Heading into the Batman ’66 press conference during the first full day of Comic-Con was a bit eerie.

An elevated stage hosted four bodies — left to right were Burt Ward, Adam West, Julie Newmar all sitting at a table and the conference moderator standing behind a podium. The four of them watched as the media filed in and found seats; it was as if we were on display. The room was uncharacteristically quiet. You couldn’t help but have the feeling of being marched into a room with adults staring you down with laser eyes, sizing you up to consider what sort of punishment to dole out.

The moderator — who never introduced himself, something I absolutely despise — informed everyone why we were there (the Blu-ray release of Batman: The Complete Television Series) and began fumbling with questions for the three personalities but quickly decided it was better to simply let the audience get things underway.

Ward, West and Newmar took on characteristics they wore consistently throughout the hour. Burt Ward was the most serious and articulate of the trio, when he wasn’t crochety Adam West worked the crowd for laughs — continually pumping the coming release of the new Blu-ray set in November — and an air of uncertainty hung in the room whenever Julie Newmar commented in a semi-seductive whisper each time her turn came up.

Far and away, Burt Ward was the most informative of the group in between gushing appreciation for his fellow actors and speaking of his genuine friendship for West.

Ward regaled the crowd with several tales of daring-do while on the Batman set. Most interestingly was his story of being suspended upside down while live tigers paced and growled beneath him in one episode. He’d talked to the animals’ trainers, getting a feel for the cats and discovering (much to his dismay) they were quite capable of leaping at the level he was suspended to take a swipe at him. Since the massive cats were rather lethargic that particular day and to get them to pace and appear more active, hunks of meat were hung above Ward’s head. Ironically, the crew filmed from above him in protective cages.

Ward also told of his time on the set without any insurance to his name. Once the bumps and bruises began making their appearances and performance dangers reared their heads, it was the order of the day to get covered, he remarked.

This particular press room was set up conference style with the participants behind their table fielding questions flung out from the media below them. You can well imagine there are some interesting things that get asked. As well, there are also some pretty stupid ones tossed into the mix, some of which can raise the ire of the person being questioned.

One such instance came when Adam West was asked what he thought was so special about the Batman he played, not to mention the show itself, especially in light of all other Batman films which came after it.

Now, it wasn’t so much the question was dumb in and of itself. Far from it. But West took exception to the mention of the other films. His demeanor immediately became cranky — he not only bristled but practically bared his teeth at the question. Not pleased with it, you could see him conjure up vitriol with which to pepper his response:

“Look: You guys are going to write whatever the hell you’re going to write about the show. I don’t give a crap about the other Batmans. We did what we wanted to do … the Batman we wanted to do. We are the luckiest actors in the world with the legacy we’ve left. And you wouldn’t be here right now if what we did wasn’t special. You figure it out.”

I swear I heard a *hrmph* as he sat back in his chair. Mind your Ps and Qs when you’re asking something of West.  That hush that hung in the air when we first came into the room, just prior to the conference beginning? Same quietude here but on an entirely different, very uncomfortable level. You could taste the tang of it in the room.

To be fair, the man has heard every question in the book hundreds of times over in interview after interview, at convention after convention. And, at 85 years of age, you can’t really fault him for the occasional bout of grouchiness. He’s earned it.

Removing the tension from the air suddenly became Burt Ward’s job. He smoothed things over by offering his take on why Batman is still revered today: “It was the happiness the show brought to the kids. The positive outlook and situations. And the innuendo thrown in for adults. The show appealed to every aspect across the board. That’s why it was so popular … and why it continues to be popular.”

Huh. It’s not Batman but Robin, this time, who saves the day.

Julie Newmar? Let’s just say she was the sometimes head-scratching wild card thrown in to keep everyone on their toes. Ms. Newmar is flaunting her 80th year in grand fashion. She looks great, she’s engaging and damned if she still doesn’t have curves going on. But you never know what’s going to come gushing out that snow-maned head of hers. It could be something seductive, perhaps an unexpected revelation or something completely frivolous and meaningless. No matter — she was entertaining to the last.

