
In the whimsical world of
Pushing Daisies, it's nice to have a straight-talking detective like Emerson Cod to cut everyone down to size. Emerson's real-life alter ego, Chi McBride, was hanging out on the show's set when
I visited back in July, and I stole a few minutes with him to talk about Emerson's dry humor and love for yarn crafts. Here are highlights:
Does Emerson's function on the show shift at all this year?
Ugly Betty had barely finished its move to New York when the cast was called back to LA for this Summer's
TCA press tour. Luckily, Michael Urie, who plays the delightful and scheming Marc, was able to make the trip. At an ABC party, I pulled him aside to get some quick insights into Betty's third season, which airs its second episode tonight.

By far, my favorite moment of the
TCA press tour this Summer was getting to wander around the set of
Pushing Daisies, which returns tonight for its second season. As lovely and fanciful as the Daisies world looks on television, it's even more wonderful in person, filling up two full sound stages on the Warner Bros. lot.
Private Practice had its ups and downs last year, but there was one consistent good thing about the show for me: Paul Adelstein as Oceanside Wellness's pediatrician and unlucky-in-love bachelor, Cooper. When I spotted Adelstein after the Private Practice session at the
TCA press tour in July, I convinced him to stop for a quick chat. In person, he was quite charming (and even laughed off my good-natured ribbing about his bright-white sneakers), and he gave me some hints about what's coming up for Cooper, who's still involved with the uptight Charlotte (KaDee Strickland) when season two begins.
Ugly Betty didn't have its own session at this Summer's
TCA press tour, but executive producer Silvio Horta did stop by ABC's showrunners panel (delivering one of the
best lines of the press tour in the process).
Afterwards, a few other reporters and I huddled with Horta to find out what's on tap for season three of Betty. While he didn't, you know, reveal
which guy Betty chooses, he still had a lot to say about Betty's growth, Lindsay Lohan's arc, and what will become of Hilda and the coach.

How fantastic is it that
Eli Stone has brought Victor Garber back to our TV sets on a near-weekly basis? Garber's been a favorite of mine since his Daddy Warbucks days — though I loved him most as
Sydney's dad on Alias — and his role on Eli combines the best of his Broadway background with another tough-as-nails personality. At the
TCA press tour, I chatted with Garber for a bit about being back on TV, working with Katie Holmes, and acting alongside George Michael.

As funny as the
Scrubs panel was at the
TCA press tour, it would have been even better if we'd gotten to hear more from Sarah Chalke. So after the panel, I was one of a few reporters who chatted with Chalke about the future of Elliot, the joys of being back at work, losing co-star Zach Braff after this season, and filming in the Bahamas. Here's how the conversation went:
What was it like
working with Courteney Cox?

The fabulous Loretta Devine stopped by the
TCA press tour earlier this week to talk about the upcoming second season of
Eli Stone, in which she plays the title character's sassy but loving secretary. Between that and her recurring role on
Grey's Anatomy, playing the sometimes-estranged wife of Seattle Grace's chief of surgery, Devine is showcasing her acting chops (and, in the case of Eli, her lovely voice) all over the ABC schedule — so I feel lucky that I managed to snag a few minutes with her in the hallway! Here's what she had to say:
Can you compare your experience working on Grey's Anatomy and Eli Stone, whether there are any similarities or huge differences between them?
Desperate Housewives made one of the TV season's bolder moves in its finale, rocketing
five years into the future and finding the ladies of Wisteria Lane with all-new problems (and, in some cases, all-new relationships). On Thursday, show creator Marc Cherry and the show's main cast took the stage at the
TCA press tour to tease a little of what we can expect to see in season five. To see what Cherry and the ladies had to say, just .
Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes said she was surprised but not insulted when Katherine Heigl made her now-infamous comments about
withdrawing from the Emmy race — and the reason is pretty intriguing.
"In the back half of the season, Katherine asked me personally to write her light so that she could do her movie," Rhimes told critics during a panel for ABC showrunners at the
TCA press tour. She also noted that the way Heigl's storyline with TR Knight, who plays George, played out ended up being lighter than many of Izzie's previous stories.