Elijah Wood may have come on to 'The Colbert Report' (Weeknights, 11:30PM ET on Comedy Central) to promote his work on 'Happy Feet Two,' but he knew that the conversation would eventually make its way to Middle Earth. Stephen Colbert is absolutely one of the biggest 'Lord of the Rings' fans on the planet.

As a treat, Wood brought one of the actual Sting swords he used during the filming of the trilogy, but of course Colbert already has one, presented to him by director Peter Jackson. So the two squared off in an impossible Sting vs. Sting battle. It's too bad no orcs were nearby so both swords could glow.

Jason Gann has just curled up on my lap. I'm not sure why I'm so surprised. He does, after all, play a dog on the popular show 'Wilfred,' co-starring Elijah Wood. Unsure of what to do, I awkwardly pat his head.

"OK, that's enough of that!" he says, and jumps over to his designated chair across from me. The lovely actress who plays Wilfred's owner on the show, Fiona Gubelmann, takes the seat next to him. She looks at Gann, laughs and shakes her head, as Gann is now feigning sleep as he stretches out clumsily on his chair.

We got a little bit of insight into Ryan's psyche and family history when Mary Steenburgen appeared on 'Wilfred' (Thu., 10PM ET on FX). She played his mother, who's spent the last 20 years in a mental institution of her own free will.

But now, she's ready to step back into the real world, and where better to do that than with her estranged son Ryan. After she shows Wilfred some love, he's all for giving Mom a second chance, and completely attaches himself to her.

But Mom proves to be a little off-center still, and Ryan was simply too inflexible to allow her outlandish stories and behavior. But really, was she that much more embarrassing than anyone else's mother? Okay, the mooning incident was a bit much.

Once again, 'Wilfred' (Thu., 10PM ET on FX) was able to find huge laughs by having Wilfred respond and act like a dog. And, in Ryan's defense this week, Wilfred did kind of deserve to be punished.

He did drop Ryan's wallet outside Spencer's house after they'd broken in, stolen weed and even pooped in his shoe. He says he's trying to help Ryan stand up for himself and find a spine, but instead it led to a very awkward friendship revolving around pornography, strip clubs and trying to keep Wilfred from blowing the secret.

So Ryan let Spencer have a little fun torturing Wilfred with a laser pointer. Just as we're entertained by dogs and cats trying to figure them out, 'Wilfred' made it even funnier by putting a voice to the animal's confusion.

The theme this week on 'Wilfred' (Thu., 10PM ET on FX) was trust. To try and build that bond of trust between himself and Ryan, Wilfred has Ryan take him to a beach. The only problem is no dogs are allowed.

When he finally guilted Ryan into letting him go for a swim, we got another one of those surreal dog--human moments that only this show can create. As Wilfred, Jason Gann looks to us and Ryan like a dude in a dog suit. Everyone else sees him as a dog.

So when he's jumping up and down in the waves, and carrying a dead pelican over to a group of campers, we see Gann. But we have to imagine how this looks if Wilfred really was a dog, and suddenly it looks far more normal.

There are some perks to being a dog, and clearly there are some perks to playing a dog on television. Series co-creator Jason Gann, who plays the dog 'Wilfred' (Thu., 10PM ET on FX) in both the current US series and the former Australian series, certainly seemed to be enjoying the perks in the series premiere.

The central conceit of the show is that Elijah Wood's character Ryan sees his neighbor's dog Wilfred as a man in a dog costume. Everyone else sees a dog.

We also see Gann in his costume, which is why we get to enjoy bizarre visuals of Wilfred nuzzling his nose between a waitress' breasts and even starting to hump her.

It's safe to say you probably haven't seen another sitcom like 'Wilfred' ... and I mean that in the best way possible.

Elijah Wood stars as a severely depressed guy named Ryan who has very vivid conversations and insane adventures with a dog named Wilfred. The catch: he's the only one who sees the pup as a man in a dog suit. A man in a dog suit who's often smoking massive amounts of pot when he's not digging holes in the backyard, fetching things and trying everything to get Ryan to live a little.



That shaggy fetching man is none other than co-creator Jason Gann, who helmed the short film and Aussie series of the same name and concept before reimagining it for American audiences.

I caught up with Wood and Gann to talk about the show (premieres Thurs., June 23, 10PM ET on FX), the amazing guest stars that came to play and what it is they're really smoking in all those many haze-filled scenes.

