlights of her remarkable career.

DECEMBER

Jennifer Davidson, 38, who was one of the first 15 people hired at Cartoon Network in the early 1990w, rising to senior veep of programming and scheduling. She was part of the team that spearheaded the launch of Adult Swim in 2001. Here's a link to a story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution featuring remembrances from family and friends.

Roger King, 63, leader of King World Prods. and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in TV history. King World prospered with enduring hits, "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show," that spurred the growth of the first-run syndie biz in the 1980s and '90s. As King World grew, so did Roger's reputation as a master salesman with an encyclopedic knowledge of TV stations and local markets. Here's a link to part one of his three-part Archive of American Television interview, and here are links to the remembrances posted here in the days after his death. 

Stu Nahan, 81, longtime broadcaster and sports reporter for various L.A. outlets who earned the nickname "Skipper Stu" after hosting a kidvid show of the same name early on in his career.

Floyd Red Crow Westerman, 71, actor and activist, Westerman was a passionate advocate of Native American causes and filmmakers and recognized for his work on "Dances with Wolves" and "Northern Exposure," among many other movies and TV skeins. Here's a video interview with Westerman from 2004 that illustrates the depth of his intelligence and dedication to advancing the cause of Native Americans in all fields.

The real value of a good script in this town hinges not on the eloquence of the prose or the cleverness of the plot but in its execution from page to screen. Nobody understands this Hollywood truism better than television showrunners; it’s the challenge they tackle with every week.

As such, it comes as no surprise that these multitasking members of Writers Guild of America should have played such a pivotal role in the first and second acts of the scribe strike of ’07. The determination of a wide swath of showrunners shut the biz down, for all intents and purposes, in a hurry in the first 72 hours after the strike began on Nov. 5. And by many accounts, it was the growing restlessness of many of the same showrunners last week that prodded both the studios and the guild off of their rhetorical high horses to agree to resume formal negotiations on Monday.

“The showrunners were the tip of the spear in this fight,” said a top tenpercenter who’s been piped into the backchannel discussions among scribes, CEOs and top agency partners during the past fortnight of discontent.

(Pictured above: "Grey's Anatomy" star Sandra Oh marches with "Grey's" showrunner Shonda Rhimes, to Oh's right, and "Back to You" co-creator/exec producer Steve Levitan, on Rhimes' right, during WGA's Tuesday march and rally on Hollywood Boulevard. Below, the march at its peak covered three blocks. Pics by Matthew Simmons/WireImage)

The word that comes to mind to describe the mood among the scribes on the picket lines during the past week is: resolute.

Over and over, the attitude expressed on the lines was one of calm, cool determination to stick it out for a "fair deal." Despite the early predictions that the Writers Guild of America membership would be split along income-strata lines, there is no doubt that writers of all stripes, of all levels of experience and success are fired up by the feeling that the major congloms have been hosing them for years.

The WGA leadership has expertly built on that foundation of pent-up ire to help scribes gird for the strike that many rightly predicted was inevitable. On Friday (Nov. 9) at the mega-rally of at least 4,000 guild members and industry supporters held outside the Fox Plaza building in Century City, guild leaders and guest speakers including the Rev. Jesse Jackson very clearly drew a line between the WGA strike -- disparaged by some as a rich union's attempt to paint itself as blue-collar -- and the growing income disparity that has cleaved the nation into the super-haves, the haven't enoughs, the have-nots and the have nothings during the past 40 years.

"If they gave us everything that we're asking for, and then they went and did the same deal with the DGA and SAG, they would still be giving all of us less than each of their CEOs makes in a year," WGA West prexy Patric Verrone asserted to a receptive crowd on Friday.

(Can't absolutely vouch for Verrone's math, but we've all seen the studies on CEO pay gone wild and the widening gulf between the salaries of top execs and lowest-paid workers at many corporations.)  A picket sign in the crowd featured an unflattering picture of News Corp. prexy Peter Chernin, with "$34 million last year" scrawled underneath.

Seth MacFarlane, a wunderkind who scored his first multimillion payday before he was 30 with a hit animated Fox series "Family Guy," was a savvy choice by the guild to address the rally. His is a voice representing both the future of the guild and the promise that the biz holds to make (very lucky) people fabulously wealthy on the strength of a great idea. MacFarlane (pictured below) made a point of urging his fellow high-earners to keep paying their freshly laid off assistants for as long as possible. And he urged "the press" to get the message out to the general public that WGA members are, in the main, members of the five-figure annual income middle class, not the six-, seven-, eight-figure and above ultra-elite.

"Writers in this guild are not millionaires," MacFarlane stressed. "The royalties we're fighting for will make a big difference to them."

(Above pic snapped by Michelle Sobrino-Stearns/Variety)

Multihyphenate Marshall Herskovitz has a thoughtful op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times looking at -- what else? -- WGA strike issues and how so many of the issues on the table are intertwined with the death 11 years ago of the FCC's financial interest and syndication rule. He also gets in a noticeable plug for his new online skein "quarterlife," which once tried to find life as an old-fashioned show on ABC.

(In the spirit of unabashed self-promotion, chapter one of a certain new book about the life of two now-defunct networks has a whole lotta info about fin-syn and its legacy, not that I'm plugging "Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN" or anything...)

As Herskovitz submits about the post-fin-syn world of network TV:

The most profound change resulting from that ruling is the way networks go about the business of creating programming. Networks today exert a level of creative control unprecedented in the history of the medium. The stories my friends tell me would make me laugh if the situation weren't so self-defeating. Network executives routinely tell producers to change the color of the walls on sets; routinely decide on the proper wardrobe for actors; routinely have "tone" meetings with directors on upcoming pilots; routinely give notes on every page of a script. (When we did "thirtysomething" in the late '80s, we never received network notes.) And by the way, they have every right to do these things. As owners, they have a responsibility to satisfy themselves that their product is competitive and successful.

Sadly, editing chores kept me in the office this a.m. For comprehensive coverage from Variety's Josef Adalian and Michael Schneider of the rally that brought out a who's-who of showrunners, check out Variety's Scribe Vibe strike blog.

Our cause is worth the fight. That's the message top showrunners plan to send to the nets and studios this morning (Wednesday) with a Very Special Episode of picketing outside of ABC's HQ in Burbank.

A strong turnout of high-powered types is expected to gather along West Alameda Avenue in an effort to demonstrate loud and clear that TV's ultimate multitaskers have thrown down their pencils and every other tool they use to deliver their segs under normal circumstances.

I've no doubt there'll be fists of fury in the air, lots of clever placards, quippy chanting and shouting into bullhorns. Showrunners have rallied with a surprising degree of solidarity around the belief that the contract talks with invariably be spurred along that much faster if production comes to a grinding halt this week.

Of course, there's been scoffs in many quarters about how some of the most successful folks in showbiz have suddenly gotten in touch with their inner blue-collar worker (and their scruffiest pair of jeans) to walk the picket lines that they drive to in Mercedes and BMWs from digs in Brentwood and Bel-Air.

But for others, the very fact that writers who are well off enough already to shrug their shoulders at a few pennies worth of residual hikes only proves that the picketing is more than money, (though it is surely about money). For the high-earners on the picket lines, it's about fairness, respect and recognition, something many feel they've had none of since the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers came to the table in July with a residuals revamp proposal that was instantly seen as an "attack" on the decades-old compensation formulas that keep film and TV scribes afloat between gigs.

And so it begins, the shutdown scenario no one wanted to see. Sunday's marathon talks between writers and producers couldn't move the sides close enough together to prevent the pickets from going up all over town and key sites in Gotham (click here for the WGA's list of L.A. picket sites).

No new talks are on the horizon, as Variety's Dave McNary reports, but here's to hoping that will change soon. The local weather report forecasts a cooling trend during the next few days for the L.A. area, but we all know the temperature is going to rise several degrees as those pickets hit the street at 9 a.m. Of course, the big question now is how the Teamsters-repped showbiz workers react to pickets, and how showrunners and the multihyphenates a la "The Office" writer-thesps respond to a professional dilemma, as Variety's Josef Adalian and Michael Schneider report.

