All three episodes are getting decent ratings. “Community” averages about 5.7 million viewers. “Mercy” has 7.8, and “Parks” has 4.8 million weekly viewers.

“Parks and Recreation” has gotten markedly better as the season has gone on. We’re glad its staying.

What do you think of the three shows? What do you think of Jay Leno?

Lifetime has “Sherrie” at 7 p.m. and Rita Rocks at 7:30. Logo has “The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price” at 10 p.m., and BET has “The Mo’Nique” show at 11.

The two-hour season premiere of Ugly Betty will be pushed back a week from October 9 to October 16 on ABC. Then it will settle into every Friday at 9 p.m.

The Versus network opened its fifth season of NHL game coverage with about 830,000 total viewers total watching the Bruins vs. Capitals and Avalanche vs. Sharks. Versus is the only cable channel that airs NHL matches.

The first two-hours of the three-hour/two-week premiere of Stargate Universe did well for itself, drawing 2.35 million total viewers, beating Dollhouse on Fox, though some will argue that these numbers represent live views only and not DVR views. This argument holds that Sci-Fi nerds have nothing better to do on a Friday night than watch Stargate, while Dollhouse’s stalwart fanbase is out clubbing on going on dates.

NBC will cut back its drama “Day One” from 13 episodes to a meager four-part miniseries after budget issues.

Comcast is continually trying to take over the digital world. The company is in talks to buy NBC Universal and it’s also working with Hulu to try and get that company to charge for its online video service.

Talking points in the video include the inclusion of Jack Black, just where the hell the idea for the game came from, and some metal-history.

I love Jimmy Fallon and what he’s done to late night. From day one he’s promised to make gaming, and gaming news, a focal point of his show. And with past appearances by Project Natal devs, Tiger Woods in a  PGA Tour ‘10 showdown, Tim Schafer’s appearance last night, and Fallon’s overall goal to “treat video games [releases] like movie openings,” we think Fallon is well on his way to snagging that new demographic..gamers!

Tonight CBS premieres “Ghost Whisperer” at 8, “Medium” at 9 and “Numb3rs” at 10. “Smallville” starts its new season at 8 p.m. on The CW.

FOX has the series premiere of “Brothers” at 8 p.m. and the much-anticipated season 2 premiere of Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” at 9.

“Law and order” is still around, with another season starting up at 8 p.m. tonight on NBC.

On Saturday, NBC premiere’s “Saturday Night Live” at 11:30, and CBS has “48 Hours Mystery” at 10 p.m.

And then it really gets out of hand on Sunday, with premieres including:

• ABC: “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” at 7p.m., “Desperate Housewives” at 9, and “Brothers & Sisters at 10.”
• CBS: “60 Minutes” at 7, “The Amazing Race” at 8 and “Cold Case” at 10.
• FOX: “The Simpsons” at 8, “The Cleveland Show at 8:30, “Family Guy” at 9 and “American Dad” at 9:30.
• Showtime: “Dexter” at 9 and “Californication” at 10.

Zachary Levi speaks at TV Guide Magazine Comic-con panel (Media credit/WireImage)

On who inspired the beard, Josh Gomez or Zach:

I think that I’ve actually inspired his [beard]. We’re both lazy. That’s really what it comes down to. I have to shave every day for work, so when I’m not having to work, I’m not shaving. I boycott shaving. I’ll trim it. I keep it clean. You’ve got to respect it. My girlfriend’s fine with it, so it’s like rock and roll. Do it.

On getting to join in the action:

It was really awesome. I’ve been sitting on the sidelines for the past two years watching Yvonne (Strahovski) and Adam (Baldwin) kick ass and I’m like, honestly, I’d really like to be a part of it at some point. I was kind of frustrated. We got to that scene and we didn’t have very much time to shoot it. I wanted it to be even more kick ass. I felt like it was good, it was cool and it was kind of half way between the comedy and the action, but I kind of wanted it to be straight action. I wanted to be awesome-born, and I was a little noodle-y. I was a little noodle-y and I wasn’t happy about that. But other than that, it was fun.

