PaleyFest09 Full Schedule Announced: "Pushing Daisies," "Battlestar Galactica," "Fringe," "Big Love," "Dollhouse," and Many Others to Be Feted

Ending several months of speculation, The Paley Center for Media has today announced the full lineup for PaleyFest09, the 26th Annual William S. Paley Television Festival.

Among the honorees this year are the casts and creators of 90210, Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, The Big Bang Theory, Big Love, Desperate Housewives, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Fringe, The Hills, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Mentalist, Swingtown, and True Blood.

PaleyFest09 will be held from April 10th to April 23rd at the Cinerama Dome at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood; the Paley Center will also present a special closing night presentation honoring Swingtown at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills on April 24.

Other festival firsts this year? PaleyFest09 will be the festival event to honor a new media property, in this case Joss Whedon's celebrated web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and will be the first to premiere the last three unseen episodes of ABC's sadly cancelled series Pushing Daisies.

“For twenty-six years, we have celebrated the best of television, and now new media, with the creative teams who make the breakthrough programs. This interaction between the creative community and media enthusiasts has made this annual Festival a 'Must Be There' event,” said Pat Mitchell, President/CEO of The Paley Center for Media.

The full PaleyFest09 schedule can be found below but, as always, please note that events/participants are subject to change.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia
Friday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Danny DeVito (“Frank Reynolds”), Glenn Howerton (“Dennis Reynolds”/Executive Producer/Writer), Rob McElhenney (“Mac”/Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Director), Kaitlin Olson (“Sweet Dee”). Additional panelists to be announced.

90210
Saturday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Panelists from the cast and creative team to be announced.

True Blood
Monday, April 13 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Alan Ball (Creator/Executive Producer), Ryan Kwanten (“Jason Stackhouse”), Steven Moyer (“Bill Compton”), Anna Paquin (“Sookie Stackhouse”), Sam Trammell (“Sam Merlotte”), Rutina Wessley (“Tara Thorton”). Additional panelists to be announced.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Tuesday, April 14 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Felicia Day (“Penny”), Nathan Fillion (“Captain Hammer”), Jed Whedon (“Bad Horse Chorus #2/Dead Bowie”/Composer/Writer), Joss Whedon (Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Director), Zack Whedon (Executive Producer/Writer).

Dollhouse
Wednesday, April 15 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Joss Whedon (Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Director), Eliza Dushku (“Echo”), Enver Gjoka (“Victor”), Fran Kranz (“Topher”), Dichen Lachman (“Sierra”), Harry Lennix (“Boyd”), Tahmoh Penikett (“Paul”), Olivia Williams (“Adelle”).

The Big Bang Theory
Thursday, April 16 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Kaley Cuoko (“Penny”), Johnny Galecki (Leonard), Jim Parsons (“Sheldon”). Additional panelists to be announced.

The Mentalist
Friday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Simon Baker (“Patrick Jane”), Bruno Heller (Creator /Executive Producer) Tim Kang (“Kimball Cho”), Chris Long (Coexecutive Producer/Director), Amanda Righetti (“Grace Van Pelt”), Robin Tunney (“Teresa Lisbon”), Owain Yeoman (“Wayne Rigsby”). Additional panelists to be announced.

Desperate Housewives
Saturday, April 18 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Panelists from the cast and creative team to be announced.

PaleyFest09 Special Matinee Screening Event: Pushing Daisies’ Last Unaired Episodes
Sunday, April 19 at 1:00 p.m.
Introduction by Bryan Fuller (Creator/Executive Producer).

Battlestar Galactica/Caprica
Evening Sponsor: Microsoft Zune
Monday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: David Eick (Executive Producer), Ronald D. Moore (Executive Producer). Additional panelists to be announced.

The Hills
Tuesday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Tony DiSanto (Executive Producer), Adam DiVello (Creator/Executive Producer), Liz Gateley (Executive Producer), Heidi Montag, Audrina Patridge, Spencer Pratt. Additional panelists to be announced.

Big Love
Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Ginnifer Goodwin (“Margene Heffman”), Bill Paxton (“Bill Henrickson”), Chloe Sevigny (“Nicolette Grant”), Harry Dean Stanton (“Roman Grant”), Jeanne Tripplehorn (“Barbara Dutton Henrickson”). Additional panelists to be announced.

Fringe
Thursday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Joshua Jackson (“Peter Bishop”), John Noble (“Dr. Walter Bishop”), Lance Reddick (“Homeland Security Agent Phillip Broyles”), Anna Torv (“Special Agent Olivia Dunham”). Additional panelists to be announced.

Swingtown Celebration
Evening Sponsor: Netflix, Inc.
*Friday, April 24 at 6:00 p.m. at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills*
Festival Closing Reception & Panel Discussion
In Person: Mike Kelley (Creator/Executive Producer), Alan Poul (Executive Producer). Additional panelists to be announced.

