I’m back from spending a week in Los Angles at the semi-annual press tour. It’s the time of year when networks trot out their stars, their new shows, celebrate the shows that are doing well and try to pretend like the ones that tanked never existed. ("You are very, very sleepy. We never had a show called ’Hawaii.’ Never.")

Now I’m not going to drone on about the "Dancing with the Stars" controversy. Are you really still upset about Kelly Monaco’s victory? Really? I’m surprised. Let’s talk about that. I’m here to help. There will be a half-hour results show next season so we can all rest easy that viewers will be able to vote on the final performance.

Here are my stories - please be warned there are spoilers ahead so don’t read if you don’t want to know:

The news from the Buffyverse just keeps getting better and better. We already have Charisma Carpenter on "Veronica Mars" (yay) (Wednesdays, UPN) and now James Marsters will be on "Smallville" (Wednesdays, WB). He’ll play the oh-so-evil Brainiac. And if that wasn’t reason enough to get me to watch the college-freshman-of-steel, Tom Wopat will reunite with fellow former "Dukes of Hazzard" star John Schneider when he plays one of Jonathan’s childhood friends.

Melinda Clarke, the oh-so-fabulous Julie Cooper on "The O.C." (Thursdays, FOX), will soon play herself in an upcoming episode of "Entourage" (Sundays, HBO) and she is hoping to reprise her oh-so-fabulous role of Lady Heather on "CSI" (Thursdays, CBS) next season.

Jamie Denton, Mike Delfino on "Desperate Housewives" (Sundays, ABC), was positively charming at the ABC party. Denton said that last year executive producer Marc Cherry told him everything that would happen with his character and this year he told Cherry he didn’t want to know because it got too hard to keep lying to people. He did say that he’s not even sure if he’s Zach’s father. Funny because I was really sure that he was.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje ("Oz") joins the cast of "Lost" (Wednesdays, ABC) in the season premiere on Sept. 21. He’ll play Emeka "a mysterious man." Thanks, ABC. That’s very helpful. But apparently we will find out what’s at the bottom of the hatch during the premiere and it won’t be another ladder.

Moments before I left for the West Coast, NBC announced it had picked up the series "Windfall," which stars - that’s right - Luke Perry, as a midseason replacement.

Rachel Gibson (she was the star of "The Inside") joins the cast of "Alias" (Wednesdays, ABC), as a technical analyst working for a black ops division of the CIA. She will be an agent for Sydney to mentor. Jennifer Garner’s real life pregnancy will be written into the plot of season five. Kevin Weisman told me that Marshall will be part of the action more next season and not confined to the walls of APO. Also Weisman’s real life nephew plays his son on the show so he’ll be updating the pictures on Marshall’s desk regularly.

Heather Locklear and Rupert Everett will be in the new episodes of "Boston Legal" (ABC) premiering on Sept. 27. These are episodes left over from last season when the show was abruptly removed from the schedule. These episodes have been reworked to explain the appearance of new cast member Julie Bowen and the disappearance of old cast members Rhona Mitra and Monica Potter. By the way, Mitra will guest star on an upcoming episode of "Nip/Tuck" (Sundays, FX). And Bowen will appear in at least one more episode of "Lost."

Speaking of "Nip/Tuck," Bruno Campos, Jessalyn Gilsig and Kelly Carlson all join the cast next season as series regulars. Campos also told me he doesn’t know who the Carver is ... and therefore can neither confirm nor deny rumors that it’s his character. "I’ve just been telling people the Carver is Anakin Skywalker, that’s my way out of the question."

I wish ABC’s new series "Freddie" (Wednesdays) was as half as funny and charming as Freddie Prinze Jr. was during his press conference.

Kyle Secor stars in the new ABC series "Commander-in-Chief" (Tuesdays) and doesn’t think that he’ll be back on "Veronica Mars" anytime soon. Booooo.

Josh Schwartz, executive producer of "The O.C.," promised that "this is going to be the best season of the show yet. We came out at the end of last season with a lot of momentum. This season is senior year and if you can’t do senior year you should have never have been in the teen genre to begin with."

He wouldn’t say if Tate Donovan would be back for good. "You know that Jimmy Cooper he’s always up to something."

And said that he already has plans for season four. "Somebody will be leaving the show that you might not expect and somebody will be coming back." Let’s cross our fingers that it’s Anna that we will be seeing.

The creator and executive producer of "Jake in Progress" (Mondays, ABC) told me that he’s looking to cast Jake’s ex-fiancee next season and is open to casting ideas. I’m thinking Tiffani Thiessen. The fabulous Rick Hoffman, who plays the David Blaine wannabe Patrick on "Jake," will reprise his role as Bernie Mac’s agent on "The Bernie Mac" (Fridays, FOX) show.

Katherine Heigl also finds it quite amusing that her character on "Grey’s Anatomy" (Sundays, ABC) is Izzie Stevens after playing an Isabel on "Roswell." In fact, one time she even called her character the wrong name. By the way, "Grey’s Anatomy" also picks up right where it left off on Sept. 25.

Because the ladies love him, LL Cool J will play a death row inmate on the first episode of "House" (Tuesdays, FOX) when the series returns on Sept. 13. Elvis Costello sings a song in the second episode. He’s recorded his version of Christina Aguilera’s "Beautiful."

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

You absolutely must watch the positively hilarious "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List" (10 p.m. Wednesdays, Bravo). I’ve always loved Griffin’s take-no-prisoners style. How can you not? She says what everyone else is thinking.

Tell me that you watched "Over There" (9 p.m. Wednesdays, FX). I know the pilot was a little murky and confusing but, trust me, the next two episodes are fantastic.

FX has basked in drama glory but has failed to produce a critically acclaimed comedy. The network hopes all that changes with the premiere of two new sitcoms from multi-hyphenate actors. Eric Schaeffer created, executive produces, directs, writes and stars in "Starved," a comedy about a group of people with eating disorders (10 p.m. Thursday). It’s not as funny as it sounds. It would take a lot for me to find somebody throwing up on camera funny and this show simply doesn’t have what it takes.

However, I’ve begun a little bit of a love affair with "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia," (premieres 10:30 p.m. Thursday on FX). Rob McElhenney created, executive producers, writes and stars in the off-beat and clever series about a bumbling group of friends who run an Irish bar. After you’ve watched both shows let me know what you think.

In a nice moment of synergy, four episodes of UPN’s "Veronica Mars" will air on CBS. The second episode, which guest-stars Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna, airs Friday at 8 p.m.

So Nate has to be dead this time, right? Seriously, how many times has that man almost died? I’m still not loving "Six Feet Under" (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO) but I do think this season is so much better than last season (low praise, I know). And are we supposed to think that Nate finally found peace and true love with Maggie and then died. Seriously, could the show be more depressing?