Helen Hunt

Helen Hunt's shark encounter was so minor she'd forgotten all about it, until asked by Jay Leno on 'The Tonight Show' (Weeknights, 11:35PM ET on NBC). Her shark encounter turned out to be a blacktip reef shark, which she described as "very friendly. They don't hurt anybody and nothing would have happened."

However, her boyfriend probably had other things to worry about. She sets the scene with the two of them sitting on their surfboards between sets with their feet in the water.

"I look at him and he's looking out," she said. "And then I see he very quietly puts his feet up on the board."

They're anticipated, but sometimes dreaded. They can be just what a show needs, or a ratings killer. They can unite or divide audiences. What has this much power in television? TV babies.

Jim and Pam on 'The Office' are just the latest fictional couple to welcome a baby into their wacky fold in tonight's special one-hour episode (9PM ET, NBC). To commemorate the occasion, we're taking a walk around the virtual nursery, looking back at some of TV's most anticipated -- for both good and bad reasons -- babies.

Did your favorite TV baby make the list? Check after the jump.

Let me give you a quick inside look at how things operate here in online entertainment journalism land: ABC sent us an invite to talk to Kelsey Grammer (and his co-star Melinda McGraw) during the same whirlwind "defending Hank" tour that Bob mentioned in his post yesterday. As much as I wanted to talk to Grammer, the conditions just didn't seem to be right.

For one, we would have had maybe ten minutes to talk to him. For another, he'd be defending a show that is a) terrible and b) on the verge of being cancelled. I want to talk to Grammer about comedy, Frasier, Cheers, his heart attack, and lots of other stuff. I wasn't particularly interested in him telling me how good he thinks Hank is for the whole interview.

But, when he told The TV Addict that last night's episode was going to be funny, it got me curious; maybe they had figured things out and made a leap in quality. So I tuned into last night's episode. I wish I hadn't.

It's official. As of today, Lauren Graham will replace Maura Tierney in Parenthood, the NBC mid-season family drama. After the talk of Helen Hunt getting the role of a divorce mom struggling to get by, the former star of Gilmore Girls has landed the role... just like Bob wrote.

Hip-hip-hooray! Don't get me wrong. My heart goes out to Maura Tierney who had to drop out because she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wish her a speed recovery and a great role in another series after her treatments are successful. And Helen Hunt might have been a lovely choice, too. But I am a major Gilmore Girls fan. I'm thrilled to pieces that Lauren is coming back to series TV.

When Maura Tierney had to leave the production of the new NBC comedy Parenthood for cancer treatments, it was rumored that Helen Hunt would take her place. Now comes word that Hunt is out and another beloved TV star might be slipping into the role.

Michael Ausiello is reporting that Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham has met with Parenthood's producers after negotiations with Hunt broke down.

Let's say first that Maura Tierney is pretty much irreplaceable.

As we already said in our 'Parenthood' pilot preview, Tierney was the MVP of a star-studded cast that includes Craig T. Nelson, Peter Krause, Monica Potter, Erika Christensen and more. But she was forced to drop out of NBC's midseason dramedy in order to battle cancer.

Now comes word that she might be replaced by Helen Hunt. And to that, we say: Nooooo! N to the O!

'Parenthood' may swap Maura Tierney for Helen Hunt, Patrick Swayze passes away, Tina Fey, Simon Baker and others to present at the Emmys and more of today's top TV headlines.

When Maura Tierney had to leave Parenthood because she needs to undergo treatment for breast cancer, there was speculation about who might replace her since the NBC project would be resuming. Well, the name that's come to the fore as Maura's replacement is a good one. Oscar and Emmy-winner Helen Hunt is in discussions for Parenthood, and usually if they're talking and it's in the trades, it's close to being a done deal.

If I were advising her and she cared about what I think, I'd tell Helen to take it. While Helen's TV experience was in a sitcom, Mad About You, she's better in dramedy. That's what As Good As It Gets was, and it got her an Oscar!

CBS has signed for the rights to a new sitcom pilot written and produced by Paul Reiser. The story focuses on a man who inherits a family car dealership somewhere in Queens, New York. Reiser was most recently seen in The Thing About My Folks which he co-starred in with Peter Falk. Reiser has not been involved with a television sitcom since Mad About You ended its seven year run in 1999. No news on whether or not he will have a role in the upcoming show.