Nothing says TCA like stars in awkward situations. (See pic at left of "House" star Hugh Laurie in a bumper car at Fox's TCA party on the Santa Monica pier last summer.)

Yep, the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour is upon us, starting Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The January TCA gathering was scuttled by the writers strike, so undoubtedly there will be pent-up excitement (agitation? irritation? ultra-obnoxious lines of questioning?) than usual among the scribes, execs and stars who make TCA go 'round.

As we did last year, On the Air will offer team coverage of this fortnight of frothing about shows to come and the strike-interrupted season that just was, and any other issues that crop up between Tuesday and July 22. Variety's Stuart Levine plans to park himself at the BevHilton for the duration, while our TV leader, Michael Schneider, reporter Daniel Frankel and myself will also be availing ourselves of the hotel's free Wi-Fi to cover the events...and drink. I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the tradition of TCA bingo (in which attendees track the over-use of buzz words by panelists) will include the phrase "writers strike" this year.

It all starts Tuesday with a heavy rotation of cable presentations, including Hallmark Channel, HD Net, BBC America and E! nets.

Wednesday's lineup includes: AMC and WE; MTV Networks; A&E Networks

Thursday: Discovery Networks; ESPN; Sundance Channel; HBO

Friday: Turner Broadcasting; Fox Reality Channel; Starz; Lifetime

Saturday-Sunday: PBS -- whose talent roster includes none other than Sir George Martin, plugging his series "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives."

Can it really be 10 years since "Sports Night" debuted? Sheesh.

Shout Factory reminds us how quickly time passes with today's announcement of the "10th Anniversary Edition" DVD box set of all 45 segs of the ABC comedy. The half-hour from Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme may not be "the show that changed what television could be," as it's touted in the press release, but it was entertaining and a breath of fresh air for its time. It was single-camera before single-camera was cool for small screen laffers.

"Sports Night's" core cast members have certainly done well for themselves in the intervening years: Peter Krause, Josh Charles, Felicity Huffman, Joshua Malina and Sabrina Lloyd. (Robert Guillaume was already doing well for himself by the time this show came along, and he was great in his role as the elder-statesman exec producer at Continental Sports Channel, the Gotham sports cabler where the show was set.) Set, due out Sept. 30, includes two discs of bonus features including deleted scenes, gag reels, behind-the-scenes featurettes, commentaries, etc.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Before the entire "Friday Night Lights" production moves to Austin in the dead of summer — yeah, it shouldn't be too hot that time of year over there — the cast, crew and execs gathered at a watering hole in Santa Monica last night to celebrate the third season pickup.

It almost wasn't meant to be, but DirecTV decided "FNL" could be a watershed moment for its entertainment division and decided to pay for part of the production tab for the show, somewhere around 40%, with NBC picking up the rest. For its commitment, the satellite provider will have the exclusive window for 13 episodes that are scheduled to begin Oct. 1.

Then in midseason 2009 (probably February or March), NBC will start airing those same episode for folks who don't have access to DirecTV. Hopefully, diehard viewers who will have to wait and see the episodes on NBC will be able to keep themselves in a media blackout from reviews, blogs, plot developments, etc.

Cast members attending the bash Thursday were Aimee Teegarden, who just bought her first car and, much more impressive by our standards, threw out the first ball at the Dodgers-Mets game Wednesday afternoon; Kyle Chandler, who just might be the nicest and most down-to-earth leading man on TV; and Minka Kelly and Connie Britton, who both mingled among the masses.

Showrunner Jason Katims said season three would focus more on on-the-field action than in season two, and that issues will be raised about all the seniors on this year's team. Katims reiterated that senior year can be great fun for those about to graduate, but the Dillon High School gang will face situations that will, once again, test their mettle against trying scenarios.

Also there to relish all things "FNL" were in-house director Jeff Reiner, exec producer David Nevins and creator Peter Berg, who directed the Billy Bob Thornton movie.

Almost every acceptance speech at Thursday's inaugural Television Academy Honors dinner started with a statistic: The rise of HIV infection among teenagers; the number of severely wounded soldiers returning from Iraq; the rate of cancer in people under 40; the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease among the elderly.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' newest kudo (not to be confused with a new Emmy category) aims to honor "television with a conscience." Thursday's gathering at the Beverly Hills Hotel was all about achieving lofty goals and using the electronic soapbox of educate, enlighten, motivate and inform -- but the event itself managed to stay low-key, not too starchy and like a well-produced television program, breezy.  (Dinner at 7, program at 8 and we were grabbing the goodie bags by 9:20. Event producer Phil Gurin deserves a kudo for that.)

TV Academy Honors was the brainchild of ATAS chairman and CEO John Shaffner (pictured in center above with recipients David E. Kelley and Dick Wolf), who explained at the start that he felt it was important for the org that recognizes television excellence via the Emmys to also "honor programs for their humanity and their conscience." Event's debut ceremony was dedicated to the memory of Ronnie Lippin, publicist and wife of longtime ATAS publicity rep Dick Lippin. Ronnie Lippin died of breast cancer last year; the TV Acad Honors idea began as an effort to pay tribute to Ronnie Lippin and her work on behalf of numerous charitable causes.

Inaugural kudos, selected by a 22-member committee co-chaired by Shaffner, went to Discovery-BBC's "Planet Earth"; HBO's "Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq"; ABC's "Boston Legal"; Lifetime telepic "Girl, Positive" and series "Side Order of Life"; CNN's "God's Warriors"; "Law & Order: SVU" seg "Harm"; Hallmark Hall of Fame/CBS' "Pictures of Hollis Woods"; and Showtime docu "Shame."

The standing ovation of the night went to the half-dozen servicemen and women in the crowd in connection with "Alive Day Memories." Exec producer Dawn Halfaker (pictured at podium), an Army First Lieutenant who lost an arm during her service in Iraq, recalled being shocked when she was approached by HBO's docu maven Sheila Nevins about getting involved with the project. "I didn't think anyone would be interested in my story," Halfaker said. "I'm just a soldier."

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)

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.

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."

From Variety.com's new blog Season Pass, tracking the highs and lows of the new season. If you haven't checked it out yet, click here.

The screener for the first proper seg of "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice" arrived in the mail on Thursday. I'll leave the reviewing to the professionals (Brian Lowry, coming soon). But for my broad-strokes reaction (remember that the Season Pass ratings for this show were based on the two-hour backdoor pilot "Grey's Anatomy" seg that ran in May), I'll say that I can definitely see why creator/exec producer Shonda Rhimes made the call to recast Audra McDonald in the key role of Naomi Bennett (originally played by Merrin Dungey), best friend to Kate Walsh's Addison Montgomery (and her excuse for heading down the Pacific coastline from Seattle to Santa Monica) and recently divorced wife of Taye Diggs' brilliant-internist character, Sam Bennett.

This seg overall is watchable, and beautifully shot, but there's still something that feels a bit amiss here. I can't quite put my finger on it but I keep coming back to the thought: Do we really need this spinoff? But I digress....

Opening moments deal of the seg deal effectively with Addison's resignation from Seattle Grace hospital  and set up the new ensemble of doctor characters that she'll work with at the Oceanside Wellness Group, a touchy-feely non-hospital facility with touchy-feely Westide L.A./BevHills/Santa Monica clients. There's a nice inside-TV reference early on in the seg to Addison feeling the need to sally forth and "throw my hat all the way up in the air." (Think classic TV opening sequence for a show with a femme lead and killer theme song.)

Of the supporting ensemble, the most intriguing to me (as an actor and as a character continues to be Amy Brenneman, who plays the mixed-up shrink Violet Turner. (Is there any other kind on TV?) So all in all, I don't love it as much as I did the first batch of "Grey's Anatomy" segs, but it stays on my Season Pass list.

I'd buy Dianne Wiest as Parker Posey's mom, easily. The Oscar-winning thesp has signed on for a recurring role on Fox's midseason comedy "The Return of Jezebel James," which means that creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has another solid actress and intriguing character to write for.

Wiest will play Talia, the mother of the two very different sisters, Sarah and Coco, played by Posey and Lauren Ambrose, around which the "Jezebel James" conceit is built. Wiest hasn't done much TV since her 200-2002 stint as D.A.  Nora Lewin on NBC's "Law & Order." She bagged an Emmy in 1997 for her guest shot on Disney Channel's "Road to Avonlea" to go with her two supporting actress Oscars, for 1986's "Hannah and Her Sisters" and 1994's "Bullets Over Broadway."

There's still no firm preem date set for "Jezebel James" but it's expected to land around the time Hurricane "Idol" hits Fox in January. For a peek at "Jezebel James," click here for your entry into Clip Madness.

Looking forward to "The Bob Newhart Show" event tonight at the Paley Center for Media, which happens to fall on Newhart's 78th birthday. (Happy birthday Bob).

Panel promises to reunite Newhart with cast mates Suzanne Pleshette, Peter Bonerz, Marcia Wallace, Bill Daily, Jack Riley and director Dick Martin for clips and Q&A and "gawsh I just loved doing that show" oratory. But it outta be a good, clean fun. Event is timed to TV Land's extensive 35th anniversary tribute to the show, which has been a staple of the vintage TV cabler for more years now than the series had in its original run on CBS (1972-78). (Pictured from left in 2005, Wallace, Pleshette, Newhart and Tom Poston, Pleshette's late husband, longtime friend of Newhart's and co-star of Newhart's other long-running CBS sitcom, "Newhart.")

On Monday, TV Land plans a marathon of eight Newhart-selected favorite segs, starting with "Last TV Show," in which Newhart's group therapy group urges him to accept an invite from the local PBS outlet to conduct a session live on air. The 10:30 p.m. seg "Some of My Best Friends" in which a young and swinger-looking Howard Hesseman joins the group, is not to be missed. Also next week, TV Land.com plans to stream those eight episodes, through Sunday, plus a bunch of other Newhart-ana, new and old.

Among the guests on the next seg of CNBC's "Conversations with Michael Eisner" is the peacock's Ben Silverman. Episode is set to air Sept. 26 and also features L.A.'s hizzoner Antonio Villaraigosa and celeb blogger Perez Hilton....

Among the events of particular interest (to me) on the Paley Center for Media (fka the Museum of Television & Radio) sked of events for the 2007-08 season include seshes at the New York outposts with the writers from CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman," set for Nov. 9; a so-long-farewell-Auf-Weidersehn-etc. to "Scrubs" (Nov. 10); and an "Evening with" sitdown with the inimitable Angela Lansbury (Nov. 14), pictured left. At the Bev Hills branch, good times outta be had at the Oct. 1 "Inside 'Robot Chicken' panel -- that's gotta be a bizarre 90-minutes; the 100th-seg salute to "Two and a Half Men" (Oct. 3); and the "Lou Grant" reunion (Nov. 16)...

Kinda sad to see that Don Bellisario didn't appear to make it to the "NCIS" 100th-episode cake-cutting photo op on Tuesday. I never did figure out the story behind Bellisario's abrupt exit from the drama he created (one of many) at the start of last season -- some reports blamed it on a clash between him and star Mark Harmon. Oh well, Bellisario will soon (one day?) be able to take comfort in his syndie residual and profit-participation checks.

