This news truly sucks.

E! Online’s Kristin and tons of other TV industry insiders in the know all report pretty much the same dismal development: ABC is holding off on airing the final episodes of canceled gems Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, and Pushing Daisies until the summer.

For those of us who remember the vastly boring wasteland the summer TV season used to be before basic cable swooped in and made it a legitimate occasion for new stuff, waiting isn’t such a big deal. But, for fans who wanted closure as soon as possible, it’s a whole ‘nother story I’m sure.

The reason for the delay is very simple, of course. Chalk it up to money, meaning ratings too low to have a large enough positive impact on the network’s bottom line. As Kristin points out, the shows that replaced the three series in their former time slots, including repeats of other series, have been bringing in much more Nielsen bacon — often twice as much or more.

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The news is spreading like wildfire all over the Internets: on November 20, ABC announced more changes to its midseason schedule that include:

• The Thursday pairing of Grey’s Anatomy and its spinoff Private Practice, beginning on January 8

• The Wednesday pairing of Lost and Life on Mars, which has also received an order for four additional episodes, beginning on January 28

• The simultaneous return and ABC premiere of Scrubs on Tuesday, January 6 at 9pm EST, following double episodes of According to Jim at 8pm

What’s most notable about the schedule, however, especially to us dramedy fans, is the absence of three of television’s most engaging, entertaining, and arguably unique series: Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies.

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Chuck - Season One

• Discs: 4
• Episodes: 13
• Format: Color, Dolby Digital 5.1, Widescreen
• Languages: English
• List Price: $39.98
• Run Time: 585 minutes
• Season: One
• Special Features: Yes
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• Subtitles: English, Spanish

Cybill - Collector’s Edition, Volume 1

• Discs: 2
• Episodes: 10
• Format: Color, Dolby, Full Screen
• Languages: English
• List Price: $24.98
• Run Time: 240 minutes
• Season: N/A
• Special Features: Yes
• Studio: First Look
• Subtitles: Closed Captioned

Dirty Sexy Money - Season One

• Discs: 3
• Episodes: 10
• Format: Color, Dolby Digital 5.1, Widescreen
• Languages: English
• List Price: $39.99
• Run Time: 426 minutes
• Season: One
• Special Features: Yes
• Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
• Subtitles: Closed Captioned

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Don’t worry, ‘Til Death fans, Brad Garrett’s appearance is just a guest-star gig.

According to TV Guide, the super tall current star of the Fox married-life sitcom ‘Til Death will join USA Network’s hit crime dramedy Monk this summer for the seventh-season premiere on July 18. Garrett’s role is as a handyman summoned to help Adrian Monk renovate his apartment.

Oh, goodness — what a disaster waiting to happen! It’s bad enough being Adrian’s assistant, like Natalie and Sharona, both of whom have/had a little leeway when handling the oddball detective’s requests. But having to follow his impossibly detailed instructions to a T? I predict fans will get some pretty funny moments during the scenes with Garrett and Tony Shalhoub.

As for Robert Loggia, the same TV Guide article reports that the acting veteran well-known for playing gangster types will portray an elderly boxer on the August episode “Mr. Monk Takes a Punch.”

Other comedy casting news mentioned refers to Dirty Sexy Money, which will welcome back former CBS newsman Dan Rather to play himself again, and Greek, which is casting a buff but earnest male character to play the new resident assistant in Rusty’s dorm.

NOTE: Pictures indicate series currently covered at Comedy Centric

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Everyone has been talking about this year’s William S. Paley Television Festival for one worthy main reason — the reunion of all of the major cast members from Joss Whedon’s iconic series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, including star Sarah Michelle Gellar.

But, when PaleyFest 2008 takes place from March 14 to 27 in Hollywood, California, several rookie dramedies will also be on hand to help celebrate the event’s 25th anniversary, namely NBC’s Chuck and ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies.

As of Monday, the PaleyFest website reports the following in-person lineups for each of the series’ panels. Note that more participants may be named later for the ABC shows, although no such disclaimer is needed for Chuck since the entire regular and supporting casts — and creative team — are already onboard (Nice, guys and gals!).

March 15 | 7pm

Pushing Daisies

• Kristin Chenoweth, Olive Snook
• Swoosie Kurtz, Lily Charles
• Lee Pace, Ned
• Bryan Fuller, Creator/Executive Producer
• Bruce Cohen, Executive Producer
• Barry Sonnenfeld, Executive Producer
• Peter Ocko, Co-Executive Producer

March 18 | 7pm

Chuck

• Adam Baldwin, John Casey
• Joshua Gomez, Morgan Grimes
• Scott Krinsky, Jeff
• Sarah Lancaster, Ellie Bartowski
• Mark Christopher Lawrence, Big Mike
• Zachary Levi, Chuck Bartowski
• Julie Ling, Anna
• Ryan McPartlin, Captain Awesome
• Vik Sahay, Lester
• Yvonne Strahovski, Sarah Walker
• Chris Fedak, Co-Creator/Executive Producer
• Josh Schwartz, Co-Creator/Executive Producer
• McG, Executive Producer

March 25 | 7pm

Dirty Sexy Money

• Greg Berlanti, Executive Producer
• Craig Wright, Executive Producer

Sounds sweet, doesn’t it?

All interested attendees from the lowly general public can start grabbing tickets to the festivities from TicketWeb on February 10. They’ll cost you $60 or more each, not including fees, and are guaranteed to sell out quickly now that Gellar’s appearance has been confirmed for the Buffy reunion on March 20. Heck, if I lived on the West Coast, I’d make sure I was there for that, too.

Ouch! That last word always makes my mind go where it shouldn’t, although in this particular case, it’s likely heading in the right direction.

I know, I know. I don’t cover Dirty Sexy Money at Comedy Centric. But, the ABC newbie is a dramedy at heart beneath its soap-opera-ish exterior, and it also happens to be one of my three favorite new shows of the fall, along with NBC’s Chuck and Life.

Here’s a heads-up to any fellow Dirty fans out there that the series, which has already been picked up for a full freshman season (Yay!), airs its final episode of the year tonight. And yes, it’s the darn writers strike that’s gotten in the way, despite the three installments left in the can. I guess now just seems like a good time to preserve what little remains as far as network executives are concerned.

Yet, the series isn’t going completely off the air in the immediate future. Instead, it will do exactly what many of the other dried-up shows around the tube have—go into repeats, starting at the beginning again with the pilot next Wednesday.

First, however, the Alphabet Network is gifting viewers a dirty, sexy Nutcracker midseason finale of sorts. If you haven’t been watching, the numerous different storylines in the plot description below will probably seem like overkill. Trust me, though—the excellent cast and skilled showrunners make it all flow effortlessly like water in a stream.

The Nutcracker

Nick learns Simon and Karen are secretly seeing each other, but he refuses to admit why it truly bothers him.

Karen bails on the family tradition of watching “The Nutcracker” in order to accept Simon’s invitation to meet a mysterious person.

Brian’s suspension from the ministry thrusts him into an existential career crisis, and Letitia suggests he go to Tripp for guidance.

Lisa guides Jeremy in his quest to impress Sofia by pretending to be a painter.

Meanwhile, Juliet has a visitor from the Seychelles, and Carmelita tells Patrick she thinks she’s being watched.

Dirty Sexy Money airs Wednesdays on ABC at 10:02pm EST.