Emmy Noms! Go Glee!

So the Emmy nominations for this year are out.

And  you may or may not have heard this yet but, GLEE GOT THE MOST NOMINATIONS! NINETEEN! THAT’S MORE THAN MAD MEN! IT’S CRAZYAWESOME!

YEAH!

Anyway, here are the categories whose results I sort of care about:

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:
Larry David of Curb Your Enthusiasm
Tony Shaloub of Monk
Steve Carell of The Office
Matthew Morrison of Glee
Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory
Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock

I’d be really pleased if Alec Baldwin did not win and the award went to Jim Parsons or Matthew Morrison (although his best performing was not the comedic parts of Glee) instead. But I don’t expect that will happen.

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Amy Poehler of Parks and Recreation
Edie Falco of Nurse Jackie
Julia Louis-Dreyfus of The New Adventures of Old Christine
Lea Michele of Glee
Toni Collette of United States of Tara
Tina Fey of 30 Rock

I’ve pretty much only seen Lea Michele’s performance, so I can’t speak to the chances of anyone else beating out Tina Fey and/or this year’s Golden Globe winner Toni Collette.

Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Jon Hamm of Mad Men
Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights
Hugh Laurie of House
Michael C. Hall of Dexter
Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad
Matthew Fox of Lost

It’d be pretty cool if Matthew Fox won, but he’d have to beat out all these other heavy-hitters. This one could go in pretty much any direction (although the inclusion of Kyle Chandler is certainly interesting).

Lead Actress in a Drama Series
January Jones of Mad Men
Kyra Sedgwick of The Closer
Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: SVU
Glenn Close of Damages
Julianna Margulies of The Good Wife
Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights

Again with the FNL inclusion. Huh. Anyway, I’m really hoping Julianna Margulies’ll beat out the cable ladies on this one.

Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Modern Family
The Office
30 Rock
Nurse Jackie
Glee

GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE!! GLEEEEEEE!! Seriously. It needs to happen.

Drama Series
True Blood
Dexter
Mad Men
The Good Wife
Breaking Bad
Lost

Just not True Blood or Mad Men and I’ll be pleased enough.

Reality Series
American Idol
Dancing with the Stars
The Amazing Race
Project Runway
Top Chef

I don’t actually care about this category. I just wanted the opportunity to mention that the fact that So You Think You Can Dance never gets nominated for this is CRAP.

Variety/Music/Comedy Series
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
Saturday Night Live
Real Time with Bill Maher

Does the world explode if The Daily Show doesn’t win? Because, well, what with the whole Conan nonsense this year, it could happen…maybe…

Casting for a Comedy Series
Glee
Nurse Jackie
Modern Family
30 Rock
United States of Tara

GLEEEEEEEE!

Casting for a Drama Series
Mad Men
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
True Blood
The Good Wife

Is FNL ending? Is that why it is suddenly showing up all over the place?

Outstanding Choreography
Mia Michaels (So You Think You Can Dance) for “Gravity,” “Koop Island Blues,” and “One”
Chelsie Hightower and Derek Hough (Dancing with the Stars) for “Paso Doble/Malaquena”
Adam Shankman for the Oscars
Stacey Tookey (So You Think You Can Dance) for “Fear”
Derek Hough (Dancing with the Stars) for “Futuristic Paso Doble/Living on Video” and “Quickstep/Anything Goes”

I love these Mia Michaels routines so I want her to win. And I love Chelsie Hightower so I want her to win. And I love love love Adam Shankman so I really want him to win. But I saw that first Derek Hough routine (pretty much the only DwtS I’ve ever seen) and it was fucking brilliant. So…sorry Stacey Tookie? (Unless you win.)

Outstanding Commercial

All you need to know is, the Old Spice Man has been nominated and HE NEEDS TO WIN.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Jesse Tyler of Modern Family
Chris Colfer of Glee
Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men
Ty Burrell of Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet of Modern Family
Neil Patrick Harris of How I Met Your Mother

OH. MY. GOD. CHRIS COLFER NEEDS TO WIN. NEEDS.

