Latest from Ausiello - Various Shows - 05/03/11

Question: Do you know anything about the Grey’s Anatomy‘s finale or do you still have no idea? —Sami
Ausiello: Cristina and Owen are going to find themselves at a crossroads when Cristina receives “some disturbing news” in the May 19 season-ender, teases series creator Shonda Rhimes. “And how she and Owen handle that news will speak volumes about the future of their relationship.” BTW, I didn’t really love the tone of your question Sami. Check the ‘tude at the door next time or I’ll sic my new pet on you.

Question: Any scoops on Bones? —Adriana
Ausiello: I can now confirm that Booth and Brennan will be spending the night together during May sweeps. The twist? Yours truly will be joining them! I’ll be moderating “An Evening with Bones” next Monday at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. The event is sold out, but go ahead and email me any burning questions you have for the cast and creative team and I’ll do my best to get them answered during the Q&A portion. That email is askausiello@tvline.com. Use it, don’t abuse it.

Question: Will Brennan and Booth share a cab anytime soon on Bones? Hart Hanson tweeted a pic of the crew setting up the final scene and it has got me thinking that maybe we’ll get to see them finally leaving in a cab together in the final seconds of this season. I’m getting tired of seeing Brennan all by herself in the backseat of a cab while Booth stands on the sidewalk watching her going away. —Amanda
Ausiello: “No cabs,” responds exec producer Stephen Nathan. “Many bowling balls, but no cabs. Some screaming, a revolting body, and a Hodgela baby. But no cabs.” I think what he’s trying to say in a roundabout way is that there are no cabs in the finale.

Question: Since you are almost as big a fan of Chuck as I am, I need to know: What is your degree of confidence that the season finale can also serve as a satisfying series finale if NBC does the unthinkable and unforgivable? —Jeff
Ausiello: To be honest, my confidence level was pretty low. But then I spoke to exec producer Chris Fedak and it shot through the freakin’ roof. Despite the finale being titled “Chuck vs. the Cliffhanger,” Fedak assured me that the episode features “some fantastic resolution to a number of the stories that we set up this season.” But as has become something of a Chuck tradition, the final scene features a “cliffhanger component that launches us very much into [a possible] Season 5,” Fedak adds. What would such a season look like? “There were a number of stories that we’ve always wanted to do – even from Season 1 – involving who Chuck is as a person and as a hero. So [Season 5] would be an extension of that.”

Question: In last week’s AA you mentioned that the Chuck season finale broke the bank, budget-wise. Care to elaborate? Do you know what was so expensive? —Jeremy
Ausiello: The mother of all action sequences, according to Fedak. “It’s set in the desert and includes a super motorcycle, lots of special effects and a truck getting blown off the road,” he says. “It has an element of Duel, which is Steven Spielberg’s first movie. There’s also an element of Road Warrior… and an ode to the television show Street Hawk, which I watched as a kid.”

Question: Could you, pretty please, give us something about the Private Practice finale? —Celine
Ausiello: Funny you should ask. Shonda Rhimes personally asked me to deliver a message to you about the May 19 climax. “You really need to make sure that the audience watches the last 30 seconds,” she told me. “If they don’t, they’re going to be very, very disappointed and disturbed.” You’ve been warned!

Question: I’m so excited for the two-part paintball finale on Community! Any scoop on it? —Becca
Ausiello: It won’t end with a cliffhanger, per EP Dan Harmon. “We did a cliffhanger last year, so this season there will just be an unresolved element to give some energy to the top of the third season,” he explains. “I would do the cliffhanger in Season 1 again if I could, because I wanted to get people talking about a show they weren’t talking about. But this season, I don’t see the need for that serialized thing. This will give us more options to make a really good first episode of the third season.”

Question: Anything on The Good Wife? —Glenda
Ausiello: There are two slots in my May Sweeps Scorecard reserved for characters from TGW — and both are within the first six categories.

