[Televisionary]

Everybody now: Pop Pop! Last night marked Community 's second time at the annual Paley Festival and the evening, moderated by The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff, was a celebration of the off-kilter NBC comedy and its cast and crew, which came out in full force (save Donald Glover and Alison Brie, who were shooting) for this hysterical and fun session. The evening began with a screening of this week's upcoming episode of Community ("Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy"), written by Andy Bobrow, which featured guest star Enver Gjojak ( Dollhouse ) as Luka, a friend of Troy and Abed's with whom Britta becomes romantically involved. I don't want to give too much away about the episode--it was hysterical, after all--but I will say that it involves war crimes, kidnapping charges, Chang smoking a pipe, and Kickpuncher III , as well as Gillian Jacobs' Britta creating chaos in her wake and the pregnancy/paternity subplot swirling around Yvette Nicole Brow...

Welcome to the home of the world famous Julia Roberts... lawsuit. To the Paris of Indiana. Welcome to Pawnee. It was clear, as the cast and crew of NBC's painfully funny and wickedly sweet Parks and Recreation gathered on stage last night as part of the 2011 edition of the Paley Festival, that there's as much love for the series coming from the actors than there is coming from the audience. "I think this is the beginning of us being around for a long time," said Amy Poehler about Parks and Recreation reaching its stride. The numbers have climbed during the long-delayed third season, which made the move to the plum post- Office timeslot in January. Though Poehler was quick to poke fun at moderator Michael Ausiello of TVLine for issuing a backhanded compliment about the underrated first season of this winning comedy series. "It's a bit like saying that your baby used to be ugly and is now cute," said Poehler on reactions to Season One, which she termed ...

The fans are hungry for blood. Or, in this case, more True Blood , which doesn't return for another few months yet, sadly. However, the cast and crew of HBO's seductive vampire drama was on hand last night for the Paley Festival's True Blood panel, which brought together an astonishing 17 actors from the series on stage with creator Alan Ball. The evening, moderated by TV Guide Magazine 's Debra Birnbaum, kicked off with a selection from the Paley Center's archives--in this case, a fitting scene from the pilot episode of the similarly fanged Buffy the Vampire Slayer --before presenting a sizzle reel from the first three seasons of True Blood ... and a scene from the upcoming fourth season. So just what did we lucky attendees get to see from Season Four? The scene that Ball presented was set outside Fangtasia as a mob gathered outside the club to protest, chanting "Steve Newman's right; you're devils of the night." (Hmmm, any chance we might get to...

The moment many have been waiting for is finally here. The Paley Center for Media has this morning unveiled its full lineup for the 2011 Paley Festival, taking place March 4-17 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA. (The annual festival moved to its new digs last year.) Among the offerings for the 2011 festival, which is always standing room only: Community, Parks and Recreation, True Blood, White Collar, The Walking Dead, American Idol, Supernatural, Eastbound and Down, Raising Hope , a Freaks & Geeks/Undeclared Reunion, an evening with Jimmy Fallon, and more. Tickets will go on sale to members on January 21st and to the general public on January 23rd at 9 am PT via Ticketweb. The complete Paley Festival 2011 lineup, with event dates, can be found below: March 4th at 7 pm: The Walking Dead March 5th at 7 pm: True Blood March 7th at 7 pm: White Collar March 8th at 7 pm: Hot in Cleveland March 9th at 7 pm: Parks and Recreation March 10th at 7 pm: Eastbound and Down March 11th ...

Vampires. Doppelgangers. A nearly naked Joel McHale. Such were the topics at last night's Community screening and panel at the 2010 William S. Paley Television Festival, where the cast and crew of NBC's Community (sadly without Yvette Nicole Brown, Danny Pudi, and Alison Brie, who were shooting last night) came together to celebrate the freshman comedy, attempt to ignore the jaw-dropping antics of Chevy Chase, and offer a brief insight into the hysterical madness that is this sweet/sour comedy gem. While Brown, Pudi, and Brie were absent (Brown told me via Twitter that they were shooting a scene with Jim Rash, who plays Dean Pelton), the rest of the cast and crew filled the stage, including: Chevy Chase, Ken Jeong, Neil Goldman, Anthony Russo, Gillian Jacobs, Joe Russo, Russ Krasnoff, Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Garrett Donovan, and Dan Harmon. Moderated by Entertainment Weekly 's John Young (who seemed a little out of his element and way out of his depth), the raucous an...

With only 13 episodes of Lost remaining before the series wraps up its iconic run, the series' cast and crew united on stage to talk about the final segments of the ABC drama series, offer a few hints about what's coming up for the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 (and their alternate reality counterparts), and celebrate Lost potentially one last time before the final credits roll. Appearing at the Saban Theatre as part of the 2010 Paley Festival, executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, cast members Nestor Carbonell, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson, and Zuleikha Robinson, writer/producers Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis, Elizabeth Sarnoff, and director/executive producer Jack Bender gathered on stage with moderator Paul Scheer to answer some questions, deflect some others, and offer a taste of what lies ahead in these next batch of episodes. I had the opportunity last night to attend the Paley Festival's Lost panel, thanks to a very generous reade...

