2009 NBC TCA

The non-spinoff spinoff of The Office finally has itself a possible title — Public Service — and a very funny pilot script that I got a chance to read back at the TCA press tour. It also has an up-and-coming costar in Aziz Ansari, who's been popping up everywhere from Flight of the Conchords to Scrubs to his MTV sketch show, Human Giant. He was the first person to join the series before writers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur even had a concept locked down, and at TCA, we chatted about the leap of faith it took him to join and about his character, a local government networker named Tom. Read on for highlights:

You were a part of the show really early. How did you first get involved?
When I got on board it was before they really had a concept or anything nailed down, and it was really like, "Do you want to do a show with Mike and Greg, a documentary-type show?" And I was like, "Yeah, that would be my dream job."

Were you a fan of The Office?
The Office is probably my favorite comedy on TV, and as soon as I heard they were doing another show, I was like, "Oh my God, I'd love to be a part of that." I met with them pretty early on and I told them that, flat-out . . . A month or so later, they're like, "Yeah, we want you to do it with us." They still didn't have anything as far as their concept, but I was super excited. Then after a few months I found out Amy was doing it, and then I was like, "Oh, that's great — it'll be awesome."

Since you were involved so early, did you get to be involved in creating your character?
They kind of wrote it toward my strengths and attitudes that they'd seen me play. Since they knew they were writing it for me, I know that helped a ton.

What is it that you like about the mockumentary style?
It's just a fun format to do comedy in. The interviews and stuff like that — it's a great format for improvising. Even in Human Giant, we would do sketches or profile pieces that were kind of like little mockumentaries, and it was just a really fun format for performers and people who like to improvise especially.

To find out the future for Ansari on Scrubs and Human Giant, just read more

It's the last day of the TCA press tour, and ABC is presenting a ton of new midseason series today, including Nathan Fillion's Castle and Amber Tamblyn's The Unusuals. The news has been coming fast and furious, so here are some tidbits from this morning's ABC sessions and yesterday's NBC panels:

• Apparently, we should stop using the term "ghost sex" to describe Izzie and Denny's relationship on Grey's Anatomy, stat. "It's not a ghost, which you will learn," ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson said. He also said skeptical viewers should be patient and wait to see where the story is going: "I actually think that when you get to the end of the season and you see what [creator Shonda Rhimes] had in mind, it might not be your cup of tea, but I think you will be surprised at how insightful and smart the storyline itself is."
• If you were hoping NBC's executives would give some clarity to the Lipstick Jungle cancellation situation, no such luck: According to entertainment president Angela Bromstad, no decision has been reached on the show's future, and it will be a conversation when the network sets its Fall schedule.
• These were pretty much no-brainers, but NBC has renewed The Office, 30 Rock, and The Biggest Loser.
• Count Portia de Rossi in for an Arrested Development movie: Despite calling her new character in ABC's Better Off Ted her all-time favorite, she'd be up for reprising Lindsay Bluth on the big screen. "I would love to do a movie for Arrested," she said — before adding to the confusion surrounding the project by saying "the cast are all on board." If that gets off the ground, she'd be a busy lady: She also wants to start a vegan shoe line.

For info on Heroes, Pushing Daisies, and NBC's late-night lineup, just read more

News on the Gossip Girl spinoff and Amy Poehler show was just the start of the good stuff to come out of NBC's TCA session yesterday. I also got some news on Chuck and the post-Super Bowl episode of The Office. Read on for details:

• Yes, Chuck's dad will be found — and he'll be played by Scott Bakula of Quantum Leap! "[Executive producer] Chris Fedak and I were huge Quantum Leap fans," Executive Producer Josh Schwartz said. "We watched it religiously."
• Does finding dear daddy mean there could be wedding bells for Ellie and Awesome before the season's up? "Very possibly," Schwartz said. "That is why Chuck said, 'I'm going to go find dad,' so he can be there to walk her down the aisle."
• Also, we'll see Jeff shirtless and in 3D before the season's up — but not at the same time. "We felt like that was going to be too much for America," Schwartz said. For the record, Fedak worships Jeff; Schwartz worships Lester.
• Another thing he's excited about: the upcoming guest appearance by Chevy Chase. "We are like psycho Chevy Chase fans on the show, and we've talked about Fletch and Spies Like Us, and we have all of these Spies Like Us references inside of our show," Schwartz said. He'll play the head of a company that's sort of Apple-ish, "real visionary in the software game," and he'll be a little edgier than we've seen from Chase before.

