"American Idol" has been promoting Carly Rae Jepsen's finale performance throughout Season 12, and viewers finally got a chance to see it during the final performance show on Wednesday (May 15). After the show, Jepsen talked to reporters about her song, being an alum of "Canadian Idol" and whether Justin Bieber would make a good "Idol" judge.


Are there any jitters, being back on an "Idol" show?

Carly Rae Jepsen: Yes there is. It was really strange to be backstage actually. It wasn't so much once I was on, 'cause it was just kind of a performance. But leading up to it -- the music that plays -- I was like, "What? Why am I so nervous?" I don't get nervous anymore, but I did tonight and I think it was the "American Idol"/"Canadian Idol" jitters.


Would you ever write another song with fan input again?

Carly Rae Jepsen: One part of me thinks it's really interesting, because it was kind of cool to get all these opinions and it was the part that intrigued me to write the song in the first place. Essentially I wrote three different lyrical options and then fans would vote on their favorite one.

The problem was that I totally did have a favorite version, because I'm a very opinionated person when it comes to music, so I was worried that if it's a version I don't like I'd be secretly bummed the entire time. But they actually picked the version that I liked. So it was good. Phew. I don't know that I'd like to do that too much more.


As a very successful "Idol" non-winner, what would you say to whoever is the runner-up?

Carly Rae Jepsen: I think the really valuable thing about "Idol" is the exposure. And that is the tool that you get to take with you, that's the gift that all the contestants get and I really saw that for myself.

I remember sitting with the lawyers when there was five of us going through what the "Canadian Idol" contract looked like. And I don't know what the American one is like but for me -- and having a father who's a principal and made me read all these business music books, I was like, "I don't know if this is a good idea  -- second [place] sounds great!"

But at the same time I was very competitive by nature and the golden egg/pie seemed great too. For me, coming third was awesome. I was able to align myself with great management and great producers and a lot of people who helped develop my career to the point where when Justin Bieber came to town he could hear "Call Me Maybe" on the radio.

So I would say to both of the contestants, the real fight begins as soon as the show is done. And even for the winner, they have a great opportunity but don't stop fighting.


What do you think of the two finalists this season?

Carly Rae Jepsen: Well, I wasn't able to follow the entire season, because my television time is quite limited. I get what I get on the airplanes. I can tell you everything that plays there! That being said, I did catch up on the latest few episodes, and I have to say that both of these girls are very passionate about music.

I would say Kree's got a really cool country element to her, and I think that can go a really long way. It's a whole new genre that can be taken over. I would say there's a softness to her voice that country music doesn't really have, that I really admire. I think it could be a nice way of making it her own. I think that's what I learned in "Idol," actually, was that ... It feels like there are millions of us! How do I stand out? I think, in high school, you spend so much time going like, "Let me fit in! Let me fit in!" And then you go on a show like this, you go, "I gotta stand out!" So you've gotta find out what it is that's different about you and really hone in on that rather than shy away.

And as for Candice, I feel that every word that she says is just milk and honey. And I love it!


Do you think Justin Bieber would be a good "Idol" judge? What about you?

Carly Rae Jepsen: I think he would be great! I think I would be terrible. But I'm sure he'd be awesome. He's got lots of great opinions, when it comes to the music world and he's very experienced -- especially for someone so young. For me, I think I would be too motherly and I would be like, "You should all go through! You did a great job! Let's be friends ... "

Who should win 'American Idol' Season 12?

As "The Office" readies to close for good on May 16, Zap2it talked with showrunner Greg Daniels -- the man who adapted Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's BBC comedy for American audiences -- about everything under the Dunder Mifflin sun.

Part 1 of our nearly hour-long chat focused on the show's beginnings and the baby steps the show took with Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam's (Jenna Fischer) relationship. PB&J took a big step forward in the Season 2 finale, "Casino Night," but at the start of Season 3, Jim is working at another branch, purposely going against every sitcom expectation. We pick up the conversation with Jim in Stamford.

Zap2it: Was the plan always to incorporate characters from Stamford back into the Scranton branch?
Greg Daniels: The plan was to have a merger, that the two branches would merge and that Michael [Steve Carell], in a series of funny episodes, would alienate or fire or cause to quit all the other characters. But Ed Helms was so funny that we were like, "Oh no, he's got to stay." So we converted him into a series regular role pretty quickly. The beginning of that thing was also when [executive producer and future head of NBC] Ben Silverman looked at it and said we could do a spinoff. The Stamford branch could be a spinoff. But we of course were already committed to the storyline of firing all of them.

PICS: The essential 'Office': 23 of our favorite episodes

Incidentally, this is apropos of nothing, but when my wife and I watch "Nashville," we only ever refer to Chip Esten as "Josh Porter."
[Laughs] That's funny. Do you do the same thing with the woman from "Heroes"? Do you call her by her previous character name?

No -- we use her actual name. Occasionally we call Connie Britton "Mrs. Coach," but that's it.
We have an editor, our main editor and the guy who directed our second-to-last episode, Dave Rogers, only refers to the cast by their character names. Off camera, too.

You stepped out as showrunner at the end of Season 5 to do "Parks and Recreation," correct?
It was a gradual sort of thing. Jen Celotta and Paul Lieberstein were EPs for Season 5, and "Parks" started in midseason [that year]. Around that time they started doing more and more stuff. I was co-showrunning it Season 6 with Paul, then he was the sole showrunner and I was more of an avuncular presence in Seasons 7 and 8.

So you never completely stepped away from it.
No -- I went to all the table reads. Season 6 was very difficult because I was doing the same job on "Parks." I was so busy that I would sit in the back seat of my car under a blanket with a little portable DVD player watching edits. I had an assistant driving me everywhere. I could watch one cut from my home to work, and another cut from work to home. There was just no scrap of time that wasn't being used for something.

Can you talk about how the idea of an "Office" spinoff evolved into "Parks and Rec"?
Like I say, Ben looked at the Stamford branch and said we should do a spinoff. I was reluctant to do a spinoff because I was worried it would hurt "The Office." He was pretty insistent that we do something, so I made a deal with him to do a new show of some kind -- not necessarily a spinoff, but a new show. At the time, ["Office" writer-producer and portrayer of Mose Schrute] Mike Schur was coming to the end of his contract, and he was kind of itching to do his own thing. So I said, Do you want to do a new show with me? So we came up with a bunch of different ideas, and he pitched one of them to Amy Poehler, who really liked it. Then we were like, We should do that because she's fantastic. But it turned out that idea was not a spinoff idea. It was an idea for another mockumentary, but not a spinoff.

"Parks and Rec" has never -- it's shot the same way, but it hasn't really acknowledged that it's a documentary.
It's less docu. It's not as rigorous.

Have you ever thought of it as another PBS crew decided to do a similar project in Pawnee?
Well, I called the pilot "The Office: An American Workplace," and I always felt -- and there's a line in the finale that got cut -- but I always felt that there's a crew doing a series called "An American Workplace" and they have other shows. They have "The Warehouse: An American Workplace." They have "The Oil Rig: An American Workplace." At one point I was thinking that's how I'll do a spinoff -- I'll just do another "American Workplace" segment.

But the thing with "Parks" is, one of the things we realized early on is -- the character Rashida [Jones, Ann Perkins on "Parks and Rec"] was playing was living with her boyfriend in her house, and it's much weirder to use these spy shots in a person's home than it is in a public place. So that might be one of the reasons why it's a little bit less docu. And just to be different -- we didn't want to be too imitative. We had a few different techniques. The talking heads are shot differently, and we didn't use any blinds because that was so associated with "The Office." We had to find other things, like the windows with the chicken wires in them.

Amy Ryan was initially cast just for a handful of episodes as Holly, correct?
That was actually -- I love Amy Ryan, but that was motivated by Paul. Paul was the big Amy Ryan person, and it came from our writing staff loving "The Wire" so much.