Question: Any scoop on Southland? —Josh
Ausiello: Just because season 3 ended with Sammy (Shawn Hatosy) and Ben (Ben McKenzie) becoming partners that doesn’t mean they’ll remain so when season 4 starts up. “We might [jump] so forward into the future that he’s not with Ben,” suggests Ben’s former partner, Michael Cudlitz (John). “Ben and Sammy may no longer be partners. We don’t know. Nothing is set in stone as of now.”

Question: Is the upcoming death on Glee also the troublesome diva that you mentioned in your blind item some time back? —Caroline
Ausiello: No.

Question: I love Leslie and Ben on Parks and Recreation! Got any scoop on them? —Bea
Ausiello: May 12 is going to be a big day for those crazy-in-love kids. In the first of two back-to-back Parks eps airing that night, Ben — while attempting to reconcile Leslie and Ann after the BFFs have a Snake Juice-fueled falling out — gets a tip from the grapevine that Ms. Knope is crushing on him. In the second, Ben/Leslie road trip-themed episode, Leslie enlists Ann’s help in coming up with ways to snuff any sexual tension. Her ideas include wearing a tracksuit, listening to a horrible mix CD, and dissecting an article about the history of the ladder. Lucky for viewers, Ann is totally a Beslie shipper and manages to sneak in something sexy under Leslie’s nose.

Question: Any news on that new, fun-loving dysfunctional family we have come to love from Raising Hope? —Jamie
Ausiello: Do you love sweet, unassuming Jimmy? Well, you’ll get to see another side of him — one that raises his voice, pounds his fist and answers to the name Drakkar Noir — when the show flashes back five years for its May 17 season finale. We’ll also discover that circa-2005 Sabrina totally loved the Dark Prince.

Question: Any scoop on Weeds? —Donnie
Ausiello: Nancy’s Halfway House counselor has race issues. Producers were originally looking to cast a Caucasian actor in the recurring role, but they just changed the ethnicity to African-American. The character is described as a no-nonsense shrink from the East Coast who is tasked with keeping track of Nancy’s comings and goings. Know who’d be great in this? That sidekick guy from No Ordinary Family. What is his name….?

Question: I am an Ausiello Scoop Virgin. Can you please give me some Modern Family scoop. It’s the funniest show on TV. —Lauren
Ausiello: What does a sailor’s outfit, a rainbow T-shirt, a bottle of merlot, and one angry dog have in common? They’re all part of an elaborate birthday surprise Claire and Mitchell concoct for Jay in this season’s penultimate episode airing May 18.

Question: I can’t wait for Rescue Me to start! I know the entire final season has already been shot and will end on 9/11. But with recent newsworthy development (aka bye-bye Bin Laden), will the show be doing any reshoots to address this issue? Seems like it would be a big deal to NYC firefighters not to mention. —Danielle
Ausiello: You’d think so, right? Well, I spoke to an FX rep who spoke to series co-creator Peter Tolan who said… there are no plans to make any changes to the episodes to address Osama’s death.

Question: What’s in the future for Shawn and Juliet on Psych? —Emily
Ausiello: “Their romance is evolving,” leading lady Maggie Lawson told TVLine’s Matt Mitovich at USA Network’s upfront soiree on Monday. “I can’t give away too much — we’re only in Episode 4 of the [new] season so far — but I can tell you the romance is solid and good. And there might be other characters that have some romance this season as well!”

Question: There’s only two episodes of Vampire Diaries left! Scoop me! —Jaime
Ausiello: Rumor has it the “extreme” loss of life that EP Julie Plec spoke of is coming sooner rather than later.

Question: Please give me something — anything — about the Law & Order: SVU finale. —Joel
Ausiello: “We go out with a bang,” enthuses departing exec producer Neal Baer. “It’s my last episode for SVU — I’m leaving after 11 years to go to CBS — and it leaves us with a death; it leaves us with one of our beloved characters doing something that will change the way they see being a cop; and since I’m a [doctor], I get to rag on cigarettes, so that’s terrific!”

Source: TVLine