Tuesday, at ABC’s winter Television Critics Association panel, the network’s head honcho, Stephen McPherson, gave reporters some good news: they have officially picked up Modern Family, Cougar Town and The Middle for second seasons.

He also acknowledged that they were disappointed with Ugly Betty’s performance on Friday nights and they’re hoping it will do better in its new Wed. 10 p.m. time slot. He told reporters, “We still love that show.” Hopefully, that means that it won’t get canceled anytime soon.

Apparently, they feel the same way about Castle and also plan to keep that show, which has struggled as well, around. He added that Heat Wave, the second Nikki Heat book from Richard Castle, is planned for a September 2010 release.

As far as fan faves Scrubs and Better Off Ted, they aren’t dead yet. “I love those shows,” said McPherson. “I did resurrect Scrubs, so I would hope that there’s a potential that that could grow, but I’m not going to lie and say those numbers are working for us.” A decision on the fate of both Scrubs and B.O.T. will be made when the current string of episodes ends later this month. But don’t hold your breath for another season, my guess is, they’re both dead.

Two of television’s biggest sitcom stars will be reuniting for a very special episode of ABC’s Cougar Town.

Series star Courteney Cox will be teaming up with her Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow for an episode of the freshman show on Wednesday. The duo spent 10 seasons with each other on the NBC’s massively successful Friends, which ran from 1994 until its retirement in 2004. In the Cougar Town episode, Kudrow will play a “nasty dermatologist who digs her claws into Cobb’s ex-husband.”

“I get to play a really mean person,” teased Kudrow, “so that’s really fun.” The two actresses didn’t just play friends on television; they are also close in their personal lives. In an interview, Kudrow said she would have taken any role on the ABC comedy as long as she didn’t have to be naked. Something Cox hasn’t had a problem with. “I’ve turned a corner,” says Cox, joking about her age. “Now that I’m this age, I’ve decided to go as nude as possible.”

“You look great,” Kudrow extolled.

“No, Lisa, I’m lit well,” Cox retorted.

“Well, I could be on the surface of the sun, and it wouldn’t look good,” Kudrow quipped.

“I really wanted Lisa to be on the show, if she would,” said Cox, who has a standing invitation to all of her former cast-mates from Friends: David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston. “First of all, she’s so unbelievably talented. I knew she’d go out there and play a really fun character, so it just kind of worked out perfectly for her to play a dermatologist that is very judgmental and not nice. She takes those risks. … It was great.”

Kudrow is returning the favor to Cox. Last year, Cox guest-starred on Kudrow’s online improv series, Web Therapy, as a psychic looking to get her sixth sense back from Kudrow’s matter-of-fact therapist.