I had no idea that Arianna Huffington was also producing TV shows along with being in charge of a giant blogging empire. But she's one of the people behind the new ABC series 'Freshman,' along with Greg Malins ('How I Met Your Mother'). The comedy will be set in Washington, D.C. and will be about three young politicians. I guess Huffington is going to produce a show about something she's familiar with, politics and Washington, D.C.

One of those three young politicians will be Sarah Chalke, formerly of 'Scrubs.' Can I tell you how embarrassed I was when 'Scrubs' started that I didn't realize that Chalke was the girl who took over in the role of Becky Conner (from Lecy Goranson, now called Alicia Goranson) on 'Roseanne' for a few seasons? Looking back now it's insanely obvious but I didn't make the connection until a few years after 'Scrubs' started.

Sarah Chalke is going to Washington.

The former 'Scrubs' star has been tapped to star in ABC's 'Freshmen,' the highly-anticipated comedy pilot from Greg Malins and, of all people, blogger Arianna Huffington.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Chalke will play Jane, a "beautiful," "smart" and extremely successful woman who is great at politics but terrible with men. Jane lives with two male roommates in D.C., each of whom are freshman members of Congress. Said roles have yet to be cast.

The game of programming roulette continued Monday as several more shows were picked up by the networks -- each hopeful to have locked in the next big thing.

Fans of 'The O.C.' and 'Gossip Girl' have reason to rejoice. Creative wunderkind, Josh Schwartz and his 'Chuck' co-exec producer, Matt Miller, have sold a new sitcom called 'Hitched' to CBS. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the half-hour, mulitcamera comedy will focus on a young newlywed couple trying to figure each other - and marriage - out.

Joining 'Hitched' on the eye network will be a new untitled comedy from Tad Quill. Quill, a longtime collaborator with Bill Lawrence on such hits as 'Spin CIty' and 'Scrubs', has written a still untitled comedy about a widower dad who grapples with raising his 12 year-old son and getting back in the dating scene.

When I first read the headline about Arianna Huffington getting into the TV comedy business, I had visions of her as Maude or something equally as bizarre.

Fortunately, it was just my skewed sense of humor at work, because Arianna Huffington, the political talking head and co-creator of The Huffington Post, is not starring in a sitcom. ABC has bought Huffington's idea for a multicamera sitcom. And just to make sure it's funny, they've hired executive producer Greg Malins (Friends, How I Met Your Mother) to develop the project.

20th Century Fox TV is producing the show for ABC and, yes, it is about politics. See, there are these three freshman members of the House of Representatives, two men and a woman (but no pizza place). They share an apartment in the D.C. area. "One is swept up in the movement of change... one has been in politics for a long time, and one is a master of the media and sound bites," said Malins.

There are lots of questions that have come up about the last few episodes How I Met Your Mother's second season: Will Robin and Ted stay together or will they break up? Why were the two of them covered in tomato sauce during the "Showdown" episode? Will Ted finally meet the woman who becomes the mother to his kids? And, of course, will HIMYM make it to a third season, given the rumors that the show is very much on the bubble?

Well, who better to go to for answers than Carter Bays? He and Craig Thomas (Craig is on the left in the picture above, and Carter is on the right) are the creators and executive producers of the show, and have been working as a writing team since they met at Wesleyan University. The 31-year-olds worked together on Late Show with David Letterman, Oliver Beene, and American Dad before getting a chance to run the show on HIMYM in 2005.

I spoke to Bays by phone last week (I was supposed to also speak with Thomas, but a family emergency called him away). Be warned that this interview contains MAJOR SPOILERS pertaining to the finale. I will warn you prior to a spoilery portion of the interview (and tell you when it ends) so you can skip it if you wish.

Thanks to the efforts of former TVS writer Ryan Budke, this lovely little blog you're reading is high on the browsing list of the staff of How I Met Your Mother. In fact, they seem to like us quite a bit; at the CBS press tour party, co-creator Craig Thomas said he reads my reviews of the show every week, and executive producer Greg Malins came up to me while I was talking to Craig to tell me how much he loved the Squad (it sounded something like, "You guys are awesome!" But it was too loud in there for me to hear well. All I know is that it wasn't along the lines of "What a fine weblog you have, my dear fellow. Cheerio and pip pip.").

Anyway, because of this comfort level, I didn't have any problem asking the other co-creator, Carter Bays, a few questions about where the season is going, as well as some questions about not being picked to be in the post-Super Bowl slot. I also asked him about the origins of the two best episodes of the season, "Slap Bet" and "Swarley."

By the way, in the picture above, Craig is on the left and Carter is on the right. They look so young, don't they?