Brief Thoughts Before the Tony Awards

Since I do live in New York City, I try my best to see as many Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway shows as I can, albeit at a discount usually. This year, I think I did relatively well especially with regards to this year's Tony nominees, which is why I'm excited about Sunday's award show. Plus it also seems that unlike the last few years, many of the categories are nail-biters in terms of which show or which actor will win. Regardless the Tony Awards are always a hoot to watch with performances from the musical nominees and usually game hosts, this time with the fabulous Alan Cumming and Kristen Chenoweth.

So let's talk musicals! The Best Musical category is probably the most contentious this year. An American in Paris and Fun Home lead all nominees with 12 nods each while Something Rotten! has 10 and The Visit has 5 (and the legendary Chita Rivera). I've seen and loved Fun Home and Something Rotten! and hope one of them wins it. Something Rotten! in particular, which I've seen twice, has been an addictive earworm and its musical performance is the one I'm most looking forward to on the big night. As for Best Musical Revival (won the past two years by two musicals I've obsessed over aka Pippin and Hedwig and the Angry Inch), the sumptuous production of The King and I looks to prevail over On The Town and On the Twentieth Century. With high demand for the other two, I was only able to see On the Town which was fine more than great for me despite a few truly fun numbers.

In terms of acting, I think everyone is again holding their breath to see if Kelli O'Hara can finally win her first Tony especially with the love they've shown for her show giving The King and I 9 nominations. With that said, it's yet another brutal line-up for Lead Actress in a Musical consisting of two actresses from the top two nominated shows and two legends in Chenoweth and Rivera. Lead Actor is equally competitive with any of the five men nominated looking likely to pick up the trophy. In the Featured categories, it'll be interesting if there'll be some vote-splitting happening with Something Rotten!, An American in Paris, and Fun Home all with multiple nominees. The latter especially has three in Featured Musical Actress!

Like every year, my track record for plays are abysmal. Unlike last year though, I did manage to see something that was not only Tony nominated, but seems to be the front-runner i.e. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. With 6 nominations, that atypical play (a West End awards-winning hit) looks to go head to head with Wolf Hall for Best Play, which leads all plays with 8 nods. As for Best Play Revival, many seem to think the Bradley Cooper-starrer The Elephant Man will edge out the Carey Mulligan-starrer Skylight, neither of which I've seen so who knows?

Both actors, Cooper and Mulligan, then seem likely to win their first Tony Awards for Best Lead in a Play, but that's far from a lock. Cooper will have to contend with Curious Incident's Alex Sharp and Wolf Hall's Ben Miles while Mulligan's biggest competition is the Queen herself, Helen Mirren, in a role that has already won her heaps of awards. Just as a quick aside, yay for my TV favorites Elisabeth Moss and Ruth Wilson getting nominated here, but boo for no love for Jake Gyllenhaal (who was in Constellations with Wilson which I regret not seeing). Since I haven't seen many plays and don't know much about their roles, I have nothing to say with regards to the Featured Actors only to root for names I do recognize like Allesandro Nivola, Annaleigh Ashford, Patricia Clarkson, and Julie White.

Of course, I'm sure a lot of people are already thinking about next year's Tony Awards. Hamilton. Hamilton. Hamilton. I foolishly missed it when it played Off-Broadway this year, but you better believe I'll be seeing this before next year's Tonys!

Pilot Thoughts: GCB

I've been quite remiss about my weekly TV reports lately. I'll probably do a quick catch up post tonight, but if I don't get to I at least wanted to get my thoughts down on last week's GCB's pilot episode.

