Prior to the recent Paley Festival 2009 screening of the final three episodes of PUSHING DAISIES, stars Chi McBride, Ellen Greene and creator Bryan Fuller took to the stage to deliver a heartfelt and emotional thank-you to the show’s dedicated and passionate fan base. A thank-you that this TV Addict took the liberty of recording in an effort to hold back the tears as Ellen Greene poured her heart out on stage so that we could share it with you just prior to tomorrow night at 10PM, when ABC begins to air the first of the final three fantastic episodes of this now officially brilliant-but-cancelled series.

RIP PUSHING DAISIES.

Seriously, really different
Which means don’t hold your breath for the epic space-battles that became standard with some of the most memorable episodes of BSG. “There are no Cylons coming to destroy Galactica and the fate of humanity doesn’t hang in the balance each and every week.” re-iterated Moore. “I’m fascinated by stories about people and you either love these character and you want to follow them every week and see what they do next [or you don't!]”

It’s FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (in the future!)
And who better to get audiences invested in the denizens of Caprica than Jeffrey Reimer, the critically acclaimed director of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS who Moore and co-producer David Eick went out of their way to single out (alongside co-write Remi Aubuchon) in their opening remarks at Monday’s Paley event for setting the tone of the series. Added actress Paula Malcomson who plays CAPRICA’s Amanda Graystone, “He [Reimer] had enough cameras sort of positioned so that all the self-consciousness of performance went away. As opposed to doing a master and a close-up, we had all that and it was like creating a play and really working and really doing a scene instead of, you know, we’ve done 13 of those and how was that one and was my close-up good. So it took all the math out of acting. It was really real.”

When in Rome
Further setting CAPRICA apart from its predecessor is that it requires absolute zero knowledge of prior BSG mythology. If you’re one of the many who think a toaster, is well, an actual toaster… don’t worry! Explained Moore, “I never say never, but the intention of CAPRICA is really to make it its own show, a series that stands on its own, that is part of this larger universe but is not predicated on knowledge of, or love of, the original. That was very important to us.” Added Eick, “The connections to BATTLESTAR should be subtle, ‘easter egg’ like, fun but not imperative, to understanding the show.” In other-words, joked showrunner Jane Espenson, fans should not be holding their breath for a surprise appearance by Col. Tigh’s father!

And finally, there’s no rush
Sure, NBC Universal would certainly like you to run out and buy/download CAPRICA right away, but the fact of the matter is that there’s really no rush. Especially since Sci Fi SyFy does not plan on premiering the actual series until early 2010. Which means moments after you jump fof your couch and shout, “Holy Frak! What happens next?” following an epically cool final act… it will quickly dawn on you that ‘next’ won’t happen for a minimum of nine months.

For a complete recap of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA/CAPRICA Paley Festival Event, click here.

For the love of the Gods, before you press play on that just purchased copy of CAPRICA, why not take a moment to ensure the series gets off on the right foot by joining executive producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore in a pre-screening libation, a tradition that goes back to the first initial bow of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA mini-series.

“We were very careful in those days to do it in private because we had a lot of dignity and a lot of self-respect,” revealed Eick mere moments before the curtain fell on CAPRICA at last night’s Paley Festival event honoring both BSG and CAPRICA. “But that’s all changed now.”

So with that in mind, grab your shot of tequila (or for our underage readers, may we responsibly suggest a shot of milk… we hear it does a body good!), press play on the video above, and toast CAPRICA on what will hopefully be the start of a beautiful four, five or fifty-eight season relationship.

So say we all.

Characters coming back from the dead! Season finale shockers! The fate of Michael and Susan! Seriously, this TV Addict did not expect notorious spoiler-phobe Marc Cherry to be so quick to dole out the spoilers. But dole out he did, as you’ll read in this TV Addict’s report from Saturday’s DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES panel at Paley Fest ‘09

Shocker: Mary Alice has an evil twin sister!
Okay, not really. But actress Brenda Strong who plays dearly departed Wisteria Lane resident Mary Alice in addition to narrating almost every single DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES episode does have an idea as to how she might get a little more on-camera screen time for her character. “I always thought maybe some woman just magically moves onto Wisteria Lane who looks uncannily like Mary Alice!” jokes Strong at yesterday’s Paley Festival. Too bad for Strong, creator Marc Cherry explained that, “I’ve had several actors over the course of the series who have suggested a sibling who looks an awful lot like them but it’s something I have resisted because it’s such a staple of daytime soaps.”

