paleyfest

Last night, the cast of New Girl joined forces for the comedy's PaleyFest panel, where they spilled lots of intel on what's to come throughout the rest of the season. Zooey Deschanel, Hannah Simone, Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris, and Max Greenfield were all in attendance, as was show creator Liz Meriwether. They presented a sneak peek at next week's episode, which features Jess spilling her guts — unintentionally — to Nick while she's on pain pills. We also learned about a dramatic episode ahead that will spell a bit of a departure for the show and the return of some familiar faces. Check out some of the highlights, but be warned: there are some spoilers ahead!

• On the last-minute nature of Nick and Jess's kiss: Liz and producers said that they've struggled a lot with how to handle Nick and Jess's sexual tension. In fact, Zooey said, the kiss between them was a last-minute addition to the episode, pitched just a few days before it was shot. Jake added: "I think that episode was really well written." He also said he wanted the kiss to happen for a long time!
• On Cece and Schmidt's future: The moderator suggested that Cece and Schmidt are going through a bit of a "rocky patch" after the last episode's proposal. "She's engaged to another man and you call that a bit of a rocky patch? You are a hopeful man," Hannah joked. Max also weighed in: "I really think what we start to do with them is that we realize that both these characters needed to grow up themselves before they could be together. And I think, especially on Schmidt's end, there's a lot of room."
• On moving the show to Chicago for a new episode: "Nick's father passes away," producer Dave Finkel revealed, and the roommates head to Illinois for the funeral. "We're really fortunate that the cast of people are really great comedy actors, but also very good actors, so every now and then we allow ourselves to do something that gets into a little deeper territory than the average sitcom."
• On whether we'll ever learn Schmidt's first name: The producers said they almost revealed Schmidt's name on the last season of the show and had even written it into the script, but decided to cut it out — they wouldn't reveal it to the audience last night. "I like Schmidt. I don't ever want to know what it is," Max said. Jake added: "It's like Cher. It's Schmidt."

To read more about New Girl's future and behind-the-scenes secrets, just keep reading.

PaleyFest hosted a red carpet and panel discussion with the cast of Nashville at the Saban Theatre yesterday in LA, and we were on hand to chat with the stars of the drama. The show returns to the airwaves on March 27, and the cast gave us some clues about what to expect from the show's many romantic entanglements. They also weighed in on what they've heard about the show getting picked up for a second season and the rumors of a Nashville concert tour. We also got the scoop on a few famous faces who will be appearing on the series before this season comes to a close. Here are some highlights:

• It was recently announced that The O.C. alum Chris Carmack will be joining the cast as Scarlett's new neighbor. While Clare Bowen and Sam Palladio were both mum on whether his arrival will spell trouble for their relationship, Sam did say that his brother's death will create some tension between them. "It's gonna be hard," Sam told us. "He ends up taking it out on Scarlett a little bit."
• The cast wouldn't confirm or deny the possibility of a future Nashville concert tour. During the panel, Charles Estes said, "I know there’s talk about it, but it’s in vague stages . . . but there’s nothing very concrete about it.”
• Connie Britton told us she is all for things between Deacon and Rayna heating up. "Oh, I'm pro. I'm pro all of it," she told us on the red carpet. "I love Deacon and Rayna together."
• The series has already had some famous faces from the music world stop by, and there are clearly more to come. Clare told us she's been working with Vince Gill and would love to see Dolly Parton on a future episode. Meanwhile, Hayden Panettiere joked with us that she'd like to see Diddy and Juliette do a duet.