TV Tidbits 23: CSI, SVU, Daisies Scoopage

Blar. I have been in a general TV funk for a while now - oh, how I've loved the summer and its nearly non-existent TV watching demands - but since shows are going to be slowly creeping back onto the air with new episodes within the next couple months, I guess I'd better prepare myself for the onslaught. Boo. That being said, here are some spoilers for:

Law & Order: SVU (Season premiere: September 23rd)

• Luke Perry's appearing in the.... season premiere, an hour that also features guest turns by Sara Gilbert (Roseanne, ER) and Julie Bowen (Lost, Boston Legal, Ed). According to sources, the plot revolves around a couple (Perry and Bowen) that stands accused of abusing their foster child. Gilbert plays the boy's biological mother. [Ask Ausiello]
• The episode also marks the debut of SVU's new ADA, played by One Tree Hill knockout Michaela McManus, and deals with the repercussions of Benson's attempted rape, and answers some lingering questions surrounding the possible transfer of Ice-T's Fin. (Side note: Robert and I haven't watched the season finale of SVU yet - did I mention I'm sort of averse to watching TV shows right now? - but if Fin gets transferred, Robert will have a STROKE. I don't even want to be in the room if/when he finds out. The man loves him some Ice-T.)

• "Is this the season Benson and Stabler will finally go there?" Because that's the question I posed to executive producer Neal Baer yesterday, and behold his titillating answer. "In the first eight episodes, circumstances put them in a very interesting place," he hinted. Where might this, um, place be located? "Somewhere without clothes." [Ask Ausiello]

• Josh Charles and Teri Polo will play a married couple whose son becomes a suspect in — yep, you guessed it — some kind of grisly sex crime investigation.
  
• The episode is currently being shot and is slated to air on Sept. 30. [Ask Ausiello]

• There will be some serious Stabler drama this season. "We'll be meeting someone in his life who we haven't met before," teases exec producer Neal Baer. "As a result, he'll be dealing with some unexpected problems." [Ask Ausiello]

CSI (Season Premiere: October 9th)

You all already know that William Petersen/Gil Grissom will be leaving the show next season, so I won't go over all that stuff again. I do have some details on his storyline and potential replacement, however, so here goes...

• According to executive producer Naren Shankar, when Melinda Clarke's dominatrix returns in November to console an in-crisis Grissom, "This will be the most intimate that we have seen them." Shankar's partner in Crime, EP Carol Mendelsohn, takes it a step further, revealing that, "Grissom will go to bed at Lady Heather's. Whether he will go to bed with Lady Heather remains to be seen. But Grissom will spend most of that episode at Lady Heather's." [Ask Ausiello]

• Gil's replacement will have a "genetic quirk"- some funky (and potentially lethal) DNA. Hint: This isn't the first time a character in the CSI-verse had this specific abnormality. [Ask Ausiello]
• ...like a chromosome abnormality. (Think: One too many letters.) [Ask Ausiello]

• Film vet Laurence Fishburne is close to signing a deal to... fill the considerable void being left when [Gil] steps down after this season's 10th episode.
• Fishburne will play a doctor/scientist who comes into the CSI as an outsider, and not as the team's new boss, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler revealed at the TCA press tour. As a DNA expert, this new character has identified a common profile among serial killers — and it's even in his own genes. [TVGuide.com]
  
  

• Just how many episodes will Jorja Fox/Sara Sidle be in? Ausiello says: "I don't want to give away the exact number, so let's just say she's doing two more than Gary Dourdan and seven less than William Petersen." I'm guesstimating that puts Gil in 10 episodes, Warrick in 1 and Sara in 3.

Pushing Daisies (Season Premiere: October 1st)

• The O.C.'s Taylor Townsend herself, Autumn Reeser, will guest star in the season premiere as a Southern Belle named Kentucky Fritz who has a deadly run-in with some killer bees. "She's the number one girl at Betty's Bees, who may or may not have been up to some mischief when she was stung to death by a swarm of bees," teases Daisies creator Bryan Fuller. [Ask Ausiello]
  

• Beloved Everwood curmudgeon Debra Mooney has been cast as Chi McBride's chain-smoking, no-nonsense mother... sources confirm to me exclusively. As of now, Mooney's on board for one episode, but I'm told the role has significant recurring potential. Mooney's character, Calista Cod, is one of the best private investigators in the biz. She arrives for a visit with her boy (and ex-partner) Emerson, and winds up helping him with a murder case. As the two begin to reconnect, Mama discovers that her chip off the old block has been keeping some vital information from her. And before you ask, no, Calista's not blind. [Ask Ausiello]

• Stephen Root has booked a four-episode arc on Daisies. His character "has a shared history with both Ned's dad and Chuck's dad," explains series creator Bryan Fuller. "He stirs up a lot of hullabaloo for everyone, particularly Aunts Lily and Vivian." [Ask Ausiello]