'Life' to relaunch; 'Chuck' plans shower fight

TCA -- Because NBC's "Life" has spent so much time on the shelf because of the writers strike, producers are approaching the second season as if it's the first.

"We are re-launching the show," "Life" creator Rand Ravich says. "Our episode one this season is sort of a pilot. If you have never seen the show before, you can come to this episode and be instantly up to date. We are relaunching the show and it will be a pilot."

When "Life" premieres Sept. 29, the show will get NBC's best time period -- Monday's at 10 p.m. after "Heroes" -- before shifting to its regular time period.

Meanwhile, "Chuck" creator Josh Schwartz was asked if was annoyed by NBC scheduling "Chuck" in the same Monday night time period as his CW show "Gossip Girl."

"It's a good problem to have, but I rather not have to do that," he says. "I begged everybody involved to not have that problem. But it's a high-class problem to have, and hopefully both shows will be able to find their audiences and survive."

Added "Chuck" star Zach Levi: "I think that people who are really into 'Gossip Girl' are really into 'Gossip Girl,' and the people who are really into 'Chuck' will leave us for 'Gossip Girl.' "

For the guest appearance by Nicole Richie, "Chuck" is planning an epic fight scene between Richie and Yvonne Strahovski set in a high school shower.

"Nicole Richie is playing a super villain and has a pretty bad-ass fight sequence with Yvonne  where they're attacking each other with pipes and plumbing," Schwartz says."The old high school shower becomes a seriously wet showdown."