Tuesday p.m. update: Jerry Lewis has issued an apology for using a foul slur on air Monday during the waning hours of his annual MDA telethon:

"I obviously made a bad choice of words. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard," he said. "The success of the (telethon) and all the good that will come from it shouldn't be lost because of one unfortunate word. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry."

Tuesday a.m. update: It's widely reported on the wires today that Jerry lost it toward the end of the telethon on Monday and called someone an "illiterate fag" on air. TMZ.com has a clip of Lewis' unfortunate comment posted on its website, and it sure sounds like he's making that reprehensible statement, though it's unclear exactly who is the target of his ire. Why Lewis would sully his annual moment in the good-works spotlight by using such a slur on air is unfathomable, but then again, people have always said that Lewis is his own worst enemy.

Say what you will -- LA LA LA NICE LLLAAADDDYYY -- about Jerry Lewis, but every year he raises a boatload of money for a worthy cause with his Labor Day weekend MDA telethon, and there's no way that this is not a good thing in the grand scheme of things.

The haul from this year's 21.5-hour show, broadcast from Las Vegas, was $63.8 million, nearly $3 million more than last year, as detailed on the telethon's website. Lewis has been hosting the telethon for half of his life. (He's 81; the telethon is 42 this year.)

The live shots of a goggle-eyed Jerry panting, sweating, crying and yukking it up with Norm Crosby and Ed McMahon, et al, interspersed with cutaways to local news anchors in formal wear, is one of those TV traditions (for those of us born before the Ford administration) that we'll miss, sorely, when it inevitably ends.

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...!

I'm not sure if "Friday Night Lights" is the kind of show that lends itself to the "High School Musical" viewing-party treatment, but it's at least good to see that NBC is engaged in promoting the soph season premiere of the show.

Peacock has pacted with Houseparty.com to mount a viewing party contest for "1,000 lucky hosts" who'll get the chance to throw their own "FNL" themed affair complete with a sneak peek at the season premiere on Sept. 14. For people willing to apply at Houseparty.com for the privilege of promoting the show's Oct. 5 debut in its new Friday 9 p.m. slot, NBC will pick 1,000 of them to receive party kits full of "FNL" themed tchotskes relating to the show about a life in a small Texas town that is crazy about its high school football (megaphones, stadium cushions, rally towels, a DVD of the first four segs from last season with a special introduction from "FNL" stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton) and of course, a bonus DVD of the pilot of "Bionic Woman." (Don't know of the "FNL" crowd will be flocking to "Bionic" but you can't blame them for trying...)

Plans for the parties will be tubthumped all across NBC.com (it's already started on the "FNL" page), local affiliate stations' websites and each party host gets a page on Houseparty.com. (Gee, whatever happened to picking up some beer, wine and a few extra-big bags of potato chips and making an effort to vacuum before guests show up?)
NBC's longtime marketing guru John Miller sez it's all about (staged) word-of-mouth promotion:
"With word of mouth advertising being so effective, we wanted to create a natural venue for that kind of experience in the comfort of people's homes," he said.

Of course, fans who don't make the cut can strike back by downloading illegal copies of "FNL" episodes off the Internet, grabbing images of the show off of Google to scan on to T-shirts and generally getting drunk and unruly at their own "FNL" themed parties on Sept. 13. (Just a little joke. Don't send the piracy police after me, please.)

Been a tough couple of weeks for "John from Cincinnati" fans. First, the show that its most ardent fans have embraced as life-altering (or at least mood-altering, eh?) gets unceremoniously dumped by its network -- though I still submit we gotta give HBO credit for sticking it out through the initial 10-episode order. Now today comes word that the titular star with the big wave on his head, Austin Nichols, has been busted for inebriated motorvatin' in Jackson, Mich. (Details here in this AP story)

Driving your silvery Mercury Mountaineer the wrong way down a one-way street is never a good thing, and there are no writers to get him off the hook in this episode...Meanwhile, the post-mortems on "JFC" are continuing to flow, and most of them have been rough on the show and its creators, David Milch and Kem Nunn, but the truly faithful have not given up. Ultra-fan Nancy Tippett is among those behind http://www.savejohnfromcincinnati.net/ website, which comes complete with a to-do list (No. 1 -- send postcards with the Monad stick figure -- fans of the show know what this means, sort of -- to HBO execs).

"If I learned anything from 'John from Cincinnati,' it's that an expression of love is never futile," Nancy explained to me in an email about her quixotic effort. What can it hurt? The Internet is big....

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."

This just in -- "Anchorwoman" is dead, yanked by the network after one airing that drew ratings lower than Lauren Jones' neckline. Just think of how this messes will all those office betting pools on which new show will be the first casuality of the fall season. It's August 23rd, fer chrissakes...

The first outing was the last for Fox's "Anchorwoman," the reality-comedy-improv-hybrid show about Lauren Jones, a real-life former WWE lady wrassler and swimsuit model who became a real-life news anchor for tiny KYTX-TV Channel 19 in Tyler, Texas. Hourlong skein opened Wednesday at 8 p.m. to an average of 2.7 million viewers and a 1.0 rating/3 share in the adults 18-49 demo. It came in No. 5 out of six, just ahead of CW's "America's Next Top Model" repeat.

On the bright side, those 2.7 million viewers represent more than 25 times the population of Tyler (94,146 projected for last year), which lies about a hundred miles southeast of Dallas.

The controversy over CBS' fall reality skein "Kid Nation" controversy continues to percolate.

The latest story skedded to run in the New York Times' Thursday edition seems an even-handed look at the situation which seems to boil down to the issue of what did the parents know and when did they know it?

