Mega Buzz on Housewives, Criminal Minds, ...

[Queen of the Damned]

By MICKEY O'CONNOR AND ADAM BRYANT


Every week, editors Mickey O'Connor and Adam Bryant satisfy your need for TV scoop. Please send all questions to [e-mail].

I am so over Orson and his lame blackmail scheme. How long before the writers put that story to rest and let Bree and Karl tie the knot on Desperate Housewives? — David
MICKEY: Poor Kyle MacLachlan — the writers really screwed him with all that kleptomania nonsense. The good news (for us, at least) is that Bree's emotional affair with Karl will take on a new dimension when they start sending dirty text messages to each other. As Emily Post might write longhand on personalized stationery: OMG!

Any Fringe scoop? — Lizbeth
MICKEY: Right off the bat in the first episode, one character's alliances will be questioned, and the answer will be heartbreaking for fans of the show. (Unrelated: Did you hear that The Observer showed up at Fox's fall preview party last week? Honestly, I'm glad there's photographic evidence because at the time, I just thought I was having the gin spins.)

Would love to get some Criminal Minds scoop! — Diane
ADAM: And I would love to give you some, Diane. If you've spent all summer sweating over Hotch's fate at the hands of the gun-wielding Reaper, rest assured that you'll get your answer quickly, as the premiere picks up right where the cliff-hanger left off. Meanwhile, the rest of the team will track a serial killer who's targeting an ER doctor. The bad news: One of the team will catch a bullet in the process. The good news: There's a doctor handy!

On Grey's Anatomy, who will the interns be this season? — Hannah S.
MICKEY: This year's class will include a bleeding-heart caregiver, an exacting perfectionist and a scheming underminer. In other words, the staff of Seattle Grace will meet their mini-mes, and much irony will ensue!

Any word yet on how they're going to explain Lucas and Peyton's sudden absence from the coming season of One Tree Hill now that the actors aren't returning? It's killing me! — Samantha D.
ADAM: A show rep suggests that it will involve a bit of rebooting. "Obviously, we have new stories to tell, but at the same time, this season very much feels like classic One Tree Hill." How so? "Some characters might be in an episode for just one scene, but it's a scene that serves the story and the serialized nature of our season." Translation: They haven't figured it out yet.

Is it true that Liam and Naomi break up this season on 90210? I hope not; I like them together! — Shanti
MICKEY: With all the double-crossing that went on between them, I thought they kind of deserved each other. But I have bad news for you, Shanti. My 90210 moles are rumbling about two new characters who appear to spell the end of Liomi (Naoliam? I'm bad at this). A sexy surfer hottie will spar with Liam on the beach, and Naomi will fake an interest in the environment to snare her new do-gooder, college-aged boyfriend.

Any scoop on True Blood? The season is dragging for me. — Danny
MICKEY: Well, would Sookie and Eric naked in bed together spice things up for you, Danny? You'll see that, and the death — yes, death — of two prominent vampires, before the end of the season.

Is this flirtatious behavior between Hardison and Parker on Leverage going to blossom into a romance anytime soon? — Nick
ADAM: Patience, grasshopper. "Like all good TV romances, it will take its time," the show's producers tell me. But on Wednesday's episode, the flirty duo will work very closely to bring down a sensational journalist (Beth Broderick) whose reporting is hurting the reputation of the team's client.

What will Tiffani Thiessen do on USA's White Collar? Is it anything like what she did on Fastlane? Or Beverly Hills, 90210? Or Saved By the Bell? — Manny
MICKEY: Thiessen plays Elizabeth, wife to Tim DeKay's FBI Agent Peter Stokes, and she'll be inspired by Laura Linney's work in HBO's John Adams, if executive producer Jeff Eastin is to be believed. (Yes, you read that right.) Eastin asked the actress to watch Linney's performance as the devoted wife and trusted presidential advisor. "What I loved about Abigail Adams in that show was you had someone who was incredibly supportive of her husband but was a really strong person in her own right," Eastin says. "That was sort of the catalyst to start molding Elizabeth." Intrigued?

Will Ryan Hurst return as Opie in the second season on FX's Sons Of Anarchy? — DOC
ADAM: Hurst will indeed be back, and despite his wife's death in Season 1, Opie's commitment to SAMCRO will be even stronger. "Opie is a guy who needs a task," series creator Kurt Sutter says. Opie's task will find him getting even closer to Clay, which will most definitely have an impact on Jax's emotional arc this season. Who knew bikers were such creampuffs? Emotional arc? Come on!

I love Raising the Bar, and I was wondering if you have any scoop on the final three episodes of the season? — Caroline
ADAM: Monday's episode will be a battle of the teen-show all-stars, and first prize is Zack Morris' heart. Jerry's budding relationship with Bobbi (Saved by the Bell: The New Class vet Natalia Cigluti) hits yet another snag when he's wooed by a gang expert played by Meredith Monroe (Dawson's Creek's Andie).

Any scoop on Eastwick? I'm already a fan of the book and movie — should I bother watching this? — Jenna
MICKEY: "I like to have winks to both the book and the movie, even though this is kind of a different world," executive producer Maggie Friedman says. "But we sort of wink to the fact that Darryl may have been in Eastwick 20 years ago in the '80s, and maybe there were other witches there at the time." I hear that Veronica Cartwright, famous for her cherry-puking scene in the movie, and Cybill Shepherd, who has signed on to Eastwick for a multiple-episode arc, are being fitted for black hats and broomsticks as we speak.

Mickey's Mega Rave: Ten episodes in, Nurse Jackie has sustained the brilliance it demonstrated in the pilot with whip-smart writing, sharp character portrayals (including Eve Best's snooty Dr. O'Hara and Merritt Wever's kooky Zoey) and an ever-vigilant style of direction that toes the line between unsympathetic and hateful. What do you think, new guy?

Adam's Mini Rant: Well, old man, I respectfully disagree. Sure, Jackie's life sucks right now, but I have a hard time finding any sympathy for her because of the way she treats her support system, namely O'Hara. Even antiheroes need to make you smile every once in a while.

Reader Quote of the Week: "Must be an episode about zombies. She actually does that quite well." — wrstlgirl, on the news that Paris Hilton will guest-star in an episode of Supernatural.

(Additional reporting by Tim Molloy and Robyn Ross)

Crave scoop on your favorite TV shows? E-mail Mickey and Adam at [e-mail] or drop us a line at Twitter.com/TVGuide. The question you don't ask is a question we can't answer!

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