TV

Lisa Garza, co-owner of the Dallas restaurant Suze, advanced to the finals of The Next Food Network Star on Sunday night as the cooking reality show provided a twist for viewers. The surprise is that she'll be joined by fellow competitors Adam Gertler and Aaron McCargo because the judges deemed it to difficult to give someone the boot during the penultimate episode, forcing the show's first ever three-way final. Look for a tale-of-the-tape comparison of the finalists Thursday in GuideLive.

A panel with the cast (minus Darrell Hammond and the soon-to-be-former member, Amy Poehler) of SNL and creator/executive producer, Lorne Michaels, opened with a burst of news items:

This season will be extended from the normal 20 episodes to 22.

There will be seven live episodes leading up to the November presidential election, with four consecutive live shows kicking off the season.

Most notably, during the build-up to the election, the SNL crew will stage a weekly half-hour version of Weekend Update, Thursday Night Live, which will premiere on Oct. 9.

But there was time for all of that. Another more pressing question had to be answered: How will the show deal with a pregnant Hillary Clinton? No, that's not another news flash, the First Lady and former presidential candidate isn't pregnant. But the SNL actress who impersonates her on the show is, Amy Poehler, and will be abundantly so as the election nears. "Are you going to have her wear really big dresses or have her sitting behind a desk?"

"There'll be less need for Hillary in the fall," head writer Seth Meyers ventured. But when reminded that Bill Clinton being out of the White House hadn't meant that Darrell Hammond's version of him didn't still pop into SNL skits, Mr. Meyers nodded. "That's true, well then, you're idea about the desk is a good one. We'll do that."

With the country accelerating into the final months of the presidential campaign, it's not surprising that talk during the SNL panel focused on the show's plans for and history of political satire. How, for example, will the show's writers deal with Obama, who has thus far proven to be a tough personality to parody.

"He's still defining himself," Mr. Michaels said, "and he's still primarily cast as heroic. But that will change. It's all about finding the take on him that everyone can agree on. He's still being dealt with very cautiously and reverently, but as he becomes more familiar and the campaign grinds on, the proper satirtical take will become clear."

Since both candidates have appeared on the show, although Senator Obama just appeared in one sketch while Sen. McCain was a guest host this past season, Mr. Michaels was asked "who's funnier?"

Of course, they both were funny, in their own ways. He complimented Sen,. McCain for being such a good sport and willing to go with the show's flow. When he was subsequently asked about his personal politics -- he acknowledged that he has contributed to Sen. McCain's campaign, he waved off the possibility of any such bias affecting the show's content or tone.

"I contribute to any former host running for office," he joked, before adding, "Who ever's in power, we're suspicious of."

Sounding like a coach about to enter the championship season, he also said that Amy Poehler "will be with us through the election, or at least, as long as she can be."

When Friday Night Lights' Connie Britton (Coach Taylor's guidance-counselor wife) was asked about the effects of all the doomsday-anxiety surrounding the show, she said:

"Maybe it's got something to do with Austin, but once we're down there and shooting, we don't pay that much attention to what people are saying about the show's future or demise. We're just in our little Texas heaven."

Friday Night Lights has been a unique and extraordinary show since it debuted on NBC in Oct, 2006. It's a show based on a movie (of the same title) that completely reinvented itself and became not just different but better than the film that inspired it. It's become variably known as 1) the football show that isn't about football, 2) the best show on television that almost nobody is watching, or 3) just simply the best show on television.

That unique/extraordinary aura got (at least) another level added to it on Sunday when at a panel featuring castmembers and exec producer/writer Jason Katims it was confirmed that the show will become the test case for "a completely new model" of distribution -- this plan was originally announced, but sketchily explained in an April meeting with advertisers during NBC's upfront. FNL's upcoming third season will debut in Feb. 2009 on NBC, but first it air in its entirety -- starting Oct. 1 -- on satellite TV provider Direct TV's original programming initiative, the 101 Network.

."I'm a huge fan of the show," said Eric Shanks, executive vice president of entertainment for DirecTV, "and like everybody at NBC, I wanted to fiure out a way to keep the show going. It's been a long journey, but the show is so special and it has such intense, dedicated fans."

The plain facts are this: NBC has ordered 13 episodes (nine less than last year's 22-show season). Production will begin some time in August, in Austin. The show will start clean; rather than picking up where the strike interrupted it, FNL's new season will begin at the start of a new school year, the next football season. That means that two of the show's central characters, former star quarterback/paraplegic, Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) and hotshot running back 'Smash' Williams (Gaius Charles) have graduated and won't be regulars on the show anymore.

"As much as we love those guys and those characters," said Mr. Katims, "we felt the show has always been about being true to life, authentic as possible, so we love them but to be true to their lives, it was time for them to move on.

"They're both going forward to the next step in their lives, but we are absolutely leaving the door open to them coming back."

Other than that, not much in the way of facts, plain or otherwise, were offered, a reflection perhaps of just how "completely new" this arrangement is and how little about how it's going to work is known.

For instance, how will this experiment be judged a success. Is it just a matter of attracting a significant segment of DirecTV's existing 17 million subscribers, giving them something to get excited about? Or will this venture be judged by how many new subscribers it draws?

Mr. Shanks either didn't know or was unwilling to say.

"There are a large number of things that we will be looking at. It's about keeping existing customers satisfied and new customers coming in the door, You can't just look at one thing to say whether this is a success. There are a lot of ways we're going to be looking at it."

Okay. Let's try something else. Among the unique FNL features DirecTV will be offering to its subscribers are a "postgame" show, Friday Night Lights Live in which viewers will be able to call in and ask questions of that week's participating cast members (Mr.Kasims guessed that "two or three" will take part each week). Even more enticing to hardcore fans, however, is the promise of bonus content and/or extended episodes available only on DirecTV. What does this mean. Will the show be reverse-engineered, sort of the opposite process a cable show like Sex and the City goes through to run on broadcast television, only instead of taking the R-rated material out, FNL's producers will be putting it in?

In a word, maybe, or more precisely in three words, they don't know.

"Well, we're talking about what we might do. We haven't started production yet so I could probably answer that question a lot better in six or eight weeks," Mr. Kapinos said. "We potentially could do a version that's different for DirecTV. One thing that's really attractive is the possibility of a longer running time, so we might do something like that.

"I don't really know yet, but each version would have something to recommend it."

It's not surprising that, on the cusp of doing something that's never been done before, that clear, certain answers are few. Switching to a new season with fewer episodes and the creative possibilities of longer, more fluid running times and adult-themed content -- Friday Night Lights seems to be going through a strange, unprecendented metamorphosis. It entered its strike-imposed cocoon an underperforming broadcast show and it may emerge a precedent-setting new kind of cable show.

The new 90210 may be a whole new show -- "We're really having a strong adult storyline" -- but there are a few ways in which it will be just like the old show by including some of the original castmembers. Jennie Garth will be back as the all-grown-up Kelly Taylor, and in one of those what-a-teeny-tiny-world, improbably convenient coincidences that always happen on television and never in real life, she is now back at West Beverly High as the school's guidance counselor.

The show's producers also confirmed that Tori Spelling will be back as Donna Martin, now the owner of a boutique that will no doubt prove to be a crucial site in the lives of its new crop of hip high-schoolers (you know how teens love a good boutique). The producers also announced that Shannon Doherty will appear in an undetermined number of episodes as a drama teacher "guest directing" a musical at West Beverly High.

As for Jason Priestley, Luke Perry et al, "We're open to it," said Gabe Sachs, executive producer, "as long as we can do it organically within the show. But we haven't talked to any of them yet."