SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

“Desperate Housewives” season two.

Hated it.

But word has come down from ABC president Stephen McPherson that second-season showrunner Tom Spezialy has left the helm and creator and first season showrunner Marc Cherry will be back this season.

“I think it’s going to get back to the heart of it, which was kind of a wicked comedy,” McPherson says.

We’re just hoping for no more Susan pratfalls.

Last weekend, hip chick chef Rachael Ray oversaw a lunch with her famous miniburgers.

Ray, Jimmy Kimmel kicked your backside.

And Kimmel, I forgive you for “The Man Show” and the trampoline.

It had to be 100 degrees out on the patio at the Ritz-Carlton where Kimmel was cooking up his favorite burgers for TV critics.

Sweat poured down his face as he made some yummy patties for everyone. So we mentioned how impressed we were with him, unlike slacker Ray.

“Well, Rachael doesn’t have to work that hard because she has people and I’m not smart enough to have people,” Kimmel quipped.

“Lost” producer Bryan Burk doesn’t want you to think of this coming fall season of “Lost” as season 3.

“It’s more like ‘Lost’ 2.5,” Burk says. “This fall is like a miniseries, then in the spring you’ll have season three.”

ABC announced today that the series would be coming back for only six episodes on Oct. 4, then do a “Sopranos” disappearance until 2007.

Taking the “Lost” slot will be a “Groundhog Day”-like drama starring Taye Diggs as a guy reliving each day while trying to prevent his girlfriend from being murdered in “Day Break.”

Then “Lost” comes back for a spring run that would not include any reruns.

“There’s going to be more romance on the series this season,” promises ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson. “The only note I give that show is character-character-character because I believe that’s what brings people back.”

Burk says to expect more issues addressed and, of course, what the heck becomes of Sawyer, Jack and Kate left in the hands of The Others and the tribe back home trying to cope without their leader Jack.

And let’s not forget those guys sitting in the artic monitoring some activity.

“Yeah. What’s up with that?” says Burk.

Well, at least we know where the polar bear came from.

“Gilmore Girls” has a new producer since the exit of creator Amy Sherman Palladino and her husband Daniel.

And David S. Rosenthal has a rather shaky past.

Six years ago, the former “Spin City” writer fixated on Heidi Klum after the model appeared on the series as a guest. He left his wife and began obsessing about having sex with Klum. He even wrote a profane play “Love” about it all.

When his rabbi dad read the play, he had his son committed to a mental hospital.

So now Rosenthal is the showrunner for a series about the close relationship between mother and daughter.

Great.

When asked during a press session on Monday how his past makes him the right guy to lead “Gilmore Girls,” the air was sucked right out of the room.

“My personal life is not an issue here,” said Rosenthal who looked like he just took a punch to the gut. “It’s not worth getting into. I’m just here to talk about the show.”

Star Lauren Graham quickly shut down any follow up questions on the subject by saying, “It has nothing to do with anything. Next?”

It’s no secret that Lauren Graham isn’t co-star Scott Patterson’s greatest fan.

Earlier in the “Gilmore Girls” press session, Graham also admitted that she doesn’t like working with the dog, named Paul Anka on the show. Not that she doesn’t love dogs, mind you. She just doesn’t like doing dog dialogue with the hound.

“I have made no secret of the fact that I do not enjoy working with the actor Paul Anka, although the person Paul Anka was joyful and a delight and gave me a stack of CDs, I just am not a fan of dog comedy.”

So is Paul Anka returning?

“Yes. See? I have no power here. No one cares if I don’t like working with Paul Anka,” Graham says.

Was that just a thinly veiled reference to dog or Patterson?

All we know is afterwards during the rush to the stage, she was asked if she would try to get rid of Patterson.
“I can’t get the dog killed,” she says jokingly. “How can I do that?”

Kristen Bell, star of “Veronica Mars,” spent about a half second at the CW party.

And who could blame her?

Her birthday is tomorrow and she was going to Disneyland.

“I’ve never been to Disneyland and I’m so excited,” says the beaming Bell. “I’ve never had any time to go and my friends are taking me tonight.”

And we always thought she lived in the Magic Kingdom.

Here’s the episode you’ll never see on “Everybody Hates Chris”:

“You’ll never see the episode where Chris’ dad dies,” says Rock, who named the dad character Julius after his real father, who died in 1989. “We’re not ever going there.”

One critic asked Rock during the press session here to explain why there are no dramas featuring all-African American casts.

“I’d say you gotta ask the white people that,” quipped Rock. “I mean, I wouldn’t ask the bat boy ‘How come the Yankees can’t get a better pitcher?’ “

“Everwood” fans are ever faithful.
They’re even delivering a protest along with a Ferris Wheel (which was featured in the final episode) to the CW headquarters here in Los Angeles.
“It was an agonizing decision,” says Dawn Ostroff, CW president of entertainment. “The fans are devoted, loyal, enthusiastic and amazing.”
But it’s still canceled.
Oh, and the network says advertisers are excited about a new concept in selling you stuff. The “content wraparounds” at the end of each show will feature a couple getting hooked up on the internet and preparing for their date.
They’ll get makeovers (with the products featured prominently) and go out to dinner. Kentucky Fried Chicken anyone? Or maybe they deserve a break today at the Golden Arches.

Harry Potter’s pal Hagrid got lost in the Ritz Carlton.

Easy to do, since it’s a sprawling place. Sometimes you can’t tell if you are north or south of Hogsworth. And Hagrid needed to go see some friends at the pool.

OK, so it was really actor Robbie Coltrane, who was here in Pasadena to talk to critics about his new “Cracker” movie airing on BBC America later.

Coltrane rocked the house with his hilarious banter, something that’s not easy to do. Just ask Damon Wayons, who thinks that talking vaginas are the ultimate chuckle. Wayons led a snorefest trying to get people interested in his new Showtime sketch comedy series “Underground.”

Note to Wayons: Just because you can say those things on cable, doesn’t make it any funnier.

Anyway, Coltrane riffed on staying in his native Scotland instead of living in L.A. and starring in an American series.

“It sounds so ungrateful. You think of all those people who hitchhike to Los Angeles in the hope of having a small part in something andoh, so Mr. Big Guy from Scotland can’t be bothered.

“But I have this terrifying vision of my children with a platinum card going, ‘You tell the maitre d’ that I want…’ or ‘Oh, it’s raining here AGAIN daddy.’ That’s all I’m saying.”

We may never see the likes of Tyler and B.J. again, but the Bay Area will be represented this season on “The Amazing Race.”

San Francisco brothers Erwin and Godwin Cho will be one of 12 teams competing this fall on the globe-trotting show, which moves to the choice 8 p.m. Sunday slot this fall.

Godwin, 29, a financial analyst, tries to get out from under the shadow of his Havard-educated brother Erwin, 32, an insurance company manager.

“There’s a special bond between the two brothers that’s wonderful to watch,” says host Phil Keoghan, who was in Pasadena for the summer TV critics press tour.

So, are they as interesting as Woodside’s Tyler and BJ, who won last season’s race?

“We’ll never have another Tyler and BJ,” Phil says with a smile.