Asked about her Catwoman outfit, she purred: “It was licorice melted over me,” something she seemed quite proud of. She told the room she loved the sauciness and sexiness of the character and didn’t hold back mention of her conscious effort to make chemistry work between she and West, believing it came through wonderfully and to the delight of the audience. Of the celebrities on the show she worked with, special mention was called out to Burgess Meredith (“The Penguin was the role of his life, he told me”), Tallulah Bankhead’s final role (as Black Widow: “She didn’t get why the producers did what the did on they show”) and how Frank Sinatra was interested in taking on the role of The Joker at one point. At times some of Ms. Newmar’s answers came back just as campily as the television show — I don’t know if she intended them to come across that way but they did. It gave her an air of loopiness. For good or bad? I just don’t know.

One of the most comical moments of the conference came with a question to Burt Ward: “What was your favorite or most memorable ‘Holy (whatever), Batman!’ moment in the show?”

Ward struggled with the question a bit: “I never really had one. There were so many …”

But West and Newmar weren’t going to let him off so easily. With the smoothness of a comedy duo who’s been working for years, the responses came rapid fire:

“Holy Underwear!” Newmar quipped.

“Holy Guacamole!” West countered.

“Holy Bill Of Rights!” Newmar came right back.

“Holy Infatuation!” West gushed. “See? We’re your biggest admirers, Burt …”

The room loved it. If ever there was a question of the Batman legacy being remembered (and, for the record, there’s never been a question in my mind), it was quashed with that exchange.

Batman: The Complete Television Series will be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD November 11th and is currently available for pre-order.

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If you’ve never spent any time in San Diego, you don’t know what you’re missing; the weather is phenomenal, the food is outstanding and the scenery is top-notch. If you’ve never visited San Diego in July, however, you’ve never witnessed nerd-nirvana at its very best. San Diego Comic-Con has been holding its convention for 45 years, but in the last 15 or so, things have gotten particularly crazy. Not only has the attendance, programs and exhibit space grown explosively, the number of things to do away from the convention center has equally grown. One of the biggest and most popular of these off-site experiences is NerdHQ.

Started in 2011 by Chuck star Zachary Levi and his partner (and former Chuck props-guru) Dave Coleman, NerdHQ aimed to offer an alternative to the convention itself. The venue – which has moved around before finding what seems to be a permanent home at Petco Park – is a place where people can see the latest video game activations, get your picture taken with some of your favorite stars, pick up Nerd Machine (Levi’s company that runs NerdHQ) gear or take in a Conversation for a Cause panel.

In advance of this year’s iteration, Levi and his team turned to crowd-funding to assist with some cashflow shortfalls to ensure NerdHQ’s viability. This was a move that was met with a good deal of criticism, including some of my own. The campaign, launched on Indiegogo, seemed unnecessary and exploitive to some. While NerdHQ does donate a large chunk of money to Operation Smile in the wake of the event, the funds being raised were specifically for The Nerd Machine (a for-profit company) to run the show. The funding is generally sourced from sponsorships, which can make for some significant difficulties in trying to plan for something that could be pulled at the last minute due to a product delay (something that apparently occurred in 2013).

While the campaign did see some success (It raised over $335k via the “Flexible Funding” option at Indiegogo), it fell short of it’s $1million goal. Levi has been frank about the difficulties since the campaign’s end, saying multiple times that taking this type of request to crowd-funders was a bad idea. He believed his goal was misconstrued, and no amount of barnstorming (check out the comment section of that Bad Ass Digest post above and you’ll find Zach defending the campaign several times) would change the perception of those who weren’t fans.

The NerdHQ 2014 experience, however, was largely free of the drama. While I don’t agree with the whys and the wherefores of the campaign – and it sounds like Zach agrees it was a bad idea – I enjoyed the hell out of the time I spent at NerdHQ. I skipped the infamous dance parties (because I don’t dance in general, and I don’t understand how anyone’s feet can do that after a day at the ‘con) and admittedly spent little time on the concourse checking out the offerings there (Though I am sad I missed out on photo-op scaling the side of a faux-building Batman ’66 style). I did, however, attend as many of the Conversations as my schedule – and ability to click quickly enough to purchase advance tickets – would allow (I’m also appreciative of NerdHQ’s Press Relations staff helping me attend a couple I did not have tickets for). I have two major takeaways from those experiences.

First, the panels are generally pretty freaking awesome. I was a little curious about the first version of the schedule that was posted, as it seemed to be an odd collection as well as missing many of the staples of earlier years. By the time the schedule was complete – and they were adding panels throughout the weekend – the plan was obvious: offer more diverse programming to appeal to different demographics — and just how much time NerdHQ favorites like Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion and Yvonne Strahovski would be able to spend there (Spoiler Alert: A lot).

