The Clicker

The Office's B.J. NovakPhoto: Patrick McMullan

The TV industry hit New York last week, trotting out new shows (Cavemen who make jokes! Two versions of Sex and the City, minus the cussing!) in a bid to win over the ad community. It was a week to schmooze with media, party-hop, eat copious amounts of free shrimp, and celebrate being the maximum length of time away from cancellation. Here, a report from the front lines: Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell was making the rounds with Lindsay Price, star of the TV version of her novel Lipstick Jungle. The man who brought Sex to TV, Darren Star, is behind an identical-looking show, ABC’s Cashmere Mafia. Asked if they were still speaking, Bushnell replied, “I … I … All I can say, sweetie, is you watch it and you love it.” … Michael Emerson (Ben on Lost) said that there will be deaths on Wednesday’s two-hour season finale but that he doesn’t know what happens at the end; the final page of his script was blank and only two lead actors have lines … Welcome to New York, B.J. Novak and Josh Schwartz! Novak, an Office writer and actor (Ryan the temp) is taking an apartment in the West Village for June. Why? “I’ve just always wanted to live here.” Schwartz, the precocious creator of The O.C., got a pickup for his CW adaptation of the sex-filled prep-school tween book series Gossip Girl. Filming is in the city, and Schwartz is apartment-hunting. … Law & Order: SVU star Ice-T couldn’t help but gloat that L&O: Criminal Intent had been moved to cable. “We got picked up for four years, so there’s in-house rivalry. SVU is the No. 1 right now, so we’re real proud. We’re walking around like, ‘What!’” … One of cheerleader Hayden Panettiere’s Heroes co-stars was overheard worrying about her sudden rise to Lindsay Lohan–ish fame, with a classic showbiz mom who acts more like a friend than a parent … Office and Ugly Betty producer Ben Silverman said he’d met with Diddy about two new scripted projects while he was in town … Synergy alert! NBC may be starting a Dunder Mifflin paper line.

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The Clicker