On the “Chuck” phenomenon:

I read the pilot back when I was unemployed and I was like, this is an awesome show. This is a show that I’d watch, this is a show that I’d love to be a part of, certainly not getting my hopes up too much at that point, and then I got the job and I was like, wow, hopefully the pilot will be good and we’ll get picked up and we did and then, coming down to Comic-Con the first year when we premiered the pilot, we were in one of the smaller halls, there were still a lot of people there but not anything like this. I think that it is such a blessing to be able to do what I do, but more than that, to be able to be a part of a show that people love like this. That they will come out in mass and fill an entire hall, wear Nerd Herd shirts and Jeffster shirts and all this. Some of them just make it at home, like [gestures like drawing on chest] Sharpie, you know? It’s amazing. And I just hope that we continue to do the show justice and the fans justice because we’re not a huge ratings juggernaut, but what we lack in numbers we make up for in just sheer fan passion and fervor and that’s the kind of thing I want to be a part of.

On whether a “Tron Legacy” poster will replace the “Tron” poster:

I don’t know about that. It’s kind of classic “Tron.” And Bruce was on the show, although he is going to be in the new (”Tron”).

Some people are just sweet. That’s actress Mimi Michaels: she’s sweet, she’s smart, she’s quirky, she’s cute… and she has a penchant for running around terrified in horror flicks. Recently Blast got to shoot the breeze with Mimi about her upcoming project, the TV miniseries “Meteor: Path to Destruction.” But first we had to talk scary.

BLAST: You’ve been in a lot of sci-fi and horror movies—”Backwoods,” “Shark Swarm,” “30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust”—what do you like about working on thrillers like that?

MIMI MICHAELS: I wasn’t drawn to horror to begin with. I like working on drama and I love the dark stuff, but somehow I was booking all these dark horror genres, and I guess I just work well in horror. I like the intensity, and the psychological aspect. With “Boogeyman 3″ it was much more than just your typical horror movie. It had to do with the complexity of the human psyche. I looked deeper and didn’t just see it as a horror, one-dimensional thing. Plus, I like to run around and scream.

BLAST: Do you like getting scared? Would you go out and see a horror flick on your day off?

MM: It probably wouldn’t be my first choice. It’s tough for me to get scared, so when it does happen I’m actually quite exhilarated by it. When it can really move me like that… it’s fun.

BLAST: Have you ever been scared by a movie that you were in?

MM: We shot “Boogeyman” in Bulgaria during the wintertime. It was very dark and eerie, and there were moments where I felt a little trepidation. It wasn’t necessarily when we were on set, but I felt a little fearful… for my life!

BLAST: But you’re not just the horror movie girl. You played Aimee Semple McPherson in a biopic. Was playing an evangelical preacher anything like your experiences in horror movies?

MM: That was my first feature when I moved out to LA and it was a really incredible experience. It was a real meaty character. I played a pretty wide range in her ages, from about 15 to in her 40s. That was also difficult, and I was young too so I was still learning the ropes. She had such an interesting, compelling life, and I felt lucky that I got to just become her. It was very dramatic, kind of a roller coaster ride.

BLAST: Tell me a little about the role you play in the upcoming “Meteor: Path to Destruction.”

MM: I play Jenny Crowe, the daughter of this cop, and he has a feud going on with another good cop gone bad. Basically they have this confrontation, things get ugly, and Michael Rooker’s character Calvin Stark kidnaps me. Actually, I’ve been kidnapped several times in movie contracts. While this is happening as the subplot, meteors are beginning to shower down on earth, and it’s an apocalyptic, world-coming-to-an-end drama while there are these sort of subplot dramas going on in the midst of it. It was fun.