For a flavor of how workaday scribes are feeling during this season of discontent, check out United Hollywood, a blog maintained by several WGA members. And check Variety.com all day for updates.

Best quote to come from today's 1:30 p.m. newser at the Writers Guild HQ:

“We have 48 hours. What we really want to do isn’t to strike. What we want to do is negotiate. There still is time.” -- WGA Negotiating Committee head John Bowman.

The atmosphere at the guild's HQ was tight-lipped and fairly grim. This was not a coffee-and-pastry kind of affair.

There wasn't much rhetorical grandstanding by guild brass, and both WGA West prexy Patric Verrone and his WGA East counterpart Michael Winship seemed earnest in expressing that they are more than willing to go back to the bargaining table, so long as the producers ease up on the stance that the home video residual formula be applied to the new media realm as well -- at least "electronic sell-through," or digital downloads, of existing films and TV programs.

“There is still time and a deal to be made before this strike begins. We urge the studios and the networks to come back and bargain fairly,” Winship said.

During the wait for the newser to begin, there was some clucking among the journos and camera folks that the WGA had already gone to the trouble of getting a camera-ready screen backdrop reading "Writers Guild of America Contract 2007."

But after hearing them out, I'm convinced that none of the guild leadership wanted it to get that far -- despite the many accusations to the contrary. When asked whether there was any peacemaker who might step forward to avert this disaster, Verrone sounded firm in his resolve that "what we are seeking is fair," but not damn-the-torpedos defiant, either.

“No one was able to prevent us coming to this moment. There is still a chance that someone or someones will and that’s what we look forward to,” Verrone said.

For updates throughout the weekend, check out Variety.com and the United Hollywood blog maintained by numerous WGA members.

Among the many immediate concerns for WGA members on this dark Friday is what to do with those scripts they've been furiously writing up until the Pencils Down moment arrives. The WGA is asking scribes to turn in copies of their eleventh-hour scripts to the guild so that they can see where the pages stand at the time they were turned in -- and compare them to produced work down the road should things get that far. Studios, of course, are wigging out about this WGA strike rule, and some of them have even dispatched formal letters to scribes under contract expressly stating that they'll be in breach of their agreements contracts if they ship their scripts to the guild.

So what's a working writer to do? I'm told by a veteran talent rep who has vivid memories of the Five Months War of 1988 that scribes would be well-advised to turn in their scripts to their commissioning bodies, and then head to the post office to drop a copy in the mail to themselves, and then stick that package unopened in a drawer. That way they'll have a postmark time stamp to prove, should guild brass inquire later, when they stopped working on it and what shape the script was in when it was turned in.

It may have taken them a little longer to get there than most shows, but Fox's unsinkable "Family Guy" is prepping a 100th episode party for Oct. 29 at the ever-fashionable Social Hollywood. Seth MacFarlane and his crew are known to know how to celebrate their "freakin' sweet" milestones. This bash might lend itself to some TMZ moments, if Stewie gets out of hand...

There might be some TMZ action coming out of next week's Hollywood Radio and Television Society gathering of the heads of the five network families. The selection of Barry Sonnenfeld, helmer and exec producer of ABC's "Pushing Daisies," as moderator of the Oct. 16 luncheon has raised some eyebrows among rival nets. It's a head-scratcher for others, given that Sonnenfeld isn't exactly known for his emcee-ing skills. But for those of us who've complained about milquetoast HRTS moderators in the past, we've got to give Barry the benefit of the doubt. It outta be a lively sesh, anyway, with ABC's Steve McPherson, CBS' Nina Tassler, CW's Dawn Ostroff, Fox's Kevin Reilly and NBC's Ben Silverman...

The milestone-episode parties continue on Nov. 3 with Warner Bros. Television's celebration of "ER's" 300th at Hollywood's Cabana Club. Hard to believe it was 13 years ago that George Clooney did such an effective job of playing the tipsy Dr. Doug Ross in the famously good two-hour "ER" pilot. NBC skein has had its ups and downs since then but it has earned its place in the pantheon of primetime's longest-running series, and casting history. This party outta be a classy affair to remember, especially if it attracts a full (or even pretty full) complement of thesp, writer and producer alums....

And from the good-cause department, Zimmer Children's Museum will fete Fox talent relations exec Missy Halperin (pictured left) and PBS' kidvid programming exec Linda Simensky (pictured right) at its 7th annual Discovery Award dinner on Nov. 8 at Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel. Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher, the battling spouses of Fox sitcom "'Til Death" will emcee. Zimmer org is focused on teaching small fry about ethics, community involvement and cultural sensivity through interactive and roll-up-your-sleeves exhibits at its museum on the Miracle Mile.

It's that most wonderful time of the year for showrunners. After living with a pilot for a year (or more, in some instances), and after working non-stop for most of the summer on the subsequent segs, the climax of the campaign comes down to one night, one hour or half-hour during the Long March known to non-pros as Premiere Week.

Of course, it's rarely all over (but the shoutin') for a new show after week one, but those first overnights set a certain tone for frosh shows that can be very hard to overcome. This time around, there's no more active theater in the 2007-08 campaign than Wednesday night. And while most of the recent industry chatter has focused on the fates ABC's "Pushing Daisies" and NBC's "Bionic Woman," ABC also has a high-roller bowing in the 10 p.m. slot in "Dirty Sexy Money." "Dirty Sexy" (costar Seth Gabel pictured at left) has a secret weapon in exec producer Greg Berlanti, who has shot up the short list of uber-showrunners during the past few years, particularly after he parachuted in to save "Brothers & Sisters" for the Alphabet net last season.

According to the tao of Greg, when the nerves begin to jingle-jangle as the premiere date approaches, the only thing a showrunner can do is breathe deep and keep focused on the next script in the pipeline.

"What I always get excited about at this time of year is that it's almost out of your hands," Berlanti said last week when asked to reflect on his pre-premiere rituals. "You have to say to yourself: 'Have I done everything I can to get this ship to shore?' And then you just have to keep working. The great thing is that once you're on the air, you're communicating directly with the audience. There's nothing that fuels you more than having people finally see the stuff you've been working on for a year. That is a really great second wind. I always look forward to that part of it."

Some Emmy tidbits I really should have written up Sunday night before going off to parties:

Consistency, thy name is David Chase. "It's open to interpretation," the "Sopranos" creator said backstage at the Emmys when asked, inevitably and more than once, about the series' famed blackout finale. In a convoluted way, after being pressed by multiple questioners, Chase seemed to say that he knew in his mind what happened to the family, but he had no intention of sharing it with the intimate room full 200 or so reporters. Chase did say that he'd had the notion to take the show out in the way that he did for a long time....

Earlier in the night Alan Taylor told us backstage scribblers that Chase was pleased by the fact that even members of "Sopranos'" production crew debated what the finale really meant. Chase wanted it to be something people would chew over and talk about, Taylor said...

And as for the Emmy snub of James Gandolfini after the tour de force he turned in? Paulie Walnuts had his back, backstage on Sunday. "I think it was a shame. He should've won tonight...but we won all around (for drama series)," Tony Sirico (pictured right) said. "We've been honored. I speak for Jimmy when I say he can handle it." .....

America Ferrera was such a doll in the backstage quip room. She displayed her usual humility and gratitude for the career-making break that "Ugly Betty" has been for her. And she's happy that her star turn has come on a show that is light and frothy on the outside but meaningful on the inside, where it counts, by challenging the conventional notions of beauty and body image for women.
"It's fun and it's funny and entertaining and I feel so incredibly blessed," Ferrera said. "To be acknowledged for it, to know peep are watching it and enjoying it -- it's just a dream for me. This is what I have wanted to do since I was 5 years old. It just reassures me in the power of dreaming. Now I can set my (career) heights even higher." And she was channeling the self-assured Betty Suarez when a questioner tried to pry into her love life. "I don't talk about my personal life. Thank you," she said in a Betty-esque polite-but-firm tone....

