Jimmy Kimmel, the Host With a Host of Questions

The former "Dawson's" starlet has become a fave among tabloid publications and celebrity suck-up shows since having a child with Hollywood's No. 1 weirdsmobile, Tom Cruise, marrying him and sharing entrees with scary Posh Spice, and on and on and on.

"It's a really special piece of business," McPherson said of her guest role, "and, obviously, for a show that we really creatively believed in and had a tough launch because of the strike, it helps us from a promotional standpoint."

Similarly, CBS's "How I Met Your Mother," which has not performed up to the ratings of that network's other Monday comedies, had great success getting in-the-news pop-wreck Britney Spears to do a guest spot, playing a receptionist/kinda-stalker. The Britbrit episode wound up clocking the show's biggest audience ever among viewers 18 to 54 years old, and a season-best 11 million viewers of all ages.

The idea of using Berlanti's relationship with the attention-getter to drum up more viewers came about during a discussion with fellow show producers, he told critics during Wednesday's Q&A session on the sophomore series, about a lawyer named Eli Stone who suddenly developed prophetic powers. Berlanti told his colleagues he'd be willing to approach Holmes, who played Joey Potter on the WB network's hit drama from '98 to '03.

"I went and I begged her and she said, 'I'd love to,' " Berlanti told TV critics.

"Eli Stone" has used song and dance before. Pop star George Michael sang in the debut last TV season and he's tentatively scheduled to return for the show's Christmas-themed episode, Berlanti said.

And, in a deliciously uncomfortable moment, one TV critic took a microphone and asked series star Jonny Lee Miller:

"Continuing on the shameless topic: I'm sorry, Jonny, you were married to Angelina Jolie. She would be the stunt cast of all time -- would she do TV? Would she do your show? Could you call her?"

Miller responded, "You'll have to call her, I'm afraid."

Or he may have said:

"You'll have to call her. I'm afraid."

It depends on which TV critic you ask.

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Speaking of starlet train wrecks, ABC's McPherson chastised "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl, elliptically, for telling the news media the material the writers gave her on the show this past season wasn't good enough to merit putting herself in contention for an Emmy nomination. But he insisted that, contrary to tabloid rumors, she's "absolutely staying with the show" and "there is an unbelievable story line for her this year which is really central to everything that's going to go on this season." It was personally crafted for Heigl by show creator Shonda Rhimes.

"There's so many people who work so unbelievably hard to make that show the number one show in the country," McPherson said. "It's a beautifully written, beautifully acted, beautifully produced show. Everyone from the grips to the writers to the [executive producers], I think, deserves an enormous amount of credit and I never like to see when any of them are in any way taken lightly."

Heigl was the surprise winner of last year's Primetime Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a drama series. One year later and now considered a hot commodity in the film world, she did not put herself in the Emmy running. That sparked reports she wants off the show, and that Rhimes was personally miffed by Heigl's crack about the script.