You might have noticed a few interesting items have come out that have the phrase "he/she said to a gathering of television critics." Well, that can only mean one thing... the Television Critics Association press tour is underway!

Because the writers' strike scuttled the winter edition of the twice-yearly tour earlier this year, this is the first time in a year that the various networks have had a chance to go though the painful process of peddling their wares in front of a group of cranky, jet-lagged, and hungry TV critics and journalists. This year should be interesting, since the broadcast networks don't really have much to offer in terms of new shows (and even fewer pilots for the shows they are picking up), and the whole nature and effectiveness of the press tour is being called into question by both the networks and the critics (more on that in a second).

All that being said, though, you can be sure that TV Squad will be at the Beverly Hilton to cover the dog-and-pony show. Kristin will attend selected cable presentations, and I'll be flying in Sunday, just in time for the broadcast networks to do their thing. Expect reports about executives and producers getting grilled, critics jostling each other out of the way to get a question in during post-press conference scrums, and tales of the unusual happenings at the all-star parties. Also keep an eye on our Twitter page, as I'll likely be throwing out silly dispatches (and maybe even breaking news) from the various events.

Ray Richmond over at The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip creator and head writer Aaron Sorkin today and found out that not only have the ratings for the show the past few weeks made the execs at NBC happier than they were, but that a full season order for the show might be coming any hour or day now. Another source at the network said they would be very surprised if the show wasn't picked up this week.

Here's a quote from Sorkin that is interesting, especially since it addresses something that is often talked about here in our comments section: