In the debut, the four men barely grieve after a gruesome factory accident opens up a prime job. At their co-worker’s funeral, they piggishly ogle Tracey, a hottie staying at Smitty’s house. It’s OK, because she’s no relation to Smitty, they decide; she’s his “ex-wife’s stepdad’s sister’s daughter.”

Back at work, the guys fantasize about Tracey and plot against each other to get that job.

It’s a predictable set-up, but because almost all of the show is improvised, there are some great, unexpected moments.

These four schlubs aren’t as fabulous as Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, but their deadpan banter is.

Posted at 4:30 p.m. Friday, June 27

I called Sharon Gless on Friday morning to talk about the July 10 return of the USA Network series “Burn Notice.” But this being gay Pride Weekend in Chicago, we kind of got sidetracked.

“Oh that’s great. I wish I were there,” she told me over the phone from Miami, where “Burn Notice” films. “Chicago is where ‘Queer As Folk’ was sneaked to me under a table. I was doing a play at the Victory Gardens Theater for one of your playwrights, Claudia Allen.

“I flew out of Chicago one day, went and saw the [‘Queer As Folk’] producers, came back and it was mine.

“Chicago has a very large piece of my heart.”

Gless cemented her standing in the gay community playing rainbow flag-waving mom Debbie Novotny in “Queer As Folk.” But she isn’t sure about being called a gay icon. Actually, it’s the “icon” part that troubles her.

“People have been using the words ‘icon’ and ‘legend’ around me in the past few weeks,” she told me. “I’m not old enough, am I?”

“It’s certainly flattering,” she continued. “I have a great affection for the gay community.”

Gless first rose to fame in the 1980s as Chris Cagney in the ground-breaking female cop series “Cagney & Lacey,” a role that she says had a huge lesbian following, mostly because viewers thought Cagney—and Gless—were gay.

“I mean, people still don’t believe that I’m not gay, and I don’t fight them. I just say, ‘OK, whatever,’” she said.

She says gay fans helped reverse a downward turn in her career post-“Cagney & Lacey.”

“I’ve always given credit to the gay community for keeping my career alive,” she said, adding that “Queer As Folk” changed not only her career, but also her life.

Gless said she feels honored to have played Debbie because of fan reaction and support. After episode tapings in Toronto, she said, fans would gather outside the studio and ask her for hugs. One young fan hugged her and began sobbing.

“All I could think about was the damage that must have been done to this boy. I held him for three or four minutes until he stopped crying.

“I was the lucky one who got to play that role.”

PHOTOS: Above, Sharon Gless stars in USA's "Burn Notice". At right, Gless as Chris Cagney on "Cagney & Lacey," and onstage in the Victory Gardens Theater's "Cahoots" in 2000. [ USA photo/CBS photo/Tribune file photo ]

Click below for more from Gless. And be sure to check back; I’ll post more about what Gless had to say about the new season of “Burn Notice,” in which she plays meddling mom Madeline Westen.

Posted at 8 a.m. Friday, June 27

Like their characters in Spike TV’s “Factory,” the sitcom’s four stars know each other too well.

Mitch Rouse, David Pasquesi, Jay Leggett and Michael Coleman mock and interrupt each other—when they’re not finishing each other’s thoughts. The actors got their comedy training in Chicago’s improv scene in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

In “Factory,” Spike’s first original comedy debuting at 9 p.m. Sunday, the longtime friends play, well, longtime friends who went to high school together and now live in the same town—the actors claim it’s called Wet Dirt, Ill.—and work in the same factory.

“We are precision machinists,” Pasquesi and Coleman told me over breakfast with all the guys at the W Hotel on Thursday.

“But we can’t fix broken hearts,” Rouse said, earning an “Awww” from his pals.

The show follows the four buddies as they spend most of their work hours razzing one another, talking about women—doing anything but their jobs. Things aren’t much different outside work, when the guys get into trouble separately at home or, in the second episode, when they go to a college party.

Rouse, a co-creator of “Strangers with Candy,” stars, directs and produces the mostly improvised sitcom. He and the others have done improv, TV and movies together and always are looking for other projects, he said. Rouse came up with the idea for “Factory,” he said, and then they all tossed the premise around until they came up with the pitch.

