Our friends at the Paley Center are offering free tickets to Season Pass readers. Up for grabs are five sets of ducats to the "Criminal Minds" screening/Q&A and five sets for the Cat Cora evening, which includes a tasting of three of her recipes and a book signing. Simply leave a comment and let us know which event you're interested in and I will contact you by email.

Events take place at the Paley Center for Media, unless otherwise noted.

Inside Criminal Minds
November 17; 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Guests: Ed Bernero (executive producer); Mark Gordan (executive producer); Deb Spera (executive producer); castmembers Joe Mantegna, Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, AJ Cook and Kirsten Vangsness

An Evening with Iron Chef Cat Cora of the Food Network
November 19; 7 to 8:30 p.m. followed by a tasting reception and book signing
Guest: Cat Cora (pictured left)

In addition, there are a few tickets left for purchase for the following events. Contact the Paley Center directly to buy your tickets — I do not have any free tickets to offer for these two events.

Universal Pictures’ Frost/Nixon Preview Screening & Discussion
November 21; 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Guests: Ron Howard; Brian Grazer; Peter Morgan; Michael Sheen
At the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood 

Monk: 100 Episodes & Counting
December 2; 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Guest: Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, Jason Gray-Stanford, and additional members of the cast and creative team.
Tickets available in the overflow theater only.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

Our friends at the Paley Center for Media and TV Guide will co-host fall preview parties at the Paley’s BevHills location. The weeklong series of free public screenings offer a sneak peek at the new and returning shows of the fall season prior to their broadcast premieres.

The Fall Preview Parties begin at 6 p.m. with Q&A sessions beginning at 7 p.m. and screenings to follow. Screenings and parties are free with seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Hey, this may be the only way anyone’s going to get to screen the NBC shows before their debut dates!

Here’s the sked:

Friday, Sept. 5 Fox ("Fringe"; "Do Not Disturb")

Saturday, Sept. 6 CW ("Privileged" (pictured, right); "90210")

Monday, Sept. 8 NBC ("My Own Worst Enemy"; "Kath & Kim"; "Crusoe"; "Knight Rider')

Tuesday, Sept. 9 CBS ("Gary Unmarried"; "The Ex List"; "Worst Week"; "The Mentalist")

Wednesday, Sept. 10 ABC ("Pushing Daisies"; "Private Practice"; "Eli Stone"; plus a preview of "Life on Mars")

*Please note the schedule is subject to change*

The Paley Center for Media is offering Season Pass readers five sets of tickets to it’s upcoming “Starter Wife” event. A screening of the show, followed by a Q&A with the show’s star Debra Messing.

If you’d like to attend, hit the comment button and tell us why. We will contact the winners.

"The Starter Wife"

Thursday, May 1, 2008; 7:00 pm

Debra Messing will discuss the creation of her character Molly Kagan in the USA’s miniseries “The Starter Wife,” which is beginning its second season later this year. Messing stars as the recently spurned wife of a Hollywood bigwig, who must, with the support of her colorful and eclectic mix of friends and family, reinvent herself in her newly single life.

— Kathy Lyford

Note: "Greek" tickets also still available. See previous post...

The Paley Center for Media is offering Season Pass readers five sets of tickets to its upcoming "Greek" event.

A screening will be followed by a Q&A with the cast and creatives. We can't promise that they'll have a keg.

If you’d like to attend, hit the comment button and tell us why. We will contact the winners.

“Greek”
Monday, April 28, 2008; 7:00 pm
ABC Family’s “Greek” explores the world of college fraternities and sororities at the fictitious, exclusive Cyprus-Rhodes University. The show is from creator Patrick Sean Smith.
Guests expected include stars Spencer Grammer, Jacob Zachar, Scott Michael Foster, Jake McDorman, Clark Duke, Dilshad Vadsaria, Paul James, Amber Stevens and Tiffany DuPont. Additional panelists to be announced.

— Kathy Lyford

Our friends at the Paley Center for Media are giving away five pairs of tickets to Season Pass readers for the world premiere of CBS’ Western miniseries “Comanche Moon.”

Based on the book by Larry McMurtry, the six-hour miniseries will air Jan. 13, 15 and 16. The prequel to “Lonesome Dove” follows Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae (Steve Zahn) and Woodrow F. Call (Karl Urban) in pursuit of three outlaws.

A screening on Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. of part one of the miniseries will be followed by a panel discussion with the film’s cast and creative team including screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana and stars Val Kilmer, Steve Zahn, Adam Beach, Keith Robinson, Linda Cardellini and Ryan Merriman. Additional panelists to be announced.

The first five to click on the comment link and answer the following question correctly, will win tickets:
What 2005 film did Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana share screenwriting credit on?