BLAST: We’ve all seen natural disaster movies before. What surprises can viewers expect from “Meteor” that they haven’t seen before in meteor-destroys-the-earth plots?

MM: What I like about “Meteor” is there are so many different stories going on. It feels like you’re watching several different films, but the common denominator is that the meteors are coming and the world may end as we know it. It’s about how everyone deals with this and different relationships. It’s really interesting to watch each character and their unique situation: how they cope with whatever drama is happening in their life, and how they sort of rise above it.

BLAST: So we have meteors falling from space, raining disaster on all mankind. It sounds like good quality drama and good quality sci-fi. Are you a fan of other sci-fi movies?

MM: I love sci-fi movies! In fact, I love alien movies and just “What else is out there?” But meteors are cool. My brother actually purchased a couple of asteroids. We were always into the sciences, so I definitely like sci-fi stuff.

BLAST: Here’s something I promised to ask. What’s the ideal date for Mimi Michaels?

MM: My ideal date, wow! Let me think about this one. I’d probably go the simple route: dinner, movie… maybe a walk on the beach. I know that sounds cheesy. A good first date would be a nice dinner and a movie, getting to know each other… and then maybe seeing some horror movie or sci-fi! I’m a simple gal.

Catch “Meteor: Path to Destruction” on NBC in July.

The move will not affect his relationship with NBC, where he has worked since 1980.

“No, we don’t have a problem,” NBC spokesman Brian Walker said.

Costas hosted the first-ever program on MLB Network, while HBO demanded cable exclusivity.

“Bob Costas was a terrific addition when he joined HBO Sports eight years ago, providing us with a distinct and unique presence,” HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said. “Television is about change, and we respect Bob’s decision to move to the MLB Network.”

It turns out that Chuck’s friend, a rouge spy, had given him a CIA computer with an “intersect” that was put in his brain. With no way of extracting it, the CIA has no chance but to keep him protected until they can make a new intersect. His handlers become hot blonde-and badass- Sarah Walker and a very sarcastic Major John Casey. They protect Chuck everywhere including in his job at the Buy More shop (a Best Buy look-alike).

Chuck was such a success that it was signed for a second season. Now, the CIA has finally found a person for the intersect Chuck was mistakenly given and will be able to put it to good use. But just as Chuck is about to go back to a normal life the brain of the person he was to be replaced with blows up and Chuck’s hopes are dashed.

Chuck is often seen being used as a “spy” despite the fact that he has had no training in any form of spy technique. This usually gets his identity compromised and Chuck is held captive time and time again.

In season one Chuck’s handler Sarah is struggling between Chuck and his ex-friend Bryce Larkin (the one who sent the intersect to Chuck). Chuck and Sarah have been on and off in the last season and its hard to tell if they really even love each other. This season will be interesting to see how their relationship develops. 

Also in season two, Chuck, Sarah and John are found doing missions for the government using Chuck as a spy most of the time and getting him into life threatening danger without remorse.

The show still has a good base of fans and as long as the writers decide to take it somewhere different in the next few episodes they should gain even more viewers. For originality of story line but hoping to see new twists Chuck’s second season gets a for out of five in my scale.

BLAST: How is shooting for “Chuck” going?

CF: It’s going well; we’re shooting episode 2.09. So we’re nine episodes in and we’re currently writing episode 13. It’s going really, really well.

BLAST: This is the first [show] you’ve done, right? Can you maybe tell me a little bit about that?

CF: Yeah, before this I was working at the film archive for the Motion Picture Film Academy. Then I was also writing features on the side, and I had a feature in development, but by hook or by crook I couldn’t show it to anyone as a spec, but I could show it to TV people, because TV feature people don’t talk. So Josh read it and really dug it, and we went to school together so we started talking about TV shows we liked to see. That’s where “Chuck” came from.

BLAST: The first time I saw the whole Buy More parody off of Best Buy, I couldn’t get over that. I thought it was so funny. ["Chuck"] definitely has those elements, like when Chuck and Bryce are talking in Klingon. It definitely has that funny, more-comedy-than-comedy element to it.

