Channel Surfing: Terry O'Quinn and Reiko Aylesworth Talk "Lost," Eddie Cibrian Suits Up for "Washington Field," Super Dave Returns, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

The Los Angeles Times talks to Lost's Terry O'Quinn about the reveal that his character, John Locke, wasn't quite as dead as it initially seemed in a very interesting interview that peels back some of the layers of motivations behind the enigmatic character. "Well, it appears to be at least a version of living," admitted O'Quinn. "It's interesting that I find post-death Locke up to this point much more relaxed and confident. I guess dying does that to you. I don't think he's too worried anymore. I think he might believe that he has the answers he's been looking for." (Los Angeles Times)

In other Lost-related news, TV Guide talks to new cast member Reiko Aylesworth (24) about what to expect on this week's episode, entitled "LaFleur." "There are so many reveals in this [episode]," said Aylesworth. "This episode opens up many cans of worms... [and] leads into the whole shift in the storyline. But then the end is very cool, too. It widens the scope of the show even more, which is hard to believe! It's game-changing." (TV Guide)

Eddie Cibrian (Invasion) has been cast as the male lead in CBS drama pilot Washington Field, about a husband and wife pair of experts who travel the world responding to various crises as part of a FBI task force charged with safeguarding America's interests. Cibrian will play Tommy, the "evidence response team coordinator and hazmat expert" who is married to Teri Polo's character. Cibrian was most recently seen on ABC's Ugly Betty and USA's The Starter Wife. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Jennifer Finnigan (Close to Home) has been cast to star in ABC drama pilot Inside the Box, where she will play the new White House press secretary who has an affair with a news anchor (Jason George); Lucy Davis (The Office) has been cast opposite Lauren Graham in ABC comedy pilot The Bridget Show (formerly known as Let It Go); Jon Bernthal (The Class) and Johann Urb (Dirt) have joined the cast of ABC supernatural drama pilot Eastwick; and Morris Chestnut will star in sci-fi pilot V... where he will play Ryan, the boyfriend of a Homeland Security agent who is concealing a secret: that he's actually a member of the alien Visitors and a key member of a resistance force. [Editor's note: this would mean that Wolf will not be playing Ryan, as reported by Michael Ausiello, but will be playing a news anchor, indicated by the Hollywood Reporter.] (Hollywood Reporter)

CW pilot helmer alert: Christian Duguay (Coco Chanel) will direct drama pilot The Beautiful Life; Scott Winant (Californication) will direct drama pilot Body Politic; and Marcos Siega (Dexter) will direct supernatural drama pilot Vampire Diaries. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA released its summer programming plans, which includes the launch of Season Eight of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Season Two of In Plain Sight on April 19th; new drama series Royal Pains will be paired with Burn Notice on Thursday nights beginning in June; and Monk and Psych will return on Friday nights, but the cabler did not release any premiere dates for the latter two series. (Variety)

The creators of How I Met Your Mother may just very well solve the mystery of the series' title by the end of the season, reports Michael Ausiello. "At the end of the season, we will address the title of our show," said Bays, who told Ausiello that the last four episodes will feature "big events in the lives of our characters -- specifically Ted (Josh Radnor). We're going to wrap up some things that have been left dangling... I will say at the very least that the season will end with a complete sentence. We've left some sentence fragments dangling in past seasons, but this year, there will either be a period, a question mark or an exclamation point. We will be giving the audience that." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Lifetime has ordered a pilot for an untitled multi-camera comedy about the life of comedian Sherri Shepherd (30 Rock), which had been previously developed at the CW during the 2007-08 season. Project, written by Dave Flebotte and executive produced by Nina Wass and Gene Stein, is about a woman who discovers her husband fathered a child with another woman and invites both the kid and his mom to move in with them. (Hollywood Reporter)

Following a standoff between MTV Networks and The Sarah Silverman Program executive producers, Comedy Central in partnership with sister cabler Logo have renewed the series for a third season. Under the terms of the co-financing agreement, the episodic budgets on The Sarah Silverman Program will actually increase, rather than suffer the twenty percent reduction that MTV had threatened. The third season is expected to launch on both Comedy Central and Logo in early 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Spike has ordered four half-hour episodes of mockumentary comedy Super Dave Osbourne to air this summer and creator Bob Einstein will write the scripts and executive produce with Lee Kernis and Alan Blythe. (Variety)

Should Warner Bros. Television be able to close the previously reported multi-year renewal deals with CBS for Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, creator Chuck Lorre has said that all of his key cast members from each series will be returning. "It’s a remarkable thing to have happen," Lorre told TelevisionWeek. "Everyone involved in the show gets to think long-term as opposed to year-to-year. It allows people to plan a life when you get this kind of support." (TV Week)

MTV will launch six-episode reality competition series The Phone on April 21st at 10 pm ET/PT. The unscripted series, from Fremantle Media North America, follows four strangers who receive a phone call inviting them to participate in a game and then follows them as they embark on a series of mental and physical challenges in order to win a $50,000 cash prize each week. (via press release)

Disney Channel will begin production on High School Musical 4 later this year, with the telepic expected to air on the cabler in 2010. Story will follow a "love triangle set against the cross-town rivalry between the East High Wildcats and the West High Knights" and will feature a brand-new cast. (TV Week)

Sony Pictures Entertainment will eliminate roughly 300 jobs or four percent of its workforce through layoffs and the cutting of open positions. The workforce reductions could come as early as next week and is said to be related to "slumping DVD sales and a worsening economy." (Los Angeles Times)

Noah Oppenheim has been named head of unscripted development at Reveille after overseeing the development of a reality series starring self-help guru Tony Robbins for NBC. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.