stories from the vaults

Tom Cavanagh, known for his goofy-but-sweet roles in Ed, Love Monkey and Scrubs, is going all nerdy on us! He's going to host six episodes of a backstage pass-type show for the Smithsonian Institution.

Last year, the Smithsonian announced it is creating a television channel with Showtime that will launch in April. There are at least 60 programs planned, with a few already in the works. One of those few is Cavanagh's Stories from the Vaults. The premise of the 30-minute series is that Cavanagh gets to take viewers behind-the-scenes to check out some of the Smithsonian Institution's coolest and oddest artifacts.

The Smithsonian programming is being offered to cable and satellite profiders as an on-demand channel. Many of the other programs will focus on Smithsonian research, which is not as well-known as its artifacts. So far, no television providers have picked it up.