As the Times reports:

The parent of at least one participant has complained to New Mexico authorities that the conditions were abusive and that several children were harmed during the production.

The 22-page agreement leaves little room for parents to argue that they did not know what their children might encounter. As is standard in such agreements, the parents and the children agreed not to hold the producers and CBS responsible if their children died or were injured, if they received inadequate medical care, or if their housing was unsafe and caused injury.

The overriding issue with "Kid Nation" is obviously the question of what would motivate any parent would be willing to let their kid take part in a show built around the premise of kids being without (much) adult supervision to fend for themselves for 40 days in a New Mexico ghost town. Fame? Money? The $20,000 prize at stake at the end of each episode isn't much by reality TV standards. According to the Times' story there was also a $5,000 stipend paid to each family.

Hard as it is, I'm trying to reserve judgment until seeing the show, which bows Sept. 19. CBS has so far only provided a glimpse in this promo clip posted here last week.

After years of yakking about it, digital multi-casting on local TV stations is really starting to blossom.

There have been a number of pioneering efforts going on for the past few years at enterprising local outlets around the country. North Carolina-based Capitol Broadcasting has been in the vanguard of putting its extra digital bandwidth to good use with dedicated sports channels. NBC affils banded together in the WeatherPlus venture. And NBC's Los Angeles O&O KNBC-TV has for more than a year been going without a net with its wonderfully uninhibited News Raw service, which offers C-SPAN-esque live feeds of news conferences and events a la the Phil Spector trial, as well as an insightful look at the newsroom's daily planning meeting. (Click here for a broadband peek).

But what caught my eye today were two separate news releases that hit the wire today about private companies partnering with major broadcast TV players to bring fresh programming services to the small but growing number of people who have digital TVs at home (whether they can pull in these burgeoning digital offshoot channels via their cable and satellite providers is a whole 'nother distribution conundrum, unfortunately.) It's always seemed to me that the surest sign of a gen-u-ine market forming is transactions between unrelated entities, and if it involves "Hawaii Five-O" reruns, well, so much the better.

In truth, what little I know about HBO's intentions regarding a "John from Cincinnati" DVD set boils down to  this: Yes, they intend to put one out, but it won't be until next year. People who know more about these things than I do say that it takes a long time to master and "author" 10 hours of material for DVD, not to mention assembling packaging materials and marketing plans, etc.

Plus, how could you put out a DVD set of David Milch's spiritual surfin' safari without packing it with all kinds of cosmic extras, from commentary tracks (even if it might sound like a post-grad English lit course) to deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes hijinx. (Can you imagine the outtakes? Tee hee.) Certainly, all of the original viral-vid material produced during the run of the series would be a natural to fill out a nice bonus disc. They could even incorporate some of the puzzles and such that are built into the faux fan websites that have distributed this material to date, as chronicled here two weeks ago in this post.

Now's about the time when things get harried in the production offices of new primetime series fortunate enough to land a slot on the fall sked. With most newcomers, there's a honeymoon period between the time they're picked up in mid-May and the time that cast and crew begin to hold their breath in anticipation of the first overnight ratings rolling in.

But there was no such luxury of an early-summer honeymoon for CW's unscripted frosh series "Online Nation," which bows Sept. 23. The frenzy of production set in as soon as producers got the official pickup word in May because of the research-intensive nature of program that exec producer David Hurwitz describes as "Laugh-in" for the YouTube generation.

"Unlike other shows where you can block things out, we're dealing with upwards of 40 user-generated clips per episode," says Hurwitz, who is steering the "Online Nation" ship along with exec producer Paul Cockerill. "This show is designed to be a showcase for all the creativity that is being displayed on the Internet. It's a variety show in the old-fashioned sense that we're offering something new every few minutes. But instead of producing segments, we're assembling this show 20-30 seconds at a time."

Hurwitz, an alumnus of "Fear Factor" and "The Man Show," says the biggest challenge in assembling each half-hour seg is the detective work involved. "Online Nation's" production offices in North Hollywood are stocked with nearly 20 staffers whose mandate is to surf the Web, as long as their eyes can focus, and hunt for interesting video snippets from people who qualify as non-pros, in Variety parlance. In many cases, the toughest part is getting past the user's Web pseudonyms in order to track them down and get a hold of a master copy of the clip.

(Pictured above, from left: "Online Nation" exec producer David Hurwitz, hosts Joy Leslie, Lincoln Neal, Rhett McLaughlin and Stevie Ryan and exec producer Paul Cockerill)

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)

All the "X-Files" you'll ever need is coming soon from Fox Home Entertainment in a big (61 discs big) box set with a bow tied around it and a $330 price tag, as DVD Spin Doctor reports. Gee, might this be advance promo-stoking for the upcoming "X-Files" movie that David Duchovny dropped a huge hint about during his TCA sesh on his Showtime comedy "Californication." We want to believe. We do know that Gillian Anderson is also on board for the pic. The first "X-Files" theatrical outing from 1998 is included in the box set as an extra...The plot thickens.

Come prepared to laugh. Variety's Army Archerd will host a tribute to multihyphenate Mel Shavelson, the industry vet who died earlier this month at the age of 90 (here's Variety's obit), on Aug. 28 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills.

Shavelson (pictured at left from an Academy of Television Arts & Sciences event in June) was known for his long association as a writer-producer for Bob Hope and for his many feature screenplays -- including "Sorrowful Jones," "The Great Lover," "I'll See You in My Dreams," "April in Paris," "The Seven Little Foys" and "Yours, Mine and Ours" and a ton of other credits -- but he earned his place in TV history by penning the pilot for Danny Thomas' "Make Room for Daddy." (That show, which ran from 1953 to 1964 on ABC and later CBS, was the gift that kept on giving, through the magic of syndication and residuals, Shavelson was said to have often observed.)

