[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Steve Martin has allegedly signed on to appear in a guest role capacity on this season of 30 Rock , reuniting Martin with his former Baby Mama co-star Tina Fey (they also memorably appeared in February in an SNL opening monologue). I cannot bloody wait! ( New York Magazine ) Speaking of Tina Fey, NBC is staying mum about whether Fey will make another appearance on Saturday Night Live , but executive producer Lorne Michaels is said to have some backups in mind just in case Fey won't be returning to the sketch comedy series as Sarah Palin. I thought Fey was pitch-perfect as the vice presidential candidate and would love to see her return... so long as it doesn't detract from her work on 30 Rock , which launches its third season next month. ( Hollywood Reporter ) "In some other dimension are Ben and Charles Whitmore just two drinking buddies playing a video game?," wonders Lost 's Michael Emerson. Find out in thi

It's hard to believe that in the time since we last caught up with Chuck Bartowski, there have been babies conceived and born since the last new episode of Chuck aired in January. It's a sobering thought, one born out of NBC's decision to hold off restarting Chuck last season and instead relaunch Season Two in the fall. From a practical place, it makes sense to give Chuck 's creators, Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, time to re-evaluate without the added pressure of rushing the series back onto the air and I understood this decision. But, being a fan of this winsome and hilarious action comedy series, I couldn't help but want to rip out my hair from frustration. So imagine my excitement last week when I received the first three episodes of Chuck 's sophomore season for my viewing pleasure. It's been, yes, nine months since we last met up with Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and the psychotic employees of Buy More and I can honestly say that my enthusiasm for the series

Is it just me or is Tony turning out to be a total sociopath? I'm speaking, of course, of last night's episode of Skins ("Maxxie and Anwar"), which saw the kids traveling to Russia as part of their school history coursework, only to encounter corruption, violence, and the savagery of their Russian jailer/caretaker, prone to serving up gruel (with a garnish of parsley) and hosing down the students each morning. Having the kids break out of their everyday lives to take this bizarro trip eastward was the perfect vehicle to bring about some major changes to the Skins status quo: best friends Maxxie and Anwar nearly come to blows during an ideological discussion in which Muslim Anwar tells gay Max that he thinks that homosexuality is wrong; teacher Tom hits on Angie (after forcing her to share a room with him)... which in turn leads Chris and Angie to consummate their taboo relationship not once but twice; Anwar loses his virginity; Sid finds himself trapped in a house w

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Kristen Bell's mentally unstable character Elle Bishop will get her backstory spelled out this season on Heroes . Bell has hinted that Elle may have some previous connections to some of the characters and these may be disclosed during the drama's third season, which kicks off on September 22nd. ( Sci Fi Wire ) Rose McGowan ( Charmed ) will replace Katee Sackhoff ( Battlestar Galactica ) on an upcoming four episode stint on FX's Nip/Tuck . Sackhoff was due to play Theodora "Teddy" Lowe, a doctor and potential love interest for Sean (Dylan Walsh) but likely had to back out of the role after being cast as the lead in Dick Wolf's NBC drama pilot Lost and Found . ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) In other Nip/Tuck news, production begins today on the sixth and final season of the FX drama and the stars' representatives are still said to be "deep in salary renegotiations," with Julian Mc

Televisionary is proud to be a member of the TV Blog Coalition. At the end of each week, we'll feature a roundup of content from our sister sites for your delectation. This week, I interviewed The Office 's Amy Ryan and Paul Lieberstein about Season Five of the NBC comedy, gave an advance review of the CW's new teen drama Privileged , offered talk backs on the series premieres of HBO's True Blood and FOX's Fringe , and gave five reasons why I loved the latest episode of Mad Men . Oh, and I was interviewed by E! Online's Kristin dos Santos in the latest issue of USA Weekend . Elsewhere in the sophisticated TV-obsessed section of the blogosphere, members of the TV Blog Coalition were discussing the following items... What was in the water during 2004-05? Buzz salutes the TV season that brought us Lost , House , and Grey's Anatomy . ( BuzzSugar ) This week, Sandie share some news and spoilers from Supernatural 's new season. ( Daemon's TV ) After liste

While I am usually loath to self-promote, this time I can't help it. You can check me out in this weekend's edition of USA Weekend (available in more than 600 local newspapers around the country) or online right now as E Online's Kristin dos Santos interviews me and fellow TV bloggers Kathie Skerry of Give Me My Remote and Kimra McPherson of BuzzSugar as we talk about our favorite returning series this fall. Just which series did we collectively choose as our top must-see TV picks? Find out by reading "Fall TV: Who's got buzz?" (And also check out my comprehensive guide to What I'll Be Watching This Fall .) Do you agree with our picks? Do Pushing Daisies, 30 Rock , and The Office top your lists of fave returnees? And which series are you most looking forward to watching again this fall?

Looking for a copy of the Mad Men pilot script signed by creator Matthew Weiner and the cast? You've come to the right place. It's that time of year again as BAFTA/LA has announced the start of its online celebrity auction, which kicks off on Saturday, September 13th and runs through Sunday, September 28th. (Once the Celebrity Auction goes live, you can place your bids here .) BAFTA/LA will host its sixth annual Tea Party on Saturday, September 20th. Why is this newsworthy, do you ask? I'll tell you: it's a prime opportunity to not only help support the non-profit educational foundation of BAFTA/LA (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles)--including BAFTA/LA Inner City Cinema benefiting local youth, the Heritage Archive, scholarships, seminars, and mentoring programs and internships--but also to bid on some seriously fantastic collectibles related to some of your favorite series. Up for grabs in this auction: one-of-a-kind celebrity designed teapot