OMG: Marc Cherry’s Killer Regret!
Sadly, it’s not killing Edie Britt (more on that later). It’s offing Christine Estabrook who played Martha Huber way back in the first season of HOUSEWIVES. “I love Christine is a friend of mine, a I had done a series with her in the mid-ninties and I said to her during the pilot that I’m going to be killing you in sweeps, sort of my motto,” explained Cherry when asked who he regrets killing off the most. “But by the time it had come to do that plot-line I was really regretting it because she had popped so much.”

Spoiler Alert: The one housewife who will never die is….
Kathryn Joosten, who plays everyone’s favorite curmudgeon Mrs. McCluskey. Explains Cherry, “I remember talking to Kathryn on set one day about THE WEST WING [Cherry is a huge fan] and you [Kathryn] indicated to me that you were a little irritated that Aaron Sorkin killed you off [Adds Joosten, "A little?"] And in a moment of weakness, maybe I was feeling bad or I didn’t want her to be mad at me like she was at Aaron I said I’ll never kill you off. And as soon as the words left my mouth I thought, I don’t usually make that promise. But I have made it and she is the one character who will never be killed off on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.

A Scavo Split Up Shocker!
At least that’s what actor Doug Savant was worried about when moderator Will Keck started sniffing around about the much buzzed about MELROSE PLACE re-boot that just so happens to star Savant’s real-life wife Laura Leighton. Said Savant, “If they were interested in having me back [to MELROSE PLACE] I would entertain the idea…. is there something I need to know [looking over at HOUSEWIVES creator Marc Cherry]…. have I been voted off the island?”

A DESPERATE ratings ploy?
“LOST had gotten so much attention for their fast forward and I though we needed to do something kind of like that. Something shocking,” recalled Cherry when asked about why the five year time jump, which according to executive producer Bob Daily was originally going to be 10 years until Cherry remembered, “Oh wait… I have actresses!”

Breaking News: Susan is never leaving Wisteria Lane!
Or so promises actress Teri Hatcher when asked by moderator Will Keck why she has pledged to never move away from Wisteria Lane, “I love the job, the character and the people I work with.” Too bad the same can’t be said for Eva Longoria-Parker, who it seems is a goner the moment creator Marc Cherry decides to move on. “Marc touches every word of every script. He’s on set everyday and to think of another person doing that…” explains Longoria-Parker, “I’d have reservations about carrying on with the show without Marc.”

Extra! Extra! Mike and Susan together forever eventually!
“This is the traditional problem in doing soap operas is that happily married couples are the death of drama,” explained Cherry on when fans can expect their favorite Wisteria couple to get back together. “Right now it’s interesting exploring a relationship between these two divorced characters and their child. But if Disney makes deals with all of us [as expected] it looks like we’ll get a few more years to play this out and I would imagine at some point in the continuum Susan and Mike will find their way back together.

Spoiler Alert! Get ready for the return of wicked Kathryn Mayfair!
“What you’re going to start to see as Kathryn starts growing closer to MIke yet still has reservation about his connection with Susan is that Kathryn will start doing some very Machiavelli things to keep him closer.” Adds Dana Delaney, “You never quite know about Kathryn, is he telling the truth, lying or just being really nice.”

Wisteria Whaaat? Guess who Mrs McClusky has her eye on!
“I have my eye on the [Scavo] twins!” joked actress Kathryn Joosten when asked by moderator Will Keck who Mrs. McClusky would like to hook up with if given the option! Adds Cherry on a more serious note, “I was just recently talking to Kathryn about a love interest for next season and she actually had a couple of interesting ideas which were somewhat shocking to me. She’s not the conservative older woman you would think she would be. There’s a wildcat in there!”

Killing off Nicollette Sheridan: Cherry comes clean
“Nicollette played Edie better than anyone in this town ever could have and I respect her so much,” explained Cherry. “But when a show goes on for years and years, I have a desire to keep you guys in engaged and to do that I have to keep this thing fresh, surprise you and come up with new characters that intrigue you. Creatively, my writers were starting to run out of ideas and the hope is that by killing off a beloved character, we get the opportunity to bring some new freshness to the lane.” Adds Cherry, “On tonight’s episode, we actually did something I’ve never done before. We did a whole episode about one character as Edie Britt deserves her due. She even gets the voiceover.”

