SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

Finally, Britney’s boy has a role he can really get into: a mouthy punk.

Kevin Federline’s been tapped for an upcoming episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” He’ll be playing Cole Tritt, an arrogant teen who hassles Nick and Warrick while they work a crime scene.

I’m still trying to figure out where the acting comes into play.

She may be a little frail, but the first lady of TV comedy Carol Burnett still knows how to rock the house.
Burnett was honored by the Television Critics Association on Sunday night at the annual TCA awards for Career Achievement. She got a standing ovation from an audience that included producers and stars from “House,” “Lost,” “The Office,” “My Name is Earl,” “West Wing,” “High School Musical” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
When she accepted the award, Burnett says she’s still open to playing other TV roles after a great experience on “Desperate Housewives.”
“So, if you have anything for me at ‘The Office,’ ” she said, looking over at the elated cast and crew.
After the ceremony, Steve Carell and the producers went over to talk some business with Burnett.
But it was in the queue to get their cars after the event that the stakes went up. “Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes and producer Betsy Beers took the opportunity to tell Burnett how much she had meant to them.
“You are the reason we are in this business,” Beers said. “Really. You have been my inspiration.”
Beers and Rhimes said that after her speech, they already started thinking about at least one episode written just with Burnett in mind.
I think she was talking to “The Office” people, I told them.
“Not if we get her first,” says Rhimes.

It was the hottest party of 2006 press tour.
NBC did a barbecue-themed party out on the lawn of the Ritz-Carlton for their final night of press tour, but they found it hard to round up the talent and push those cattle out of the air-conditioned Ritz.
Temperatures soared to around 115 degrees, and no one was eager to get out.
Milo Ventigmiglia and Adrian Pasdar said they already put in more than a pound of sweat promoting their show, “Heroes” about ordinary people with extraordinary powers at San Diego’s Comic Con on Friday.

“The whole cast, except Greg Grunberg and Hayden Panettiere who had to work that day, went down to San Diego on a bus,” said Ventigmiglia. “This thing was falling apart and the air conditioning went out. So we were trapped in this thing for two hours, baking. We spent the time laughing and joking about it.

As Pasdar said, “You get to know really fast just what kind of people you are working with you get stuck in that situation. And we’ve got some great people on the show.”

The series is created and produced by Pittsburg native Tim Kring.

Somebody was watching.

A while ago, someone put up bootleg copies on www.youtube.com of a 2005 WB comedy pilot that wasn’t picked up, produced by Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs”). The innovative series is about two guys who want to become sitcom writers and end up being part of a reality series.

The series pilot, which is shown in three parts, was downloaded more than 600,000 times from the San Mateo-based YouTube Web site. People started writing about it. (see www.insidebayarea.com/TV for Susan Young’s column on it.)

On Friday, NBC announced that it will pick up the series, first airing as webisodes, then later on the network. The stars, Paul Campbell and Taran Killam, will return to their roles as best pals from the Midwest who get the call from a network to come work for them “if they think they can do a better job.”

The two try to develop a great TV sitcom, unaware that the network is actually manipulating and recording their every move for a reality series.

“This comedy pilot has generated a life of its own and we are intrigued by its potential to develop into a series,” says NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly. “Sometimes, if you show it, they will come. We’ve seen how people have responded on the Internet, plus we always bet on Bill Lawrence’s work.”

Lawrence says he’s always been passionate about the project and “I think we will see more launched on the Internet in the future.”

Nothing better than getting on the set of “Grey’s Anatomy” and immediately bumping into Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey), Patrick Dempsey (Derek “Dr. McDreamy” Shepherd) and Emmy nominee Sandra Oh (Cristina Yang).

So, Ellen, after having your way with the very married Dr. McDreamy in the season finale, just who else might you bed?

“No one is safe,” she says smiling wickedly. “All cute boys beware.”

(We’re still pushing for a return of Eric Dane, who played the guy who almost broke up McDreamy’s marriage. Although McDreamy seems to be doing just fine all on his own now.)

As for McDreamy, or rather Dempsey, he says that the two things fans always say to him are “My mother loves you” and “Who are you picking?”

They are referring, of course, to whether the good-in-bed doctor will choose Meredith or his wife, played by San Jose native Kate Walsh.
“Well, I can tell you that the triangle gets resolved rather quickly,” says Walsh, who looks as if she’s still part of the cast. Perhaps she gives McDreamy his come-uppance finally and she can get back to that dishy Eric Dane.

Seeming every bit as socially awkward as her straightforward character, Oh watched as the critics taking the tour of the set rushed her co-stars.

“No one is going to want to talk to me, are they?” she said, looking nervously at me.

No worries. It didn’t take long for folks to zone in on her.

Sitting in a remote spot on the set was Sara Ramirez, who plays Dr. Callie Torres on the show. She says she was picked to join the show after she was seen in the Broadway smash hit “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”

“They came to me, although I don’t know what about my over-the-top performance (as Lady of the Lake) said orthopedic surgeon to them,” says Ramirez, who won a Tony for her role.

You would have thought journalists would pounce on the chance to ask Anne “I think I’m an alien” Heche if she was a bit more grounded these days.

Instead, when Heche showed up at the summer TV press tour to pump up interest in her ABC series “Men in Trees,” there was more curiosity in raccoons.

The series, with Heche as a self-help guru who just got dumped by her boyfriend after she arrives for a gig in Alaska, has a lot of wildlife.

Turns out the raccoon Elvis has a dog as a stunt double. And he sleeps at night. And they wake him up to go to work.

Finally, a reporter stumbled out a question about her mentally unstable past, saying something like is she now…

“Sane?” asked Heche.

Heche says she’s now very blessed, although she still has some quirks. Like covering her ears and do the LA-LA-LA whenever anyone asked about where the series was going.

“Anne doesn’t want to hear about what’s happening in the future,” explained creator Jenny Bicks, like this was perfectly reasonable behavior.

Later, when asked if anyone could relate to Heche’s character, she quipped, “Clearly, I never used a life coach.”

“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?”

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?’ “