When Matt Weiner was a successful sitcom writer -- CBS's Becker -- he had this idea for another kind of show. He couldn't figure out how to pitch it, so he wrote a sample script. The Sopranos' creator David Chase read it and hired him. After copping a couple of Emmys for his work on that HBO drama, Weiner finally got his spec script sold. Now, Mad Men has earned 16 Emmy nominations and Matt Weiner is working on the second season of the show.

Recently, for TV Week, I interviewed Matt about the Emmy nominations. Here are some other thoughts he shared with me about Mad Men:

TVS: What's the show all about to you?

Matt Weiner: A lot of the episodes are about "who am I." A lot of the shows are about what's embarrassing. A lot of it's about denial, about how we juggle our work and our private lives. A lot of the issues that came up in the early 1960s are really hitting us right now.

Almost as soon as I arrived in Beverly Hills for the press tour on July 13, I had an assignment: find a power brick for my laptop, which I had left behind in New Jersey. One frantic and sweaty trip to Radio Shack later, I was ready for my next assignment: a brief interview with The Daily Show's Senior Black Correspondent, Larry Wilmore.

Wilmore was on hand to promote Make 'Em Laugh, a wide-ranging PBS documentary series on the history of modern comedy that's set to air in 2009 (it was announced that day that Billy Crystal is hosting the series). Right after the interview, Wilmore was on a panel with two other documentary participants: original SNL writer Anne Beatts (whom I also interviewed) and comedian Richard Lewis.

I only had a few minutes with Wilmore, so I quickly moved on from the special to ask him about how he got the Daily Show gig after a career spent behind the scenes as a writer and producer (The PJs, The Bernie Mac Show). I also asked him what it's like to work on a show that's so influential on the political and news scene. The interview is after the jump.

One of the highlights of the Sci Fi / EW party at Comic-Con was being able to talk to and shake the hand of Joss Whedon. It's no secret that I'm a fan of his work, and with the incredible presence of Dr. Horrible and Dollhouse at this year's Comic-Con, it's no mystery why he was at the 'Con.

Unfortunately for me, I had no idea he was going to be heading down that red carpet, so in hindsight I of course have a ton of questions I would have liked to have thought of at the time. Since my time was limited with everyone anyway, I kept it relevant to what was going on at the 'Con as best I could.

I've got more to add later about the discussion regarding the digital medium, but that will be a different post down the road. As for Joss, he's very easy to talk to and my transcription doesn't really show how good-natured the conversation was. At one point Eliza Dushku stepped in to say hello to us -- you don't see that every day.

When I spoke to Keith Olbermann at the press tour a few weeks back, I mainly wanted to get his thoughts about the comments that Fox News' Chris Wallace made earlier in the tour. Essentially, Wallace said that MSNBC isn't objective in its election coverage because they have commentators like Olbermann -- who are perceived to be "in the tank" for Barack Obama -- serve as anchors. Olbermann's remarks in response were pointed, to say the least.

But while I had Keith poised in front of my voice recorder, I wanted to ask him some questions about the origin of his Special Comments, how he thinks people determine their perception of each of the news networks, and what it will be like to sit down and do highlights with his old SportsCenter partner Dan Patrick on NBC's Football Night in America. The remainder of the interview is after the jump; we pick up with Olbermann talking about Wallace's "In the tank" line.

One of my favorite parts of the summer press tour was the last day, mainly because a busload of critics got to go to the Warner Bros. lot and tour sets from ER, Chuck, and Pushing Daisies (we also saw the Dollhouse set on the Fox lot later that day).

On the Pie Hole set of Daisies, for instance, all the stars and producers were available for interviews. Kristin Chenoweth held court right outside the pie-shaped diner's entrance, sporting a splint on her right hand from a recent bat bite (I kid you not... wonder what scene they were shooting at the time). But I was there to ask her about how she felt about being the model for Harriet Hayes on Studio 60 two years ago. And she was very candid about the situation,especially in light of the fact that her former (and current?) boyfriend, S60 creator Aaron Sorkin, never was.

First, though, a question about Jeff Probst; Chenoweth dropped the tidbit that the two of them dated when she announced his Emmy nomination the week before. Audio is after the jump.

I'll have a longer post about the Sci Fi / Entertainment Weekly party early next week, but I wanted to post a couple of short interviews I was able to grab at the party first. I actually wasn't intending to interview anyone at this party, but since Rich had his handy recorder with him, I made a few choice picks from the red carpet while I had the chance.

First up: Tricia Helfer. With Battlestar Galactica finished filming, she's been busy in a guest-starring role on Burn Notice. Hell, this woman's on two shows I love and, come on, it's Tricia Helfer. I was the last person in line on the carpet, so I kept it short. She was extremely nice and open to talk to.

