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."

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.

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."

The build-up to Monday's exec sesh with newly minted NBC toppers Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff (pictured left) was more dramatic than the actual 50-minutes of Q-ing and A-ing. The Hilton's International ballroom was packed, there was an audible buzz in the room and in the lobby outside. A number of top industry agents and execs were on hand, just because....It was rock-star anticipation time. (For a good time read Brian Lowry's review of "The Ben Silverman/Marc Graboff Show.") And get the lowdown on all the news out of the sesh from Variety's TCA avatars Joe Adalian and Michael Schneider.

By any measure, Ben aced his first TCA test, with a lot of help from Marc on those nagging "why'd you sack Kevin Reilly?" questions.

Graboff took those blows for the team, provoking laughter when he asserted in a very lawyerly fashion that "Kevin was not fired," which in point of fact is true. He just got demoted when his boss decided to recruit a new top-top guy.....But that's so late May. (Besides, it's not like Reilly's on the unemployment line. He'll get his TCA turn on Sunday as Fox's new head programmer.)

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.")

Here we go again. The summer Television Critics Assn. tour is upon is. Ken Burns is the big draw at the Beverly Hilton today, talking up his 14-hour mini "The War," which looks at World War II from the homefront perspective of four American hamlets: Waterbury, Conn.; Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento, Calif.; and the tiny farming community of Luverne, Minn. "The War," produced and directed by Burns and Lynn Novick, has been six years in the making. It's also been the project that put Burns in the unfamiliar position of fielding some pretty harsh criticism for his take on history, from Hispanic and Native American advocacy groups who claimed his mini overlooked their contributions to the war effort. (According to the AP, Burns addressed this issue during his TCA sesh, saying he's added nearly a half-hour of material featuring Hispanic and Native American stories to the doc.) I just got my screener copy on Monday and am eager to set aside some time to watch it. If nothing else, Burns is meticulous about his research and has surely turned up some amazing images to tell this tale, like the one at left from somewhere in the South Pacific in 1944. PBS is bolding going to "War" during the thick of fall premiere week, rolling out the series in seven parts across two weeks beginning Sept. 23.

After PBS wraps up today, the wired-world takes over on Thursday for four days of cable-iscious fun. The presentation sked to the best of my knowledge is:

THURSDAY: Lifetime; FX, National Geographic Channel; Hallmark Channel; HBO, which outta be very intriguing given that it's the first major public event for the post-Albrecht regime.

FRIDAY: MTV Networks; BBC America; Discovery Networks; E! and G4

SATURDAY: Disney-ABC Cable; ESPN; GSN; Sundance Channel; Showtime

SUNDAY: Turner nets; BET; Rainbow Networks; History Channel; NBC Universal Cable

As of MONDAY, the broadcasters take over starting with two days of NBC, which also outta be interesting with the new Ben Silverman-Marc Graboff regime taking the stage for the first time.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY is all about CBS, which as usual is coming off another season of stability, making it hard for the scribe tribe to find much to grill entertainment prexy Nina Tassler about, other her love for musical theater and how it led to the pickup of "Viva Laughlin."

FRIDAY belongs to the CW. Co-toppers Dawn Ostroff and John Maatta probably have a bet going as to how quickly the "so why didn't you grow by leaps and bounds in your first year?" question is lobbed.

SATURDAY is a day of rest and awards, as the TCA's annual honors will be handed out to worthy programs ("Friday Night Lights," anyone?) and individuals, no doubt. (Click here for noms.)

SUNDAY-MONDAY ought to be good too as Fox, not to be outdone with NBC, brings out its new regime of ex-NBC-er Kevin Reilly and newly promoted Peter Liguori. Those two probably have a bet going as to who gets the first "how long can 'American Idol' keep it up?" question.

And finally, after a day of rest on Tuesday (July 24), the network that comes first alphabetically heads up the final two days of the tour, WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY (July 25-26), a cruel slot that no network with a show as good as "Lost" and a pilot as charming as "Pushing Daisies" should have to endure. But if anyone's got the spine to fend off back whatever a group of cranky critics have to throw at him, it's ABC Entertainment prexy Stephen McPherson.

So let 'er rip! Look for a steady stream of TCA dispatches here from yours truly plus my talented TV colleagues at Variety, including two, Mssrs. Zeitchik and Learmonth, who have winged in from Gotham just for the occasion.

And please, oh gods of auto-congestion, let the self-park garage at the Hilton not be too clogged...There's nothing like inching your way down those steep ramps when all you really wanna do is get back to the real world.

It was those first strains of "Little Boxes" that made me sit up and take notice the first time I popped in the screener disc for "Weeds" a few years back. On that first viewing, however, I would've gone down for the count on final "Jeopardy" betting that it was a recording by Odetta sted Malvina Reynolds.
"Weeds" had fun with its distinctive theme last season by lining up a roster of intriguing artists to put their spin on it, and in the upcoming third season they're doing the same, cuing a different artist for each of the 15 segs that unspool as of Aug. 13. The roster includes Joan Baez, Donovan, the Individuals, Angelique Kidjo, Latin rockers Kinky, Man Man, Billy Bob Thornton, the Shins and Persephone’s Bees. Randy Newman (pictured above), an artist seasoned enough to remember the folk scene that produced Reynold's original 1962 recording, kicks it off with the Aug. 13 premiere. It'll be fun to catch up with Nancy and the Agrestic gang next month.

Speaking of "Grey's Anatomy," read Brian Lowry's take on Isaiah "shocked and stunned" Washington's moment before Larry King's mike this evening. It's funny, and a good rant about our celeb-saturated airwaves. And probably the only time you'll see Washington and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby mentioned in the same column.

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.

Wow, this is a really good, well-rounded view of Rupert Murdoch -- the man, the mogul, the dealmaking machine, by Time magazine's Eric Pooley. It feels like an objective take on a guy who is unfairly demonized at times, overly lionized at others. It's clearly Rupe's PR antidote to the New York Times series that rean earlier this week, and it's surely a much more interesting read.

"We're very proud of what we do at all our papers," (Murdoch) says on another day, in another mood. "And we just feel insulted by the coverage. We've got more than 50,000 people [in News Corp.]." We're sitting in his New York City office on a June afternoon. "We make mistakes here and there. But there's nothing wrong with the Post — most people would prefer to read it before they go to the Times. There's such a thing as a popular newspaper and an unpopular élite newspaper. They play different roles. We have both kinds. Just like we have the Fox network with American Idol and 24, and we also have the National Geographic Channel. It's hard for outsiders to understand that."

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.)

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."

I'm in entirely too snarky of a mood right now to go anywhere near penning a jokey item about the announcement from NBC today that it has picked up the rights to a Colombian telenovela "Without Breasts There is No Paradise." Keeping tongue-in-cheekiness in check, the deal is interesting for what it says about the global-mindedness of the biz these days. NBC Universal is snapping up rights to a property that was a smash hit in Colombia, and will develop it in English for the Peacock and in Spanish (with a separate cast and production team) for Telemundo. And NBC's newly minted programming chief Ben Silverman deserves all the credit in the world for being smart enough to look beyond Hollywood's ethnocentric snobbery to ferret out creative ideas and concepts that originate beyond U.S. borders, as he did with another Colombian novela hit, which became ABC's fair-haired "Ugly Betty." Still, I had to chuckle at some of the Ben-speak in the press release, as reported by Variety's Joe Adalian.

Here's hoping Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff didn't get their new business cards and letter head yet.
NBC Universal Television Studio is no more, per the news released this a.m. by the Peacock. The studio arm is being renamed Universal Media Studios, doing away with the mouthful of a moniker (and its unfortunate acronym, NUTS) that emerged after the formal merger of NBC and U in May 2004. (UMS may sound like a bank or something but at least it's harder to make fun of.) So now Silverman and Graboff are co-chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. The NBC-free name may also be more conducive to the studio producing for non-NBC U outlets, though with NBC, USA, Sci Fi, Bravo and a growing number of digital platforms to feed it would seem that studio prexy Katherine Pope and her team have plenty to do in-house. Or as Ben says with characteristic modesty:  "NBC Universal is the premier content company on the planet and this name change reflects our TV studio's natural evolution as digital distribution expands and more platforms need premier ideas and programming."

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.

