A day in the life of press tour: FOX

Seth MacFarlane and the rest of the cast of "American Dad" will do a live table read of an episode at press tour.

Credit: FOX

Today's FOX lineup is the final broadcast network day of the summer 2010 press tour, but far from the last day of TCA. Tomorrow is a mix of FX and shows produced by Sony, Wednesday and Thursday are PBS, and Friday and Saturday are for all the cable networks that weren't presented with broadcast partners earlier in the tour. Many miles to go before I sleep, starting with one last preview of the day's schedule (all times West Coast, obviously), coming up after the jump...

9-9:30 a.m.: Breakfast with the cast and producers of "The Good Guys" and "Human Target." My mustache obsession is well-known, as is the fact that Chi McBride - blunt, hilarious and always interestingly-attired - may be my favorite actor on the tour (if not my favorite human being on the tour), so this should make for some fun conversation.

9:30-10:15 a.m.: "Lone Star," about a Texas con man (very good newcomer James Wolk), is one of the best pilots on any of the networks, but there's some question about whether it would be better as a movie than a series. This is a panel where what the producers have to say about future plans may weigh heavily into my review.

10:15-11 a.m.: "Running Wilde," the mini-"Arrested Development" reunion with Will Arnett, Mitch Hurwitz and Jim Vallely (plus non-Bluth-affiliated Keri Russell). This is a show that's already had some recasting (in more "AD" reunion news, David Cross will have a recurring role that was played in the original pilot by Andy Daly), and I'll be curious to hear what other tweaks might be coming to a pilot that I wanted to love more than I actually did.

11-11:45 a.m.: An executive session with chairman Peter Rice and president Kevin Reilly. Ideally, the two would come out and unveil the reported new "American Idol" judging panel of Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler so we could ask a lot of questions about them, but it doesn't sound like J-Lo or Tyler's contracts will be signed in time. So I imagine we'll have to do a lot of hypotheticals: "Peter, how do you think a '70s rock icon with a scratchy voice might be able to fill Simon's slot?"

11:45 a.m.-1 p.m.: A writing break, which would be more valuable if there was "Idol" news to report, but what can you do?

1-2 p.m.: Lunch, plus the cast of "American Dad" doing a live table read of an episode.

2:15-3 p.m.: "Raising Hope," Greg Garcia's new "My Name Is Earl"-esque comedy about a trashy family who unexpectedly have to take care of a baby. Mainly, I'm looking forward to talking to co-star Garret Dillahunt about his ubiquity and general awesomeness.

3-3:45 p.m.: Gordon Ramsay and company come to talk "Masterchef." Like Seth MacFarlane, Ramsay now has so many shows on the network that he keeps bringing them to tour in a never-ending rotation.

3:45-4:15 p.m.: An informal schmooze with the producers of all the Sunday animated shows.

4:15-5 p.m.: A "Glee" panel, without the actors, but with Ryan Murphy, one or two other producers and the choreographer, music producer and costume designer. This will, I believe, be the fourth press tour in a row with a "Glee" panel, so I think it's smart to go with a "How a 'Glee' musical number gets made"-themed panel. Often times, a more narrowly-focused panel like this leads to better questions, answers and stories than a a standard actors/showrunners free-for-all, where Murphy would get 80 percent of the questions and they'd be all over the map.

7-10 p.m.: The non-party party at the Santa Monica Pier, which is where Fox has usually held this event for the last few years. If I can get in some good interviews and also win a few stuffed animals for my kids, it will be a productive night.

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

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Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com