The British Are Coming!

TCA PRESS TOUR NOTES:

And the Aussies too!
Every year there are a few strange coincidences among the fall programming. For 2007 one is the preponderance of Brits and Aussies playing American in lead roles. At NBC alone doing the American accent thing are English comrades Michelle Ryan, the new "Bionic Woman," and Damian Lewis of cop drama "Life," Scot Kevin McKidd of the time traveling epic “Journeyman” and Aussie Yvonne Strzechowski the love interest on geek spy dramedy "Chuck." More are on the horizon at the other networks as well.

The Continuing Adventures of the Not Short
Comic and former MTV veejay Bill Bellamy of “Last Comic Standing”; The aforementioned Kevin McKidd; “FNL”’s Kyle Chandler; Not only is Zachary Levi of “Chuck” and formerly of “Less Than Perfect” not short he is Very Tall and can sing too; David Hasselhoff, also Very Tan; (Very Short? Unsurprisingly, Noah Gray-Cabey who plays Micah on “Heroes.” Of course he’s only 11.)

Choice Quotes
"We believe in second chances. We are not here to make judgments. You know, when somebody does something wrong and you have a systemic problem, the best way to change that problem is not by casting them outside of the system. It's by allowing them to make amends, allowing them to make reparations and to do the right thing. So rather than excommunicate someone, we felt that it was better to give him a second chance." "Bionic Woman" executive producer Jason Smilovic on the hiring of Isaiah Washington.

"They’re both tall and they’re both shapely." "Chuck" executive producer Josh Schwartz on the similarities between Mischa Barton, the star of his previous show "The O.C." and Zachary Levi, star of "Chuck."

"They’re both women. They both have brown hair." Zooey Deschanel on the similarities between her DG (Dorothy) character in the Sci-Fi Network’s "Wizard of Oz" update "Tin Man" and Janis Joplin, who’ll she’ll play in an upcoming biopic.

"I think Dorothy and the witch represent the good and the bad, the darkness and the light. And so actually, what would be a good thing would be to have a combo. A threesome." Alan Cumming on which babe- Dorothy or the wicked witch- is hotter in "Tin Man," in which he plays the scarecrow stand-in Glitch.

Random Celebrity Sightings Unrelated to TCA:
Brett from the HBO series "Flight of the Conchords" and someone who looked exactly like Ryan Gosling at the Crowded House show at the Troubadour Tuesday night.

SARAH RODMAN