2011 Winter TCA

When I visited last week's Winter TCA, I got to hear some details about new CBS series Mad Love starring Jason Biggs, Judy Greer, and Sarah Chalke. After the panel, I sat down for a few minutes to chat with Greer about the sitcom, her role as Connie, and we even talked about the much-anticipated Arrested Development movie and her appearance in Love and Other Drugs, where she got to work with Jack Gyllenhaal. Check it out!

At last week's Winter TCA, I checked out the panel for Shonda Rhimes's latest series Off the Map, about a group of young doctors who try to save lives in the South American rain forest. Afterward, I sat down with Friday Night Lights alum Zach Gilford, who plays one of the eager physicians, Tommy, a role that's a pretty far cry from football star Matt Saracen. We chatted about his new TV series vs. his old one, living in paradise to shoot Off the Map, and naturally, how often he'll be shirtless.

Last week's Winter TCA not only had some interesting panels on new and returning TV shows, it also gave me the chance to talk to some of my favorite TV stars. Check out all the interviews from the press tour that you may have missed!

Courteney Cox on Cougar Town	David Duchovny on Californication	Candice Accola on The Vampire Diaries
Cory Monteith on Glee	Mindy Kaling on The Office and No Strings Attached	Elijah Wood on Wilfred and The Hobbit
Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother and The Muppets	Aziz Ansari on Parks and Recreation	Dan Byrd on Cougar Town

Before all the Golden Globe madness hit, I was in the thick of the Winter TCA madness too! If you didn't get a chance to read all of my panel coverage from the event, I've rounded up the most interesting panels from the new and returning shows below.

American Idol	Shameless	Community
Off the Map	Perfect Couples	Episodes
Pretty Little Liars	Californication	The Borgias

David Duchovny and his Californication castmates gave the Winter TCA some great quotes today, but Duchovny also took a minute to chat about the Showtime series with some reporters. He talked about how he keeps Hank Moody interesting, the heart of the show, and joked about adding in his own bits to episodes.

How do you keep it interesting when you play the same character for years?
David Duchovny: In a way you keep discovering the character. You just kind of remain open to wherever the new storylines are taking you. I'm lucky enough to have really good actors to play along with, not just people who are there every year like Evan and Natasha (McElhone) and Pam (Adlon) and Madeleine (Martin), but people like Carla (Gugino), people like Rob (Lowe), or Kathleen Turner. Actors push one another around into different places. It's kind of an unconscious thing, kind of an instinctual thing. There's a joy in television that's greater than film. It's closer to stagework. In doing something over and over you get to different levels than you would if you had just moved on.

Would you say that Hank is detached?
DD: He is kind of detached. Hank is a guy who doesn't say no, be it drugs, or sex, or experience. What's interesting about him is that he doesn't seek many things out, he's just a magnet that things come to. And in terms of detachment, I think it's true; it's detachment, but an objectivity.

To find out what else Duchovny had to say about the show, and when he has improved a line, just read more

One of the sexier shows to take the stage at the Winter TCA was Showtime's lusty historical drama The Borgias. Its cast, including Jeremy Irons and Colm Feore, and the creator, renowned filmmaker Neil Jordan, took the stage to talk about the new series. They touched on the historical accuracy of the story of the Borgia family, the scandals we can expect to see onscreen, and just how steamy things are going to get.

• Irons leads the cast as Rodrigo Borgia, a character that's been called the original Tony Soprano. Irons is well-equipped to sink his teeth into the role of the family head who eventually becomes Pope in 1492, citing the juicy goings-on of the time period: "murder, poisonings . . . incest here, sodomy there."
• Jordan said that the "entire series is about God and power" and seems to have found a minefield of drama in the scandalous history of the Borgias. He said he "didn't have to manipulate events to make them dramatically engaging" and that the events are pretty well documented: "I didn't have to make things up to make these people seem crazy."
• I, for one, am excited about the costumes, which Irons called "amazing" and added that he got so used to the period garb that he felt uncomfortable in a pair of pants. He said the women's costumes are "extraordinary," and pointed out that it's just one example of what makes the show on the whole a sumptuous affair.
• There is an incestuous storyline in store on the series, as there had been rumors during the Renaissance of an affair between brother and sister Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia. Jordan says that they were people who were simply "utterly fascinated by each other," and it won't be "a story about incest, it's a story about two people who were enraptured with each other."

Don't forget to check out all of my coverage from the Winter TCA

Candice Accola, who plays Caroline on The Vampire Diaries, made a stop at the Winter TCA to talk about her role on the Buzz reader favorite. She touched on how her character Caroline has transitioned into the life of a new vampire and what's next for her romantically. We talked about all her potential love interests — yes, even Stefan!

Buzz: Were you shocked when you first found out that Caroline was going to be a vampire?
Candice Accola: It had been hinted. I guess I was shocked at the extreme at which she kicked ass so much within that episode too; it wasn't a slow build. And the fact that they gave her the opportunity to catch on and to be very dominant in the sense that she killed people. When the people you work with on a day-to-day basis look at the blood on your face and have to turn away . . . it was pretty graphic. I'm glad that they allowed the character who's so perky and vain to just get dirty.

Buzz: When did you find out?
CA: I was very happy to get a phone call from Kevin [Williamson] before we went back for season two, so I did know that it was going to happen, but things do get brought up and changed. It wasn't until I saw it on the paper that it was like, this is real, this is happening.

Buzz: You and Michael Trevino (Tyler) recently had a very moving scene when Tyler transitioned to a werewolf for the first time.
CA: It was moving just to be in the room. It was a smaller set and a smaller crew and it was shot over two 12- to 14-hour days, and it was really hard to watch. Trevino obviously wasn't wearing very many clothes, the chains he had on in the episode, they were real chains. He was bawling his eyes out. It was really tough to watch. You know, Trevino is a dude, he is a full-on, very masculine man and so to watch him get so vulnerable, it definitely created a very open space in which [I was] able to feel what was going on.

To find out what Accola had to say about potential romance between Caroline and Stefan, just read more

The Winter TCA got to see the face of an old Friend today, when Matt LeBlanc stopped by for his new Showtime series, Episodes. He was joined by his castmates and showrunners to talk about satirizing himself, the business of Hollywood, and whether Episodes would ever see a Friends reunion.

• LeBlanc talked about being game to play a satirical version of himself, saying, "I don't mind being the punchline if it's a good joke." He did admit that he wasn't totally sure about the concept of playing himself at first, but when it was clear that the Matt LeBlanc of Episodes is a character, and not really him, "that made it OK for me." As far as what's real LeBlanc vs. the show's LeBlanc, he says that it's going to be "more fun for me to not distinguish between the two and let people make up their mind on what's real and what's not real."
• On whether there would ever be a Friends reunion on Episodes akin to the one Curb Your Enthusiasm had for Seinfeld, executive producer and creator David Crane said they wouldn't touch it. "We're not looking to write the other Friends in," Crane said, much to my own disappointment as a Friends fan.
• British actors Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig play the writing couple who get sucked into Hollywood to find out that they've been misled by industry types like John Pankow's character, Merck. Asked if they'd had similar experiences as actors, Mangan said he had, and that it made him realize there's "something about the system that's a bit odd." Greig, on the other hand, said that this is her first time working in America and has only had good experiences. "I believe people when they say, 'You're fantastic.'"

Miss anything this week? Catch up on all my Winter TCA coverage here!