Jonathan Banks (top) and Kurtwood Smith.

As I previously reported, Lost‘s Henry Ian Cusick and CSI‘s Larry Sullivan will return in Body of Proof‘s Season Three finale, titled “Daddy Issues.” Now, I’ve learned that the episode–written by Corey Miller–will also feature guest turns from Jonathan Banks, who exited the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad this past summer, and Kurtwood Smith of 24 and That ’70s Show fame. Details on the roles were not immediately available.

Since exiting Breaking Bad, Banks has been enjoying guest appearances on Vegas and Parks and Recreation. For his part, Smith can next be seen in tomorrow night’s episode of Wedding Band.

Body of Proof returns February 5 as one of ABC’s mid-season replacement series. “Daddy Issues,” the third season’s thirteenth episode, does not yet have an air date.

Democratic strategist Frank Landau (Mike Pniewski, center) forces Eli (Alan Cumming, right) to work with Jordan Karahalios (T.R. Knight, left) a savvy campaign manager, on THE GOOD WIFE, Sunday Jan. 6 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Jeff Neira/CBS ©2012 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Knight appears in the episode titled “Boom De Ya Da,” which also marks the return of Michael J. Fox as slick and sly Louis Canning. Are you excited to see Knight back on the TV? Sound off in the comments!

Sources confirm to me exclusively that the seventh episode of Season 3–the same installment to feature Lost‘s Henry Ian Cusick–will introduce Megan’s father, although there is a small catch. Commander In Chief and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation actor Larry Sullivan has booked the role of Dr. David Hunt, which will first been seen via photos (from the past) during a therapy session. Joanna Cassidy has portrayed Megan’s mom on the show over the past two seasons.

As of now, the cameo appearance is set for just one episode; however, sources close to the show tell me there’s always a chance a flashback or two could arise somewhere down the line.

Henry Ian Cusick (photo: ABC)

Cusick, who co-starred on last season’s Scandal before departing the series at the start of Season 2, will appear on BOP‘s seventh episode “Eye for an Eye,” sources confirm to me. He’ll play a therapist who Megan (Dana Delany) seeks after a secret from her family’s past comes back to haunt her. The series is slated to return at mid-season for its rebooted Season 3 and no official air date has been set for the episode. Corey Miller wrote the installment.

Just last year, Cusick guest-starred on Fringe, which is set to end after this season.

DECEMBER 5, 2012 UPDATE: Sources now confirm to me that Cusick will appear in the Seas0n 3 finale, which is titled “Daddy Issues.” ABC announced  Monday that the show will return this February with brand new episodes.

Brandon W. Jones (photo: Erin Ross)

Brandon W. Jones, who is having quite the busy fall with recurring roles on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Pretty Little Liars, in addition to a guest-starring turn on Supernatural, has been cast in an upcoming episode of the CBS comedy series, I have learned exclusively. In the episode, the seventh installment of the show’s second season, Jones will play an Amish kid named Jebediah. No other details were available, though the episode is expected to air this November.

On CSI, Jones plays the son of Ted Danson‘s DB Russell, a role he’ll reprise this November. In 2013, he’ll begin an arc on the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars. His other credits include Jane By Design, The Finder, and Lie To Me.

Christine Baranski and Josh Charles. THE GOOD WIFE (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Jeffrey Neira/CBS

Fans of the CBS drama The Good Wife know that the series thrives when the personal and the political storylines intertwine with another. For Juliana Margulies‘s character Alicia Florrick, she often finds herself stuck in the cross-hairs of being a defense attorney at Lockhart Gardner with an extreme connection to the Cook County States Attorney Office, which is overseen by Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), her husband of which she constantly finds herself struggling to completely forgive after all his betrayals of trust and misdeeds. In Season Four–which premieres September 30 at 9P.M. on CBS–all of the political and personal drama will be amplified as the series tackles financial bankruptcy at the prestigious Lockhart Gardner Law Firm, a dangerous reunion between Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi) and her ex-husband Nick (Marc Warren), and a tense election for the governor’s seat.

Husband and wife producing team Robert King and Michelle King and the cast discuss the upcoming season in the following videos provided by CBS. And be sure to check out a bonus Emmy Nominations video which features many of the show’s Emmy nominees chatting about the upcoming awards ceremony.

