Sci Fi Channel/Entertainment Weekly Party is a Hot Spot at Comic-Con

It's official. The Sci Fi Channel/Entertainment Weekly party at Comic-Con is one of the hottest tickets of the year.

This bash is so hot, in fact, that industry insiders in Los Angeles begin buzzing about it weeks before the Con takes place. Any conversation that begins with the question "Are you going to Comic-Con?" inevitably includes the following advice: "Get yourself invited to the Sci Fi Channel/EW party!" I heard this time and again throughout the Television Critics Tour in Beverly Hills, which concluded one day before Comic-Con began.

I've attended this event during each of the last two Comic-Cons, and I think it is safe to say that there isn't another annual party like it in the entertainment business. Maybe it's the spirit of the Con - most of the guests at the party, like most of the more than 100,000 convention goers that pour into San Diego every year near the end of July - are here because they have strong personal and/or professional interest in the science-fiction and fantasy genres. Several hundred casually attired network and studio executives, producers, A- and B-list celebrities, agents and journalists gather together in a relaxed environment on the fourth floor rooftop deck of the Hotel Solamar after two or three very busy days of travel, panels, interviews, booth appearances and other activities - including, in most cases, walking the enormous floor of the San Diego Convention Center and taking it all in, which can fill hours.

The rooftop at San Diego's Hotel Solamar, site of the annual Sci Fi/EW party at Comic-Con.

As celebrities enter the party they work the red carpet that runs the length of the pool. They know that journalists won't pounce on them once they are finished with their interviews, so they mingle freely with each other and, in general, with anyone who wants to talk about the Con and related subjects. Both years I have taken note of the fact that J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon, two gods of the Comic-Con crowd, arrived early and stayed late. Last year Whedon was overheard exclaiming, "So this is what a party is like - when it doesn't suck!"

The crowd at this year's party included Jamie Bamber, Michael Trucco, Katee Sackhoff, James Callis and other cast members from Battlestar Galactica; the three stars of FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (a personal favorite of Lostexecutive producer Damon Lindelof, who was also at the party and who moderated a panel for Sunny the next morning); Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku; Desperate Housewives and Dr. Horrible star Nathan Fillion; Kyle XY star Matt Dallas; Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me creator Bryan Fuller; Farscape star Ben Browder, Heroes villain Zachary Scinto; new Smallville villain Sam Witwer, and the always approachable star of Chuck, Zachary Levi. When I left at 1:30 a.m., Matthew Fox of Lost was still holding court in one of the pillow-filled cabanas that line two sides of the space.

"Much like the convention, the energy here is super positive," Fillion told me. "Everybody's excited. Everybody's here for a good time. It's not that L.A. 'where are they and what can they do for me?' vibe."

This is one of those rare parties that people attend not because they have to but because they want to, and not so much to do business as to take a break from it and relax. If the point of throwing a party is to build buzz, then Sci Fi and EW have it down. But this party also builds good will. That's much harder to do.