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In a somewhat unexpected night (like always), the Emmy awards came and went, and some of the winners came out of left field! There were no true moments that made this year stand out, but at least Neil Patrick Harris made a great job at a normal hosting job.

And the winners for the major categories are:

Best Drama: MAD MEN
Best Comedy: 30 ROCK
Drama Actor: BRYAN CRANSTON – BREAKING BAD
Drama Actress: GLENN CLOSE – DAMAGES
Comedy Actor: ALEC BALDWIN – 30 ROCK
Comedy Actress: TONI COLETTE – UNITED STATES OF TARA
Drama Supporting Actor: MICHAEL EMERSON – LOST
Drama Supporting Actress: CHERRY JONES – 24
Comedy Supporting Actor: JON CRYER – TWO AND A HALF MEN
Comedy Supporting Actress: KRISTIN CHENOWETH – PUSHING DAISIES
Reality Host: JEFF PROBST – SURVIVOR
Reality Competition Series: THE AMAZING RACE

The true surprises were Kristin Chenoweth winning for Pushing Daisies, and there were 3 big upsets, Jon Cryer over host Neil Patrick Harris (which became a running gag on the show), Cherry Jones winning (she was nowhere near the top of anyone’s list), and Toni Colette over Tina Fey.

Better luck next year, and Big Bang Theory was robbed!

So it’s a mere 2 days before the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards. The votes are in, the tally is done, we’re just waiting for the announcements on Sunday night. (LIVE updates will come on Sunday starting at 8pm EDT, so be prepared)

Ok, so these are the Emmys, and tradition says that the winners will either be predictable or out of left field, not necessarily non-deserving. Here are my picks for the major awards, and who I think will actually get their trophy (after the jump):

Read the rest of this entry →

AMC has announced that they have officially renewed reigning Emmy drama champ Mad Men for a 4th season, to air sometime in Summer 2010.

After a stellar performance last year during which it won many accolades for its freshman season, there was no doubt the show would be back this year, and it has not proved the execs wrong. Mad Men, only in its 3rd episode of its 3rd season, is well over-performing compared to last year, with double the number of viewers. This show has truly become the epicenter for scripted series for AMC.

More details are sure to come in the future, as this season has just barely started, but series creator Matthew Weiner is on board, having secured a 2 year deal with Lionsgate (the production company) this past January which will ensure his reigns on the show until season 4.

Mad Men‘s second season is up for 16 Emmy Awards next month, including 4 for drama writing, one each for John Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and John Slattery, and the series itself is one of seven competing for Best Drama Series, which is most likely to win yet again.

So the Emmys brought in the surprises this year, nominating 7 shows in each of the top categories, with some interesting choices and noticeable omissions.

First off, my disses: Entourage and Weeds sucked really bad last year, and they get slots in best comedy series over the superior Big Bang Theory! Weeds worst of all, and they get their typical nods for series and acting. But come to think of it, that’s pretty much it…

There were several interesting surprises, though. Flight of the Conchords and Family Guy sneaked in the best comedy series slots, while Jemaine Clement from ‘Conchords‘ got an Acting nod. The Mentalist himself got a slot in the best actor race, and 2 SNL ladies (Amy Poehler & Kristen Wiig) got into the supporting actress roster. Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) is in for Best Actor, yey!!! The triple header of supporting nods to 30 Rock‘s Tracy Jordan, Jack McBrayer and Jane Krakowski. But I think the biggest surprise is that Jeremy Piven (Entourage) lost out on a nod, while being the winner for the last couple of years! I’m happy with all of these little surprises, and I’m rooting for Jim Parsons all the way.

Then we got the welcome nods to How I Met Your Mother and Dexter for comedy/drama series respectively, Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?) and Glenn Close (Damages). And great for the Emmys that they put in the Guest Acting nods two of the best appearances on SNL this year with Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impression and even Justin Timberlake getting 2 nods, one for Guest Acting on SNL and another for writing “Motherlover” with Andy Samberg.