Don't ask Terry O'Quinn what's going on in "Lost" in its upcoming fourth season, because he doesn't know. Is John Locke really Jacob? Is he going to somehow kill Jack? Will he ever get near a shower again? I'm telling ya, don't ask because Quinn doesn't know. (And no, winning an Emmy doesn't entitle him to a few free plot points.) Backstage after his win for supporting drama actor, Locke showed off his hot pink shirt and black tie with glittery rhinestones. When asked, Quinn admitted that early on in the show's run he would go on the Internet to see what the fans were speculating about the Deeper Meaning of it all and where the castaways were headed. But not any more. "I'm sated," he said....

Sally Field was feeling strong, confident and not ready to suffer any cliches on Sunday. She made fast work of a question about actresses of a certain (out-of-the-demo) age enjoying a renaissance on cable ("The Closer," "Damages," "Saving Grace," etc.) and why aren't there better roles for women in features and blah blah blah...."I don't listen to any of that stuff. You guys are the ones who are listening to that," Field shot back.

Where fore art thou, Oscar? Jon Stewart had a cheeky response for the reporter who just had to know what it meant to him to be asked to host the Academy Awards a second time. "Whatever emotional hole I had in my soul vanished at that moment and I was complete," he deadpanned. "That's why I decided to do it."...

And thus brings to a close this inaugural edition of live blogging at the Emmys. I'd be remiss without giving a special thank you to the shooters of WireImage, who moved Emmy photos lickity-split last night and thus livened up this blog considerably. Honorable mentions go out to Steve Granitz, Jeffrey Mayer, John Shearer, Jeff Vespa and Todd Williamson.

POSTED BY JOSEF ADALIAN

Yes, that was Mark Itkin walking around the corridors of CAA Thursday night. But no, the William Morris Agency’s dean of unscripted programming isn’t defecting.

Itkin made a trip to what he called “enemy territory” in order to appear on a CAA/BAFTA-sponsored panel dubbed “Another British Invasion.” Powwow brought together six of the biggest names in the reality biz, ostensibly to discuss the past and future of Blighty-produced TV in the States.

Night actually turned into a broader discussion encompassing the history of the biz and the challenges it faces, with “American Idol” showrunner Nigel Lythgoe (pictured left) moderating a lively hourlong-plus conversation.

Panel also included CAA reality chief Michael Camacho, unscripted superlawyer Jeanne Newman, Fox alternative prexy Mike Darnell, CBS reality guru Ghen Maynard and Lifetime supremo Andrea Wong (who until recently headed up unscripted programming for ABC).

Group of Six repped a sort of Mt. Rushmore of the modern reality age, collectively repping some sort of involvement in just about every major unscripted skein since “The Real World” kicked off the alternative boom.

Itkin talked about putting together the deal for “Real World” (MTV wanted a soap but didn’t have the coin to pay for actors), while Newman (pictured right)outlined how she got all the major nets to bid on “Big Brother.”

“We had a true bidding war, not like the ones we make up,” Newman quipped.

For anyone who wants to test-drive the experience of being a television writer, Matt Selman has an easy solution.

Get a group of your most sarcastic friends together in a room, preferably windowless, and try to make each other laugh by outdoing one another with a steady stream of the most offensive, sophomoric and vulgar set of jokes and set-ups that you can possibly imagine -- things that could never air on TV, not even pay cable. Add in lots of takeout food and soft drinks and repeat for a few weeks on end. If your heart soars and body tingles every time you make the room snicker, you just might be cut out to be a television writer.

At least that's the quick-and-easy career counseling that Selman (pictured right), an Emmy-winning scribe for "The Simpsons" and co-writer of "The Simpsons Movie," offered Tuesday night during the "Sublime Primetime" dish sesh with a clutch of Emmy-nommed scribes, hosted by the WGA West and Variety at the Writers Guild Theater in BevHills.

"Don't wait for the industry to give you money," Selman instructed. "Take any opportunity to (try writing). The joy of writing is just as fun to do ... if you're on the worst show on television or the best show...Find a group of friends and make each other laugh. Riff off each other. Go on super-offensive runs about degrading subjects."

In an effort to rev up for the fall season, it's time to inaugurate what I intend to make a regular feature of this blog, namely lots of video snippets from our favorite, and even not-so-favorite and we're-not-sure-yet, shows.

Let's call it Clip Madness. (This edition was made possible by the kind folks at Fox and ABC who helped me quickly wrangle some clips. In subsequent weeks we'll spread the spotlight around to all the nets that care to offer up easy-to-embed snippets.)

Clip Madness is presented in the spirit of this wonderful time of year, the tail end of the honeymoon period when every new show is full of promise, this year's sleeper, a new "Friends," the next "CSI," a slow-building gem a la "The Office," etc. etc. Showrunners are starting to stock up on Mylanta, vodka and Vicodin, but network marketing mavens are in their element as they head into the final now-or-never stretch of piquing the American public's interest in what the programming department came up with this year.

(Pictured above: A scene you're not likely to see on ABC's "Pushing Daisies," for reasons that will become clear in the clip posted below. Pic of actors Lee Pace and Anna Friel kissing comes from the Aug. 16 screening of "Daisies" at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.)

This time next week Warner Bros. Television and CBS will be celebrating the taping of the 100th episode of "Two and a Half Men."

Good grief, can it really have been four seasons-plus since the show debuted? (Just for fun here's Brian Lowry's dead-on first Variety review of the show from September 2003) Warners is inviting some industry folks to the taping at the studio, followed by a champagne and cake soiree. It ain't a 100th episode party if you don't have a big-cake cutting photo to show for it. So congrats to Chuck Lorre, Lee Aronson, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum, Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, Angus T. Jones, Conchata Ferrell and the rest of the folks behind the show that is not only TV's top-rated comedy but also Emmy-nommed this year. (Here's a highlights reel from last season). In these lean times for sitcoms (especially good ol' fashioned multi-camera sitcoms) the 100th seg is a real milestone (and as always a happy sign of the syndie coin that's soon to flow).

I'm sorry that I won't be able to make the "Men" taping, but not too sorry. I'm going to be out of town -- out of BlackBerry radar, even -- next week on vacation. During my absence, On the Air will be in the good hands of Variety's Stuart Levine, who did yeoman's work in this space in July during the long march of the Television Critics Assn. tour.

Take it away, Stu...!

What kind of parent would let their child participate in "Kid Nation"?

This is the $64,000 question swirling around the CBS reality show that has gotten so much attention during the past few weeks from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the New Mexico attorney general's office. (Variety also has weighed in.) More than the intricacies of the state's child labor laws, more than the question of how and when CBS lawyers responded to inquiries from state officials, the big-picture issue hanging over "Kid Nation" has been the incredulous response provoked in many people by the show's underlying premise: "40 Kids. 40 Days. No Parents."

Show sent 40 kids, ages 8-15, to a ranch in a New Mexico ghost town to live in rustic conditions while establishing their own social order and "government" to set bed times, work skeds, chores and rules, etc.

My personal view of "Kid Nation" has been pretty dim (not being a fan of much reality-competish TV in general), fueled by the sense of over-my-dead-body righteousness that swells when I consider it not as a journo but as the mother of a rambunctious 6 1/2 year old girl.

So what kind of parent would respond to a reality TV producer from Hollywood asking them to enlist their kid in a parent-free social experiment in the painted desert -- during the regular school year, no less? I asked that question of "Kid Nation" exec producer Tom Forman, and frankly I was surprised at how his thoughtful response and description of the conditions during the shoot, took a some of the air out of my indignation. (Not enough to change the over-my-dead-body sentiment as a parent but enough to be more open-minded about the show as a journo.)

"People have very different ideas about what kids are capable of. Certainly, there are parents who wouldn't let their kids prepare a snack for themselves. Those parents wouldn't sign their kids up for this show," says Forman. "We assembled a group of incredibly articulate, incredibly intelligent and very independent kids. And they proved they were capable of much more than people could imagine."

I'm told a splendid time was had by all last night at the "Pushing Daisies" screening at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Pilot was said to have been enthusiastically received by the non-pros in the audience, just as it has been by industry insiders during the past few months since it was picked up by ABC back in May. Pilot helmer and exec producer Barry Sonnenfeld looks like he was having a good time, all decked out as a pink cowboy. And here's a pic at left of something we're unlikely to see anytime soon on the show -- stars Lee Pace and Anna Friel smooching!