CF: Yeah, that’s the fun of the show for us. There are those moments where the show has high concept action; in each episode we try to come up with something we haven’t seen before, or if we have seen it before, we put some sort of twist or turn on it. And then on the other side of the coin there is the Buy More story. It’s like Chuck’s story with his sister Ellie and Captain Awesome. Those stories are just as important; the heart-warming stuff at home or the high comedy at the Buy More. It’s really fun to make the show because there are so many things that just put a smile on the face as we’re doing it.

BLAST: So what part of the show is you and what part of the show is Josh, because Josh’s other projects; “The OC” and “Gossip Girl”, have a very, very different feel than “Chuck” does.

CF: It’s our work together. We co-wrote the pilot, and I think it’s very much a matching of our sensibilities. Before working on “Chuck,” I was writing what most people would consider action stuff, and Josh’s stuff shows he can write action, but he’s also been very successful with the comedy and soap opera stuff with “The OC” and “Gossip Girl.” I think that the show “Chuck” is definitely comes from the imaginings of two guys who grew up in the 80s and watched a whole lot of Spielberg movies, a lot of Joe Dante movies [...]. Sometimes when we thing about the show and the stuff that we want to include, we’ll say it’s on the cutting edge of 1984. It’s very much the product of that 80s psych, and Josh and I both think in the same TV and movies. Sometimes there’s just the ideal cop in the room, and we all know what we’re tapping into. We’re tapping into some music video that we all watched way too many times or a TV show that we were obsessed with when we were 13. Sometimes there’s an episode which is like one person’s obsession more than everybody else. We’ve got a really exciting episode coming up which is based on old Atari video games. That was very much the writer who is working on this sort of disgrace, and we all kind of dug it because it’s like “Oh, that’s half the stuff we were obsessed with as kids.” When it comes to the physical production of “Chuck,” Josh is a fantastic show runner. With all his experience from “The OC”, he knows how to run a television show, so it’s a real learning process for myself just to go from writing scripts to actually in television, it’s such an involved process. The writers are involved not only in the writing of it, but also in the casting, the producing, and then the editing of the show; you’re there all along the way. So then as a producer, I’ve learned an incredible amount in just the last two years. It’s like the best master class anyone could have. I suggest that everyone get their own television show. Josh has been a great partner in that.

BLAST: You guys kind of got cut off partway through your first season because of the strike. How many episodes are you going for this season?

CF: The expectation of probably 20 could kind of change more or less partway through the season. We’re currently working on our first 13 episodes, with the expectation that we’ll get a back nine from NBC, which is the way it usually works in television; if you make 13 episodes, then they’ll order nine more. We’ve designed the season very much around the lines of taking the 22 episodes, and then if NBC decides maybe even more, who knows. In our first season, we made 13 episodes, and we had just kind of gotten to the realization that people were really digging the show and we had found a really nice audience and we were building. It was around episode six of our first season that we really got into the “Chuck” back story and we realized that people were truly interested in the mythology of the show. They wanted to know about more about Chuck, where he comes from, why Bryce sent him the Intersect’s secrets. We were just really digging into that mystery when, unfortunately, the writers’ strike hit. Then we had to kind of close up shop. After the strike was over, NBC decided to give us a second season as opposed to nine more episodes. What we essentially did was take most of the concepts we wanted to get into in the back nine and turn that into the beginning of the second season. Of course you have to massage everything when you do that because essentially a season is kind of like a giant book with each episode being a chapter. We’ve gone back and our first episode we’re definitely re-launching the show, so that if a person didn’t watch those first 13 episodes, they can kind of get back into the show very quickly, or understand the show very quickly. We had a lot of great ideas that we were very excited about, and now we’re looking forward to getting into them. I think that when Josh and I first came up with the show, we were very much thinking about stand alone episodes, kind of like a show from the 60s, 70s, or 80s. It would be a mystery of the week or an action show of the week. And you would have a villain come in and tell a little mini action-comedy story, but we realized that people really liked the mythology, and I think that people have been primed with shows like “Lost” and “The X-Files”, expect mythology. It was exciting for us; it was like “Oh, people want to know more. They want to have recurring villains and they want to have a greater sense of the mythology and a greater sense of the mystery.” We loved to oblige them in the second season.