“It could just as easily been one of these other guys [who had the idea],” Rouse said. “It wouldn’t have been as good though.”

The actors’ teasing, mischievous relationship comes through in “Factory,” which is “95 percent improvised,” they said. According to the guys, any actors could jump in and out of a scene as it is being shot.

“And there are no bad moves—except for Dave,” Rouse said. Only general details are sketched out for the scenes, then everyone cuts loose. It’s the same way things were done at Improv Olympic and Second City.

“Chicago is the common thread,” said Coleman, who is the only Sox fan in the group and seems to be constantly harassed by the others. “Even though we work differently, we just know how to work together.”

They also tap into the pool of Chicago-trained improv actors that seems to be working all over Hollywood.

“I’m always proud of Chicago ...,” Leggett said. “There was hardly a week that went by when at least one or two guest stars weren’t [Chicago-trained.]”

Come back in the next few days for another post about the “Factory” guys, who told me about when they lived in Chicago and other tales. Read my review of "Factory."

PHOTO: Jay Leggett, Mitch Rouse, David Pasquesi and Michael Coleman star in "Factory." [ Spike TV photo ]

Posted at 8:25 p.m. Tuesday, June 24

PHOTO GALLERY (left): SEE GEORGE CARLIN THROUGH THE YEARS

HBO and “Saturday Night Live” will pay tribute to comic George Carlin this week. Carlin, probably best known for his “seven words you can’t say on television” bit, died of heart failure Sunday at the age of 71.

On Saturday, NBC and “SNL” will honor the comic at 10:30 p.m. Saturday by re-airing the 1975 premiere episode that Carlin hosted. HBO will air Carlin’s most recent special, “It’s Bad for Ya,” at 8 p.m. Friday. HBO2 will air 11 of the 14 HBO specials he did beginning Wednesday.

Here’s the HBO2 schedule:

Wednesday:
7 p.m. “George Carlin at USC” (1977)
8:30 p.m. “George Carlin Again!” (1978)
10 p.m. “Carlin at Carnegie” (1983)
11 p.m. “Carlin on Campus” (1984)
Midnight “Playin’ with Your Head” (1986)

Thursday:
7 p.m. “What Am I Doing in New Jersey?” (1988)
8 p.m. “Doin’ It Again” (1990)
9 p.m. Jammin’ in New York” (1992)
10 p.m. “Back in Town” (1996)
11:05 p.m. “You Are All Diseased” (1999)
Midnight “It’s Bad for Ya” (2008)

Posted at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, June 22

VH1 is about to make this week your “Best Week Ever.”

I’ve seen just a few clips from the new “I Love the New Millennium,” which begins in prime time at 8 and 9 p.m. Monday. Two new episodes air at 10 and 11 a.m., and 8 and 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

The years 2000 and 2001, of course, kick off the eight-part series filled with tons of “I can’t believe he said that” moments that should keep you laughing—as long as you can handle off-color commentary and a lot of bleeping.

I was spitting up my coffee.

Michael Ian Black and Hal Sparks lead a cast of hilarious talking heads including Gilbert Gottfried, Luis Guzman and Lauren Weedman.

The panel discusses various pop culture moments from the ’00s so far, offering some of the oddest commentary you’re likely to find on such subjects as the catchphrase “Wazzup,” the “Thong Song,” the movies “Dude Where’s My Car” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and the iPod.

This exchange from Tuesday’s year 2002 episode, in which TV writers Michael Colton and John Aboud talk about “The Weakest Link” host Anne Robinson, is par for the course:

Colton: “[Robinson’s] like a homicidal Mary Poppins—with the rage virus ...”

Aboud: “... and rabies ...”

Colton: “That’s Anne Robinson, foaming at the mouth, clawing at the air ...”

Aboud: “ ... a wild fury, arms akimbo ...”

Colton: “We were high when we watched that show ...”

Aboud: “Yeah, that’s how it struck us.”

Some might think that after weighing in on the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, VH1 is jumping the gun on the ’00s. I’m not complaining. “I Love the New Millennium” will hold me over until “I Love the ’00s” airs in two years.

Posted at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 18

If ever a show needed more shirtless bods and bitchiness, it’s SoapNet’s “MVP.”

Debuting at 10 p.m. Thursday, “MVP” follows the off-ice antics of the fictional Canadian Mustangs hockey team.