"Daisies" revolves around a guy, Ned, with an unusual talent to bring the dead back to life with the touch of his hand -- with the catch that if he touches them again, they're back to .... pushing daisies. Chuck happens to be Ned's long-lost childhood sweetheart who Ned reconnects with, unfortunately a little too late when she's already been bumped off. He revives her and the flower of their youthful love re-blossoms in a big way...but only if they don't actually touch.

"Pushing Daisies" has a few tough tasks ahead of it. It's got great industry buzz that it has to live up to. It has to open a night for ABC (Wednesday) at 8 p.m.; and it has to build on the Ned-Chuck storyline without the "no touching" rule feeling tired, and it has to keep the franchise murder-mystery element of Ned reviving murder victims to catch their killers from running out of steam too. If anyone's up to the task, it's "Daisies" creator Bryan Fuller, a man with a naturally sunny-morbid disposition who spent the past season on "Heroes" and has a loyal cult following for his previous offbeat dramas "Wonderfalls" and "Dead Like Me." And he's got formidable help from fellow exec producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen (who flank Sonnenfeld and Fuller in the pic at right, with Bruce on the far right). Go, Bryan, go...

(Group pic by Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com)

"JOHN FROM CINCINNATI" SPOILER ALERT, PART TWO:

Among the many interesting things about the "John from Cincinnati" finale seg is that it heralds the ascent, in WGA terms, of Zack Whedon.

Zack is the latest addition to the Whedon clan's tradition of producing fine TV and film scribes, stretching back to the 1950s and '60s with Zack's grandfather, John Whedon ("The Andy Griffith Show," "Dick Van Dyke Show"); and father, Tom ("The Golden Girls," "Benson," "Alice"); and on through older brother Joss ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Serenity").

Zack has been schooled in the David Milch tradition for the past four years, starting out as an assistant to Milch on "Deadwood" early on in its first season. He wound up co-writing a "Deadwood" seg with his boss last year, and this year he was a kind of permanent freelancer on "John from Cincinnati." And like the titular character, Zack had good timing throughout. In episode seven, he fell into a bit acting part as Wonderboy, aka the Stinkweed vice president armed with all the research about the company's target demo and its prospects for expanding in e-commerce -- all of which earns him a face full of Linc Stark's bare ass in the memorable mooning scene. In Milch-ian fashion, they wrote the character the day before the shoot and were time-pressed to find someone to play the part.

(HBO's hard-working publicists searched but could only find one production still above from that scene, with Milch at the center, and it offers only a glimpse of Zack's arm, his hand holding a pencil and a bit of his face in the far right-hand corner.)

They met a few years ago in the trenches at MGM. Meredith worked as an assistant to MGM Pictures prexy Michael Nathanson; Marcie was on the desk of Elizabeth Ingold, the Lion’s exec veepee of production.

As both of them were bright and bubbly, young and ambitious in similar ways, the laws of workplace physics dictated that Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin would become friends. They ate lunch together most days, hung out in their spare time and developed a circle of mutual friends, many of whom were similarly employed in lower-rung showbiz jobs that offer Skybox views of the industry they seek to conquer.

Meredith and Marcie just happened to get there a whole lot faster than most, even in a town known for its accelerated career development.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

The dark gloom of Seattle skies turn bright this season for Shonda Rhimes (pictured left), as she brings her "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff to Los Angeles in the form of "Private Practice."

The overcast weather analogy seems appropriate for the past season of "Grey's" in many ways. The tone of the series was ominous in a bunch of episodes, including arcs on the tenuous relationship between Meredith and McDreamy, George's by-the-threads marriage to Callie, Richard's divorce and Burke's ultimate dismissal of Dr. Yang as a life partner.

And that's just the on-screen tumult.

Of course, nothing got bigger headlines than Isaiah Washington's meltdown and anti-gay remarks, which ultimately led to his dismissal off the show.

(When asked about Ben Silverman's comments, that NBC had talked to Washington about a possible role on "Bionic Woman" while he was still under contract to ABC Studios, Rhimes answered, "I wasn't aware of any conversations." And when prodded for a response on his arrival at the Peacock primetime lineup, she rose above the fray, answering, "He's very talented and I hope he and the show do well, but not as well as 'Private Practice.'")

"It was a dark journey," said Rhimes of the past year, who added later on that it was a "dark season, but I want to get back to having fun."

On Wednesday, ABC topper Steve McPherson agreed, having said "Grey's" would arrive this fall with a slightly lighter tone.

"There was a lot of difficult stuff and emotional stuff going on for a multitude of characters. And I think we're going to get away from some of that  just because of the nature of the storytelling that she (Rhimes) is going to do," he said.

That's not to say Rhimes wasn't happy with the how the stories turned out. She remained on the creative course she set out from Day 1.

"We started with Meredith helping Izzy out of her wedding dress and ended with Meredith helping Christine out of her wedding dress," Rhimes said in bookending the season.

And, yes, she was aware of the unhappiness of some of the hard-core fans — though she didn't necessarily agree with them — those who followed the show to Thursdays from Sundays in a risky programming move by ABC that paid huge dividends.

"I read the blogs," she explained. "I take very seriously what the fans say. They care about the show."

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

There's nothing like a standoff between a network exec and sleep-deprived critics to make TCA invigorating on its next-to-last day.

So when ABC topper Steve McPherson (pictured) let out that a major announcement involving the upcoming season of "Lost" would be divulged at Comic-Con tomorrow -- and not here at the Beverly Hilton with the country's TV press assembled -- well, lets just say the news wasn't well received by TCA-ers. (And for more TCA sound and fury, read what was on McPherson's mind in the post-Q&A huddle courtesy of Variety's Michael Schneider.)

McPherson was visibly pissed. In time spent where he could be promoting ABC's new fall lineup, which incidentally has promising new titles in "Pushing Daisies," "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Big Shots," he was forced to keep the wolves at bay who kept pressing on why sci-fi nerds heading to San Diego were more important to them -- and to their readers.

McPherson started the brouhaha accidentally. When one reporter asked about what might happen next on "Lost," McPherson said he couldn't give any details and that a major announcement was coming in San Diego. That's when the blood hit the water and the sharks began circling.

After a a woman questioned why the announcement was being withheld, McPherson kidded her about driving down to San Diego together to hear the news firsthand. Though he was joking, it went over as well as a Michael Richards standup routine at the Laugh Factory.

A few minutes later, Rick Kushman of the Sacramento Bee -- in a very reasonable and well-thought way -- asked McPherson how should newspaper editors, who are spending thousands of dollars to send their critics to Beverly Hills for two weeks in a time when papers are being crushed financially, should feel when networks are withholding information from them.

McPherson tried to make light of the situation and said, "I started talking to him before he was available, and I don't know what happened there, but I've cast Don Imus on 'Lost.'" It was a retort that sounded eerily similar to Ben Silverman describing how Isaiah Washington came aboard NBC's "Bionic Woman."

Soon after that, ABC publicist Hope Hartman whispered into McPherson's ear that "Lost" co-creator and exec producer Damon Lindelof had been told of the brewing controversy and allowed McPherson to spill the news that Harold Perrineau, who plays Michael, would be back. (Sorry for burying the lead, but the jostling was too good to pass up.)

-- Stuart Levine

The series writing and directing noms are always a good bellwether of what shows or individuals are deemed best of breed by industry standards. There's so much politicking and campaigning that goes into the race to grab top series and acting noms. Writing and directing noms are a little more above the fray, though it does seem that Emmy voters sometimes see them as consolation prizes for deserving shows that don't crack the top series categories. To wit, "Battlestar Galactica" (pictured left) was recognized for drama writing and directing, but the show's rabid fans will have to keep the faith until next year to see it break into the top echelon of nominees.

POSTED BY JON WEISMAN

Chuck Lorre didn't even own a TV in the 1970s, so any similarities between his new CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" and the swinging late '70s icon "Three's Company" are completely coincidental. Really, Lorre insists.

Lorre, co-executive producer Bill Prady and the cast of "Big Bang" seemed a little taken aback to find themselves in the unexpected position of being asked to compare and contrast their program to that of Jack, Janet and Chrissy during the "Big Bang" TCA sesh on Wednesday.