Yup, I was disappointed that Big Bang didn’t figure better in the nods, and that the love for Battlestar Galactica continued to be just in technical categories even in its last season, but overall, it’s gonna be interesting.

For the full list of nominees visit the EMMY site.

Just like Mr. Michael Ausiello of EW.com, I’m gonna start my dream emmy ballot…. Though I’m only putting up the ones I really want nominated tomorrow.

I’m starting off with Comedy…

Comedy Series.
The Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother

Comedy Actor.
Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock

Comedy Actress.
Kaley Cuoco – The Big Bang Theory
Christina Applegate – Samantha Who?
Tina Fey – 30 Rock

Comedy Supporting Actor.
Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother
Kunal Nayyar – The Big Bang Theory

Comedy Supporting Actress.
Jennifer Esposito – Samantha Who?
Cobie Smulders – How I Met Your Mother

Drama Series.
Dexter
Battlestar Galactica
True Blood

Drama Actor.
John Hamm – Mad Men
Michael C. Hall – Dexter
Hugh Laurie – House M.D.

Drama Actress.
January Jones – Mad Men
Anna Paquin – True Blood

Drama Supporting Actor.
Jimmy Smitts – Dexter

Drama Supporting Actress.
Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men
Christina Hendricks – Mad Men

Good Luck to all!

Nominations for the 2009 Emmy Awards are tomorrow morning… I’ll be back with a full recap and reaction to the nods….

Let’s get ready for the next big letdown! but I’m really looking forward to a Big Bang Theory breakthrough this year!

Ok, like everyone out there I also had a “Dream Emmy Ballot”, which included the shows & stars i would’ve loved to see nominated this year for their outstanding work in television this past season. With the new system for voting the academy put it place, all the good small shows looked to have a chance of making it in the ballot, but as it was expected all along, it was same ol’ same ol’, with some surprises here and there of course.

In my perspective, the biggest snubs this year (and there were a lot) were the tragic omission of LOST as best drama after winning last year with an equaly terrific season, no acting nods for the men of My Name is Earl, including the show itself, the only ‘housewife‘ worthy of a nod, Marcia Cross, and the most cynic doctor on tv, Hugh Laurie in House. No acting nods to the castaways of LOST or the doctors of Scrubs, the leading cast of Grey’s Anatomy or The Sopranos, and no love for Entourage as a series. Most notorious the glaring omission of sci-fi gem Battlestar Galactica in all major categories (tech categories were given).

With snubs also come not worthy nods, and you can see it when you count and see more than 50% of the actors nominated are from series that have already ended or were just plain cancelled. The biggest shockers here were the parents of Malcolm in the Middle, Stockard Channing for Out of Practice, Geena Davis for Commander in Cheif, the cast of Will & Grace, The cast of Six Feet Under (them over The Sopranos!), Huff and The West Wing. Completely outrageous.

But you have to comend them when they “try” to do something right, right? Not really. But they did nominate some that really deserve it and hopefully they win their categories, like Keifer Sutherland (Best Drama Actor – 24), Lisa Kudrow (Best Comedy Actress – The Comeback), Will Arnet (Best Supporting Comedy Actor – Arrested Development) going against Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Jamie Presley (Supporting Comedy Actress – My Name is Earl), Chandra Wilson (Best Suporting Drama Actress – Grey’s Anatomy), Gregory Itzin & Jean Smart (Best Supporting Drama Actor/Actress – 24), and The Office and star Steve Carrell (Best Comedy Series / Comedy Actor). But as you read this list, those are the only ones that actually deserved their nods, mostly one of each category, most outrageous!

And to end with a rant (like i like to do), they had ‘what the f***’ nominations of shows still on the air too, like the long overdo Kevin James for The King of Queens, but this year was not deserved at all; Two and a Half Men and its two leads (one was a supporting actor???) for the show’s weakest season to date; and Alfre Woodard for a “comedic” supporting role in Desperate Housewives! (that one was the most ludicrous).