Spoiler Alert! Gale Harold returns
According to Cherry, “In two Sundays, Harold will return and complicate Susan’s life in the most surprising of ways.” Not enough intel? Click here for more scoop.

More Spoilers! Nathan Fillion…..
… does not return. But that’s only because he’s otherwise occupied with his own ABC series CASTLE. A scheduling snafu that often plagues the show, with Cherry explaining that he’d also love to bring back Mark Moses who played Paul Young, but can’t due to Moses commitment to MAD MEN.

Finale Spoiler! Cherry teases the final five minutes.
“A major character from the first two seasons will be featured in the last five minutes of our season finale,” teases a surprisingly spoiler happy Cherry. “I think it will be a big shock who we decided to bring back.” [For the record, theTVaddict is thinking that Zach Young will be making a return, as John the gardner is way too obvious]

Our Paley Festival adventure continues with a report from Friday night’s panel honoring THE MENTALIST featuring the cast (Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Owain Yeoman, Amanda Righetti, missing in action Tim Kang) and creative team (Bruno Heller and Chris Demetral).

On the show’s origins:
Creator/executive producer Bruno Heller’s basic pitch for THE MENTALIST was Sherlock Homes, with a spin. “Essentially it was our attempt to get back to an old fashioned detective in which we tried to create a framework for a bravura performance by a great actor and this is the result.”

Inspiration for Thomas Jane:
“If you go to any city in America, any part of town, you’ll find a psychic on the block who is essentially applying the same trade as mentalists,” explains Heller. “They’re trying to create the illusion that they can read your mind, that they can see beyond the veil. And what they’re doing is essentially using genuine nature skills of empathy… to create the illusion of supernatural powers. And that seemed to be a very interesting moral position to be in because they’re essentially performing the function of a psychoanalyst or a priest. But at the same time they’re lying about their powers. And least that’s my opinion. I think the interesting thing about the psychics is that half the country will say they’re, it’s not real, they’re charlatans, the other half will say, no, they are truthful and profound things about them. And it’s precisely that line that mentalists walks along.”

Simon Baker vs. Tim Roth:
“I haven’t seen an episode of LIE TO ME but I think Tim Roth is a fantastic actor,” explains star Simon Baker. “My fear always going into the THE MENTALIST was, how can you branch out the concept so that the characters can go in a lot of different directions. And I was very interested in how LIE TO ME deals with it, the concept after five or six episodes. It’s a lie! So what?”

Meet the class clown:
When asked by moderator Ben Grossman who the class clown is among the cast, without missing a beat, the entire panel looked over at Owain Yeoman, who quickly blamed the panel’s only absentee member Tim Kang, “He’s a joker.” Adds Baker, “Tunney has her moments too.” Who quickly defends herself by saying, Sometimes when I guy wins ‘Sexiest Guy on Television,’ somebody’s got to make fun of him.”

Meet the class clown (Part II):
Continuing the light-hearted tone of the evening, Robin Tunney attempts to praise creator Bruno Heller by saying that the relaxed tone on the set, “comes from the bottom down.”
Bruno Heller: “Bottom down?”
Robin Tunney [Laughing]: “Top down. A lot of guys that are successful in Hollywood are the guys who weren’t cool in high school and want to take control, be loud and feel important.”
Bruno Heller: “Are you saying I wasn’t cool in high school?”
Robin Tunney: “He’s really bright, he’s not somebody who got this job who couldn’t get a girlfriend. [Heller mimes digging a hole, audience laughs] He’s incredibly comfortable with himself, nobody feels slighted, everybody feels safe, incredibly gentle and kind. I don’t think that happens a lot. I feel completely good at work and it’s because of him.”

Owain hearts Chuck Norris:
“Tim [Kang] and I will pass many hours reading Chuck Norris facts,” explained Yeoman. “I can recommend “Chuck Norris vs. Mr. T” which is one of my favorites.” Adds Yeoman when asked for his favorite Chuck Norris fact, “When Chuck Norris doesn’t do a push up, he pushes the world down.”

