BREAKING NEWS: FOX Renews Several Shows

From TV Line, looks like FOX is getting in the renewal mood a little early this year.    Three comedies were just renewed and one drama:

• New Girl
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• The Mindy Project
• The Following

I’m always happy for renewed shows because people are keeping their jobs.  I’m even more excited when it means my favorites are coming!!!

The one that has me the most excited on this list is Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  I have loved this show from the minute it aired.  Funny, well written, perfectly cast…this show was tight right out of the gate…which is a challenge for new ensemble comedies.  I was worried because the ratings weren’t good and it was looking bad for cancellation.  Then the Hollywood Foreign Press did me a solid and gave B99 the Golden Globe for Best Comedy.   And they were right on.   Since then, people have checked out the show and if you haven’t, what is wrong with you?  Do you not like sharp, witty TV shows?   Well, I’ll give you a second chance and HIGHLY encourage you to check it out over the summer so you can be ready for the fall.

Of course New Girl and The Following make me happy since those are on my must view list.  I don’t watch The Mindy Project and this renewal surprises me a lot because the ratings are bad and people who I have talked to who have seen the show say it’s pretty bad.  I watched the pilot and 2nd episode and it didn’t do anything for me so it was bumped.   But for those that do, congrats that your crappy show is still on the air!  I say crappy with all due respect of course.

So great news right??   Are you happy about these shows?   Surprised?   Pissed Enlisted isn’t on here?  Worried for Almost Human?    May is a long way away for bubble shows.

 

NBC Schedule Shake Up

This is what happens when you give an unknown entity a guaranteed 22 episode order.  You get screwed when it fails!!!   And that is what has happened to The Firm.  It has failed…..MISERABLY.

The Firm has been assigned to the dreadful Saturday slot for the remainder of the series (which I feel pretty confident in calling it its first and FINAL season.)    This show was so bad it couldn’t even get a Friday night slot.  It got bumped to a night where no one watches TV!!!

In its place, the new thriller Awake will premiere March 1st.  In the meantime, repeats of Grimm will air until Awake is ready for its premiere.   I am anxious to watch this pilot again (after it’s been reworked.)  I watch the original pilot and really didn’t like it.  But I am willing to give it another chance.

This NBC’s last chance to make something pop in the Thursday night 10pm time slot.  Let’s see how Awake fares.

 

HBO Renews “Luck” For a Second Season

Well I haven’t even watched the first episode but I guess I should because HBO has already renewed Luck, which premiered on Sunday night, for a second season.

These cable networks don’t mess around.  Game of Thrones, The Borgias, Luck were all renewed after 1 or 2 episodes.  Hell Boss was renewed before an episode even aired!!!  Cable knows what they like and they know what works.  If only some of the networks were that confident and decisive.

Congrats to the cast and crew.  I’m looking forward to checking out your show…probably this weekend!

 

2011’s First Cancelation Goes To…..

NBC’s The Playboy Club.

Breaking news, after 3 episodes, NBC has pulled the tail feathers off the new show The Playboy Club.   I’m slightly disappointed because I liked this show.  I know it was probably on the wrong network and would have done better on a Showtime where they could really go all out, but I was hoping people wouldn’t judge it by the name and check it out.  Sadly, it didn’t happen.

So how many of you had The Playboy Club in your “first to be canceled” pools?   Because I really would have thought it would have been Charlie’s Angels!

 

2011 Emmy Nominations: COMEDY

Now let’s take a look at the comedy noms.   Again, congratulations to everyone involved in all the shows and actors nominated!