BLAST: Is this going to have a more direct plot? Is there going to be an actual nemesis, more so than Bryce, that’s going to be introduced?

CF: Yeah, absolutely. We began to tease out the idea that there was an organization called Fulcrum in the first season, which is essentially like in “Three Days of the Condor” in the way he describes a CIA within the CIA. This mysterious organization is something we’re playing with now in the second season. Like, who exactly are these people and what do they want? A lot of shows have gone down this road and we are looking to tell it, but what’s our original “Chuck” take on that? I mean, they have operatives and people who are looking for Bryce Larkin because they believe that Bryce is the Intersect computer. But it’s like “What makes these people tick?” In our show, it’s like there’s always intermediates, there’s a lot of villains who are working for [Fulcrum], or working for people who don’t even know. Through this season, we’d like to get the audience excited about what is actually happening and what in our bigger, overarching mystery. What is their plan? There will be more of an organization as well as Bryce Larkin will [be involved]. Fulcrum is something we look forward to getting into.

BLAST: I’m taking from that that you might get into them very quickly in the first few episodes?

CF: Yes, you could say that. You could definitely say that. The show is started with a real bang this year. Our first episode is an epic. We’ve got amazing bits of action having to do with the re-launch of the new Intersect computer, Chuck thinking that he might be let go, that the government might be done with him, and he can go back to his old life. What does that mean for him and Sarah? I would say that our first three episodes are definitely an arch unto themselves; essentially getting us back into the show and dealing with the Sarah/ Chuck romance. They’re really romantic. There’s a lot of romance in the first three episodes, as well as a lot of slam-bang action.

BLAST: What about Bryce? I heard he’s going to be coming back a couple of times this season.

CF: Yeah, Matt Bomer is fantastic; we worked with him last season. He was also the first person to work on the pilot on our first day of shooting with the Intersect vault scene. Matt brought such a great energy to the show that it’s been a real great pleasure to work with him. He will be coming back to the show this year right now. And he comes back at a very unfortunate time for poor Charles Irving Bartowski.

BLAST: I feel like there are a lot of questions left in the “Chuck” mythology, even back to the Stanford days, because we didn’t get a quite clear explanation from Bryce’s perspective why he did what he did. How long is it going to take for those to get cleared up?

CF: Some of the mysteries are things that even Bryce doesn’t know the answers to. Those things will be addressed this season. But when you see Bryce, he won’t have all the answers for you. In other parts of the show, we will go back to Stanford, but maybe they won’t deal with Bryce. We’ll definitely be going back into each of our characters’ back stories and teasing out those things that lead to who they are personally but also to the mythology of the show; the Intersect super computer, Bryce Larkin, Fulcrum, and why Chuck was sent those secrets. I think that that’s definitely what will be answered by the end of the season.

BLAST: Can you tell me a little bit about Tony Hale joining the cast?