Earmuffs!:
Or at least that’s what moderator Ben Grossman told the mother of two young kids in the audience before asking, “When is somebody finally going to get laid on the show?” Answered Heller, “It’s deliberate that everyone is not getting laid every week. I don’t think people get laid in real life as they do in television. But I just think that we’ll go there but we’ll go there carefully, respectively and slowly. And once you start getting laid you have to keep getting laid and we only have five actors.” Adds Tunney, “The chase is so much more fun.”

Jisbon forever:
Grossman alerts the panel that there is a “Brangelina-esque” name for Jane and Lisbon, “Jisbon!” And not only that, there is a facebook group as well: Jisbon Forever, complete with 18 members.

Should they or shouldn’t they:
Baker says “No! [Claps the audience] What was it… MOONLIGHTING…. did they get together? [Audience: Yes!] Was that the end of the show? [Audience: Yes!] Bingo!” Adds Heller, “That will be the end of the show then.” “I think the reason why the relationship works is that the characters are hardwired completely differently,” explains Tunney. “They approach work completely differently and they’re both very damaged. He’s [Jane] has been through this horrible thing with his wife, he’s not dating material.”

Elaborates Baker, “There’s five regular characters on the show. Van Pelt and Rigsby represent youthful sexual exuberance desire while our characters [Jane and Lisbon] represent a working evolved adult relationship where people see things differently at times. There’s sort of a sibling relationship and sometimes I think it’s paternal relationship. I think we’re not just pursing the sort of sexy vibe all the time, we’re actually filling their relationship with other areas people can identify with.”

THE MENTALIST vs. The Devil Wears Prada:
On which role was more fun, Baker says, “This one, because I had like three scenes in The Devil Wears Prada and I get to play this one every day.”

Paging Nurse Baker:
Prior to acting, Baker went to nursing school. “I was a dud student who spent too much time socializing and couldn’t concentrate, cognitive difficulties,” recalled Baker. “I was looking for a way out from the small town and meet women and the best possibility was nursing school where 85% of the students were women, 85% of the men were gay. So suffice to say, there will be a Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow movie about two guys going to nursing school!”

Solving the mystery of Thomas Jane’s car:
According to Baker, Thomas Jane’s car [a Citreon DS 21 in case you're wondering] was the actor’s idea. “Like his old worn shoes, I thought he [Jane] would be a guy who woul dhave a unique car.” Adds Tunney, “I still can’t open the door on it!”

Funniest fan question of the night:
Goes to the woman who told Baker, “My husband told me to say he thinks your ride marvelously in Ride with the Devil. He likes your riding, I like you!”

The truth about the CBI:
“The CBI used to exist but no longer does,” revealed Heller. Laughs Tunney with regards to the irony, “They [CBI] finally get a TV show and they no longer exist!”

Direct from the Paley Fest ‘09 in Hollywood comes the TV Addict’s report from the hilarious and heartwarming panel featuring the cast (Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar) and creators (Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady) of hit CBS show THE BIG BANG THEORY.

What’s in a name: Producer, co-creator Chuck Lorre revealed that the character names of Sheldon and Leonard were a “goofy homage… just a little fan thing of our own… a tip of the hat,” to pioneering film and television producer, actor and writer Sheldon Leonard.

It all started with: Sheldon, Leonard and a very hard partying dangerous girl who moved next door. [The original [working] title for THE BIG BANG THEORY was “Lenny, Penny and Kenny”] “We learned very quickly that the audience hated this girl [who would eventually evolve into Penny] because they were protective of these two guys. They were innocent with big open hearts and you simply couldn’t put a toxic girl next to them,” explained Chuck Lorre with regards to the initial pilot that didn’t make the cut. “But CBS did a nice thing and gave us another chance. The network recognized that even though we hadn’t got the writing right, that they had two stars in these two guys [Sheldon's Jim Parsons and Leonard's Johnny Galecki] and said, do it again.”

Simon and Kunal’s theory on the show’s success: “The cast is really good looking,” joked Kunal Nayyar who plays Rajesh Koothrappali on the show. “Me!” added Simon Helberg who plays Wolowitz before transitioning to a more serious note, “I don’t think there are that many cool people in the world, really. So I think everybody’s got this inner kind of nerd that sort of feels inept in certain ways.”

What’s in a name (Part II): Just to clarify for all the fansites out there, “Shenny,” is what Kaley calls Sheldon and Penny scenes, because “Peldon,” according to Jim [Parsons] sounds like a garment.