The import from Canada, where it was subtitled “The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives,” plays like a sub-par rip-off of BBC’s “Footballers Wives,” which had plenty of locker room shots of naked soccer players and was loaded with the catty attacks by their wives. “MVP” has many of the same elements—a ruthless owner, a clueless rookie, jealous wives and sex, sex, sex.

It’s just that I didn’t feel like smoking a cigarette after watching the premiere. It’s not quite the guilty pleasure “Footballers Wives” was.

But things begin to look up in the second episode, when rookie Trevor Lemonde (Dillon Casey) strips for the team and star Damon Trebuchet (Peter Miller) is accused of sexual assault. “I have proof I’m innocent,” he tells his boss and lawyer. He filmed the tryst—along with 300 other sexual encounters.

Now there’s some scandalous action I can feel guilty for loving.

WHO’S THAT GUY?

“My friends see that and they rip on me pretty hard for it. You know what, it’s not like I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I’m OK with it. It’s part of the show, it’s part of the character.”

Dillon Casey, who as rookie pro hockey player Trevor Lemonde poses in his underwear in the second episode SoapNet’s “MVP,” told Entertainment Weekly about the promo posters (right) that has been plastered all over every major city.

Posted at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, June 17

Fishing the oceans. Driving on ice. Chopping down forests.

How many more manly man jobs will reality TV mine for macho-riffic shows?

With the Tuesday 9 p.m. premiere of TruTV’s “Black Gold,” add drilling for oil to the list.

Thom Beers, who created “Deadliest Catch,” “Ice Road Truckes” and “Ax Men,” strikes it rich again with this show about black gold, Texas tea ... oh wait, that’s “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

“Black Gold” is nothing like “Hillbillies.” Beers’ new offering follows three groups of roughnecks on competing oil rigs who race to tap crude oil in west Texas. Although the narration gets annoyingly repetitive, the show remains compelling thanks to skyrocketing gas prices and the difficulties these men face in doing their jobs.

The crude is 2 miles under ground, which means the drillers have to connect about 350 lengths of 30-foot pipe to tap that reserve. They’re also fighting machine breakdowns, flying chains (a very scary moment in the opener) and each other—on the job, at quitting time and at the bar later on.

The marketing seems accurate: These drillers do “risk literally life and limb for our primary energy source.”

Editing creates drama where there probably isn’t any—I don’t think the crews are racing each other. A lot of the drama swirls around “characters” like teen dad Peanut (left), a rookie—or “worm” as they are called—who can’t make it to work on time. He faces the wrath of disappointed crew mates and his irritated boss, who screams enough profanities to make Kathy Griffin proud.

And if “Black Gold” doesn’t sate your appetite for tough-job reality shows, I hear Beers is working on a new project, “Shark Taggers,” for next year.

Posted at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, June 17

It’s a big week for Jonas Brothers fans. Disney Channel airs the JoBros’ acting debuts in “Camp Rock” at 7 p.m. Friday.

In the new TV movie, a middle-class kid Mitchie Torres (Demi Lovato) goes to music camp while teen superstar Shane Gray (Joe Jonas) is sick of his boy band and performing. His uncle convinces him to teach at Camp Rock, where he arrives with his brothers Jason (Kevin Jonas) and Nate (Nick Jonas).

I haven’t seen the movie, but I’m sure it follows the same formula that made “High School Musical” such a hit.

Anyway, added bonus to the broadcast for JoBros fans: The boy band’s new video, for the song "Burnin' Up" (watch a taped live performance above), will make its world premiere during the broadcast Friday, airing at 8:55 p.m.

The video will be shown again at 9:50 p.m. Saturday on ABC, during that network’s playing of “Camp Rock” beginning at 7 p.m. ABC also will show a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the music video. Woo-hoo!

The music video features Disney Channel star Selena Gomez ("Wizards of Waverly Place") and David Carradine, among other guest stars. "Burnin' Up" is the first single from the album "A Little Bit Longer," which is set to be released August 12 by Hollywood Records.

Posted at 7 p.m. Monday, June 16

Tori Spelling and hubby Dean McDermott have chucked the B&B in Fallbrook, Calif., and are moving back to Hollywood.

Like we didn’t see that coming.

