Partyhopper

From In Style's Glynis Costin in Los Angeles: Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, House ... no this is not my must-TiVo list (though it is, in fact, part of it). Actually these are just a few of the hot shows whose stars turned out at a fete we threw the other night for our managing editor, Charla Lawhon.

Charla Lawhon,  Kristen Bell and stylist Nicole Chavez

Charla loves television. She can—and will—happily tell you intricate plot twists from Veronica Mars  and who is likely to have an affair with whom on say, Bones. So on Wednesday night, our bureau threw what we call Charla’s TV Dinner to celebrate her being in L.A. for a few days.

It’s the second time we’ve done it, and it’s one of our favorite evenings. Basically, we invite a smattering of TV stars from shows that we know and love, as well as some folks we want to meet from the newer ones, for a intimate dinner at Mastro's Steakhouse. And the food is anything but TV dinner-ish. (We’re talking rib-eye steaks, mashed potatoes, mac 'n' cheese, asparagus, shrimp, oysters and, of course, plenty of red wine.) 

Here are some tidbits from our fun-filled evening:

Kyle MacLachlan, Glynis, James Denton and Sara Ramirez

• Sexy Sara Ramirez from Grey’s Anatomy came fresh from doing The Ellen DeGeneres Show, looking very hot in a black dress and some glam glittery gold pumps. “It’s all about the shoes,” she said, twisting them for me to admire. (By the way, the Tony-winning actress is super-tall!)

• Some of us were wondering why the waiters kept fawning over Bones star David Boreanaz and his pretty blond wife, Jamie Bergman, who told us they had just bought a new condo in Park City, Utah. Turns out they are Mastro's regulars. "We come here all the time and bring our son," Boreanaz said. “He loves the macaroni and cheese.” Last week, they celebrated five years of marriage. I told them that was worth double in Hollywood, and they agreed!

• Kristen Bell, looking gorgeous in a Monique Lhuillier dress, showed up late—but we excused her. She had been accepting an award with her Veronica Mars co-star Enrico Colantoni for Best Father-Daughter Duo at the Family Television Awards.

• James Denton, from Desperate Housewives, chatted up fellow musician Greg Grunberg, from the new hit show Heroes. The two are in a group called the Band from TV (Denton plays guitar, while Grunberg is a drummer. Bonnie Somerville handles vocals, by the way, and Hugh Laurie is on keyboards. A CD is coming soon!)

Amanda Detmer

• Amanda Detmer, in a striking gold Nanette Lepore coat, told me that she is thrilled to be on What About Brian, but that women come up to her in the grocery store and act as if she is her character. “They tell me they’re going through a divorce and they want my advice,” she said. “I just nicely tell them, 'Um, look, I’m not Deena, and I can’t really give you advice. I'm so sorry.'”

• Tracee Ellis Ross, from Girlfriends, whose beautiful home appears in our February issue, told us she loves doing fake accents, and she regaled guests with her British and N.Y. voices. She added that her mom (that would be, um, Diana Ross!) tries to do accents sometimes, too, but Tracee claims she isn’t as good at it. (Well, let's just say Diana does make up for it in other areas.)

Erika Christensen, In Style's Ali Forman and Mark Feuerstein

• Turns out Tracee went to high school in New York with our fellow guest Mark Feuerstein. I told him that his short film Lazy Monday—a "rebuttal" to Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell of SNL's short film Lazy Sunday—was brilliant. I even made a fool of myself quoting from it. But he was thrilled that I knew it and said it was a blast to do.

• And here’s a "Who knew?": Feuerstein and Dave Annable from Brothers and Sisters confessed that they watch—and love—Project Runway. Both admitted they were a little upset that Jeffrey won this season, and Mark liked Laura's clothes—he thought they were the most wearable. (Hmm. Maybe he could have a second career as a fashion designer?)

Sarah Jane Morris, Erika Christensen Minka Kelly

• Clark Gregg, from The New Adventures of Old Christine, was intrigued by a cell-phone service he'd just discovered. You simply text-message 46645 on your Blackberry or Treo, asking almost anything you want. "Look, I just asked who won Best Actor in 1983," he said, showing me his screen. "And they sent me the answer in seconds."  (Robert Duvall for Tender Mercies, by the way.) But when we asked it who had won the most Oscars of all time, it couldn't answer for some reason. So I tapped my In Style colleague Mark Morrison (our resident Oscars expert), and he replied "Katharine Hepburn" in a nanosecond. Piece of cake.

• Speaking of cake, it was Mark's birthday, and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. His pal Kyle MacLachlan (who is on Desperate Housewives this season) even helped him blow out the candles on a yummy red velvet cake.

Camille Guaty, In Style's Karen Levy and Cortney Pelletieri,
ICM's Meredith Wechter and In Style's Kwala Mandel

• Our other fabulous guests included Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison (House), Josh Cook (Big Day), Camille Guaty (The Nine and Prison Break), Erika Christensen (Six Degrees), Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), Matthew Rhys and Sarah Jane Morris (Brothers and Sisters), Matt Czuchry (Gilmore Girls) and Matt Davis (What About Brian).

What’s your favorite new show of the season, and what do you TiVo? Just hit the comment button below and let us know.

-- James Patrick Herman