Guest Star [Red] Alert: “When somebody comes on the show as a guest star they have to really step it up,” revealed Lorre. Added co-creator Bill Prady, “We’ve seen people come in and not be able to stay with us. You’re playing in the big leagues with these guys.”

K.I.S.S: Who knew this TV Addict’s high school english teacher had what it took to work for Chuck Lorre, whose entire philosophy when it comes to writing THE BIG BANG THEORY is K.I.S.S. [Keep It Simple Stupid] “There probably hasn’t been, of the 40 some odd episodes that we’ve done where Chuck hasn’t said, ‘Could this story be smaller? Simpler?’ Because when you get down to, the characters look at the world differently you don’t have to do elaborate storytelling around them. It is just let’s go sit in a train or Sheldon’s inability to figure out how to buy a Christmas present. Because the characters are different then you need the most ordinary of situations to put them in… which sometimes makes stories hard to come up with. Because at first it doesn’t look like it’s going to be anything until you listen to the voices of the characters.”

Aspiring TV Writers Tip #1: “Befriend Chuck Lorre,” said Pardy when talking about how to get a show on the air. “The show came from fundamentally hating what I was doing [for a living] and calling up Chuck and asking if he wanted to do a pilot. We then made the decision to figure it out on our own and just started writing it.” Now here’s the part where being friends with Chuck Lorre pays off. Because Lorre, thanks to a string of hit sitcoms including DHARMA & GREG and TWO AND A HALF MEN is one of the few men in Hollywood who has the power to put CBS head honcho Les Moonves in a room, get a few actors together and essentially act out what would become THE BIG BANG THEORY.

The origins of Sheldon: “Before I was a writer I was a computer programmer and was working with guys who were amazingly bright and had a little trouble fitting into the world, me among them. I would tell Chuck [Lorre] about a guy I knew who was a human calculator. If you programmed in Z80 assembly you had to convert from decimal to hexadecimal and you could either grab the calculator or you could shout it to this guy and he would be faster. But he couldn’t calculate a tip at a restaurant. And the reason is because the formula for a tip is 15-20% depending upon the quality of the service and he couldn’t put a numeric value on the service. It was human.”

The origins of Jim Parsons: “The first time Jim read for Sheldon I thought he must have gotten lucky, that can’t be real, it can’t happen again. I said, ‘Bring him back [into the audition room] and he’ll break your heart.’” Recalls Prady, “I said that’s the guy, and not only did he not break our hearts he did it better. His performance on the second audition, when he locked into it, has never changed. It’s weird.” Added Jim Parsons, “I have problems…”

The origins of Wolowitz: Revealed Prady, “There was a guy named Dave and Dave had a series of women, all kinds of women. And said he had two rules and the rules were: proposition every woman, have no standards.”

A Promise From Penny: Expect Kaley to make hordes of “sweaty men” [as Simon so affectionally referred to them] sweat even more with her plans for Comic Con 2009, “I want to dress up this year!”

If the CERN Large Hadron Collider Explodes…: Blame the scientists who love the show, have visited the set, and probably are spending a little too much time watching the show when they really should be watching that Super Collider!

The Mystery that is Penny’s Last Name: “It’s a very strange thing and has now become somewhat superstitious,” admits Prady. “Characters get names as you need them. Leonard and Sheldon didn’t have last names for a long time and ultimately someone called them by their last names. Wolowitz and Koothrappali started out with last names and then got first names.”

The Koothrappali that almost was: Dave Koothrappali was almost a reality, with Kunal recounting that, “Originally, my first name was ‘Dave’” Recalls Prady, “The original idea for Koothrappali was that he was going to be American born to Indian parents. But when Kunal came in….” Interjects Simon, “He was just so Indian!”

The Rules: In case you’re wondering, the rules to rock, paper scissors, lizard spock can be found here

THE BIG BANG THEORY ‘The College Years’: Don’t hold your breath. For as much fun as it might be to pull a LOST and flashback, which Chuck promises jokes we’ll see in “season 7″ he’s not so sure it would work, considering the gang basically all attended college when they were 14!