Spelling, former co-star of “Beverly Hills, 90210” and mommy of 15-month old Liam and new baby Stella, hasn’t made it a secret that she’s looking for work. She’s managed to muscle her way into the CW’s fall spin-off of “90210” and, according to recent interviews, she’s ready to be a working mother.

“I’ve been having babies for two years but want to get back into it,” Spelling told MCT recently.

The third season of the couple’s reality series, “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood,” premieres at 9 p.m. Tuesday on Oxygen. Since its a little behind real life, Spelling still is pregnant during the first few episodes.

Despite the move to Hollywood, the new season promises the same drama—in Spelling’s mind or for real—we’ve seen in past seasons. Clips have shown her freaking out about McDermott’s hot scuba instructor, the backlash she might get from her mother after her memoir, “sTori Telling,” is released and her relationship with the press.

It’s good not-work, if you can get it.

Posted at 10 a.m. Monday, June 16

Matt Keesler and Natalie Morales star in "The Middleman"

If you could take your TV to the beach, “The Middleman” is what you’d be watching.

It’s silly, lightweight entertainment that’s perfect for summer. (And you can take it to the beach—it’s available on iTunes.)

The snarky ABC Family series, premiering at 7 p.m. Monday, is based on the graphic novels written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who has written for “Lost” and “Medium.”

It follows twentysomething temp worker Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales), who while working at a genetics lab is attacked by a monster. Her level-headed reaction catches the eye of a golly-gosh good guy called The Middleman (Matt Keesler).

He makes a pitch for her to partner up with him as a crime-fighter.

"You know how in comic books there's all kinds of mad scientists and aliens and androids and monsters and all of them want to either destroy or take over the world?" he says.

"In comic books, sure," Wendy replies.

"Well, it really does work like that," he says. “People want to believe reality’s normal. The ones who don’t are freaks and no one believes them, anyway.”

It’s a pitch Wendy can’t ignore, and she joins up.

“The Middleman” is a sarcastic hoot with “Gilmore Girls”-like fast-talking, pop culture references that are aimed squarely at adults and enough silliness that kids—and the young at heart—will enjoy.

To see how "The Middleman" mixes genres, go to the jump.

Posted at 9:30 a.m. Monday, June 16

“Weeds” is one of those rare TV series that has me, every time an episode ends, wishing another 30 minutes would play after the commercial.

I can’t wait for next week, and I can’t help myself. I’m just that addicted.

TV’s best dark comedy, about pot-dealing suburban mom Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), shakes things up when its fourth season begins at 9 p.m. Monday on Showtime.

When last we saw Nancy, she had torched her house in Agrestic, packed up the family—lazy brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk), rebellious teen son Silas (Hunter Parrish) and precocious grade schooler son Shane (Alexander Gould)—and moved south to the Mexican border town of Ren Mar, Calif.

Soon to join the gang is Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins), who is serving time after being fingered by just about everyone in Agrestic for being the marijuana mom, as well as Nancy’s hilarious stoner accountant Doug (Kevin Nealon). (I am sad to see Nancy's partner-almost lover Conrad [Romany Malco] and pot supplier Heylia [Tonye Patano] disappear.)

In the season opener, Nancy’s clan moves in with Andy’s bitter failure of a father Lenny (Albert Brooks) and Lenny’s own terminally ill mother. In a show that was already filled with scathing wit, Brooks turns it downright caustic.

Outside her depressing new home, Nancy’s got a new gig lined up with her old supplier Guillermo (Guillermo Diaz) as a drug runner. Her job, he says, is to be the pretty lady who doesn’t attract attention when crossing the border.

She’s OK with that, she says, with one catch: She won’t move heroin.

Nancy has moral principles despite the fact she seems to step over her own ethical line at times—especially now that she’s moving up in the drug-dealing business.

Parker’s performance lends credibility to Nancy’s outrageous set of convictions. Here’s a woman who was proud that Silas, her own son, mastered the ins and outs of marijuana distribution so quickly. Yet she gets giddy as a schoolgirl when she learns she could possibly make enough money in two year to quit the drug trade.

Parker manages to make Nancy sympathetic and endearing but also a cold, calculating crime boss.

She’s genius, and so is “Weeds.” Gimme more.

