Barkley v. City of Sylmar: Didn't happen

Now that he's come and gone, we think without incident, we can tell you that Charles Barkley was in Sylmar on Wednesday.

Not to unwillingly visit the local department of corrections facility, asked to hammer a few boulders in the prison yard. He was, however, in a courtroom setting -- shooting a few new promos for the upcoming TNT NBA season. This, after he spent the weekend in the Palm Springs area with the network's coverage of the Phoenix-Denver outdoor exhibition game at the Indian Wells Tennis Center.

The premise for the new spots has Barkley testifying before Congress on a series of charges from statement he's made on the air. The four spots include Fred Thompson, the former Republican presidental candidate and actual D.C. statesman (a senator from Tennessee) who grills Barkley for comments he'd made on the air about NBA players.

Barkley was in Sylmar for seven hours doing the taping on the courtroom set. This, after being grilled by Larry King on his political stances for "Larry King Live" on CNN the night before from the show's L.A. studios.

The spots, directed by Scott Duncan (the brother of Spurs star Tim Duncan), will start airing the week of Oct. 27.

A TNT spokesperson says they're quite humorous, and are in the same, top-notch quality as promos shot in recent years featuring Jay Z and Jeremy Piven: