TVSquad

(S05E03) "Yeah yeah - the hair. It's one of the many things that makes me happy." - Meredith

This wasn't the best episode of Grey's Anatomy, but I think it got back to a lot of the core reasons that made this show good in the first place. The focus has finally returned to Meredith and Derek, which was sorely lacking last season. This show just doesn't make sense to me when the tension between those two is ignored or pushed aside for one of the bajillion other relationships going on.

Beyond that, there was plenty of humor - another thing that had been lacking. So I'm feeling good about where this season is going to take us and as I said - it starts with Mer and Der.

The genius that was Amy Ryan's Holly beatboxing on The Office last week got me thinking about other cast additions that have made shows better.

The first that came to mind was actually another Amy Ryan role -- Beadie on season two of The Wire. It took awhile for me to get into the whole dockworkers storyline, but it was Beadie that helped me through.

If a show plans to stay on air for awhile, it needs fresh blood -- but the process of introducing new characters isn't easy (witness how reviled Maya was on Heroes). The best new additions combine great actors with well-written characters.

Here are seven other (fairly recent) new characters that succeeded.

Grey's Anatomy is adding another bi-curious female doctor into the Hahn-Torres fray -- and it looks like she'll be played Melissa George. EW's Michael Ausiello reports that George, best known for her role as butt-kicking bad girl on Alias, is in final negotiations to play "an intern with, um, an open mind toward sexuality."

She's being positioned as a possible love interest for one of Seattle Grace's other two female-loving females, Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) or Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith), who first locked lips in last year's season finale.

No word on exactly how long she'll stick around, but EW's sources suggest it'll be a while.

(S05E01/S05E02) "The person that invented the phrase 'happily ever after' should have his ass kicked so hard." - Meredith

Another September, another Grey's Anatomy season premiere. Hard to believe that we're already into a fifth season. But you know what isn't hard to believe? That we're still dealing with the same "Meredith and Derek - will they or won't they" mess. Grey's has reached the point that regardless of what happens, I'm going to keep watching it because I've invested too much of my time to walk away now. I really am a fan of the show, which is why I don't feel bad when I say that this was quite possibly the most ridiculous season premiere ever. It was all over the place like some strange metaphor for all the ups and downs Mer and Der have had over the years. A random army doctor, two limousine accidents, ninja attack icicles... and god, the cherry on top - Denny Duquette. Really?

Let's get the bad/obvious news out of the way first: Despite what ER showrunner David Zabel told TV Guide in a recent interview, George Clooney will not -- repeat NOT -- be returning to the show for it's 15th and final season.

According to Clooney's publicist, "He is on record as saying he is not coming back. It is something he has already done. He is busy making movies." If you're an optimist, though, you can always hope for a surprise Clooney return a la the 2000 ER season finale, in which Georgie showed up at the very end of Julianna Margulies' farewell ep.

On a more positive note, there are plenty of actors who ARE joining popular existing series or are attached to promising upcoming projects. A rundown of these casting coups ensues.

As a fan of Grey's Anatomy from the beginning, I was disappointed with last season. The characters were wandering around with seemingly no direction, Meredith and Derek were getting on my last nerve, and there was a storyline that revolved around resuscitating a deer. It was not exactly the finest example of television I had ever seen.

Regardless, I'm excited about the fifth season, premiering on September 25. Shonda Rhimes has always struck me as the type of producer and writer who listens to fans and can remove herself from her product enough to realize that something isn't working.

It seems as though my faith is already being rewarded. In a new promo for season 5, Rose, the nurse that Derek had been dating while trying to get over Meredith, drops a bombshell: she's pregnant! Now that's a way to get me interested in this storyline again.

Video of the promo and spoilers about Rose's revelation follow after the jump.

The writing partners behind Legally Blonde, Ella Enchanted, and The House Bunny, opening in theaters tomorrow, have inked a deal with ABC Studios for a series about something they're familiar with -- them.

Screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith have sold a script about their crazy creative process, which, apparently, involves plenty of champagne and therapy, according to an L.A. Times column about the pair. ABC Studios took notice of the column and approached the duo about spinning a show out of it.

Now ABC Studios has the script and is developing a series about what it calls "their friendship, partnership, and (mis)adventures in Hollywood," reports The Hollywood Reporter. If it's a go, Lutz and Smith will pen the pilot and stay on as consulting producers.

I used to be a huge ER fan. Back in the good ol' Dr. Doug Ross days, I wouldn't miss an episode. It was the first medical drama that I had ever really watched, and I paid attention to it like I was watching an educational video in med school.

This came in handy several years back when I was on a flight to Scotland. It was a long flight and I was trying to sleep when I heard a commotion. A middle-aged man a few rows ahead of me appeared to be choking. However, it quickly became apparent that he was having an allergic reaction that was causing his throat to close up. It was bad news all around, but luckily, there had been an episode of ER that dealt with a very similar situation. So what did I do? I grabbed a pen, took it apart, and jammed the tube into his throat, opening his airway and saving his life. True story.

Okay, none of that actually happened -- because HOSPITAL SHOWS ARE NOT REAL. Apparently, however, Italy doesn't think its residents understand this.

I can't decide if this is good news or bad news. Moonlight star Alex O'Loughlin is staying at CBS.

Unless you've been in another galaxy for the past year, you know that the Aussie actor cultivated an enormous fan base with his role as vampire P.I. Mick St. John on CBS' Moonlight. The uproar caused by the cancellation of the show in May can still be heard, well, in another galaxy.

At the Television Critics Association press tour in July, CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler said the popularity of Moonlight was due in large part to O'Loughlin's fan base. So I can appreciate the fact that CBS wants to keep him around. But it's what they'll do with him that has me worried.

It's coming. The table is set, the players are on the field, the sails are raised, and the pretty maids are all in a row. Of course, I speak of the 2008-09 television schedule. In just a few short weeks viewers will be able to dine on a number of favorite and new dishes that are being served by the networks as well as the increasing number of cable channels who are delving into original programming.

While other fall seasons have come and gone with nary a whimper, this season may be different. Due to the prolonged Writers Strike many shows ended their seasons quite early. Programs like Life, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, and Heroes haven't aired original episodes since the end of 2007. Heck, there hasn't been a new episode of The Shield since June of last year! So, the beginning of the 2008-09 season will be a second chance for some of these shows, particularly the ones that premiered last season, to show their worth to fans and the networks.

I wanted to wait a bit before I posted about the ABC showrunner panel, because a) I already posted about the "news" from Shonda Rhimes about Katherine Heigl's statements, and b) I wanted to think about why these panels seem to be so much more informative than the individual show panels?

We'll get to that more later. On the panel were Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Silvio Horta (Ugly Betty), Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (Lost), and Greg Berlanti (seemingly the rest of ABC's schedule). As you'd expect, Rhimes got the Heigl questions, Lindelof and Cuse got the most esoteric questions, and Chery made the most jokes. The funniest line, though, came from Horta.

The always lively ABC show-runner panel just ended. Included on the panel were Shonda Rhimes, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, Marc Cherry, Greg Berlanti and Silvio Horta. Lindelof made some jokes, and Cherry tried to translate sports metaphors to musical theater metaphors. But we knew one question would come up a few times: How Rhimes reacted to Katherine Heigl's remark about removing herself from Emmy consideration for her work on Grey's Anatomy this season.

What I didn't know was that the most interesting answers would come from my questions.

After Jimmy Kimmel left the room, ABC Entertainment Steve McPherson got on with the business of facing the press at his executive session. I kicked it off with a question about Scrubs, following up on what Bill Lawrence told me in May about a possible "next generation" ninth season.

"We do think there's an opportunity after (this eighth season)," said McPherson. "If any or all the cast is a part of that, I think there's a growth (opportunity) there. It's a show that, despite being moved around into like 17 time periods and really never being given the marketing support, has really performed unbelievably well on NBC." He went on to say that they hope "it won't be a one-season situation."

Other than that, most of the conversation revolved around the network's returning shows, which makes sense, since the network is only debuting a few new shows (none of which had pilots that the network thought were suitable for preview) this fall.

Yes, this is yet another post about behind-the-scenes drama on the Grey's Anatomy set. We have written so many posts on Isaiah Washington, T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl here at TV Squad that I'm starting to believe there is a clause in the actors' contracts stating that they must make the headlines one way or another every month! This month's Grey's Anatomy drama is once again sponsored by actress Katherine Heigl.

In June, Heigl bowed out of the Emmy race because she was not happy with the storylines given to her character last season. Fans and the press speculated that this also meant she wanted out of the ABC show. However, the actress confirmed she wanted to stay on the show. But what if the producers want her out? According to the latest rumor, that's exactly what they want.

Like many people, I was miffed that Journeyman wasn't picked up for another season. But maybe we'll get our fix of Kevin McKidd at Seattle Grace next year.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the Scottish actor, who blew (some of) us away as the time-traveling journalist Dan Vasser on Journeyman, is in talks to join the cast of Grey's Anatomy. The rumor is that McKidd would play a doctor who scrubs in at the hospital after a stint in Iraq.