Upfront Prattle Day 1: Everwood, Scrubs and More!

Just returned from NBC's upfront festivities and before I get to the highlights, let me get to a major lowlight: I heard from two separate sources this afternoon that Everwood is, in fact, dead. I'm choosing not to believe it until I hear something official on Thursday, but I thought you should all be prepared for the worst. (Scroll down to my previous blog posting for some "positive" news about Veronica Mars.) Now, here's a quick recap of NBC's big day:
* Tina Fey's comedy 30 Rock and the football soap Friday Night Lights looked the most promising based on the clips shown. The audience laughed out loud several times during the 30 Rock promo, and I swear I thought the Friday Night trailer was going to get a standing ovation.
* The trailer the network put together for Heroes was a little too cheesy for my taste, but I still believe this is gonna be one of my fall faves.
* The clips for Aaron Sorkin's pricey Studio 60 got a chilly reception from the crowd - not to mention an industry friend of mine who just saw the entire pilot. "It does not live up to the hype," my spy said in an e-mail. "It was very average. I didn't feel like I was watching something special that was gonna change the face on TV."
* The casts of The Office and My Name Is Earl appeared on stage and explained what it meant to them to be a part of NBC's storied Thursday-night lineup. I don't recall any of their specific lines, but trust me when I say their shtick was the highlight of the nearly three-hour presentation. On a lesser note, we caught a preview of the first Office webisode, slated to debut this summer exclusively on NBC.com, and it landed like a thud with the advertiser-heavy crowd. The plot centered around the accounting staff trying to track some missing funds. I think I'll take a pass on the webisodes and stick to the real thing.
* I cornered NBC prez Kevin Reilly at the after-party and asked him about a troubling line in NBC's press release that said Scrubs "will return to the NBC schedule at some point." Reilly said holding Scrubs until mid-season this year "was like the best thing we did. They had more time to [work on the episodes] and I think it ended up being great creatively for the show." So it's not returning until January? "Not necessarily January," he said, "but it won't be on in September."
* Also ran into my buddy Greg Grunberg ( Heroes) and, after congratulating him on his, um, scene-stealing cameo in M:i:III, asked him who he's playing in JJ's Star Trek flick ('cause we know he's gonna be playing someone). "I want to play a young Scotty," he said, adding that he told JJ, "'There's no way that I'm going to sit through five hours of makeup for one line.' And JJ looked at me and said, 'Yeah, you will.'" All joking aside, Greg said, "I think they're going to give me a bigger part. I hope. I want a really nice part." Speaking of potential casting coups, Greg revealed that he's trying to get his serial costar Amanda Foreman a role on Heroes.
I'll have more on NBC's upfront day in Wednesday's Ask Ausiello. Rushing home now to watch Grey's, 24, Prison Break and [ sigh] Everwood.