Was it with an eye toward "this is going to be the love of Michael's life"?
It was. As I recall, the point of the character was it would be someone as goofy as Michael, and they would kind of bond on that. That's how, when they first met each other, they had sort of a flirtatious interaction that was like he had found a female version of his own mind.

You wrote "Goodbye, Michael" -- was it something you'd had in mind for a while, or did it come through the normal process of breaking stories?
I felt an obligation, kind of, about the characters because I imagined them so intensely, and I really wanted to be present on the big moments. I wasn't running the show at the time, but I wrote the wedding episode ["Niagara"] with Mindy [Kaling] because I really wanted to be involved in that. When Jim and Pam had children, I was on the set all the time [laughs]. There were certain big moments I wanted to participate in, so I really wanted to kind of see Steve out.

But then we broke this long arc to see him off the show. It started with Holly coming back, and he ended up being engaged to her -- they were amazing episodes. I kept watching all these amazing pieces of story be taken for these other guys' episodes, and I was getting more and more panicky about it [laughs]. I was like, "Whoa -- he could have proposed in the last episode. That would be pretty memorable." So when it came down to writing it, it didn't feel like there was a lot left. They had all just sung "Rent" to him, they'd had the last Dundie awards, they all knew he was leaving. Holly wasn't around because she had already moved on and he was engaged. But it was good in a way, because it allowed him to have a goodbye scene with each of the characters where there wasn't a lot of story. I put in a little bit of story to keep it moving, but it was mostly moments he would have with different characters.

[A lot] of the episodes would have a nice scene toward the end where Michael would have a moment with another character. For example, there was one where he had people for a "Glee" viewing party and he has a great scene with Erin [Ellie Kemper] at the end where he gives her some good advice. Or "Booze Cruise," where he's up on the bridge handcuffed with plastic handcuffs and he has a great scene with Jim. This episode turned out to be all those type of scenes, strung one after another, because they were like the endings of his relationships with these different characters. It turned out there was enough stuff to write about.

After Steve left, how hard was it to find the center of the show without Michael?
It was hard, because the other characters were not conceived -- the investment hadn't been made in them over the years to be the lead. Our choices were pretty much Andy Bernard [Helms] and Dwight Schrute [Rainn Wilson] at the time. They were both kind of the same character in the sense that Andy was invented to be like a Dwight-ish kind of fellow that Jim dealt with in Stamford. So they both had less than lead-type character traits often. But that was the same case with Michael. He didn't have all the lead character traits in the beginning either. So we figured, All right, we're going to have to build some of these things into the guys, and I think we all kind of treated it like an exciting thing.

There were so many talented people. And because Steve had been the A story for seven years, there were all these guys who wanted more screen time. So just to be able to say Ed can have way more pages and Rainn can have all these pages, and Craig Robinson can have more pages. We were all incredibly bummed Steve wasn't around, but we didn't want to close up shop. And I don't think Steve wanted to either -- it's like when you're at a nice, fun dinner party and you have to leave early, your nightmare is that everyone will go "Oh well, I guess we ought to go now," and you're the ruiner. He didn't want to be that.

Once you knew this was the final season and you could start to reveal the documentary crew, how did you figure out how much you could show?
You know how you pointed out there are other mockumentaries, but they aren't quite as docu as ours? I felt like we had the opportunity to be the only one that would do this, and because of that maybe we should do it.

The other part that I liked about it was that -- and we didn't really go too far down this road -- but when you think about the fact that Jim and Pam are such soulmates, it's really hard to imagine there would be any other human being who would be a threat to their relationship. But if you imagine that there was somebody off camera the entire time who predates Jim [and Pam being together] and who has been watching and listening to Pam for longer than Jim has, then you start to go, Oh. That could be interesting. That could be an actual person where -- it just reminds you there's a part of their lives you don't see, because they edit it out.

Introducing that as a potential seemed to me to be very exciting because it dealt with the problem of how would you believe she would ever meet somebody in Season 9 who could be more important to her than her husband. Of course we didn't really want to go there as like, that's where the story was going to go, but we wanted to have the potential to go there.

You did scare an awful lot of people, though.
I know -- it's so funny. I mean, it's not funny, but -- I think they're happy now, because there's a happy ending. But there was so much anxiety over it. That's the nature of an Act 2 break, is that something bad is threatening to happen, and hopefully that's what makes the ending feel better.

And if Jim is not there to stop a guy who was threatening Pam and then hears about the sound guy intervening, he's going to assume things ...
It just seemed like it was kind of interesting. One of the really fun things about John and Jenna is that they don't just wait for the script pages and just do the scene. They're really interested in what's going to happen, and we have these really long discussions of the psychology and the motivation of everybody, and they weigh in a lot and use things from their lives. I'm sure at some point the assistant directors are going nuts, because we'll stop and huddle and go off to talk about all this stuff. But it was very exciting to be part of that discussion.

As for the finale, we know it's several months later and Dwight and Angela are getting married ...
It's like a year later. I haven't seen all the promos, but it's a year later, and Dwight and Angela are getting married, and people are also in town for a reunion panel. A lot of them don't work there anymore.

As a result of the documentary airing, or just naturally moving on?
Different things -- the passage of time, and the fact that Dwight is the boss.

How do Kelly and Ryan [B.J. Novak] re-enter the picture?
Those two events bring people back to the world. Yeah, they have a very funny storyline. It's really great to see them again in the show. I missed them a lot this year.

There was a report last week that Steve does in fact have a cameo in the finale. Do you want to say anything about that?
The amount of attention on this is insane, I think. I don't really see the point of this much speculation as to what the story line is going to be. I don't see how that necessarily improves the viewing experience, so I'm not going to address it.

Are you pretty much the last person left on set?
It's ridiculous. It's so lonely here.

What was your thought when you finished work on the finale?
It just hit me. I had a little bit of superiority over the other people, because we wrapped, and the actors were all very upset, and I was like, "I'm still coming to work tomorrow to do post." Locking it was an intense, very accelerated schedule, because the last three episodes were all one hour long. That doubled all the mixing and the post requirements, but we had the same number of weeks to do it. The editors are people who I hang out with more intensely than anybody. It's just me in this tiny little windowless room with one or two of them for hours and hours. So this is the last tearful goodbye.

Do you have any special plans for watching the finale?
The cast who are in L.A. are going to get together with the writers and editors and watch it. In Season 1 and somewhat in 2, we used to meet at each other's houses to watch every week, so we're going to kind of re-create that feel.

Were you involved in putting together the retrospective that airs before the finale?
No. That was the news department. I was interviewed, but we didn't have a hand in it.

So if anyone secretly had an ax to grind, you'll find out Thursday?
Well, that would be upsetting, but I don't think so. One of the really nice things about the show, and I'm not exactly sure what to attribute it to -- it might be the fact that we were all on this little lot in Van Nuys with no other showbiz productions anywhere near us. We were very contained in our little place. But the cast and crew is remarkably friendly after nine years, and tight. So that's definitely one of the pluses of the show. And then we just had that trip to Scranton, which was amazing. We have a very nice fan base -- not a lot of drunken, shouting people.

The series finale of "The Office" airs at 9 p.m. ET Thursday on NBC.

At times, "American Idol" Season 12 has seemed to be more about judges' drama than about singers. Rumors now indicate that the entire judging panel could follow Randy Jackson out the door at the end of the current season.

Is that the case? After the Wednesday finale performances, judge and country superstar Keith Urban talked about staying on as a judge as well as about Kree and Candice.


Would you want to come back next season as an "Idol" judge?

Keith Urban: I would, yeah. I mean I literally enjoy coming to work every day and that's a rarity.


What has the judging experience been like for you?

Keith Urban: It's funny. I think I'm judging just like I think everybody is judging. Everyone at home is judging us, judging them, judging everybody. I think it's more like being part record producer, part A&R person and an artist as well. So for me it's just about seeing things about [the singers] that are tiny little bits that they need to get rid of, because they get in the way of their true talent. They are just little bad habits when you're starting out -- just ways that they can get down to their truest essence. You chip away all the stuff that's there in the beginning.


Do you think Kree came into the finale with an advantage, being a country singer?

Keith Urban: I think if anything she had her work cut out for her because Candice has been doing exceptional performances the last few weeks. But I really feel like Kree stepped it up tonight and really made it a much more of a neck and neck race.


How were the original song choices for you?

Keith Urban: I felt like they were good. I was really taken with the original songs. Particularly Kree's. They were both really well-written songs. Kree's for me was the one that just hit me. It allowed her to be in a place where she has so much strength vocally, emotionally, so it was really quite a beautiful song.


Can you compare the strengths of the two finalists?

Keith Urban: In a lot of ways, as different as they are, they share a lot of similarities. I think that's why it was hard tonight. They have a lot of vulnerability and strength that are both apparent when they perform. They're both survivors. They both come from very rootsy, earthy, real families. And I think that's what's apparent in what they do.

There's no pageantry in either of them, that's why I love them both so much. They really sing from a real place. They sing because they need to sing, not because they want to be famous. They just have to sing. That's what they do and we're really lucky to have them.


What was the most moving moment for you all season?

Keith Urban: That Randy was leaving. It's true.

I found out when everyone else did. Literally. I bonded with Randy quickly because we're both [musical!] players. I joined an ensemble like this in the same way I'd join a band. I like being in a band, I like being in an ensemble, I like being in a team. And I felt that immediately with Ryan and Randy.


What are you performing during the Thursday finale?

Keith Urban: It's a song called "A Little Bit of Everything." It's the first single off the new album. I don't know when the album is coming out. Later in the year. It's just a song that I came upon. I love the feeling of it, the lyric and the groove. It really fit and I'm glad we got to do it.

Who should win 'American Idol' Season 12?

The CW dipped its toes in the waters of period dramas this season with "The Carrie Diaries," which is set in the 1980s. It's going all-in for next season, though, taking viewers back to the mid-16th century with its new series "Reign."

The series tells the story of the Mary (Australian actress Adelaide Kane), who had been queen of Scotland since her father died when she was only six days old. As a teenager she and several of her ladies in waiting travel to the French court to formalize her betrothal to Prince Francis (Toby Regbo, "One Day").

It's not that simple, though. There are love triangles, political battles and much more for Mary to contend with while she's there. The guy who says he's had a vision in the clip above? That would be Nostradamus (Rossif Sutherland, Kiefer's half-brother).

Mary's real life was filled with intrigue, but will it make for good television? We'll see this fall, when "Reign" airs on Thursday nights on The CW. What do you think of the video?

This is it. The "American Idol" Season 12 finale has arrived and one singer -- either Kree Harrison or Candice Glover -- will soon be the next "Idol" winner.

But which one will it be? Check out what each girl had to say after their final performances, and then vote for your choice to be the next "American Idol"?

One of the big questions about the finale performances was the order of the singing. Kree got to pick when she sang, but she let Candice go second -- usually that's the preferred spot.

How did that work? Apparently, Kree gave Candice the choice. Why? "I don't know. I thought I'd ask her before I made the decision," Kree answered when asked. "I don't think about that stuff. I just had so much fun singing, first, last, tenth."

Candice agreed that this is how it went down. "She asked me while it was spinning what number I would like to go, and I said, 'I don't know ... Second?' She said, 'Okay, I'll pick first,'" Candice explained. "That is just Kree, and that's her every day. She doesn't think about herself at all and puts everybody before her."

So it looks like the solidarity exhibited by the two final singers isn't just for show.

When it came to the original songs that each artist would use as a first single, should she win, both Candice and Kree were happy.

"I got emotional in the middle of the song, but I couldn't stop because I didn't want to go off-key," Candice said of her potential single. "Then, at the end I got emotional again because of the lyrics. I connected with them. Even when I first heard the song, I got emotionally connected to it."

Kree had a similar experience. "Lyrically, melodically ... I couldn't have wrote it better myself," she said. "I don't know if they wrote it for me, or if it was just in their catalog and they pitched it to me, but whatever the case, I'm so thankful that I'm given this. That was the best part of tonight for me was being able to sing my single -- hopefully -- to all of these people.

Since both "Idol" finalists did well in their last performances, it's hard to say which one will win. The singers themselves certainly had no clue. "I honestly don't know. I have literally no idea," Candice confessed. "Whatever happens tomorrow, tomorrow's not going to be like any other Thursday, where we're nervous and wondering if we made it or not. It's going to be like a party, singing with some awesome people and having a good time, no matter what."

Kree had a different reason for looking forward to the party atmosphere. "Well, my birthday is the day after the finale -- Friday, so I don't know ... Vote for me for my birthday!" Kree said with a laugh.

Who did you vote for? Who do you think will win? We will find out when the "American Idol" finale airs Thursday, May 16 at 8pm on FOX.

Who should win 'American Idol' Season 12?

There is a lot going on in this clip from The CW's midseason series "Star-Crossed," so first a little setup is in order.

It's 10 years after an alien ship crash-landed outside a small town. Ever since, the aliens, called Atrians, have been quarantined at an internment camp known as the Sector. Before he was taken away, though, an alien boy bonded with a local girl. She had always assumed he died when he was taken away.

Now, a small group of young Atrians are being allowed to attend high school with the human kids. People are not happy about it, hence the armed escort and mob of protesters waving signs calling the aliens "Tatties" (presumably for the markings on their skin). Several of the Atrian kids don't appear to be thrilled either, in particular the guy who's built like a linebacker. He could be trouble.

Amid all that, though, the boy, played by Matt Lanter of "90210," locks eyes with the girl (Aimee Teegarden of "Friday Night Lights"), and a romance is born.

What do you think of the clip? Does "Star-Crossed" look like something you'll want to watch?

"The 100" is a new The CW show that we're definitely looking forward to, but the clip that the network shows at its Upfronts in New York wasn't as revealing as we would have liked. While it showed some of the tensions that will likely play out between the characters going forward, it didn't reveal much about why this group of people are landing on Earth and why it's been so long since they last were there.

Fortunately enough of a plot synopsis has been released for the new show to intrigue us. "The 100" is set 97 years after a nuclear war destroyed civilization. In this post-apocalyptic world, the surviving humans send 100 juvenile delinquents back to Earth to see if it's fit for recolonization. Eliza Taylor looks strong in the leading role, and at least this clip promises that the series will look beautiful.

Not seen in this clip is the rest of "The 100's" impressive cast. The series stars "Lost" alum Henry Ian Cusick, former "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington, "Arrow's" Kelly Hu and "Person of Interest's" Paige Turco. "The 100" will premiere on The CW during the midseason.

Instead of a teaser trailer like many other new TV shows received during Upfronts, The CW decided to release a clip from "The Tomorrow People" to give viewers an early taste of Julie Plec and Greg Berlanti's new show. The duo behind "The Vampire Diaries" and "Arrow" (respectively) have teamed up for a series that looks like it will be a mix of what's great about those two properties.

The CW announced at its Upfronts that "The Tomorrow People" will air Wednesdays after "Arrow." That's fitting since "The Tomorrow People's" leading man, Robbie Amell, is the cousin of "Arrow's" lead, Stephen Amell. Robbie comes front and center in this new clip as his character Stephen discovers that his psychic abilities allow him to teleport and seemingly stop time.

In Zap2it's pilot preview of "The Tomorrow People," we described the series as "X-Men," but with less of a comic book vibe and no strange costumes. That seems to hold up in this first-look clip, as we get a taste of the ensemble nature of the show. "The Tomorrow People" also stars Mark Pellegrino, Luke Mitchell, Peyton List, Madeleine Mantock and Aaron Yoo.

After watching the backdoor pilot for "The Originals," fans now have the first trailer for The CW's recently-greenlit "The Vampire Diaries" spinoff. The above video premiered at The CW Upfronts in New York, where the network unveiled its 2013-2014 schedule.

"Marcel has got everything I ever wanted: power, loyalty, family. I want what he has. I want it back," Klaus says in the teaser. "I want to be king."

Star Joseph Morgan recently opened up to Zap2it about what fans can expect now that Klaus has his own standalone show in "The Vampire Diaries" universe.

"He's not the villain of this piece. We're rooting for him -- I hope we're rooting for him, or the show's not going to work. That's what attracted me to the show," Morgan said. "I would've never thought that the guy who came in and slaughtered Aunt Jenna could have his own show and people would actually be hoping he'd succeed. I think as long as we keep showing the cracks, the glimpses of vulnerability, we'll root for him. He's an anti-hero. I think, if I stand for anything, it's that if this goes to series, the eventual tale could be the tale of Klaus's salvation."

"The Originals" starts airing in the fall on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Fast National ratings for Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The final performance show on "American Idol" this season improved a little on last week's numbers, but it wasn't the biggest show of the night among adults 18-49 -- the first time that's ever happened for either leg of an "Idol" finale.

"Idol" did, however, give a boost to "So You Think You Can Dance," which was up significantly over Tuesday's premiere. The night's top demographic honors went to ABC's "Modern Family," which also improved on last week's numbers. The season finale of "CSI" on CBS easily led the 10 p.m. hour in viewers and edged "Chicago Fire" for the demo lead as well. The season finales of "Arrow" and "Supernatural" both built on last week.

FOX averaged 9.3 million viewers and a 5.9 rating/10 share in households for the night, beating out CBS (7.9 million, 5.2/9) for the No. 1 spot. ABC (6.4 million, 4.1/7) edged NBC (6.3 million, 4.3/7) for third. The CW drew 2.5 million viewers and a 1.5/3.

FOX also led the 18-49 demo with a 2.6 rating. ABC, 2.0, narrowly beat CBS, 1.9, for second place. NBC scored a 1.6 in the demographic and The CW a 0.9.

Wednesday hour by hour:

8 p.m.

FOX: "American Idol" (11.6 million viewers, 7.2/12 households)
NBC: "Dateline" (5.8 million, 4.0/7)
ABC: "The Middle" (6.6 million, 4.1/7)/"Family Tools" (4.5 million, 2.9/5)
CBS: "2 Broke Girls" reruns - two episodes (3.9 million, 2.7/5)
The CW: "Arrow" season finale (2.65 million, 1.6/3)

18-49 leader: "American Idol" (2.9)

9 p.m.

CBS: "Criminal Minds" (10.3 million, 6.6/10)
ABC: "Modern Family" (9.75 million, 5.9/9)/"How to Live With Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)" (6.2 million, 4.0/6)
FOX: "So You Think You Can Dance" (7.1 million, 4.5/7)
NBC: "Law & Order: SVU" (6.35 million, 4.4/7)
The CW: "Supernatural" season finale (2.4 million, 1.4/2)

18-49 leader: "Modern Family" (3.5)

10 p.m.

CBS: "CSI" season finale (9.6 million, 6.2/10)
NBC: "Chicago Fire" (6.9 million, 4.4/7)
ABC: "Nashville" (5.6 million, 3.8/6)

18-49 leader: "CSI" (2.0)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.

More ratings at Zap2it

USA has picked up a pair original half-hour comedies to air alongside its big acquired series "Modern Family." It has not, however, made a move to revive "Happy Endings" following that show's cancellation by ABC.

Speculation has been running high for several weeks that USA would add "Happy Endings" to its roster if ABC dropped the show, but it didn't happen as part of USA's upfront announcements on Thursday (May 16). A report on Deadline says a pickup for "Happy Endings" is now "unlikely."

The two comedies USA did pick up are "Sirens," a show about an oddball group of EMTs in Chicago; and "Playing House," a female buddy comedy from Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham ("Best Friends Forever").

"Sirens" stars Michael Mosley ("Pan Am"), Kevin Daniels ("Modern Family"), Jessica McNamee ("The Vow") and Kevin Bigley ("Game Change"). "Rescue Me" creator-star Denis Leary and "Wedding Crashers" and "Traffic Light" writer Bob Fisher co-created the show and will executive produce.

Parham and St. Clair created and co-star in "Playing House," which like "BFF" explores the unusually tight bond between two best friends. In this show, mom-to-be Maggie (Parham) invites her friend Emma (St. Clair) home from an overseas job to attend Maggie's baby shower and gets a lot more than she expected.

Both shows are expected to premiere in early 2014 and join reruns of "Modern Family," which makes its USA debut in September. The channel has also ordered a pilot called "Love Is Dead," about a company that specializes in breaking up relationships for those with the money but not the spine to do it themselves. It's based on a short film from France and was written by "Chuck" veteran Zev Borow.

UPDATE 5/16: With everyone's schedules announced, only a handful of shows are still in limbo.

UPDATE 5/13: A few more shows, including "The Cleveland Show" but not "Hannibal" (at least not yet), have their futures decided.

UPDATE 5/10: More pilot pickups and CBS and NBC cancellations, plus ABC's massive wave of announcements, now reflected below.

UPDATE 5/9: Now includes "Parks and Recreation" renewal, NBC cancellations and more pilot pickups.

UPDATE 5/8: Latest news reflected below.

In just two weeks, the broadcast networks (and a few cable channels) will announce their lineups for the 2013-14 season. We'll get our first looks at new shows for next season then, along with schedules for the fall and beyond.

Before the upfronts start, though, it's helpful to know -- which series the networks have already picked up for next season. In some cases -- particularly at CBS and at FOX -- there won't be a lot of suspense about veteran shows returning. Elsewhere, though, a lot is still up in the air.

Here's a breakdown of which shows on the air now are already picked up for 2013-14, what's already canceled and what's still in limbo*, in order of when each network has its upfront.

PICS: Shows canceled in 2012-13

(*In a number of cases, "in limbo" means the network just hasn't announced a pickup yet. ABC, for instance, will almost certainly renew "Modern Family" for next season, but as of this post the network hasn't announced any pickups. And in other cases, say "Smash" on NBC, the cancellation writing is on the wall but not on paper.)

NBC
Upfront: Monday, May 13

Renewed: "Chicago Fire," "Grimm," "Law & Order: SVU," "Parenthood," "Revolution," "Sunday Night Football," "The Voice," "Parks and Recreation," "Community," "The Biggest Loser"

Canceled/ended: "30 Rock," "Animal Practice," "Do No Harm," "The Office," "Deception," "1600 Penn," "Guys With Kids," "The New Normal," "Smash," "Up All Night," "Whitney, "Go On," "Rock Center with Brian Williams"

No decision yet: "Celebrity Apprentice," "Fashion Star," "Hannibal"

Pilots: 28 (16 comedy, 12 drama)

Pilot pickups: Comedies: "The Michael J. Fox Show," "About a Boy," "Family Guide," "Sean Saves the World," "Undateable," "Welcome to the Family." Dramas: "Believe," "Crisis," "Ironside," "Chicago P.D." ("Chicago Fire" spinoff), "The Blacklist," "The Night Shift." Reality: "The Million Second Quiz," "Food Fighters," "American Dream Builders"

FOX
Upfront: Monday, May 13

Renewed: "American Dad," "Bob's Burgers," "Bones," "Family Guy," "The Following," "Glee," "The Mindy Project," "New Girl," "Raising Hope," "The Simpsons," "The X Factor, "American Idol"

Canceled/ended: "Ben and Kate," "Fringe," "The Mob Doctor," "Touch," "The Cleveland Show"

No decision yet: "Kitchen Nightmares"
 
Pilots: 17 (nine comedy, eight drama)

Pilot pickups: Comedies: "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Dads," "Enlisted," "Surviving Jack," "Us & Them." Dramas: "Almost Human," "Gang Related," "Rake," "Sleepy Hollow."

