On a roll. Like buttah!

Louis C.K. is on fire this year. Still rolling through his most prolific period of writing and performing, he’s recorded a two-disc version of his 2009 show Hilarious earlier this year. That’s coming out soon even though people are still discovering 2008’s Chewed Up and 2007’s Shameless. That’s three solid new shows in three years while managing to juggle all his other activities.

And as previously announced, Louis signed a deal for a new show on the FX network. It’s never going to be as permissive as pay cable, where Louis was able to float scenes like this classic on Lucky Louie. But damned if FX hasn’t been pushing the boundaries of basic cable as far as they can stretch with Sons of Anarchy and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. (FX has to be my favorite network right now when you factor in Damages and six seasons of Rescue Me. Even The League is growing on me a bit, and the upcoming Archer looks great!).

And today, Louis launched his own plug for the show. This is just too funny. Warning: NSFW (of course).

HBO never should have cancelled Lucky Louie. But now that Louis C.K. is lucky enough to have another shot, here’s hoping FX has bigger stones than HBO did. I can’t imagine the new show having a better cast than he did before, but he has the golden touch right now and I would not bet against him.Watch for Louie in the Spring of 2010 on FX.

Three Men and a Babe

Today, a friend and her daughter came over and we hung out and worked on some organizing around the house.  I decided to tackle the trash bags sitting in the computer room that had been brought from AFD– John’s personal things from his locker.  I haven’t had the strength to look at them.  They’ve been here for well over a month.  Today, with my friend here, I decided to open them up.

John’s life at the firehouse was separate from our life together.  I’m not a firefighter.  I don’t know much about firefighting.  John’s told me a lot and I’m eager to learn, but like the horses are my thing- firefighting was his thing.  He could tell you the names and breeds of the horses and knew that Tiny and Amber were decedents of the great Doc Bar.  But he didn’t know the intricacies of riding or horsemanship.  Same with me and firefighting, although honestly, I probably had more interest in firefighting than John had in my “lazy assed horses.”

But he respected my passion and my love for horses, just like I did his love and passion for firefighting.  Both are hobbies/careers that take up a lot of time and can cause rifts in relationships.  That is one of the many things that I’ll always love about him.

Going through his stuff there were some things I knew I wouldn’t find.  I knew I wouldn’t find a photo of me in his stuff.  No wedding photo.   No photo of the two of us.  No photo that he liked of me.  I’m sure some people would think that was odd and maybe it is.  But, that’s the way John was.  If you asked him, he probably would have had a reply like- why do I need a photo of Mary, I see her all of the time.  I often missed him when he was gone, he rarely missed me.  I think a lot of that is that he just saw it as part of the job- John was a professional through and through.  Maybe he even took our relationship for granted to an extent- like it would always be around- always be there.  We had a great relationship and we loved each other very much.  Maybe he figured we were adults and adults don’t miss somebody when they don’t see them for 24 hrs.  John really wasn’t a very emotional person.  Sometimes I think that comes with the job- firefighters and police officers see a lot of things that normal people don’t.  Things that normal people don’t want to see- death, dying, blood, body parts, fires, sickness, etc.  What they experience can also be confidential information in some cases.  John also had experienced a lot of loss- he lost his father in 1994 and his mother in 2004.  That can change a person.

Having Nathaniel changed that for him… he smiled more than he ever had and you could just see the love for his son… it shines through in all of the photos of the two of them.  I know he missed his boy when he was at work.  He’d come home and just hug Nathaniel and tell him how much he missed him.

Being diagnosed with stage IV  made John more emotional, too.  Not to say we had gushy emotional in depth conversations about feelings, but he shared more than he had before and he started telling me “I love you,” more than he ever had.  He used to rarely say it.  He knew it bugged me.  He would reply that it was trite and overused and that I should know that he loved me.  It just felt nice to hear it… to know that he meant it.

I had gotten John some photo magnets of Nathaniel for Christmas or for his birthday or both.  They were in there.  Along with our Christmas card from last year.  He loved his son more than some fathers will love their children in a lifetime.  John was the best father.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had actually taken the little fan that I had gotten for him to work.  Often times things that I got for him were just put aside.  Now, who knows if he actually used the fan or not, but at least it made it to work.

There was one thing that I didn’t know he had, but I sort of knew why he had it- a stuffed flying flingshot frog It is reminiscent of the “No Balls” frog.  John also had “No balls”  listed on  his FB page as  his quote.  “Young buck.  Old School,” used to be his quote on the firefighting forum, The Watch Desk.  “Young buck.  Old School,” made sense to me.  “No balls,” I just didn’t get it.  Once I asked him about it.

His explanation was showing me “Frog in a Blender” on Joe Cartoon.

I understand the “Frog in a Blender.”  I found it funny, but not hilarious.  I also missed the point of why he would use it as an avatar and quote on his pages.  So… if anybody wants to explain the significance… I’d appreciate it…

Of course… you can’t always be a serious all business sort of guy.  He did love watching “The Simpsons“, “Family Guy“, and “American Dad.”

There were a  few DVDs.  Typical firefighter ones like:  “The Complete First Season of Rescue Me” & “Ladder 49.”  I loved “Ladder 49,” but hated the ending… isn’t everything supposed to have a happy ending… sigh…   Of course in my “movie”, my firefighter dies of cancer… so no happy ending here either.  There was “Saving Private Ryan.”  John love Mel Brooks.  I being deficient in movie watching have seen very little Mel Brooks.  Geez… every since John and I were dating he mentioned how I needed to watch Mel Brooks movies… in particular “History of the World Part I.”  That was in his locker.  Along with “Spaceballs,” “Young Frankenstein,” and “Blazing Saddles.”  Sadly, I don’t think I’ve seen any of them– I can say I’ve watched “The Producers” and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Maybe I’ll just have to watch some DVDs…  There were 2 vidoes from a comic I’d never heard of, Bob Nelson.  Probably everybody but me has heard of him, but me.  I’m not a whiz when it comes to pop culture.

There was a baseball glove with some balls.  The firefighters used to play at work.  I remember when John bought the glove and some balls.  I believe he got a great deal on a large quantity of balls and sold the ones he didn’t need on E-bay.  He commented that the Navy didn’t like it that much when their balls when over the fence.  I know he looked forward to playing when they had the chance.  One of John’s comments when he was stage IV is that he wanted somebody to teach Nathaniel to play catch.  With my ball handling abilities… that’s not me… volunteers gladly appreciated.

There were some tools that I don’t know what they are and locks without combination.  At least the locks are open.  I don’t know if there is symbolism or irony there or just two locks.  I’d love to ask John to explain what the tools are are or how to use them, but I can’t.  I saw something that was blue nylon.  I wondered if that was his rigging for lifting people (sorry, I don’t know the technical terminology).  John was an expert at knots and doing different rigging.  He was part of a Cecil County rope rescue team.  Once he wanted to practice, so we went over to the firehouse and I ended up hoisted quite high in the air…. lol… a lot of fun, but the harness was NOT comfortable… lol… Part of me wanted to investigate.  Part of me knew, I’d crumple if that’s what it was.

There was a computer cable, a jump drive, and some CDs.  John was a computer whiz.  It’s not surprising that he had some type of computer stuff at work.

A comb, his razor, lotion, a LiveStrong band, a mosquito repellent bracelet, boot polish, and leather cleaner (actually my leather cleaner for my tack– no problem, I’m sure he got more use out of it) were also included.  I brush Nathaniel’s hair with one of John’s combs.  I’ve thought, what will I do when it breaks?  Now, I have a backup.

There was an envelope of some paperwork.  It looks like some reports and classes that John had written up.  He’d been the instructor for a lot of them.  John LOVED teaching.  He was so excited about AFD having their own academy.  He was going to be an instructor.  His eyes lit up when he talked about it.  Sadly, he got sick and was barely able to teach at all.  His helmet with the instructor shield was in the box.  It even still smelled smoky- who knows when he last used the helmet- he was pulled out of work immediately upon his stage IV diagnosis in February.  It’s hard to believe that after all of that time it still smelled smoky.  I love that smell.  I still do, even knowing that his firefighting may very well have contributed to his death.  Bottom line- firefighters have a higher rate of melanoma than the general population.

He had a lot of clothes and his bed linens.  They’ll be nice to keep for Nathaniel and if I ever loose a lot of weight, I know I’d love to wear his t-shirts.

There was a Thank You note from an elementary class that Menassa, Joe, & John had visited to teach fire safety.  I wondered if Joe & Menassa had gotten Thank You’s also or if they’d put it in there for my benefit.  Whatever the case…. I appreciated it.  John participated in a lot of fire safety events at schools and he did a spectacular presentation for becoming a firefighter that he presented at our local (I think) middle school (may have been HS).

John was passionate about firefighting.  He loved being a firefighter.  If only all of us could share that same passion and love… we’d all be happier and the world would probably be a better place.

I think about my desk at work.  If anything happened to me… what contents would get boxed up and returned to Nathaniel.  Most of my things would be discarded- confidential company  info.  Then, there are some printed and cut out photos that I used to display (of the horses, cats, John, and Nathaniel) that are now in desk drawers.  There are the trinkets that people bring back for the team when they go on vacation and an American flag that the company gave us several years ago.  There are a few commendations from when they used to give commendations.

Right now my desk is pretty bare.  I have a laminated funeral card and my calendar from Shutterfly that I made with Nathaniel (and Nathaniel & John) photos.  For the past several years, I’ve delighted in making calendars and photo books.  I think I’m done for a while– too emotional– back to generic.

It was hard going through John’s  things and hard writing about it.  It’s getting to the point- what is left?  I know as I eventually get the house cleaned and if I ever get the basement cleaned, I’ll run across more things of John’s that I didn’t know about.  But I feel like his work chapter is closing.  I don’t want it to close, but sadly, I feel that  it is.

by Russ Fischer – SlashFilm.com

We don’t know a lot about this project yet, but buried in a trade break about Denis Leary’s production shingle Apostle Films, which is developing a bunch of new shows to prepare for Rescue Me’s scheduled 2011 end point, there’s an interesting piece of detail. The company has bought the rights to Gattaca, Andrew Niccol’s 1997 sci-fi film, and will develop it as a television series.

Variety specifically says this: The company has secured the rights to the feature film Gattica [sic], which they plan to develop as a one-hour police procedural set in the future. The Gattica smallscreen adaptation will be written by Gil Grant and is being developed through Sony TV’s international division.

OK, setting aside the misspelling, that’s a weird bit of news. Gattaca, which created a society in which DNA determines a person’s place in society,  was a film about human determination and ability, class and discrimination. The police are involved in the film, yes, but the fact that Ethan Hawke’s character breaks the law in order to impersonate a genetically superior individual is only part of the point.