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
John Slattery of Mad Men
Martin Short of Damages
Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad
Terry O’Quinn of Lost
Michael Emerson of Lost
Andre Braugher of Men of a Certain Age

Obviously I’m supporting the Lost men – either/both of them – in this category.

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Jane Lynch of Glee
Jane Krakowski of 30 Rock
Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live
Sofia Vergara of Modern Family
Julie Bowen of Modern Family
Holland Taylor of Two and a Half Men

JANE. LYNCH.

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Christina Hendricks of Mad Men
Rose Byrne of Damages
Archie Panjabi of The Good Wife
Sharon Gless of Burn Notice
Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men
Christine Baranski of The Good Wife

It would be awesome if Sharon Gless got this. She is hilarious on that show.

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Mike O’Malley (Burt Hummel) on Glee
Fred Willard (Frank Dunphy) on Modern Family
Eli Wallach (Bernard Zimberg) on Nurse Jackie
Jon Hamm (Dr. Drew Baird) on 30 Rock
Neil Patrick Harris (Bryan Ryan) on Glee
Will Arnett (Devin Banks) on 30 Rock

I am not going to go crazy with caps lock here. I am just going to say, Mike O’Malley earned the hell out of this Emmy nomination.

Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Robert Morse (Bertram Cooper) on Mad Men
Alan Cumming (Eli Gold) on The Good Wife
John Lithgow (Arthur Mitchell) on Dexter
Ted Danson (Arthur Frobisher) on Damages
Gregory Itzin (Presiden Charles Logan) on 24
Dylan Baker (Colin Sweeney) on The Good Wife
Beau Bridges (Detective George Andrews) on The Closer

I am definitely rooting for Gregory Itzin on this one because he is phenomenal in that role, but John Lithgow would also be an acceptable choice.

Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Kristin Chenoweth (April Rhodes) on Glee
Tina Fey (Host) on Saturday Night Live
Jane Lynch (Dr. Linda Freeman) on Two and a Half Men
Kathryn Joosten (Karen McCluskey) on Desperate Housewives
Christine Baranski (Beverly Hofstadter) on The Big Bang Theory
Betty White (Host) on Saturday Night Live
Elaine Stritch (Colleen Donaghy) on 3o Rock

If either of the SNL ladies beats out Kristin Chenoweth, it had damn well better be Betty White because the episode Tina Fey hosted was terrible.

Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Mary Kay Place (Adaleen Grant) on Big Love
Lily Tomlin (Marilyn Tobin) on Damages
Sissy Spacek (Marilyn Densham) on Big Love
Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet Burke) on Lost
Ann-Margaret (Rita Wills) on Law & Order: SVU
Shirley Jones (Lola Zellman) on The Cleaner

Even if I had seen all these performances, I’m sure I’d still be unable to choose.

Writing for a Comedy Series
The Office
30 Rock (two episodes)
Glee
Modern Family

Writing for a Drama Series
The Good Wife
Friday Night Lights
Lost
Mad Men (two episodes)

The Lost episode nominated is “The End.” Like it or not, y’all have to admit it was brilliant.

ANYWAY, there are loads more categories (including all the production ones that I don’t know anything about but have opinions on anyway). Check out the nomination list yourself if you’re looking for something I haven’t included. 2010 requisite Emmy’s post part II coming after the show airs August 29th!

Requisite Emmys Post Part II – Results

So I hear the Emmys were pretty good. For a televised awards show. I didn’t watch, as planned, mostly because we had dinner company, but also because, well, blehh.

But apparently I missed some fairly exciting things. Like a Dr. Horrible cameo. Alas.

Anyway, here’s a quick-and-dirty winners list (can you tell how much I just don’t care?):

Best Drama: Mad Men (I’m just shocked.)

Best Comedy: 30 Rock (Again, shocked.)

Best Actor (Drama): Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad

Best Actress (Drama): Glenn Close of Damages

Best Supporting Actor (Drama): Michael Emerson of Lost

Best Supporting Actress (Drama): Cherry Jones of 24 (Yesss!!!)

