ATX Television Festival Preview: The West Wing, Ugly Betty, Rescue Me, and More

ATX Television Festival Preview: The West Wing, Ugly Betty, Rescue Me, and More

Ashley Bissette Sumerel ATX Television Festival, Bones, Friday Night Lights, Grey's Anatomy, The 100

The ATX Television Festival is gearing up for its fifth season, and we’re counting down the days.

There’s a LOT to look forward to with this year’s festival, including the recently announced reunion panel for The West Wing featuring creator/executive producer Aaron Sorkin and director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme, along with cast members Bradley Whitford, Dule Hill, Joshua Malina, Richard Schiff and Janel Moloney.

The festival’s closing night event will be the 10-year reunion of Ugly Betty presented by EW, featuring cast members America Ferrera, Eric Mabius, Becki Newton, Michael Urie, Ashley Jensen, Ana Ortiz, Tony Plana, Mark Indelicato, Vanessa Williams, and Rebecca Romijn

Additionally, the festival will feature reunion panels for Everybody Loves Raymond and Rescue Me, and writer’s room reunions for The Shield and The O.C.

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This year’s Achievement in Television eXcellence Award will be presented to television icon Norman Lear, who is known for producing such series as All in the Family, Maude, and The Jeffersons.

Bones creator Hart Hanson will also be in attendance, along with Grey’s Anatomy executive producer Betsy Beers, The 100 creator/executive producer Jason Rothenberg, and Colony creator/executive producer Ryan Condal.

TV Land’s Younger is also returning to the festival, with creator/executive producer Darren Star and cast members, Sutton Foster, Debi Mazar, Miriam Shor, Hilary Duff, Nico Tortorella, Molly Bernard, and Peter Hermann.

One of the festival’s newest ambassadors, Abigail Spencer (Rectify, True Detective) will also be returning this year along with Mae Whitman (State of Grace, Parenthood, Arrested Development) and Matt Lauria (Kingdom, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood).

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Check out the full list of panelists (so far) here.

You can also take a look back at our coverage of last year’s festival, including a recap of the Gilmore Girls Reunion Panel here: ATX Television Festival

The ATX Television Festival will take place June 9-12 in Austin, Texas.

Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.