Shavelson also served three terms as prexy of the Writers Guild of America West and generously donated a boatload of coin to establish the Writers Guild Foundation's Shavelson-Webb Library. By all accounts, Mel was an all-around standup guy and very funny man. I'm sure that sentiment will be shared on Aug. 28 with a lineup of speakers set to include fellow scribes Hal Kanter, Del Reisman, Mort Lachman, Sherwood Schwartz and thesp Angie Dickinson, who starred in the Shavelson-penned 1966 drama "Cast a Giant Shadow."

CBS' upcoming reality show "Kid Nation" has generated a fair amount of pre-season buzz because of its provocative conceit of sending 40 kids to a remote spot in Bonanza, N.M. to fend for themselves, "Lord of the Flies" style. (Click here for a promo clip.) The show's sesh during last month's Television Critics Assn. press tour caused quite a hubbub among TV scribes, who questioned the propriety of the whole concept, among other things. (Variety's Brian Lowry was among the first to opine on the matter in this column from May. And Variety's Joe Adalian was the first to break the news of the show to the world a few weeks earlier just before CBS unveiled it at its upfront.)

CBS isn't backing away from any of the drama, billing the show as "40 Kids, 40 Days, No Parents." Ostensible goal is for the tykes and teens (aged 8-15) to "form a new society in a ghost town that died in the 19th century." And generate ratings to help kick off CBS' fall slate. According to Eye's press materials, there'll be no eliminations on this show, only a Town Hall meeting at the end of each seg in which kids can say bye-bye and head home if they want to.

CBS is promising that the reality moppets will create their "government" with four kid leaders selected from the group, and the whole bunch of them will tough it out frontier-style (with only camera crews to keep them company), cooking their own meals, scrubbing their own outhouses and running their own establishments including the town saloon. Soft drinks only, natch. The end game is for the kids to decide who gets the $20,000 Gold Star. I guess the lure for adult viewers will be to pick which kids are going to have a major case of homesickness, and how quickly the situation devolves into food fights and temper tantrums.

HBO has confirmed what most "John from Cincinnati" fans already suspected: It's 10 episodes and out for one of the strangest examples of smallscreen drama ever to hit U.S. airwaves, as Variety's Steven Zeitchik reports. People either loved it or hated it, as the blogosphere chatter about the show proves. As co-creator/exec producer David Milch said during a lengthy interview yesterday, "You can't waste a second on remorse."

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

I’m man enough to admit I have a guy crush on David Milch. I’ve watched everything he does, and I mean   everything. “Hill Street Blues” … watched every episode. Hell, I was a fan of “Bay City Blues.” “Big Apple,” with his good friend Ed O’Neill, was intriguing and smart, but had little chance of succeeding as a midseason replacement where only easy-to-digest series have a chance to thrive.

And as for “NYPD Blue,” I might not have been fanatical about it as much as my friend Alan Sepinwall of the Newark Star-Ledger, who blogged about every episode on his informative “Blue” website, but I was devout. Watched every minute of it. From Caruso’s enthralling first season to Sipowicz’s promotion in the series finale, I was there for every second.

As I write this, I’m staring at my “Deadwood” poster, looking into the steely eyes of Al Swearengen, with Seth Bullock’s hand on his holster and Trixie looking pissed off, in the delicious way only she can. So don’t even get me started on the greatness of “Deadwood.”

Which only adds to my utter disappointment that was “John From Cincinnati.” With all due respect to my Variety colleague and curator of this blog, I think “John” was a monumental misfire, with lessons to be learned all around.

(Pictured above: David Milch, far right, with "John from Cincinnati" stars Luke Perry, left, and Austin Nichols.)

"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.)

SPOILER ALERT FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T SEEN THE FINALE OF "JOHN FROM CINCINNATI."

(This post updated Monday evening, after thinking more about all that Mr. Milch had to say this a.m.)

"Each character has the opportunity to generate God by his or her behavior. All of us are the mother and father of God, to the extent we accept the limits of our humanity."

David Milch, the Oracle of Imperial Beach, the co-creator with Kem Nunn of HBO's strange and wondrous "John from Cincinnati," was kind enough to indulge me in a few (but only a few) "what'd that mean" questions this morning as the hangover in the cerebral cortex from last night's season finale was really settling in. In this viewer's humble opinion, "JFC" wrapped on a high note -- high as the "whoooooos" that Little Richard vocalizes in "Long Tall Sally," the ecstatic R&B hit that was used to great effect in the final scenes.

The above quote is from Milch in response to my question about the very very last scene of Kai on the water. The shot of Kai expertly turning her body into a wave would've seemed to have stood alone, but then just as she turned her face to the camera to show a sly smile came the maddeningly intriguing voice-over from the John character: "Mother of God, Cass-Kai."

What!? After a second viewing of the episode, I was almost confident in my interpretation of nearly everything else that transpired in the previous 47 minutes -- even the pigeon-English scene between the two visiting Hawaiian drug dealers. But that voiceover clip at the very-very end threw me.

I should've known better than to think that Milch would've talked me through it frame by frame, explaining every syllable. That's just not how he works. But he was generous enough to give me the above quote as a hint as to what he was getting at with that "mother of God" business.

(Pictured above: Milch in the center of a crowd scene from the "JFC" finale seg.)

What a career. Band singer, actor, talkshow mogul, gameshow creator, hotel owner and general man about town. Merv Griffin, who died Sunday at 82, was sui generis, and will be missed. (For all the details about his impressive life and career, read the Variety.com obit.)