OUTSTANDING COMEDY
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
The Office
Parks and Recreation
30 Rock

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly
Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Louis C.K., Louie
Steve Carell, The Office
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Chris Colfer, Glee
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family
Ed O’Neill, Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Jane Lynch, Glee
Betty White, Hot In Cleveland
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Idris Elba, The Big C
Nathan Lane, Modern Family
Zach Galifianakis, Saturday Night Live
Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live
Matt Damon, 30 Rock
Will Arnett, 30 Rock

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Kristin Chenoweth, Glee
Dot-Marie Jones, Glee
Gwyneth Paltrow, Glee
Cloris Leachman, Raising Hope
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Elizabeth Banks, 30 Rock

OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW HOST

Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance
Jeff Probst, Survivor

OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW COMPETITION
The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing With the Stars
Project Runway
So You Think You Can Dance
Top Chef

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES
The Colbert Report
Conan
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live

OUTSTANDING TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Kennedys
Mildred Pierce
The Pillars of the Earth
Too Big To Fail

For those of you who follow my blog with regularity, you know what’s coming next…..GLEE WAS NOMINATED FOR OUTSTANDING COMEDY?????    WHAT!!!!   No Community?  No How I Met Your Mother?  No Cougar Town?     No Episodes?  WHAT!!!!   I’m going to be saying that a lot over the next several statements.   Shit, Better with You was better than Glee was this season.  But where Lauren Graham didn’t find the right person to sleep with, apparently Ryan Murphy did.   GLEE?????     WHAT!!!!!

What I am happy about:

1. Big Bang and The Office being nominated for Outstanding Comedy.  It took a few years for Big Bang to get in this category, finally!   So I am very happy for the cast and crew.  The Office has been sputtering over the years but I was happy to see the committee reward them for what was  a great season.
2. Matt LeBlanc for Episodes!!!   I loved Episodes so I am thrilled LeBlanc was nominated for this because he was great!  (Although a little disappointed there was no love for Tamsin Greig.)
3. Melissa McCarthy getting a nod!   She is terrific on Mike & Molly and she has been a solid actress in TV now for many many years.  I was so happy she got her own show where she is the main actress and now I am thrilled for her to see her get an Emmy nom!
4. Team CoCo baby!!!  I am beyond tickled to see Conan get an Emmy nom and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno get nothing!   What goes around….
5. Martha Plimpton gets the Raising Hope nom!!!   Good for her.  She’s awesome!!   I’m surprised she also didn’t get a guest star nom in the drama category for her role on The Good Wife.   But I can’t be greedy!!!
6. Johnny Galecki AND Jim Parsons are nominated!!!   I remember when it was pulling teeth to get ONE of them nominated and now they are both in there.   Way to go!!!!

What I am PISSED about:

1. I already said it but I am saying it again because it is THAT preposterous….Glee nominated for OUTSTANDING comedy.  I’m sorry, what part of Glee’s second season was outstanding?   I would really like someone to tell me?  Was it the amazing character development?   Nope that didn’t happen.   Was it the riveting story telling?   Nope, that was missing too.  Was it the across the board stellar acting from the cast?   Well…to be fair…this cast is pretty terrific.  They get nothing to work with so they do make lemonade out of lemons every week.   So someone really needs to explain to me how Glee was outstanding this year?   Even the music wasn’t as good!  Do I even need to talk about the original songs?  I didn’t think so.
2. The Modern Family Category (aka: outstanding supporting actor in a comedy.)   Other than Chris Colfer and Jon Cryer, the ONLY other worthy noms for supporting actor in a comedy are from Modern Family?   Really?   Does Jason Segal from HIMYM ring a bell for his work this season?  How about ANY of the characters from Community or Parks and Rec?   Are you kidding me?  And this second season of MF wasn’t HALF as good as the first season.   How is it EVERY adult cast member on Modern Family is nominated but there is no room for ANYONE from Cougar Town, Community, HIMYM, or Parks and Rec?    And I need to make something clear.  I LOVE the cast of Modern Family.  It is up there with one of the best ensemble casts on TV.  I love them.  But this is overkill, I’m sorry.
3. Edie Falco for Nurse Jackie in the COMEDY category.  Have you seen Nurse Jackie?  Me too.  Have you ever bust a gut cracking up while watching Nurse Jackie?   Me neither.   Nurse Jackie was in the comedy realm last season too.  Someone explain to me how Nurse Jackie is a comedy?  Even Edie Falco can’t explain it!   When she accepted her Emmy last year for lead actress, she was just as shocked as the rest of us that Nurse Jackie was even IN this category.  What does that tell you?  It’s tells you there was no room for Falco in the drama category, the committee loves her, so they moved her show to comedy to get her a nom and win.  And please, that is not a knock on Falco who is one of my favorite TV/Broadway actresses ever!!  Don’t even get me started how phenomenal she was as Frankie in Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune on Broadway (with Stanley Tucci!)  It’s a knock on the Academy for how they manipulate things to get what they want.
4. Nothing for Community, How I Met Your Mother, or Cougar Town.   I guess similar to the drama category, the committee only watches a handful of comedies, therefore comedies like Community, HIMYM, and CT are left out in the cold.   I seriously don’t know how Jason Segal, Courteney Cox, Danny Pudi, or Alison Brie (just to name a few because there are more) didn’t get noticed.  Maybe it’s because they aren’t on Modern Family.   Community and CT had their best seasons yet and HIMYM rebounded to have a really strong fifth season.  I don’t understand how iTunes, I mean Glee, gets nominated but these three shows get nothing.    NOTHING!!!  Not one acting nod, not the show, not a guest star.   NOTHING!!!   Something isn’t right here.