Tickets to PaleyFest09 will go on sale February 26th to Paley Center members and the general public beginning March 1st.

So who's in this year? And what panels are you hoping to see? Discuss.

Channel Surfing: "Gossip Girl" Spinoff Back to the 1980s, Chevy Chase to Torment "Chuck," Idris Elba Heads to "The Office," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Looks like Ashes to Ashes isn't the only series heading back to the 1980s (well, except for Mitch Hurwitz's Lost in the '80s, that is): Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage have announced that the untitled spinoff of CW's Gossip Girl will focus on a teenage Lily Rhodes van der Woodsen Bass (played in the original by Kelly Rutherford) as a wild child in 1980s Los Angeles who moves in with her sister in San Fernando Valley after a falling out with her parents and must adjust to life at a Valley public school and a nightlife on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. Spinoff will be produced as a backdoor pilot that will air May 11th as part of Gossip Girl's current season. (Variety)

Chevy Chase has been cast in a three-episode story arc on NBC's Chuck, where he will play Ted Roark, the billionaire technology mogul and owner of Roark Instruments, a company that Chuck Bartowski has always dreamed of working for. But Roark is accused of stealing Chuck's father's ideas and the company may not be as squeaky clean as it originally seems. (press release, Hollywood Reporter)

Holy Stringer Bell! British actor Idris Elba (The Wire) has been cast in six episodes of NBC's The Office, where he will play an uptight executive at Dunder Mifflin's corporate office who creates, shall we say, some major problems for Michael Scott. (press release, Variety)

Aubrey Plaza of the Upright Citizens Brigade has joined the cast of the untitled Amy Poehler/Greg Daniels/Mike Schur comedy pilot, which is to be set in the office of Amy (Poehler,) the deputy chairman of the parks and recreations department in Pawnee, Indiana. Plaza will co-star as April, an intern who shadows Amy. (Hollywood Reporter)

Kings is moving to Sundays at 8 pm, as a lead-in to Celebrity Apprentice. Could it be that NBC machinery didn't think the allegorical series had enough staying power to warrant a 10 pm weeknight time slot? Meanwhile, look for John Wells' new cop drama Southland (formerly known as Police and even more formerly known as LAPD) to take over the Thursdays at 10 pm timeslot once ER wraps up its run. (The Peacock recently ordered three additional episodes of ER.) (Hollywood Reporter)

Mark Cherry and the cast discuss the 100th episode of ABC's Desperate Housewives, slated to air on Sunday, which will feature flashbacks--revealing just why each woman turned out the the way they did--that are linked by appearances by handyman Eli Scruggs (Beau Bridges). (USA Today)

CBS has officially swung the axe: Swingtown is no more. CBS president Nina Tassler confirmed the cancellation speaking at yesterday's CBS panel at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. "We're not going back to Swingtown," said Tassler. "At the end of the day the show was well executed, it was well received, the performances were great, the writing was great. It was a risk, we took it, and we're proud of it." Meanwhile, look for CBS to order an additional episode of The Mentalist and for the untitled NCIS spin-off cast to appear in an upcoming episode of NCIS. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Diablo Cody will play herself in an upcoming episode of the CW's 90210, the series' nineteenth episode, which will also feature the first appearance of Tori Spelling's Donna Martin. "Donna Martin is still in the fashion business, and it may be that she may be called upon by Diablo Cody to create something for some event," said executive producer Rebecca Rand Kirschner. "That may be the beginning of their friendship.” (iF Magazine)

CBS is developing an untitled variety/sketch comedy pilot with musician John Mayer, which it plans to air later this year. If successfully, the pilot could spawn a series of specials. (Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker)

Universal Media Studios has signed a two-year, first-look deal with Don Cheadle's Crescendo Prods., under which Crescendo will develop series projects for the studio. Company is run by Cheadle along with producing partners Kay Liberman and Lenore Zerman. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Oprah on "30 Rock," "Closer" Spin-off, "Lost" Casting, and More

Good morning and welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Zuleikha Robinson (Rome, New Amsterdam) has been cast as Ilana in Season Five of Lost; she'll recur as "a European female who possesses great intelligence but who's also dangerous as all get out" and her contract contains an option for her to be bumped to series regular in Season Six. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Alice in Wonderland? Showtime has cast Leisha Hailey in the pilot presentation for its untitled The L Word spin-off, which is scheduled to shoot in December with Ilene Chaiken on board to write and executive produce. (Variety)

Oprah Winfrey is said to be in final talks to guest star on 30 Rock's second episode of the upcoming season (launching on NBC on September 30th). Winfrey is said to be playing herself (rather than Liz Lemon's BFF, which was Tina Fey's longtime wish) and will appear in scenes opposite Fey and will be involved in a storyline about a feud between Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) and Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski). Meanwhile, look for Will Arnett to return in the first episode of the new season as Devin Banks. (E! Online)