Good for "Jericho" fans. It's great to see fan-dom pull some "Cagney and Lacey" muscle and make a network do an about-face. CBS' decision to pickup seven more episodes also comes as a sweet victory to many at the show's studio home, CBS Paramount Network TV, where there was a ton of love for the show and mega-disappointment when it was axed. Here's CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler's open letter to "Jericho" fans, posted today on CBS' press Web site.

It's almost official. Katherine Pope is expected to say with NBC but get her wish to move back over to the studio side, this time as president of NBC Universal TV Studio, as Variety's Joe Adalian reports.

Not a bad turnaround for someone who reportedly wasn't sure what her next move was going to be this time last week. But it's not unexpected. She's known to be well-regarded by NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker. Her rise at NBC during the past few years has been impressive, from joining the network as an entry-level development exec during the waning months of Garth Ancier's tenure as NBC Entertainment chief, to serving as No. 2 in development to freshly ousted NBC Entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly for the past 18 months. For about 18 months before that, Pope served on the studio side in a hands-on development role that she clearly preferred. Shows that have been touched by the hand of Pope during the past few years include, of course, this year's breakout "Heroes," "Friday Night Lights," "Medium," "Boomtown," "Crossing Jordan," Sci Fi's "Battlestar Galactica" and USA Network's "Psych."

Like the rest of the Peacock's senior management, Pope's got her work cut out for her in leading the studio operation under newly anointed co-chairmen Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff. But by all accounts Pope is whip-smart, and she had to have moxie to get where she is already in her career. In the new world order at NBC U, Pope's talents and skills will be even more valuable to her new bosses who don't have nearly as deep of a background in the nitty gritty of development. And good development is the one thing, some would say only thing other than losta luck, that NBC needs most of all in order to pull out of its fourth-place trench.

If it's the post-season, it must be executive shuffle time in TV land. This year the turnstiles are moving faster than ever with a host of gigs open and/or up in the air at major webs.
For starters, there's NBC where the new regime of Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff might make major changes -- or they might not. The situation with NBC Entertainment exec veep Katherine Pope (pictured), who served as No. 2 to the now-departed entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly, is said to be fluid, though the new regime has made it clear they'd like her to stay.

No doubt about it, Marc Graboff is a big winner in the shuffle unveiled today at NBC. Sure, he already had a big job and plenty of responsibility, and perhaps most importantly he's long had the consiglieri-level trust of NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker, but still, there's something about the co-chairman title that he now shares with Ben Silverman that has a certain ring to it. It solidifies his role at the Peacock as being much more than a numbers and bottom-line guy, even though the NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal TV Studio arms already had reported into him. Indeed, NBC U brass are saying they're aiming for a Bob Daly/Terry Semel-esque partnership, as Variety's Joe Adalian reports in today's now-it's-really-official version of the story.

Graboff, previously NBC West Coast president, is a lawyer by training. He's known as a tough negotiator, which sometimes grates on creative types (and their agents), but he's also respected as a straight shooter. He joined NBC in November 2000 as executive veep, NBC West Coast, from CBS, where he was a biz affairs maven. Graboff expanded his domain following the NBC-Universal merger in 2004, and was most recently upped to prexy, NBC West Coast in January 2006.

It appears that the scepter at NBC is about to be handed to Ben Silverman, the agent-cum-producer who's made a name for himself in recent years as the packaging force behind NBC's "The Office" and "The Biggest Loser," ABC's "Ugly Betty," Showtime's "The Tudors," among others.
The whirlwind of activity at the Peacock and its studio arm, NBC Universal TV Studio, during the past few weeks has been surprising to outsiders and Burbank insiders alike, as Variety's Joe Adalian details in his latest report. (No rest for the NBC U beat reporter this Memorial Day weekend.) Official word of Ben's arrival and the departure of NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly is expected as early as tomorrow.

The changing of the guard seems designed to shake up the Alameda Avenue status quo at a time when "reinvention" is a watchword for the TV biz. Ben has proven himself adept at spotting programming trends and cutting innovative deals for his shows. His management-leadership skills will undoubtedly be tested in his new role. He's had some traditional TV executive experience, including a stint as a creative executive at New World/Marvel during the Ron Perelman era, but not on the scale he's about to take on. Ben was known for his independence during his successful run as a TV agent at William Morris, where he championed the Brit/Euro TV format import/export biz, scoring with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Big Brother" and "The Weakest Link," among other hits. Since leaving the agency more than five years ago to found Reveille, Ben seemed to be reveling in the freedom of being his own boss at the helm of a nimble operation capable of out-maneuvering TV's big guns to make better, smarter, faster deals. Maybe it's the prospect of having more ammo at his disposal that's luring him to the other side at this point.