CF: Ah, Tony Hale; he’s great. And that goes to the Buy More side of the story. A lot of the time we talk about spy stuff on the show, but such great fun is in the works for the comedy side of things, inside the Buy More. Tony Hale will be joining the cast as Emmett Milbarge, the new assistant manager inside the Buy More. Emmett is a passive aggressive character, and sometimes overtly aggressive. And when he comes into the store, it’s like he lasers in on one Charles Irving Bartowski because he realizes these are two men cut from the same cloth; leaders, college men as well. Unfortunately Chuck is public enemy number one for Emmett Milbarge. We kind of saw Emmett as someone cut from the J. Edgar Hoover cloth by way of Mussolini. His presence in the store is a new challenge for Chuck. One of the things we love about the show is that the stakes inside the Buy More are sometimes as seemingly high as the stakes out there in the real world, with the intensity. When people go to their jobs, it’s the most important thing in their life. For Morgan and Jeff and Lester and Anna, Emmett Milbarge is their Fulcrum, is their evil nemesis. Tony is fantastic; he’s come in and he’s hilarious, and we’ve been really enjoying cutting his episodes.

BLAST: Are there any surprises you can let us know about in the first episode? Anything we can look forward to?

CF: Essentially by the end of the teaser; first episode, our entire show is turned on its head. It’s an exciting, amazing episode with a twist ending that hopefully no one in their right mind will see coming, except for the people that wrote it. Also, just in the upcoming episodes, we’ve got a lot of great cast members coming on. Tony Hale. We also have Melinda Clarke from “The OC” coming as Sasha Banacheck, KGB spy. We have John Larroquette on the show playing episode two, playing Roe Montgomery, the master seducer who will train Chuck Bartowski in how to seduce women. We also have Michael Clarke Duncan in the first episode; 2.01, starring as the villain of that one. In episode 2.04 we have Nicole Richie who is really funny. So we have a lot of really great guest stars coming on this year and it’s been a lot of fun to cut these people in and introduce them to our crazy world. The show really comes to life.

“The same question has been asked a thousand times in a thousand different ways,” said Microsoft senior Vice President Don Mattrick. “Can we deliver to our fiercely loyal fans and at the same time continue to transform the industry by delivering for everyone? The answer is yes we can.”

In conjunction with new partners NBC, Universal, MGM International, Constantin and Netflix, the Xbox 360 now will have a library of over 10,000 on demand movies and television shows.

That’s not to mention the countless other partners Microsoft has, such as Disney, Warner, ABC and MTV.

Consumers have spent more than $48 billion this past year on videogames, Mattrick said. That is more than the amount they have spent on movies both on DVD and in the box office and in music.

While games are fast becoming the number one driver of entertainment spending, the Xbox 360 is dominating its position as the best-selling video game console as having sold more than 2.7 billion in the last year. That’s significantly more than the 1.1 billion Wiis sold or the 0.9 billion Playstation 3s sold.

This year Microsoft gives consumers even more reasons to buy their system.

“Finding the games you want and the entertainment you want when you want it means movies, TV shows and music from [our] partners,” said Mattrick.

The Xbox 360 now has the world’s largest amount of on demand movies and television shows; more than any cable or satellite provider.

Microsoft’s partnership with Netflix only intensifies that fact. Now Netflix subscribers who own 360s can access Netflix’s library of films through their gaming system and watch movies instantly at their homes. Even when they don’t have their friends over, Xbox owners can share the movie they rented with their friends using the new Live Party mode available through the 360’s new interface. This partnership more than doubles Microsoft’s current selection of movies and TV shows.

With the Xbox’s new functionalities, it seems that the only reason to actually visit a video rental store is to rent a videogame. Maybe there will come a point in time where videogames can be rented via their console as well.

Audiences get intimate chats with personalities like Heidi Klum, Barack Obama, Joss Stone, and even Rudy Giuliani in the hour-long Conversations with Carlos Watson. NBC produces the quarterly show, the latest one aired on December 18, and others are set to run in March, June and September. What makes the show different and interesting is its set up: essentially an interview show, guests are treated more like pals chatting over dinner rather than professionals answering stiff questions.

Thanks to his charismatic personality, Watson makes it even easier for guests to unwind and share things like childhood memories or business projects alike, all the while cooking a meal or testing racecars.