Best Actor (Comedy): Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock (See: note after Best Comedy)

Best Actress (Comedy): Toni Collette of United States of Tara

Best Supporting Actor (Comedy): Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men

Best Supporting Actress (Comedy): Kristen Chenoweth of Pushing Daisies (YESSSS!!!!)

Best Variety/Music/Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

So, to conclude: The best drama/comedy/variety series winners? Duh. Alec Baldwin? Duh. But two of the actors I was really rooting for (Kristen Chenoweth and Cherry Jones) both won in their categories! so all in all, it’s pretty good times. Plus, I hear NPH was pretty phenomenal. (Which could probably also be categorized as a “duh,” but he’s too awesome for that.)

Thank god that’s all over. Full steam ahead for the new season!

Week of 9/20 – 9/26

I thought last week was pretty awesome.

But this week?

BEST. WEEK. EVER.

Tonight:
61st Primetime Emmy Awards on CBS.
(I’m not actually going to watch them, though. I don’t care that much. I’ll just look up the results later.)

MONDAY:
8pm – House on FOX (2-Hour Season Premiere!)
9pm – Heroes on NBC (Season Premiere!)
10pm – Castle on ABC (Season Premiere!)

Because House is two hours, I can’t watch all of these as they air. Unfortunately. And, excited as I am for this new season of House, I’m leaving it for Hulu and going with Heroes. Because that show is like my crack. THANKFULLY I don’t have to have a dilemma over Castle vs. Anything Else…not that it would be much of a contest. Have I mentioned how COMPLETELY THRILLED I am that ABC is actually keeping a show I like on air?

TUESDAY:
8pm – NCIS on CBS (Season Premiere!)
9pm – NCIS: LA on CBS (Series Pilot!)
10pm – The Forgotten on ABC (Series Pilot!)

Apparently Tuesday is crime procedural day. Not that I’m complaining. I don’t keep up with NCIS as well as I could, mostly because you can watch at least two episodes of it a day on cable. But it is a good show, so I’m hyped for the pilot. And I’m REALLY curious about the two new Tuesday shows. I want to see if NCIS: LA actually seems worthwhile. And The Forgotten is a Jerry Bruckheimer crime drama about an amateur team headed up by Christian Slater. Yes please! (But only if it’s actually good…)

WEDNESDAY:
9pm – Glee on FOX
10pm – CSI: NY on CBS (Season Premiere!)

I am, of course, looking forward to another episode of Glee. Mostly because I’m hoping it will redeem itself after the semi-disaster of last week. But CSI: NY is what I’m really looking forward too, because I only watched last season’s finale last week and it basically defined “epic cliffhanger.”

THURSDAY:
8pm – FlashForward on ABC (Series Pilot!)
8pm – Bones on FOX
9pm – Fringe on FOX

Ahhh, my first real scheduling dilemma this season. I honestly don’t know which 8pm show I’m going to watch yet. Maybe I’ll go see watch the first eighteen minutes of FlashForward (now available here) and then decide. The 8pm shows are less important anyway, because after catching up/finishing up Season One last week and seeing the premiere of Season Two, I’m feeling some serious Fringe love.

FRIDAY:
9pm – Dollhouse on FOX (Season Premiere!)

This show has only been okay-ed for thirteen episodes so far. As a diehard and cultish Joss Whedon fan, I’m outraged. As someone who has seen the entirety of Dollhouse’s first season, I’m only angry. But as someone who has seen the unaired thirteenth episode, I’m outraged again. Outrage wins. This is a good show. Watch it!

SATURDAY:
11:30 pm – Saturday Night Live on NBC (Season Premiere!)

I’m mixed about this. On the one hand, it’s exciting just because it’s SNL. But on the other two hands, Megan Fox is hosting and Kristen Wiig has been promoted to Weekend Update. These are not things I’m particularly thrilled about (read: NOT AT ALL). But I’m interested to check out the two new female cast members. We will see how it goes.

IN CONCLUSION:

This is a gooooooooooooooooooooood week.