I've been raving about Modern Family since I first saw the pilot episode last May, but there's something to be said about watching a truly great comedy with a crowd. Especially when that crowd is 1,600 in number. Friday night's Modern Family panel, part of the 2010 Paley Festival and the annual television festival's opening event, offered one hell of an evening, due to the genial charms of the ABC comedy series' cast, co-creator Steve Levitan, and director Jason Winer. Throw in the advance screening of an upcoming episode, this Wednesday's "Fears," (perhaps one of the most hysterical and amazing installments of the series to date) and even Clive Bixby would be proud of this evening. Joining moderator Billy Bush on stage were cast members Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O'Neill, Sofia Vergara, Ty Burrell, and Julie Bowen, as well as director Jason Winer and co-creator Steve Levitan. (Sadly, no Christopher Lloyd--who pled a fear of crowd...

The Paley Center for Media has announced the lineup for the the 27th Annual William S. Paley Television Festival (known affectionately to its attendees as PaleyFest). Critical darling Modern Family will kick off the festival on February 26th. Other series getting individual sessions include ABC's Lost , CW's The Vampire Diaries , FOX's Glee , NBC's Community , ABC's Cougar Town ABC's FlashForward , TNT's Men of a Certain Age , CBS' NCIS , Showtime's Dexter , AMC's Breaking Bad , and HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm , the latter of which will be the festival's final offering this year. Additionally, keep your eyes peeled for Seth MacFarlane and Friends, an evening celebrating McFarlane's animated comedies Family Guy, American Dad , and The Cleveland Show . The day-by-day breakdown of the festival can be found below. (All panels begin at 7 pm.) Feb. 26th: Modern Family Feb. 27th : Lost March 1st: NCIS March 3rd: Community March 4th: Dexte...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Just a day after the record-breaking season finale of Showtime's Dexter , executive producer/showrunner Clyde Phillips announced yesterday that he is leaving the series. He'll be replaced at the helm by Chip Johannessen ( 24 ). According to the Hollywood Reporter , Phillips made the "hugely difficult decision" to leave in order "to spend more time with his family in Connecticut." "Clyde Phillips has made an enormous contribution to the phenomenal success of Dexter for the past four years, but we know he needs to spend more time with his family on the East Coast than he spends with the Dexter family in L.A.," said Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt. "We reluctantly say good-bye to him at a turning point in the series, but fellow Dexter executive producers Sara Colleton and John Goldwyn have chosen a great successor -- Chip Johannessen, who has been a key producer of '24...

The crowd may have been noticeably older but they were certainly no less rabid at last night's Paley Festival panel for HBO's Big Love . After a gorgeous clip package that encapsulated all of the serpentine story threads from Season Three of Big Love into one breathtaking montage that displayed the depth and breadth of the plotting this past season, the cast took the stage along with moderator Mary McNamara of The Los Angeles Times , whose enthusiasm for the event and the series matched our own in the audience. On the stage to celebrate HBO's Big Love : Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, Harry Dean Stanton, Grace Zabriskie, Matt Ross, and creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer. (Sadly, unavailable to attend were Mary Kay Place, Amanda Seyfried, and Ginnifer Goodwin, all of whom were very much missed.) Before saying anything else, I just want to say what an absolute hoot Harry Dean Stanton was. Clearly upset about the fact that Olsen and Scheffer killed off h...

"True love stories never have endings." - Richard Bach Yesterday, I joined a sold-out crowd at the Cinerama Dome at the Arclight in Hollywood to see Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller introduce a Paley Festival screening of the final three episodes of Pushing Daisies , which ABC will finally air (after a delay of several months) beginning at the end of May. On hand to send off Pushing Daisies with Fuller were series stars Chi McBride (who jokingly said that they would be giving out "torches and pitchforks" in the lobby after the screening) and a tearful Ellen Greene, who said that as much as the audience loved these characters, the actors who played them loved them even more. And love them we did. I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I got misty-eyed watching the exquisite final episode of Pushing Daisies , which manages to both offer closure for those of us who were utterly devoted to the whimsical series while also leaving things open-ended enough for Ful...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Showtime has renewed period drama The Tudors for a fourth and final season. The series, which stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as England's King Henry VIII, will air ten episodes--all penned by series creator Michael Hirst--in spring 2010. ( Variety ) 24 executive producer Howard Gordon talks to Entertainment Weekly 's Hollywood Insider about the return of Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert) to the FOX series. "Kim has been easily targeted and lampooned by fans, so we had to do it very carefully," said Gordon of Cuthbert's return. "Elisha was as sensitive to this as we were." Gordon, meanwhile, offers a few tidbits about the reason behind her return and about her relationship with Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Hollywood Insider ) E! Online's Jennifer Godwin was on hand last night at the Paley Festival's panel for HBO's True Blood and has some answers about the Sooki...