Buffy, Tara, Spike, and Xander, together again! A large part of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer took the stage Thursday night at the PaleyFest in Los Angeles, revealing some secrets from their eight years of working on the series and taking questions from appreciative fans who often credited Buffy with shaping their whole lives.

And when I say appreciative, there really should be a capital A. This crowd of more than 800 cheered at everything — from the opening clip of one of Sarah Michelle Gellar's 1994 scenes on All My Children to the introduction of the panel's moderator. (In terms of cast members, James Marsters seemed to get the most applause, but show creator Joss Whedon was the only person to get a standing ovation.)

In attendance: Whedon, writer/producers Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt, and cast members Gellar, Marsters, Amber Benson (Tara), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Seth Green (Oz), and Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn). Both Eliza Dushku and Alyson Hannigan were listed in the program, but neither showed — bummer. But the others kept the conversation lively — especially Green, who had a one-liner for everything, for better or worse.

The night really got going with a screening of the musical episode "Once More with Feeling" (not a sing-along, sadly). The episode proved to be a perfect starting point for talking about what's made Buffy so enduring, so for the scoop (update: here's part two of my report), just read more

• Fox is new with Til Death and The Return of Jezebel James and has a repeat of House
• NBC is new with Amnesia and Dateline
• CBS is new with first-round games in the NCAA basketball tournament
• ABC has a repeat of Grey's Anatomy and is new with 20/20
• The CW is new with Friday Night SmackDown
• MTV has Real World/Road Rules Challenge
• VH1 has Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp, Best Week Ever, and Free Radio
• TLC is new with What Not to Wear
• E! is new with The Soup
• HBO has In Treatment
• Late-night highlights include Sean "Diddy" Combs on a repeat of Late Show with David Letterman on CBS, Adam Carolla, Geraldo Rivera, and the Black Crowes on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC, and Ryan Phillippe on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on NBC

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And now, for some news that should warm the heart of any Mr. Show fan in the universe: David Cross and Bob Odenkirk are teaming up again, this time for an HBO comedy that's going to begin shooting this spring. They confirmed on their vaguely NSFW Web site that the pilot has officially been picked up and they'll soon be working together to "make funny TV happen." Oh, yes.

Cross has said the show, tentatively titled David's Situation, is a sitcom that pokes fun at sitcoms, with him starring as a fed-up, washed-up actor who's left Hollywood for the glamorous world of in-flight magazines. He's living in a gated community somewhere with two crazy roommates, one of whom is a cranky conservative and the other of whom is a left-leaning liberal. Of course, knowing Cross, this could all be a lie, and he's actually starring in a show about a farm in outer space. Who really knows?

My favorite thing Cross has mentioned is their plain for the commercial breaks. HBO, of course, doesn't have advertising, so he and Odenkirk plan to write their own faux commercials to play during the show where normal networks would have ad breaks. Advertising parodies were always one of my favorite parts of Mr. Show, so I'm glad they'll be churning out more twisted fake propaganda soon. To check out one of my favorites from Mr. Show, the segment pitching Coupon: The Movie, just read more

I'm so excited to get down to the Paley Festival tonight, where the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will be reuniting! While the Buffy panel was one of the hottest tickets in town, there's been lots of other great TV action all week, including panels with the stars of Chuck and Friday Night Lights.

The coolest revelation from the Chuck panel was that Chuck was originally supposed to have a girlfriend when the season started; then his relationship with Sarah would have been more like a love triangle right from the get-go. But the writers ultimately realized that having Chuck juggle two girls and be a spy might be a bit much, so Kayla was cut. You can watch a video clip of Josh Schwartz talking about saying farewell to the character after the jump. The Chuck writers are back at work now, and the show will start filming again in May. Yay!

Meanwhile, news about whether FNL will be renewed should be coming in a couple of weeks, but it certainly sounds like the cast and writers were feeling hopeful at Paley. And if (or when) the show comes back, the writers have a few things on their minds: making football a bigger part of the story again and possibly introducing new characters so the supposed seniors don't stay in high school forever. And if the show returns, we'll get to see Smash's transition to college football, which was a particularly moving storyline this season.

To watch that Chuck clip, as well as some video from the FNL panel, just read more

• Brand-new image from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! I found this one on the MTV Movies Blog.
• The TV Addict has ideas for how Lost, House, One Tree Hill and Reaper should end their troubled, writers strike-y seasons.
• Popwatch's Christine Fenno thinks Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey from The Office would make awesome, down-to-earth girlfriends. What other TV stars would you want as your pals?
• The Music Slut has a great MP3 of Kimya Dawson (of Juno soundtrack fame) performing at South by Southwest.
• TV Squad tells us why Fox might already be bailing on Canterbury's Law.
• Aquarium Drunkard has a whole slew of MP3s of Cat Power playing live.