Jon Wellner (photo: CBS)

The spin-off to TNT’s soon-to-depart drama The Closer has booked Jon Wellner for an upcoming guest spot, I have learned exclusively. In “The Shame Game,” the seventh episode airing in the show’s debut season, Wellner will play Craig Willis, a 28-year-old public defender who does not find the questioning of his client amusing. His episode is slated to air in October.

Wellner was recently promoted to series regular on the CBS staple CSI. He’s portrayed toxicoligst Henry Andrews for the past seven seasons.

Parks and Recreation

Retta & Jim O’Heir

Part of what makes Parks and Recreation TV’s top comedy is the outstanding ensemble cast surrounding Amy Poehler. And while most from the Pilot–including relatively recent additions Rob Lowe and Adam Scott–have deservedly made their way into the show’s opening credits, two have not: Retta as the sassy, sharp-witted Donna and Jim O’Heir as the office’s resident klutz Jerry Gergich. Going forward into Season 5 it is my sincere hope that the show adds these two to the main titles, because at this point it seems like such a simple mistake Jerry would make.

The Good Wife

Carrie Preston & Juliana Margulies

There’s not much to quibble about on CBS’ smartest and most addictive drama The Good Wife. The show continues to raise its game every season with intelligent story telling and incredible performances from its series regulars and guest stars, which brings me to this: Carrie Preston needs to be brought on full-time. It wouldn’t be impossible to integrate the “dizzy like a fox” Elsbeth Tascioni into the fold in a natural and organic way (Lockhart-Gardner continues to struggle without a third name-partner, and Tascioni is one of the most clever, resourceful lawyers in The Good Wife universe) and her scenes always leave you hanging for more. True, she’s a series-regular on HBO’s True Blood, but to be completely honest her talent is not being utilized well enough in Bon Temps as it is in her every-now-and-then appearance on The Good Wife. And that’s just criminal.

Revenge

Emily VanCamp & Madeleine Stowe

The season finale left a humdinger of a twist: Victoria Grayson was apparently killed while en route to testify in court. There’s no way in hell the series would bump off one of the most deliciously insane characters currently gracing the television landscape, and Madeleine Stowe continues to receive rave reviews for her performance. So when the show returns in the fall, and Victoria is perfectly fine and healthy, can we please see the two leading ladies band together to take down those who have destroyed so much in their lives? Now that there’s obvious common goals and objectives between The Hamptons’ leading matriarch and Amanda Clarke, all signs point to those two kicking some serious ass together.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Louise Lombard

Television staple CSI continues to find success after twelve seasons on the air, and just recently wrapped one of its most creatively strong in years. As the show marches into Season 13, is it too much to ask for Louise Lombard‘s permanent return? Lombard left the show in Season 8 after playing CSI/Detective Sofia Curtis for three years, and made a quick guest spot in an installment during Season 11. And while I’m personally loving the additions of Ted Danson, Elisabeth Shue, and Elisabeth Harnois, I continue to hope for more appearances from toothpick-totin’ Deputy Chief Sofia Curtis. The show recently upped Jon Wellner to series regular after appearing on the show for seven years, joining fellow lab-tech groupies David Berman, Wallace Langham, and Robert David Hall. Can there be another detective in the series regular mix to accompany Paul Guilfoyle‘s Jim Brass? I certainly say there can be.

Grey’s Anatomy

Sarah Drew & Kevin McKidd

I can’t talk about Grey’s Anatomy‘s season finale without turning into an emotional Hulk. To keep things short, I will never agree with Shonda Rhime‘s decision to off Chyler Leigh‘s innocent and lovable Lexi Grey in a permanent fashion and won’t accept Kim Raver‘s exit until Dr. Teddy gets her own spinoff. I will however welcome the most brutal and traumatizing exits for Kevin McKidd’s increasingly frustrating Owen and the ever annoying April Kapner (Sarah Drew). Those two grated on nerves for almost the entirety of this past season, and are left with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Ugh.

