This is a live blog from the bi-annual Television Critics Association conference. See more TCA live blogging here.

It's Men in Trees time on the last day of the TCA. I like this show, and my mom loves it, but I stopped watching about halfway through last season because there were just too many shows on the air and not enough time in the day to watch them all.

ABC begins the promo for last season, and the cast files out on stage. Anne Heche looks great in her pale pink dress, and I like her hair like this. She seems happy, almost giddy. I find myself instinctively rooting for her. I'm a sucker for the underdog.

I don't even recognize half of the rest of the cast, which is what I get for tuning out mid-season. But where's Sarah the prostitute? And Cynthia Stevenson? And that bartender guy?

The promo ends and Anne starts clapping and yelling "yay!" No reaction from the reporters. This is a tough crowd.

The first question is the first of many variations on the topic of why ABC is running the last five episodes from the first season with the second season? There's no good answer except that ABC wanted the space to promote other shows. Creator Jenny Bicks (seated between Anne and James, below) says they've since gone back and filmed a "bridge" episode that will be inserted before the five from last season.

The cast is waiting for the next question, but what they get is a deafening wall of silence. We're only two minutes in, and no one has a question? This is not a good sign. Although I think this has less to do with the show than with the fact that it's the last day of a very long three-week press tour, and everyone's too exhausted to think. … continue reading