• July 21, 2006 | 7 a.m. PT

Visiting ‘Shield, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ sets

When I was a kid, I took a writing class at our suburban library, taught by a local children’s author. I don’t remember much of what we did in the class, but I’ll always remember one thing the teacher said. Being a writer, she said, was carte blanche to go anywhere; for example, to gather research for a book or article, a writer might sit in an emergency room for 24 hours straight, observing what went on.

I have yet to do that, but being a writer today took me to a similar place: A Hollywood studio, where I and the other critics at the TV Critics’ Association summer press tour visited the hospital set of “Grey’s Anatomy” and the police set of “The Shield.” Both were places I never thought I’d be, and both were fascinating.

Click on either “The Shield” or the “Grey’s Anatomy” headline to read about my visit to the set, or click on “The Shield” first and read straight through.

• “The Shield”: You have the right to remain silent on the set
• To the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ set, STAT, with a McDreamy martini

• July 20, 2006 | 7 a.m. PT

ABC, day two: Killing trees, taking names

Wednesday is day two of the ABC presentation, and the network offered up panels from its four remaining new shows — hitting us with the comedies in the morning, and the dramas in the afternoon.

I’ve committed the journalist’s cardinal sin and not brought enough paper. I ripped through the brand-new notebook I brought and am coming up on the last pages of the only legal pad in the hotel gift shop. I have now been reduced to scribbling notes on the back of BBC press releases. Thank you, my British friends, for only using one side of the page, leaving the other blank for my use. Perhaps the trees do not thank you, but I do.

Click on the topics you’re interested in to go directly there, or start with the first topic and mosey on through.

• The show formerly known as ‘Let’s Rob Mick Jagger’
• Oh, baby: ‘Notes from the Underbelly’ finds pregnancy funny
• Anne Heche heads north to Alaska for ‘Men in Trees’
• Sally Field acquires a few more ‘Brothers and Sisters’

• July 19, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

ABC, day one: Hunks, babes and a drinking game

Here at the TV Critics’ Association summer press tour, today was officially the first day of the ABC presentations. Unofficially, it was Hunks and Babes Day. Taye Diggs, Vanessa Williams, Salma Hayek and other actors who really, really look good dropped by to discuss their new shows. Jimmy Kimmel also showed up to grill burgers made from his own recipe, and I’m pretty sure his secret ingredient is too much soy sauce.

I’ve also started developing a press tour drinking game, a.k.a. Catchphrase Bingo. This will likely be added to throughout the remaining week. When I hear the following oft-repeated phrases, I feel a desire to slug one back, even if “one” is just a shot of Diet Coke.

Drink when:

• A critic asks if there are too many serial dramas
• An actor says he/she moved from movies to TV because “I follow the writing”
• A new show is compared to “Lost” (I may be guilty of this myself)
• An exec claims their network is an underdog but no one believes it
• A critic admits he/she hasn’t watched the pilot of the show
• Someone asks about an actor’s hair

Click on any of the topics below to jump directly to them, or click on the first and keep reading straight through.

• ‘Lost’ tackles the rerun problem;  ‘Desperate Housewives’ ‘creative collapse’
• ‘Six Degrees’ of J.J. Abrams
• Ted Danson meets Bob Newhart on ‘Help Me Help You’
• The worst or best title of the fall is ‘Ugly Betty’
• ‘Day Break,’ a.k.a. ‘Groundhog Day’ with guns
• Here comes the bride on her ‘Big Day’
• Banking on ‘The Nine’