FOR THE BOYS: Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) originally got into pot-dealing to support her kids, Silas (Hunter Parrish, left) and Shane (Alexander Gould). [Showtime photo]

Posted at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 15

Tsk, tsk if you must, but “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” doesn’t deserve a bashing for its subject manner.

Sure, it’s the sexy tale of London prostitute, based on the book “The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl,” written anonymously by a working girl called Belle Du Jour.

But never mind all the titillation, “Secret Diary” doesn’t glorify prostitution. Rather it illustrates, fact by fascinating fact, how sweet, smart Londoner Hannah Baxter transforms herself into Belle and how she handles the wild, exotic world opened up to her.

She’s not being forced into this “career,” she tells viewers matter-of-factly as she looks right into the camera: I was not abused; I do not have children; I’m not an addict.

Hannah/Belle simply loves sex—and money. She’s a businesswoman whose office is the bedroom. Moving on …

The charming Billie Piper, best known in the U.S. for her work on Sci Fi’s “Doctor Who,” does a sensational job performing Hannah’s juggling act.

As Belle, Hannah is sexy and confident. She describes her work routine in great detail—from hygiene tips to proper etiquette while in a threesome.

Off the clock, Hannah fears that her family and friends might learn her secret. No matter Hannah might say, she does suffer some fallout from her job. And if there is a lesson to be learned from “Secret Diary”—aside from the prostitution tips—it's how the secrets we keep do eventually eat away at us.

Piper subtly reveals the cracks in Hannah’s armor when she lies to her family and her bestie/ex-boyfriend Ben (Iddo Goldberg). In an upcoming episode about S&M, Hannah nearly breaks down before getting angry when he accuses her of shutting him out.

Hannah/Belle is posing as a dominatrix for a client. While he’s off cleaning her bathroom—with a toothbrush and his tongue—Hannah is on the phone with Ben, arguing. Hannah hangs up the phone, grabs one of the whips and takes her anger out on the client until he has to say his “safe” word to make her stop.

The scene illustrates how this show can flip from ironic humor to drama to both simultaneously at the drop of a pair of trousers.

Hannah’s life isn’t as perfect as she leads us to believe. But oh well, this dryly witty series tells viewers, that’s life.

Posted at 10:25 p.m. Saturday, June 14

MTV kicked off its “FNMTV Summer” on Friday night with the first episode of the Pete Wentz-hosted video show “FNMTV Premieres.”

I’ve posted a couple of the funny promos for the show that featured Speidi from “The Hills.” But those don’t hold up against this clip, shown during the premiere episode Friday night.

The clip has Snoop Dogg offersing Wentz and Ashley Simpson parenting advice. My favorite line, from Snoop to Ashley: "Woman, you cannot get rid of no perfectly good malt liquor." Here it is. Enjoy.

Here’s MTV’s description of the “FNMTV” effort:

The new Friday night music event, "FNMTV Premieres," hosted by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, will shine the spotlight on what viewers love best about music on TV—the epic live event that can't be missed. Each week MTV will exclusively debut the hottest videos and set the stage for amazing live performances and special guest appearances. Artists featured on "FNMTV Premieres" will range from the up-and-coming to the already arrived. Panic at the Disco, Flo-Rida, The Ting Tings, Snoop Dogg, Lil' Wayne, The Pussycat Dolls, Duffy, Boys Like Girls and Vampire Weekend are some of the enormous talent already confirmed for the show.

After the debut of exclusive new videos and live performances each Friday night, the show never stops throughout the week, as fans are invited to put their own take on the music they have seen—like it? hate it? play with it, create it, and totally reinterpret it! Can you measure up to the vocal stylings of Usher? Send in those Karaoke videos! Do you have an opinion about a video you want to weigh in on? We want to hear your review! The FNMTV site on MTV.com will be the place for users to view all the submitted UGC. Music fans will then be the judge and jury as they determine the best of the best fan-submitted content that will make its way back onto the MTV big screen—from fan-submitted videos to user text comments, each showcased with the corresponding music videos played on-air.

Posted at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, June 12

Here's MTV's latest promo for the Pete Wentz-hosted video show “FN MTV Premieres ....,” which kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday. "The Hills" couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt help out again.

Posted at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, June 12

Tim Meadows says it may seem like his character’s story arc on “The Bill Engvall Show” is autobiographical, but that was strictly coincidental.

