Question: Your vacation pic looks like the Cornerstone Festival of Gardens, in Sonoma Valley, Calif. — Tom Ausiello: Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ladies and gents, we have a winner! Please step forward to accept either a copy of Gilmore Girls: The Complete Third Season DVD. Or, if you prefer, a Stacked coffee mug. (No substitutions, please.)
Question: Please tell us who is going to die in the NCIS season finale! I'm dying here! — Isabel Ausiello: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT: My spies think it's McGee, but they're not 100 percent certain. Personally, I hope it's Tony — he's been just plain obnoxious lately.
Question: I cannot wait until this Thursday's CSI finale to find out: Please tell me Nick lives and is coming back next season! — Janice Ausiello: Well, let me ask you this: If you were buried alive for 24 hours with nothing but 600 liters of air, a tape recorder, a gun, a glow stick, a piece of bubble gum and about 100,000 flesh-eating creepy-crawly things, would you survive?
Question: Will you still do AA this summer? For lack of material, will you end up talking about Big Brother a lot? — Matthew Gard Ausiello: Over my dead, maggot-infested body. Rather, I'm contemplating doing special theme columns. Some possibilities include, "Ask Ausiello About His Biggest Fans," and "Ask Ausiello How Much You'd Miss Him If He Took Another Vacation" and "Ask Ausiello for an Autographed Headshot." I'm also taking suggestions from readers, so send me your ideas!
Question: I think you went to the Snapple factory, complete with Oompa-Loompas and blueberry bubble-gum trees. — Adrienne Ausiello: Nope.
Question: Scrubs question! With Jordan joining the full-time staff at Sacred Heart, is Christa Miller finally getting the bump up to regular cast member? I could think of worse things than getting a dose of her particular brand of acerbic wit each and every week. — Bry Ausiello: I couldn't agree more! That's why I asked executive producer Bill Lawrence, who just so happens to be Christa Miller's real-life hubby, that very question at Scrubs' DVD launch party. "I think she'll be around more next year," he told me. "I'm not going to make her a regular or anything like that, only because I don't think she wants to. If she wanted to I would have done it long ago. I'm just sucking her into working a little more."
Question: It does not take but one dose of your column to become addicted. I cannot wait for Wednesdays. I wish it could be longer, but I know if it were, none of us would get anything done. I visualize all of us AA addicts/fans sitting at our computers first thing every Wednesday with our Starbucks, taking it all in. The initial rush is invigorating, and then we come down after the last sentence is read. But there will always be next Wednesday... — Teresa Nelson Ausiello: For the record, Teresa ended her e-mail by writing "You are a god," and I edited it out because it felt too over-the-top. Now, let me ask you, Lori: Is that the type of thing someone with a huge ego would do? I think not.
Question: Are you kidding me? Who's the dummy who put Alias on Thursdays against The O.C. next season? Now that's a hard choice. Bad move! — Kelly Ausiello: Agreed. I think this was ABC's not-so-subtle way of saying next season will be Alias' last.
Question: So you report Carniv&#224le's demise — and that's it? Hello?? If any show deserves that its fans fight for its return, it's this one! Please encourage people to call HBO, to write them letters and to visit the Yahoo Group in order to learn more about what we can do. — Samuray Ausiello: I was in mourning, dude! And when I'm in mourning, I retreat. But now I've arrived at the third stage of loss — "P---ed off" — and I'm ready to take some action. Lemme start by sharing with you a snippet of a lengthy message Daniel Knauf posted last week on Yahoo, in which he urged fans to keep Carniv&#224le alive by lending "your DVDs to friends. Get them out there into the world. Capture eyeballs, collect converts. Throw viewing parties. For god's sake, organize a Live CarnyCon! And maybe — just maybe — in the (not so distant) future, some bright y
Question: So, with the cancellation of Carniv&#224le, what can we expect from HBO? More cutting-edge, seat-gripping shows like, um, The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow? — Beth Ausiello: How'd you see The Comeback? Only privileged media types like myself get to watch TV shows months before their premiere. But to answer your insult-within-a-question, yeah, The Comeback kinda blew. Lisa is pretty hilarious as a has-been sitcom star looking to make a, um, comeback, but the show as a whole just doesn't work. And don't even get me started on the gratuitous shaky-cam. I almost had to stop the tape because it was making me so nauseous. But the news isn't all bad for HBO. Deadwood still rocks my world, the final season of Six Feet Under sounds like it's gonna be killer and The Sopranos is returning in just 11 months.
Question: On Desperate Housewives, is Zack the son of Mike and Deirdre? — Barbara Ausiello: If he is, it'll be the most obvious plot twist in the history of television.
