TVSquad

Don't get him wrong; Jon Cryer is thrilled to be nominated for an Emmy again. This is his third nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series as Alan Harper, the sad sack, divorced brother of Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men. In 2006 and 2007, he lost to Jeremy Piven, Ari Gold on Entourage, and Jon Cryer is ticked off: "Laugh all you want, [he] is my nemesis. He's a force of nature."

If it's not Piven -- again! -- Jon has another nemesis lined up: "I think this time Neil Patrick Harris (Barney on How I Met Your Mother) will win."

Cryer is good natured about his chances and not seriously miffed. He's planning to bring his new wife, entertainment reporter Lisa Joyner. "When we heard the news, she was thrilled for a moment, then filled with dread as she started to worry about what she'll wear. But she'll be there with me -- or I'll be very lonely."

9:23: Here are all of the nominations. Leave your comments below as to what should have been nominated but wasn't and the nominations that make you roll you eyes and say, "give me a break..."

9:22: I have a feeling James Spader is going to lose this year.

9:20: Battlestar Galactica fans will be happy to see a nom in the writing category.

9:18: So...no nomination for The Wire? That's going to make fans throw their TV sets through their windows (though TV sets are harder to lift nowadays...maybe they'll just kick them in). Still not sure why Jon Cryer is "supporting" and Charlie Sheen is "lead" on Two and a Half Men.

9:15: So I lied. Instead of reposting up here I just went back to the entries below (oh, the wonder of the internet!) and put show titles in, made them italic, made everything easier to read.

(S01E06) Where would Swingtown be without parties? Every week seems to revolve around some kind of get together; it's becoming predictable. This week it was a country club charity function, and while it was hardly a scene as fraught with sexual tension as some of the other scenes in previous episodes, Tom and Trina did wind up in a three-way.

The menage a trois, which was rather graphically depicted, was not the most interesting aspect to Tom and Trina's marriage. The more we get to know these two and their open marriage, the more we see that they really do love each other and enjoy their partnership. But they also take full advantage of the freedom of the lifestyle they've chosen.

The bar mitzvah is a Jewish rite of passage, the time in a boy's life when he becomes a man -- symbolically -- by reading from the Torah. When a girl does the ritual, it's called a bat mitzvah. I mention all this because in TV, the bar/bat mitzvah has been the catalyst for some wonderful episodes, mostly on sitcoms.

The Simpsons celebrated Krusty the Klown's bar mitzvah in the episode "Today I Am A Klown," which was a variation on one of the all-time great sitcom bar mitzvahs of all time: the episode "Buddy Sorrell, Man and Boy," on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Square Pegs shared "Muffy's Bat Mitzvah" with viewers, and this past season, Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David used his friend Jeff Greene's daughter Sammi's bat mitzvah to announce that he never put a gerbil up his butt.

Jeffrey Tambor, aka Arrested Development's beloved George Bluth, is the
latest star to sign up for a guest stint on the HBO comedy Entourage. Tambor joins Sopranos star Jaime-Lynn Sigler and Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester on the guest star roster for Entourage's fifth season, premiering in September.

While both Sigler and Meester are set to play possible love interests for everyone's favorite semi-successful actor Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier), Tambor will be throwing a wrench into their plans for love when Vince suddenly discovers his propensity for older bald dudes. Okay, that's not true at all. Fact is, there's no word on what role Tambor will be playing, or if he'll be playing himself. Regardless, it's Jeffrey Tambor, so it will be awesome.

Since producers probably won't use my love interest idea (although I am totally copyrighting that right now, just in case) what are your opinions on Tambor's role? Should he be a studio exec? Mentor? Rival for Jaime-Lynn Sigler's affection? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler is returning to HBO. The actress is set to guest star on the upcoming season of Entourage, playing the challenging role of actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Entourage has had a lot of celebrities appear as themselves over the years, ranging from significant (Mandy Moore as Vince's ex) to unremarkable (Kanye West). Fortunately, Sigler will get some significant screen time; her stint will last three episodes.

Details about Sigler's role are available after the jump. Between this news and the return of Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester, season five of Entourage is starting to look pretty darn good.

Have you been jonesing for the entourage from Entourage? Do you need a little Ari Gold to get your blood flowing? Well, new shows aren't coming back until September (thanks to the writers' strike), but HBO is giving fans a chance to enjoy the most recent shows starting tomorrow, July 4th. Every Friday at 10 p.m. (ET) on, HBO will replay season 3: part 2, and season 4.

That's good to know -- especially in these dog days of summer TV -- but if you want to know what's going to happen next, read on. Both Jerry Ferarra and Kevin Connolly, Turtle and E, got a little chatty with OK! magazine's Oliver Coleman.