To get some info about The Office, just read more

I was full of questions after hearing that Gossip Girl's long-rumored spinoff was going to be focused on young Lily — so it was a pleasant surprise to see the gossip guy himself, executive producer Josh Schwartz, turn up at NBC's TCA party on Thursday night. Read on to find out what I learned:

• Pay attention to the next-to-last episode of Gossip Girl this season. That's when the spinoff characters will be introduced, Schwartz said. "It'll be flashbacks that will sort of illustrate a crisis. It will resonate thematically with something that will be happening inside that episode."
• They're seeking the actress to play young Lily. "We're starting now," he said. "We have a couple months."
• They didn't necessarily want to do a spinoff at all — until they hit on this idea. "We talked about The It Girl, the book series that is a spinoff, but for me and Stephanie [Savage, also an executive producer], to do another teen drama . . . we needed something that was going to inspire us. We started talking like, 'What if we did this?' and that got us really excited."
• Yes, versions of Lily and other characters could be in both shows at once. "We can introduce characters on the spinoff and then they can show up in the present, and vice versa, and the two things can kind of inform each other," Schwartz said.

To hear about the fashion, the music, and why Lily's a character worth exploring, just read more

Rachel Maddow took the stage at the TCAs in LA yesterday to promote her wildly popular new show and recent skyrocket to fame. She was friendly and responsive, cracking a few jokes and giving us an idea of what her show will be like as President Bush makes way for President Obama. She likened MSNBC's inauguration plan to "the Mars landing" in its intricacy and talked about how she hopes to be able to take it in as a whole and focus on what an incredible moment it is. Plus, don't worry, she knows she'll still find "idiocy" in Washington to make fun of. Here are some highlights:

• On Wednesday's brunch with Obama: He answered whatever we wanted. He was totally forthcoming and didn't 'no comment' us on anything. It was a lot of wonky people in the room asking wonky questions. It wasn't 'How does it feel to be getting inaugurated right now?' 'How do you feel about this historic moment?' It was very much 'This is what I think about Yemen.' 'This is what I think about Guantanamo.' He's as wonky as I am which is extreme.
• On President Bush's plans post-inauguration: He gives his big speech [last night] and then he goes away! For as long as he possibly can. And then no international travel, probably, for the rest of his life.
• On her show post-Bush: I don’t think we are at risk of idiocy going out of fashion in Washington so wherever there are bad ideas I will find ways to make fun of them. Sometimes it will be bad democratic ideas, sometimes it will be bad republican ideas. Beating up on George Bush now feels like, I’d rather not. . . I will be replacing lame duck quack-itude, there will be something with a funny sophomoric sound effect.

To see what Rachel said about her SNL parody and what she was like in high school, read more

Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, and writers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur just got the room laughing here at the TCA press tour in their first session for their new show. (Seriously, go here to hear about Poehler's Jason Bourne connection.)The show's still untitled, but we now know a little bit about the plot: Poehler plays Leslie, a mid-level local government operative who partners with Jones's character to help get a park built. Ansari plays a schmoozing networker who's most interested in his own rise. Here's some of what we learned:

• Despite Poehler's role as a woman in local politics who believes she could one day rise to the top, we shouldn't look at the show as a satire of any recent political events. "It really doesn't specifically deal in any way with tapping into any of those women," Poehler said. "But [Leslie] certainly looks at a lot of the women in media and politics right now as her heroes. They're sort of her Cal Ripkins."
• More about Leslie: "Leslie is an optimist, and she's really ambitious," Poehler said. "She's really kind of hoping that the place she is now is not the place she's going to stay. So she really is struggling to find her way in a man's world, to kind of make her mark. Along the way, she's deluded." She's nice, but not too nice: "it's going to be very easy to humiliate and be mean to me in the show."
• About that title: Daniels said they just haven't found the right words to sum up the show yet — but they kind of spoof their own difficulties in the pilot with a section about finding the perfect name for their public works project.
• The realm of local politics isn't new to Poehler: "My parents watch town council metings on their TV," she said. "They sit and wtch them and care, obviously, about what is next to them — what is being built, or are they going to put a prison where the muffin shop used to be."

To find out why Poehler took the job and whether there will ever be a proper Office spinoff, read more