The Television Critics Association's summer press tour kicks off on an educational note, with Karen Herman, director of the Archive of American Television -- a division of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences -- introducing critics to its collection of in-depth interviews with TV legends.

And we do mean in-depth.

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather's runs about seven hours, said Herman, and he was willing to do more.

Given Rather's tendency to give long answers (did you happen to catch him on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" the night of Walter Cronkite's death?) I asked how many questions he'd actually been asked.

Three, joked Herman, who later amended that: "I think we asked him at least 20 questions."

One of the shortest interviews in the archive, which includes, on the entertainment side, people like Mary Tyler Moore and Steven Bochco, is of the late Tim Russert, of NBC News.

"With someone like Tim Russert, who was younger, we said, 'We'll do a baseline interview,'" and revisit him later in his career, Herman said.

"Unfortunately," they never got the chance.

You can check out the searchable archive yourself at emmytvlegends.org.

I'm sitting in a ballroom full of more than 4,000 shrieking "Chuck" fans as the cast, led by  the show's Jeffster!, sing Queen's "Fat-Bottomed Girls" to kick off a panel on the Best Show You're Probably Not Watching for the people who not only are, but who helped save it from almost certain annihilation by NBC.

It's not just another day at Comic-Con.

A few reporters had been lucky enough to get a preview of the performance Friday night, as we left a Warner Bros. party at San Diego's Hiton Bay front right behind some of the cast, who, led by Zachary Levi, who plays unlikely spy Chuck Bartowski, were riding down the escalators singing the song at the top of their lungs.

They sounded pretty good, even without the magic of television.

Why that song for Jeffster?

"Fat Bottomed Girls seems like a song that certainly Jeff (Scott Krinsky) would gravitate to," said co-creator Josh Schwartz.

Everyone at Comic-Con, which often features projects for whom passions run higher than Nielsen ratings, makes a point of thanking the fans, but the "Chuck" cast and producers probably mean it more than most.

"You guys are incredible, I love you so much, thank you so much," said Zachary Levi, looking genuinely moved, as he talked about the various save-"Chuck" efforts led by fans.

Asked about the Season 2 finale and Chuck's sudden acquisition of physical skills to match his mental prowess, Levi was asked  if he'd been in training.

“The appropriate response would by yes,” said Levi, who joked that he’d been doing a lot of virtual fighting. “My thumbs are worn to the bone.”

Seems, though, that Chuck’s newfound physical skills will come and go.

“You can’t just know kung fu all the time, otherwise his handlers are obsolete, and you can’t have that, otherwise you’d have no Adam [Baldwin] or Yvonne [Strahovski] and you can’t have that, or you’d have no ‘Chuck,’” said Levi.

As for the show's return, which isn't scheduled until midseason, "It could be sooner than was announced," said Schwartz.

Later, I asked Schwartz about NBC's decision to move "Mercy," not "Chuck," up to fall from midseason when "Parenthood" was delayed by Maura Tierney's health issues.

There's no way "Chuck," which hasn't even started production on Season 3, could have been ready in time, Schwartz said.

So no diss?

"If we'd been dissed, you'd have known it," he said, slamming his fist jokingly.

Fans of Fox's "24" -- more than 4,500 strong -- got a first look at next year's Season 8, which includes a shiny new CTU (yes, it's back) and something even more remarkable: a happy Jack.

Yes, I'm going to spoil it for you: Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) survived the biological attack that felled him in Season 7. He'll probably even survive Comic-Con, where he and "24" appear to be much beloved.

Freddie Prinze Jr., who's joined the cast for Season 8, got an easy reaction when he dropped a reference to "my wife." 

"I forgot that she's big here," he said of Sarah "Buffy" Michelle Gellar.

Not to be outdone, a suddenly long-haired Katee Sackhoff dropped a Starbuck reference.

Thanks to "Battlestar Galactica," she's big here, too.

But back to Jack: He's happy, then he's involved in some threat involving the United Nations, a peace conference and Iran. The clip, which showed Sackhoff playing the latest character unwitting enough to patronize Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) might've been a little talky for Sutherland, who assured the crowd, "we do still blow s--- up."

Had a fun interview just now with actor Paul Bettany ("A Beautiful Mind," "Wimbledon"), who's here at Comic-Con promoting "Legion," a January release in which he'll play the Archangel Michael, who goes up against an angry God in defense of the human race, about which you'll be hearing more later.

