While it's widely assumed that the first season of Scrubs on ABC will be the last season of Scrubs overall, Steve McPherson isn't ready to concede that point just yet.

I get why ABC is hot to launch a High School Musical-related unscripted show this summer. I don't get why the prize is so lame.

The return of Lost to ABC is only a day away from the time of this posting, and you can sort of feel the anticipation in the air.

Now that The Bachelor is about to enter its 12th incarnation, there's really only one question to ask the guy who's searching for love among 25 casting director-picked women: Why?

In the past ten months, both The Sopranos and The Wire have ended their runs, so it's worth asking: What takes over from them as the Best Show on Television?

Any number of explanations will likely be proffered for the steep decline in ratings for the Oscars this year -- but whatever reason you like, there's no question that the audience shrank by quite a bit.

Even if she did know the full story about her Lost character, Rebecca Mader probably wouldn't be spilling secrets. But after completing eight episodes of the show's fourth season, she's almost as much in the dark as the rest of us.

The newest Bachelor is a British guy. Matt Grant is tall and "charming," or so says ABC, and he probably does pretty well for himself in his finance career.

Ben Linus doesn't seem to have any inclination to return to the real world, but if he ever did, the leader of Lost's Others might make one heck of a poker player.

Were it not for the writers' strike, Blair Underwood would be appearing on three prime-time series in the next week. Instead, he'll have to settle for just two.

Weird year, 2007. It began with the public immolation of Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington and ended with the possible immolation of TV as we know it. In between came the greatest fade to black of all time, the twee-est TV show ever to earn a full-season pickup and all kinds of really good (and some really bad) television.

One year ago, I had only just joined the Zap2it team. "Veronica Mars" was still around, "Lost" seemed like a lost cause and the idea of year-round television was iffy enough that I started plotting the Great American Novel. As for the fall season, well gosh, good thing we had the writers merrily crafting established blockbusters to make up for what would surely be a crop of weak new offerings.

After the first pilot for Cavemen got (excuse the pun) savaged by the continent's critics at the summer press tour, ABC decided not to send out advance copies for review ahead of Tuesday night's premiere. Good call.

Wednesday night brings the heaviest influx of series premieres of the young season, with four new shows debuting on ABC and NBC, along with the returns of two CBS crime dramas and a much tougher test for FOX's lineup.

The official announcement won't come until Wednesday's Good Morning America, but as has been the case in past seasons, a purported Dancing with the Stars cast list has made its way onto the Internet.

This week's installment of The Nine, or as I call it, Dead Show Walking, centered around disappearances: the disappearance of Lizzy Miller, the disappearance of $200,000 from the money Lucas and Randall stole from the bank, and the disappearance of the hostages' feelings of security.

Previously on The Nine: Um, uh, er, I don't really remember. It's been a while, people. At first, when I heard ABC would be burning off unaired episodes of this canceled show, I thought this was the one about the master criminal; but nope, that was Smith. Then I thought, "Oh, this is the one about the kidnapped kid!" But nope, that's Kidnapped. Then I thought this was the one with Taye Diggs and the déjà vu and ... well, you get the picture.

Ah, the results show. Where else can we experience the joy of wading through 60 minutes of mindless filler, just for the privilege of witnessing something we had already guessed anyway. Who didn't see the American Inventor result coming? Would it have killed them to announce at the beginning, if only so we could avoid the spectacle of The Black Cougar coming back, or the Top Ten Crazies, or the montage of great ideas that didn't get chosen? Feh.

ABC wrapped up Summer Press Tour with a Lost announcement, more gushing about Pushing Daisies, Grey’s Anatomy defense and the new shows Cavemen, Women's Murder Club, Big Shots and Cashmere Mafia.

The inevitable Isaiah Washington question came up Thursday afternoon when Shonda Rhimes and the cast and crew of Private Practice appeared at press tour.

This week on American Inventor, six finalists went to Los Angeles to develop their ideas. Three advanced to the final round. Two annoyed the crap out of me, one was only semi-annoying, one needed a change of wardrobe, one seemed sort of meh, and one I pretty much liked. Amazingly, the judges seemed to agree. That never works for me!

Newly minted FOX Entertainment president Kevin Reilly probably doesn't need anyone to fight his battles for him. But if he did, his counterpart at ABC sounds like he'd be willing.

Traveler started with a bang: the explosion of the Drexler museum. Its finale closed with a bang, but only after cramming in a shootout, a break-in, a foot chase, a betrayal, a kidnapping, and a death.

Three ideas got through on American Inventor this week. Two had heart-stirring, sniffle-inducing back stories about helping people, saving lives and overcoming adversity. The other was a marginally useful gee-whiz consumer product. Guess which one got through.

The last time we saw the boys of Traveler, Jay and Tyler had just had a nasty fight and separated. But the show has been all about them, their quest to find answers, and their reliance on each other from the beginning. How would it fare with the guys left to their own devices?

Just in time for Press Tour, we polish off our network pilot previews.

Finally, we saw an idea on American Inventor that actually gives me hope. Usually, even the good ideas are marginal improvements on existing products, things that pass the time, wacky convenience items, or just something that reeks of novelty. But the last idea presented this week is something I can really see changing the way we live. If, of course, it actually works. And that's up for grabs.

It's a British Science Fiction Invasion as we review the third season premiere of  Doctor Who and two new shows: the much-anticipated spinoff Torchwood and a superb modernization of a classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale, Jekyll.

It's taken a surprisingly long time for such a conspiracy-laden show, but Traveler has finally reached the point where its main characters have run out of people to trust.

"Welcome back to American Inventor," intones host Nick Smith. "The judges saw thousands of inventors in Chicago and New York, but chose only the best as finalists." The producers, however, chose to spend the bulk of their time showing us the worst, the most crazed, and the most clearly deluded people in each city. Also, either a lot of people are inventing urination-related devices, or the editing staff figured visuals of toilets equal television gold. Ain't reality TV grand?

After weeks of only appearing for a few minutes at a time, in mysterious cameos or in flashbacks to his undercover days, Will Traveler finally came into his own this week, and I don't think it's a coincidence that Traveler picked up speed at the same time. Questions were answered about the Drexler bombing, the Conspiracy started to coalesce, and Will, I assume, has only just begun to kick some butt.

I have a confession to make: I'm a gadget junkie. I get an illicit thrill when I duck into Sharper Image and Hammacher Schlemmer stores. I enjoy it when my plane is stuck on the runway because it means I get to spend more time poring over the SkyMall catalog. I have been known to purchase items As Seen On TV. So you'd think I'd be the perfect audience for American Inventor.

We dive into ABC's pilots, including Bryan Fuller's (Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Heroes) sublimely perfect Pushing Daisies, as well as three new comedies: the not-not-there-yet Carpoolers, the shouldn't-go-there Cavemen and the currently untitled she-can't-remember-where-there-is Christina Applegate one (previously called Sam I Am). Continue reading »

Already we've reached the fourth episode of Traveler, and somehow it has only been 44 hours since the museum explosion. Jay and Tyler must be covering ground in New England as fast as Jack Bauer does in L.A., and they don't even have a helicopter. They've gone from New York City to upstate New York to New Haven, and now, they're in Maine, searching for Will in his hometown. Or is it?