Channel Surfing: "Survivor: Gabon" Cast Revealed, More "Chuck" Guest Stars, "Fringe," "Doctor Who" Rumor, and More

Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. It's my birthday today (yesterday was my brother's and--before you ask--no, we're not twins) so between work, dinner, and present-opening, I still hope to find the time to watch tonight's Project Runway. When there's a will, there's a way as they say.

Season 18 of venerable reality franchise Survivor is about to launch on CBS in just a few weeks. But if you're curious as to who the eighteen men and women are who are competing for the million-dollar prize on Survivor: Gabon, look no further. They include a pin-up girl/actress, a fashion photographer/Cartier salesman (seriously, you can't make this stuff up), a professional gamer, a retired nurse, a personal trainer, and many others. (Entertainment Weekly)

Creator Craig Wright talks about what went wrong with Season One of ABC soap Dirty Sexy Money, including "experimenting" with tone shifts between installments, and what they are doing to fix this for the series' massive relaunch this fall, after getting a "gift" in the form of the writers strike, which he used to rethink the series. (USA Today)

Holy guest stars, Batman: Morgan Fairchild (Fashion House), Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5), and Carl Lumbly (Alias) will all appear in Season Two of NBC's Chuck. Fairchild will play the mother of Captain Awesome himself (Ryan McPartlin); Boxleitner will play her husband Dr. Woody Woodcombe who is "very excited to help welcome Ellie into his family -- maybe too excited." And Lumbly will play Casey's mentor. I can't wait! (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

ABC has renewed reality competition series Here Come the Newlyweds for a second season of eight episodes, likely to air in 2009. (Hollywood Reporter)

J.J. Abrams and his delightful cast talk more about their upcoming FOX drama series Fringe. My favorite bit: '"J.J. is like Oz," notes actor Joshua Jackson on the New York set. "He's manipulating all his little kingdoms and empires from afar."' (Associated Press)

Everyone's jumping on the weight-loss television bandwagon. ABC has announced that it will air an hour-long special entitled Half Their Size: The People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge on September 30th at 10 pm. (Variety)

Could Doctor Who shoot two of its upcoming feature-length specials here in the States? That's the rumor being thrown about (though take it with a large grain of salt as, admittedly, the source is the News of the World), as the series would look to cast a American as the Doctor's latest companion and shoot Stateside. (Digital Spy)

Spike has ordered ten one-hour episodes of stunt-themed reality series Jesse James is a Dead Man from former Monster Garage star Jesse James, in which he'll prep for and carry out stunts. Series is slated to air in February 2009. (Variety)

Endemol has poached Tom Toumazis, Disney's managing director of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada to fill the newly created position of chief commercial officer. He's been tasked with expanding the distributor's drama and comedy business as well as third-party rights. Congrats, Tom! (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Greatest American Dog (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Bones (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); Bones (FOX)

10 pm: CBS News: Democratic National Convention (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Vote 08 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

9 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.

Season Five (the final season on Bravo) of Project Runway continues tonight. On tonight's episode ("Fashion That Drives You"), the designers have to think unconventionally as they rev up for their materials and Season Three's Laura Bennett drops by as a guest judge for next week's challenge.

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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