Press Tour: ABC Showrunners Liveblog! Hi-larious!

The first ABC session is the showrunners panel with (from left): Greg Berlanti from "Eli Stone," "Brothers & Sisters" and "Dirty Sexy Money"; Shonda Rhimes of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice"; Silvio Horta of "Ugly Betty"; Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse of "Lost"; and Marc Cherry of "Desperate Housewives." These are some of the most powerful creative people in television, and they are very well paid for very stressful, demanding, all-involving jobs. The room is full, and ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson does the introduction...

 










Unsurprisingly, the first question is for Lindelof and Cuse, about "Lost" and when the two timelines might merge. Cuse: "By the end." He says setting an end date "made all the difference in the world" in juicing up "Lost's" storytelling.

Second question goes to Rhimes - what about the Katharine Heigl situation on "Grey's"?
Rhimes to Lindelof: You thought your question was hard.
Lindelof: You didn't see this one coming.
Rhimes: The situation is fine...
Horta: Put her in a coma! (Laughter)
(Rhimes never did give up anything about what will happen to Izzie.)

Cherry on "DH's" five-year flash forward in the season finale: I was so impressed with the bold stroke Damon and Carlton had done on Lost with the flash forward at the end of last season, and I was trying to do something for my show...Oh, let's just go forward in time! Let me change everyone's lives completely. I was originally going to do an eight-year jump, but when someone explained to me how the actresses would react to being eight years older, I decided five was fine...
Cuse: There's also going to be a polar bear on the show this season.

Rhimes on her reaction to hearing Heigl's comments: When I was told about it, I found it surprising. I have a really wonderful  working relationship with Katharine and I respect her as actress...so it was surprising. (But) Katie is an outspoken person and I think we know that already.

Cherry on dealing with cast controversies like that: I just hide (Laughter) ... The best way to deal with actors is you pretend that they're real people and talk to them. (Laughter) ... When we had that disastrous Vanity Fair photo shoot thing, that was so much more complicated and real and understandable (than it was portrayed). I ultimately solved that by hugging a sobbing actress in her trailer for 30 minutes and telling her this too shall pass. People may hate you now ... but pretty soon they'll forget you and really attack "Lost." (Laughter)

Rhimes said that Cherry is right, that she knows her cast better than anyone, and that these public dustups usually have something much more private going on underneath that we don't know about. Of course someone asked immediately what we don't know about the Heigl situation, and Lindelof interrupted: She was drunk! (Laughter) Did that help?

Why no best drama or best comedy Emmys for some of the shows?
Cherry: My first thought was oh fuck I have to go hang out with Carlton and Damon today and they'll be all bragging.

Cherry is campy and hilarious. He's riffing throughout on the idea that other producers use sports metaphors and he needs everything translated into show tunes. One question begins, "It's the bottom of the eighth-" and he bursts out with, "It's the 11 o'clock number!"

Rhimes on the retooling of "PP" this season: I don't think it's going to be less "soapy" as it is the medical stories are going to be stronger...

Cherry on making Eva Longoria look unglamorous after the "DH" flash forward: She was happy that she didn't have to get glammed up every day ... (but) we took all the makeup off and she looked about 12 years old. That's not going to work. So our Emmy-winning hair people did their thing, and the makeup people drew circles under her eyes, and we put padding on...

Horta was asked how he managed to keep his "UB" cast out of the tabloids. The other producers laughed.
Horta: We got really lucky with our cast...
Rhimes: It's coming. (Laughter) It's coming.

The last question? Berlanti was asked about the brother-sister ooops-they're-not relationship storyline on "B&S." He said the show's staff was surprised by negative fan reaction to the plot turn but said it was too late to go back. "Hopefully they'll remember other things they liked about the show..."