(Photo credit: Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown)

Today it was the Greg Berlanti Network, er, ABC's turn to trot out their shows for us journalists who, truth be told, are starting to flag a wee bit. Okay, a lot. We're just over half-way through the Summer 2008 TCA and being adrift in this over air-conditioned hotel is a bit like being trapped in your own world. Frankly, I keep expecting to see survivors from Oceanic Flight 815 wander past looking for a way home. (Of course, things would be vastly improved were Matthew Fox to end up trapped here!)

Even though ABC is not doing a panel for Brothers & Sisters this year (we did a set visit last year), after the Eli Stone panel, I, of course, seized the opportunity to grab Eli executive producer Greg Berlanti (pictured above) for some dish on Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty (Luke Macfarlane) for you B&S fans.

Greg was pretty tight-lipped, but was willing to tell me a few things. In regards to the issue of Kevin and Scotty having had a committment ceremony only to have California turn around and legalize gay marriage, Berlanti said, "It's interesting. This is the first time I've talked about it, but a lotof people have asked because of the law that changed after the fact, are we're going to deal with the change in the [California marriage law] and we do address that."

In regards as to what is in store for Kevin, Berlanti offered, "Kevin changes careers. Which no one knows. That will be a big thing that I'll hint at in the next twenty-fourhours. He changes career paths. Something big happened to him at work."

As for Kevin and Scotty's relationship still being featured prominently, "Oh, yeah. Always. That's a big part of the show. Their romance is really firm so it's more about them their buildingtheir lives. For a lot of characters in the show last year, who experienced romantic stuff last year, this year is about building their loves outside of that."

As for Uncle Saul it looks like he'll be taking the backseat for at least a while. When asked about a potential romance, Berlanti said, "Not in the first six or seven episodes, but we would love to touch on that by the end of the year."

Tomorrow night is the ABC party and hopefully at least a few of the cast will present and I'll see what else I can get!

One more Berlanti note, he said that so far there isn't anything gay in the first four so so episodes of Eli Stone, but during the panel he said discussions are underway about having George Michael reprise his role, possibly for a Christmas special. 

As if ABC weren't already the gayes network around, they had to go and steal Scrubs away from NBC. Okay, there aren't regular gay characters on Scrubs but the show not only features the bromance between J.D. and Turk (based on creator Bill Lawrence's own relationship with Randall Winston), but has featured gay storylines and gay humor that isn't homophobic.

More on Scrubs news and Ashton Kutcher after the break!

With Sweeney Todd's taking home a Golden Globe and the commercial success of Hairspray, Dreamgirls and High School Musical we're certainly past the days when the movie musical is considered box office poison.

But as much as I enjoy popping Chicago in the DVD player, I really like it when episodic television takes a musical turn, and lately we've seen some great additions to the genre (along with a few disasters ... yes, we mean you, Viva Laughlin). A good musical number can make an episode especially memorable, as in the following examples ...

30 Rock: "Midnight Train to Georgia"

Last week's 30 Rock (the season finale, unless the writers' strike is resolved soon), ended with a performance of Gladys Knight and the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia" inspired by Kenneth Parcell's (Jack McBrayer) deciding to leave New York to return his home in Georgia. The Motown classic is used to express the friendship between Kenneth and Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), Jenna (Jane Krakowski)'s need to be in the spotlight and the divide splitting Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) and his liberal congresswoman girlfriend C.C. (Edie Falco) apart. The highlight of the number arrives when Tina Fey changes the meaning of "I've got to go" into a cry of "TMI!" Coming from the 30 Rock characters, the meaning of "Midnight Train to Georgia" changes hilariously.
(Thanks to scribegrrrl for finding the video.)

Pushing Daisies: "Hopelessly Devoted to You"

Pushing Daisies' Kristin Chenoweth is well known as a Broadway performer and when her character, Olive Snook, broke into a performance of "Hopelessly Devoted to You" it was an apt marriage of Daisies' fanciful tone and Chenoweth's talents. The original version, from Grease, comes when Sandy realizes how strong her feelings are for Danny, no matter how angry he may make her. On Daisies, however, Olive is fighting her love for Ned, a feeling she hasn't felt free to express honestly.

More recently, Daisies gave us Ellen Greene (who played Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors) singing "Morning Has Broken" as her character breaks out of depression. As with 30 Rock, these moments offer more than a catchy tune: they're a way of expressing where these characters are emotionally in a way that dialogue can't.

X-Play: The Musical

A program consisting of video game reviews shouldn't have much of a shelf life. I mean, who needs to know if The Movies is any good at this point? However, X-Play's snarky, irreverent tone and pop culture references make reruns watchable months and even years afterwards. One of X-Play's more unusual episodes treated viewers to a musical where the devil corrupts hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb with the promise of an X-Play video game (you can watch it here). Spoofing everything from current games to X-Play's own game rating system ("One out of five, it's the only game I know that lowers your sex drive."), the musical has all the smarts and sass you'd expect to hear in an X-Play review.

• QueerSighted, AOL's LGBT site, has been shuttered amidst insinuations of homophobia and political maneuvering from the former staff. We hear ya, guys ... these Logo people? Total 'phobes.

• Is the airing of GLAAD's PSA after the Batlestar Galactica: Razor premiere timed to ward off criticism of a potentially anti-gay storyline?

• Queerty found this odd Gay Heritage video ("brought to you by Yellowpages.travel and SearchBoth.com") that includes Barry Manilow and Anderson Cooper in its gay celeb photo montage. Thanks, guys. Break my mother's heart TWICE, why don'cha?

• Scrubs is already the gayest show without an actual gay character as last week's episode proved yet again. Not only did we have our usual allotment of gay cracks (as always, not anti-gay) but we also got this pretty hot reenactment of Tom Cruise's underwear scene from Risky Business.

It sure seems like having a mancrush is all the rage these days. Between those and "bromances", I think the Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons of the world might as well just give it up and go out on a date together.

The latest entry into the mancrush sweepstakes is this ode by one Joe B. to his idol Zach Braff of Scrubs. It reminds me of the song TomBradyFan wrote for Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. I think it's great straight guys feel confident enough to sing lyrics like "I don't care what you say/I love Zach Braff in a non-gay way". After all, it's kind of hard for straight guys to hate gay folks when they're writing odes to straight guys they happen to have a thing for.