What will the throughline of the show be, then? Cops investigating similar crimes, pursing and looking into the lives of  in-valids, or possibly investigating situations in which genetic discrimination, which is technically illegal in the film’s storyline, is used against lower classes? Given the film’s content about discrimination I can see where one might think there’s a TV show to be extrapolated, and maybe a police procedural seems like the best way to go about it. But the angle still doesn’t seem like something strong enough to generate more than a season or two.

I also don’t know a lot about Gil Grant, the writer currently tasked with adapting. IMDB says he’s been on shows from Eight is Enough to 24, but aside from his work on 24 and the short-lived series The Cape, not a lot stands out. And if you’re wondering whether Leary might be cast in the show, so are we. Apostle is looking for another starring series for him, but there’s no suggestion that this would be it.

Amazon Specials!

Lyrics for October…

“Astonish Me With Your Majesty”

Awaken me from my slumber
Astonish me with Your majesty
Fill my heart with wonder
Oh, Spirit come and ravish me -
With love I cannot fathom
And mercy robed in mystery
You’re more than I can imagine
Open up my eyes to see

Chorus:
That nothing in this world could ever captivate my soul
And heaven’s only heaven ’cause You’re there
I was made to stand amazed at who You really are
To marvel at Your worth beyond compare
To marvel at Your worth beyond compare
Oh, heaven’s only heaven ’cause You’re there

Lead me out of this darkness
Rescue me from my empty ways
Heal my heart of its hardness
Oh, Jesus full of truth and grace -
Almighty Rock and Refuge
My shelter’s underneath Your wings
Don’t let me stray from Your presence
And forever I will gladly sing

repeat chorus

Send forth Your light and truth and lead me to the place
Where every lesser thing’s consumed by the beauty of Your face
Send forth Your holiness and bring me to my knees
With majesty and glory, Lord, oh please – astonish me

Awaken me from my slumber
Astonish me with Your majesty
Astonish me with Your majesty

By Austin2Harlem

HarlemCondoLife

As I continue to settle into my new Harlem life, I’m constantly amazed at the amount of TV and film production I see in the neighborhood. Walking along 116th near Adam Clayton Powell today, I spotted another upcoming shoot…this time for the FX Network show Rescue Me. On top of the wonderful diversity of restaurants, nightspots, and people, this is just another thing that makes me happy to call Harlem my new home.

E assim começo um novo espaço aqui no blog. Mensalmente, no início de cada mês (mais ou menos, e se tudo correr bem…), vou aqui partilhar com quem estiver desse lado quais foram as séries que visionei ao longo do mês anterior, bem como a classificação de cada um dos episódios que vi e quem foram os actores que mais se destacaram ao longo do mês. Mas para estas listas apenas vou ter em atenção as séries cuja temporada actual está agora a ser transmitida no outro lado do Atlântico. Séries como Battlestar Galactica, por exemplo, vão ficar de fora destas rondas, pois são séries de temporadas passadas.

Assim, e sem mais demoras, eis as minhas Séries de Setembro!

(*As classificações de cada episódio/série vão de 0 a 10)

Rescue Me (Média: 8,28)

(Uma quinta temporada que trouxe à série a vitalidade de que já precisava. Como sempre, excelente trabalho à frente e atrás das câmaras. Contudo, os três episódios finais vão ter de ficar para mais tarde, devido à falta de tempo. Mas Rescue Me continua a ser uma das mais subestimadas séries da actualidade…)

• 5×13 (“Torch”): 9,5; MVP: Denis Leary; John Scurti; Adam Ferrera; Callie Thorne
• 5×14 (“Wheels”): 8,0; MVP: Denis Leary; John Scurti; Regan Mizrahi; Callie Thorne
• 5×15 (“Initiation”): 7,0; MVP: Adam Ferrera; Callie Thorne; Denis Leary
• 5×16 (“Clean”): 8,0; MVP: Adam Ferrera; Denis Leary; Robert John Burke; Callie Thorne
• 5×17 (“Lesbos”): 9,0; MVP: Callie Thorne; Andrea Roth; Denis Leary
• 5×18 (“Carrot”): 8,0; MVP: Callie Thorne; Denis Leary
• 5×19 (“David”): 8,5; MVP: Callie Thorne; John Scurti; Denis Leary; Maura Tierney

Glee (Média: 7,66)

(Com um primeiro episódio a prometer ser a nova sensação da temporada, Glee foi-se perdendo, paulatinamente, nos episódios seguintes. Porém, o quinto episódio, com a participação especial da grande Kristin Chenoweth, promete um “regresso às origens”. A história cheia de clichés até nem me afecta muito, e as cantorias são altamente viciantes, mas, por agora, vai ficar em standby.)

• 1×01 (“Pilot”): 9,0; MVP: Lea Michele; Cory Monteith; Matthew Morrison
• 1×02 (“Showmance”): 8,0; MVP: Lea Michele; Matthew Morrison; Jane Lynch
• 1×03 (“Acafellas”): 6,0; MVP: Amber Reilly; Chris Colfer; Jane Lynch; Lea Michele; Mark Salling
• 1×04 (“Preggers”): 7,3; MVP: Jane Lynch; Chris Colfer; Mark Salling
• 1×05 (“The Rhodes Not Taken”): 8,0; MVP: Kristin Chenoweth; Lea Michele

Better off Ted (Média: 7,78)

(Uma das grandes surpresas da temporada passada, estes últimos cinco episódios da primeira série de Better off Ted confirmam-na como uma das mais criativas comédias a estrear nos últimos tempos. A segunda temporada estreia daqui a alguns meses na ABC, mas, com as audiências que tem registado, devem mesmo ser os últimos episódios. O que é uma pena, pois nunca gostei tanto da Portia de Rossi como agora no papel de Veronica.)

• 1×09 (“Bioshuffle”): 8,0; MVP: Andrea Anders; Jay Harrington
• 1×10 (“Trust and Consequence”): 8,0; MVP: Andrea Anders; Portia de Rossi
• 1×11 (“Father, Can You Hair Me?”): 7,7; MVP: Portia de Rossi; Jay Harrington; Andrea Anders
• 1×12 (“Jabberwocky”): 8,0; MVP: Portia de Rossi; Jay Harrington
• 1×13 (“Secrets and Lives”): 7,2; MVP: Portia de Rossi; Andrea Anders

Royal Pains (Média: 7,20; MVP: Mark Feuerstein)

(Uma das séries que estreou este Verão nos EUA, Royal Pains não passa disso mesmo: uma simples série de Verão, que podemos ver apenas com o intuito de passarmos um bom bocado. Não sei se voltarei a pegar nela para o ano. É uma série simpática, com uma boa banda sonora. Mas não sei se será suficiente…)

• 1×01 (“Pilot”): 7,3; MVP: Mark Feuerstein
• 1×02 (“There Will Be Food”): 7,0; MVP: Mark Feuerstein
• 1×03 (“Strategic Planning”): 7,0; MVP: Mark Feuerstein
• 1×04 (“TB or Not TB”): 7,0
• 1×05 (“No Man Is an Island”): 6,5; MVP: Paolo Constanzo
• 1×06 (“If I Were a Sick Man”): 7,0
• 1×07 (“Crazy Love”): 7,5; MVP: Reshma Shetty
• 1×08 (“The Honeymoon’s Over”): 6,3
• 1×09 (“It’s Like Jamais Vu All Over Again”): 8,0; MVP: Mark Feuerstein; Reshma Shetty; Paolo Constanzo
• 1×10 (“Am I Blue?”): 7,8; MVP: Mark Feuerstein
• 1×11 (“Nobody’s Perfect”): 7,5; MVP: Mark Feuerstein; Bruce Campbell
• 1×12 (“Wonderland”): 7,5; MVP: Reshma Shetty

Melrose Place (Média: 6,17)

(Tal como fiz há um ano atrás com 90210, quis ver esta nova versão de Melrose Place – sem nunca ter visto a série original – para saber o quão mau seria. Mas o tiro saiu-me pela culatra. Não é a melhor série do mundo, mas está longe de ser o lixo que eu previa. Não passando de uma pura telenovela de horário nobre, a série tem os seus méritos, sendo o principal a boa presença de Katie Cassidy a liderar um elenco, praticamente, inexperiente. Vou-me ficar pelo quarto episódio pois não é exactamente série para mim, mas, quem sabe, talvez possa regressar a este universo daqui a uns tempos…)

• 1×01 (“Pilot”): 6,5; MVP: Katie Cassidy; Stephanie Jacobson; Michael Rady
• 1×02 (“Nightingale”): 6,2; MVP: Katie Cassidy; Stephanie Jacobson
• 1×03 (“Grand”): 6,0; MVP: Katie Cassidy; Michael Rady
• 1×04 (“Vine”): 6,0; MVP: Katie Cassidy

The Vampire Diaries (Média: 6,62)

(Nunca vi o Twilight e também não faz parte dos meus planos vê-lo num futuro próximo. Sendo baseada nos livros que, por sua vez, inspiraram Stephenie Meyer, The Vampire Diaries também não chega a ser um must see da televisão americana, mas tem alguns momentos interessantes. Sendo desenvolvida pelo Kevin Williamson – Dawson’s Creek, Scream… -, talvez consiga encontrar o rumo certo.)

• 1×01 (“Pilot”): 6,0
• 1×02 (“Night of the Comet”): 6,5; MVP: Ian Somerhalder
• 1×03 (“Friday Night Bites”): 7,0; MVP: Ian Somerhalder

Weeds (Média: 7,70; MVP: Mary-Louise Parker; Justin Kirk)

(Weeds já não é a mesma série que era há uns anos atrás. Essa mudança já se fazia sentir na temporada passada, mas Jenji Kohan conseguiu criar situações bastante interessantes para as suas personagens. Neste quinto ano, a crítica social é abandonada para dar lugar a um… triângulo amoroso. Entre sucessivas mudanças repentinas de humor das personagens, a série foi perdendo o seu brilho, e talvez até tenha tido uma boa classificação da minha parte por ter visto os treze episódios, praticamente, de seguida. Mas espero, sinceramente, que a próxima temporada seja o derradeiro ano de Weeds. Já não há muito mais para contar…)

• 5×01 (“Wonderful Wonderful”): 8,0; MVP: Mary-Louise Parker; Justin Kirk
• 5×02 (“Machetes Up Top”): 9,0; MVP: Mary-Louise Parker; Elizabeth Perkins
• 5×03 (“Su-Su-Sucio”): 7,3; MVP: Mary-Louise Parker
• 5×04 (“Super Lucky Happy”): 7,2; MVP: Justin Kirk; Mary-Louise Parker
• 5×05 (“Van Nuys”): 8,0; MVP: Justin Kirk; Mary-Louise Parker; Elizabeth Perkins
• 5×06 (“A Modest Proposal”): 7,3; MVP: Justin Kirk; Mary-Louise Parker
• 5×07 (“Where the Sidewalk Ends”): 7,5; MVP: Justin Kirk; Mary-Louise Parker
• 5×08 (“A Distinctive Horn”): 7,0; MVP: Justin Kirk; Mary-Louise Parker
• 5×09 (“Suck ‘n Spit”): 6,8; MVP: Mary-Louise Parker; Justin Kirk; Elizabeth Perkins
• 5×10 (“Perro Insano”): 8,0; MVP: Mary-Louise Parker; Alexander Gould
• 5×11 (“Ducks and Tigers”): 7,0; MVP: Elizabeth Perkins; Mary-Louise Parker
• 5×12 (“Glue”): 9,0; MVP: Mary-Louise Parker; Justin Kirk; Elizabeth Perkins
• 5×13 (“All About My Mom”): 8,0; MVP: Mary-Louise Parker; Elizabeth Perkins; Justin Kirk; Kevin Nealon

Nurse Jackie (Média: 7,69; MVP: Edie Falco; Eve Best)

(Nurse Jackie era uma das séries mais aguardadas da nova temporada, devido à sua protagonista. Não desapontou, mas, a verdade, é que também não surpreendeu por aí além. Deambulando entre o drama e o comédia – com primazia para o primeiro género -, Nurse Jackie parece que teve medo em arriscar alguns momentos. Esperemos que as coisas corram um pouco melhor para o ano. E que a Eve Best continue a fazer o papelão que está a fazer, como a Dra. Eleanor O’Hara.)

