Now playing in this week's Mitovich Mega Minute:
• It's the face-off 24 fans have been waiting for — Chloe vs. Janice! Mary Lynn Rajskub shares a peek at what happens when socket monkey meets socket monkey.
• Will a picture trigger a thousand angry words between CSI: Miami's Eric and Calleigh?
• A Star Trek reunion is coming to TNT. See which show is playing host, and who all is involved.
Watch and discuss the new MMM after the jump.
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"The 12 Step Job" was the last episode we shot before the season finale.* We were all feeling a little bit sentimental and nostalgic. We knew that on the finale we were going to be pumped up about working with Dean Devlin and John Rogers again, and celebrating the long journey we'd been on together, so in some ways this episode was the lull before the storm.
We had a great guest star to cheer us all up. Drew Powell is a funny and talented actor who we all really clicked with. In fact, Drew and Beth [Riesgraf] were already pals and it turned out that Drew and I ...
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Burt Young and Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU
Leverage
10 pm/ET TNT The seedy and the greedy keep taking down the needy, and Nate Ford and his Ford-tough subordinates render yet another high-tech scam to stop it. Tonight their mark is an investment broker who apparently bilked a charity. The crew's scheme involves tricking the financier to enter a rehab facility for his long list of various vices, which include addictions to nicotine patches, porn, gambling, lying and eating. Sadly, it turns out rehab might be a suitable place for one of the team members, too.
Read on for previews of American Idol, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Nip/Tuck and Nova.
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Beth Riesgraf
Perhaps the coolest element of TNT's Leverage — which airs Tuesdays at 10 pm/ET, and has just been picked up for a second season — is its colorful cast of characters, each of whom is more assured of their snatching skills than the next. That quality is no better personified than by Beth Riesgraf's Parker, an upper-echelon cat burglar who loves climbing walls and sticking her claws into other people's things. Riesgraf gave TVGuide.com a look at what's ahead for her sexy and sassy sneak.
TVGuide.com: Other caper series, like Heist, Thief and Smith, were short-lived. Why do you think Leverage has shown legs?
Beth Riesgraf: I think it's because it's a fun show that really anybody can watch; it makes people think about [the corporate malfeasance] happening in the world today, and there's something satisfying about seeing the bad guys get messed with while the good guys are helped for once.
TVGuide.com: I've got to think this is the most fun you've ever had in a role.
Riesgraf: Absolutely. I mean, I've had a lot of fun working before ...
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Leverage
Leverage has leveraged itself a second season.
The TNT drama about a band of con artists who use their skills to rip off other thieves – from crooked developers to corrupt companies – received an order for a 15-episode sophomore run, the cabler announced.
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Hi to all of you watching Leverage and checking out this blog. Your comments mean a lot to me. I've been back in London for several weeks now so have been unable to see the episodes airing and have not been getting the usual feedback from friends or people I meet. I keep thinking an American tourist might recognize me and say, "Are you Sophie Deveraux?" but it hasn't happened yet!!
"Snow Job" was shot in the height of the summer in ...
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Most of this episode of Leverage takes place in an airplane. Tim [Hutton] and I get to sit in the First Class section of the set, which is a big relief, because when filming in a confined space, you want to be as comfortable as possible. We're using a real interior of a plane constructed in the studio. Some shots require the cabin doors to be closed so it's a bit like sitting on a 12-hour flight day after day with the added stress of squeezing past equipment and stepping over cables with hot, bright lights burning into you.
There are a lot of extras playing passengers and crew. Most of the women, including Beth [Riesgraf] and I, are wearing fluffy slippers ...
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Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, American Idol
American Idol
8 pm/ET Fox
Simon says: It's time for Season 8 to begin. The mega-popular music showcase kicks off with a fresh pool of wannabe stars rendering trial performances in the inaugural audition round.
Read on for previews of Chopped, Law & Order: SVU, Leverage and Nip/Tuck.
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This episode is a more comedic script than the rest of the shows. Everyone has a fun character to play and some great one-liners. Tim [Hutton] gets to dress up as a priest, which Beth [Riesgraf] and I both agree makes him seem strangely attractive. We're filming in a really over the top house. It makes me wonder how a location scout pitches for a 'mafia style, vulgar, nouveau riche house' without offending anyone? This is, after all, somebody's home, albeit someone who has an upholstered leopard skin mini-chaise for his dog.
I had a little car crash on the way to work. Someone was ...
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Ellen Pompeo (Grey's Anatomy), Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) and Carlos Bernard (24)
Senior editors Matt Mitovich, Mickey O'Connor and Tim Molloy answer your questions. Drop us a line at mega_scoop@tvguide.com. Also: Follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/TVGuide for live backstage updates from the Golden Globes this Sunday.
Got any scoop on Grey's Anatomy's MerDer? Do you have any idea when we'll see the McMansion being built? — Emilee
MATT: In lieu of talking drywall (there's no foreseeable movement on Der's dream home), may I interest you in some drama? It turns out that the death row inmate who is admitted to Seattle Grace this week could do some damage to your MerDer. Guest star Eric Stoltz teases that during his three-episode arc, "I certainly insinuate myself into their relationship and am the source of not a little strife."
Any word on dates for the final three episodes of Pushing Daisies? — Kathy
MICKEY: ABC is contractually obligated to air the remaining episodes, but I've also heard that they might burn them all off ...
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