A few tube-veterans that Mikey likes best will/may be heading back to regularly scheduled programming this fall. And since there isn’t much else to talk about today, here’s a run down…

Nathan Fillion, who’s stacking up quite a lengthy roster of recurring characters and failed leading roles, looks certain to be joining Desperate Housewives next season. The good news: DH, while no longer the critical darling it once was, is still a Sunday standard for most of America. He’d find a wider audience than ever before and come that much closer to being recognized for the super-charmer those familiar with his body of work know him to be. The bad news: Marc Cherry isn’t exactly skilled at introducing new characters, and the audience is almost never responsive to their storylines. Also… Nathan would have to kiss Dana Delaney, and she’s a nutter.

Jason Dohring just replaced someone I’ve never heard of for a role on the greenlit CBS vampire drama Moonlight. The good news: Any dose of our prematurely departed Logan Echolls is a blessing indeed, and his knack for playing a charming son of a bitch could translate very well to being a vampire. The bad news: CBS might be the network least likely to successfully pull of horror/sci-fi, and the Moonlight pitch sounds like a David Boreanazless Angel.

Scott Patterson, of Gilmore Girls/Little Big League fame, replaced another guy I’ve never heard of on the CW comedy Aliens in America. The good news: He’ll be playing a tight-pocketed/prematurely codgery father, which won’t be a stretch for him at all. The bad news: IMDB describes the premise as… “A young Muslim student from Pakistan is sent to live with a Christian family in Wisconsin as part of a foreign exchange program.” Stupid idea + crappy network = train wreck.

Elsewhere… Eliza Dushku and Michelle Trachtenberg’s pilots have both been given stays of execution. Though neither made it past the upfronts, ABC and Fox extended options on the casts of both The Hill and Nurses, respectively. In layman’s terms: the shows still aren’t happening, but the execs don’t want the actors to do anything else until they’re positive. If speculation that ABC’s Cavemen will never actually see the light of day ends up being true, Trachtenberg’s show may be picked up after all. I see little hope for the Dushku.