“I think he’s like me like right now, what I’m going through in my own personal life: being divorced and being single again and dating and all that stuff,” Meadows said of Paul DuFrayne, the hair-replacement specialist he plays on the TBS sitcom, which returns at 8 p.m. Thursday.

The 47-year-old Second City and “Saturday Night Live” alum said that when he was initially approached for the role, he didn’t tell producers anything about his personal life.

“It’s kind of funny because every week we get these scripts back, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I’ve been there before; I’ve done that,’” he said.

Viewers will see more of Meadows on the show this season. Paul not only works in the same office building as the series’ main character, family counselor Bill Pearson (Engvall), he will move into the same gated community where the Pearson family lives. Which means he’ll be more involved with Bill and his family.

TBS’ top-rated hit allows Meadows to draw on his experience 20 years ago in Chicago’s improv scene, where he worked with comics such as Chris Farley, Amy Sedaris, Jane Lynch, Stephen Colbert, Jeff Garlin and Steve Carrell, among others.

“There’s like so many people I can’t even keep track,” he said. “It was fun. It was a fun time to be in Chicago.”

Meadows, who still lives part-time in Chicago, talked more about “The Bill Engvall Show,” his Chicago history, The Ladies Man and “Walk Hard.” Don’t miss the Q&A below.

Posted at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 11

Looks like Maid Marian has lost her patience with turncoat Allan-A-Dale, who’s deserted Robin Hood and the gang for the Sheriff of Nottingham and Guy of Gisborne.

Don’t mess with Marian, Allan. She will cut you.

Here’s a video preview of the next episode of “Robin Hood,” titled “Show Me the Money,” airing at 8 p.m. Saturday on BBC America. After the video you’ll find BBC America’s description of the episode.

Posted at 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, June 11

Stephanie Izard was a lion with her lamb Wednesday—and the Chicago chef became the first woman to win Bravo’s “Top Chef.”

“What? Really? Oh my God thank you,” Izard said after the announcement.

Izard was nearly undone by her ricotta pound cake dessert, which the judges called “nothing special.” Overall, the judges enjoyed the other three courses she created—especially her third course of medallions of lamb with Maitake mushrooms, braised pistachios, blackberries and olive tapenade.

“Holy [bleep],” she said in the post interview. “My life’s about to change.”

It was a night of ups and downs for all three finalists, including Richard Blais and Lisa Fernandes.

The chef-testants were paired with three world famous chefs to work as sous chefs on the first day of preparation. Then came the curve ballt: The sous chefs “called in sick” on the second day of the challenge.

Fernandes stayed calm and collected throughout the challenge, while Blais and Izard scrambled.

At judges table, Blais said he choked, and at least one judge—Tom Colicchio—agreed. “He made a few mistakes,” the head judge said, mentioning Richard’s pork belly third course.

The judges debated at length, rating each chef’s courses against each other. In the end. Izard pulled it out.

“I’m so glad I was able to pull through,” she said. “This is what I was meant to do in life.”

Izard will chat with the Chicago Tribune at 1 p.m. Thursday. If you have a question you’d like to hear Izard answer during the live video chat, send an e-mail to chicagotribune.com/topchefchat. Then come back on Thursday to the same address to watch the live chat.

Posted at 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 11

Don’t expect to see any scenes shot in Chicago when TBS’ sweet sitcom, “My Boys,” returns at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

The show, about a tomboyish Cubs writer PJ Franklin and her group of friends living in the Windy City, shot entirely in L.A. for its second season, according to star Jordana Spiro.

“Trust me, I can speak on behalf of the entire cast,” she told me during a recent conference call. “We wish we could shoot the whole show in Chicago. We shot a week and a half there, collectively, so far.

“For this batch of nine episodes we’re not going to go to Chicago at all, unfortunately.”

When Spiro visits Chicago—which she often has—she said she tries to catch a Cubs game. Beyond going to Wrigley Field, she’s not interested in things PJ would do, she said.

“Every time I go I try to check out new things,” she said. “I would go to like the Art Institute, and I’ve gone to see some concerts and to Bucktown—just checking out different restaurants and things.”

What you should expect from PJ and her boys is more laughs—and what guy PJ invited along on a romantic trip to Italy in last season’s cliffhanger.