ABC
Upfront: Tuesday, May 14

Renewed: "Castle," "Grey's Anatomy," "Last Man Standing," "Modern Family," "The Middle," "Nashville," "The Neighbors," "Once Upon a Time," "Revenge," "Scandal," "Suburgatory," "The Bachelor," "Dancing With the Stars," "Shark Tank," "America's Funniest Home Videos"

Canceled/ended: "666 Park Avenue," "Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23," "Family Tools," "Last Resort," "Private Practice," "Zero Hour," "Happy Endings," "Malibu Country," "Body of Proof," "How to Live With Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)," "Red Widow"

No decision yet: "Splash"

Pilots: 25 (12 comedy, 13 drama)

Pilot pickups: Comedies: "Super Fun Night," "The Goldbergs," "Back in the Game," "Mixology," "Trophy Wife." Dramas: "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," "Mind Games,"
"Betrayal," "Lucky 7," "Killer Women," "Resurrection," "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland" ("OUAT" spinoff). Reality: "The Quest"

CBS
Upfront: Wednesday, May 15

Renewed: "2 Broke Girls," "48 Hours," "60 Minutes," "The Amazing Race," "The Big Bang Theory," "Blue Bloods," "CSI," "Elementary," "The Good Wife," "Hawaii Five-0," "How I Met Your Mother," "The Mentalist," "Mike & Molly," "NCIS," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "Person of Interest," "Survivor," "Two and a Half Men," "Undercover Boss," "Criminal Minds"

Canceled/ended: "The Job," "Made in Jersey," "Partners," "CSI: NY," "Golden Boy," "Rules of Engagement," "Vegas"

Pilots: 23 (12 comedy, 11 drama)

Pilot pickups: Comedies: "The Crazy Ones," "The Millers," "Mom," "We Are Men," "Friends With Better Lives." Dramas: "Hostages," "Intelligence," "Reckless"

The CW
Upfront: Thursday, May 16

Renewed: "Arrow," "Beauty and the Beast," "Hart of Dixie," "Supernatural," "The Vampire Diaries," "The Carrie Diaries," "Nikita," "America's Next Top Model"

Canceled/ended: "90210," "Cult," "Emily Owens, M.D.," "Gossip Girl"

Pilots: Eight dramas

Pilot pickups: "The Originals," "The 100," "Reign," "Star-Crossed" (formerly "Oxygen"), "The Tomorrow People"

The lineups are set, the new shows are ordered and the broadcast networks are starting to gear up for another season.

Here's your first look at how the networks will stack up against one another in the fall. For the most part, the biggest shows -- like "The Big Bang Theory," "The Voice" and "Modern Family" -- are staying in their familiar timeslots, but the nets have done a good amount of timeslot shuffling with returning series and added more than 20 new shows to the mix as well -- including FOX's "Almost Human," pictured above.

It's never too early to start planning your DVR strategy for the fall. This should help. Take a look at the prime-time grid for ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and The CW in fall 2013 (roll your mouse over a day to see that night's schedule).


function change_tab(cTab, tabCont, itemCont) { tabList = document.getElementById(tabCont).getElementsByTagName('TD'); itemList = document.getElementById(itemCont).getElementsByTagName('LI'); for (var i=0; i Fall 2013 Primetime Night-by-Night Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

• 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 ABC Dancing With the Stars Castle CBS How I Met Your Mother We Are Men 2 Broke Girls Mom Hostages NBC The Voice The Blacklist FOX Bones Sleepy Hollow Local Programming CW Hart of Dixie Beauty and the Beast Local Programming
• 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 ABC Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Goldbergs Trophy Wife Lucky 7 CBS NCIS NCIS: Los Angeles Person of Interest NBC The Biggest Loser The Voice Chicago Fire FOX Dads Brooklyn Nine-Nine New Girl The Mindy Project Local Programming CW The Originals Supernatural Local Programming
• 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 ABC The Middle Back in the Game Modern Family Super Fun Night Nashville CBS Survivor Criminal Minds CSI: Crime Scene Investigation NBC Revolution Law & Order: SVU Ironside FOX The X Factor performance show Local Programming CW Arrow The Tomorrow People Local Programming
• 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 ABC Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Grey's Anatomy Scandal CBS Big Bang Theory The Millers The Crazy Ones Two and a Half Men Elementary NBC Parks and Recreation Welcome to the Family Sean Saves the World The Michael J. Fox Show Parenthood FOX The X Factor results show Glee Local Programming CW The Vampire Diaries Reign Local Programming
• 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 ABC Last Man Standing The Neighbors Shark Tank 20/20 CBS Undercover Boss Hawaii Five-0 Blue Bloods NBC Dateline NBC Grimm Dracula FOX Junior MasterChef Sleepy Hollow encores Local Programming CW The Carrie Diaries America's Next Top Model Local Programming
• 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 ABC Saturday Night College Football CBS Comedytime Sat. Crimetime Sat. 48 Hours: Mystery NBC Encore Programming FOX FOX Sports Saturday Local CW Local Programming
• 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 ABC America's Funniest Home Videos Once Upon a Time Revenge Betrayal CBS 60 Minutes The Amazing Race The Good Wife The Mentalist NBC Football Night in America Sunday Night Football FOX NFL Game The OT (NFL post-game) The Simpsons Bob's Burgers Family Guy American Dad Local Programming CW Local Programming

Legend: New Show New Time Returning

"Elementary" has set-up a properly gobsmacking cliffhanger heading into its Season 1 finale: Sherlock Holmes discovered that Irene Adler, the lost love he thought was dead, is very much alive and Moriarty is somehow involved in the grand deception.

We'll see how that revelation impacts both Sherlock and his partner, Joan Watson, in tonight's two-hour finale. Here are five things to expect from the supersized episode, courtesy of creator and executive producer Rob Doherty, who participated in a conference call with journalists to discuss the ending.

Moriarty has been cast (which means he's probably going to appear in the finale)

"It is no mean feat. Of course I can't say much beyond that," Doherty says of the casting process. "[He's] a vastly important and iconic character and certainly someone we've been building towards all season. So a lot of thought and time went into it. The truth is I had some very specific thoughts and was lucky enough to latch onto a first choice." Doherty later added the mystery actor is "Somebody who's work I was very familiar with. Someone I really was excited to have an opportunity to work with [and] just made perfect sense for us."

Moriarty's motivations will also be revealed and explored

"For lack of a better analogy [Moriarty is] the other side of Sherlock's coin -- somebody who's quite like him but has been drawn in a very different direction," Doherty explains. "I always felt like Sherlock and Moriarty are the only two of their kind on the planet. And so when one realized the other existed his curiosity was peaked.

"In this case it's more Moriarty was the first to become aware of Sherlock. And so it's interesting. If you spend your life thinking you're the only person on the planet with these gifts, with these abilities who sees the world this kind of way, it's fascinating to think maybe there's one other person out there. Even though Moriarty has tortured Sherlock, I think what we're going to see is there is also a kind of mutual respect and mutual interest."

"We really wrote to Moriarty's interest in Sherlock. Moriarty's not just a frustrated mastermind who wants to break the bad guy. [He's] more interesting than that. Does that make Moriarty more likable? No, no. He's still doing bad things."

If Joan is going to bond with Irene, it will have to happen later

"At least for the first season we're only going to get a couple of episodes where Irene and Joan will get to share some significant screen time," Doherty says. "I'd say as we move into next week's episode, Irene has been through quite an ordeal. In a perfect world, Joan at her best would get to meet Irene at her best. But Irene is somebody who needs some help and a little time. What you'll see is a Joan who's trying to help Sherlock help Irene."

Irene's arrival is intended to rock Sherlock's world... and it will

"It's hard -- at least in the world of our show -- to find a bigger trigger than Irene, dead or alive," Doherty explains. "The fact that she has turned up alive has thrown Sherlock for a loop. He's been tricked. He's been deceived. I think in Moriarty's eyes you could say [Sherlock] bottomed out over nothing. He spiraled out of control because he thought Irene was dead when in fact she was quite alive and being kept my Moriarty.

