Got a scoop request? An anonymous tip you’re dying to share? Just want to say hello? Send any/all of the above to askausiello@tvline.com

Question: Do we really have to wait until January 8 for the next Ask Ausiello?! How much time off does one man need? —Julie

Ausiello: I’m powerless to your guilt trips, Julie. That’s why I interrupted my once-a-decade vacation to bring you a new column. Hope you’re happy.

Question: The lack of Once Upon a Time news regarding August W. Booth/Pinocchio and his current state/possible reunion with his dad is getting on my nerves. Please tell me you have a scoop about him? —Angelique

Ausiello: The best answer series cocreator Eddy Kitsis will part with, regarding August being seen again this season, is: “Perhaps.” He goes on to add, “We are hoping to have him back. August is an important part of the fabric of the story, and it’s a story that we are continuing to tell.” In the meantime, though, Kitsis confirms that “you will get the answer” to what it was that August showed Neal Cassidy to convince him of Emma’s fantastical backstory.

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Question: I have a question about Once Upon a Time: Are there any chances to get the Huntsman/Jamie Dornan back? I miss him so much!!!

Ausiello: As has often been the series creators’ refrain, you will maybe someday see Dornan again in a flashback, but never in Storybrooke. “[Sheriff] Graham is dead,” asserts Kitsis, “and if we brought him back, everyone would say we were messing with continuity. We don’t want to do that.” Kitsis notes that last season revealed one love of Emma’s life — son Henry — while this cycle introduced us to another, Neal Cassidy, who likely will resurface during February sweeps. As for a certain pushy pirate? “Hook is obviously eye-candy,” Kitsis allows. “I don’t know if Emma would stare at him and think he’d be a great father to Henry, but he might be fun in Vegas!”

Question: If you’re looking for any belated holiday gifts for me I’m curious in which episode Ed Helms will return to The Office, and what’s to come soon in regards to Erin and Pete, whom I’m already finding infinitely more compatible with Erin than Andy (with all due respect to the ‘Nard dog). —Todd

Ausiello: Helms returned to work on the show right before the Christmas break, so, by my calculations, that puts Andy’s first episode back at around February or March. And as exec producer Greg Daniels points out, “It was very easy for Erin and Pete to be the romantic focus when he wasn’t around,” adding that Andy’s reappearance makes the situation “more of a horserace.” (He also notes that the triangle has stirred up a number of debates in the writers room, which tells me even they don’t know at this point which guy Erin will choose.)

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Question: I am dying for spoilers on The Office. —Becky

Ausiello: Daniels “definitely encourages” fans to watch the show’s Jan. 24 episode. “We start to break down the mystery of who’s behind the documentary,” he teases. “It’s a total explosive mind-bender.”

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Question: Can you tell us more about the Sweets-Daisy awkwardness you mentioned in your Bones‘ 2013 Preview story? —Sophie

Ausiello: The exes are forced to work together on a case later this month and “they’re both nervous about seeing each other,” previews exec producer Stephen Nathan. “And they do confront each other [about the split].” Bonus Scoop: An upcoming episode will find Booth and Brennan investigating a murder at… The People’s Court!

Question: I never see anything about Chicago Fire, which is one of my favorite new shows. I would love some scoop — it would be a wonderful start to 2013. —Noel

Ausiello: I’m about to make your (new) year, Noel. (But spoiler alert: It’s all downhill from here. Kidding. Maybe.) As you know, Everwood‘s Treat Williams will debut later this month as the father of Taylor Kinney’s Kelly. What you probably don’t know is that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. “They’re absolutely cut from the same cloth,” reveals exec producer Derek Haas. “Their relationship is also very complicated, and they haven’t seen each other in quite a long time. Dad’s a well-respected firefighter in his own right who’s now retired. His relationship with [Kelly’s] mom has long since been over, [and now Kelly] is reaching out to him to reconnect.”

Question: I really did not appreciate the blind item bomb you left before Christmas about an actress on a TV drama dying. Just please tell me it’s not Caroline from The Vampire Diaries and all will be forgiven. —Amy

Ausiello: Carline was not the subject of the mini-blind item. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t going to die. Hope that was helpful!

Question: Fans all over the globe are saddened and enraged by Matthew’s exit on Downton Abbey. It might make us feel better to know what Downton has in store for Lady Mary without him. Maybe a new love interest? —Kay

Ausiello: No maybe about it: There will definitely be a new man in her life in Season 4. The only question is, will it be someone we’ve met before or someone brand-spankin’ new?

Question: Thanks for the Sons of Anarchy scoop! As I am mourning the ending of the season, could you please make me feel better by offering up some Justified scoop? Your columns are the best. Been reading since TV Guide. —Amie

Ausiello: Appreciate the kind words and the loyalty, Amie! To show my appreciation, you’re about to get some incredibly specific intel on the opening scene of next Tuesday’s Season 4 premiere, care of exec producer Graham Yost. “It opens with a flashback to something that happened 30 years ago,” he explains. “There’s a guy out getting his paper in the morning in a town in Kentucky, and he goes [back] inside and he hears this whistling sound and a thump. He walks back outside and there’s a man dead in the street with a parachute billowing and a bag broken open with bricks of cocaine spilling out.” The mystery that Yost says will serve “as the spine of the season” is: “Who was that man?” The requisite wrinkle: Arlo probably knows. Bonus Scoop: Newly-minted Mindy Project series regular Beth Grant is set to guest-star toward the end of the season as a character Yost calls “the Mother of Truth.”

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Question: Were you ever able to find out how exactly Kalinda made Nick vanish on The Good Wife? Did she kill him? —George

Ausiello: Exec producer Robert King says he prefers to leave that unanswered question “ambiguous” — for now, at least. “There might be repercussions down the line,” he adds. “But at this moment, it’s mysterious.” Can we at least eliminate murder as a possibility (if for no other reason than to shoot down my colleague Vlada Gelman’s preposterous theory)? Responds fellow EP Michelle King: “We’re not ruling out anything.” That noise you hear is Vlada digging in her heels — and me doing this.