Tops on the list: Three decades after Suzanne Somers redefined the role of the dumb blonde on "Three's," is it possible that Kaley Cuoco's Penny (pretty small-town gal befriended by two neighbors who are Caltech physicists) is ... dumberer? (Pictured from left, "Big Bang" stars Jim Parsons, Cuoco, Johnny Galecki)

No way, said Lorre.

Big panel, big show, big challenges.

The "Friday Night Lights" cast and crew were well-received by the TCA-ers in the show's sesh on Tuesday. The crix weren't overly gushy but there was a general consensus that this Peabody-winning show is a fine example of quality triumphing over anemic ratings. Getting a wider audience to appreciate the show had become something of a mission for the previous steward of NBC Entertainment, before Kevin Reilly hustled out of Burbank in June following the Ben Silverman shakeup.

To Ben's credit, in the eyes of "FNL" fans, he's vowed to support the show and one of his first bulletins on Monday in his exec Q&A was a time slot switch for the show that at least takes it out of the vortex of 10 p.m. Friday (where only CBS has found the right mathematical equation to get a decent number lately with "Numbers"). Now "FNL" is due to get a little hammock support at 9 p.m. on its namesake night between "Deal or No Deal" and "Las Vegas." And Silverman's co-topper, Marc Graboff, praised the show for being "efficiently produced," which was another thing that helped it survive for a second season.

Dick Wolf was busy today. He started the day with the "Law & Order" panel at TCA on Tuesday, breaking the news that Linus Roache is joining the mothership-show's cast in the upcoming season as executive assistant D.A., or the successor to Jack McCoy now that Sam Waterston's character has advanced to the big D.A. gig.

Wolf then hopped from TCA Central at the Beverly Hilton a few blocks down Wilshire Boulevard to the Regent Beverly Wilshire to moderate the "State of the Industry" sesh for the Hollywood Radio & TV Society. The HRTS panel was lively, and Wolf had plenty to say about the state of the biz he's in. Not surprisingly, much of the conversation revolved around the words "online video" and "new platforms."

As Variety's Michael Schneider reports, Wolf recounted for the HRTS aud the “horrifying moment” he discovered that not only does his 14-year-old son not watch network TV, but none of his son’s classmates do either. “At the end of the day, are we eating our young?” Wolf asked.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Does the fact that viewer totals are excruciatingly low mean NBC's stellar Thursday night comedy lineup has little chance to be placed in the same class as in the days of "Cheers," "Friends" and "Seinfeld," all of which were ratings behemoths?

Ratings, mind you, have never come close to being equated with quality. Geez, "Veronica's Closet" and "The Single Guy" probably have higher numbers than "The Office" or "30 Rock" will ever do ... combined.

But after a TCA panel with the creator and star of each of the four comedies that air on Thursday -- "My Name Is Earl," "Scrubs," "30 Rock" and "The Office" -- it's quite obvious these guys (and lady) are funny. Really funny. What exactly does somebody have to do these days to get people to tune in?

"It's our job to make the shows good and Ben's job to make them watch," said Lorne Michaels, exec producer of "30 Rock" and "Saturday Night Live" godfather, about the job new NBC topper Ben Silverman has ahead of him.

When a reporter asked "30 Rock" star/creator/exec producer Tina Fey (pictured) whether she was confident last fall that hers was the NBC show-within-a-show would survive to see a second season, unlike Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," Fey didn't hesitate in her response.

I was 100 percent sure," she said. "I have a nasty streak in me."

(Pictured above, from right: "Office" exec producer Greg Daniels, Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey and "My Name is Earl" exec producer Greg Garcia.)

POSTED BY MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

(Updated Friday morning with fresh comment from Steven Moffat, see below)

Never mind the bollocks, "Coupling" creator Steven Moffat (left) may have to explain a few things the next time he rings Ben Silverman.

Back in his pre-NBC days, Silverman helped Moffat bring the hit BBC comedy over to the States -- where the U.S. "Coupling" promptly fizzled.

Why did the Yankee "Coupling" fail? (For one thing, see the image to the right: It was promoted as a sex-drenched romp, rather than a plain ol' funny show, as the BBC version was.) Moffat offered up his own hypothesis last week during BBC America's TCA session (where he was promoting his new BBC series "Jekyll"):

“I can answer it with three letters: N-B-C. Very, very good writing team. Very, very good cast. The network fucked it up because they intervened endlessly. If you really want a job to work, don’t get Jeff Zucker’s team to come help you because they’re not funny …I can say that because I don’t care about working for NBC. The way in which NBC slagged off the creative team on American “Coupling” after its failure was disgraceful and traitorous. So I enjoy slagging them off. That’s the end of my career in L.A.”

Hmm... that's what makes this part awkward: According to Silverman -- now co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios -- Moffat has been in contact about, yes, doing something for him at the Peacock!

"I find that a little hypocritical," Silverman said. "(Moffat and "Coupling" exec producer Beryl Vertue) have called me a number of times about doing a show."

The lesson?

"Never say never," Silverman added.

-- Michael Schneider

Friday morning update:

Just a few comments, if I may (and I'm assuming Ben's been quoted correctly.)

1.  I have NEVER been contact with NBC about making a show.  Not once.

2.  I have NEVER said I won't work for NBC, I just assumed they wouldn't want me (and I wouldn't blame them, really!)

3.  At the time of American Coupling, Ben Silverman was the producer of the show, not chairman of NBC - it was HIS work, and his team's work that suffered so badly from network interference.  It was, in effect, Ben I was defending.  Oh, the irony!

4.  I know and like Ben, but I've seen him type on his Blackberry, and realise he might have been trying to say something else entirely.

Steven Moffat

You loved her in "Roswell" -- now she's all grown up and has intimacy issues to boot. USA Network confirmed during its TCA presentation Sunday that it has given a 12-seg order to the Shiri Appleby starrer "To Love & Die" from Lorne Michael's Broadway Video Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. Series is set to bow next year. Revolves around Appleby (pictured) as a young woman, Hildy, who becomes convinced her misadventures in dating will never end until she makes peace with the father she's never really known. Tim Matheson plays that AWOL dad; Frances Fisher plays Hildy's overbearing mother who's on husband No. 7 at the time her daughter begins her quest for dad, who happens to be a professional hit man. USA Network programming guru Jeff Wachtel bills it as a light-touch drama about a "high concept character with a slightly twisted soul." "Love and Die" hails from tyro creator/exec producer Sara Goodman (Fox's short-lived "Reunion.")

He grew up yearning to write for “Playhouse 90” and “The Twilight Zone.”

Unfortunately for Matthew Weiner, he was born about 35 years too late, and as it happened, his break as a TV writer came in sitcoms, not high-end dramas.But Weiner was nevertheless determined to pursue his vision for a series that would capture all of his fascination with American culture in the finger-snapping era of Camelot and the Cuban Missile Crisis, of skinny ties and steel-tipped bras, of the Rat Pack and Sputnik.

By day, Weiner was working on the CBS sitcom “Becker.” By night, with the added motivation of the approach of 35th birthday, he poured himself into penning the pilot of his period-dreams. That was seven years ago. On Thursday, after many a twist and turn his Weiner’s life and that of his pilot script, his baby is set to make a splashy entrance on the heels of effusive reviews and a big marketing push from AMC. The film-centric basic cabler picked Weiner’s “Mad Men,” from Lionsgate TV, last year as the show to lead  the channel into the scripted series realm.

“No network quite got this show until AMC,” Weiner says, and that’s in keeping with the spirit of the show. “This show is all about misconceptions, and our contemporary culture’s misunderstanding of this period in American history and how it influenced who we are today,” Weiner says.

CONTINUE READING TO WATCH A VIDEO CLIP OF "MAD MEN" CREATOR MATTHEW WEINER DISCUSSING THE PERIOD SETTING OF THE SHOW.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

The truth is out there, and David Duchovny aims to find it at Showtime.

Five years after "The X-Files" ended its nine-year run, Duchovny returns to the airwaves -- though this time viewers will have to pay to see him -- in "Californication," a half-hour comedy about an author who has serious intimacy problems.

So what brought him back to TV?