• 1×01 (“Pilot”): 8,0; MVP: Edie Falco; Eve Best
• 1×02 (“Sweet-N-All”): 8,0; MVP: Edie Falco; Eve Best
• 1×03 (“Chicken Soup”): 7,8; MVP: Eve Best; Edie Falco
• 1×04 (“School Nurse”): 8,2; MVP: Edie Falco; Eve Best
• 1×05 (“Daffodil”): 7,3; MVP: Anna Deavere Smith; Eve Best; Edie Falco; Merritt Weaver
• 1×06 (“Tiny Bubbles”): 8,3; MVP: Judith Ivey; Edie Falco; Eve Best
• 1×07 (“Steak Knife”): 7,0; MVP: Eve Best; Edie Falco
• 1×08 (“Pupil”): 7,2; MVP: Edie Falco; Merritt Weaver; Peter Facinelli
• 1×09 (“Nose Bleed”): 7,1; MVP: Edie Falco; Anna Deavere Smith
• 1×10 (“Ring Finger”): 7,0; MVP: Edie Falco
• 1×11 (“Pill-O-Matrix”): 7,4; MVP: Eve Best; Edie Falco; Merritt Weaver
• 1×12 (“Health Care and Cinema”): 9,0; MVP: Paul Schulze; Edie Falco; Anna Deavere Smith; Eve Best; Merritt Weaver

Curb Your Enthusiasm (Média: 9,0)

(À excepção de um ou outro episódio na RTP2, nunca fui um espectador assíduo de Curb Your Enthusiasm. Este ano, com a prometida reunião do elenco de Seinfeld, resolvi ver os novos episódios. E só tenho pena de não ter visto o que está para trás… Série genialmente cómica! Das melhores que por aí andam! Altamente aconselhável!)

• 7×01 (“Funkhouser’s Crazy Sister”): 9,0; MVP: Larry David; Catherine O’Hara
• 7×02 (“Vehicular Fellatio”): 9,0; MVP: Larry David

Bored to Death (Média: 7,10)

(O trailer prometia algo de muito bom. Até agora, Bored to Death ainda não provou ao que veio, e muita coisa precisa de ser melhorada. As razões – ou seja, os livros – que levaram Jonathan a tornar-se num detective privado – não licenciado!… – não ficaram muito explícitas nestes dois episódios. Espero que as coisas se desenvolvam melhor nos restantes capítulos, porque, até agora, os méritos da série são mais dirigidos ao seu elenco, especialmente ao Ted Danson.)

• 1×01 (“Stockholm Syndrome”): 7,2; MVP: Ted Danson; Jason Schwartzman
• 1×02 (“The Alanon Case”): 7,0; MVP: Jason Schwartzman; Ted Danson

House (Média: 8,03)

(Depois de uma quinta temporada conturbada, House promete muitas mudanças neste sexto ano. E elas já começaram. Os dois episódios iniciais, passados no hospital psiquiátrico, foram dos mais criativos que a série apresentou nos últimos tempos. E, apesar de voltarmos a ter Foreteen em excesso no terceiro episódio, aplaudo o facto de não terem trazido o House logo de volta ao seu antigo emprego. Quem sabe… Talvez seja esta a temporada que devolva a House o respeito que tem vindo a perder nos últimos anos…)

• 6×01 (“Broken, Part 1″): 8,8; MVP: Hugh Laurie; Lin-Manuel Miranda
• 6×02 (“Broken, Part 2″): 8,3; MVP: Hugh Laurie; Lin-Manuel Miranda; Franka Potente; Andre Braugher
• 6×03 (“Epic Fail”): 7,0; MVP: Olivia Wilde; Hugh Laurie

Dollhouse

(Episódio muito morno a começar esta segunda temporada. À excepção das cenas envolvendo a Dra. Saunders – brilhantemente interpretada pela Amy Acker -, este episódio de estreia merecia algo mais… Espero que este segundo ano não se desenvolva como a primeira temporada, em que os episódios iniciais pouco ou nada adiantavam à história. Mudanças são necessárias. O ritmo dos episódios finais da temporada de estreia é necessário. Bem, pelo menos reduziram a duração do episódio, que, tal como em Fringe, era um dos calcanhares de Aquiles da série. Mas o melhor mesmo é aproveitar enquanto ainda há Dollhouse. Porque se continuarem com estas audiências, não sei se a paciência da FOX se estica por mais episódios…)

• 2×01 (“Vows”): 7,3; MVP: Amy Acker; Eliza Dushku; Fran Kranz; Jamie Bamber

True Blood (Média: 8,25)

(A primeira temporada custou a entrar. Mas True Blood é o perfeito exemplo da máxima de Fernando Pessoa: “primeira estranha-se, depois entranha-se”. Agora que já estamos familiarizados com as personagens e com a mitologia deste universo, Alan Ball tomou a decisão mais acertada e saltou logo para o desenvolvimento dos novos mistérios do segundo ano. Após dois episódios apenas, dá para antever que True Blood teve uma segunda temporada muito, muito boa. Espero não estar enganado…)

• 2×01 (“Nothing But the Blood”): 8,5; MVP: Nelsan Ellis; Anna Paquin; Michelle Forbes
• 2×02 (“Keep This Party Going”): 8,0; MVP: Nelsan Ellis; Deborah Ann Woll; Michelle Forbes; Anna Paquin

Dexter

(Confesso que não fui um grande fã da terceira temporada. Entre a descoberta da gravidez da Rita e o surgimento do Miguel na vida do Dexter, algo correu mal. Esta quarta série inicia-se com as cenas necessárias face aos mais recentes desenvolvimentos. Ver Dexter como um típico pai de família dos subúrbios é uma imagem deliciosa. Mas conseguirão os argumentistas manter a essência da série? Espero estar enganado, mas por melhor que Dexter continue, creio que nunca mais voltaremos a ter os momentos geniais que assistimos nas duas primeiras temporadas…)

• 4×01 (“Living the Dream”): 8,0; MVP: Michael C. Hall

…Background work is here!

Tomorrow at 9am I will be reporting for duty at St. General Hospital (or something) for background work on “Rescue Me” (the Denis Leary drama about firefighting.  Or something).  I’d joined a ‘casting database’ to which I uploaded my headshots (courtesy of Taylor Hooper) and every day I mass email responses to casting notices asking for Caucasian females.  Until today, I’d heard nothing.  In fact, when the guy called and left a message my first thought was “Did I even apply to do background on this show?? I don’t remember!”

I dug up the Casting Call – sure enough, I had applied – and it read as follows:

Seeking:
AFTRA/Non-AFTRA Women: Beautiful females, any ethnicity, early 20’s for background work.

I’m somewhat amazed that they can decide to use someone based on a picture of their face.  I was my most upbeat and chipper during the headshot session; the ensuing weeks of racing around the city, doing open mics, shows and applying to jobs has worn me down.  I doubt it matters much (or at all)  if you’re just walking through the scene in the background but it’s still an interesting system they have going.

And so I’ll be heading up to 122nd street tomorrow for a 9am call time.  It’s somewhat ironic that it’s a show for Denis Leary as I had just been reading about him by extension of reading about Bill Hicks.  Both comedians, Denis has been famously accused of stealing entire chunks of Bill Hicks’ material, style and full persona.  I know not if it is true, I only know that there is nothing worse than being accused of stealing another comics material.  Which is why one of my favorite memories is when I told my Mom I was going to do stand-up comedy and she said “Well, can’t you just like get up and do Jerry Seinfeld’s act?” 

Totally bringing my camera tomorrow to document this experience.  The casting gentleman told to wear “nondescript New York clothes.” 

“You know, no labels, no blue, and no prints.  But we’re in this season, fall.”

“Ok!  Um, what about jewelry?” I questioned eagerly.  Pearls are a year round accessory, I’ve always thought.

“Jewelry is fine, just as long as it’s not gaudy.”

Uh oh!  Not sure my pearls are up everyone’s ally.  I will feel naked without them, but it is their show.  I’ll do as I’m told.

Now that’s hot! Bravo, Denis Leary and Peter Tolan! I was shocked and awed by the spectacular fifth-season finale to RESCUE ME, which featured a truly harrowing cliffhanger. At 22 episodes, this was the longest season ever, and (from beginning to end) the best. So this was the finale the series deserved. The story was all about waiting for the other shoe to drop — more than one shoe, in fact. And when they did, they landed with devastating effects.

First of all, Janet finally served Tommy with divorce papers. As Lou pointed out, this has been years in the making; years that Tommy has spent alternately looking over his shoulder and trying to rescue a long-dead marriage. But the relationship is burned beyond recognition. And it is not helped by Tommy’s dalliance with Sheila. He seems to have a good thing going — but Sheila’s idea of a “no strings” relationship seems even more binding than Janet’s idea of marriage. (Tommy is supposed to be watching over Sheila’s son Damian at the firehouse, but Damian is actually keeping an eye on Tommy for his mother). Not even new gal Kelly is what she seems to be. She seems to offer the ultimate “no strings attached” relationship — she can barely remember Tommy’s name. But even she draws the line at sharing personal information. When word of Kelly reached Sheila, she declared a truce with Janet long enough to tag-team Kelly. But of course they could not keep the claws sheathed long enough to take down a common enemy. The Sheila/Janet catfight turned into a rumble in the jungle, with the gals hurling shoes and bricks at each, and it ended with Sheila using a garbage can lid to beat down a passerby who tried to intervene. Which was fitting, because in a lot of ways, this has been Callie Thorne’s season, and she has really run with the role of Sheila. By turns shrill and crazy-sexy-cool, Sheila is the model of a passive-aggressive nightmare girlfriend.

