ABC's new '60s-era airline drama Pan Am takes its maiden flight on Sunday night, fueled by strong word of mouth (it made our list of must-see fall shows) and a cast that includes Kelli Garner, Mike Vogel and Christina Ricci, star of such films as The Opposite of Sex, Sleepy Hollow and, perhaps most memorably, both of the Addams Family movies, where she played the quintessential Goth daughter, Wednesday. In advance of the show's premiere, Ricci and the Pan Am creator Jack Orman spoke with the press about the show's direction, the mod fashions and a very special Beatles episode.

The fact that Community has gotten a third season at all is baffling. Yeah, it's an amazing series, a multi-Tubey winner and one of our favorite comedies in recent history, but the ratings have been so miniscule, we've been shocked for two years running that TPTB continue to let it bloom. More shocked then us is the Joel McHale himself, who -- along with new cast member John Goodman, who plays Vice Dean Laybourne, dean of the highly regarded Air Conditioning Repair Annex at Greendale -- took a media call to tell us about the hopes vs. realities of life at Greendale Community. Below are the highlights.

Have you heard of The X Factor? It's kinda supposed to be like the old American Idol, but better and with more Pepsi commercials in the middle of each episode? In the off-chance the media blitz hasn't found you in your cave, judge Simon Cowell took a press call to answer the burning questions that we lowly Americans have about his new series (debuting tonight on Fox) and even took the time to trash a few of his competitors.

I didn't really care one way or the other about James Durbin's tenure on American Idol. Aside from a passion for Dio that we happen to share, he just seemed like a weaker-voiced Glambert with a dreadfully contrived taste in music. And besides, hating Scotty McCreery has taken up all my energy this season -- there's no time left to like anyone. But in listening to his refreshingly silly all-media exit interview, I actually found him kind of likable, and a lot more down to earth than Jacob Lusk and Stefano. Don't get me wrong -- he thinks he's hot shit, but least he has the decency to be sort of amusing about it. Read on for highlights.

There's a new sheriff in town over at NBC, and a whole new slew of shows to replace all the shows that failed last season (pretty much all of them, basically). It's an entirely new programming slate over there, so I attended the red carpet portion of the network's Upfront presentation this morning to get some interviews with the new and returning talent. They were all so lovely that I hope none of their shows get canceled too soon.

When Jacob Lusk was voted off American Idol last week, I expected some pretty over-the-top antics in his post-elimination media call. As in his musical performances, Jacob Lusk delivered a little bit, but mostly disappointed in his first big press outing, but I was still able to cull some nuggets out of his 20-minute interview. The highlights are below, and they are ridiculously inspirational, so you better be ready to have your life changed before you read on.

Last week saw the elimination of quirky, bearded, occasionally hospitalized favorite Casey Abrams, and we were interested to hear what he would have to say in his exit interview. Unfortunately, he was pretty sedate the whole time (unlike the rarin'-to-go Stefano), but his closing statement stuck with us: "Don't take yourself too seriously. Take music seriously, but not yourself." While the interview was far from a laugh-fest, we couldn't help but chuckle at some of his laid-back, world-weary responses. Here are the funniest.

With only three more episodes left in this season of one of the funniest shows on television, we were excited to get an exclusive one-on-two with Joel McHale (Jeff Winger) and Gillian with a hard "G" Jacobs (Britta Perry) to talk about what's in store in the two-part finale -- a follow-up to one of their most popular episodes -- as well as what we might see down the road. We probably should have asked the show's writers about that last bit, but it's always fun to hear what two really funny people think should happen to their characters. Writers, take note.

In the weekly Idol conference call, it's common for the discussion to focus on how disappointing it is to the contestant to have been voted off. But last week's eliminee, Stefano Langone, seems to be thrilled to be out. Every answer he gave eventually came back around to how he left exactly when he wanted, he sang what he wanted and he was saving all of his best stuff for after the show. He took a break from networking to straighten us out about he's about to blow up in a big way. Boom goes the dynamite!

As I pointed out last week, the vast majority of American Idol contestants work their post-elimination media calls completely off of a script, never daring to say anything negative about anything, from their performances, to the judges, to Seacrest's hair. But every once in a while, you get a person who breaks from the routine and actually dares to share genuine opinions on things. Paul McDonald, if you couldn't tell from the rose suits, is one such person. Read on for the alarmingly genuine (as far as Idol calls go) highlights of his call.