Season 4 of the ATX Television Festival (A Television eXperience) is in full swing in Texas.
The annual event is “as close to heaven as a TV fan can get,” according to its tagline, with panels, cast reunions and events featuring your favorite TV stars.
On Thursday, Access Hollywood took the festival’s official Southwest Airlines party plane, courtesy of the ATX Festival, from Los Angeles. We were treated to a special mid-flight Q&A panel that included “Friends” and “Grace and Frankie” co-creator Marta Kaufman. Kaufman told the passengers that she was looking forward to the weekend, but she was not looking forward to being asked about a “Friends” reunion (“No! Never,” she said). Asked if Dolly Parton will appear on “Grace and Frankie,” Kaufman remained coy.
PHOTOS: Hollywood’s Famous Friends
On Friday, we hit the ground running in Austin, for the first official day of the festival where we attended panels with cast and creators of “Brooklyn 99,” “Younger,” “Girl Meets World” and “Wayward Pines.”
Here’s what we learned:
PHOTOS: ‘Younger’: Scenes From Season 1
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
The writers’ room for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is currently working hard on Season 3, returning this fall. Showrunner Dan Goor wouldn’t reveal if Amy (Melissa Fumero) and Jake (Andy Samberg) will get together. Melissa joked during the Q&A that she and Andy Samberg ate wings and garlic before their season finale kiss to see “who could have the most stank breath.”
“Brooklyn 99” will definitely be introducing a new captain in the fall premiere, but they have not cast the role yet. Chelsea Peretti joked it will be “Phil Jackson, the basketball player.”
“Younger”
From the beginning, Sutton Foster always knew how the “Younger” season would end with her character, Liza, and Josh, played by Nico Tortorella. Will they or won’t they stay together after Liza revealed she’s really 40 instead of 26? Tune in to the series finale of “Younger” on Tuesday at 10 PM ET/PT on TV Land. The cast, including Hilary Duff, will return to Brooklyn to shoot the second season September through December, to air on TV Land, returning in January of 2016.
“Girl Meets World”
The first casting sessions of “Girl Meets World” did not go well according to “Boy Meets World” creator Michael Jacobs because they were auditioning 14 and 15 year olds for preteen characters. Jacobs told Disney Channel execs he felt the auditioning actors, “read scenes, lit up a cigarette and discussed their pregnancies.” The first “Boy Meets World” was so grounded in reality and he knew the leads needed to be young for “Girl Meets World.” He convinced Disney to go younger and found the right daughter for Corey and Topanga in actor Rowan Blanchard when she was just 11 years old. Jacobs joked that Rowan is “Cory with Topanga’s hair.”
WATCH: Ben Savage On Directing ‘Girl Meets World’
Actor Lee Norris, who played nerdy Minkus from the original series, is returning for three episodes. Matt Lawrence (Jack), Rider Strong (Shawn) and Trina McGee (Angela) will reunite in three weeks on “Girl Meets World.” Jacobs teased, “You will kill me with what happens with Shawn and Angela, but it is right and it is real.” In an upcoming episode, Eric Matthews wins a seat in the senate.
“Wayward Pines”
While “Wayward Pines” was created to be a 10-episode limited series, Executive Producer Chad Hodge has batted around ideas for a Season 2. Chad read the book and wrote the pilot on spec in just four weeks.
— Tricia Durrant and Niki Kazakos
Copyright © 2024 by NBC Universal, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be republished, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.