"Damages" up close

Last Monday I was asked to moderate a panel at the Willam Paley Festival at the Cinerama Dome at Hollywood.

Every year, the Paley Festival brings the cast and creators of 10-12 TV shows -- both past and present -- to discuss the inner workings of a show in front of a few hundred fans. For a TV junkie, it's a great event to get to know the actors and writers who shape the shows we like.

I moderated "Damages," a well-executed and smart legal drama on FX that stars Glenn Close as a lawyer who bends the rules in extreme ways for her clients. The first season was about one case -- Ted Danson is a corporate guru who has swindled the pension and savings from his employees.

Both stars were at the Dome Monday and couldn't have been nicer. They've been very accessible as far as talking to the press about the show and the Paley fest is a publicist's best friend, getting all kinds of coverage on the Internet.

Danson is a long way from his days as bartender Sam Malone on "Cheers," and Close proved she's as much a presence on TV as she is in film after a stellar turn a few years back on FX's best show, "The Shield." It was nice to pick their brain about what makes good TV and why they feel like "Damages" is as good as anything out there on the small screen.

Moderating these panels can be a lot of fun -- just as long as you're very familiar with the show. If you're faking it up on stage, everyone will know. I've done seven panels now -- "Friday Night Lights" twice, "ER," "Scrubs," "28 Days," "Nip/Tuck" and "Damages" -- and it's a great way to interact with the cast and creators, all the while asking questions that you hope the audience finds as interesting as you do.

For comedies, like "Scrubs," you don't need to do much. Ask a question and let everyone start cracking jokes. The rapport between Zach Braff and Donald Faison had everyone in hysterics. Certainly funnier that I would've been.