"So at least at the moment the joke's on Sherlock -- Joan has to be concerned about that. I think in addition to trying to help Sherlock situate Irene and help her recover from her ordeal, she also has to keep an eye on Sherlock and make sure he's able to stay on the straight and narrow."

A certain amount of resolution was necessary to properly set-up Season 2

"For a good long while we anticipated a cliffhanger [ending to the season]," Doherty admits. "When it looked more likely that we would get to go to London for our [Season 2] premiere, we didn't want to drag any of this year's business into a second season, because I feel like London can be its own show. I didn't want to have to connect it back to the first season. The notion of going to London came up early enough for us to write what I feel is a nice last chapter for this season. We will be tying things up and starting with something of a clean slate coming into year two.

"These last few episodes were a blast to write and I love writing to the Moriarty of it all. But it's so heavy for Sherlock. It's when you write about Moriarty and Irene and his drug habit, it's appropriately dark. It's true to the character and it's important stuff. But again, it doesn't make for much fun in the U.K."

After nine seasons and 200 episodes, "The Office" closes its doors on Thursday (May 16).

The show, an Emmy winner for best comedy in 2006, was never the biggest hit, but it's arguably one of the more influential comedies of the past decade in terms of its style -- the mockumentary format it started is all over television now -- and its willingness to place character ahead of jokes.

In advance of the series finale on NBC, Zap2it spoke with the man who adapted "The Office" for American TV, Greg Daniels. In a wide-ranging interview on Monday, May 13, we talked about everything from how he got involved in the show to Steve Carell's departure and his decision to bring the show's documentary conceit home in the final season. Here's part 1; look for part 2 later today.

PICS: The essential 'Office': 23 of our favorite episodes

We start by talking about his initial involvement in the show. Daniels says he didn't know anything about the BBC show Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant created until his agent gave him a tape to watch. The title didn't grab him, but once he started watching, he was hooked. He says he took a meeting with Gervais and Merchant largely as an excuse to meet them, while they were impressed with the work he had done on "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill."

"[We had a] commonality in taste, maybe, in terms of some of the stuff I had done on 'King of the Hill,'" he says. "It was pretty realistic for a cartoon and often poignant. I don't know. It felt like we were on the same page. So I got the gig."

Zap2it: The pilot was more or less a remake of the British show's first episode ...
Greg Daniels: About two-thirds their version and one-third new stuff. It felt -- every time you heard a line that you'd already seen on the English show, it was jarring. People were not loving that part of it, I would say. There was a lot of strategy behind it. Initially I figured we would try to sell this to HBO, but the person who loved it best was Kevin Reilly at FX. Then we were like, "All right, cool, FX." But then he moved and became the head of NBC. So we were like, "NBC?" It didn't seem like it would be the right home for this at the time.

I was worried that if I did a completely new story, I would get involved in the typical pilot note process, and they would start giving me notes and it would come out feeling like everything else that was on the air at NBC. So I was kind of daring Kevin -- it was like, "All right, you say you love it. We're just shooting it then. We'll just do this." And he did love it. He was fine with that.

I changed a few things. I accelerated the Jim and Pam story so you'd see some more of it in the pilot, because I knew we only had the pilot to convince people. I put a few things in, like the "World's Best Boss" mug and stuff like that. But it was a very good -- I always thought it was very good. But also at the time, I don't think the original British show had aired in America [BBC America aired the British "Office" in 2003, after the American version went into development but before it aired], and I think I was under the impression that it wasn't going to. I had the sort of mistaken impression that they would only see my version [laughs]. Because when I grew up, I had never seen the British show that "All in the Family" was based on. So I always figured, I don't know, I guess that's for people in Britain. But the world is very different now, so the moment that NBC started to do it, BBC America put [the original] on to time with our publicity and everything. So it became an exercise in compare and contrast.

What did you learn from doing the pilot that way?
I'm like a slow starter. Everything I've done has built, or has taken a while. Well, that's not true, but recently. And I think that's fine. When you do something unusual, the audience doesn't 100 percent know what you're up to in the beginning. And if you're doing a character comedy, they haven't learned the characters yet. And you learn a tremendous amount from the actors, if you listen, from the shooting of the pilot. I think that's fine, personally. I would say the good news is, I think we got rolling really quickly. By episode 2, we were all original and pretty good.

Which brings me to my next question. Several members of the cast have said that "Diversity Day" was when they knew the show was pretty special. Did the writers feel that way too?
Well, I felt that at the pilot because of the cast and the way they interacted and the way they acted. I thought this was really something special. I was the only writer around on the pilot, so the other writers can't use that one [laughs] as their point of reference. But no -- "Diversity Day" was episode 2, and one of the things about it is it was the quintessential "Office" episode in a way, in the sense that when you think about Michael's character and how a person like him would blunder socially and yet needs to be professional -- the biggest blunder he would make would be over race in the United States. So we went right at it in episode 2, and it was very fruitful.

I remember seeing it at the time and really liking it. But as I started to see it in syndication, I had it in my head that it came a little later.
No, it was only the second episode. [laughs]

Right. I just assumed that it was because sometimes comedies take a bit to find the groove, but you found it pretty fast.
Yeah. Again, we weren't really trying to rewrite the show in the pilot. It was more of a producing challenge. How do you find actors who will have this vibe? And how do you shoot something like this which has not been shot before in TV? The pilot director [Ken Kwapis] and I had to kind of retrain all the department heads. They were so used to searching for perfection, and we were saying, "No, that's not the idea here." It's OK to have the sound be slightly off mic, it's OK to have the makeup not be perfect, it's OK to have the hair be messy. It was just hard to actually make it.

You had kind of a nontraditional audition process for the cast, right?
Yeah -- they were so nice. The fact that they gave us three days. ... We shot for three days, the screen tests. I had done a lot of improv work with them in the auditions, because I felt it was important to the style that it seem very un-writerly and not mannered, but very natural. I was hoping to find people who were funny performers but also could improvise. It was really fun, actually. And also there were little things we would develop that later helped us understand the characters a lot.

Is there anything you remember from that time that stands out?
I remember one thing that I liked was we had John [Krasinski] and Rainn [Wilson] -- we were pairing up different Jim and Dwight pairings, and I was giving them the suggestion that Jim comes back from the water cooler and gives [a cup] to Dwight, and Dwight hasn't asked for it. He's incredibly suspicious about why Jim has done this, and Jim's just doing it to mess with his mind. It's one of those things where they're not jokes. It's kind of like -- it's a situation, and just to see Dwight trying to puzzle out what this means, you know? Why is his enemy doing him a favor? And who could be funny in that kind of a situation?

Did you give much thought to how much Michael's neediness or self-conception as an entertainer were exaggerated because he was aware of the cameras? Would he have been the same guy if this were a non-documentary show?
No, that's the key. ... Even in the casting process, when I was auditioning people for that role -- we really wanted Steve, but I also really wanted to get Allison Jones to be our casting director. When I heard Steve was available, I was like, Great. As soon as Allison is on board she'll approach him next week, and in that intervening week he took another job, which was terrible. [The other job was on "Come to Papa," which would end up dumped in the summer of 2004 and lasted just four weeks.] Then we had to spend three months trying to cast somebody else for that role. During that casting process I had trouble getting the right performance out of people. I just didn't know what to tell them to get them to do it.

So I decided I would tape myself. I set up a camcorder in my office late at night when no one was around, and I tried to do all the lines. I realized that the one thing I could keep top of mind that would make it come out kind of appropriately, was that if I was thinking that one day, even though I lived in Pennsylvania, this would go national and Jennifer Aniston would be watching it in her house. And my hope was that maybe, she would watch it and want to have dinner with me. So that was my direction that I would give to people auditioning, was to be constantly having an eye to this person you desperately want to impress as being the viewer down the line. And it seemed like that improved everybody's performance, so that became a whole thing, the camera awareness.