For those of us born before the Carter administration, Merv (he was always just "Merv") was one of those transcendent personalities that was always on TV in some form or another, either on his own show or as a guest on "The Tonight Show" or in the news for his business wheelings and dealings. The guy who first made his name singing "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" made international headlines in 1986 in selling his Merv Griffin Enterprises, with its cash cows "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!," to Coca-Cola (then owner of Columbia Pictures) for a whopping $250 million in 1986.

Merv genuinely loved television and had a knack for creating it. I remember having lunch with him and his longtime producing associate Ernie Chambers at the Beverly Hilton (or "Merverly Hilton," as Army Archerd cleverly dubbed it after Merv bought the hotel) and him assuring me that the his latest syndicated quiz show "Click" was going to be a huge hit, as was its host, young Ryan Seacrest. He had a great, all-encompassing laugh that could stop traffic. Hotel guests and sundry passersby kept coming up to our table to shake his hand and tell him how much they loved his show, etc. He had a warm smile and wink for every one of them.

One of the most sincere tributes to Merv place in the pop culture firmament came from "Seinfeld" in its final season, in "The Merv Griffin Show" seg where Kramer finds the talkshow's old set in a dumpster and decides to recreate it in his living room.

Thanks to YouTube, there's no shortage of clips of Merv at his best, behind the desk of his own talk show, which ran for nearly 25 years in one form or another, from the New Frontier era of 1962 through the mid-Reagan years. Below is a great representative clip of "The Merv Griffin Show" from 1981 featuring the Carpenters (Merv naturally gravitated to musical guests, and I chose the Carpenters from all the options available because I love them, even though Karen, sadly, doesn't look so good by this point). Below that is a glimpse of Merv's humble beginnings as a band singer for Freddy Martin and his signature tune. With that kind of charm, fabulous smile and 1000-watt twinkle in his eye, it's clear that this was a guy who was destined to go far.

HBO's "John From Cincinnati" wraps its bizarro 10-episode run on Sunday, but the show's devotees will still be able to feast in the coming weeks on fresh viral Internet video connected to the show and its weird cast of characters.

Just as the series has taken absurdist storytelling to new heights for mainstream TV, so too did co-creator/executive producer David Milch set out to harness the "long tail" functionality of the Internet to extend the "JFC" saga in original, mysterious ways (the only way Milch likes to work these days, apparently.)

The man behind the curtain of all the Internet vids that have trickled out on the Web since shortly before the show bowed in June has been Marc Ostrick, a distant relative of Milch's who was brought on in the pre-production stage and encouraged to run free with his DV and Super 8 cameras. As the John Monad character keeps observing, "the Internet is big." And a filmmaker couldn't ask for a more vibrant setting than the border beach town of Imperial Beach, Calif., and its fertile surf culture.

(Ostrick is pictured above on location in Imperial Beach with two colorful grapplers who briefly but memorably made their way into an early "JFC" seg.)

Yes, she named him Idol. A preggers woman who toughed it out Monday at the Dallas open-audition for next year's "American Idol" competish wound up going into labor while waiting her turn in Texas Stadium. Antoria Gillon wasn't about to give up her hard won spot in line, so she braved the long wait (doing the 'hee-hee-hee-ho' breathing exercise the entire time, no doubt) and finally got her turn, in between contractions. (Would love to know what her audition number was. "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now"? "Be My Baby"? "Get Ready"? ).

Undoubtedly impressed by her fortitude and determination, the local judges invited her to come back for the next round of auditioning. On the heels of that good news, Gillon got herself to a local hospital, and in the wee hours of Tuesday, the world welcomed Jamil Labarron Idol McCowan, all six pounds and seven ounces of him. (Wonder what Simon would've made of her performance in the delivery room? Paula surely would've gushed.) Just think, in another 18 years, he can audition for the 2025 edition of "Idol."

You gotta give Disney credit. Mouse House is leaving no synergy stone unturned in its pre-launch tub-thumping for "High School Musical 2." Telepic's soundtrack will debut on Saturday on its Radio Disney service, a week before the really big shew bows on Disney Channel, to the orgasmic delight of teen and tween girls across this great land. Tunesmiths from the first "HSM" have delivered a bunch of new songs for Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale (pictured left), Corbin Bleu and Co. to warble in the hopes that they'll become as synonymous with the sequel as "We're All in This Together" and "Start of Something New" are to the first tuner.

The hits-in-waiting in the sequel, which preems Aug. 17 are expected to include the opening anthem, "What Time is It," a love-letter to summer vacation penned by Matthew Gerrard Robbie Nevil; and "Fabulous," a Sharpay tune by David Lawrence and Faye Greenberg that is set to what's described as a Busby Berkeley-esque production number.

Thanks to the magic of digital distribution, Radio Disney is now widely available via the Web, at RadioDisney.com, on XM and Sirius satellite radio services as well as iTunes. And it's even available in a buncha big cities the old-fashioned way on more than terrestrial radio outlets in the U.S. and South America. A decade ago, when Disney transformed some of the radio stations it acquired in its Capital Cities/ABC purchase, I was sure the concept of "Radio Disney" was going to be a huge flop, given that kids don't grow up hugging transistor radios anymore. Shows how much I know.

Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen "His Visit, Day Eight" (episode 9) of HBO's "John from Cincinnati"

OK, so I know these "John from Cincinnati" faux PSAs featuring Bruce Greenwood's moody Mitch Yost (pictured right) pitching for a San Diego County coastal cleanup initiative have been around for a while. But I just found a link to one of them while reading Steve Hawk's insightful blog on the "John" home page on the HBO.com site.