"It was the script Tom (Kapinos) wrote, though I didn't think that if you do a pilot, you also have do the show, too," Duchonvy kidded. "I wasn't necessarily looking for a comedy but I was open to it."

Pilot episode has Duchovny character Hank Moody bedding many women while simultaneously trying to be a good father to his daughter, Becca (played by Madeleine Martin, who said of being part of the very adult drama, "I listen to my iPod during table reads").

Nudity and sex is a hot topic at TCA this year, with HBO's "Tell Me You Love Me" also generating headlines for its risque manner of filmmaking.

"It's a family show," clarified creator/exec producer Kapinos said of "Californication," "but a fractured, f---d up family."

Duchovny most recently starred in the bigscreen indie "The T.V. Set," which received generally good reviews. He scored two Emmy noms for "X-FIles," and also has one each for "The Larry Sanders Show" and for a guest spot in "Life With Bonnie." In 1997, he won a Golden Globe for his role as Fox Mulder.

Kapinos says the title comes from the 1970s term that citizens of Oregon used when they were concerned that the high influx of Californians would ruin their state. "This couldn't be set in another state."

When asked if his wife Tea Leoni might find her way into a few of the episodes, Duchovny -- who also acts as an exec producer -- said, ""We've always tried to not work together. It's mostly because she doesn't want to work with me."

Series, which also stars Brit Natascha McElhone, Evan Handler ("Sex and the City") and Madeline Zima, begins Aug. 13.

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Few celebrities faze grizzled TV critics but it was genuinely weird to see Mary-Kate Olsen on stage as part of the "Weeds" panel during Showtime's three-hour TCA session on Saturday.

The actress, who just turned 21, fielded more questions than star Mary-Louise Parker, though her answers left something to be desired, in most cases. (It didn't go unnoticed by the scribes when Olsen misidentified "Weeds'" fictional setting as "Majestic" sted "Agrestic.") Olsen plays Tara Lindman, whom she described as "a good Christian girl with a twist" and a Bible-loving love interest for Nancy Botwin's older son. When pressed about exactly what kind of Christian she would play (campy, evangelistic, goodie-two-shoes, etc.), "Weeds" creator/exec producer Jenji Kohan filled in the details and confirmed that yes, the character will be seen tugging on the chronic.

"She's comfortable in her Christianity and her drug use," Kohan said.

"Weeds" makes the most mature series by far for Olsen, who reached stardom by starring with her sister, Ashely, in "Full House" from 1987-95. She's also become a film producer and extremely successful businesswoman.

Olsen learned of the role from her agent, auditioned and met with Kohan, who initially had a bit of trepidation about the actress.

"We might have been nervous about her reputation but her performance was wonderful," Kohan said. "We wanted someone good for the part, and we got it."

"I've spent the last year going on auditions, acting and working hard," said Olsen, who seemed a bit stunned by the criics' interest in her being part of the cast. On the difficulty of getting more grown-up roles after a career as a child star, she added: "There will always be my celebrity, but my work speaks for itself."

"Weeds" marks Olsen's first on-screen appearance without Ashley. She was recently cast in Sienna Miller's "Factory Girl," but her part was cut.

The series launches its third season on Aug. 13, and will air 15 episodes, up three from season two.

-- Stuart Levine

It was such a "John from Cincinnati" moment.

Moments after I strolled into HBO's poolside party at the W hotel in Westwood on Thursday, I meandered aimlessly (or so I thought?) by a small group of people conversing in a cocktail party circle. I was still scanning the crowd and overall scene when I heard a familiar voice say "...and it was printed on Variety.com that the show is good..." and then the cocktail-party huddle opens up and whaddya know! it's Willie Garson (pictured far left with Ed O'Neill), aka lawyer Dickstein of "John from Cincinnati," and no kidding (I couldn't make this up), he's talking about this week's On the Air column about taking a second look at "John" and how the cast is so damn good. I was stunned -- so much so I almost kept meandering on, but I couldn't. (What writer could?) The timing was just too perfect, the entree too good to pass up.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

For those waiting for the "Deadwood" two-hour movies, don't hold your breath.

After the show ended amid a PR mess last year with George Hearst leaving town, HBO said it would bring the Western back to satisfy fans who felt there was little closure. But now network exec Michael Lombardo told critics at TCA Thursday that the movies were "doable but daunting."

Creator David Milch has just finished up "John From Cincinnati," which is the series that took his attention away from "Deadwood." To get "Deadwood" back up and running, Milch would have to recharge his batteries and assuming he's interested in going back to the Black Hills, the actors would have to be rounded up again.

That's no easy task. Many of the thesps have moved on to other shows and films. Plus, it might not be a financially wise decision to bring back the entire production.

"We've had no conversations with David yet," Lombardo said. "We're still interested but it may not happen."

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE and STEVEN ZEITCHIK

So what's the difference between between real-life Larry David and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" character Larry David?

Whatever it is, the difference is becoming less and less every year.

"I really love the guy who's on that show" he said to critics at TCA. "He's everything that I'm thinking and feeling and who doesn't have to behave the way society wants everyone to behave. I'm getting closer to that guy every day."

Many viewers weren't expecting a sixth season of "Curb," which starts up Sept. 9. Season five ended with Larry going to heaven, a seemingly perfect way to say goodbye.

But soon after that, back in his production office with nothing to do, David felt miserable. So he started thinking ideas for another season. And, as he told critics in his condescending but hysterical way, the process of thinking up new ideas also made him miserable.

So either way -- working or not working -- he wasn't a happy man.

So who's smiling now? Probably HBO, which is currently restocking its series pipeline, yet needs popular long-running skeins to placate auds who want something new while clinging to the old favorites.

Pressed on whether the cult-comedy would come back for a seventh season (after a long hiatus before the upcoming sixth), David said that show has shot an ending that "could be the last-show ending - or it might be the last-show ending."

David has famously equivocated about a new season for the past couple years; he quipped that he did that because knowing there might not be another season was the only way he could get through the current one.

If series does return, David took a cue from a reporter about how to advance the arc: by emulating his real life (in which he has formally separated from his wife, enviro-activist and producer Laurie David) and getting divorced from onscreen wife Cheryl Hines. "Sorry," he said, turning to Hines.

"You're off the show," David deadpanned, as only he can.

-- Stuart Levine and Steven Zeitchik

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

HBO may have lost "Sex and the City," but its still feeling frisky.

Cable will launch "Tell Me You Love Me" on Sept. 9, a nine-episode Sunday night series that focuses on the relationship of three couples -- in their 20s, 30s and 40s. From creator Cynthia Mort, skein moves from the therapist office to the bedroom, and doesn't shy away from showing the inner sanctum of each.

In other words, there's lots of screaming, crying and sex.

"We're not porn stars, we're actors," said actress Michelle Borth to the TCA throngs who were definitely more interested in the authenticity and realism of the sex scenes than they were on the credentials of Jane Alexander, who plays the show's therapist.

Added actress Sonya Walger: "It's uncomfortable. These scenes have no dialogue but each has a lot to say."

"Our decision wasn't to push the envelope but be honest about the intimacy," said HBO programming topper Carolyn Strauss. You can't tell the story about intimacy without having sex in your tool kit. If you want to do it honestly, you have to tell that story."

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK:

The FX plastic-surgery drama "Nip/Tuck" has always felt like it was set in Beverly Hills, but it took five seasons to actually get it there.

The series about doctors in their own operating room and other people's beds is relocating this season from South Florida to Hollywood. In one episode, Julian McMahon's bad-boy doctor Christian Troy questions "Where's the glamor I used to read about?" And rest assured, Troy hasn't lost any of his swagger in the cross-country move: "This town needs me," he declares.

Why the move? Creator Ryan Murphy (pictured)told a panel at TCA Thursday morning at the Beverly Hilton that he set the show in Bev Hills when he first pitched it but then changed the venue because he wanted the series to go a little darker. Once the docs got successful, however, he wanted them swimming in a bigger pond.

Murphy (who also said he "would love to" bring the show back for a sixth season but is still negotiating with the net) says despite the move, audiences shouldn't expect the predictable L.A. plot turns. "We don't have a lot of the starlets coming in for surgeries. We still have a lot of the cases that are more exotic and odd," Murphy said.

Actually, the strongest Hollywood touch may involve the biz. When the new season debuts, the two docs will make a career move of sorts: They'll consult on a "Nip/Tuck"-like show-within-a-show starring Bradley Cooper. Said Murphy: "It's kind of the worst medical show ever made." -- Steven Zeitchik

Craig Erwich was a loyal soldier to Fox Broadcasting Co. for a dozen years, through the programming regimes of John Matoian, Peter Roth, Doug Herzog, Gail Berman and finally, Peter Liguori. On Monday, amid the news of the arrival of Kevin Reilly as entertainment president and Liguori's promotion to Fox Entertainment chairman, Erwich (pictured left) decided it was time to move on (though he may yet stay within the News Corp. family, as Variety reports).
In the last four years of his tenure at the network, friends and colleagues say Erwich handled the always-tricky job of serving as No. 2 to the head of programming with great skill and good humor.
Ask anyone who's served in the executive vp programming role (or its equivalent) at a major network. You're in charge of development, but....credit has a way of flowing upward in success, while blame and tsk-tsking trickles down when things go wrong. But those who know him well say Erwich played an important role in bringing to fruition most of Fox's scripted successes during the past few years, particularly "24," "House" and "Prison Break."

"He's an incredibly good executive. He's smart, responsive and always very clear about his point of view," says Imagine TV prexy David Nevins, who worked closely with Erwich at Fox when Nevins was in the exec vp role and Erwich was head of drama development. It was Nevins and Erwich who first took the pitch from Joel Surnow and Bob Cochran on their unconventional idea for a drama thriller series that would unfold in real time, one hour at a time, during the course of a season. He rode the "24" thrill ride all the way to its Emmy win for drama series last year.
Before joining Fox in 1995 as director of current programming, Erwich worked at Stephen J. Cannell Prods. and as an assistant at CAA.

More than any TV series in recent memory, “John from Cincinnati” seemed to be nearly done in by bad buzz long before it premiered.

“Why would HBO think people would want to watch this?” one blog poster opined on AOL’s TV Squad site nearly a month before the show premiered June 10, on the coattails of “The Sopranos’” finale.
“One department has a pool going as to when HBO is going to pull the plug and not complete the season at all,” read a post on the popular TelevisionWithoutPity.com site way back in February. (The author of the missive claimed to be someone who worked on the “John” set.)

Sure, all shows endure a fair amount of post-pickup/pre-premiere drama and “oh boy is it in big trouble” rumor-mongering. But “John” endured a surprising amount of early carping, especially for an HBO skein with a solid pedigree as the creation of revered dramatist David Milch and cult-fave novelist Kem Nunn. Milch took a beating from many fans of his previous HBO creation “Deadwood,” who felt that he and HBO decided to drive a stake in “Deadwood” prematurely in order to free Milch up to work on “John.” (Given the tone of “Deadwood,” Milch surely couldn’t have been surprised when its hard-core fans were quick to express their hostile, profanity-laden revenge fantasies.)

The cast that Milch and Nunn put together last fall and winter for “John” was undeniably strong: Rebecca De Mornay (pictured above left), Bruce Greenwood (pictured right), Ed O’Neill, Matt Winston, Luke Perry, Luis Guzman, Willie Garson, and up and comers Brian Van Holt and Austin Nichols. But when the pilot script started to make the rounds, there was a lot of head scratching.

If “Deadwood” was a surrealistic Western, then “John from Cincinnati” was a psycho surf-themed family drama, as inter-preted via a bad acid trip. The talk was that it was not just unconventional, it was unbound, merely an indulgent exercise in how obtuse (with curse words) two talented writers could be if given the chance. The consensus opinion seemed to be that HBO had come to the crossroads and was at a loss at where to go next after its storied run of success.

The news about the recasting of Merrin Dungey (pictured left) in one of the lead  roles in the "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice" raises the question of how producers plan to handle the launch of the series this fall since its pilot was actually a two-hour seg of "Grey's Anatomy."

It might've made sense to repeat that episode, or even a cut down version of that seg, in advance of the first episode of "Private Practice" proper this fall, but not now that Audra McDonald (pictured right) is stepping in to the role of Dr. Naomi Bennett, the college pal of Kate Walsh's Addison Montgomery. I'm told there'll be no reshooting of anything done this past spring. "Practice" will start with a fresh seg that finds Addison relocated in L.A. and into her new life at the Santa Monica wellness center populated by a host of quirky doctors. Necessary backstory can be easily filled in with dialogue in the opening moments.

So why the Dungey-McDonald swap? I'm told that it was partly a chemistry thing between Dungey and Taye Diggs, who plays Naomi's estranged husband Sam, and that some were having trouble buying them ever having been a couple. McDonald, a four-time Tony winner and a Juilliard-trained singer, is known for exuding a natural strength common to great stage actresses. But the decision to make the switch couldn't have been easy for Shonda Rhimes, creator-exec producer of "Grey's Anatomy" and its spinoff. Merrin Dungey is the sister of Channing Dungey, an ABC Studios executive who oversees "Anatomy" for the studio and is known to be close to Rhimes.

I feel compelled to post a note of hugely heartfelt thanks to all of those who have read and responded to this week's "Supernatural" column. First off, it validates my feeling that this show is an overlooked gem. But more selfishly, from a business perspective, the hundreds and hundreds of good folks who have checked out my post have spiked the traffic for this blog exponentially. Before this week, the above image of guest star Emmanuelle Vaugier from the "Supernatural" seg "Heart" from this past season was a pretty good representation of how frustrated I was in trying to get any real traction for this blog since its soft launch in mid-May. But the response to my sit-down with Eric "hell of a nice guy" Kripke has restored my faith in humanity, television and my ability to do meaningful work in this new medium. It's one of the perks of the job to be able to talk to interesting, thoughtful, creative people like Eric. So thanks muchly to everyone, especially those who left kind words behind. And for all of you rabid Jensen and Jared fans, here's another cute pic of the guys, just for good measure.

and congrats to Warner Bros. Television for fielding the smallscreen winners in both the 60-minute ("ER") and 30-minute ("The New Adventures of Old Christine") categories. Duty called in the office today or I would have attended the luncheon instead of staying back at the Wilshire Boulevard ranch and writing up the winners from the press release (not nearly the same as being there). Soon as I can find some pics from the event and get a download or two from folks who were there, I'll put something up. If anyone who did attend wants to weigh in, why, that's what the 'Comments' section of this space was made for...

(Wednesday update: OK, so today was busier than I thought and didn't have a chance to really update this. But thanks to Berliner Studios/BEImages for the Larry Gelbart pic at left.)

The return of "Monk" is always one of the highlights of summer, and this season's opener, "Mr. Monk's Biggest Fan," is particularly entertaining thanks to a good guest-star turn by Sarah Silverman. She reprises her role as the crazed fan Marci Maven from 2004's "Mr. Monk and the TV Star," only this time around it's Adrian Monk who is the focus of her obsessive fandom. Silverman steals the episode from star Tony Shalhoub (which is hard to do) with a role that pushes her beyond the general Sarah Silverman-ish character that she usually plays. She even gets to show off her guitar strumming skills with a folksy ditty she's penned for her beloved:

There's a man in California/
if you're ever in a funk./
He may not be F. Murray Abraham/
but I think he's a hunk./
And his name is Aaaayaaaadddrreeeeiannnnn

The seg, penned by "Monk" creator-exec producer Andy Breckman and directed by Randy Zisk, is packed with in-jokes for "Monk" freaks and other goofy delights. Bows July 13 on USA Network.

Muscle cars. Classic rock. Scary monsters and evil demons. Chain saws. Handsome guys and hot girls. Jeffrey Dean Morgan dying. "Supernatural's" got it all, including a hard-core fan base who have built elaborate website shrines to the series. So why isn't it a bigger draw for the CW, especially among the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "X-Files" demo?

This is a question that keeps "Supernatural" creator-exec producer Eric Kripke up at night listening to things that go bump. Not that he isn't happy and grateful to just to have his spawn live for another season, its third, in the 2007-08 season. But he'd like to get the word out that there is hope in the Thursday 9 p.m. slot for people who like more other-worldly entertainment than the docs of "Grey's Anatomy" or the forensics of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Hell, actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the cardiac-challenged martyr of "Grey's Anatomy," even died in the first episode of "Supernatural" last season, after cutting a deal with the devil to allow his older son to live.

