Aw, all grown up. Little Sam Weir is little man now. Actor John Francis Daley, from Freaks & Geeks, has landed a writing deal with his partner Jonathan Goldstein. They'll pen Cal of the Wild, a comedy skewering outdoorsy reality shows like Survivor. The pair has sold two scripts in the past. Daley is 23. So, sorta grown up. [Variety]

Premiere dates for pretty much all the fall ABC series have been announced. Except for a few, one of which is America's favorite television program. I don't quite... I just don't quite know what we're going to do. If we don't know when it's coming back, won't the nation spin into chaos and discord? I mean, it's Private Practice for God's sake. We need its special brand of late-afternoon sexual snappiness. And we need it soon. [THR]

Oh, but there is a premiere date for the third season of some bullshit show called Mad Men. Who the hell cares about that garbage? In case you're a weirdo and you do, it's August 16th. Pah. Give us our Addison! [Variety]

Hard-boiled creator of The Shield Shawn Ryan has gotten the greenlight from FX on his new series, Terriers. The gritty crime drama will be about two small dogs, a Cairn and a Dandie Dinmont, who solve mysteries. At least I'm pretty sure that's what it's about. [THR]

Young stars on the rise Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Angarano are set to star in the film Ceremony, to be produced, written, and directed by Hollywood scions Jason Reitman and Max Winkler, the son of Henry. Everyone will stand around and talk about Audis, then try to all hit on the extra in the little jean shorts. [THR]

Mainstream weirdo Tim Burton will have a show at the MoMA in Manhattantowne starting in November. The exhibit will feature drawings, paintings, storyboards, various little sculptures, and other oddities. Sounds fun! [Variety]

When you think of films one would call visionary, do you think of a movie like the single-takes Nine Lives or the eerie stillness of something like Silent Light? Well, you're way off. You should be thinking of a movie like Twilight. That's a film of vision. And the Vision Awards in Hollywood will bestow that title upon that film in a ceremony coming very soon. I mean, they're also awarding Shonda Rhimes (give us our Addison!!!), so you know that it's really prestigious. [THR]

Fuuuck, man. This show sounds good. Martin Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire—about the early days of A.C.—has just cast The Wire's Michael Kenneth Williams as Chalky White, the mayor of Chickenbone Beach. Yes. [THR]

EW's Michael Ausiello has the latest scoop: Melissa George (who plays bisexual, risk-taking intern Sadie) is leaving the show even before her entire episode deal and next-season option are exercised. The character was only introduced this season, but she was flirting with ladies and we all know where that got Brooke Smith! But then, let's let George explain the departure in her own weird, elusive way:

"I love the show so much," she gushes. "I've made some beautiful friends. I love T.R. Knight. I love Patrick Dempsey, Justin Chambers… I adore Ellen Pompeo. I think she's a strong, incredible woman. And Katherine Heigl is the most beautiful creature on Earth."

Then, um, why leave? George says she simply wants to "do something else." Already? Well, a Grey's insider does suggest that the parting of the ways was more mutual than simply the actress' choice. "Melissa's arc came to a natural end. Everyone at the show adores her. We're genuinely sad to see her go."

George's initial deal called for her to appear in roughly 8-11 episodes with an option to become a series regular, like Kevin McKidd. But her Sadie had a much more rocky introduction than the Iraq doc, what with the self-mutilation and ambiguous sexuality. The latter characteristic was especially ill-timed coming off of Hahn's controversial exit. "The character was cursed from Day One," sniffs an ABC source. "She was very difficult to root for."

Then, y'know, maybe don't introduce her? It's an interesting approach, this "throw a new character at the wall and see what sticks" strategy—it's just too bad that all the recent characters happen to be same-sex-leaning, and that instead of the wall, they get flung at the revolving door that opens out onto Seattle Grace's Parking Lot of No Return.

• 'Grey's Anatomy' exclusive: Melissa George checks out [EW]

Multiple sources confirm that T.R. Knight has asked to be released from his contract, a request that both ABC and Grey's show-runner Shonda Rhimes appear poised to grant. "They're working out the details now," whispers an ABC insider. (A network rep was unavailable for comment.)

We sensed malpractice when we read the first denial:

“T.R. has never walked off set in the middle of filming. He attended the table read today and will be shooting this week, like any other week of production," the Grey's Anatomy rep told Us.

Far be it for us to point out that the original item never said he walked off set "in the middle of filming," or that the statement "He attended the table read today" doesn't exactly address whether he attended ones in the past. But no matter! We eagerly look forward to Knight's exit storyline, wherein a hallucinatory Brooke Smith lures him out of Seattle Grace into the Gay Parking Lot of No Return.

• Rep: T.R. Knight Not Leaving Grey's Anatomy [Us]

Blogger Crazy Days and Nights posted word that Knight had walked off the show this morning, then later filled in his scoop:

So, I got a little more information from my source and they say, "He hasn't attended table reads since episode 2. He is pissed and miserable and thinks his story line is stupid. He said goodbye to his hair and makeup people last week. He says he is done and has quit. ABC has not released him. Shondra Rhimes, the producer called him and he told her he had nothing to say. He has packed his dressing room." That is all the information we have at this time.