Requisite Emmys Post Part I – Druthers

The Emmys are tomorrow night.

I feel somewhat obligated to do a post on the major categories – the nominees, and who I hope wins. I don’t watch enough of the nominated shows to make viable predictions, necessarily. But there are a few categories that I might not be completely out to sea about.

Lead Actor (Comedy Series) Nominees
– Steve Carell of The Office
– Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory
– Tony Shalhoub of Monk
– Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock
– Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords
– Charlie Sheen of Two and a Half Men
– This is one of those 30 Rock categories, so I’m not going to get my hopes up, but I’d reeeally like it if Jim Parsons won. Tony Shalhoub might take it, though, just because it’s the last season of Monk.

Lead Actress (Comedy Series) Nominees
– Sarah Silverman of The Sarah Silverman Program
– Toni Collette of United States of Tara
– Mary-Louise Parker of Weeds
– Christina Applegate of Samantha Who?
– Julia Louis-Dreyfus of The New Adventures of Old Christine
– Tina Fey of 30 Rock
– This one I don’t really care about. Just not Sarah Silverman, please. (Best guess: Tina Fey. Because she’s Tina Fey.)

Lead Actor (Drama Series) Nominees
– Hugh Laurie of House
– Gabriel Byrne of In Treatment
– Michael C. Hall of Dexter
– Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad
– Simon Baker of The Mentalist
– Jon Hamm of Mad Men
– A few posts ago I more or less pledged my undying love to Michael C. Hall.

Lead Actress (Drama Series) Nominees
– Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: SVU
– Sally Field of Brothers & Sisters
– Kyra Sedgwick of The Closer
– Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men
– Glenn Close of Damages
– Holly Hunter of Saving Grace
– Another one I don’t have much of a care about, but I saw an episode of Saving Grace the other day and I will say that Holly Hunter is pretty much amazing.

Comedy Series Nominees
– Entourage
– 30 Rock
– Weeds
– The Office
– How I Met Your Mother
– Flight of the Conchords
– Family Guy
– I’d be SO happy if Flight of the Conchords or Family Guy won. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Drama Series Nominees
– Big Love
– Mad Men
– Dexter
– Breaking Bad
– Lost
– House
– Damages
– The only one of these I watch is House, and last season was terrible so I am definitely not rooting for it. Mad Men?

Supporting Actor (Comedy Series) Nominees
– Kevin Dillon of Entourage
– Neil Patrick Harris of How I Met Your Mother
– Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men
– Tracy Morgan of 30 Rock
– Rainn Wilson of The Office
– Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock
– TEAM NPH!!!!

Supporting Actor (Drama Series) Nominees
– William Shatner of Boston Legal
– Christian Clemenson of Boston Legal
– Michael Emerson of Lost
– Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad
– William Hurt of Damages
– John Slattery of Mad Men
– Whatever.

Supporting Actress (Comedy Series) Nominees
– Kristin Chenoweth of Pushing Daisies
– Jane Krakowski of 30 Rock
– Elizabeth Perkins of Weeds
– Amy Poehler of SNL
– Vanessa Williams of Ugly Betty
– Kristen Wiig of SNL
– Go Kristin Chenoweth! Or Amy Poehler, if you must. But please for the love of god, not Kristen Wiig.

Supporting Actress (Drama Series) Nominees
– Sandra Oh of Grey’s Anatomy
– Dianne West of In Treatment
– Rose Byrne of Damages
– Hope Davis of In Treatment
– Chandra Wilson of Grey’s Anatomy
– Cherry Jones of 24
– I’d really like Cherry Jones to win this one. I can’t make much of a comparison with the other nominees, but she really was phenomenal this last season of 24.

Variety/Music/Comedy Series Nominees
– The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
– Late Show With David Letterman
– Real Time With Bill Maher
– Saturday Night Live
– The Colbert Report
– DAI-LY SHOW! DAI-LY SHOW! Yeah, they’ve won for years in a row. But seriously. Do any of these other shows REALLY measure up?