But the life-and-death stakes came from Uncle Teddy, who was inconsolable over Ellie’s death. He finally found solace in a warm gun. This comes as no surprise to longtime viewers, who doubtless remember that Teddy shot the drunken driver who killed Tommy’s son Connor. (Teddy’s stint in jail for that slaying led to him meeting Ellie in the first place!) Calling attention to the fact that while Tommy himself is a train wreck, it’s always everyone else who ends up dead, Teddy decided to punish Tommy for pushing Ellie off the wagon. So Tommy shot him. Twice. In front of all his buddies from 62 Engine. So the season ended with Tommy lying on the floor of his bar, bleeding out while his closest friends look on, helplessly, held at bay by the crazed Teddy. Now that’s a cliff-hanger!

Janice Marie Johnson – Catch 22

Den som kan sin disco/soulhistoria känner säkert igen den här damens röst. Det är ena halvan av A Taste Of Honey, dvs Janice Marie Johnson som här prövar sina vingar som soloartist i mitten på 80-talet. Hon har onekligen en säregen röst som inte går att ta miste på, sen får jag säga att det är en riktigt bra låt om än kanske inte i samma klass som Rescue Me eller nån av de andra favoriterna med A Taste Of Honey.

Hade egentligen funderingar på att nån gång ha med Rescue Me i ett helt eget inlägg men min backlogg med låtar som jag vill ha med börjar bli så hiskeligt lång så jag tar faktiskt och bränner av den här riktigt stora favvolåten här och nu.

A Taste Of Honey – Rescue Me

Om jag inte minns helt fel så snurrade den här låten väldigt mycket på en kassett som jag klurar på vilken det kan ha varit. Har för mig att det är en kassett som jag döpt till nummer 23 men sen är jag osäker på om det var ett vanligt Maxell UD C90-band eller möjligtvis ett Maxell UD XL-I C60-band. Får ta och leta i lådorna vid tillfälle och se om jag kan hitta det bandet. Hur som helst så finns det en räcka bra låtar på den kassetten, bl.a en svensk favorit från den tiden, Singe-Linge-Lisco-Disco med Electric Banana Band. Det får mig osökt att minnas en annan gammal pärla i samma stil, nämligen Herr Allansson Pickles med Janne Schaffer från 1980.

Ja, jag skulle kunna sitta och spinna vidare i alla möjliga associationsbanor men känner att jag inte riktigt har den orken att sitta och skriva så länge som jag kanske skulle önska. Men jag är ändå rätt nöjd med det jag fått ihop eftersom det är en hel drös uddalåtar som får ta del av rampljuset här på Mayday Club och det är ju lite av filosofin bakom bloggen att plocka fram de där låtarna som man glömt bort eller rent av missade när det begav sig.

Tjillevippen

notbugs

My favorite movies of 2009 since the summer are:

1. “Inglorious Basterds” directed by Quentin Tarantino
2. “Away We Go” directed by Sam Mendes
3. “District 9” directed by Neill Blomkamp
4. “Surveillance” directed by Jennifer Lynch
5. “Hangover” directed by Todd Phillips

Television was much better overall than the movie theater.  My two favorite shows “Breaking Bad” and “Rescue Me” are fighting neck and neck for my top slot of 2009.  Nevertheless, I loved so many shows in 2009, and there are still more good ones grabbing my attention like “Nurse Jackie” and “Glee”.

NBC still doesn’t have a clue on how to entertain America.  First it transforms the 10:00 p.m. slot into boring Jay Leno’s talk show hour.  Frankly, I’d rather see this slot occupied by Ellen.  But the network hit absolute rock bottom with its new show “Trauma”.  The premier featured a paramedic helicopter pilot driving recklessly through city streets.   Apparently the actor was trying to emulate Steve McQueen in “Bullet”. The scene featuring the actor’s bravado actually played like irresponsible morally deprived nonsense.   But unlike the morally deficient show “Breaking Bad”, “Trauma”, a show about paramedics (hopefully role models for kids), shouldn’t even consider displaying emergency rescue personnel as decadent criminals especially if it is a show that wants the audience to embrace the main characters’ heroic acts of bravery.   It is one thing that this premier featured the worst acting (“Grey’s Anatomy” emulating) cast members EVER.  However, it is a complete travesty that the first story-line featured a law-breaking paramedic.  Worst of all, the daredevil driver was with another female paramedic passenger who despite voicing some complaints, was nothing more than a glorified accomplice to a crime.  She feigned anger at the IDIOT paramedic for his driving, but she did nothing legally or remotely responsible even after the car was involved in an accident.  In real life both characters would be serving major jail time:  the paramedic pilot for reckless driving and attempted manslaughter (his speeding car ripped off a car door which just happened to tear off a finger of a man holding onto the handle) and also the passenger for aiding and abetting a criminal and failing to report a hit and run accident.  Additionally, the show tried to paint the speed demon in a good light because the guy with the torn off finger was drunk.  You see, since the intoxicated guy lost his finger, he was unable to drive his car, thus he was unable to drink and drive.  Hell, I’ll take the drunk driver over the helicopter street racer!   I’m appalled and offended at NBC for green lighting such an awful show, with amoral heroes and pathetic actors.  Even the special effects were unable to push this horrible show into a watchable viewing status.  I know I promised not to give mean spirited reviews, but NBC deserves every word of my angst and ire.  So avoid the TRAUMA PILOT at all costs (pun intended).

September 30, 2009

It was that kind of day.  I had the sniffles.  Rainy and dreary outside and BOTH soccer practices had been cancelled.  BOTH of them.  It very rarely happens that we aren’t picking one child up and dragging another in the opposite direction during the week.  Rarely…heh.  So how did I choose to celebrate?  By trying out a new recipe, of course!

This is not a cooking blog.  Not by any means.  I have mentioned several cooking incidences….such as the disappearing apple brown betty….and the pesto pizza the Princess and I were hooked on for a while….and the step by step directions for swiss steak  posted for the Prince’s future benefit.   But I am far from being the kind of master cook that would dare to talk about cooking here.  FAR from it.  Tonight I chose to tackle my very first home made Macaroni and Cheese. 

Now Mac’n Cheese  has long been a staple in my family’s life.  Not the REAL stuff however. More like the orangey Kraft stuff from the box.  Nothing goes better with hot dogs and ketchup…or fish sticks and applesauce.  And we have a LONG history with it.  The stuff practically got me through Sunday nights while I was in college.  The instant microwave packages were the very first things my kids learned to cook on their own, I think.  They used to eat it for breakfast before school on cold, winter mornings.  (I am not a Mom who divides food into specific meals.  If they eat anything hot for breakfast,  it’s a good day!)  And if we really want to go gourmet we use the white cheddar or Shells and Cheese boxes.

Several weeks ago, a recipe in People magazine caught my eye.  The Waverly Inn Truffled Mac and Cheese.  The Waverly Inn is in New York City.  People wait for weeks – no, months, I think – for a reservation there.  Intriguing.   I have never eaten there.  I don’t even live in New York City.  I only know about it because Maura Tierney was photographed there while out with  friends.  (Yes, I remain a geeky fan.  See her recent turn on ‘Rescue Me’??  Fabulous!)

Anyway, the recipe looked simple enough. I don’t exactly keep Da Rosario white truffle oil ($12 for 1.76 oz. bottle) in my pantry but I figured it was almost a minor item (added after cooking…’to taste’??) even though it was listed in the recipe’s name.  I even bought whole milk for the occasion…..which we NEVER have on hand.  We are a 1/2 percent family. 

I dutifully boiled up the one pound box of macaroni and set it aside (with a drop of olive oil to keep it from sticking).  I melted butter and whisked it with flour and dijon mustard untill it was a fragrant golden color.   Oops.  Added the milk a little quickly but continued to whisk and stir while the milk boiled and the sauce thickened.  I added the Monterey Jack and sharp cheddar cheeses and stirred them until all the shredded pieces were melted and the mixture was fragrant and creamy.  I skipped the salt because I didn’t have unsalted butter to use in the beginning.  It wasn’t really until I began to add the macaroni to the pan and it was beginning to overflow that I realized how much Waverly Inn Untruffled Mac and Cheese I was going to have on my hands.  And the stove.  And the counter top.  And, eventually, the dinner table.

Undaunted, I poured the mixture into one of my biggest baking dishes and covered the top with toasted bread crumbs, slipped it in the oven to finish heating through and set about finishing the pulled pork barbecue sandwiches we were having with the humungeous main dish.  Added cottage cheese, cold veggies and dip, sugar free Kool Aid and dinner was served.

I am not sure if it was all my anticipation of the fragrant dish, my sniffles, the rain drumming on our roof….or the absence of the Da Rosario white-truffle oil to taste.  Maybe it was just the years and years and years of Kraft boxes in our cupboard.  The Waverly Inn’s Untruffled Mac and Cheese just did not do it for me.  Or for anyone else at our table.  It was so…so….so bland.  Sigh. 

Princess ran the rest of it to the neighbor’s, who were happy to have it  for their dinner.

I am not sure what Ms. Tierney and her friends were eating at the Waverly Inn.  Or anyone else for that matter.  I am not sure what else they serve there.  It might be interesting to find out.  Might. 

I used to be impressed that a chef – or restaurant – could demand that kind of wait time for reservations.  I am not so much any more.  I realize that I am no master chef and my ingredients might not be the same quality.  But if I am ever in New York again, I will hit Morandi  or Chez Josephine for a late lunch…..and serve up a microwave cup of Kraft’s mac and cheese back at the hotel for dinner.  Or maybe just stop by the corner hot dog stand.  I am SO not a hoity toity when it comes to food.  I enjoy presentation.  I enjoy anticipation.  I enjoy something different.  I enjoy fun.  But sometimes the orangey Krafts stuff is juuuuust right.

I don’t usually watch the Emmy Awards. I don’t have anything against them; it’s just that I don’t watch many network shows. The last show that I can say I was a big fan of was the original Law & Order, however since Jessie L. Martin left and Sam Waterston was promoted the series hasn’t been the same and I haven’t really watched it. My sister turned me on to Rescue Me, but I have to wait until the DVDs come out or watch it on Hulu.com because I don’t get the FX Channel. And my guilty pleasure is Smallville on Fox.

But I did see two extraordinary made for television films and a supporting roll performance that I was hoping would be recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & sciences.

The supporting roll was Michael J. Fox’s recurring portrayal of Dwight on Rescue Me; a embittered, drug-addicted, booze drinking, paraplegic. This character was so outrageous, so out there, so not Michael J. Fox. I knew the first time I saw the character that Fox would be up for a nomination. So when he won the Emmy, I was really happy. If anyone is not sure what acting is, check out Fox’s Dwight on Rescue Me.