But starting next month, Bettany will be playing a vampire-killer in a film called "Priest," and though you'd think that might put him on the side of the angels once again, the guy clearly had vamp sympathies.

In fact, with a rash of TV and movie projects featuring the angst-ridden undead, the actor thinks people are overlooking the bright side of the dark side.

"Living forever. I'm quite high on the whole thing," he joked. "If I were a vampire, I'd turn my kids the minute they turned 21."

In the meantime, Bettany, who has a son, 5, and a stepson, 12, with actress Jennifer Connelly, has brought them to Comic-Con, where, on a visit two years ago, he said the younger one was enormously impressed to see people dressed as "Star Wars" storm troopers.

"I don't really have a desire for my children to see me in films," he said. "They see enough of me."

If we're judging by the length of the line -- which I'm told started forming two nights ago -- then the panel for the next "Twilight" movie, "New Moon," must be one of the hottest tickets at Comic-Con.

So, in media terms, was the press conference that preceded it this morning, where "Twilight" stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner did their best -- with the help of some publicists -- to keep their focus on their characters' love lives, and off their own.

There was plenty of subtext, though, for anyone interested in the supposed entanglement/disentanglement of Pattinson and Stewart, who had Lautner as a buffer between them for a half-hour.

Asked about their favorite scenes -- the questions at these things seldom get much deeper than that -- Lautner mentioned a breakup scene, after which Pattinson added, "I think my breakup scene was my favorite scene," too. "Hopefullly, it will come off as having a lot more levels than the relationship in 'Twilight.' ... It's a really interesting little moment and completely bypasses all the supernatural elements of the story."

Bypassing those elements seems important to Pattinson, who told a reporter from a Mexican outlet that "we're the worst people to ask" about why so many people, particularly teens, seem to love vampires.

"When I play it, I try to eliminate the vampire element as much as I can, and just use it as a tool to make their relationship a little more fraught," he said.

How much will CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" miss William Petersen?

We might not know for a while, but we do know that 24.25 million people tuned in last night to see Petersen and his character, Gil Grissom say goodbye.

That's the most viewers for any scripted show this season, according to CBS.

Laurence Fishburne, of course, isn't chopped liver -- though chopped liver would be so "CSI," wouldn't it? -- and like Petersen, he's a Serious Actor.

So don't expect him to become the warm puppy of the "CSI" lab anytime soon.

Another day, another double entendre:

Portia de Rossi, who plays a scary boss in an even scarier workplace in an upcoming ABC comedy, "Better Off Ted," is asked about the character, which she calls her "favorite."

(Yes, fans of "Ally McBeal" and "Arrested Development," she's cheating on you.)

"I'm really attracted to strong women -- let me rephrase that, actually," said the actress, who in real life is married to talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres.

Oh, and add de Rossi to the list of "Arrested Development" cast members who are up for the reunion movie.

“We just have to figure out when we all can do it,” she said. “It will be soon, and it is definitely happening, according to ['Arrested' creator] Mitch Hurwitz.”

Fans of NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" might want to continue to look around for another Friday night date.

Because while Angela Bromstad, NBC's new entertainment president, insists the Brooke Shields dramedy hasn't been canceled, its future doesn't feel exactly bright, either.

That's because while Bromstad herself thinks "Lipstick's" a "quality show," she also thinks "it wasn't broad enough in the ratings."

Earlier, she'd told a roomful of reporters that she and her NBC colleagues "feel very strongly about 'Life,' 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Lipstick Jungle,'” but that that doesn’t mean they’re not looking for new shows that might do better ratings.

"Lights," which returns to NBC tonight -- 9 p.m., Channel 10 -- only got a third season because of a deal with DirecTV, which aired all 13 episodes on its 101 Network, where the season finale aired Wednesday.

Asked if a similar deal might help "Lipstick Jungle," Bromstad indicated that it might, and hinted that there are "different companies that are interested in that show."

Meanwhile,  NBC yesterday announced it had already picked up "The Office," "30 Rock" and "The Biggest Loser" for next year and added three episodes to the final season of "ER."

And now something for you "Women in Prison" fans.

When Showtime spins off "The L Word," it'll be doing so by sending one of the show's current characters, Alice (Leisha Hailey), off to the slammer.

Where, according to Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt, she'll be meeting a "big cast" of other women, some of them lesbian.

Meanwhile, "The L Word" will begin its sixth and final season at 9 p.m. Sunday.