And no, I’m not telling. What I can say—what Spiro said—is PJ doesn’t get any luckier at love.

“She struggles this season. She really does,” Spiro said. “I think PJ’s a little bit in that lost time in her life where she doesn’t totally know where exactly she should be going next or what she should be doing next.”

PJ kind of get in her own way when it comes to love, Spiro said, because she loves her life and doesn’t want it to change. She loves playing poker or drinking beer with the guys—Bobby (Kyle Howard), Brendan (Reid Scott), Kenny (Michael Bunin), Mike (Jamie Kaler) and her brother Andy (Jim Gaffigan), as well as her BFF Stephanie (Kellee Stewart).

The new season will focus on that dynamic, and whether PJ breaks away from it. In fact, we won’t see PJ at Wrigley Field at all this season, a fact that disappoints the actress.

“I can see why they’re not going to be doing that ...,” she said. “The show is about the group of friends that sit around the poker table and the girl happens to be the sports writer. It’s not about a sportswriter who happens to have a group of guys sitting around a poker table. You know what I mean?”

Don’t miss the rest of the interview on the jump.

VOTE IN REDEYE'S TOP SONG OF SUMMER ONLINE TOURNEY

Posted at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, June 11

Apparently Kathy Griffin’s feeling very A-listy these day: Girlfriend’s reps did not call me back to set up an interview with the reality star.

As Kathy herself would say: Whatever.

I was hoping to talk to the Oak Park native prior to the fourth season of her Bravo show, “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List,” which has its premiere at 8 p.m. Thursday. But no, I wasn’t connected with her.

I guess that’s what winning an Emmy Award does to a home girl. What am I, a D-list TV writer?

I feel like Kathy must feel when celebrities snub her on the red carpet. And hey, I’m even one of her gays.

Despite the diva-licious attitude, I still enjoy the rude, crude, obnoxious ’tude the comic brings to her show. Well, to her life. In the season opener, she goes off on Britney Spears, Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Channel’s “Planet Earth” series. (The series topped Griffin’s at the Producers’ Guild Awards earlier this year.)

She spares Anderson Cooper, the decidedly A-list personality with whom she hosted CNN’s New Year’s Eve in January. Despite her best efforts, she manages not to get a fatwa put on her during the telecast—but she can’t keep her posse from getting plowed. (They play a drinking game: Every time Kathy calls Anderson “Andy,” they have to drink a shot.)

The funniest bits are of Kathy with her boyfriend at the time, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (right). She takes him to the Producer’s Guild ceremony, where she is presenting. It’s another A-list event for Kathy, but she lowers the bar—hilariously.

During the ceremony Kathy flips off other presenters and bags on everyone from Winfrey to Christina Applegate to “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller. Afterward, she and “Woz” are shown chatting in her limo.

“Woz could care less about Hollywood,” Kathy says in her voice-over. “But give him something nerdy to do and he’s like a kid in a candy store. A really, really, really rich kid in a very nerdy candy store.”

Cut to Wozniak as he tells Kathy people would make fun of her for not “hacking into [her own] iPhone.”

“Can you do it for me?” she asks.

“Welcome to App Store. You are now ready for third party applications ...” he says, reading the phone’s screen as he sets it up. Kathy looks at him glowingly, as if she’s falling deeply in love.

“You really have an aptitude for this,” she says. “You’re like a throbbing brain with a tie.”

Apparently the throbbing brain came to its senses. The pair has since broken up, according to news reports.

No, no, I’m just messing with you, Kathy. Love ya. Call me, ’K?

See Kathy before she joined any list here. Go to Scott Kleinberg's blog for all your iPhone news. But before you do, don't miss these video previews of "D-List" provided by Bravo.

In this video, Kathy gets a visit from Michael Levitt, producer of the Producers Guild Awards.

Posted at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 11

Chicago’s Stephanie Izard cooks for the “Top Chef” title at 9 p.m. Wednesday against Richard Blais and Lisa Fernandes. No matter how she finishes, Izard will be chatting with folks at the Chicago Tribune—and with you—at 1 p.m. Thursday.

If you have a question you’d like to hear Izard answer during the live video chat, send an e-mail to chicagotribune.com/topchefchat. Then come back on Thursday to the same address to watch the live chat.