LIVE FROM THE SUMMER TELEVISION CRITICS ASSOCIATION PRESS TOUR IN LOS ANGELES

Opening the day on a humorous note, late night favorite Jimmy Kimmel began the ABC executive session with Entertainment President Stephen McPherson by asking about the rumors of Jay Leno joining the net’s late night line-up. “Would Ted Koppel get fired? If you were even to talk to Jay Leno wouldn’t that be like contract tampering? Couldn’t you go to jail for that? Are you afraid if you replace Jimmy Kimmel he might do something crazy to you or your car?

“The Leno situation, to me it's a question for NBC,” said Stephen McPherson. I can't believe that they're going to let this guy go at the top of his game, and if that happens, I guess we'll look into it at the time, and Jimmy will be involved in those discussions, and that will be that.”

In other news at ABC, the network has promised to deliver the full 48 episodes of Lost ordered last year for the final three seasons (13 episodes aired in the abbreviated 2007-08), relocated Scrubs could live on after next season if there is enough audience interest, returning Private Practice will delve deeper into medical issues, Katherine Heigl is not exiting Grey’s Anatomy following her recent criticism of the show, there are no plans to change the look of Pushing Daisies, and there are (thankfully) no immediate plans for a celebrity version of Wipeout. The reality/competition is, however, a shoo-in for renewal, but whether or not it airs in the traditional season is a question mark.

As for the rumors of “trouble” on the freshman Life on Mars set:

“There is no conspiracy. It's in great shape,” said McPherson. “We've hired producers that we are really passionate about. We're in the process of recasting certain elements. Michael Imperioli is joining the cast. We're shooting in New York, which we're really excited about. Both creatively it's, I think, really important for that show to have its city identity, especially when you're juxtaposing modern day against the 1970s.”

McPherson also addressed switching to digital broadcast in February 2009, expecting to be fully ready to go and make the transition. “It's not something that we're altering our programming for,” he said. “It's really a technical issue that will be, hopefully, handled smoothly across the board for everybody.”

ABC has announced the following fall 2008 series premiere dates:

-Dancing With the Stars: Monday, Sept. 22, 8 p.m. ET (season premiere, two hours)

-Boston Legal: Monday, Sept. 22, 10 p.m. ET (season premiere, final season)

-Opportunity Knocks: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 8 p.m. ET (series premiere)

-Dancing With the Stars: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 9 p.m. ET (time period premiere, two-hour performance show)

-Ugly Betty: Thursday, Sept. 25, 8 p.m. ET (season premiere)

-Grey’s Anatomy: Thursday, Sept. 25, 9 p.m. ET (season premiere, two hours)

-Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: Sunday, Sept. 28, 7 p.m. ET (season premiere, two hours)

-Desperate Housewives: Sunday, Sept. 28, 9 p.m. ET (season premiere)

-Brothers & Sisters: Sunday, Sept. 28, 10 p.m. ET (season premiere)

-Pushing Daisies: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 8 p.m. ET (season premiere)

-Private Practice: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 9 p.m. ET (season premiere)

-Dirty Sexy Money: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 10 p.m. ET (season premiere)

-America’s Funniest Home Videos: Sunday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m. ET (season premiere)

-Samantha Who?: Monday, Oct. 6, 9:30 p.m. ET (season premiere)

-Life on Mars: Thursday, Oct. 9, 10 p.m. ET (series premiere)

-Eli Stone: Tuesday, Oct. 14, 10 p.m. ET (season premiere)

Debuting this past spring, Eli Stone (Jonny Lee Miller) is a successful lawyer at a top San Francisco firm who experiences a series of odd hallucinations and begins to think he may be a modern day prophet.

-The Competition: Without a Trace (CBS), Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

If Nathan represents science, Dr. Chen represents faith. As Eli struggles to cope with his diagnosis, he

Jonny Lee Miller, Victor Garber, Natasha Henstridge, Loretta Devine, Sam Jaeger, James Saito, Matt Letscher, Julie Gonzalo, Jason George, and executive producers Greg Berlanto and Marc Guggenheim.

To the fans wondering if George Michael will be back, nothing is confirmed yet but the conversations are open. And, yes, Mrs. Tom Cruise (a.k.a. Katie Holmes) will be guest starring in an episode. As for the show itself, according to Greg Berlanti:

“We definitely feel like we found our footing more toward the end of the year as the show tried to take on bigger, broader themes. So we really sort of start off the year with that…it's just sort of a great way to kind of bring people in. Also this year we have a sense of what our time slot is. We know we follow Dancing with the Stars, and we happen to do musical numbers. So we will be doing musical numbers definitely in the first couple of episodes. We're shameless like that.”

“Because of the nature of where Eli is at the end of the first season having the aneurysm removed, the season premiere really kind of plays like a second pilot. You can come in to it totally cold if you hadn't seen the show back in the spring. So it's designed to be new-viewer-friendly, as it were.”

While you have to give ABC credit for renewing low-rated but critically acclaimed Eli Stone for a second season (it did the same with the recent dramas October Road and Life With Brian, and they were both canned in year two), even the strength of lead-in Dancing With the Stars may not be enough to jump-start this seemingly niche only series. Opposite NBC’s veteran Law & Order: SVU and CBS’ relocated Without a Trace, Eli Stone does not stand much of a chance.

Jonny Lee Miller’s last regularly scheduled series was short-lived CBS drama Smith, starring Ray Liotta.

After being knocked unconscious when his girlfriend is kidnapped by a serial killer, a 21st century detective wakes up in 1973 and looks for clues to solve the crime and get back home. Lenny Clarke, Rachel Lefevre, Colm Meaney and Jason O’Mara star. David E. Kelley (Boston Legal) is the executive producer.

Michael Imperioli, Jason O’Mara and executive producers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec.

For those of us wondering how life will be depicted in 1973, here is a description of the year versus present day time, according to Josh Applebaum:

“The great thing about 1973 in terms of putting this show on now is that there are a lot of similarities to where we are now. It's almost shocking. We were trying to get out of a war in which we were embedded in. We had an unpopular President. There were gas prices. It was a tumultuous time. It was actually sort of coming out of the '60s. There was a darkness to the era in many ways, particularly New York. The city was broke. But there was still an amazing amount of life and culture and that stuff that we are so excited to be able to explore on the show.”

And here is why former Sopranos Michael Imperioli agreed to be on the series:

“Well, I definitely was picky. If I am going to commit to something that hopefully is going to be on for a long time, you want something juicy and you want something different. That's kind of really what I was looking for. And I got the script and I was not familiar at all with the British show. But I thought the script was very well written, first of all, and a really cool idea. And the idea of doing New York detectives in 1973 really appealed to me, just for the flavor of it and the period. I have an affinity for that era of music and politics, so I was really into it. And the character -- I thought there was a lot of truth to the character, and I thought he's different enough from what I had done in the past -- although most of the stuff I've been doing is either a cop or a robber.

One look at the Thursday 10 p.m. hour and there could be an opportunity for Life on Mars. NBC’s veteran ER is finally ending, and upcoming CBS drama Eleventh Hour is unlikely to be the next Without a Trace. But will the female audience out of Grey’s Anatomy find the more male sounding Life on Mars an appealing option? Since viewers have already fled from former occupants Big Shots, Men in Trees, October Road and Six Degrees, you might want to keep the expectations low for Life on Mars. Then again, those four dramas were all female driven, so maybe a crime drama is the way to go.

-Chance of Survival for Life on Mars (Based on a scale of 1-1 to 10-1):

Michael Imperioli is remembered, of course, for his Emmy winning performance as Christopher on The Sopranos. But his first role in a mob drama was as a local kid who works for gangsters and has a run-in with the character played by Joe Pesci in 1990 theatrical Goodfellas.

Contestants compete to win a gamut of prizes literally from their own home when a mobile team arrives at “Anywhere, America” in a semi-truck full of flat screen TVs, new furniture and cash prizes that the family can win right there. J.D. Roth hosts; Ashton Kutcher is one of the executive producers.

-Competition: NCIS (CBS), The Biggest Loser: Families (NBC), House (Fox), 90210 (CW)

Host/executive producer JD Roth, and executive producers Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg and Karey Burke.

The formula of non-scripted success according to Ashton Kutcher:

“I think you can succeed without hurting people. I think that's always better. I believe that you always have to have compassion before you have judgment, and any time you have judgment without compassion, it will fall apart. You might get a big pop really quick, but I feel like eventually that energy will dissolve, and so we always try to instill some universal compassion into the shows that we do. You know, we pushed the edge with Punk'd, our first show, and really kind of went for all the bang, all the bang, all the bang. In this show and Beauty and the Geek, I think that the heart of the show to us is just as important. I think you can make entertainment without being destructive, and that's what this show is about.”

Considering ABC is launching only one new scripted series this fall, drama Life on Mars, the network could, and should, have find a way to be more aggressive in the important Tuesday 8 p.m. anchor spot. But as a counter-programming measure, you never know when their might be…well…an opportunity.

-Chance of Survival for Opportunity Knocks (Based on a scale of 1-1 to 10-1):

The last time ABC opened the fall season with a game show was Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2000.

Okay, it is not CBS’ press tour days yet. But I had to take a break from ABC’s time to mention that the one and only Gene Simmons (did you catch him on NBC’s Celebrity The Apprentice?) will join upcoming Eye net reality/competition Jingles as one of the judges. Jingles, which premieres on Sunday, July 27 at 9 p.m. ET, will feature contestants competing to write and perform the best jingles. Former American Idol contestant Kimberly Caldwell hosts.

Want to know what classic TV actor I just happened to run into at the Beverly Hilton? Clue #1: He was part of one of the most beloved sitcoms in the history of television. Clue #2: His character was spun-off into his own hit comedy. Clue #3: He hosted his own variety series. Don’t know yet? Here is the last clue: He was considered a “good luck charm.” Listen to today’s PIPodcast at www.marcberman.tv for the answer.