The two films I saw and was rooting for couldn’t have been more different, Taking Chance and Gray Gardens. Taking Chance received seven nominations including one for Outstanding Made for TV Movie and one for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Kevin Bacon, as Lt. Col. Mike Strobl. This is one film that should be required viewing in all American high schools.

Taking Chance

I was really hoping that if the film itself didn’t win an Emmy, that at least Kevin Bacon would have won for his exceptional and distinguished portrayal of Lt. Col. Strobl. Needless to say I was very disappointed that Taking Chance failed to win an Emmy for any of the seven categories it was nominated for.

Borrowing from the Taking Chance website, the following is a synopsis of this compelling, touching, and very educational film:

In April 2004, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, USMC, came across the name of 19-year-old Lance Corporal Chance Phelps, a young Marine who had been killed by hostile fire in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Strobl, a Desert Storm veteran with 17 years of military service, requested that he be assigned for military escort duty to accompany Chance’s remains to his family in Dubois, Wyo.

Witnessing the spontaneous outpouring of support and respect for the fallen Marine – from the groundskeepers he passed along the road to the cargo handlers at the airport – Strobl was moved to capture the experience in his personal journal. His first-person account, which began as an official trip report, gives an insight into the military’s policy of providing a uniformed escort for all casualties. The story became an Internet phenomenon when it was widely circulated throughout the military community and eventually reached the mainstream media.

‘Taking Chance’ chronicles one of the silent, virtually unseen journeys that takes place every day across the country, bearing witness to the fallen and all those who, literally and figuratively, carry them home. A uniquely non-political film about the war in Iraq, the film pays tribute to all of the men and women who have given their lives in military service as well as their families.

Gray Gardens
Years ago I saw a documentary about two eccentric women, mother and daughter, living in squalor, and who were related to Jacqueline Bouvier. I was a huge fan of the film and didn’t really believe there was any reason to watch Gray Gardens with Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymoore. But I fell in love with Jessica Lange when I saw her play Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams back in 1985, a portrayal so well done; she received her fourth Academy Award nomination. She lost that year to Geraldine Page for The Trip To Bountiful, which I also loved. So I watched Gray Gardens because Jessica Lange was in it and was absolutely blown-away.

The film went way beyond the documentary as far as the history of the two women, but it was uncanny, almost creepy how Lange and Barrymoore captured the essences of Big Edie and Little Edie, as if they were actually channeling the two.

Gray Gardens received 10 nominations including one for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, which it won; Lange and Barrymoore both received nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, but only one could win. I was excited that both actresses were recognized for their work; however I would have picked Drew Barrymoore to win the prize. Jessica Lange was wonderful as Big Edie, but I thought the part of Little Edie was much harder to capture, much more of a complicated part. But I’m happy at least one of them won.

I don’t quite get the nomination for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie that the film received. For the most part Little Edie had no hair and Big Edie’s hair was just a jumbled mass of gray hair. I also don’t get how Gray Gardens failed to win the Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or special award?

Borrowing from The Gray Gardens website, here is a synopsis of this five-star film:

In 1973, filmmakers Albert and David Maysles entered the strange world of “Big Edie” and
“Little Edie” Bouvier Beale, two charming eccentrics who were relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.
Spending six weeks with the reclusive mother and daughter who chose to live in squalor and almost total
isolation in a decaying, 28-room mansion in East Hampton, the Maysles captured their day-to-day life in its
raw, uncensored, captivatingly honest moments for a documentary entitled “Grey Gardens.” Little did
anyone know that the 100-minute documentary would catapult the two women from virtual obscurity to
cult status as their legacy grew in depth and stature over the years.

Thirty-five years later, using the documentary as a framework, director-writer Michael Sucsy’s original
story for GREY GARDENS offers a wry, behind-the-scenes look at the Beales and their unique
mother-daughter bond.

Told over the span of four decades, the film focuses on their glamorous and well-heeled lives long before
the making of the documentary and on the circumstances behind their riches-to-rags story.

Drew Barrymore stars as “Little Edie” and Jessica Lange stars as “Big Edie” in GREY GARDENS.
Directed by Michael Sucsy from a story by Sucsy and teleplay by Sucsy and Patricia Rozema, this
HBO Films production recounts the early years of the mother-daughter duo, as well as chronicling the
making of the iconic documentary by the Maysles brothers. Malcolm Gets and Daniel Baldwin co-star,
with Ken Howard and Jeanne Tripplehorn. Lucy Barzun Donnelly, Rachael Horovitz and Michael Sucsy
are executive producers; David Coatsworth produces.

*post atualizado durante toda a semana.

Debandada no elenco de ‘Law & Order: CI’

Segundo fontes do seriado, é de se esperar que os atores Vincent D’Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe e Eric Bogosia deixem a produção da franquia ao longo da nona temporada.

Julianne Nicholson deixou o programa na temporada passada, com isso, a esperança de Dick Wolf caem nos ombros de Jeff Goldblum, que entrou para o elenco fixo na última temporada, ao lado da atriz Saffron Burrows.

Atriz de Gossip Girl ganha medida cautelar contra ex-marido

Kelly Rutherford, a Lily do seriado ‘Gossip Girl’, exibido pela CW, obeteve esta semana uma medida cautelar contra o ex-marido Daniel Giersch, segundo a revista People.

A atriz procurou a justiça depois que Giersch começou a seguir a atriz, sua mãe e a babá de seus filhos, além de seguidas ameaças.

O ex-casal briga pela disputa dos filhos desde 2008.

Qualidade ou propaganda?

O NYT publicou uma matéria interessante em seu site indagando sobre a qualidade da programação da TV norte-americana: teria ela melhorado ou a propaganda e o famigerado buzz é que anda fortes? Clique aqui para ler.

ABC prepara nova série policial

Depois de estrear ‘The Forgotten’, de Jerry Bruckheimer, ABC já prepara ‘Hopscotch’, cop show do produtor para a próxima temporada. O piloto está sendo escrito por Chris Levinson.

Os detalhes até aqui são poucos, mas parece se tratar de uma série de investigações de homicídios durante diversos dias não-consecutivos.

Detalhe curioso: Chris Levinson, o roteirista, é filho de Richard Levinson, produtor famoso por ter estabelecido o gênero na TV norte-americana com shows como ‘Columbo’ e ‘Murder, She Wrote’.

Gossip Girl da vida real

A CW encomendou a produção de um piloto de reality show sobre uma gossip girl da vida real. A emissora explorará a vida de jovem e rica Tinsley Mortimer, socialite de Manhattan. Mortimer é apontada pelos jornalistas de celebridades – e pela Nylon – como a “next big thing”.

A jovem também participou da season premiere da segunda temporada de ‘Gossip Girl’ e foi juri do programa ‘Fashion Show’, que vai ao ar no canal a cabo Bravo, nos EUA.

A demanda para este novo reality é de oito episódios de meia hora. A produção executiva é de Andrew Gassman e Mike Aho.

ABC estreia ‘FlashForward’

A ABC leva ao ar hoje a series premiere de ‘FlashForward’, piloto mais guardado da fall season norte-americana.

O NYT escreveu uma crítica do piloto que é destaque na Home de Arts da versão online do jornal. Clique aqui para ler. Quanto a minha opinião sobre o piloto, foi publicada na Revista Paradoxo. E, claro, aqui no blog.

Jennifer Morrison, a Cameron, está saindo de ‘House’

A Entertainment Weekly deu agora pouco com exclusividade: a atriz Jennifer Morrison, que por cinco temporadas interpretou Cameron em ‘House’, está se despedindo do seriado.

O que foi dito é que a atriz não teria pedido desligamento ou sido demitida. Esta seria uma decisão criativa da produção. Considerando que Jesse Spencer continua na série no papel de Chase, já da pra ter uma idéia do que vai acontecer, né?

Stephen Root vai participar de ‘24 Horas’

O ator Stephen Root vai participar de dois episódios do oitavo dia mais difícil da vida de Jack Bauer. Root fará o papel de Ben Prady, oficial do Departamento de Correção. O ator já foi visto este ano no drama ‘True Blood’, da HBO.

Oito cenas que não queremos ver

O TV Guide fez uma lista divertida das oito cenas de sexo que NÃO queremos ver na TV. Confira aqui.

Quer saber tudo que vai acontecer na sua série favorita?

Spoilers de ‘CSI’, ‘True Blood’, ‘The Office’, ‘Fringe’, ‘Dexter’, ‘Bones’, ‘Heroes’, ‘Heroes’, ‘Mad Men’, ‘Smalville’ e muito mais, aqui.

Retornos e estreias na TV

Para quem ainda não viu ‘FlashForward’, um dos pilotos mais antecipados da fall season, vale a pena deletar o pre-air e baixar o piloto em HD, que vai ao ar hoje nos EUA. Outras séries que voltam hoje: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘CSI’ e ‘The Mentalist’.

Simon Cowell e Fox querem versão americana de ‘X Factor’

A Fox está prestes a fechar um contrato milionário com Simon Cowell, que além de juri do ‘American Idol’, é criador do show de talentos britânico ‘X Factor’.

Já faz tempo que o jurado demonstra vontade de trazer sua cria inglesa para a tv norte-americana, mas seu contrato com ‘American Idol’ sempre o impediu.

Mas agora parece que o desejo é mútuo e as primeiras conversas já aconteceram. A idéia da Fox é ter uma versão US de ‘American Idol’ para a temporada 2011-2012 e assim, segurar Cowell como jurado de Idol até a mesma época.

Em movimento ousado, CW encomenda temporadas completas

A CW parece determinada a ganhar a confiança de seus fãs (tem alguém ai?). Na noite de ontem, em atitude surpreendente, a emissora encomendou novos episódios ao drama ‘One Tree Hill’ e as novatas ‘Vampire Diaries’ e ‘Melrose Place’.

O canal aberto havia encomendado apenas 13 episódios do drama veterano, mas agora com o anúncio, a temporada completa está confirmada. Quanto a Diaries, a aposta é grande, já que o novo drama teen-vampiresco teve a premiere mais assistida da história da CW.

Já Melrose, até aqui foi só decepção. Mas os executivos parecem estar com paciência, assim como tiveram a mesma paciência com a turma de ‘90210′. E desde que Heather Locklear confirmou sua volta a Melrose, o futuro parece menos tenebroso – será?

NBC compra ‘The Mountain’

A NBC foi até o Canadá atrás de novidades. A emissora acaba de adquirar ‘The Mountain’, co-produção canadense sobre uma mulher que se muda com sua família para as montanhas, onde herdou uma cabana de seu suposto falecido avô.

As filmagens começam no mês de outubro em Montreal e Doug Barr, que escreveu o piloto, também acumulará a função de diretor e produtor executivo, ao lado de Joel Rice e Jeff Grant.

O piloto possui duas horas de duração e tem o formato de telefilme. Ele serve como cartão de visitas para um eventual sinal verde da emissora para produzir um seriado.

