emmys-related stories
Posted Jul 2nd 2009 10:55AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
This seems to be Neil Patrick Harris' year. A tour-de-force season on
How I Met Your Mother was followed by hosting stints on the Tonys and TV Land Awards that showed how natural he was in the role of awards host. Heck, he even managed to get the Tonys some viral street cred by
doing a Billy Crystal-esque medley at the end that stated the show "could not be any gayer if Liza was named mayor and Elton John took flight."
So, it's not a big surprise to hear that
NPH is near a deal to host the Emmys as well, according to
Variety.
Continue reading Neil Patrick Harris to host the Emmys?
Posted Jun 10th 2009 11:09AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Mere hours after the series premiered on the cable net,
Showtime has renewed Nurse Jackie for a second season. Why so fast, you might wonder? Well, Showtime could point to the biggest premiere since 2004, but because it was on pay cable the total number of viewers is less than two million. Those are the kind of numbers that would get it canceled on USA or TNT, not to mention ABC or CBS, but for Showtime it's excellent.
Excellent is also what a majority of TV critics and bloggers -- including
Jane -- had to say about the Edie Falco dark comedy. Some were more effusive than others, but for all intents and purposes, the press was pro-Jackie from the get-go. But not everyone loved the show.
Nurses complained loudly about the depiction of their profession.
Continue reading That was fast! Showtime gives Nurse Jackie second season pickup
Posted Jun 4th 2009 6:32PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
All the talk has been about Conan O'Brien taking over
The Tonight Show and Jimmy Fallon taking over
Late Night, but let's not forget Craig Ferguson over at CBS'
Late Late Show.
He might host the Emmys this year.
That's one of the changes being discussed by producer Dan Mischer. And let's be honest here: anything would be better than
last year's horrifying hosting job done by the team of Ryan Seacrest, Jeff Probst, Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, and Howie Mandel. It was a train wreck from start to finish, with only one moment that was kinda funny (when they gave the award for Best Reality Host and dramatically went to a commercial before announcing the winner.
Continue reading Craig Ferguson might host The Emmys
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 2:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Programming, Music and Variety, Reality-Free
Oh my god, now I'm going to have to rearrange my entire schedule. I wanted to make sure and tell you all as soon as possible so you could do the same. Because of a football double-header on Sunday, September 20,
CBS is bumping the Emmy's up a week to September 13. I know, madness! I wrote it on my calendar in permanent ink! But I guess in the NFL's world, you shouldn't think of anything as permanent. Look at what they do to the prime-time schedule already.
Hell, the fall edition of
The Amazing Race traditionally runs 20 to 40 minutes late every week because of football. There's no DVR adjustments possible for this. They really should schedule a flexible news program in
60 Minutes slot that can be truncated as needed so the rest of the lineup can start on time. And now, out of fear that football will run long, they're bumping the entire Emmy ceremony with only three month's notice. Celebrity desingers are panicking as we speak, and those poor accountants are going to have to count a week faster. It's absolute chaos!
Posted May 27th 2009 5:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Late Night, Video, Celebrities, Reality-Free
The Colbert Report is in repeats this week, but we can still get our dose of Stephen Colbert goodness with this "greatest hits" clip below. It's a montage of Colbert's angriest moments, including getting beaten at the Emmys by Barry Manilow, the bonuses for the execs at AIG, and not being able to get a Black Visa Card. If anything, this instantly makes you want to go to the
Colbert Nation site and watch complete episodes.
Posted May 23rd 2009 12:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
After weeks of hype, scoops and spoilers, message board fodder and threats against columnists to not reveal a thing lest they be flogged and embargoed out of the business,
All My Children's big murder mystery kicked into high gear when it turned out that the victim was not really one of the characters on the cover of Soap Opera Digest.
For the network, all this was great.
ABC Daytime got a bump in the Nielsens and it seems the post-murder intrigue, i.e. whodunit, is keeping viewers DVR'ing, Soapnet watching, or just planning on watching during their lunch hours (like the old days). But getting back to the victim,
AMC had a chance to do something really bold and dramatic. Instead
head writer Chuck Pratt Jr. played it safe. More on the victim, including the name in case you don't know by now (yes, that's a warning), after the jump.
Continue reading All My Children's murder mystery rip-off
Posted Apr 27th 2009 9:42AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S02E08) I'm starting to wonder if Walter and Jesse have turned into the Abbott and Costello of Albuquerque or the New Mexican Laurel and Hardy or maybe some other bumbling duo that have been attempting to do something so far beyond their ken that the fact that they made it this far is a bloody miracle. This show illustrated yet again how the unexpected situations continue to pile up around Team Heisenberg and by the skin of their teeth; they come out the other side.
Breaking Bad's creator Vince Gilligan should be winning more awards. He's just nabbed a Peabody, but there are Emmys in his future.