And there are my two cents on the Emmy nods for this year, and if you see other commentaries from actual critics you will see that i’m not the only one with the same opinion.

Ok, so i just finished watching the awards show that is all about TV, coincidentally, I’m all about TV too, so I had to watch!. And was this a weird show or what!

So, awards shows are known for being biased, being rigged, fake. And tonight was no exception, except that the “Academy” went a totally different way than expected. Sure this year was all about the “Desperate Housewives“, they were expected to win in all categories that they were nominated for in the “comedy” categories, which I still think is cheating. But things didn’t come out as expected. But not in a good way.

In the comedy categories, expected winners Jeremy Piven of “Entourage” or Jeffrey Tambor of “Arrested Development” for Supporting Actor lost to eternal winner Brad Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond” for yet another time (leaving Peter Boyle the only “Raymond-ite” without an Emmy. Expected winner Jessica Walter of “Arrested Development” also lost to the Raymond-ite Doris Roberts, making it feel like a farewell emmy’s show for “Everybody Loves Raymond“. Then came the lead acting categories and the expected winners Jason Bateman of “Arrested Development” or Zach Braff of “Scrubs“, even Ray Romano was expected after the supporting acting wins, all lost to Tony Shaloub of “Monk“! what the… again?! who even watches that show!, as for what i remember this season of Monk was critiqued as the worst! Then in the actress category, where the Desperate Housewives Marcia Cross & Teri Hatcher were thought as the leaders were beat by the other Housewife nominated Felicity Huffman!. Directing went to “Housewives” as expected, but the writing category is the only good thing about the comedy wins, for “Arrested Development“, but how can the best written show not win best Comedy Series! I was sayin that lookin at the awkward wins of the night the “Housewives” wouldn’t even win the Series award (which i didn’t mind, if it meant Arrested Development or Scrubs won), but that just came back to the beginning, with “Everybody Loves Raymond” winning Best Comedy Series on it’s 9th and final year.

Then comes the Drama. As supporting actors are concerned, one of the LOST boys (Naveen Andrews or Terry O’Quinn) or even Alan Alda of “The West Wing” were the leaders, supporting actress CCH Pounder of “The Shield” was the frontrunner in her category, but lo-and-behold Captain Kirk and Blythe Danner won for “Boston Legal” and “Huff” respectively. Over on the writing & directing portion we got better results, with the writer of HOUSE, M.D. and the Director/Creator of LOST J.J. Abrams winning in their categories. But then came the lead acting categories and again, what the…. James Spader won again for his role in “Boston Legal” leaving big contenders Ian McShane (Deadwood) and Hugh Laurie (House M.D.) in the dust, and the surprise of the night with Patricia Arquette of “Medium” winning over Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order S.V.U.) or Glenn Close (The Shield). Then came the “There is something good in this show” award for LOST as the Best Dramatic Series.

As of the rest of the show…. It was aaight, the “Emmy Idol” thing was way too stupid though, but Ellen did her thing, Jon Stewart won as he should, and the movie-miniseries categories are just as boring as ever!, Another year of Emmy stupidity, we’ll see what comes next year when all those categories in the Comedy section are available now that “Raymond” is off the air.

Also of note from Friday September 16, 2005:

Big Brother 6: Damn it Janelle! why’d you lose!, now we have a simpathetic Ivette choosing “frienship” over money, who now has a better chance at winning the game over Maggie. We’ll see who wins this tuesday!

Threshold: Ok, so this is a new show, but believe me, it did not deserve a full review, cuz, basically, it was crap! It’s being billed as a LOST wannabe, but it’s not nearly as interesting, the acting is awful, and the premise looks more like it could be ONE episode of C.S.I. instead of a whole series. It was interesting at first, but it is just way too out there, borderline stupid. Now I get why critics were only screened 30 minutes of this show before, they were the only good 30 minutes of the 2 hour premiere. My Grade: C-