Putting to rest Ausiello’s scoop from earlier in the week: Lorre quickly shut down the audience who yelled “Penny!” when moderator Cynthia Littleton asked about a love interest for Sheldon. “We’re pretty clear that Sheldon’s passion lies elsewhere. Sheldon is in love with science. He’s opted out and it’s really interesting because i don’t know that I’ve ever seen a character on television that’s opted out. ‘No this is not what I want out of life. i want this over here.’ That makes Sheldon very special very interesting to me. All that energy is devoted to the things he loves. I think it’s great.”

Tonight’s reason why audience Q&A rocks: Comes from a 16 year old aspiring actress who told Kaley, “I just wanted to say without the intent of making you cry, thank you so much for being a positive role model. When most girls look up to the people on THE HILLS it’s nice to have someone so real and so genuine to look up to.”

We solve the mystery of how Simon fits into his wardrobe: “It requires pulling and I’ve actually had to have assistants help. I wish I was joking.”

Knowing full well that the story of how a ridiculously talented family band together during last year’s WGA strike to create what would become the most buzzed about internet sensation of last year has been told ad nauseam, this TV Addict thought we’d take a different approach in recapping last night’s DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG panel from Paley Festival 2009. So here it goes, one or two (or fifteen) things that you may not have known about DR. HORRIBLE. Including but not limited to Nathan Fillion’s true feelings about Neil Patrick Harris, the power of Sondheim and the true power of Wonderflonium… but more on that later.

FAMILY MATTERS
Aside from changing the whole landscape of television and becoming the accidental poster-boy for do-it-yourself content on the web, one of the major driving forces behind DR. HORRIBLE was to give Joss an excuse to work with his brothers. Or as Joss explained, as only he can, “DR. HORRIBLE will bond us or break the family apart forever. It’s worth the risk.”

LITTLE KNOWN PALEY TIE-IN
If you were one of the hundreds of fans lucky enough to attend last year’s Paley Fest BUFFY reunion and was curious as to why exactly Joss was out of breath and looked like he had just run a marathon prior to the event, well… mystery solved. “The very last night of the very last shot [shooting DR. HORRIBLE] was when I snuck in the bathroom of the laundromat, changed into a suit and came here to talk to you about BUFFY,” revealed Joss.

FILLION=FUNNY
Okay, so not exactly shocking news, but when asked by the event’s fantastic moderator Matt Roush (Part-Time Whedon Fanboy, full-time critic for TVGuide Magazine) as to what his favorite part of the experience was, Fillion dead-panned, “You [looking at the Whedon Bros. and Felicia Day] did all the heavy lifting…. I’m just so happy now…. I can’t even tell you guys how much joy it brings to my heart that… Neil [Patrick Harris] couldn’t make it.”

IT PAYS TO HAVE FRIENDS
Or to be more specific, friends in high places — as Joss explained to all you aspiring filmmakers out there, “The head of production at Universal gave us the lot, the run of the whole thing, for a song, just because we worked together on Serenity and he’s a really sweet guy.”

IT ALSO PAYS TO BE A MUSICAL THEATER GEEK
Being raised listening to showtunes may not exactly scream popularity in high school, but as Zack Whedon can attest to, may in fact pave the way for a lucrative career in television and movies, “Definitely a Sondheim influence because it’s unavoidable if you’re writing something that’s good.”

FELICIA ON THE FUTURE
When she’s not starring in DR. HORRIBLE and dropping by popular television shows such as BUFFY, HOUSE and DOLLHOUSE, Felicia Day spends her time writing, directing and producing THE GUILD, one of the web’s most popular online television shows. “I basically got bored and wanted to act, but nobody would hire me,” explained Felicia, semi-seriously backpedaling, “Well, people will hire me… sometimes… whatever, I’m still here. But I got so passionate about it [THE GUILD] because I really had control of it and with DR. HORRIBLE it’s the same thing. Here we are making it, having a great time, putting our heart into it. You just don’t see that in the traditional world of television.”

JOSS’ FELICIA FASCINATION
“THE GUILD was really the first series I watched on the internet, that I was involved in and made me laugh,” explained Joss about his internet viewing habits. “And before we ever talked about Felicia being in it [DOLLHOUSE], I asked her for advice about how do I do this.”

Which as it would turn out, paid off in unexpected ways, when Felicia gave Joss’ agency and their internet gurus a lesson [or two] in online marketing, “Felicia just schooled them. They had no idea what to do with this. It was completely new, even though it was very traditional storytelling and ultimately the exact same length as an episode of TV… It was a great thing to watch. Little Felicia who had been very quiet and then started to speak and everybody else got very quiet. It was quite a BUFFY moment – the woman you aren’t paying attention to is the one who’s getting it done.”