One of the great traditions that has developed is Fillion and Tudyk spending a good deal of time at their panels auctioning off “stuff” for Operation Smile. I’d seen replays of these (All of the Conversations are streamed live and available on YouTube after they air), but I’d never experienced one live. It. Was. Awesome. The tone was set early, as the bidding for a signed (Fillion and Tudyk) Firefly poster jumped from $500 to $1,000 in one bid. Just as Fillion called “Sold,” someone followed with $1,500 (Fortunately, there were two of these posters, and both bidders got it for $1,000). What followed was some of the craziest auctioneering I’d ever seen. You’ve got to watch for yourself (be on the look out for what happens to a hand towel, and how much it goes for):

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuL_YMmblEE

One of the other things that was impressive about NerdHQ was their amazing volunteer staff. You can’t run something as massive as San Diego Comic-Con or its smaller cousin without using volunteers; it’s just a fact of life. But the group of folks helping out at NerdHQ was just top-notch. They handled their tasks with aplomb, and seemed to be as happy to be there as the rest of us.

I’m not sure what the future holds for NerdHQ. If sponsorship funding is as tenuous as indicated, it’s a fun event that could easily disappear, which would be a damn shame. While it might be easy to look at the $260k raised for Operation Smile this year as “less” than $335+ raised via Indiegogo, I’m over that type of analysis (and that’s coming from someone who works full-time for a non-profit). NerdHQ does an amazing amount of things right, and that $260k is better spent there than on nachos during the day and drinks during SDCC late nights.

Combined, the first three days of San Diego Comic-Con – including preview night – rarely add up to the crammed schedule that is Saturday. If you’re a movie lover – and willing to camp out at least 15 hours in advance (according to my Twitter research on the last person I could find who got in and was sharing) – then Hall H is usually filled with awesomeness from Marvel, Warner Bros. and some of the other studio heavyweights. For those of us covering TV, Saturday is generally as easily congested as many of the shows that have just started production wait until the weekend to make the trip.

For Team CliqueClack, that meant a fun 12 hours hopping from Press Room to Press Room, chatting about the upcoming seasons and new projects with actors and creators. As late as a night as Saturday generally becomes, we’ve held off until Sunday evening to include the half-day or so we spent at the Convention in one post. Here are the highlights:

• While I spent a lot of time at NerdHQ this weekend (more on that to come) Michael attended his first Conversations for a Cause panel featuring the cast of The Walking Dead.
• I spent the first part of day with what we could call Team Berlanti at SDCC: The casts and crew of The CW’s The Flash and Arrow. One thing that particularly stood out was how much Stephen Amell was excited for The Flash in general and Grant Gustin experiencing his first SDCC as the fastest man alive (see that hat?).
• My schedule did a bit of a backflip, but it allowed for an opportunity I didn’t think I was going to get at this Con, talking to the cast and crew of the show I’m probably most looking forward to this calendar year, Starz’ Outlander. This was great because I’m a big fan of the show and am really looking forward to the series, but also because it was the first time I’d ever sat down with Ronald D. Moore … and I even found a way to ask a (relevant to Outlander) question about Battlestar Galatica, which is the series that was in the impetus that lead to me writing about television in the first place.

• First a NerdHQ panel, then a press room with The Walking Dead … it was a zombie kind of day for Michael. The cast was pretty secretive – sadly, though understandably, a theme this year with everyone we spoke too – up to and including running across the room to check in with a producer with what they could and could not say.
• My last press room of the day was for SyFy’s upcoming event mini-series Ascension. This was one of those odd experience where we knew very little about the series, set for six episodes in November. Fortuately the cast didn’t have to be entirely obtuse … they had just finished filming the first episode the day before!
• One of the highlights of the trip historically has been the NBC New Media party, and while the party isn’t what it once was – though considering NBC’s decreasing presence at the Con it is understandable – Michael and I did get to spend a couple of minutes with Grimm’s Reggie Lee, who has been an incredible friend to this website for several years now (Though it seems that our editor Keith McDuffee has been much more generous with the homemade honey his household produces with Mr. Lee than he’s been with the rest of us).