So Michael might have been 10 percent less annoying had they not been filming him?
It was more like a motivation factor. It kind of made him desperate and scrambling. I don't know if you've ever had the experience where you call somebody and get their voicemail and you start to leave a message -- I guess you can sometimes change voicemail now, but when it was on an answering machine and you start babbling and are like, "Oh God, no." ... That's what it was like for him all the time. It kind of increased his comic desperation.

Once you started getting into production, did you leave the British show aside?
I think we were all pretty familiar with it, except for Steve. He didn't watch it to try not to imitate any of the rhythms of Ricky. But what's more present while you're shooting is the actors you are working with, and if you're kind of committing to this style where you're very realistic and you're going to be looking for behavior and improvisation and everything, then you're more influenced to write toward the performer. So a lot of times we'd be led astray if we went too close to the British one.

The metaphor that I felt when taking the show over from those guys was that they'd invented this toy, and they played with it for a few months and then stopped playing with it. And I was like, What are you doing? This is super fun -- it's a great toy. I'll take it if you guys don't want it. I think that's how the writing staff felt too. It was kind of like, We get it. We get what the game here is, we get these characters. We want to play with it ourselves.

How much did you know about the supporting cast at the outset, and how much were their characters informed by just knowing them for a while? Was Angela, for instance, just "prickly cat lady" at first?
Angela is a character that wasn't in the British show. She was kind of based on a woman -- I worked in an office building on "King of the Hill" in Century City. There was a woman who worked on another floor who was in the elevator all the time with me. At one point she said to somebody else, "I don't want to be a b***h, but ..." [laughs] And then she went into this thing just trashing this person. I was like, Oh -- that seems like a type, a good office type.

Angela was my sister-in-law, Angela Kinsey, so I knew her before the show. And Allison Jones, who cast the show, has the best eye in comedy and found people for us who would be willing to be pretty much extras on the hope that we would start to write for them. So Angela and Kevin and Oscar had this little accountants' area. They had just a couple lines in the pilot, I think, probably improvised. I knew somewhat what their characters would be, but not entirely. Oscar becoming gay was actually something that only happened later in the show.

I read that it was because the wardrobe department put him in a pink shirt?
Yes [laughs]. Yes it was. He wore a pink shirt, and there was a line where Michael makes some comment on it, he thought he was guy. We cut that line, but later we were like, "Actually, that would be kind of interesting." One of the things I liked about it was because the character wasn't gay in the beginning, [Oscar Nunez] didn't play it in any particularly quote-unquote gay way. He was just being a very natural person, which I think was a good acting [choice].

Oscar and Brian [Baumgartner] and Angela would sit in their desk clump, and they knew each other from the improv world in L.A., and they would come with little bits. I had to walk past their desk clump to get to Steve's office from my office on set. And every time I would walk on set, they would go, "Hey, wait -- we want to show you something." They'd work out this little thing where, like, Kevin brought back some coffee for Oscar and spilled it on him, or there was some kind of -- they were talking about what they'd seen on television last night. They would work out these little scenes for themselves. There wasn't a lot of room for them in the beginning, because we were trying to establish the four main characters. So then we did webisodes with them, and they gradually -- we'd always write stories and then cut them in the editing room because we were long. But eventually they got on a lot more. ...

I had come from animation. When you think about "The Simpsons" or "King of the Hill" or something like that, the worlds tend to expand each episode, because there's no additional cost incurred to hire an animated character. So you just get more characters the more the stories expand.

There were episodes that viewers always looked forward to -- Christmas episodes and things like that. Was it ever that way in the writers' room, or was it just, This is our next one?
That's funny. I think Mindy [Kaling] always wanted to do the Christmas episode. I always liked to do the premieres, because there was a little bit of catchup where you hadn't seen what they were up to over the summer. The finales, we tried to put a lot of cliff-hanging elements in them. But a lot of it was just if you found a fruitful story idea, then you're really excited because it was fun to write. Sometimes you'd have a drier story and it would be harder to write.

In other circumstances, I would think that there might be pressure for Jim and Pam to become the center of the show. Did you ever get that sort of note from NBC?
The network was hugely supportive while Kevin was there, and after Kevin was Ben Silverman, who had developed the show with me. So I had a very nice run of understanding executives. By the time they left, we were successful and had been on for kind of a long time. But I thought one of the kind of genius aspects to the show Ricky and Stephen made was that they separated the emeotional characters from the comedy characters. [It was] like a Marx Brothers movie, where Groucho and Harpo and Chico are doing the comedy for the majority of the movie, and then Zeppo has a love story. Ultimately we didn't stick with that, but that's how it was in the very beginning.

The other thing about it was the type of love story it was. Because it was in close quarters and in public and it was kind of forbidden at first, it was a slow burn. So it acutally didn't work really well to put it front and center because you'd have to move it forward so much. If you think about "Diversity Day," the story of that episode for Jim was [he was] having just a terrible day at work, and then in a boring meeting Pam falls asleep on his shoulder. He's interviewed and says he just had the best day. That's the entire story. If he'd had to have been the A story and fill up all the twists and turns, that story would have advanced enormously. When you look at that story, it's only like five pages or something. Steve shouldered the vast majority of that episode going through his struggle. So it was great that they weren't the lead characters, because their romance could develop much slower and more realistically.

Was there any temptation to move it along faster?
We debated it a lot. The temptation is to not move it along faster, because if you move it along faster, suddenly you're in unknown territory and it's scary. Whereas if you just do these tiny little incremental baby steps, you're kind of in a safe, pre-thought-out area. So we kept trying to challenge ourselves and jump it forward faster than the audience expected us to. We didn't want the audience to get ahead of us and be like, "Ugh. When are they going to kiss, my God."

And in doing it that way, the obstacles they had to go through didn't feel as contrived.
We talked about obstacles a lot. It was important that there always be an obstacle, because we felt they were really soulmates and were very good together. So if there were no obstacles, they would end up together very quickly. So we had a lot of different obstacles -- that was a big part of it.

Jim going to Stamford seemed like something someone in his position would really do.
What I really liked about that was that at the end of Season 2, the idea was kind of floated. I think most people would have assumed we weren't going to do that because we know where the set is and we know who the other actors are, so he can't end up in Stamford. That's just one of those yanks that they throw into stories. But then we built a whole other set and cast a whole other office. I think people were surprised he was in a completely different town at the beginning of the episode.

After much speculation, The CW has announced plans for underrated thriller series "Nikita" to air a shortened, final season during the 2013-2014 run. Though "Nikita" has struggled to grow in the ratings, it remained a consistent performer for The CW on Friday nights, as well as a critical favorite.

Season 4 of "Nikita" will air as a six-episode mini-season, allowing the story the epic conclusion that it deserves. The CW has yet to announce a premiere date, so while "Nikita" is not expected to debut early in the Fall season, the limited run will likely air during another series' hiatus.

"Nikita" airs its Season 3 finale this Friday, May 17. Check out a preview promo below, in which Amanda (Melinda Clarke) demands that Nikita (Maggie Q) assassinate the president... or risk losing her fiance, Michael (Shane West).

The CW has a somewhat bigger roster of original shows coming in 2013-14, and that means some shakeup to the schedule.

"Supernatural," which has aired on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays over the course of its eight seasons, now goes to Tuesdays (where it briefly aired at the start of its first season before moving to Thursdays) to be paired with "The Vampire Diaries" spinoff "The Originals." "Beauty and the Beast" and "Hart of Dixie" move to Mondays, and "The Carrie Diaries" gets a Friday-night spot in the fall.

Two other new series, "The Tomorrow People" and "Reign," are on the fall schedule as well. Two other scripted newcomers, "The 100" and "Star-Crossed," along with Season 4 of "Nikita" and the new reality show "Famous in 12," are on deck for midseason.

Take a look at The CW's prime-time grid for fall 2013.

