Question: Can you give another clue about who will be shot during February sweeps on CSI: Miami?Answer: (Major spoiler alert) Prepare yourself for the easiest asterisk quiz in the history of asterisk quizzes. It's D**k*.
Question: Any news on the chances of Veronica Mars being renewed for a fourth season?Answer: Personally, I'd say the show has a 50/50 shot of seeing a fourth season. Eternal optimist Kristen Bell, meanwhile, offered a rosier assessment of the show's future at press tour. "I've always said [that the chances of Mars getting renewed] were good," she said. "And I still think they're good."
Question: Wait, didn't you say that last week's Heroes was Thomas Dekker's last (Ask Ausiello 1/24)? Either he's got a doppelganger, or that was him in Monday's episode.Answer: Did I say that was his last episode? What I meant to say was that he recently filmed his last episode. (You wanna try doin' this job? Do you?! Didn't think so.)
Question: Any Heroes scoop for me? Answer: I just found out what this season's third and final catchphrase might be, and it's a vast improvement over the weak, "Are you on the list?"
Question: Got any Studio 60 scoop?Answer: Forgive me if this is already out there, but an upcoming episode will flash back to show the early days of Matt and Harriet's courtship.
Question: Any updates on the fourth season of Rescue Me? Answer: Several. It's tentatively slated to return in June, Tatum O'Neal has been upped to a series regular, and (Major spoiler alert) an original cast member — a series regular — will be killed off early in the season.
Question: How in the frak did Scrubs' ratings go down week-to-week for the musical episode? That episode was pure comedy/musical genius.Answer: There's a very simple explanation for the ratings dip, Jon: According to a recent study, the typical Nielsen viewer looks like this.
Question: You never have any scoop on Ghost Whisperer.Answer: That's not exactly true, but point taken. Here's an exclusive make-good just for you, Grace: Jennifer Love Hewitt is reuniting with her hook-handed I Know What You Did Last Summer costar Muse Watson for an episode that starts shooting tomorrow. He'll play Delia's grumpy old landlord, and I'm told the script is littered with cheeky Summer references. Speaking of Watson, he was just cast opposite Big Love's Doug Smith (Ben) in the big-screen Western Between the Sand and the Sky.
Question: After your stint on Scrubs airs tomorrow night, you're bound to be buried in e-mails of praise, so I figure I'll get a jump on things now and tell you how awesome you were.Answer: You're not going to believe this, but they changed the frakkin' date on me at the last minute! My episode has been pushed back a week, and will now air on Feb. 8. Please reschedule your viewing parties accordingly. Why the 11th-hour switcheroo? NBC isn't talking, but a Scrubs source insists that — despite what you may've read in a certain tabloid — it wasn't because Bill Lawrence had to go back and reshoot my part with a more "experienced and better-looking" actor. Whoever started that hateful rumor is clearly just jealous of me and my recently attained SAG eligibility.
Question: Got any new House spoilers?Answer: Just received a fresh batch of intel and, if true, Jesse Spencer lied to my face at the Golden Globes. Per this source, not only are Chase and Cameron about to rekindle their office romance, but he's going to *** *** f*****n' ********! For Spencer's sake, that better be a foiler.
Question: Got any scoop on how Brothers & Sisters is going to introduce Rebecca?Answer: Why don't we let Greg Berlanti take this one: "Her first scene is with Holly in front of Tommy (Balthazar Getty) at the end of sweeps. Tommy is the first [Walker sibling] to meet her. He knows this girl is [his sister], but she obviously doesn't know. And then very soon thereafter, she discovers her actual identity and everything kind of blows up." Nora, Justin and Kitty, meanwhile, learn the truth "in a big way in a March episode." (For more on what is without a doubt the best casting news ever, pick up the new issue of TV Guide and turn to page 12.)
Question: Could you give me the scoop on One Tree Hill?Answer: On Valentine's Day, Brooke and Peyton are going to try repairing their friendship, but it may be jeopardized when Peyton and Lucas consider taking things to "the next level."