Mitch references his past experience in doing the "PSAs for the Tijuana Sloughs" very briefly amid the big Mitch-and-Cissy reconciliation brawl scene as they come to grips with the realization that Shaunie ain't in his room anymore. And like everything else with "John," these PSAs are full of clues, of course. It's hard to tell exactly where these purported PSAs fall in the Yost family time line, but by the looks of Mitch in them they can't be more than five to eight years old, max. And in them Mitch clearly states that he sees the ocean as "my church" -- which explains a lot of things, right? Maybe? Kinda? Sorta? Oh, but what about those darn stick figures!!

"You wouldn't want somebody dumping sewage in your church...would you?" Mitch intones in the PSAs. Hawk's blog links to one posted in all sincerity on the web page of the enviro-centric nonprofit group Wildcoast (See for yourself by clicking here.)

Wildcoast is based in Imperial Beach and smartly forged a partnership with "John" once David Milch, Kem Nunn and their merry band of drama-pranksters hit town to begin shooting one of the strangest TV series ever to grace the mainstream smallscreen. There are at least two more PSAs to be found on our national bulletin board, YouTube:

We "John from Cincinnati" acolytes may be a small group but we're....devoted. As of this writing (Monday, shortly after 6 p.m. PT), there are 144 hours and counting until the "John" season (series?) finale.

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."

Disneyland is prepping for an invasion of Zac Efron groupies. Disney Channel has set Aug. 14 as the premiere party for "High School Musical 2," to be held at the AMC theater in the Downtown Disney complex that abuts the happiest place on earth. (No matter how many times I go to the park I still choke up a bit at the plaque with the quote from Walt: "Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America.") It'll be followed by an invitation-only party by the pool at the complex's Grand Californian hotel. All the hoopla for "HSM2" marks the first-ever telepic premiere for Disney Channel at Disneyland, which is still recovering from the buccaneers bacchanal it hosted in May for the "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" preem. (Don't forget, details of Disney Channel's plans for "HSM2" bow on Aug. 17 appeared here two long TCA-filled weeks ago, thanks to Variety's hard-working Steven Zeitchik.) And of course, a new live "HSM2: School's Out!" stage show "springs to life," according to Disney's PR missive, at the California Adventure park starting Aug. 18.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

You know how when a jury hears something they shouldn't, and the judge asks them not to consider that piece of evidence in deliberations.

Attorneys say no matter a judge's instructions, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. Well, even though the pilot screened by critics isn't actually the pilot to be shown later in the fall, you can't put the "Cavemen" back in the, uh, cave.

So while the original pilot left many scribes underwhelmed, the public will never know what they missed.

With a new lead recast and a pilot being reshot because "it was too far into the development of the characters," according to ABC Entertainment prexy Steve McPherson, "Cavemen" still has other issues to face.

For example, a few critics felt the Cavemen were actually euphemisms for black people — the characters are superior athletes, are excluded from high-society events and looked upon as second-class citizens.

"We're aware the pilot leans in that direction, but the characters don't stand for one group," explained exec producer Josh Gordon (pictured left).

"But is that a concern?," asked exec producer Mike Schiff (pictured right). "Absolutely. Could it be an issue? Yes. But we want to show these stereotypes as incorrect."

"This is a story about acclimation," added co-exec producer Joe Lawson. "We write the stories from that point of view."

The show, which arrived at ABC very late in the development stage, is based on the popular Geico commercials. And, no, there are no plans for the gecko to appear in future episodes (and, yes, Allstate or other sponsors selling insurance are welcome to buy spots).

To get in proper Cavemen mode, the actors are in makeup for three hours every day and look nothing like the characters they play without their facial hair added. That might work to their advantage if the show doesn't last, as they won't be broad-brushed with a failed series. Though if it's a hit, conversely, they may not be able to cash in.

"I'm not an attractive man, so to be hidden behind makeup is fine with me," joked actor Nick Kroll.

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY JON WEISMAN

In whimsical ABC fall entry “Pushing Daisies,” romantic leads Ned and Chuck  are forbidden to touch. So, how will the young lovers played by Lee Pace and Anna Friel (pictured left) endure what Friel called “the longest foreplay ever?”

At TCA on Wednesday, series creator and exec producer Bryan Fuller mentioned that auds would see “Saran-Wrap kisses” and “dancing in beekeeper suits” after floating a much more provocative suggestion for an 8 p.m. show.

“Mutual masturbation,” Fuller said. “It’s very now. We’re trying to bring masturbation back.”

That would certainly help get a show launched.

But even without the afterplay, “Daisies” will be one of the most talked-about shows of the upcoming season, having won over the hearts and minds of a great many critics. Expert pie-baker Ned has a unique ability to bring dead folks back to life with a single touch – only to kill them for good if he touches them a second time. Resurrecting the love of his life puts Ned in what Fuller calls an “impossible romance.”

Had some fun this morning at the LATV Festival panel on how digital media is changing the face of TV. Not sure if we answered that question in 75 minutes, but the panelists were a good cross-section of the biz and they were talkative, which made my job easy. Chris Henchy, veteran writer-producer and head of Will Ferrell and Andy McKay's Gary Sanchez Prods., was one of the panelists, yakking about FunnyorDie.com, the comedy Web site that launched stealthily in April with some very funny Ferrell shorts and an open invitation for undiscovered comic geniuses to submit their own shorts. In "American Idol" fashion, users are invited to vote on their fave/least fave shorts, some of which become "Immortal" and some of which are banished to "the Crypt," never to be seen again.