Elijah Wood introduced Jimmy Fallon and his 'Late Night' (Weeknights, 12:37AM ET on NBC) audience to a game called Stump that he learned "in the wilds of Vermont," as he laughingly put it.

The game involves tossing a hammer in the air so that it does at least a full 360 degrees and then immediately swinging it down on an opponent's nail that's slightly embedded into a stump. The last person with their nail standing outside the stump wins. To make things more challenging, you must also be holding a beer on your person at all times.

Wood may have introduced Fallon to the game, but the 'Late Night' host proved himself quite adept at the game.

It wasn't easy to wrap my head around 'Wilfred' (10PM ET Thursday, FX). The new comedy both very strange and very familiar, and its ambling mixture of the surreal and the mundane is both intriguing and disconcerting.

Whether or not 'Wilfred's' blend of low-key stoner comedy and oddball bromance is effective in luring people back week after week remains to be seen. But I can at least say this with confidence: You won't see another man-befriends-another-man-in-a-dog-suit comedy on television this year. Probably.

The rumors are true: Elijah Wood served as DJ at Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer's nuptials last month. While working on 'The Romantics,' Wood explained, "The costume designer on the film and I would DJ parties while we were out in Greenport making the movie." Costar Paquin liked what she heard and asked him to DJ her wedding reception.

He'd never DJ'd a wedding before. "Just bar mitzvahs and birthday parties [so far]?" joked Jimmy Fallon. "Did you play 'We Are Family'?" inquired the host of 'Late Night' (weeknights, 12:37AM ET on NBC). The self-described "music nerd" replied, "I stayed away from all typical wedding material."

Fallon then explained another wedding-music must -- 'The Cha Cha Slide' -- as "a dance for drunk people." Apparently, that too was absent from Wood's playlist.

Elijah Wood is having a good week.

First came the news that his movie, 'The Oxford Murders,' a festival favorite that has been looking for a distributor since 2008, will be released on Aug. 6. And now comes word that the 29-year-old actor will star in his first television series.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Wood, who hasn't appeared on TV since playing the Artful Dodger in a 1997 adaptation of 'Oliver Twist,' is set to star in a comedy pilot called 'Wilfred' for FX.

(S35E02) After that Jenny Slate f-bomb nonsense and Megan Fox's not terribly original hot girl material from the season premiere, it was exciting to see a really solid episode (and a star-studded one, at that). Ryan Reynolds did a fantastic job as host (snaps for his wavering voice during the porcelain fountains sketch and accent in SYTYCD), though he didn't have any major stand-out roles. Did I miss the memo that Lady Gaga wasn't just musical guest but co-host as well? Such a role is normally left up to Ryan Reynolds' giant biceps.

It's been a while since we've seen such consistently enjoyable writing in an episode. Usually, there's a distinct lull during the course of the 90 minutes, but I didn't feel it this time. Hopefully, this is a good indication of the rest of the season.

This month we're taking a look at celebrities who did TV commercials.

Whenever you get into any profession, you have to start at the bottom. The TV business is no exception. The stars you see in prime time today probably cut their teeth working in TV commercials. Heck, some of them still do TV commercials even after they become big stars (but it's often overseas...shhhhhhhh).

After the jump, a sampling of TV commercials from years ago that star celebrities who are now household names. If you're old enough to remember these commercials, you'll probably say to yourself, "Oh yeah, I remember this ad, but I didn't realize that he was in it!"

OK, so maybe you're letting your Tivo take the reigns tonight because you've got a hot date with someone you love. That's fair.

But some of us only have love for Lost on Wednesday nights.

For all you counting down the hours until Lost airs tonight, here is a video TV Tattler interview with Dominic Monaghan. He answers some great questions, such as which one of his Lord of the Rings buddies actually watches Lost, and offers some insight on what he'd like to see in the new season. But I must admit, he's looking kind of rough, as if he was really stranded on an island. Regardless, it's a great interview and a great way to kill the time between now and Lost.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Elijah Wood is still talking about his scuffle with Jared Leto at the MTVU Woodie Awards.
  
• The Food Networks says that the "McDonald's I'm lovin' it" screen during Iron Chef was a technical error, not subliminal advertising.
  
• This is only the beginning: Twentieth Century Fox has subpoenaed YouTube, forcing them to identify the user who uploaded several unreleased episodes of 24 to the website.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this vodcast via our feed.