Paul Lieberstein

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 best news I heard all Summer was that Amy Ryan would be returning to The Office as new human resources representative Holly Flax. So when NBC offered up a chance to talk to the Oscar-nominated actress — and her HR predecessor and Office writer Paul Lieberstein — I couldn't say no. The two chatted with reporters yesterday, sharing some of their favorite on-set moments and spilling a few details on the upcoming season. Some highlights:

• Michael Scott and Holly Flax: a love story for the rest of us? Ryan wouldn't say much about what's coming up for Holly and Michael, but she said Michael gets a lot of credit for trying. "I think that it gives us all hope that there’s a lid for every pot — or, I like to say, there’s a lid for every cracked pot out there," Ryan said. "Everyone has a chance at some form of love."
• Toby's not gone forever. "I think what brings him back is failure to escape," Lieberstein said. And if he were to tell Pam a story to impress her about his time away? "Maybe the time his camera was stolen by a monkey, or the time he was attacked by a monkey in Costa Rica, or the time when a monkey took his wallet," he said. "Probably one of those three."
• The show is getting some Brit flavor this season. Stephen Merchant of the original British series will direct the Halloween episode. "He brings . . . kind of that initial integrity of the documentary that the British had," Lieberstein said. "And so he calls us out every once in a while — he’s like, 'How are they going to do that with a little documentary?' You know, when we seem to go a little too far or get too personal with them. We’ll set a scene in the bathroom and he’s like 'Really, I don’t think they follow them in there.'"
• Also directing: Jason Reitman. Yay!

To hear why the writers' strike was actually good for The Office, what the fate of Andy and Angela could be, and how Amy Ryan had an on-set breakdown, just read more