I know I’m being really harsh and I don’t like being like that.   But I get very passionate when my peeps get snubbed!!!   And I can’t say this enough…my beef is not with the actors themselves but the committee and how they choose.   Every single one of these actors work their asses off and deserve the rewards they receive for their hard work.   And I honestly congratulate each and every nominee.  My personal opinion is that I think the committee gets very tunnel visioned on shows and actors and refuse to open their eyes to other wonderful actors and shows out there.

What are your thoughts on the comedy portion?   Are you happy with the nominees or was your favorite show or actor snubbed?   Sound off below!!!

 

2011 Emmy Nominations: DRAMA

The Emmy’s have been announced!!!!!   Woo hoo!!!!   Congratulations to ALL the nominees!!   A very exciting day for all the shows, actors, producers, writers, etc.   I’m going to break this down by drama and comedy and drama is up first!!

OUTSTANDING DRAMA

Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Kathy Bates, Harry’s Law
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House
Timothy Olyphant, Justified

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Josh Charles, The Good Wife
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Walton Goggins, Justified
John Slattery, Mad Men
Andrew Braugher, Men of a Certain Age

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Margo Martindale, Justified
Michelle Forbes, The Killing
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Bruce Dern, Big Love
Beau Bridges, Brothers & Sisters
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Paul McCrane, Harry’s Law
Jeremy Davies, Justified
Robert Morse, Mad Men

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Mary McDonnell, The Closer
Julia Stiles, Dexter
Loretta Devine, Grey’s Anatomy
Randee Heller, Man Men
Cara Buono, Mad Men
Joan Cusack, Shameless
Alfre Woodard, True Blood

The first thing that stands out to me is no love for Parenthood.   The second thing that stood out to me was no love for Castle.  The third thing…no nomination for KaDee Strickland from Private Practice!!!!!  The fourth thing is the love being shown to Harry’s Law!!   Wow!!  The fifth thing…yeah for Friday Night Lights!!!!!

What I am THRILLED about:

1. All The Good Wife love and boy do they deserve it!!!
2. Five out of the Six Dramas (Dexter, The Good Wife, Game of Thrones, Friday Night Lights, and Mad Men) all really deserved their nominations for fantastic seasons!  (I’ll get to the one that didn’t deserve it in the negative portion of the blog)
3. Sooooo excited that Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler are FINALLY getting the recognition they deserve.  It’s just a shame they had to wait until the final year to give it to them!
4. Love seeing the following guest starts be nominated because they were outstanding: Michael J. Fox, Julia Stiles, Mary McDonnell, Beau Bridges, and Loretta Devine!
5. No more Tony Shaloub for Monk stealing a spot!!!!   I know that’s mean but that has bugged the crap out of me for years!!!!