CBS Paramount has signed a two-year overall deal with Swingtown creator Mike Kelley. Under the deal, Kelley is developing a new one-hour drama called BiCoastal, about a man who juggles his family life with his wife and kids in LA when he falls in love with a man in New York. Project will be co-produced with Sean Hayes' Hazy Mills and Swingtown's director/executive producer Alan Poul is in talks to join the project. CBS has yet to make a final decision on the fate of Swingtown, though the studio is said to be exploring moving the period drama to cable. Hmmm, Showtime, anyone? (Hollywood Reporter)

David Letterman has expressed sympathy for his one-time latenight rival Jay Leno, who is being replaced by Conan O'Brien as the host of Late Night. "I don’t know why, after the job Jay has done for them, why they would relinquish that,” Letterman said in an interview to be published in Rolling Stone. “I guess they thought it was a less messy way to handle what happened to me at NBC. I don’t know.” (New York Times)

TNT has ordered a pilot script for The Fixer, a spin-off of their hit drama series The Closer. No details about whether the putative series would focus on an existing Closer character or introduce a new one. Project hails from creator/executive producer James Duff, Warner Bros. Television, and Shephard/Robin Co. (Hollywood Reporter)

In other cable development news, A&E has ordered a pilot script for The Lost Son, a cop drama about a police officer who suddenly becomes police commissioner but continues to do street work at night while investigating his mother's murder. Project, from ABC Studios, is being written and executive produced by Charles Murray, who created pilot Under for the network last year. (Hollywood Reporter)

The AV Club sat down with Josh Schwartz, co-creator of Chuck and Gossip Girl. In addition to overseeing the launch of both series' second seasons, Schwartz is getting married in a few weeks. (Sorry, ladies!) (The Onion's AV Club)

ABC has ordered a pilot order for The Shark Tank, Mark Burnett's adaptation of Japanese reality format Dragon's Den (a British version of which is currently airing on BBC America), from Sony Pictures TV. Project revolves around a group of wealthy tycoons who hear business proposals from aspiring entrepreneurs and decide whether or not to invest in their projects. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); 90210 (CW; 8-10 pm); Ugly Betty (ABC); Kitchen Nightmares (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); NBC Primetime Preview (NBC; 9:30-10 pm); Grey's Anatomy (ABC)

10 pm: CBS News: Democratic National Convention (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Vote 08 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching:

8-10 pm: Kitchen Nightmares.

Watch as Gordon Ramsay returns to some of the restaurants he helped save during Season One of the US format of his hit UK series and see if they ended up following his instructions or reverting back to their old ways.

9:30 pm: NBC Primetime Preview.

Want an advance look at some of the Peacock's new and returning series, such as Chuck and My Own Worst Enemy? Look no further as Chuck star Zachary Levi takes you on a tour of NBC's primetime series.

10 pm: Tabatha's Salon Takeover on Bravo.

Yes, it's a complete and utter retread of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares with salons subbing in for restaurants, but there's absolutely nothing else on tonight to watch, so here goes. On this week's episode ("Martino Cartier at Giovanni and Pileggi: Sewell, NJ"), Tabatha Coffey tries to save another struggling hair salon but butts heads with the salon's owner.

Talk Back: CBS' "Swingtown"

Go on, I'm curious: what did you think of CBS' scripted summer series, Swingtown, a period-set drama about swinging married couples in the 1970s which launched last night on--of all places--the Tiffany network?

I've now seen the pilot episode of Swingtown a few times in the last year since it was first produced and ordered to series. I do think that there is an interesting and intriguing drama opportunity in the Ice Storm-esque setting but I am not at all convinced that CBS with its network standards and practices was the right home for this cheeky and semi-provocative drama. No, this is an HBO- or Showtime-ready series that's slumming it a bit on broadcast television and the setting's innate restrictions renders much of it toothless and lacking in bite.

Does this series need wanton sex and language in order to work? No, but the lack of (for want of a better word) adult realism does take you slightly off page, particularly when the subject matter itself is inherently risque and risky.

I would have written off Swingtown altogether save for the strength of its cast, particularly British import Jack Davenport (Coupling) and the incandescent Molly Parker (Deadwood), along with Grant Show, Lana Parilla, Josh Hopkins, and Miriam Shor.

Ultimately, for a series that promises to be as insightful and steamy as Swingtown, this left me completely cold. I'm willing to check out another episode for hope of some deeper character exploration but right now this is one key party that I'm ready to leave early.

What did you think? Will you absolutely hooked by Swingtown and plan to tune in to next week's episode? Or were you as turned off as Shor's Janet Thompson? Talk back here.