LaRue was on Suspended Animation, and MP + LaRue was his band for G3, so, other than the MP reconciliation, I'm not so sure what's surprising about this.
That's how I see it. Even, when he played with the recent G3, MP probably wasn't free to do it, so he got Mangini.
I don't think so. It seems when it comes to live, JP likes to play with the current DT drummer. So up until 2010, MP was his man. After 2010, MM became the drummer for JP's solo band.
In the studio, it's a bit different. There, JP wants to distance himself more from DT, which is why on SA, he had Dave DiCenso play the drums instead of MP. I would imagine the same is true with TV, even if MP used to be in DT (he's not now).