What I am PISSED about:

1. No nomination for KaDee Strickland.   Are you kidding me?   Did the Emmy voters not watch Private Practice AT ALL this season or worse, not even bother to watch her submitted clip for consideration?   I am FLOORED by this!!!   All the ladies in the supporting category are phenomenal (although I don’t watch Justified so I am not familiar with Margo Martindale but from what I read she’s terrific) and I am not taking away anything from their performances because all of them deserve their nominations and were wonderful.   But I’m sorry, Strickland was completely snubbed and robbed!
2. No nomination for Stana Katic.  Another area where I just shake my head.   Again, did anyone watch Castle this year?   This woman was sensational!!!   How in did she not score a nomination?  The lead category I have a bit more of an issue with (which I will get into) but again, this is not a knock on the ladies nominated.   This is a great day for them and I certainly don’t want that to be marred with perceived negative comments about them.  But I will have my comments about that.   But Katic is another one who got ignored for a tremendous performance.
3. No nomination for the ladies of Parenthood: Lauren Graham, Monica Potter, and Mae Whitman.  Seriously folks, who does Lauren Graham have to sleep with to finally get an Emmy nomination?  Did she run over your dog with a car early in life?  Did she pee in your Cheerios every morning?  What has this woman done to get ignored year after year.  And this is going back to her Gilmore Girls days as well.  I can’t believe it!!!   And Monica Potter (who you all know I adore and loved this season) gave one of the most beautiful and subtle performances of any actress this season (of the shows I watch of course.)  I can’t say enough wonderful things about her performance and I’m pissed she wasn’t recognized for it.
4. Boardwalk Empire over Parenthood for Outstanding Drama.   I know a lot of people just threw their breakfast at my statement here but I don’t care.   I whole heartedly believe that Parenthood was the superior show THIS SEASON.  The 2011 Emmy’s are for this season.  And Season One of BE, while good, was not as good as Season Two of Parenthood.  I’m sorry people, it just wasn’t.  Yes, BE has the pomp and circumstance (and the HBO name behind it) that Parenthood doesn’t.  But it doesn’t make it a better show.  BE at times was boring, slow, and uninteresting.  I can’t remember one episode of Parenthood that was uninteresting.  The acting on both shows was great (Steve Buscemi is the reason BE is in outstanding drama I believe) but across the board, Parenthood has the better cast.   I’m not surprised BE was nominated and Parenthood wasn’t.   The big cable shows seem to trump the little network shows these days.  But I was disappointed Parenthood didn’t receive ANY recognition for its stellar season.
5. The Outstanding Lead Actress Category.   You all know I love me some Kathy Bates.  The woman is an outstanding actress (an Oscar winner to boot.)  But a nom for Harry’s Law?   Really?   Over Stana Katic, Lauren Graham, Kyra Sedgwick, or Angie Harmon?  I don’t get it.   And Mariska Hargitay is getting into the Tony Shaloub category for me.  I don’t watch SVU so my opinion is flawed.  I watched SVU years ago (like 10 years ago) and she was phenomenal.  But she’s nominated every year.   Is she one of the 5-6 best every year?  I don’t know, maybe she is.  But was she better than Stana Katic this year?  Was she better than Lauren Graham?   Was she better than Angie Harmon in Rizzoli and Isles?  Maybe she was.  Like I said, my opinion is flawed because I don’t watch the show.