Question: So, according to your spoiler in last week's AA, Carlos on Desperate Housewives might go to prison for eight years instead of eight months. What does this mean for the actor playing Carlos? — Jackie Ausiello: It means he'll be spending a lot of time behind bars next season. In fact, series creator Marc Cherry told me at the ABC party that he's constructing a prison set for Ricardo Chavira to shoot his scenes in. "He'll be in there for a while," Cherry said. "We'll see him pulling strings from inside the jail cell."
Question: Why did Glenn Close quit The Shield (Ask Ausiello 5/11)? She is amazing on that show. I am so sick of Aceveda and his perverted ways. — Sharon Ausiello: I spoke to exec producer Shawn Ryan last week and he explained that "[Glenn's] life is on the East Coast with her daughter and her boyfriend, and working here full-time [in Los Angeles] really put a crimp in that. But I would not rule out the possibility of seeing the character of Monica Rawling again on The Shield at some point." In the meantime, Ryan hinted that Farmington's imperturbable captain would go a little Fatal Attraction on her fellow officers as Season 4's June 14 finale approaches. "When we brought Glenn onto the show, some people expected that she was going to go postal on people right away. We tried to do a more subdued thing. But after 11 or 12 episodes, we kind of felt like we had earned the right to get expl
Question: Just curious: What are you going to watch the night of May 25? — David Ausiello: From 8 to 10 I'll watch the Lost finale, and from 10 to 10:12 I'll play the two-hour American Idol on my FauxVo.
Question: Based on the picture in last week's AA, I think you went to Universal Studios on vacation. That sure looks like a Dr. Seuss tree to me. Either that or you traveled to the set of a new Star Trek spin-off. — Sandy Ausiello: Wrong and wrong.
Question: Why the heck did NBC renew Scrubs and then not give it a spot on its fall lineup (Entertainment News 5/16)? — Ashley Ausiello: Now that's a good question. At NBC's upfront presentation on Monday, Peacock president Kevin Reilly said he was holding Scrubs until midseason because Zach Braff landed a movie that'll shoot later this summer. However, a source close to the show claims production on the new season will begin on schedule in August. "Zach is shooting two movies this summer, but it won't delay production," groans the insider. "No one knows why Kevin said that." And if his films were going to have an impact on the new season, I'm pretty sure Zach would have mentioned it to me Sunday night when we were hanging out at Scrubs' Season 1 DVD launch party in New York.
Question: Any hints as to who dies in Sunday's Desperate Housewives finale? — Kelli Ausiello: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT: (More Space) The character is male. And it's not Paul. Or Mike. Or Carlos.
Question: I really, really, really want to win the Gilmore Girls DVD, so here goes my guess on where you went on vacation: You were in Napa Valley at one of those hot-air-balloonfests. — Jennifer Ausiello: No, but you're getting warmer.
Question: How would you rate the Gilmore Girls season finale on a scale of 1 to 10? — Daisy Ausiello: I would give the episode a solid 9 and Lauren Graham's performance in it a 10. I mean, between her devastation at learning that Rory was dropping out of Yale (Bombshell No. 1) to her knee-jerk proposal to Luke (Bombshell No. 2), my former costar solidified her status as TV's most underrated actress. I guess what I'm trying to say is, "Get your act together, Emmy!"
Question: Whaaat? You're leaving us hanging as to whether Scott Patterson is returning to Gilmore Girls? Tell us what you know, or we'll send Nekkid Kirk screencaps. — Anne Price Ausiello: Uncle! OK, when I was on the set in March, Scott Patterson informed me that, unlike Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, who are under contract for two more seasons, his deal expires at the end of next season — the show's sixth. "I'm out after six," he said. "[My staying] depends on several key factors that I'm not at liberty to discuss. It's definitely not a certainty [that I'll stick around]. I'd like it to all work out. I'm thinking positively, but we'll see. The next few months will be crucial in that decision-making process." As loyal readers of this column know full well, everyone (Lauren, Alexis, Amy Sherman-Palladino) would like to see the show go for seven seasons. Could Patterson really envision Luke going AWOL during GG's final year? Sadly
Question: Wait until next week? Wait until next week???? You are a sadistic, brutal, cruel, vicious little man. Where is Scott Patterson going? Spill now. (I thought this would be a good letter to kick off this week's column...) — Kimberley Ausiello: Sorry, Kim, but I had to go with Megan's e-mail. What can I say? I'm a sucker for the word "decapitated."
Question: So, as depressing as this is, is it pretty much true that Lauren Graham's chances at an Emmy nod are slim to none? — Megan Ausiello: Unless those bonehead Emmy voters wake up and stop disrespecting WB shows, I fear they are. That said, maybe this'll be the year TV Guide's Dream Emmy Ballot makes a difference. The results of our fourth annual wish-list will be revealed in the June 5 issue of TV Guide magazine and, rest assured, Lauren made the cut.