Watson, 37, was raised in Miami, and attended Harvard University, having graduated with a degree in government. After graduation, he worked as chief of staff and campaign manager for Florida state representative Daryl Jones, and managed Bill Clinton’s 1992 Election Day effort in Miami-Dade County. He began legal studies at Stanford Law School, where he became editor of the Stanford Law Review and president of the Stanford Law School Student Government. As he explains he has a need to explore.

“I always had a broad set of interests and while I loved politics, it wasn’t the only thing I was interested in,” he explained. “The best conversations I ever had happened at a barbecue or at a coffee shop or on an airplane. You may talk about your views on world events or family and the conversations are wild ranging, unpredictable, unbinding and I wanted more of that.”

Watson later ventured into a different field, having worked at McKinsey & Company, a global strategic consulting firm. He left the company to co-fund an educational company, Achieva College Prep Service, and help students reach higher education. His company did so well that it was sold to a publicly traded corporation, leaving the field wide open for Watson to finally pursue a career in media.

“I grew up loving Barbara Walters specials; I loved how she was intimate with guests but though it would be good to have a show that was broader, hipper, with writers or entrepreneurs being interviewed because viewers are interested in Barack and Heidi and everything in between,” said Watson.

The idea for the show began in the late 90s, but Watson didn’t start working on it until 2003. He spent a number of years making guest appearances on Fox and Court TV as a political analyst, manned primetime specials for CNBC, and was eventually offered a position as a regular contributor with CNN.

“The shift was scary but I had to do it because it would have been worse not to do what I wanted to do,” said Watson. “The reality is that this is such an interesting world and working in politics and business before being in media helped me be more involved and creative, I think you can be a better innovator when you have more experiences.”

Being involved and creative made him co-producer of the show, but the position came with greater responsibility. With tapings in New York and press engagements across the country, Watson’s schedule now makes it hard to have an active personal life.

“It’s a challenge for sure,” he said. “In the course of seven days I’ve been in eight or nine places so it makes it tough to be completely available for anyone really; but, as my dad reminds me people have harder things to deal with than traveling so I can’t complain.”

His efforts are not only focused on managing his program and surviving travel, though. After selling his college preparatory business, Watson remained interested in helping middle and high school students continue their education.

“As a young kid I got in trouble in school, I was kicked out of kindergarten but thankfully, I got two, three, four chances. I still believe we all have promise and potential and I love the opportunity to help kids,” said Watson, who currently serves on the board of directors for College Track, a program he co-founded to aid students in East Palo Alto and Oakland, Calif.

Watson’s wide-ranging interests continue expanding, but his persona remains accessible and grounded. He rarely gets star-struck; considering everyone equals who deserve respect and acknowledgment for their achievements.

“I think it is because I realize we are all fortunate to be here, there’s a fundamental humanity about all of us which means I am not ‘not’ excited about meeting celebrities but I’m not star struck,” he said. “I mean, what folk wouldn’t enjoy meeting Heidi? I’m lucky I get to see [personalities] in a personal level and I want to explore the whole picture to show audiences that their favorite celebrities or idols are human too.”

So what can an accomplished 30-something do to thrust some more excitement into his life? Playing basketball and trying to regain his cooking abilities can do the trick. One of the things Watson said he’d like to return to is cooking, saying that he enjoys trading recipes with his guests.

More specials are scheduled for production and Watson continues his involvement with College Track, hoping his efforts can prompt others to achieve and dare to try.

“The conversations I can have with people are not only fascinating but will get you thinking about the possibilities in your own life, different issues and topics in the show can prompt fresh thinking,” he said. “I would love even more if audiences enjoy the show and regard it as meaningful. I’d be honored if they did.”