"Mind Games" - Dana Delany and Nicholas Bishop (Photo: ABC)

Last night’s season finale, “Mind Games,” had one doozy of a cat-and-mouse game between resident medical examiner Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) and convicted serial killer Wilson Polley (Peter Stormare). Polley, a killer who used an Egyptian Hook in his killings, resurfaced after a new victim appeared with similar findings to his past victims. In the final moments of the hour, Polley escaped from prison and managed to weasel his way into Megan’s place of business, engaging in a full-on hostage situation (Egyptian Hook included!) before co-worker Peter Dunlop (Nicholas Bishop) came to Megan’s rescue. Unfortunately for Peter, his fate was more omoinous: while in a dramatic scuffle, Polley managed to stab the hero with the case’s murder weapon before plummeting to his death, with Megan rushing to her friend and colleague’s aid. Then, in a rather ambiguous move, the show cut to black. C’mon!

To discuss the important episode at hand, Supervising Producer (and writer of the episode) Allen MacDonald, a former CSI producer, hopped on the phone with Shane Saunders to discuss the  big moments and the future of the show.

Shane Saunders: Last night’s season–and potential series finale–took an interesting direction. What kind of discussion was there as to how big of a cliffhanger you guys would end on?

Allen MacDonald: We intially had a pickup of thirteen episodes, and it was toward the end of last year ABC called and picked us up for three more. The math is a little complicated; we had an original thirteen order, and then we got a script pickup for two more scripts. When you get a script pickup, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a production order. When we got the pickup for the back three episodes for a total of sixteen episodes for the season, which it’s really a twenty-episode season because four of the episodes from last season never aired, that last episode was a surprise. When I found out I was writing it with [Writer's Assistant] Caren Rubenstone and once we knew we had that one additional episode, we kind of thought to just go balls out with it, like we had done with the two parter. If people look at this season, they’ll see we really upped the ante with “Going Viral”; wanted to make it exciting and action-packed as possible. We didn’t want to lose the momentum so we upped the stakes even more. We definitely, almost immediately spoke of having a cliffhanger at the end. We knew immediately that we were going to put Megan’s life in jeopardy.

Saunders: You just mentioned getting the additional script order, so what was the finale set to be originally?

MacDonald: The two parter.

Saunders: Did the writers always know it was going to be Peter in the state of peril at the end?

MacDonald: No, interestingly enough it was originally going to be Aiden Wells, played by Jamie Bamber. When Caren and I did the outline, and when I wrote the original draft of the script, it was all going to be Aiden Wells whose life is put in jeopardy. As we wrote it we had so much going on, that if you’re going to put someone’s life in jeopardy like that, you need them to have a real presence to kind of wrap the episode so you feel the dramatic and emotional impact. There just wasn’t a lot of room for Aiden, plus Peter was very heavy in the story. We all looked at each other and thought there would be more of an emotional impact because the audience has known Peter longer. Peter and Megan have always had a close relationship, and that was one of the reasons we amped up that tension. If something happens to someone you don’t want that last memory to be an argument or disagreement.

Saunders: Were you guys able to talk about the resolution to the cliffhanger, should the series get renewed? Do you have any idea how that will play out?

MacDonald: Yes, but I can’t talk about that, obviously. [Laughs.]

Saunders: I had a feeling that something might happen to Peter. There was such a conflict between them. At one point I just assumed, “Shit is about to hit the fan.”

MacDonald: Yeah, it did. That’s interesting that you say that. The thing we did in editing that editor Tirsa Hackshaw did I thought so brilliantly, it was her idea to add that flashforward in the very beginning of the episode. She added that shot of the elevator opening and you hear that ding of the elevator, and then you see someone attack Megan, so the audience assumes that when the elevator opens it’s Wilson coming out of the elevator, but when the audience sees it later on it’s actually Peter coming to help her. I thought that was great, because it kind of helped work against the expectation that you just mentioned.

Saunders: The big bad was Peter Stormare, and he’s so terrific at playing villainous roles. Was he always considered for the role or did you have other actors in mind? He certainly had a Hannibal Lecter vibe to him.

MacDonald: It was obviously intentional that the episode was loosely inspired by Silence of the Lambs; we were looking to recreate that Clarice/Hannibal dynaminc with Wilson and Megan. I did not have him in mind for the role; a lot of people were considered. In casting sometimes, it can get very complicated and decisions aren’t made up until the very last minute. Peter was someone we were pursuing during the pre-production of the script, but the deal was not made until the night before we started shooting.

Saunders: How confident are you guys feeling on a Season Three?

MacDonald: I think we are a true bubble show; it could go either way very easily. Certainly, the fact that the ratings have rebounded with the last three episodes is really a feather in our cap.