One call Ben might want to make when he gets settled is to the last guy named Silverman to hold a lofty post at NBC. Fred Silverman didn't have a terribly successful tenure as NBC president and CEO from 1978-1981 (Two words: "Hello, Larry"), but there are parallels to the Silvermans then and now. NBC was deep in third place in a three-network world at the time Fred came aboard, and Fred was a hot-shot coming off of a streak at CBS and ABC where he was known for scoring by bucking industry convention. Besides, he's an entertaining lunch date, and he's always got something interesting to say about the state of the network biz.

No matter what transpires at NBC, there is sure to be an outpouring of support and appreciation for the departing Reilly, who's respected far and wide as one of the good guys of the biz.

(Pictured above: Ben Silverman, left, and "Ugly Betty" co-star Eric Mabius.)

Once again, NBC Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly found himself the subject of rumor and conjecture on Friday as the latest round of "Reilly's out" rumors hit fever pitch. (Why does it always come on the Friday before a long holiday weekend?!) Variety's Joe Adalian spent all day Friday on the phone trying to separate fact from fiction, and he gives us the objective details on where things stand as of this weekend in this dispatch.

No matter what happens next week, I'll never understand why such a classy, talented, decent sort as Reilly has had to deal with such clouds of uncertainty hanging over him almost from the day he walked in to NBC in the fall of 2003. By any measure, he's done a good job bringing some watch-able programs to the Peacock. Reilly's done well during the past two years in replenishing the lineup with "My Name is Earl," "The Office," "Heroes," "Friday Night Lights" and "Deal or No Deal." He's one of the few programmers willing to go out on a limb for shows he believes in. The Peacock is better off now from Reilly going to bat for "The Office" after it's first mini season, when few others (me included) could see the promise in the show that would explode after just a few more episodes. (Reilly's pictured above with "Office" mates John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer.) It sure feels like "Friday Night Lights" is in the same idling-on-the-tarmac moment.

Some years back, when NBC was in similar straits competitively that it faces now, there was a debate among Brandon Tartikoff and other execs about whether to cancel the low-low-low rated hospital drama "St. Elsewhere," which was a favorite among the execs despite its meager audience. The Peacock's leader at the time, the great Grant Tinker, is famously said to have piped up with the obvious question, "Why are we talking about canceling a show that we all are so proud of?" NBC took a page from Tinker's play book earlier this month by going on faith and giving "Friday Night Lights" a sophomore season renewal. Let's hope the collective will is there at NBC Universal to do the same for the exec who's been fighting the good fight for the Peacock for nearly four years.

Folks at CW have been saying that "The Reaper" (pictured) is a hell of a pilot, and darn it if that sentiment wasn't seconded by a lot of people who attended the web's upfront presentation today in Gotham. New drama "Life is Wild" and comedy "Aliens in America" got big reactions too, per the download on the event from Variety's Michael Schneider. Schneider has earned a round of applause for checking in to all five of this week's upfront presentations (plus a few parties) and never once losing his sense of humor or his lightning-fast ability to whip out news bulletins on his Blackberry for the Variety.com Web site. (Thanks Mike, we love you for it. Now come home!)

ABC warmed the hearts of the creative community this morning with its slew of new scripted series pickups, four comedies and seven dramas, five of which hail from suppliers outside of the Mouse House's tent. The big winner of the upfront sweepstakes is Warner Bros. Television's "Big Shots" (pictured), which lands the plum post-"Grey's Anatomy" launch pad Thursdays at 10 p.m. Variety's hard-working Michael Schneider gives us the skinny on all of ABC's news in this early pre-presentation dispatch.

Call them the Young and the Restless. Greg Berlanti, (pictured), of "Dawson's Creek" and "Everwood" fame, and Josh "The O.C." Schwartz appear poised to join the club of showrunners who sacrifice their lives for their art by having multiple shows on the schedule, based on the pickup buzz swirling around this pre-upfront weekend. (Who do we have to blame for scheduling upfronts to coincide with Mother's Day!?)