Ellen Gray | For Rob McElhenney, it's 'Sunny' & he still gets 'Lost'

PASADENA, Calif. - "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" creator and star Rob McElhenney is about to get "Lost."

The St. Joe's prep grad, whose show goes back into production for a third season Feb. 19 - expect to see crews filming scenes around Philadelphia sometime in March, with the show returning this summer - is reaping an unexpected reward from his FX gig.

Fans in high places.

"I went to a dinner party and when I walked in, there were these two guys there, and someone said, 'Hey, these guys really want to meet you,' and I said, 'Oh, OK,' " McElhenney recalled in an interview during the Television Critics Association's winter meetings.

The pair turned out to be big fans of McElhenney's FX comedy, which has become something of a cult fave (translation: lowish ratings, highish profile) and picked up a bit of ratings steam when Danny DeVito joined the cast last year.

They also turned out to be writers on ABC's "Lost."

"It's my favorite show on the air," said McElhenney of "Lost." When the writers told him that "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof was also a big "It's Always Sunny" fan, he asked if "I could maybe come by and just see [their] offices," he said.

"Because we didn't even have a writers' room," he said.

So he was looking for decorating tips?

"Yes, exactly," he said. "I just wanted to see how a real show functions. I went on to the Disney lot, and it's this big, beautiful office, with arcade games . . . and I met Damon. And he kind of gave me a tour, and he said, 'Hey, if you ever want to be on the show, let me know.' And I was like, 'Yes, I will be on the show, please.' "

McElhenney's signed no confidentiality agreements, but there's honor among TV writers, nevertheless, so he'll discuss his role in only the sketchiest of terms.

"I play an Other," he said, and he'll appear in the "first episode back from the hiatus." (That's currently scheduled for Feb. 7.)

"I will say I get beaten up pretty bad, by one of the . . . handsomer members of the cast," he said, laughing.

Beating aside, "it was awesome," he said. "Free trip to Hawaii. Not bad."

McElhenney doesn't see himself having the time for a return engagement, though he did suggest to the "Lost" writers that they were welcome to write an episode of "It's Always Sunny" anytime they wanted.

"But," he said, "they're way too busy over there."

A couple of long waits end Sunday, as "24" (8 p.m., Channel 29) and "Rome" (9 p.m., HBO) return with new seasons.

Fox, sticking with the tried and true, will launch Jack Bauer's latest assault on our senses with another of its two-night, four-hour rollouts.

I could tell you how Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) makes it back from China in time to save whatever part of the world NBC's "Heroes" isn't protecting, but then I would have to kill you.

After which assassins from Fox would be dispatched to kill me.

What I can tell you is that while "Day 6" requires the same willing suspension of disbelief as all of Jack's previous Very Bad Days, it also seems to have a bit more to say than usual, as the series explores just how far some Americans might be willing to go to remain safe in an unsafe world.

In addition, it has the splendid Peter MacNicol, whose "Numbers" character was recently shot into space so that MacNicol could take a break to do "24."

Just don't expect to like him.

Likability's hardly a factor, either, in "Rome," whose second - and final - season takes up where last season left off, with Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds) lying dead on the floor of the Forum and the conspirators in disarray.

The series' two "Zelig"-like characters, Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Pullo (Ray Stevenson), are back, pursuing their fictional romances and tragedies as their social betters jockey for power.

The glory that is "Rome," though, still lies in the private lives of those more public figures, first among them Atia (Polly Walker), mother to Caesar's heir, Octavian (Max Pirkis), whose war against Servilia (Lindsay Duncan), mother of Brutus (Tobias Menzies), is conducted with a ruthlessness on both sides that would put even Jack Bauer to shame. *