• We finished the night by attending the premiere screening of Prelude to Axanar, a Kickstarer-funded teaser/prequel to an upcoming Star Trek based fan film. The short had a surprising solid cast including Richard Hatch (Starbuck plays a Klingon!), the always lovely Kate Vernon and Gary Graham, though it was Tony Todd who stole the show. The first of two campaigns to fund the main film is underway and is at 84% as of this writing.
• Sunday is always a little melancholy as the week comes to an end. Michael and I had a quick breakfast at our new favorite spot The Broken Yolk with our good buddy Tom Gardiner from Three if By Space.
• At that point, Team CliqueClack went our separate ways. Michael headed to the Convention Center with his two daughters in tow. I spent most of my Sunday at NerdHQ, catching panels for Wil Wheaton & Felicia Day and Stephen Amell. I also experienced my first Nathan Fillion (with Alan Tudyk joining in) “Auction my crap” Panel. If you want to see just how much money those two can raise by signing things they brought with them, you have to check out this video (Especially watch the first two items auctioned … when the final bid came in – out of nowhere – it set a tone for just how generous people would have to be).
• The final press room I had on my docket didn’t work out particularly well due to a variety of scheduling snafus; sadly we’re at the mercy of the insane timeline the talent has to follow while they are in town (and the unfortunate chaos that those press rooms can be).

It’s hard not to look back at SDCC 2014 as a success. While it was the first year I’ve attended without our Editor Keith McDuffee, Mr. Noble and I still managed to have a productive – and fun – couple of days. The highs were high (Ron Moore, a picture on the Iron Throne, Reggie Lee) and the lows were low (San Diego isn’t supposed to be that humid, and it actually rained. Twice!). Team CliqueClack acquired a great deal of content that we’ll be sharing with you over the coming months. And it’s already time to start thinking about what SDCC 2015 might look like.

San Diego Comic-Con. The summer week that is marked off of my calendar automatically each year. The people behind marketing effort that has dubbed the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner “NerdProm” have obviously never spent their July’s in San Diego and have experienced the rock-em sock-em fracas that descends upon the Gaslamp District of San Diego. I’ve been there – just a couple of times, I don’t necessarily have tenure that my partner-in-crime Michael Noble has – and I have lived to tell the tale. And this week? It’s time to jump in and do it all again.

Last year was my third Con, and was a bit of an anomaly. I tried taking a different approach; while I had several big-ticket events that I was really looking forward to (Wil Wheaton’s Hopcon event, Joss Whedon’s NerdHQ panel and the Veronica Mars off-site fan event to name several), I really tried to keep my schedule as lean as I could, which allowed me to experience some things that I normally don’t have time for. Mike, Keith McDuffee and I all caught the Cartoon Voices and Quick Draw panels together and had a blast. I took in a couple of the off-site experiences that have popped up (The Ender’s Game one in particular stands out … but I did miss out on the Godzilla experience that the rest of the team caught). This flexibility allowed me a random chance to see the Game of Thrones panel in Hall H (and everyone knows that GoT is far and away my favorite property that shows up to SDCC).

This year, I’m back to having nearly every waking minute scheduled. I’m not entirely sure I’ll see the inside of a panel room this year … especially considering some of the decision-making Comic-Con International displayed in scheduling TV panels this year. Room 6A is the fifth largest room available to CCI, yet it will be hosting shows like The Blacklist, Vikings, Orphan Black and Outlander … I believe that as a function of capacity, 6A might actually be more difficult to get into than the vaunted Hall H on Friday. But I digress; I have a pretty darn good idea what I’ll be doing most of the week.

I’m going to sit down with the cast and creators of some of our favorite television shows. I plan to ask Jason Rothenberg of CW’s The 100 about his show’s success in its freshman season and where he plans to take things this year. I’m going to find out what is Rob Thomas’ new show iZombie is all about. How much can TNT’s The Last Ship diverge from it’s source material (spoiler alert: I doubt they even read the book)? Do the producers of Legends plan to live up to their #dontkillSeanBean Twitter campaign? How much of Kings’ David does Christopher Egan see in his new character Alex on SyFy Dominion?

It took NerdHQ a long damn time to get their panels announced and tickets on sale this year, but once they were available, they were gone quickly. While I think Brown Paper Tickets and NerdHQ did a much better job with the ticket sales this time around, I did have a confirmed seat in my cart for the Badass Women mystery panel that disappeared as I was shopping for another ticket in that wave. Regardless, I did pretty well for myself, scoring a ticket for Zachary Levi’s panel, The Last Ship and Garfunkel & Oats (!!!!). And while my attempt to get an encore with Joss Whedon failed, my attempt to trade the ticket did not go unnoticed by the king of NerdHQ himself:

“@Dorv: Failed in getting the @josswhedon #NerdHQ panel ticket I was hoping for, but totally have a @ZacharyLevi one I’d trade.” *GASP!*

— Zachary Levi (@ZacharyLevi) July 19, 2014

In my defense, it’s not that I don’t want to see Zach, I just have a scheduling conflict (the phrase “scheduling conflict” could easily be the subtitle of San Diego Comic-Con).