There was one and only one reason why I wanted to speak to Tori Spelling at NBC's TCA party: No, it wasn't because of 90210, though I was curious about it. It was because of my girlfriend.

I'm serious. She's a big fan of the Tori and Dean reality series on Oxygen, and she's told me on more than one occasion that she thinks that, if circumstances allowed, that she could be friends with the semi-estranged daughter of late TV magnate Aaron Spelling. When I told Tori (her husband, Dean McDermott, was there but must have been grabbing some mac and cheese or something) that I only know the show because of my girlfriend, she understood. "We hear that a lot. It's OK."

Besides the panels that focused on various television programs, Comic-Con also had panels on the TV industry in general. One of these panels that I had time to cover was on genre television shows.

This wasn't a panel featuring writers and producers of obscure genre shows you have never heard of. The people on this panel had long careers in television and, in most cases, were actively writing or producing. These included Steve Melching, writer on the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, Ashley Miller, writer on The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Susan Watson, showrunner for Middleman. Also included on the panel were Harry Werskman and Gabrielle Stanton -- former showrunners for Moonlight.

For most of my time at Comic-Con the TV show panels had a fairly diverse audience, with an equal amount of men and women. However, during the Sunday morning panels for Smallville and Supernatural I noticed a significant female shift in the audience. This was definitely prominent with Supernatural. Of course, being that the main characters of Sam and Dean (played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki) are hot it's understandable. Well, at least that what I observed...I just think they're cute.

Regardless of your opinion of their looks these two stars, along with creator Eric Kripke, talked about season four of Supernatural and what's coming up for the demon hunting brothers.

In one of the rowdiest panels of the Con, the stars and writers of the CW's Smallville took to the stage on the last day of the convention. Moderated by Joseph Loeb, the panel featured Allison Mack (Chloe), Justin Hartley (Green Arrow), new stars Sam Witwer (Doomsday), Cassiday Freeman (Tess), and showrunners Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer. It was a panel full of spoilers, fan appreciation, and a good amount of name plaque requests.

Some of what is upcoming during season 8 can be found after the jump.

Joss Whedon fans, take note ... you may have competition from the fans of ABC's Pushing Daises. That's the way it seemed at their Comic-Con panel on Saturday afternoon. They were so loud and applauded so frequently that it made an audience of Whedon fans seem like a group of cloistered monks taking a vow of silence.

But, that really isn't surprising since the show (whose first season comes out on standard DVD and Blu-Ray on September 16th) has such a wealth of talent both on and off screen. The audience at the Pushing Daises panel had an opportunity to see all that talent in one place as the entire cast joined creator Bryan Fuller and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld in answering questions about season two. The tantalizing morsels appear after the jump.

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The word of the day at the Eureka panel on Saturday was 'awesome'. For some apparent reason everyone on the panel ended their sentences with the word 'awesome'. That, and a mention about doing their scenes in towels. That was actually an on-going joke coming from a revelation that the stars and writers presented to the audience as something that will be coming up during season three.

Of course there's more than just certain people walking around in towels coming up n the new season, and the panel let the audience in on what they would see when the show premieres this Tuesday. You can find out as well after the jump.

David Boreanaz knows how to work a crowd. The man is honest, funny, and self-deprecating. Oh, and I guess he's good looking (I'm a man's man and really don't look at those things.) That's probably a reason why so many women crowded into the huge Ballroom 20 for the Bones panel -- a panel that I was highly anticipating. Well, it was probably Boreanaz as well as the appearances of Tamara Taylor (Cam), John Francis Daley (Dr. Sweets) and Michaela Conlin that made the audience wait in line for over an hour.

But, it was David who took over the panel for most of the time as they revealed some upcoming facts about season four and took audience questions.

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I have come to an epiphany when it comes to American Dad and Family Guy: a studio audience is needed. I came to this realization after attending both the Comic-Con panels for these respective shows, which showed clips from their respective series. Scenes that I would have generally smirked at or given a chuckle made me laugh out loud along with the rest of the audience. Which brings me to one of two conclusions: either laughter is contagious, or I am just a lemming.

Either way, an enjoyable two hours was spent with casts from both shows as they did some table readings, provided some clues to upcoming episodes,and provided clips from some previously run and new episodes of both shows.

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Day three of Comic-Con 2008 began with waiting in a line that streched the length of the convention center for the Futurama panel, which was followed by The Simpsons panel. Futurama featured the primary voice cast of Billy West, Katey Sagal, and John DiMaggio as well as creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen.

Due to time limitations the panel when right into audience questions. One that was asked pertained to Matt and David's plans for the show. Both meant said that they had the entire story of Futurama planned even before the show began. They didn't know where the show would go, and they still have plenty of secrets to reveal in upcoming DVD releases.

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