(Pictured above Karl Urban, Val Kilmer, Rachel Griffiths and Steve Zahn)

— Kathy Lyford

Come for the scenery, stay for the show. The Paley Center for Media has graciously offered five Season Pass readers the chance to attend its “Las Vegas” event on Monday, Nov. 5.

At 7 p.m.  the Center will screen an unaired upcoming episode of the fifth-year series about the elite surveillance team at one of Sin City’s largest casinos. Then you’ll join TV’s sexiest cast and members of the creative team as they discuss putting together this high-rolling series.

To receive a pair of tickets to the event, be one of the first five to click on the comments link and tell us why you love the show and if you’d like to join the fun. I’m guessing a lot of those responses will be something like “Josh Duhamel!”

Scheduled to attend are stars Josh Duhamel (pictured left), Vanessa Marcil and James Lesure along with exec producers Gary Scott Thompson (who created the show), Kim Newton and Matt Pyken. Additional guests will be announced later. As soon as we know, you’ll know.

— Kathy Lyford

Season Pass is teaming up with one of our favorite places, the Paley Center for Media to give away tickets for the Center’s “Cane” event on Monday, Oct. 29.

You’ll attend a screening of an upcoming episode of “Cane,” about the power struggles in a Cuban-American dynasty working in the rum and sugar business. Following the episode, KCBS news anchor Laura Diaz will moderate a Q&A with the show’s stars and creative team.

The first five people to respond to this post will receive a pair of tickets to what should be a fun and informative night for any fan of the show. Just hit the comment link and tell us what you love about “Cane.” We will contact the first five commenters by email to tell you how to get your tickets. No need to leave your email in the comment; we know where to find you!

Scheduled to appear are stars Jimmy Smits, Hector Elizondo, Rita Moreno, Nestor Carbonell, Paola Turbay, Eddie Matos, Michael Trevino and Lina Esco and exec producers Jonathan Prince and Cynthia Cidre.

Event begins at 7 p.m. at the Paley Center at 465 N. Beverly Drive, in Beverly Hills. For information, call the Paley at 310.786.1091 or visit its website.

Keep checking back with Season Pass for future Paley Center giveaways.

— Kathy Lyford

UPDATE: We have our five winners. But please continue to add comments and you will be placed on a waiting list in case a spot opens up. Thank you for reading Season Pass. We will be offering tickets to future Paley events.

Readers in Gotham and L.A. don't have to take our word(s) for it. The Paley Center for Media (aka Museum of Television & Radio) is offering a sneak peak at fall's new shows through its pilot screenings series at its Manhattan and BevHills branches.

The TV party starts tonight at 6:30 p.m. in BevHills with a slate of Fox shows: "K-Ville," "Back to You," "Nashville" and "Kitchen Nightmares."

CW pilots unspool on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. with "Reaper," "Gossip Girl," "Aliens in America" and "Life is Wild." NBC takes over at 6:30 p.m. with "Chuck," "Life," "Bionic Woman" and "Journeyman."

On Monday evening it's ABC's turn: "Pushing Daisies," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Samantha Who?" and "Big Shots."

CBS rounds out the slate on Tuesday evening with "The Big Bang Theory," "Moonlight," "Cane" and "Viva Laughlin."

Screenings have already been underway for a few days at the Gotham facility, but as of this posting TV junkies there can still catch the same slate of CBS pilots on Monday and the CW sked on Tuesday.

For further details click here for the Paley Center website. For clips of some of the above, scroll down to the Variety Video link on this home page, and check out On the Air blog's Clip Madness. 

(Pictured above: CBS' "The Big Bang Theory")

Welcome to Season Pass, Variety.com’s blog for dishing about fall’s new scripted TV shows.
We wanted to give readers a wide range of opinions on the fall fare so eight of us spent a good chunk of our summer watching all of it. We like to complain, but it was really kind of fun.

Each of us has rated all the shows using four categories:

Love it, setting a season pass now

Worth another try

OK, but not for me

Won't watch again

"Reaper" (below) was one show that took us all by surprise. I did not expect to like it and it ended up being one of my favorites

The shows that rated the highest (one or two thumbs up) among our group of TV junkies were: ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” (seven season passes), NBC’s “Chuck” (four season passes), the CW’s “Reaper” (six season passes), CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” (three season passes), the CW’s “Gossip Girl,” (one season pass), Fox’s “Back To You” (one season pass) and CBS’ midseason entry “Swingtown” (one season pass).

See the chart for more details.

Our opinions are meant as a guide only. We encourage you to give all the shows a try and see for yourself what shows speak to you.

We’ll be blogging after each episode to track the shows’ progress. And we’ll weigh in on topics related to the season.

Have fun and happy channel surfing!