It's kinda mind-boggling but the Ferrell short "The Landlord" (featuring a pic-stealing performance from McKay's toddler-daughter Pearl) has been viewed more than 40 million times since FunnyorDie.com bowed in mid-April. Henchy (pictured above at right with Ferrell), who's also busy juggling feature projects and an HBO pilot, said they're in the midst of trying to partner with a local comedy establishment to bring some of the undiscovered talents on FunnyorDie out of their basements and bathrooms to a showcase event that would be streamed live, natch, on FunnyorDie. And he confirmed that most of the Gary Sanchez-produced stuff on the site is filmed in under an hour, and slapped up on to the site while the DV cam is still warm. Gotta love the digital age.

Another panelist, "Heroes" co-exec producer Jesse Alexander, promised that the show had lots of fun in store for fans this weekend and Comic-Con and when season two of the NBC hit bows in September.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Putting the exec session brouhaha aside, there were some actual news about "Lost" to report.

As noted previously, Harold Perrineau will return as Michael. We haven't seen him on the island since the end of season two, when he betrayed Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley. They were captured by the Others while Michael and his son Walt were allowed to leave the island.

And then last season concluded in grand fashion, with a flash-forward sequence where we see Jack and Kate in the present in a major American city. Jack is distraught over the death of someone he has read about in an obituary.

So where do we go from here? McPherson said exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse haven't let on what happens next when the series premieres in February for 16 consecutive episodes.

"They haven't released any news about whether we go flash-forward or flashback," McPherson said.

"Lost" has been one of the most buzzworthy series since it launched three years with an expensive pilot -- simulated plane crashes don't come cheap -- that proved worth every penny. And now Lindelof and Cuse have the luxury of knowing when the series will wrap and can write 48 storylines storylines that build up to the finale in 2008.

"Since the show began, Damon and I have talked about how does it end," McPherson said "We've asked is this a traditional series (and should it end) in a traditional way?"

Unlike many shows that start strong and struggle to the finish, the bet here is that there will be plenty of viewers still around when Lindelof and his writing staff wrap up the plight of the Others, castaways and the mysterious Jacob. McPherson is smart to realize Lindelof needed to stay on board and continue the tone he has set forth.

It was imperative to "keep Damon attached until the end of the series," McPherson said.

That being said, the show took some hits in midseason from critics and fans who felt the the plot wasn't moving forward fast enough and seemed to be going through the motions. And ratings fell from year's past as well, but McPherson said the numbers were misleading.

He stated that while the show gets a 4.2 rating in Los Angeles, if you include Live Plus Seven ratings (those who watch on DVRs within seven days of the original airing), the number jumps much higher to 7.2.

Yet, the legacy of "Lost" will never be about viewer totals or demos, but "Can you believe last night's episode"-type discussion often heard among devotees at the office on Thursday morning. In the Variety newsroom, the show probably accounts for about 50-plus "Lost" geek-out what does it all mean emails, and always a few from people begging for no spoilers because they haven't picked it up on TiVo yet or via streaming on ABC.com.

-- Stuart Levine

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

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

There's enough reason to be taken with Hugh's Laurie's performance on "House" by just watching him on Tuesday night. Listening to him at the TCA panel on Monday makes Laurie's mystique even more impressive.

Born and raised in the U.K., Laurie is as much a Brit as Winston Churchill or Benny Hill. And hearing his strong Blighty accent in person makes one really admire the way he's able to turn that off when the cameras go on.

"I don't know if there's a secret to it or if other people use dialect coaches," he sheepishly explains, remaining incredibly humble.

Laurie's role as the good doctor back in 2004 was the start of a trend of English actors coming to primetime. This fall there's Damian Lewis on NBC's "Life," Kevin McKidd -- most recently of "Rome" fame -- leading the charge in "Journeyman," Michelle Ryan as the title character in "The Bionic Woman" and Lena Headey in Fox's "Sarah Connor Chronicles."

"I can only apologize," Laurie said of the British invasion. "I can't explain it."

But will House use that Americanized acerbic tongue to lash out at a new team of docs this season? With his team -- Cameron, Foreman and Chase -- tired of taking House's abuse and saying goodbye, how does the show's tone shift as it enters season four?

In the season opener, 40 applicants are in line for the the three vacated positions. Unable to remember any of their names, House has each of them wearing a number. So, he's basically just as warm and personable as ever.

"We'll be playing a 'House' version of 'Survivor,'" says executive producer Katie Jacobs. "I'm hoping viewers will be satisfied. David (Shore, co-executive producer) and I talked a long time about not want to cheat the audience."

Among the new actors who are vying for positions at the prestigious Princeton hospital and who might turn into regulars are Kal Penn ("Harold & Kumar," "The Namesake") and Peter Jacobson (most recently he played Debra Messing's husband in "The Starter Wife), who is a plastic surgeon and is able to look at patients much differently than House.

As for the regulars, Foreman has left and is in charge of his own staff of researchers, while Cameron and Chase have also said goodbye, moving to Arizona.  But, this being broadcast television where the boat can rock only so much, each will return eventually, though it's still unclear -- filming is currently two episodes in -- when they will come back and for what reasons.

"We know we'll be back, but we don't know in what capacity," said Jesse Spencer, who plays Dr. Chase. "I don't things will ever be the same (for the characters). It kind of feels like a new show."

Not going anywhere is Dr. Wilson, played by Robert Sean Leonard. And despite the fact that Wilson might receive more abuse from House than anyone else, where other people feel House is insufferable, downright mean and often antagonistic, Leonard considers him a great guy.

"I don't see what's so wrong with House," Leonard confided. "I think he's extremely likeable. As a friend, I would seek out someone just like him."

Laurie can see Leonard's point.

"Though House can be awkward and abusive, people are entertained by him. He's a character worth putting up with. I don't claim to know him well. He's as enigmatic to me as he is to the audience."

-- Stuart Levine