JOSS ON TWITTER
Since it’s virtually impossible to have a conversation these days without the topic of twitter coming up, here is Joss and Jed’s take on the subject. After of course a shameless plug for theTVaddict.com’s own Twitter account (Follow us here!)

Joss: I don’t get twitter, I think it might be dirty.
Jed: You’re going to twitter tonight.
Joss: Buy me a drink first.

Note, you can now follow Joss @drhorrible and Nathan at @nathanfillion on twitter.

MORE FUN WITH FILLION
Not only did Nathan reveal that one of his part time jobs while working through university was as a Karaoke host “I could kill ‘The Rose.” Joss let us in on a little secret about actors. They always want to do whatever they’re not doing. “When we were doing Serenity, we were recording the Reavers and Nathan said, ‘I can take a run’ and of course it was the best vocal track we got.”

DR. EVIL LAB INCLUDED
One of the other ways in which Joss and Co. were able to cut costs for DR. HORRIBLE was in the set department. Where as luck would have it, Dr. Horrible’s lab wasn’t so much of a set as an actual lab, “Our Assistant Director Otto was friends with a guy who had an evil lab,” explained Joss. “All those tubes you see in the background of his blog all dispense Vodka and Jack.”

THE HORSE OF COURSE!
Who’d have thought that the most famous actor aside from Neil Patrick Harris who couldn’t attend tonight’s panel was a four legged-one. Turns out, that the horse who played “Bad Horse” is one of Whedon’s most prolific stock players, having appeared in DR. HORRIBLE, ANGEL and next week’s episode of DOLLHOUSE.

PROOF THAT YES, WHEDON’S ARE HUMAN TOO
In testing the initial DR. HORRIBLE trailer, Jed fessed up to uploading it to Vimeo and then naming it ‘Dr. Horrible,’ “Like I’m a genius…. I mean who’s going to go on the internet and find it!” Joked Nathan, “How ever did they crack your code?” Replied Jed, “Not my finest hour.”

JOSS IS A NPH FANBOY
“I’m a huge fan, I saw him do ASSASSINS. I love his voice and comedic chops,” explained Joss when asked how casting Neil Patrick Harris came about, “I know him through Amy Acker so I’ve known him for a while and actually sung with him and Amy and James Wedding. Which put me in full “Squee” mode, I was geekin’ out so hard!”

FUN WITH FILLION PART 3
“I would wear a darker outfit, to symbolize the darkness,” joked Fillion when asked what he imagines his character would go through in a DR. HORRIBLE sequel. “I would grow my hair out and do more of a pompadour. All heavy hitting character stuff. Layers upon layers of acting challenge.

AKWARD QUESTION OF THE NIGHT
Goes to the fan who asked Joss what would happen if you took all the money FOX is giving you for DOLLHOUSE and made more episodes of FIREFLY, would anyone notice?

MORE FUTURE OF THE WEB WITH FELICIA
“I love doing the web shows, but I’m not rolling in money,” admitted Felicia who it turns out was only slightly embarrassed to have discovered that she is wearing the same shirt that she wore in DR. HORRIBLE. “I haven’t bought new clothes for a year!”

CRINGEWORTHY FAN QUESTION OF THE NIGHT
As much as we cringed when a gentleman in the audience asked Felicia if she would join his World of Warcraft Guild. We kind of want to thank the man for making us feel only slightly better about our unhealthy obsession with television.

BEST QUESTION OF THE NIGHT
What will happen if Wonderflonium is bounced? “It’s too terrible to tell,” Joss says. “But I will tell you that it will cause me to Twitter.”

ACTUAL BEST QUESTION OF THE NIGHT
When one fan asked Joss why he keeps on going back to FOX after the FIREFLY fiasco and now DOLLHOUSE (not to mention, joked Joss, “Let’s not forget ALIEN RESURRECTION”) “The fact is it is eerily similar in some ways [but] very different in other ways. And the reason I went back was because of Eliza [Dushku]. And I don’t care, she’s worth it. There are different people that I’m dealing with [at FOX] and I think they’re pretty decent, honest people. Some of them have left recently but some of them are still there. The relationship has always been equitable. It’s always been [about] trying to find the show. And it’s very different than when it was with FIREFLY. But I will say that probably the worst thing I could have done right before starting DOLLHOUSE was DR. HORRIBLE. Because it just rolled off us, it just came out from our hearts. We sang and bang that was it. I mean five months total between our first sit down to stream. And then to work so hard and get so lost [on DOLLHOUSE] by a process that, you know, it wasn’t being run by bad people or mean people, it’s just that grind after the freedom of DR. HORRIBLE. It made me a much crankier person and a worse boss.”

