Casting Couch: "Office" Overflow; Mitchell Latest "Lost" Girl

The Office is getting a few new workers.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that three actors have joined the expansive cast of NBC's The Office next season. Charles Esten (Whose Line Is It Anyway?) will reprise his role of Josh Porter, last seen in the "Valentine's Day" episode last season; his character is the regional manager of Dunder-Mifflin's Stamford branch. Meanwhile, Rashida Jones (Boston Public) and Steve Carell's former Daily Show compatriot Ed Helms have joined the cast. Both will play employees of Dunder-Mifflin, with Jones landing a "potential recurring role" on the series.

While Helms and Jones (coincidentally Office co-star John Krasinski's girlfriend) were said to be playing workers in the Scranton office in The Hollywood Reporter, it seems more than likely that they will instead be corporate drones of the paper manufacturer's Stamford branch. (In fact, it seems a dead certainty, given the appearance of Josh Porter, the Stamford branch's regional manager, in the announcement.

All of which lends credence to my thoughts last May that poor, lovelorn Jim Halpert (John Krasinksi) would accept the transfer from Scranton that Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) offered him in the season finale ("Casino Night"), following his kiss with Pam (Jenna Fischer).

So is it curtains for these two lovebirds? Tune in to the third season of The Office to find out...

In other casting news, yet another castaway has joined the cast of ABC's Lost, following the recent announcement that Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro had been cast in the series as well. Elizabeth Mitchell (ER) will join the drama series next season.

No information was immediately released about her character Juliet, said to be a possible love interest for Matthew Fox's character.

I'm all for more romance on Lost and, just as long as that mysterious smoky "monster" doesn't end up named Romeo, we should be fine.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Dateline (NBC); What I Like About You/Twins (WB); America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC); That '70s Show /That '70s Show (FOX); WWE Friday Night Smackdown (UPN)

9 pm: The Unit (CBS); Las Vegas (NBC); Reba/Living with Fran (WB); Kyle XY (ABC); 24 (FOX)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Spaced on BBC America. (11 pm ET)

It's the season finale of my new favorite British comedy, Spaced, a wacky 1999 Britcom starring Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson. On tonight's episode ("Ends"), Tim's ex-girlfriend Sarah (Monarch of the Glen's Anna Wilson-Jones) wants to give their failed relationship a second chance, but Daisy and Mike are less thrilled by the news than Tim is. Meanwhile, Mike is re-evaluated for the territorial army. Hmmm, maybe he knows Gareth...

8:30-9:30 pm: Peep Show on BBC America. (11:30 pm ET)

One of my favorite single-camera British comedies returns Stateside for a second season of twisted and bizarre episodes. On tonight's special hour-long season finale, Jeremy and his girlfriend Nancy (Rachel Blanchard) are planning on getting married so Nancy can get a visa, but Mark will do anything to prevent them from walking down the aisle. (That Mark, such a plonker.)

11:20 pm: The Catherine Tate Show on BBC America. (10:20 pm ET)

Later on BBC America, it's another episode of the new season of The Catherine Tate Show. Who's Catherine Tate? Why, she might just be the heir to Tracy Ullman's sketch comedy throne.

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

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What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season ...

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In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj...

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