Breaking Bad is that good. This level of writing, the complicated storytelling is amazing.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Better Call Saul
Posted Mar 30th 2009 5:05PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Reality-Free
It looks the lighthouse may be switched off before the end of 2009. CBS is expected to determine
whether or not to renew Guiding Light later this week. All things considered, I think the network is going to call it a day for the 72-year-old soap opera.
The ratings have been lagging and the way
Guiding Light is situated around the country – being broadcast in different time slots instead of having a regular fixed time like the rest of the CBS soaps – it's not likely to ever challenge in the Nielsens.
Continue reading CBS to decide Guiding Light's fate this week
Posted Jan 6th 2009 1:26PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
BEST
Summer Heights High: Including this Australian show from 2007 is only kind of, sort of cheating because it premiered in America (HBO) this year. Ha! Loophole! Anyway, this show was a great discovery and it's worth a look if you're into mockumentaries. Chris Lilley's performance(s) were hilarious and I am not ashamed to admit I still get "Naughty Girl" stuck in my head every once in a while.
Continue reading Best and Worst of 2008: Annie's List
Posted Dec 8th 2008 7:00PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Grey's Anatomy, Celebrities, Reality-Free
There are three things I know about Katherine Heigl.
1. She stars in ABC's
Grey's Anatomy.
2. She's
not afraid to speak up if she thinks the show's writers have screwed up.
3. She'll never let you hear the end of it if you
pronounce her name wrong, and she'll hunt you down like a dog.
Now there's a fourth thing I know about Heigl: she's the fifth highest paid actress in Hollywood.
Continue reading Wait a second, Katherine Heigl makes HOW much money?
Posted Oct 21st 2008 3:20PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
Remember when
we all watched the Emmy Awards several weeks ago and wondered why they didn't just have Ricky Gervais host the damn thing since we all agree that getting five reality show hosts to host it was a pretty bad idea? Well, Gervais has actually been
approached to host another awards show, The Oscars, but he has turned it down.
Gervais tells BBC News that his agent has been approached about him hosting the telecast but that he would be too scared to do it. Besides, they would probably want him to stick to a script and not let him adlib as much as he would like to.
Continue reading Ricky Gervais won't host the Oscars
Posted Sep 22nd 2008 7:02PM by Kelly Woo
Filed under: Ratings, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
In a surprise to nobody, ratings for last night's Emmys broadcast
flirted with all-time lows.An average of 12.2 million viewers tuned in, which the
L.A. Times says is the lowest number since at least 1990. That's down 6 percent from last year and, even worse, the show dropped 12 percent in adults 18-49 (the
Laugh In and
Dragnet bits didn't help, I'm sure).
Continue reading Emmy ratings plummet
Posted Sep 4th 2008 12:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Reality-Free
Spinoffs are nothing new in TV. Some of the biggest hits of all time were spinoffs --
Frasier, Boston Legal, Private Practice, The Jeffersons, The Andy Griffith Show, Rhoda, Maude, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI...the list goes on and on.
The news today that
TNT is backing a spinoff from The Closer is no surprise. It makes sense.
The Closer is the top drama on cable in the ratings and has garnered Emmy notice. That kind of success demands replication, and TNT has empowered the brains behind
The Closer, creator James Duff to make it happen.
Continue reading TNT plotting spinoff to The Closer
Posted Aug 28th 2008 12:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
The third most important story in the Entertainment section of my news page this morning is this: which stars are going to present awards at this year's
Emmy Awards ceremony (September 21 on ABC). And to that I say a big ... who cares?
Every year, in the weeks leading up to the Emmys, we hear about which stars are going to present awards. I've always found it odd because the people they say are going to present are, you know,
TV stars. Seriously, this is the Emmy Awards, and like the Oscars or the Grammys, I expect the people who have something to do with television (maybe the people who actually star on the shows!) to either present awards, introduce segments of the show, or even host. Yeah, it's mildly interesting that
William Petersen and Laurence Fishburne will present an award together, since
Fishburne is taking over for Petersen on
CSI, but it's not that big of a deal. And it's certainly not a big deal that
America Fererra and Vanessa Williams are going to present an award or that
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Hugh Laurie are going to present awards -
separately. I would assume that these current TV stars will be involved in some way, but even if they aren't, why is it news?
Continue reading Who cares which celebrities are going to present at the Emmys?
Posted Aug 8th 2008 3:25PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Weeds, Reality-Free, Mad Men
Would you like to see more nudity and profanity on network television?
It's no secret that the networks are losing ground to the cable channels when it comes to original scripted programming, especially dramas. Just take a look at the
Emmy nominations for Best Drama this year and you see that three of the six nominated are from cable:
Mad Men,
Damages, and
Dexter). And the three that
are from the networks are shows that have been a while and are (arguably) on the back nine when it comes to their life:
Boston Legal,
Lost, and
House. While the network shows obviously get more viewers than cable, cable (and online) is the place to go for more creative content and buzz.
Wired's Epicenter blog has a piece about how the more free world of cable television is hurting network TV.
Continue reading Network viewership dropping? Nudity and swearing to the rescue!
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