As usual, feel free to follow my adventure on twitter and keep in mind that if the site is a little slow on updates this week, it’s because I’ve either (a) have been detained and (for the record) 100% wrongfully accused of breaking into the FOX lot and demanding that TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES get a third season renewal. (b) I’ve been ‘discovered,’ already forgotten about the ‘little people’ who helped get me where I am today and ended up in rehab after spending one too many nights hanging out with Lindsay Lohan. Or (c) which let’s face it, is the most realistic reason — I’ve OD’ed on Pinkberry which I’m only slightly obsessed with since it’s not available up here in the great white north (Toronto, Canada).

First let’s be clear. The William S. Paley Television Festival is this TV Addict’s Super Bowl equivalent. So much so that for three out of the past four years, I’ve shelled out far too much money than I care to think about for the privilege of spending one week in Los Angeles amidst some of my favorite television show’s casts and creative teams (click here for coverage.)

That said, Daniel Fienberg’s recent column asking, “Has the Paley Festival lost its way?” really got me thinking. And not just about how I can legally change my last name so that it fits into a clever blog title like “The Fien Print.”  

Rather, I’ve been thinking about what I would do if I programmed Paley. And how for every show that is worth honoring this year (see: BIG LOVE and DR. HORRIBLE’s SING-ALONG BLOG) there seems to be an equal number of shows that have yet to prove themselves worthy of sharing the same stage with the likes of past honourees including DEXTER, THE SOPRANOS and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (see: 90210 and DOLLHOUSE.)

Don’t get me wrong, the TV Addict loves Joss Whedon as much as the next Browncoat. But even the most ardent of Whedon supporters would have to concede that awarding his fledging new series DOLLHOUSE a spot among the Paley elite is a wee bit premature. Especially when you consider that Whedon is already being singled out for his ground-breaking new media experiment DR. HORRIBLE’s SING-ALONG BLOG.

In fact, a more cynical TV Addict might speculate that the current trend in Paley programming is to honor shows with a young and vibrant fan base that can handily sell out Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome and simultaneously line the Paley Center for Media’s coffers. Which by the way, I’m not the least bit adverse to considering the countless hours I’ve spent enjoying both the New York and Los Angeles based museums. I just can’t help but feel that there may have been some slightly overlooked and far more deserving shows that could have been included in this year’s festivities.

I mean come’on — 90210? Have the Paley programmers even watched the series?

If I programmed Paley, Julia Louis Dreyfus’ phenomenally underrated NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE would be honored well before relative newcomer THE BIG BANG THEORY. A timely look at the history of late night television featuring a panel of past, current and future hosts would be closing out the Festival rather than the already cancelled and little watched SWINGTOWN. While ABC Family’s GREEK would get some long overdue praise in place of 90210. The latter of which has absolutely no place in any television related festival unless of course it’s headlining a panel entitled, “How NOT to relaunch a cultural icon.”

And don’t even get me started on the inclusion of THE HILLS, because honestly, I’m at a loss for words. Or at the very least, words that are safe for work.

Related Articles of Interest:
The William S. Paley Festival Celebrates “The Hills” And Its Contribution To Television Culture
Has the Paley Festival lost its way?

Good News: 30 ROCK star Tracy Morgan makes headlines that don’t involve the letters “D,” “U,” and “I” Bad News: The headline reads, “Breaking News: Tracy Morgan’s Apartment Catches Fire.” [Source]

Good News: The 2009 Paley Festival features an incredible lineup of shows including 90210, TRUE BLOOD, DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG, DOLLHOUSE, THE BIG BANG THEORY, THE MENTALIST, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, PUSHING DAISIES, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA/CAPRICA, THE HILLS, BIG LOVE, FRINGE and SWINGTOWN. Bad News: This TV Addict doesn’t own a private jet or live in Los Angeles. [Source]