"Because I believe in the humanity of man, I believe there's a wider audience out there for this show," Kripke joked over breakfast (brioche and coffee) the other day, down the street from Warner Bros. where "Supernatural" is produced. "I don't think we have to live on 'Grey's' and 'CSI's' scraps. But we do have to find a way to get the word out that this show is out there. The people who used to watch 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' are not watching anything else on the CW."

Here's a perfect match for primetime. John Larroquette is going to lend his talents to ABC's "Boston Legal" in the upcoming season. He'll play a senior partner from the New York office who transfers to Crane Poole & Schmidt's nuthouse Boston office. Larroquette is no stranger to David E. Kelley-land, having done guest shots on multiple episodes of "The Practice" during its ABC run. Larroquette's always been a favorite of mine, and I'm not too sheepish to admit that I've even enjoyed his romps as maverick lawyer/gumshoe in the series of "McBride" telepics that Hallmark Channel has been running since 2005.

Journey!?!

Not Tony Bennett? Not The Voice? Not Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons? Not Bruce Springsteen, or even Bon Jovi? Journey!?!

Oh well, maybe that was the point. Mundane. Typical. Pedestrian, even. Maybe it's just right that the series that was so often over-hyped as the best thing television has ever produced would go out on a this-could-be-anyone's-family-gathering-at-a-neighborhood-joint note.

David Chase clearly had fun messing with our minds in building all of the Hitchcock-ian tension into the final scene in the restaurant, as we waited for any one of the suspicious-looking characters that seemed to be circling Tony Soprano's nuclear family (remember what they looked like in season one, as pictured below) to erupt with violence or something that felt finale-ish and fate-sealing. But no, it was a typical family scene, typical, that is, if dad's a New Jersey crime boss on the downside of his career and mom's an overprotective but ruthless enabler. And let's face it, parallel parking is a bitch, no matter who your daddy is.

The instant chatter in the blogosphere on the (not so) fateful episode No. 86 of "The Sopranos" seemed to tilt toward the negative, with many remarking that the abruptly cut-to-black ending first made them think their cable/satellite had gone out just at the money-moment. But perhaps those who were angered or unhappy with the closer were just more motivated to run to their computers to blast away at David Chase, HBO, and anyone else they could think of. There was a lot of insta-speculation that the deliberately-vague ending was motivated by a greedy desire to tee up a "Sopranos" feature film down the road. (Some were even pegging the release date as spring 2009! Everybody wants to play Exhibitor Relations these days.) I've got to believe that David Chase has more creativity integrity than that. If not, somebody show him "The X-Files" feature, quick.

It may sound a stretch but perhaps Chase came to something like the same conclusion that Phil Rosenthal did two years ago with the "Everybody Loves Raymond" finale. The best way to honor a beloved series and the fans who made it so is not with pyrotechnics or gimmicks beyond belief but a tribute to the core character relationships that make or break any TV series. (Then again, there's the "Newhart" ending to beat all endings, which could be called gimmicky, but c'mon...) Appropriately enough, nobody has ever gotten "The Sopranos" better than Alan Sepinwall, the hard-working, hell-of-a-nice-guy TV critic from the Newark Star-Ledger, and he had a smart take on the finale posted barely an hour after it aired. Variety's Phil Gallo also did a good job of sizing up the finale, from a reasoned, not fanboy, perspective.

Furthermore, as On the Air's significant other astutely pointed out, it could have been a whole lot worse. David Chase was at the helm of "Northern Exposure" when that once-great series bowed out in mid-1995 with a finale episode, co-written by future "Sopranos" soldiers Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess (along with Jeff Melvoin). We'll never forgive any of them for the worst-plot-twist-ever in having Janine Turner's Maggie and John Corbett's Chris "suddenly" discover that they're soul mates and destined to be together....yeeecchh! (Having that happen is worse than the public-domain music NBC Universal has put in the modern-day DVD sets of NoEx seasons to save money on licensing.)

So aside from the use of "Don't Stop Believin'" in the closing moments, Chase redeemed himself tonight with this finale that he wrote and directed. Despite the level of over-praising that "The Sopranos" has endured during its eight-year run (give or take a few loooong hiatuses), there's no denying the impact it has had, on pop culture, on television, on writers and on what networks and studios are willing to accept in the way of anti-heroes, less than tidy endings, etc. etc. I'll never forget attending an HBO-sponsored screening of the first two episodes (either it was the first two segs or it was a two from early in the first season) at the DGA theater in Hollywood. When the screening was over and the DGA lobby filled with industry cognizati, the buzz was positively electric. People literally could not stop talking about how good -- how different -- the show was.

No one can claim more credit for this than David Chase, for sticking to his vision and his derring-do, and for assembling the company of talented scribes, directors, actors and producers he enlisted to tell his tales. There aren't enough adjectives in the dictionary to express how well James Gandolfini and Edie Falco (oh boy, did she shine this season?!) embodied their alter-egos in a way that ....well, again, not enough superlatives or time to give them their proper due....

By now, the story of how Chase struggled for years to get his baby on the air is well documented. But it bears repeating the names of a few of the suits and such who helped the show along before it found a welcoming home at HBO -- particularly one exec in particular who just faced his own real-life whacking (albeit with no lethal consequences), Kevin Reilly, late of NBC who was a "Sopranos" booster during his time as head of Brillstein-Grey Television. Lloyd Braun, late of ABC, Yahoo and now of NBC Universal-based BermanBraun, was also pivotal in the series' development during his tenure at Brillstein-Grey. Also meriting a shout-out are Robert Greenblatt and Danielle Gelber, now of Showtime but formerly with Fox Broadcasting Co. during "The Sopranos'" time in development-hell there, and of course, Peter Benedek, Chase's loyal rep at United Talent Agency.

Salute.

For Bryan Fuller, it all started many years ago, on a hot summer's day in his home town in eastern Washington state, during one of his first attempts at T-ball.

His team was up, and Fuller was caught between first and second base, with no hope of being anything but an easy out for a cocky second baseman. So young Bryan pulled a Kobayashi Maru, long before he knew there was a name for such a maneuver (for the uninitiated, see "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."). He ran into the outfield. And when the umpire hollered "out," Fuller was incensed.

"I figured if the person who has the ball has to tag you, they should have to chase your ass wherever you go," Fuller recalls, shaking his head. "Why do you have to be locked down to just one way?"

From that long-ago injustice came a good deal of his motivation to build a career on coloring outside the lines, bending the rules of space and time to his own delight as a storyteller. In just a few years Fuller has developed a loyal following among a certain breed of TV junkies and a growing reputation in the biz as the writer-producer behind such stylish drama series as Showtime's "Dead Like Me" and Fox's "Wonderfalls." Fuller spent most of the past season as a staff scribe on NBC's "Heroes," except for when he was off developing his latest creation, "Pushing Daisies," for Warner Bros. Television, which landed the Wednesday 8 p.m. berth on ABC's fall sked.

Congrats to all the Humanitas Prize finalists. The Humanitas honors some times are the subject of a little ribbing for focusing on feel-good and Explicitly Uplifting fare, but the truth is most writers covet these awards, if only because they are so focused on scribes. Plus, these laurels come with cold, hard cash attached, which never hurts.

There are some oddly pedestrian choices on the list this year and some interesting picks. The biggest surprise is the nod to Fox's "The War at Home." It's hardly unusual for the Humanitas to shine a light on a canceled show, but it is in this case. "War at Home" wasn't exactly a critical darling in its two-season run on Fox. I can't really comment, having never watched beyond the pilot seg. I couldn't find an image from the episode "Kenny Doesn't Live Here Anymore," which earned the nom for series creator Rob Lotterstein, but I did find a shot, posted above, of an episode with a guest shot by George Segal. And since I've always loved "Where's Poppa?"...A full list of Humanitas noms, or finalists in the org's parlance, can be found here courtesy of Variety's hard-working, TV-loving Stuart Levine.