And so is Thursday Night

TCA PRESS TOUR NOTES:

The stars and creators of NBC’s comedy block also convened yesterday to discuss the mechanics of making with the jokes. It was by far the liveliest and funniest panel so far.

Punchlines:

“My Name is Earl.” Earl (Jason Lee) ended up in jail at the end of last season and will stay in the clink for awhile. “We’re very fortunate that Earl has a past where he knows a lot of people in prison,” said creator Greg Garcia, who also noted that there will be another “Cops” episode this season that will be an hour long.

“30 Rock.” Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan will both be back regardless of the former’s musing on wanting to quit in the wake of his voicemail fiasco and the latter’s legal troubles. And, as previously reported, everyone’s excited to have Jerry Seinfeld appear as himself in the premiere, especially Tina Fey “because hopefully, then regular America might actually find out that we have a show and watch it maybe at least that one time.”

“Scrubs.” Creator Bill Lawrence joked that the season finale that seemed to point to J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliott (Sarah Chalke) getting back together and throwing a wrench in their current romances came about because “we’ve been on seven years, we’re out of stories.” He added that they are aware of the fan battle lines that have been drawn over the upcoming seventh, and final season. Referencing the anger over the “Sopranos” finale he said, “We’re just going to try and, I don’t want to say give the people what they want--too trite-- but hopefully resolve the show in a way that people are satisfied if they want that couple together, and people are satisfied if they don’t want them to be together.”

“The Office.” John Krasinski reports that Jenna Fischer (Pam) is feeling better after the nasty spill that injured her back in May. In addition to several hour long episodes this year, executive producer Greg Daniels says the DVD of season three will be brimming with comedic goodies. And NBC promos notwithstanding he feels like the balance of “comedy to poignancy” regarding the Jim and Pam romance has been pretty consistent.

SARAH RODMAN