If you don't want to know how things are going to unfold in season five, don't read after the jump.

It sounds like HBO is looking for another series in The Sopranos tradition. Or maybe it was The Sopranos that was in the Scorsese tradition? Either way, we recently told you about Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese's HBO project Boardwalk Empire (teaming with Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson of Entourage fame), and now we can report that they've hired Terence Winter to pen the script for Boardwalk Empire. That's the name of Nelson Johnson's book about the dark underbelly in the rise and fall of Atlantic City, on which this project will be based. Call me crazy, but this sounds like perfect material for Scorsese's sensibilities, even if he's producing rather than directing.

Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester is heading to Los Angeles. According to E!, the actress is set to reprise her guest-starring role on Entourage. Back in season one, Meester played pop singer Justine Chapin in the episodes "The Review" and "Date Night." The character was modeled after a pre-tailspin Britney Spears--a self-professed virgin who happened to have a thing for Vince (Adrian Grenier).

Meester will appear in at least one episode in the first half of the season. Production of season five of Entourage began in April, with a premiere set for September. The show was supposed to return in June, but was delayed by the writers' strike.

(S04E10) Hey Pam will you... wait for me one second while I tie my shoe?

For everything that happened this week -- a return to form for those of you who were upset that the previous two episodes strayed from the confines of Dunder-Mifflin -- I believe it's that question (and Pam's reaction to it) that will set up the conflict over the remaining episodes of the season. I'm about as good at reading female facial signals as Rain Man, but even I could tell that Pam's face during the "proposal" wasn't exactly filled with the kind of joy you'd expect it would be. Maybe the producers are just giving us a red herring and Pam's reaction tonight will be the equivalent of Lost's four-toed statue (interesting for a blip, then forgotten about) or maybe things are not all that well in JAM-land.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the rest of the episode first...

Whenever I think of Robert Wuhl, I'm reminded of that scene in Bull Durham where he's playing a coach meeting on the mound with the pitcher and the catcher -- Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner -- and they're arguing about what's an appropriate wedding gift. It's an inane, silly, funny moment, topped by Wuhl's suggestion that candlesticks always make a nice gift.

It's also nice to report that Robert Wuhl has agreed to remain with HBO. It's been his comic home for 12 years, including Arli$$ which ran for season seasons and poked fun at the world of professional sports. The show wasn't a water-cooler comedy like Entourage or Curb Your Enthusiasm, but it was consistently funny and I enjoyed it.

HBO is rolling out a new broadband video service that will let TV subscribers access about 400 hours of movies and TV shows. HBO Broadband will be available to selected Wisconsin customers this week, with a phased rollout scheduled for the rest of the country.

The media can spin the death of the sitcom all they want. I'll even give them that the traditional multi-camera format that Lucy and Desi founded does seem to be dying a slow death, but comedy itself is alive and well on television. Ever since Ally McBeal stretched the definition of television comedy by daring to be nominated in comedic categories despite being an hour long "drama" (don't you know that dramas are one hour and comedies 30 minutes; it's the only way to tell the difference), the "sitcom" has morphed into the "comedy."

Almost gone is that multi-camera stage set and the live/canned studio audience. Instead we have shows that are filmed just like their dramatic counterparts that happen to be funny. And all of this year's Globe nominees for best musical or comedy TV series fit into this category (sorry According to Jim, maybe next year). Check 'em out after the jump, along with our picks for who should win!

• TV Land has a Beverly Hillbillies marathon all night.
• HBO has an Entourage marathon all night.
• Sci-Fi has The Twilight Zone all night.
• Discovery has a Mythbusters marathon.
• At 8, PBS has a new Live From Lincoln Center, with Joshua Bell and the New York Philharmonic.
• AMC has a Planet of the Apes marathon all night, starting with the original at 8.
• At 10, ABC has Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve 2008 (whew!) with Clark and Ryan Seacrest. It's interrupted at 11 for local news then picks up again at 11:35.
• At 11, FOX has New Year's Eve Live, with Cat Deeley and Spike Feresten.
• CNN has Anderson Cooper in Times Square starting at 11.
• Motorcycle stunt rider Robbie Maddison is going to attempt to jump a football field in Las Vegas tonight. ESPN has live coverage starting at 11.
• Also at 11: MTV has New Year's Eve coverage too, with Tila Tequila.
• At 11:35, NBC has New Year's Eve with Carson Daly.

Check your local TV listings for more.

The Golden Globes weren't the only award nominations announced today. The Writers Guild of America announced the nominees for their awards too. The festivities are on February 9 in LA and NY. I wonder if the writers will show up to get their awards if the strike is still going on?

Drama Series

Dexter
Mad Men
Friday Night Lights
The Sopranos
The Wire