With such a full schedule, I’m not sure how much of the off-site stuff I’ll be able to do this year. Like my buddy Mike, I too will be stopping by the 38^th annual Robert A. Heinlein blood drive to drop off a pint or two for the cause. I’m itching to visit the Game of Thrones Survive the Realm experience, because I want a picture with me in the Iron Throne! There’s frankly too damn much going on in the Gaslamp District to keep track of it all (Thankfully, the wonderful folks over at Outside Comic Con do all that heavy lifting for the rest of us). I will have to find time for the Assassin’s Creed/Schick Cutting Edge shave experience, though.

The nightlife this week is always one of the highlights. I’m particularly looking forward to the to the folks at TNT and The Last Ship hosting a party on the deck of the USS Midway … that’s the kind of thing that you just can’t do at home. I’ve always wanted to stop by NerdHQ at night just to see what all the fuss is about, but I think that 2014 will be another year that we won’t make that particular trip.

The best part of Comic-Con isn’t the parties, the celebrities or the panels (Well, that’s only because I could never get into the Marvel movie panel … if I could score a ticket to that, that would totally be better than this next bit). It’s the friends. While our fearless leader Keith won’t be making the trip this year, my brother-from-another-mother Michael will have my back. Plus, seeing fellow writers from some of my favorite websites is something that only happens – for me – this one time a year. The craziness of the Con is always made better by those you’re experiencing it with.

Be sure to check back at CliqueClack during the week. We’ll try to have some posts up during the week about the goings on (Hopefully I’ll bring back my Daily Highlights posts from last year). Also check us out on the Twitter (@CliqueClack, @Dorv and @RuprechtReal) as we try to keep you up-to-date with the chaos of San Diego Comic-Con.

Zachary Levi’s NerdHQ has become a staple of the San Diego Comic-Con since premiering in 2011. One of my favorite parts of what NerdHQ brings to the table is their “Conversations for a Cause” series. The most popular panels at the Convention Center are held in massive caves of rooms, but at NerdHQ, they are much more intimate affairs. And while they are ticketed events, the entirety of the proceeds go to Operation Smile, a Virginia-based (yeah!) charity that does incredible work.

The Conversations are always put together at the last-minute, as the NerdHQ team has to wait until after the official SDCC schedule is announced to confirm their offerings. This year, though, it seems that the schedule is taking longer to put together. 2013’s first announcements were on the Monday nine days in advance of the Con, but NerdHQ still hasn’t been able to make their list official.

This afternoon, however, some of that schedule was posted on the website for Brown Paper Tickets, the vendor that handles the ticketing for the panels. As of this posting, that schedule was pulled down, but we were able to capture it in the meantime. All of this data is obviously unconfirmed at this point, and is likely to change. Also, if the messaging was to believed, it looks like tickets will likely go on sale this Sunday.

Levi and David Coleman said on the SDConCast Thursday evening that they would be adding more panels after the first release (they also confirmed that Nathan Fillion would be back, even though he’s not listed bellow). They also say the schedule is pretty full, which again indicates that this list is incomplete.

Thursday July 24th

9:00 AM – Zach Levi

12:00 PM – Into the Storm (Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Max Deacon, Nathan Kress, Jon Reep, Kyle Davis, Steven Quale)

(Updated) 1:30 PM – Craig Ferguson & Josh Robert Thompson

Friday July 25th

11:00 AM – Stoopid Buddy Stoodios (Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, John Harvatine IV, Eric Towner, Tom Root)

12:00 PM – Garfunkel & Oats (Riki Lindhome, Kate Micucci)

1:15 PM – Let’s Be Cops (Damon Wayans Jr, Nina Dobrev, Rob Riggle, Keegan-Michael Key)

4:00 PM – Evangeline Lilly

Saturday July 26th

10:00 AM – The Walking Dead (Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Danai Gurira, Lauren Cohan)

