-By Marc Berman

I always like a good bargain, so let me begin this column by advising you not to be intimidated by the currently sky-high airfares. I found around-trip ticket to get out to the 2008 Summer Television Critics
Association Press Tour in L.A. for $319. It never hurts to keep shopping!

With that in mind, this week’s Mr. TV coincides with the TCA Summer Tour, which was touch-and-go for months due to the potential Screen Actors Guild strike (AFTRA made progress last week, so things may be looking up). And unlike many of my cranky peers, this is an event I totally look forward to every year.  

Seriously, how can you complain when you are staying at a really nice hotel, being fed like you’re on a cruise, granted access to stars and are compiling information and interviews that will help you do your job throughout the year? I only hope the networks and the board members at the TCA, who work tirelessly on this always-worthy event, will ignore the TV critic who recently likened attending the tour to having a “colonoscopy.”

If you are going to constantly bitch and moan about it for two solid weeks, then just stay home!

Although there is still no definitive answer on whether or not the actors will strike, at this point it is too late to cancel the Press Tour. But noticeably different this year will be fewer newer series panels (only 17 shows are launching this fall versus 29 last year), and a lot of cable being folded into the network portion of the tour.

Once again the TCA will be housed at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, which is right in the center of everything. Following five days of cable and PBS, the network portion of the tour kicks off with Fox, which will feature panels on my personal summer favorite, So You Think You Can Dance (which always includes a live performance by the dancers), Fringe, Do Not Disturb, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 24 (the prequel) and non-scripted Secret Millionaire. Too bad there is nothing scheduled on American Idol, which always seems to be smack in the middle of some controversy right in time for TCA. Life is boring when Paula Abdul behaves herself!

Tuesday July 15 is devoted to FX and sessions on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (that’s still on?), Damages, new drama Sons of Anarchy and retiring The Shield. Since the day will be light, I’m off to visit the set of ABC’s Desperate Housewives, where I’ll catch up with creator Marc Cherry for an upcoming column. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of the show flashing ahead five years into the future (it’s working for  Lost). And from what I have heard, the grossly underused Nicollette Sheridan will have a meaty storyline to sink her vampy chops into next season.

Since ABC only has two new shows this fall—drama Life on Mars and the non-scripted Opportunity Knocks—part of its two-day presence will be devoted to drama Samurai Girl on ABC Family and the 40th anniversary of One Life to Live.

Although the network will include sessions on sophomore dramas Dirty Sexy Money and Private Practice, oddly missing is expected Emmy darling Pushing Daisies. But most likely to pack the room is the Desperate Housewives panel, thanks to its stars, including the aforementioned Sheridan.

And I am also looking forward to the network’s show-runner panel with the heads of Brothers & Sisters, Lost, Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy and, of course, Desperate Housewives. With this season marred by the writers’ strike, you forget just how many hit shows ABC has.

CBS should be interesting, because it has five new entries—sitcoms Worst Week and Project Gary, and dramas Eleventh Hour, The Mentalist and The Ex List. And part of CBS’ two days will feature sessions with sister cable net Showtime, which seems to have surpassed HBO in the quality department.

The CW is also of note because spinoff 90210 will be part of the festivities. Wouldn’t it be something if Shannen Doherty, who has also been approached to revive her role of Brenda Walsh, shows up?  Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth on the same stage?  Get the claws out!

Last is NBC, which will incorporate cable cousins Bravo, Oxygen, Sci Fi and USA into its two-day portion of the tour. As always, I will provide a daily fix via The Programming Insider (solely devoted to the Press Tour), and will give you the highlights in the next Mr. TV column.

For now, all I can say is California, here I come!