FX prepara série animada para 2010

A FX está prestes a se aventurar nas animações. O canal a cabo norte-americano fechou parceria com a empresa Shine Intl. para produzir uma animação com previsão de estréia para 2010.

‘Archer’, título do projeto, será um thriller animado sobre espiões. No elenco estão Jon Benjamin, na voz do espião-mestre Sterling Archer, Jessica Walter, Aisha Tyler, Chris Parnell e Judy Greer.

JJ Abrams prepara nova comédia para Fox

A Bad Robot, produtora de JJ Abrams (criador de ‘Alias’ e ‘Lost’) fechou um contrato com a Fox para escrever uma nova comédia para o canal. Mike Markowitz foi chamado para roteirizar a idéia.

O show ainda não tem título e detalhes sobre a trama estão sendo mantidos em segredo por Abrams, que produzirá a comédia. O que se sabe até aqui é que o programa é descrito como uma “comédia médica”. Algo na linha de Scrubs, talvez?

Lembrando que não é a primeira vez que a Bad Robot se aventura nas comédias. Em 2006-2007, a produtora de JJ produziu ‘What About Brian’.

Betty White como ela mesma em ‘30 Rock’

Betty White aparecerá como ela mesmo em ‘30 Rock’. Famosa por ser uma das Golden Girls, White gravará sua participação na semana que vem.  Segundo Tina Fey, agora o seriado corre atrás de Meryl Streep, Paul McCartney, Robert Pattinson e Justin Timberlake.

Spin-offs memoráveis

O TV Guide fez uma lista super bacana com os 12 spin-offs mais memoráveis da TV norte-americana. Clique aqui para conferir. Na lista, nomes muito importante na história dos seriados como ‘Rhoda’, ‘Frasier’ e ‘The Jeffersons’.

Novidades no elenco de ‘Damages’

Campbell Scott e Martin Short entram para o elenco fixo de ‘Damages’. Enquanto isso, a produção anunciou outros dois nomes de peso que farão participações na terceira temporada. São eles: Keith Carradine e Lily Tomlin. As filmagens do novo ano iniciam hoje, 23 de setembro.

Spielberg prepara série para Showtime

O diretor e produtor Steven Spielberg prepara nova série para o canal a cabo norte-americano Sowtime. O show deverá narrar os bastidores de uma produção musical da Broadway. O bacana aqui é que o seriado acompanhará a pré-produção, produção e pós-produção da peça. E após isso, a peça sai da telinha e entra em cartaz de verdade.

Lost

A ABC liberou nesta terça-feira, 22/09, o título do quarto episódio da sexta temporada de ‘Lost’: ‘The Substitute’. Lembrando que os outros três primeiros já tinham vazado: ‘LA X’ (S06E01 e S06E02) e ‘What Kate Does’ (S06E03, lembrando que o nome do S02E09 é ‘What Kate Did’).

Geralmente, os quartos episódios das temporadas de ‘Lost’, são focados em… Locke. Agora, volte pro nome do episódio. Faz sentido, não?

Heather Locklear está de volta a Melrose Place

Heather Locklear, a eterna Amanda Woodward, vai voltar para o remake de ‘Melrose Place’. No começo do ano, a atriz descartou reprisar o papel que a lançou ao estrelado, mas parece que Locklear mudou de idéia.

O anúncio foi feito esta semana pela The CW e a primeira participação da atriz no programa deve acontecer no dia 17 de novembro. Detalhes de sua volta não foram divulgados – há especulações de que ela seria relacionada a Ella -, mas sabe-se que ela voltará a morar no prédio em que habitou na versão original do seriado.

CBS encomenda novos pilotos

A CBS está produzindo dois novos dramas. Um do roteirista Peter Tolan (‘Rescue Me’) e outro de Ed Redlich (‘Without a Trace’). Os dois são produções da Sony Pictures TV e possuem grandes multas caso seus pilotos não sejam produzidos. O projeto – sem título – de Tolan é sobre um professor excêntrico que desvenda crimes. O piloto está sendo escrito em quatro mãos, as outras duas são de Michael Wimer.

Já ‘The Remember’, de Redlich, é focado em uma detetive de Nova York que tem a habilidade de lembrar absolutamente tudo que passa por sua vida. Sarah Timberman e Carl Beverly são os outros dois nomes atrelados ao piloto.

25 séries que fracassaram

A Entertainment Weekly fez uma matéria SUPER bacana com as 25 séries mais hypadas da história que deram errado. Todos os anos diversas produções atingem o status de hit antes mesmo de sua estréia, e o que se vê depois é um fracasso de crítica e audiência que gera um cancelamento muitas vezes prematuro.

Entre alguns nomes, estão ‘The Fugitive’ (95-96), ‘Watching Ellie’ (2002-2003), ‘My Own Worst Enemy’ (2008), ‘The Lone Gunmen’ (2001), ‘Karen Sisco’ (2003-2004), ‘Smith’ (2006), e talvez o principal de toda a história da TV: ‘Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip’ (2006-2007). Confirma a lista completa aqui: http://is.gd/3zaRq

The Good Wife

Hoje tem series premiere de ‘The Good Wife’, novo drama da CBS e uma das minhas apostas pra fall season. A série é estrelada por Chris Noth (o Mr Big de ‘Sex and The City’) e Julianna Margulies. Noth faz o papel de um político protagonista de uma sex tape que vaza para a mídia. Margulies faz o papel de sua esposa. A série foi destaque na home do NYT: http://is.gd/3za05

Glee

A série ‘Glee’ mal estreou e já recebeu uma temporada completa da Fox. A emissora norte-americana encomendou outros 9 episódios, além dos 13 planejados inicialmente. Portanto, a demanda total é de 22 episódios. ‘Glee’ é uma criação de Ryan Murphy, que já nos trouxe ‘Nip/Tuck’.

Obama

Presença de Obama ontem no Letterman deu ao talk show sua maior audiência em quatro anos, audiência 195% maior que a de Conan O’Brien.

Doogie nailed it.

Here’s the list of nominees and winners. I was a miserable 6 of 18 on my predictions, but there were a few upsets. So, attention DVR People – my comments below include spoilers! Now I’ll wait a minute while those people leave the room and seat-fillers take their place…  

Gone? Okay…cue my theme music!

Let’s hear it for the boy! Doogie was great – killing it with an opening number that was acerbic and funny (and props to him for immediately crediting the writers – Scott Wittman and Mark Shaiman from Hairspray) and keeping things moving pretty briskly. Made some great quips and dished out some kudos where and when appropriate without being fawning. Great running gag (with Jon Cryer, among others) after not winning for Supporting Actor, which several critics apparently took seriously. The retort to Academy President John Schaffner in the audience after the latter gave him an Emmy pin (“Yeah, that helps.”) was hilarious. Only the extended “best seat in the house” gag got tired. But really, how can you possibly dislike the guy? He must have a Q rating off the charts. (And if you thought that bit where he breathlessly rattled off the list of networks was great, watch this !)

And speaking of the Harlem Globetrotters – the only time that tired gag was really funny – it was good to see the Washington Generals of the Apple ads get his night. While Justin Long had to sit complacently next to Drew Barrymore, his partner in those hilarious commercials, John Hodgman,  got to zing one-liners from the booth. Between serious voice-overs (“This is her first win and her second nomination“) he peppered the audio with absurdly funny comments (“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart is celebrating its 76th year on the air. It began on Comedy Central Radio as Stewart-Brand Chicken-Fat All-Star Baked Beans Half Hour. This is their 900th Emmy, and frankly, that’s too much“). Likewise, Harris often introduced nominees by “obscure” credits from their resumes.

The tables have turned.

Splitting the show into segments. Very good idea, albeit risky. Of course, they always have to start out strong to keep the audience from flipping, so Comedy was the appropriate leadoff hitter. Exhausting that category so soon risked weakening the overall show but they pulled it off. Better yet, getting to fast-forward through the Reality segment kept the projectiles off my screen and the vomit off my floor. After last year’s program, where TV almost killed its own Golden Goose by kissing the ass of the most unreal programming on television, can you blame me for avoiding that train wreck of a category? (And please explain how American Idol was included within the “Reality” part of the program, but then the director won in the “Variety” category?)

Three cheers also for the set. The theatre is amazing, and the versatile set was configured to expose the composition of the evening like peeling the skin off the skeleton. The band out of the pit, the production booth in view upstage, the host actually able to host from a designated location. Aside from one obvious technical glitch – which Ricky Gervais turned into gold, of course – the show ran very smoothly.

The mood of the show was also interesting. Fairly egoless – our host was a big part of that. Almost everyone got through their lines and cues without issue, and for the most part the presenters and recipients avoided the usual politicking (Washington and Hollywood) that the Oscars seem to bring in droves. There weren’t enough performance clips for my taste – sometimes none at all – and the gimmick about asking some of the non-performer nominees mostly fell flat because some took it seriously while others didn’t (the clip of the night was from Conan O’Brien’s show, where he predicts “YouTube, Twitter and Facebook will merge to form one super time-wasting Web site called YouTwitFace.”)

And thanks to the network for not picking up that ridiculous gimmick that Fox dropped on us recently where the lower third of the screen is filled with scrolling tweets. Die in Hell for that one, television. Isn’t it enough that you pander to wannabe celebretards by cramming as many of these unreal crapfests onto the air in place of creative and scripted programs? Now you have to let couch potatoes try to tweet their way onto the screen so they can – I dunno – tweet their friends that their tweet was broadcast? (That’s like a snake eating its tail, right?) Then you’ll complain that no one could follow the plot of your show.

Best surprise – an appearance by Dr. Horrible, which was perhaps not as funny for people who have not seen the hilarious webisodes starring Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day.  Of course, the irony that the program was created on the Internet during the writer’s strike and aired without any network or commercial involvement was probably also too subtle as well. But why fret about those who can’t appreciate it, knowing the zeitgeist of 2009 somehow justifies Leighton Meester and Brooke Lively walking on the same stage as Glenn Close and Bob Newhart? (And folks,  Nathan Fillion rules.)

I always get a little verklempt during the In Memoriam segment anyway, but really – bringing Sarah McLachlan out to drive a nail through my heart? Was that necessary? If you’ve been to a memorial service in the past decade you know that song is as requisite as Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” at a wedding reception…and I experienced both within twenty-four hours this weekend. (She did nail the performance, though).  Maybe a good career move for her, since the last few times I’ve seen her on television she’s been asking me to save abused pets. But between those ads and that song, she’s unquestionably the reigning Debbie Downer.

Eat, already!

Kristin Chenoweth squeaked and squirted so much during her crying jag that the high-pitched whine probably killed one of Mickey Rourke’s dogs. I was surprised by her win, but she is talented (Wicked on Broadway? Girl, please!) and now can hopefully afford to buy a sandwich. She was the first person that said “this is really heavy” when holding the Emmy Award that I believed. Really – the girl makes Olive Oyl look fat. Great bit pimping for jobs on Mad Men and 24 now that her show is cancelled.