12:00 PM – The Intruders (John Simm, Mira Sorvino, Glen Morgan)

3:00 PM – Resurrection (Omar Epps, Frances Fisher, Kurtwood Smith, Devin Kelley, Aaron Zelman, Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas)

Sunday July 27th

12:00 PM – The Thrilling Adventure Hour (Ben Blacker, Ben Acker, Marc Evan Jackson, Hal Lublin, Mark Gagliardi, Craig Cackowski, Janet Varney, Molly Quinn, Paul Sabourin, Storm DiCostanza)

1:15 PM – Joss Whedon

The first season of The Following was one hell of a roller coaster ride. If The Vampire Diaries‘ Julie Plec is the queen of killing of characters indiscriminately, then her partner-in-crime Kevin Williamson is the king. Chasing Joe Carroll cost the FBI — and the cast — several recurring characters in the first season, and that’s not even counting the civilians, family members and countless other collateral damage caught up in the wake of his “following.”

They couldn’t reveal very much — something that became a running joke as we spoke — but they did share a couple of interesting nuggets. I was particularly impressed with Valorie Curry’s take on Emma Hill, one of the more interesting characters on television. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little excited to see where Ryan Hardy finds himself one year later, but a little apprehensive about what might happen to that calm when he gets dragged back into Carroll’s world.

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When sitting down with the cast of Syfy’s Warehouse 13 at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, one big thought on my mind was what everyone thought of the final episode. That is, assuming they all knew what was in store for us. As it turned out, they had all read the script — the episode hadn’t been shot yet. I just wish I got to talk to more of them.

Before embarking on my (what has become) yearly jaunt to San Diego for the International Comic-Con, I wrote a list of a few things I was most looking forward to. My list today is a bit different, for what truly were my high points of the event.

Let’s start with my previous list and go over what worked and didn’t work.

Hop-Con: The W00tstout Launch Festival — It turns out this was a spot-on choice to be on my list, and it definitely earned a spot near the top. Coming off a long-ass flight from heat-wavey Boston, having some GOOD beers — with a friend I hadn’t seen in a year, outside, in upper-60-degree temps — was a perfect way to kick the weekend off. The pouring was generous and the brews were strong. To top things off, I finally got to have that beer Wil Wheaton and I had been talking about having together for years. OK, so it wasn’t the 20 Guinnesses we owed him for every new CliqueClack writer who came on board, but it was pretty fucking cool.

The Veronica Mars fan event — I won’t hide the fact that Ivey and I both spent a fair chunk of change to get guaranteed seating at this event. It could have been better. The content of the panel was cool and fun, for sure … but unless you were in the first few rows, you couldn’t get a good look at most of it. The event was held in a movie theater, but without stadium seating. We could all see the screen perfectly, but the cast all sat at near ground-level — it was frustrating. In many of the official SDCC panels, all attendees are given some sort of swag, like a t-shirt, so we were kinda-sorta hoping to get something at the end of this event. Instead we walked away somewhat satisfied of seeing a whole bunch of characters from a show (and soon movie) that we love … and a bunch of pictures of them through a bunch of heads.

The annual NBC party — Since the party last Saturday night, I’ve been carefully considering what to say about this. Yes, I have complaints. The thing is, I got to go to this thing, most of you reading this didn’t, and the folks organizing it were and always have been so nice to me and this site. So how can I sit here and say anything bad about it? So, I’ll say what was good, and you can work out the rest for yourselves. I liked that I got to at least say hello my friend Reggie Lee for 60 seconds; I liked that we got good free food and booze for two hours; I liked seeing some old colleagues I hadn’t seen since last year; I liked that I at least saw some other NBC talent for ten minutes. I’ve written to those who helped organize the event with kind criticism and have even offered to not attend if it means that the rest of those attending can have the same experience I’d had in years past. From the response I got back, there was no surprise.

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You may not be able to make out the first question asked at the table, but it went a little something like this. I happened to be taking some photos over at another table Mr. Padalecki was at, and I overheard him say something along the lines of, “I really wish I could tell you. Really! I just can’t!” When I told my table what I’d heard, and when we saw Jared was heading to our table next, we were all thinking: challenge accepted. Unfortunately, though we feebly tried to convince him that Bob Singer told us it was OK for him to spill is secret to us, it was no dice.

So what would challenge Padalecki’s acting chops so much for the entirety of next season? Will he have a doppelgänger and be playing two roles? Play an evil Sam?