Question: There's a rumor going around that T.R. Knight wants off of Grey's Anatomy. Is it true?Answer: T.R. Knight is not leaving Grey's Anatomy.
Question: Is Jordan the big death on Scrubs?Answer: No, but you got the gender right.
Question: What happened to Rose and Bernard on Lost?Answer: They're suffering from that dreaded TV affliction known as backburneritis. Luckily, Damon Lindelof says their prognosis is good. "We will be seeing Bernard and Rose again," he says. "But because Sam Anderson and L. Scott Caldwell are working actors — she had been doing a play, he's been doing TV guest spots — you have to find that serendipitous moment when both actors are available for the same episode. At the same time, I feel like if we had done Bernard and Rose in the first six [episodes], people would cry foul. Because it's like, 'Why are we seeing Bernard and Rose when we're not seeing Sun and Jin and Charlie and Claire?'" He's right: We would have given 'em hell for that. (BTW, I watched the mid-season premiere last night, and Elizabeth Mitchell should make room on her mantel for that Emmy.)
Question: Emergency! ER spoilers needed, STAT!Answer: I already told you about the big engagement and the even bigger kiss coming up. Let's see.... Oh, here's something: Prison Break's Stacy Keach has been cast as the alcoholic dad of Gates (John Stamos) for a multi-episode arc beginning Feb. 22.
Question: Based on the report that Anne Heche and her husband, Coley Laffoon, have split up, could it be that the couple in the "TV Flames" blind item is Heche and James Tupper of Men in Trees?Answer: No comment. (They're called blind items for a reason, people!) OK, that about does it for this week. Keep an eye (or two) on the Ausiello Report for breaking tube news throughout the week. And to sound off on anything you read here, visit the Ask Ausiello Discussion Thread. See you back here next Wednesday!
Question: Got any Ugly Betty scoop?Answer: Remember the "unexpected new triangle" for Betty that series creator Silvio Horta hinted at in the Jan. 17 AA? I solved the mystery! The triangle involves Betty, Christopher Gorham's Henry and Henry's girlfriend Charlie, who'll be introduced on Feb. 15. The best part? Charlie is being played by Jayma Mays — aka Hiro's flip-top waitress gal pal on Heroes, who, coincidentally, was also named Charlie.
Question: Dalton Ross over at EW.com made a list of the top five most memorable Smurf figures.Answer: That beeyotch is stealing my shtick! He'll be hearing from my lawyer.
Question: Did you read what Chris Meloni said about his new contract on chrismeloni.com?Answer: Sure did. Fascinating stuff. Update! It has been brought to my attention that shortly after AA went live this morning, Chris' statement mysteriously vanished from his website. Good thing someone had the foresight to copy-and-paste it before it was taken down. Here's the statement in its entirety: "The drama is past and here are the facts. It looks like I'll be back for 2 more years on SVU. The negotiations were unpleasant to say the least (I'll have much more to say about that when my responsibilities to the show are done). I'm a proud little worker bee for NBC."
Question: I can't believe you! Absolutely nothing on Desperate Housewives in last week's AA! Come on, I know you're holding out on us!Answer: Nicollette Sheridan's wish is Marc Cherry's command. She asked that her soon-to-be-introduced son be a wee little one and — presto! — he's a wee little one! The show is looking to cast a 9-year-old actor for the part. Haley Joel Osment, call your agent!
Question: I'm really worried about what's going to happen with Sarah Wayne Callies' character on Prison Break now that she's pregnant in real life (Ausiello Report 1/23).Answer: Relax, Dr. Sara is safe. Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring told me so himself. "We wouldn't kill her off for having a child," he says. "We're planning on going forward with her in the series, because she's one of our strongest components." Scheuring also ruled out incorporating the pregnancy into the show. Instead, he and his fellow producers are devising "creative ways" to account for Sara's disappearance this fall. (Callies is due in late summer, just as production on the anticipated third season gets underway.) "It actually fits into what we were already planning," says the ex