7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 Mon   Hart of Dixie Beauty and the Beast Tue   The Originals Supernatural Wed   Arrow Tomorrow People Thu   The Vampire Diaries Reign Fri   The Carrie Diaries America's Next Top Model Legend: New Show New Timeslot Returning Show

The CW is making some major changes to its line-up for the 2013 season, the network announced on Thursday at its Upfront presentation in New York City.

MONDAY
8 p.m. -- "Hart of Dixie"
9 p.m. -- "Beauty and the Beast"

The CW's Monday is a destination for romance -- the comedic charm of "Hart of Dixie" at 8 p.m., followed by the epic, dangerous story of Cat and Vincent on "Beauty and the Beast" at 9 p.m. Though the shows initially seem like an odd fit, following "Dixie's" sugary sweetness with a the troubled, passionate tale of "Beauty and the Beast" may just strike the balance that the shows need to get off the bubble.

TUESDAY
8 p.m. -- "The Originals"
9 p.m. -- "Supernatural"

We expected "The Originals" to follow "Vampire Diaries" on Thursday nights, but we're pleased to see that the network chose to put the spin-off on Tuesdays instead. That post-"TVD" spot on Thursdays can be unstable, because the audience tends to be so overwhelmed by cliffhangers that the show doesn't make an ideal lead-in. By pairing "The Originals" with "Supernatural," the network is promising a darker, scarier series than we've seen with "Vampire Diaries," and that's just what we're after. Speaking of "Supernatural," this move puts the show back in the timeslot where it began its run in 2005 on The WB. The 2012 season saw "Supernatural" thrive unexpectedly, and we're sure its devoted, cultish audience would follow it to any night of the week.

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. -- "Arrow"
9 p.m. -- "The Tomorrow People"

The Amell family owns Wednesdays on The CW (as does executive producer Greg Berlanti, who heads up both series). Stephen Amell led "Arrow" through a near-perfect first season this year, which made the 9 p.m. slot following the DC Comics series the network's most coveted spot for freshman series. With "Supernatural" revived and able to stand on its own, The CW chose "The Tomorrow People" -- starring Stephen's cousin, Robbie Amell -- for the prime position. Amell plays a troubled teenager who discovers that he possesses shocking abilities with the potential to tear him away from his family.

THURSDAY
8 p.m. -- "The Vampire Diaries"
9 p.m. -- "Reign"

"The Vampire Diaries" stays put, as always, anchoring The CW's Thursday night line-up in its fifth season. Historically, the timeslot following the show has been a difficult one to fill, largely because of "The Vampire Diaries'" tendency to end on cliffhangers that send viewers racing to their computers instead of tuning in for the 9 p.m. show. The CW is looking to combat cliffhanger fatigue with "Reign" at 9 p.m. Starring Adelaide Kane as the young Mary, Queen of Scots, "Reign" promises romance, intrigue, and sex set in a time when those things were far more clandestine than they are now.

FRIDAY
8 p.m. -- "The Carrie Diaries"
9 p.m. -- "America's Next Top Model"

The network is calling the pairing of "The Carrie Diaries" and "America's Next Top Model" their Fashionable Fridays line-up, which is an interesting experiment. With other nets like FOX and NBC turning their Fridays into a genre night, The CW is smart to counter-program with young-skewing, female-driven shows. It's The CW's first real attempt at a night aimed at family viewing, and it might just pay off in a TGIF sort of way.

For midseason, The CW has saved "The 100" and "Star-Crossed." "The 100" follows a group of 100 juvenile delinquents sent back to Earth years after its been named uninhabitable, to see if it's suitable for recolonization. "Star-Crossed" sticks with the space theme, with Matt Lanter starring as an alien boy who falls in love with a human girl (Aimee Teegarden) when he starts attending high school.

Disaster was inevitable in the "Nashville" episode, "A Picture from Life's Other Side." With romantic entanglements, legal troubles and general angst from every quarter, disaster may have been inevitable. It's even possible that the murder-suicide of Jolene and Dante was necessary before the end of this one.

Here are the main disasters we get.


Romantic disaster

Everything is going peachy between Rayna (Connie Britton) and Deacon (Charles Esten), but that's not exactly sitting well with some other people. And by other people, I of course mean Teddy (Eric Close). After Teddy walks in on Deacon spending time with Rayna and the girls, he overreacts and issues a restraining order.

This is because Teddy is the mayor and is now a big man and tough and a total jerk.

Alas, Teddy has forgotten that Rayna is the tough and occasionally ruthless one in this relationship. She goes straight to her father to take care of the legal situation. He does.


Paternity disaster

Not that it matters. In all of this, the adults seem to have forgotten that Maddie (Lennon Stella) is a teenager with more independence than sense. She pokes around until she finds a box with every bit of incriminating paternity information.

This is going to be messy.


Opry/prison disaster

Poor Scarlett (Clare Bowen) -- she really doesn't have that much luck with guys acting appropriately. While she's happily making her Grand Ole Opry debut and getting announced as Rayna's new act, Gunnar (Sam Palladio) is acting like a gangster and getting sent to jail for fighting. Will (Chris Carmack), meanwhile, crashes Rayna's boy-on-the-label auditions (thanks to Scarlett mentioning them). He impresses. But then he goes to jail with Gunnar.

At least Avery (Jonathan Jackson) shows up for her show.

Will and Gunnar get a little bonding time in prison (not that kind of bonding, you dirty-minded people!), but that does nothing to help either man's relationship with Scarlett. She declares herself done with such foolish boys upon bailing them out of jail.


Business disaster

Tandy (Judith Hoag) thinks her father is old and feeble. Lamar (Powers Boothe) disagrees. We will apparently have to wait until next season to find out where this is going. We can wait.


Sex tape disaster

Juliette's (Hayden Panettiere) woes with the evil Dante are far from over. He wants millions for the sex tape and doesn't have an upper limit for his blackmail demands. Eventually, Juliette decides that she'd rather go public than keep paying.

Jolene (Sylvia Jefferies), however, has different ideas about how to solve her daughter's problems. A helpful dealer with a whole lot of pills and a pistol later, Jolene confronts Dante and demands the sex tape. When Dante refuses, the inevitable happens.

A short time later, Juliette arrives to find Dante shot dead on the floor. Jolene is on the sofa, dead from an overdose.

We probably shouldn't be shocked that it's Juliette who is left to cope with the biggest disaster of them all.

Is Nicki Minaj about to follow Randy Jackson as the next "American Idol" judge to leave the show? Rumors indicate that the artist will depart after the end of the current Season 12.

While rumors have been swirling for a couple of weeks now that all four of the current judges -- Minaj, Jackson, Mariah Carey and Keith Urban -- would be out before Season 13 began, so far only Jackson has announced that he is definitely leaving. Now, however, Us Weekly reports that Minaj is planning to follow him out the door.

"It's safe to say she isn't coming back to 'Idol'," an unnamed source at "Idol" told Us Weekly. "She's okay with it. She had a great time but was only going to do one season anyway."
Minaj's time on "American Idol" has been marked by controversy. Even before the season began, rumors of her feud with Carey surfaced. Viewers got to see a bit of that feud in footage released from the early auditions.

Throughout the live-show broadcasts, the two women have mostly kept things quiet, but everyone has noticed a fair amount of tension. "They don't talk too much to each other," "Idol" finalist Kree Harrison told reporters when asked about Nicki and Mariah's occasional jabs at the judges' table. "Whenever they do, I just think that's awesome -- whether it's good or bad."

There is no official word yet on whether either Carey or Urban intends to return for Season 13. Mariah Carey will soon be heading out on a world tour, which could conflict with any future judging plans. Urban, on the other hand, sounds enthusiastic about a possible return to "Idol." When asked at the show's finale performances about whether would want to keep the gig, Urban replied. "I would, yeah. I mean, I literally enjoy coming to work every day, and that's a rarity."

It remains to be seen whether or not the "American Idol" producers will let that happen.