2009 Winter TCA

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

Molly is all ears down in LA at the 2009 Winter TCAs. And who did she get an earful from regarding a specially designed Vegan shoe line? We know her, we love her hair, and she's Ellen's main squeeze — Portia de Rossi. An avid animal protector, Portia was promoting her new show but also divulging juicy details. She also swore she tries to wear leather as little as possible. No further details, but we're all ears now.

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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

Some of the biggest pop stars in the world introduced their new Disney shows at the TCAs. Demi Lovato was up first for Sonny With a Chance and she was also excited to talk about performing at the kids inauguration on Monday night. Although she hasn't met Malia and Sasha Obama yet, she's excited that they will be in the audience. The Jonas Brothers were up next for Jonas and were happy to answer questions about their show, upcoming movie and concert, and life these days. Also, sounds like there is a Camp Rock sequel coming our way starring the Jonas Brothers and Demi again. Here's some highlights from both panels:

• Nick on acting: I’m a perfectionist so I’m very hard on myself about acting. Trying to capture my own personal sense of humor. In real life it's very dry humor, but I cant always capture that on camera.
• Kevin on performing at Kids Inauguration: I’ve always talked about a future in the White House some day . . . [laughing]. It's an honor. The whole thing is about children and families of the military. We couldn’t have been more thrilled to be asked to do that.
• Joe on the Bonus Jonas (Frankie) being on the show: He’s quite the star. It's cool for him, he surprises us every day how well he does. It’s a lot of fun.
• On life these days: Joe: We’re just like normal guys, but we work a lot at the same time. We love it. Nick: Were just trying to do the best at what we do.

To see what Demi had to say plus more photos of her and the JoBros just read more

Looks like Conan isn't going to be only late-night geek who gets TiVoed; at the Winter TCAs, Jimmy Fallon promised that his new late-night show is going to have a lot to do with technology.

I think our show is going to be a lot more tech, gadgetry talk . . . I think we’ll treat a video game premiere almost like a movie premiere. My generation grew up with the Internet, it's second nature to us. We live in a video game kind of world. I’m interested in tech and I’m interested in gadgets. Whether it’s Bill Gates or the guy who designed the new Palm Pre. I wanna see new video cameras, new technology.

BuzzSugar and Molly, who are at the TCAs right now, also reported that he took a photo of the audience with his phone and claimed that he would Twitter it later.

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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's husband made us laugh earlier this week, but today it was her turn to show off her new TV show. Once called the The Office spinoff, it's now going to be focused on the minutia of local politics — check out lots of details about the show on Buzz. Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, and Amy Poehler kept the crowd laughing, which makes me very excited for the show which will premiere April 9, presumably with a title of some kind. Here were some highlights from Amy's hilarious quotes:

• On her husband and son's dual Canadian/American citizenship: My husband likes to throw his passports on the bed and pretend he’s Jason Bourne. He frantically packs a bag and rifles through his two passports. I’m hoping my son can do the same thing. Worst Bourne movie ever.
• On her reaction to SNL's song to her when she had her baby: Uncontrollable sobbing. I watched it in my hospital bed with my son. He was conveniently born at 6 p.m so I watched it live at 11:30.
• On men being more successful than women post-SNL: I think that’s probably changing. I think Lorne Michaels has done more for women in comedy than anyone I know. I’d like to think I’ll be part of making that an old story.
• On her character, a local politician being "normal": I am a spy though and I can time travel, and I’m wearing someone else’s face.

Love it already, maybe her friend Tina Fey will have a little competition next award season.

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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

The sixth and final season of The L Word starts this Sunday. Yesterday, some of the stars and the show's executive producer, writer, and director Ilene Chaiken sat down at TCA to talk about what it has meant to them and what we can expect from these last eight episodes. While the mystery of who killed Jenny Schecter will be a storyline, it's not all we have to look forward to.

Oh, and about the photo below, Leisha Hailey joked that the what has gotten the most fan reaction is seeing Katherine Moenning in a dress — I must say, I totally agree, but on the panel she looked perfectly Shane. Warning: There were some The L Word spinoff details revealed, but I kept everything spoiler-y after the jump.

• Chaiken on the show's run: "We had our ups and our downs and we hit our stride on the sixth season. It keeps getting better and better and we end on a high."
• Chaiken on guest stars to expect this season: Lucy Lawless, Elizabeth Berkeley. "As always, some great guest stars and exciting actors we got to work with, but season six is about this core group of characters. We wanted to devote these last eight episodes to tell stories about these characters."
• Chaiken on the decision to kill off Jenny: "We said 'What's the story we are going to tell this year?' and the decision to tell that story came out due to a lot of things. The trouble that Jenny has gotten in over the years, she's provoked everyone. All of the dialogue that goes on around the show — journalists, fans, etc — were probably resonating in there somewhere. Jenny has a lot of fans and she's the character people love to hate. She's provoked rage."
• Jennifer Beals on her favorite fan moments: "One, a couple won a walk-on [part on the show] as an auction item. They were in their 60s and been together over 30 years and in the closet for longer that. They told us from watching the show that they were able to come out to their friends, family, people at work. Giving people encouragement to be their most authentic self made me feel really proud. Two, I recently got a letter from a young woman [who knows she is gay]. She was 16 and she said it was the loneliest time of her life. She said by watching the show it had saved her life because she had contemplated killing herself. Realizing that there were other people out there, part of a larger community and one day she might be able to take part, she was encouraged."

Laurel Holloman also talked about The L Word conventions around the world. Jennifer Beals revealed that she is working on a book of photos of the cast throughout the seasons filming and off set. The proceeds will go to charity including the Matthew Shephard Foundation. For juicy news about the spinoff, the murder mystery and Shane's love through the series just read more