Motion Pictures
Drama – American Gangster, Atonement, Eastern Promises, The Great Debaters, Michael Clayton, No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood

Musical or Comedy- Across The Universe, Charlie Wilson’s War, Hairspray, Juno, Sweeney Todd

Animated Film- Bee Movie, Ratatouille, The Simpsons Movie,

Actor in a Leading Role, Drama- George Clooney in Michael Clayton, Daniel Day-Lewis n There Will Be Blood, ames McAvoy in Atonement, Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises, Denzel Washington in American Gangster

Actor in a Leading Role, Musical or Comedy- Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd, Ryan Gosling in Lars and the Real Girl, Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson’s War, Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Savages, John C. Reilly in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Actress in a Leading Role, Drama- Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Julie Christie in Away From Her, Jodie Foster in The Brave One, Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart, Keira Knightley in Atonement

Actress in a Leading Role, Musical or Comedy- Amy Adams in Enchanted, Nikki Blonsky in Hairspray, Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd, arion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose, Ellen Page in Juno

Actor in a Supporting Role- Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James, avier Bardem in No Country For Old Men, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War, John Travolta in Hairspray, Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton

Actress in a Supporting Role- Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There, Julia Roberts in Charlie Wilson’s War, Saoirse Ronan in Atonement, Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone, Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton

Director- Tim Burton for Sweeney Todd, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country For Old Men, Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, Ridley Scott for American Gangster, Joe Wright for Atonement

Screenplay- Atonement, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, Juno, No Country For Old Men

Original Score- Atonement, Eastern Promises, Grace Is Gone, Into The Wild, The Kite Runner

Original Song- “Despedida” from Love In The Time Of Cholera, “Grace Is Gone” from Grace Is Gone, “Guaranteed” from Into The Wild, “That’s How You Know” from Enchanted, “Walk Hard” from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Foreign Film- The Diving Bell And The Butterfly from France, The United States Of America 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days from Romania, The Kite Runner from The United States, Lust, Caution from Taiwan, Persepolis from France

Television Series
Drama- Big Love, Damages, Grey’s Anatomy, House, M. D., Mad Men, The Tudors

Musical Or Comedy- Californication, Entourage, Extras, Pushing Daisies, 30 Rock

Mini-Series or Television Movie- Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, The Company, Five Days, Longford, The State Within

Actor In A Leading Role, Drama Series- Michael C. Hall in Dexter, Hugh Laurie in House, M. D., Bill Paxton in Big Love, Jon Hamm in Mad Men, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in The Tudors

Actor In A Leading Role, Musical or Comedy Series- Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock, Steve Carell in The Office, David Duchovny in Californication, Ricky Gervais in Extras, Lee Pace in Pushing Daisies

Actor In A Leading Role, Mini-Series or Television Movie- Adam Beach in Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, Jim Broadbent in Longford, Ernest Borgnine in A Grandpa For Christmas, Jason Isaacs in The State Within, James Nesbitt in Jekyll

Actress In A Leading Role, Drama Series- Patricia Arquette in Medium, Glenn Close in Damages, Minnie Driver in The Riches, Edie Falco in The Sopranos, Sally Field in Brothers & Sisters, Holly Hunter in Saving Grace, Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer

Actress In A Leading Role, Musical or Comedy Series- Christina Applegate in Samantha Who?, America Ferrera in Ugly Betty, Tina Fey in 30 Rock, Anna Friel in Pushing Daisies, Mary-Louise Parker in Weeds

Actress In A Leading Role, Mini-Series or Television Movie- Bryce Dallas Howard in As You Like It, Queen Latifah in Life Support, Debra Messing in The Starter Wife, Sissy Spacek in Pictures Of Hollis Woods, Ruth Wilson in Jane Eyre

Actor In A Supporting Role, Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie- Ted Danson in Damages, Kevin Dillon in Entourage
Jeremy Piven in Entourage, Andy Serkis in Longford, William Shatner in Boston Legal, Donald Sutherland in Dirty Sexy Money

Actress In A Supporting Role, Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie- Rose Byrne in Damages, Rachel Griffiths in Brothers & Sisters, Katherine Heigl in Grey’s Anatomy, Samantha Morton in Longford, Anna Paquin in Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, Jaime Pressly in My Name Is Earl