If true, Knight may find leaving the show difficult — after all, EW reported that he had already renegotiated a pay raise going into this season. Still, once a gaywashing has begun, it's hard to stop. Brain aneurysms for everybody!

• T.R. Knight Update [CADN]

Hahn and her on-screen love interest, Sara Ramirez's Callie, had only one scene where they discussed their same-sex leanings, and it came near the end of the show. The exchange started in classic Grey's "This hospital issue is really about our relationship!"-speak before devolving into...well, we don't know exactly. It appears that Hahn gets mad at the somewhat reluctant Callie and says, "You can't kind of be a lesbian," which is awfully tough talk for a character who just realized she was a lesbian in the last episode. "I don't know you at all," Hahn continues, before storming off into the parking lot (where she is presumably flown back to her home planet on a rocket ship booby-trapped by worried ABC executives).

• Grey's Anatomy [ABC]

Dempsey appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show today (incidentally, a program that Sara Ramirez's Callie will no longer be watching) and when DeGeneres brought up the firing, McDreamy pulled out a canned response ABC had sent to him and read from it sarcastically. Afterward, DeGeneres asked if the firing was OK. "It is for them," said Dempsey, providing enough passive-aggressive venom to make Isaiah Washington (busy waiting tables at the NBC commissary while he waits for that follow-up call from Ben Silverman) point to the screen and insist, "See? That's what I was talking about!"

• The Ellen DeGeneres Show

How difficult was it for you to let Isaiah go, on a personal level? Shonda Rhimes: It wasn't. It was a decision that was a long time coming, and it felt like it was the right decision for all of us. [...]

So you agreed with the decision? Rhimes: Of course I did. When was the moment when you realized, 'You know, we're going to have to make a change here?' Rhimes: Again, I feel like this is stuff that happened in our family, and I don't want to give specifics on sort of how and what happened. But there was a moment when I was sure and felt good and comfortable about the decision and that it was the right decision to be made for everybody.

Rhimes's own version of events make her seem far less conflicted about the firing than initial reports—which had described her as having "wept" while delivering the news—had suggested. Call us eternal optimists, but we can't help but feel that when a showrunner manages to find deep, inner peace in her shitcanning decisions, order has once again begun to be restored to an unruly TV universe.

• Shonda Rhimes Breaks Her Silence About Isaiah! [TVGuide]

According to Washington, "He had led me to believe that Patrick Dempsey was so abusive and so horrible to people in a two and half hour conversation on the plane. For two and a half hours, this boy talked me ear off, Keith, about how horrible Patrick Dempsey is and how he needs to be removed from the show. And in my argument, the irony of it is that Patrick happened to show some behavior that was very in line with what T.R. was telling me on the plane and I challenged T.R. to deny it or say this isn't true."

He went on: "All the dirty macking he gave me about Patrick Dempsey led me to believe that Patrick was trying to treat me in a disrepectful manner in the same kind of manner apparently accorded to T.R. that Patrick had treated him. And even to this day, Patrick Dempsey and T.R. still have a rift and are still not on speaking terms. They do not talk to each other...I know Patrick Dempsey has supported me by stating that if there is anyone that needs to be fired it is T.R. Knight because he has created such a negative environment on that set because he felt like he has not been treated and giving the same kind of leading man type of story lines that have been given to Patrick and Isaiah. He felt like his character has been treated very caricatureish and dopey. That's why you see his character changing so signifcantly...This is something that T.R. Knight has been trying to do and using the incident of the so-called F-word that was targeted at him, which is a flat out lie, to blackmail the writers into doing his bidding, and it's not working. The producers are not happy about it, and quite frankly, they think something has gone awry with T.R. Knight... But all of them, including the producers all the way up to Touchstone, are not happy.

"And let me be clear Keith. All of this I'm saying to you has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he's gay. He came out October 19 as purely a tactical move to do exactly what he did, get public opinion in an outrage to lead him to believe that he is being picked on because he is gay. He could care less about the gay community."

If true, Knight is truly some kind of genius-level manipulator, capable not only of maneuvering McDreamy pawns around the chessboard of the Grey's Anatomy set at will, but of coopting the media for his nefarious ends, tricking People into throwing him a coming-out party and The Advocate into establishing him as the gentle, crippled-Labrador-nuzzling icon of a new generation of openly gay actors. If this is indeed the case, it could be good news for Washington, as Velvet Mafia don David Geffen will probably have the too-ambitious Knight disappeared to a community theater in rural Nebraska before he's able to bring any more of Hollywood under his sway.

• EXCLUSIVE: Isaiah Washington Breaks His Silence In Interview [KeithBoykin.com]
• Previously: Isaiah Washington Mad As Hell Again, Mulling Over Not Taking It Anymore [Defamer]