Emmy’s air tomorrow, Sunday, September 20, at 8pm. Live. So 5pm on the Pacific coast. On CBS. Yeah.

Side note: Does no-one in television spell “John/Jon” with an “h”? Seriously.

Another Emmy’s reminder: JOSS WHEDON AND DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-A-LONG BLOG WON AN EMMY!!!!

“I Can’t BELIEVE they just DID THAT”

Let me start by saying, watching three season finales in a twelve-hour period is not good for blood pressure. The good news, though, is that I am now actually ready for the fall premiere season. BRING IT ON, NETWORKS!

I’m all caught up on the shows I slacked off on last spring (namely, House, CSI:NY, and Fringe), so now it is time for full excitement to set in over what’s coming soon.

THIS WEEK:

Two exciting season premieres on FOX – Bones and Fringe.

I just watched the Fringe finale (plus the four episodes leading up to it) so I am REALLY excited for this one. Not only because they left off with a jawdropper episode involving inter-dimensional travel, a rotting German psycho-scientist, and Leonard Nimoy’s return to television, but also because I was happily reminded of just how good this show is. I tried watching Lost a couple weeks ago and made it twenty episodes before giving up completely. I just don’t get the appeal. And I think that disenchantment made me forget how much I love everything else J.J. Abrams touches. The scripts are excellent, the plots are intriguing, and there’s always something delightfully disgusting. (I call the season finale a ‘jawdropper,’ but that was literal in the pilot and it was amazing.) Fringe returns Thursday at 9pm on FOX.

Airing right before that is the season premiere of Bones. Not quite as excited for this one, unfortunately. When this show is on, it’s on. Unfortunately, that’s usually in the episodes that don’t connect to any overarching season-long plotlines. This show’s strength is in the procedural (you wanna talk about delightfully disgusting…). Bones does not do major episodes well. Cases in point: Last year’s obnoxious season premiere double-header, the overdone season return double-header, and the mindtrip season finale. “Harbingers in the Fountain” is a pretty promising title, but I mostly just want it over with so we can get to the core of the season. The bare bones, as it were…let’s pretend I didn’t make that joke.. Anyway. Bones returns Thursday at 8pm on FOX.

Also coming up this week, a new episode of Glee (Wednesday at 9pm on FOX), the finale of Dark Blue (Wednesday at 10pm on TNT), the return of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (tonight at 11 and 11:30pm on Comedy Central), and the Emmys! Pretty much everything I was excited about for the Emmys has already come and gone. Justin Timberlake and Tina Fey were both honored for guest work on SNL. Veteran actors Michael J. Fox and Ellen Burstyn were both awarded for drama guest work. Jimmy Fallon’s show won an award for interactive media (which I only mention because one of the recipients is related to one of my best friends – go Jake’s brother!). And, most excitingly, JOSS WHEDON WON AN EMMY FOR DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-A-LONG BLOG! I think I need to say that again, “once more with feeling:”*

JOSS WHEDON FINALLY WON A FUCKING EMMY.

There are so many things I could say about how INCREDIBLY EXCITED I am that this has come to pass, not to mention how INCREDIBLY DESERVING that man is of Emmy recognition. I don’t think there is a single project he has headed up that I am not deeply familiar with. And they are all so excellent, I don’t have a sufficient vocabulary to describe it. If you don’t already know what I’m talking about, go watch Firefly right now. Or Buffy. Or Angel. Or EMMY WINNING ONLINE FEATURE DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-A-LONG BLOG!

…but I digress. The Creative Arts Emmys, some of the results of which I just shared, have already taken place but they will be airing on television on Friday. The rest of the primetime Emmys air Sunday on CBS, hosted by star of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog (and also some show called How I Met Your Mother…) Neil Patrick Harris. (Speaking of award shows, VMAs and Kanye West. I don’t think I have anything to say that hasn’t already been said by the entirety of the pop-culturally aware and decent human being population.)

*That’s a Buffy the Vampire Slayer joke, btw. I only point that out because I doubt anyone is going to get it.