One final thing I will mention then we can get to the comedy section (you may want to get a shield for protection because I am going to be throwing some mighty big bombs on the comedy section.)  Doesn’t it seem like within the nominations, we have about 10 shows represented?   How many dramas are out there between network, cable, fall, spring, and summer shows?   50 dramas?  It looks like the committee only watched about 10 shows.   Now I will concede that there was a lot of crap on this year so there were some slim pickings.   But there are so many great shows without outstanding actors and actresses and I feel like, they never have a shot because the committee is very tunnel visioned.   Like I said in the beginning, in the drama section, for the most part, the committee got it right (with the few exceptions I mentioned…in my opinion.)  And even the ones I thought were “wrong” weren’t that far off (like in the comedy section.)    But regardless of what I think CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE NOMINEES!!!!   You work hard and your efforts were rewarded and you deserve it!!   Maybe the committee can expand the noms next year to make sure some of the other actors/actresses can get their props too?

I want to hear what you think.   Do you love this noms?    Hate them?   Who do you think got snubbed?   Or did no one get snubbed.   I especially want to hear about the shows I don’t watch.

 

TV’s Columbo, Peter Falk, Passed Away at the Age of 83

One of the most iconic TV characters of all time lost his voice on Thursday evening.   Peter Falk passed away at his home in Beverly Hills, CA after a long battle with Alzheimer’s at the age of 83.

Falk had a very long and successful career but he is most known for his ragged, lovable, cigar toting, crime solving detective Lt. Columbo.  Columbo was the benchmark character for many following TV detectives that graced our screens year after year.   On the show, criminals usually underestimated his intelligence and his perceptive nature.   And it’s usually what got them caught!    Columbo was not a slick rick detective.  He was an everyday man who was very good at his job that was rarely seen out of his trademark rumpled trench coat.

I remember watching several Columbo TV shows and TV movies and Falk was always sensational.   My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this very difficult time.

 

BREAKING NEWS: Criminal Minds

WHEW!!!!!   I think all Criminal Minds fans can let out a HUGE sigh of relief!   Thomas Gibson has officially resigned with Criminal Minds for 2 more years!!!!   While I’m sure 99.9% of the fans are thrilled with this news, you know who is even more thrilled at this point?    That would be the writing team at CM!!!   The writers have been back at work for a few weeks now…could even be close to a month…and production on Criminal Minds 7th season is scheduled to commence in two weeks!!!    So imagine being in the that writing room and creating stories for the show without knowing if the “main” character of Aaron Hotchner will be back or not.  That had to be frustrating and stressful.   But luckily for them (and us) Hotch will be back!

Even though negotiations seemed to be intense and at times very far apart, I think most people believed Gibson would be back on Criminal Minds.  Especially since Gibson had been fulfilling all of his Criminal Minds obligations.  I’m just thrilled that it is no longer a guessing game and we now know for certain.  So other than Mandy Patinkin, our original CM cast is back and fully in tact!

 

RENEWED SHOWS: The Killing

Yeah!!!!  It took AMC long enough!!!   My goodness.   The Killing was finally renewed for a second season today.   I guess Linden really isn’t moving to Sonoma with creepy Rick anytime soon.   Thank God!!!

I didn’t get to watch last night’s episode yet.   Between the Tony’s, the Heat/Mavericks game, and the fact that I don’t have cable at the Jersey Shore, I didn’t get to it.   But I will tonight!!

 

CASTING NEWS: Harry’s Law

In somewhat surprising news, both Brittany Snow and Aml Ameen are no longer with the show.  However, they have apparently been offered the opportunity to be guest stars which is a bit strange.  So Kathy Bates and Nate Corrdry are the only regulars to return next season.  Although I hope this means the promotion of one Tommy Jefferson (Christopher McDonald) to a series regular.  He was the best part of Harry’s Law last season.  I also have to wonder if Damien Winslow (Johnny Ray Gill) and possibly Rachael Miller (Jordana Spiro)  will be promoted series regulars as well.  I guess we’ll see.   But I would think they will probably introduce some new characters, especially if Tommy, Damien, and Rachael aren’t regulars.