Ricky Gervais. Pure freakin’ gold. I don’t know if he could keep up that pace for the entire program, but I’d sure like to watch him try. As solid as Neil Patrick Harris was – and he was very good – Gervais has the fastest mind I’ve seen since Robin Williams in his prime. Combine that with a self-deprecating attitude and a bold disregard for convention (I’m willing to go there, and don’t care what you think about it) and you get both humor and unpredictability. He is, as the Brits say, brilliant.

"Fixing the glitch"

Comedy WTF Award: Toni Collette. Really? Really?? I’ll bet more people lost betting on Tina Fey than the ones betting on these guys or them or (sniff!) them. I remember hearing about The United States of Tara being scheduled but that’s the last time I heard it mentioned. Tina Fey might be getting so many accolades that there’s a backlash, but she was funnier than ever this year. But she nailed the guest appearance as Sarah Palin and won that Emmy as expected, plus having 30 Rock win was probably more satisfying, since it works because it’s an ensemble piece. (Well, more satisfying to me, anyway.)

Loved Brian’s Emmy vote. “Suit up!”

Perhaps it was because they front loaded the comedy, but after all those overt verbose kudos to Lorne Michaels,I figured he either was quietly diagnosed with inoperable cancer or owns a scrapbook with incriminating photos of everyone he’s ever worked with. (Probably it’s just that he’s a nice guy).

There were some repeat winners I can’t argue with – Jon Stewart, Alec Baldwin – they deserve the accolades. Happy to see Michael J. Fox snag a Guest Actor win for Rescue Me; it reminded me of some shows and people who got overlooked entirely.

Really Mad Men

Drama kudos: Bryan Cranston. I figured that Jon Hamm would walk off with it as Mad Men gets a lot of Emmy love, but Cranston is unbelievable in his role and well deserving. Can’t knock the win by Michael Emerson, either – here’s a guy who was so good that a guest spot on Lost was transformed into the central character on the show. But I wish the voters showed the love to Aaron Paul, Cranston’s co-lead on Breaking Bad, who had a (ahem) breakout year.

And speaking of breakouts…WTF was up with that “breakout moment of the year” polling? Those were the three most transcendent moments on television this year? Really? Did they limit the voting to people under the age of twelve? Not only was the gimmick itself distracting and juvenile, but the impact was…well, what’s the opposite of buzzworthy?

Some good presenter moments, too. Jimmy Fallon’s dance injury bit was great. Justin Timberlake after Sarah Silverman’s moustache shot (“That’s what hormones will do“). Ken Howard (The White Shadow!!) hoping his speech “doesn’t get interrupted by a Congressman or a rapper”, then cracking an opportune SAG joke. Amy Poehler and Julia Louis-Dreyfus smilingly confirming the end of broadcast television as a vital medium. Jessica Lange -a cougar even at 60-  saying parts (ahem)  ”don’t come around that often for me anymore“. The always randy Dana Delaney  topping that with “I like a man who delivers week after week!” Bryan Cranston saying he’s thankful that Glenn Close is actually a woman. Tina Fey taking a well-deserved shot at NBC by thanking them for keeping 30 Rock on the air “even though its much more expensive than a talk show“.

Who would have thought that after their Super Bowl duet, Justin Timberlake would be so much more popular than Janet Jackson’s breast? I’m still not a fan of his music, but the guy is funny as hell and despite incredible fame seems to be pretty humble about it. If only more famous people took themselves less seriously.

Oh, wait. Then we wouldn’t have Award Shows. Never mind.

B.YONEST NEWZ.. UPDATE! UPDATE! (10/02/09)

This “Kristen Chenoweth” must be an amazing specimen. I was ignorant to her beauty and charm. This woman has brought more hits to the “INVAZION” the last two weeks than all the naked girls, all the remixes and all the porn. AMAZING. One picture of Kristen Chenoweth! I didn’t even know she existed until the Emmy Awards. Now she’s an important part of my Internet Existence. Sex Tape maybe, Kristen. I’m just sayin’. You’re really buzzin right now.. KEEP IT GOIN, baby!

B.YONEST NEWZ…30 Rock gets 22 Nominations

Neil Patrick Harris aka Doogie Howser M.D. hosted the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards on CBS. He began the show with an incredible ballad “Put Down the Remote” (written by Mark Shaman and Scott Whitman) and the night began. For the 1st time in the history of the Awards the show was presented into five different segments. Comedy, Reality, Movies & Mini Series, Variety and Drama. Every segment had it’s own set on the stage which was not only an interesting concept, but gave the Awards a great twist. The night began with Comedy.

First of all, I want to start of the Comedy Segment by explaining how badly I wanna spoof Tina Fey. She’s sooo sexxy man. Sara Palin or not. She’s effin hot. 30 Rock wouldn’t be a show if it were not for Tina “Sexxy” Fey. She’s not just funny, but interestingly insightful and those damn glasses… Damn Tina Fey, you’re like the new Megan Fox to me. Moving on, Kristen Chenoweth won the first award of the evening for her role in “Pushing Daisies.“

NBC’s 30 Rock featuring Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan and Tina Fey received 22 nominations in different Comedy categories. They had four people nominated in the same category for the same show. Jon Cryer of “Two and a 1/2 Men” took home the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a comedy series. I think it’s awesome that Christina Applegate is still on television. After all she’s been through. Remember her from Married with Children? Geesh! Amazing!

BREAKING NEWZ – HAVE YOU HEARD B.YONEST MUZIK YET??? - click here to listen to 3 remixes on BILLBOARD TOP 10

Toni Collette took home the Best Leading Actress Emmy Award for her Showtime role in “United States of Tara” where she plays a mother with split personalities. She beat out Julia Louise Dreyfus, Mary Louise Parker and Tina Fey. Great category. If you haven’t seen the show, I highly advise you to get Showtime and start watching the Series NOW. Showtime does an incredible job with their series’. Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Dexter and United States of Tara is amazing television. Get Showtime TODAY. Quick Plug!

In other award news, Alec Baldwin took the home the Emmy for Best Male Leading Actor in his work on the twenty two time nominated show, 30 Rock. Lorne Michaels of NBC must be doing something incredible over there on his station. Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, The Office and many other shows on NBC took home awards and received a great deal of Nominations. Great Job, Lorne. Now to Reality!

WHO DOESN’T LOVE REALITY TELEVISION.. I’M JUST SAYIN!

Reality television has made such a break through into mainstream T.V. it has it’s own category on the Emmy Awards. Love, pain, agony, weight loss, job loss, celebrity and every other extreme is covered and viewed by Millions of people everyday. The chance to watch “real people” live their lives has grown into more of a cult following than Soap Operas. Let’s get to the “reality” winners.

Jeff Probst took home the first “Reality Emmy” for the Best Host of a Reality Series for his work on Survivor. Sorry Seacrest. Ryan was nominated for American Idol, but I hate that fixed show so f*ck it. I believed that Reality Television would never last. I imagined this travishimochery of a concept would last a couple years and the T.V. GODS would realize how stupid it is. NOPE! Now they have a Category on the Emmy Awards. Who the f*ck knew? Onto Movies and Mini Series.

THE CATEGORY I KNOW ABBZOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT!!

I wish I knew more about this Category. It featured shows and movies I’d never heard of. All this told me was to learn more of my ignorance when it comes to Movies and Mini Series’ on television. I’m no a big movie watcher as it is, but APParENTLY, there’s some series actors and actresses in this category. Ken Howard took home his 1st Emmy for his work in the HBO’s Grey Gardens featuring Drew Berrymore. He dedicated the award to his wife (it was her birthday). How special is THAT. Winning an Emmy Award on your wifes’ birthday. I dig it!

BREAKING NEWZ – HAVE YOU HEARD B.YONEST MUZIK YET??? - click here to listen to 3 remixes on BILLBOARD TOP 10

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Movie or Mini Series went to Brendan Gleeson for his role on Into the Storm. Gleeson was nominated with Kevin Bacon and Keifer Sutherland among others. Congratulations to you Mr. Gleeson. There is so much television I just don’t know about. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Movie or Mini Series went to Jessica Lange for her incredible work in Grey Gardens. Other nominees included Drew Berrymore, Sigourney Weaver and Chandra Wilson. Grey Gardens also took home for the Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie. I don’t have HBO so that may be the reason I’d never heard of it! Did you know about it!! Go Grey Gardens. Let’s move onto Variety!!

THIS IS WHY I WATCH TELEVISION. FOR SH*T LIKE THIS!!

Variety is the category that matters the most to me. Comedy, music, spoofs, Leno, Dave Letterman, Jon Stewart, Beyonce, Bill Maher and Tina Fey as Sara Palin and soooo much more. Let’s get this sh*t goin.’ I love the honesty, sincerity and seriousness of this category. Bill Maher is loud mouthed and sometimes rude, but he knows what he’s talking about NO QUESTION. Leno and Letterman have been part of our lives for decades. Imagine your Monday through Friday nights without them. Yeah, thought so.

The Colbert Show, The Late Night w/ Conan O’Brien, The Late Show w/ David Letterman, The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live were nominated for their writers. How do you possibly decided the winner of this Category? What a difficult Emmy to deliver. The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart won. Jon and his team of writers push the bar and go to great lengths to deliver news in a trendy, upbeat and “in your face” way. People like myself (who are lude, rude, crude and vulgur) appreciate the Colbert, Stewart, Mahers’ of the World. Let’s talk about some Drama.

WE ALL NEED SOME DRAMA IN OUR LIVES RIGHT?? THAZ RIGHT!

CSI, 24, Grey’s Anatomy, True Blood, Lost, Mad Men, ER, Brother & Sisters and so many more shows have kept us captivated and viewing the screen for years. Every station from HBO to NBC and “E” has an incredible Drama Series we wish we knew about. Onto the nominees and winners. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series was won by Cherry Jones for her work in Fox 24. Michael J. Fox took home an Emmy for Best Guest Feature in a Drama Series on the show Rescue Me. What an inspiration Michael J. Fox is, huh?

Glenn Close took home the Emmy for Best Leading Actress in a Drama Series in Damages. Sally Field and Elisabeth Moss were also nominated for the Award this year. Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series went to Brian Cranston for his role in Breaking Bad. Other nominees included Michael C. Hall of Dexter and Hugh Laurie of House.

The last two Awards of the night were Outstanding Drama Series won by Mad Men and Outstanding Comedy Series which was delivered to 30 Rock. Tina Fey, my girlfriend, delivered the speech and I want to thank you for that Tina. I love you more and more EVERYTIME you open your mouth. You’re AMAZING. Other nominees included Weeds, Flight of the Conchords, Entourage and The Office. Great Category, again!!

Overall, it was a great show. The Emmy Awards proved that television is still around and it’s here to stay. Comedy, Drama and “the newbie” Reality are making waves and breakthrough strides to improve the Entertainment World. Thanks for all you do, Television. ALL HAIL.. #HOLLAWONIMO.

ANONYMOUZ

BREAKING NEWZ – HAVE YOU HEARD B.YONEST MUZIK YET??? - click here to listen to 3 remixes on BILLBOARD TOP 10

Justin Timberlake (Photo:NBC)

Actress Tina Fey won an Emmy on Saturday for her of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” while pop star Justin Timberlake also was honored for his guest host appearance on the NBC show.

This was Fey’s sixth career win, and she has a chance to win two more at the regular Primetime Emmy Ceremony on Sunday where she is nominated for best comedy actress.

Timberlake won his second career Emmy, for his hilarious hosting bout where he played several characters.

In the dramatic categories, the guest-starring awards went to Ellen Burstyn for NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and Michael J. Fox for “Rescue Me” on FX. For a complete list of winners: Creative Emmy Winners

The Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will be on broadcast on Sunday, September 2oth on CBS.

The Cancelled and the Underrepresented

The 2009 Creative Arts Emmy Awards

For those who aren’t particularly interested in the seedy underbelly of the Emmy Awards process, the Creative Arts Emmys aren’t particularly interesting. Generally, the awards tend to be a bit more scattershot than the main awards, meaning that few “favourite” shows take victories and thus there isn’t a lot of mainstream attention generated by them. However, more and more each year there’s interest in terms of smaller shows getting a chance to shine in awards not deemed worthy for network television consumption, and more importantly for us pundits there’s a chance to see if there are any trends emerging (as tenuous as any trend can be when different voting bodies determine each set of awards).

Complete Winners List – 2009 Creative Arts Emmys

This year, through the joys of Twitter, I was able to both share the news of various winners and be able to get some response (from Todd VanDerWerff, Alan Sepinwall, and in particular Jaime Weinman), which resulted in some interesting discussion. So, to kind of pick up on that, here’s a few of the key areas of interest from the awards that made me pause either out of interest, excitement or concern.

Pushing Daisies wins Big, Still Cancelled

The Emmys were never Pushing Daisies’ problem: although the show wasn’t able to garner a nomination as a series in its first season, it did grab nominations for Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth, as well as some attention in the creative arts categories. This year, though, the show received a really fitting swan song as it picked up three awards (art direction, costumes and makeup), showing that even in an ill-fated and shortened season the show was noticed by voters in terms of its craftsmanship. The show has now won six Emmys total (picking up trophies for Directing, Music Composition and Editing last year), which helps cement the show’s legacy as a wonderful if tragic moment in television history.

Battlestar Galactica finds Mixed Bag in Final Year

After two back to back wins in Visual Effects, and a hugely effects-driven finale, one would have expected the show to dominate in that category. However, to my shock at least, Heroes picked up the Special Visual Effects award for the first time, although BSG didn’t go home empty handed. Spreading the love around, the show picked up the award for sound editing, which is well deserved if not quite the award one would have expected them to be contending as closely for. Either way, it’s great to see another part of the show’s great team behind the scenes pick up an award, and its unfortunate that areas where the show should have contended (See: Bear McCreary’s amazing scoring work) were uncontested.

Changes Wreak Havoc on Comedy Guest Acting

Of the changes made to the Emmys this year, the one that sort of slipped under the radar (and didn’t face a lot of pressure from any particular group) is the elimination of the individual performance in a variety/comedy/music special/series. This was the category that Stephen Colbert infamously lost to Barry Manilow, and in which musical performers, talk show hosts, and (most interesting for our purposes) Saturday Night Live hosts contended.

This year, both Tina Fey and Justin Timberlake won awards for their appearances on Saturday Night Live, and in both instances it raises some really interesting questions. Now, in Fey’s case, this actually was a guest performance: she wasn’t the host in that episode, and her stint as Sarah Palin really was a guest spot (albeit in the really strange variety show format, which would have put her in the old category especially since they submitted a clip show of ALL of her appearances). However, Timberlake’s win is an example of something that would certainly have remained in the Variety Performance award, which makes for an interesting test case. Considering how much of each individual episode an SNL host is in, I think it’s a strange comparison with other guest stars, and I can see why voters would lean towards Timberlake in comparison with the other contenders.

It just raises the question of whether the loss of that category has now opened the door for the more showy SNL roles to elbow out some more complex supporting work on the comedy side of things…although, realistically, they probably would have given it to the oldest possible nominee if not to them, so I’d still be complaining. Although, what else is new?

Dramatic Performances

Ellen Burstyn ended up winning the battle of the three award-winning ladies nominated for star turns on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (which is a magnet for the dramatic guest acting categories), but the other side of the coin was more interesting. On the acting side, you had Jimmy Smits in what was really a supporting, season-long role on Dexter and Michael J. Fox as part of a similarly lengthy guest spot on FX’s Rescue Me. I think in some ways the “Guest” distinction hurt Smits, whose character was more about arc than anything else as he turned from friend to foe, while Fox’s performance and pedigree seemed to stand alone better with the judges. I ended up 2/4 on my predictions in these categories (missing Burstyn and Timberlake), so I think it’s respectable enough.

Chuck a Repeat Victor

You probably didn’t even know that Chuck won last year’s Emmy for Stunt Coordination, so you’d be surprised all over again to see the show pick up its second straight Emmy in the category against stiff competition (Burn Notice, 24). I wonder if the show gets extra points because of the comic nature of its stunts, or perhaps that its beautiful/charming/comic cast is made to look so badass in the context of those scenes. Either way, I’m not complaining, and the stunts really were great in Season 2.

The Emmys vs. The Internet

In an effort to appear more hip with the kids as it relates to online entertainment, the Emmys have started handing out awards for interactive experiences online, including short form programming that debuts in the online arena (or elsewhere that could be considered “broadcast” in some form). In the end, it was internet juggernaut Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog that took home an Emmy for Joss Whedon (his first, after getting only a single writing nomination for Buffy the Vampire Slayer) over a set of Battlestar Galactica webisodes, while Lost’s “The Dharma Initiative” interactive web experience and Jimmy Fallon’s pre-debut online material picked up creativity awards.

The Power of PBS’ Little Dorrit

Going into the ceremony, everyone was expecting for HBO’s Grey Gardens to dominate the various creative arts categories like art direction, costumes, and cinematography amongst the Miniseries/Movie/Special categories. However, to the surprise of at least me, PBS’ miniseries Little Dorrit has been more dominant, tying or taking all of those categories and quite a few that one would have expected Grey Gardens to dominate in. Perhaps there’s some backlash against the slightly glossy nature of Grey Gardens (which I really liked, but which does seem very much “produced”), or perhaps it’s just that Dorrit is that good. Either way, it’s changed my sense of the Movie/Miniseries races in a major way.

The Curse of David Simon and Ed Burns

One thing it does tell me is that Generation Kill isn’t going to set the Emmy world on storm, and is unlikely to defeat Dorrit next weekend. I was hoping this would be a chance for Simon and Burns to avenge the Emmy-less Wire, and while the miniseries did pick up well-deserved wins for sound editing/mixing as well as Visual Effects there isn’t really a chance of them picking up the award for Best Miniseries when they didn’t pick up cinematography or Casting or picture editing (all of which it could have easily won). The buzz just isn’t there, and Dorrit seems like too much of a slam dunk with voters.

Questions of Casting

Jaime Weinman had a lot of valid points about just what criteria voters are using when deciding, for instance, that 30 Rock has the best casting for a comedy series. Since the award goes to a series in any year, it can’t be for the regular cast itself (unless it’s the show’s first year, as it was for Drama winner True Blood), so it means it’s a question of guest stars. However, as Jaime noted, 30 Rock’s casting directors don’t have to work particularly hard to get in the kind of celebrities they do thanks to Fey and Lorne Michaels’ industry clout, and the way the show handles guest stars (see: not well, most of the time) would tend to indicate that parts are written for people rather than some sort of wish fulfillment “I hope we get X for this part!”

It’s tough to know exactly what their criteria is, but almost all of the show nominated fit into the same category of not really have to work very hard in terms of pulling together a casting department. Really, the winner of this award should of been Starz’ Party Down, which despite leaning heavily on Rob Thomas’ personal connections really relied on the strength of its guest stars and was really only able to survive as a series on their strength.

Cultural Observations

• EDIT: Forgot to make note that for the first time in a few years So You Think You Can Dance goes home Emmy-less. Perhaps it was the spectacle of Hugh Jackman, but the Oscars’ Salute to Musicals picked up the only choreography award (they can award as many as they feel are deserving), defeating Mia Michaels (Mercy), Tyce D’Orio, Tabitha(r) and Napolean and Dmitry Caplan from the FOX series.
  • Edit again: turns out that the press release goes against the website, and Tyce D’Orio won an Emmy for his work on the show. Just goes to show you that you can’t always trust sources.
• Dan Castellaneta picked up his fourth voiceover Emmy, beating first-time nominee Harry Shearer – The Simpsons, however, lost the short-form animation Emmy to South Park.
• Interesting to see Mad Men get almost entirely shut out – I don’t think it really impacts its chances at next week’s ceremony, but the Creative Arts Emmys are supposed to be its showcase, and yet it lost Art Direction (for the evocative and stunning “The Jet Set”) to the cancelled Pushing Daisies, which I don’t think anyone saw coming. It did, however, pick up an Emmy for hairstyling.
• Chris Rock won the battle of the comedians (including the Academy Awards writing team, Louis CK, Ricky Gervais and Will Ferrell) for his writing work on his HBO Special Kill the Messenger, although he and everyone else lost the Variety/Comedy special category to the Kennedy Center Honours.
• Kathy Griffin, who won the last two awards for Reality Program for her Life on the D-List show, was hosting this year’s awards, and went home empty handed: she lost the Comedy Special category, and then lost Reality Program to A&E’s Intervention. Many had expected TLC’s Jon and Kate Plus 8 to compete in this category, but it wasn’t nominated and as it turns out the Academy went for some more serious fare this year.
• Interesting that a number of Alzheimer’s themed programs (including HBO’s Memory Loss Tapes and Grampa, Do You Know Who I Am?) won awards, but The Alzheimer’s Project (HBO’s critically acclaimed documentary) lost out in Nonfiction Special. A real headscratcher, that one.

Michael Schneider wrote this great article for Variety explaining exactly why the broadcast networks’ model for Fall Premiere Week is long overdue for cancellation. I can’t state the case any better than Schneider, so I’ll simply add this:

Incredible Cable Shows that debuted on a non-traditional schedule

• Damages
• Rescue Me
• Leverage
• Mad Men
• Royal Pains
• Raising the Bar
• True Blood
• Breaking Bad
• Nip/Tuck
• Burn Notice
• Monk
• Psych
• In Plain Sight
• The Tudors
• Weeds