Once again this year, Keith, Michael and I are braving the crowds at San Diego Comic-Con to learn the latest news, get the inside scoop and rub elbows with the stars of some of our favorite shows … and 125,000 of our other closest friends. This is my third year attending, and it is amazing how much the con has grown just in those three years (I can only imagine it from Michael’s perspective, who has been attending long before SDCC became the craziness that it is today).

Keith previewed what he was looking forward to most this year earlier this week. I’d planned on doing the same, but decided to skip my post when I realized that my list was nearly exactly the same as his.

Instead, I’m going to attempt to spend a couple of minutes each night going over the highlights of what I saw and learned during the course of each day. I’m not promising I’ll get it done every night – I can promise you with almost absolute certainty that Saturday Night’s schedule will definitely preclude me from chiming in – but I’ll do what I can.

• Technically from Wednesday night, but I learned that Wil Wheaton can brew a mighty fine tasting brew. The picture above is the three of us catching up. Wil’s Memories of the Future book came up, and I joined his wife Anne in hounding him for the follow-up.
• I attended the screenings of both Intelligence and Star-Crossed in Ballroom 20 (SDCC’s second largest room). I’ve previewed both before, but it was nice to watch with a large audience. Intelligence in particular was well received.
• One of SDCC’s most fervent Fandoms continues to be the Psych-o’s. The cast and crew embraces the culture of the convention about as well as any show factors into that a great deal. USA also announced the winner – “Nightmare on State Street” (formerly named “Dream Therapy”) – of the fan vote for the plot of an episode in the upcoming final season.
• EW’s Visionaries panel is always an interesting discussion, and this year’s panel with Alfonso Cuarón, Marc Webb and Edgar Wright was no exception.
• The Nerdist’s Chris Hardwick is easily the best panel moderator I’ve ever seen. He handled both Divergent and Ender’s Game, and was phenomenal.
• Speaking of Divergent, we got to see the first footage released for the film (principal photography just wrapped a couple of days ago). I’m a big fan of Veronica Roth’s series of books, and if the footage we saw was any indication, the movie series is going to be just as good.
• Veronica Roth, the author of the novels, announced that the third book — Allegiant, due out in October — will actually be told from both Tris and Four’s point-of-views.

• I’m not sure that the highlight of the Ender’s Game panel happened before they even took the stage. An attendee got in line during the Divergent Q&A, and began asking the cast and crew a question about Ender’s Game. Hardwick mocked him pretty badly, but made sure he got the chance to ask the question when the right time came around.
• I became a big fan of director Gavin Hood. He brought a joy and passion to the panel that can almost make me overlook X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
•  I’m lying about the highlight … it had to be Harrison Ford. He handled some of the off-the-wall questions amusingly – though obviously irritated. My favorite? “What would Han Solo and Indiana Jones say to each other if they met?” “Hi? How are you?”

I am looking forward to Day Two. I will be spending time with the casts of The 100, The Following, Falling Skies and The Blacklist. Later tomorrow night, though, is one of the things I’m most looking forward to for the entire week, the Veronica Mars movie fan event. I was a day one backer of the project, and cannot wait to see what Rob Thomas has in store for us.

Yesterday, I previewed ABC’s slate of new dramas. Today it’s time to take a look at what CBS is serving up. Since the Tiffany network is returning eleven hour-long dramas from last year (along with three hour-long reality shows), there’s not a lot of room for new material. You’d think with position like that, they’d be able to pick from the cream of the crop.

We’ve only had the chance to look at two of the three new dramas. One is a drastic change from the network’s regular fare, while the other fits right in. Will CBS’s strategy of trying something new work out?

Hostages (Mondays 10:00PM)

It seems like most of the networks were taking chances with high-concept dramas. Hostages definitely fits that bill: the family of a surgeon scheduled to operate on the President of the United States is held hostage to force the doctor to make a fatal error while in the operation room. Hostages should be right up my alley: a political intrigue thriller where the lines between black and white are more than a little blurry. Sadly though, the first episode just falls flat.

Verdict: The DVR is going to have a hard time recording this against The Blacklist and Castle.

Magic Eight Ball Chances of a Second Season: My reply is no.

Intelligence (Midseason, Mondays 10:00PM)

Like the last couple of years, the broadcast networks are holding back several of my favorite pilots for midseason; Intelligence is on that list. Ever since the finale of Lost, audiences have been waiting with bated breath for Josh Holloway’s return to television. I can assure you (ladies) that he’s just as roguish as he’s always been. He and Megan Ory (Once Upon a Time) have great chemistry, and the show’s got the one ingredient that I think makes NCIS one of the most watched shows on television: It’s fun.

Verdict: Intelligence had me at hello, and I’ll figure out a way to work out the DVR schedule later.

Magic Eight Ball Chances of a Second Season: As I see it yes.

CBS Pilots not yet available to press: Reckless (Midseason)