A couple of weeks ago I said that Good Christian Bitches Good Christian Belles GCB looked to be a mash-up of Suburgatory, Hart of Dixie and Desperate Housewives and after seeing the pilot I discovered that in all of its soapy campy glory I was pretty spot on. Like the first two shows, the main character, here played by Leslie Bibb, is forced to move into a world unlike what they've been used to (the classic fish out of water trope). In GCB, however, she is moving back to a place she knows all too well, the rich Dallas neighborhood where she grew up. Cue the stereotypes--big hair, big guns, big gossip, big churches--which all get their proper treatment in the pilot lest you forget. The Desperate Housewives element of the show come from the dishy ladies that make up the ensemble. From Annie Potts as Bibb's mother to Kristin Chenoweth as the ringleader to the neighborhood women hellbent on making Bibb's character life as hellish as she made their lives in high school.

Now it's a good time to say that I "liked" the pilot. Was it over-the-top and completely ridiculous at times? YES. But I like the fact that the show is completely aware of this. I mean you don't make the first scene of your show a man driving off a cliff because he was getting a blowjob and not be at least somewhat self-aware of your silliness. Did many of the characters seem too one-dimensional (a few of the ladies) or even completely dull (most of the male characters)? ABSOLUTELY. But there's only so much a pilot can do and I will be the first to dump the show if it doesn't make some of these characters as rounded as Pott's character was. But for now, I had fun with it. The next couple of episodes will be key. I'll give it the same latitude I gave Pan Am which had a bit more going for it initially than anyone remembers now. B-/C+

Birthday Girl: Kristin Chenoweth

Small in stature but huge in talent, Kristin Chenoweth celebrates 42 years of being amazing. Happy Birthday KC!


Chenoweth has recently been nominated for an Emmy for her guest star role of April Rhodes on Glee. Last year she most deservedly won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy due to her role as Olive Snook in the too-soon-to-be-canceled Pushing Daisies. Paired with her Tony award, she's halfway to EGOT status. It'll only be a matter of time, I'm sure.

Critics Choice Awards

The Broadcast Film Critics Association are the last and probably most important critic group to give out their awards especially if you want to know who might just nab the Oscars in two months. Tonight they presented the awards to the winners at the Critic Choice Awards.

The winners are...

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia & Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Best Animated Feature: Up
Best Action Movie: Avatar
Best Comedy: The Hangover
Best Foreign Language Film: Broken Embraces
Best Documentary Feature: The Cove
Best Picture Made for Television: Grey Gardens
Best Acting Ensemble: Inglourious Basterds
Best Young Actor/Actress: Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Best Cinematography: Avatar
Best Art Direction: Avatar
Best Editing: Avatar
Best Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Best Makeup: District 9
Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Sound: Avatar
Best Song: "The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart
Best Score: Michael Giacchino, Up

Most of the awards went to the usual suspects with the only real surprises coming from the lead categories and even then they weren't that big of a surprise. If you ask me, Directing, Supporting, and Screenplay categories are locked and loaded. And with Avatar most likely dominating the technical awards, the only other races to follow are Picture and Lead Acting categories.

For Best Picture, it's looking like a three-film race with The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and Avatar duking it out. They all did well tonight. Avatar nabbed the most wins with six awards besting the combined tally of Basterd and Locker. The latter two films, however, grabbed the more important awards with Basterd getting Ensemble, Original Screenplay, and Supporting Actor while Locker got the two big ones, Picture and Director. And don't completely count out Up in the Air which won Adapted Screenplay.

Jeff Bridges seem poise to grab his first Oscar as he won Best Actor over critic favorites George Clooney and Jeremy Renner. Best Actress became a three-way race tonight as the BFCA chose to ignore critic favorite Carey Mulligan to give both Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock the award. Note that last year this category was also a tie and that Streep also won. What does this say about any of these actor's Oscar chances? Beats me, but at least some of the awards are still up in the air.

Finally, Kristin Chenoweth did a fine job hosting. The writing of some of the jokes, skits, and big opening number was a bit sloppy, but I can forgive anything that has to do with Chenoweth. She can make me watch anything.

Emmy Nominations: The Good, The Bad, and The Whatever

THE GOOD

- Neil Patrick Harris (HIMYM) and Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) are nominated in Supporting and Lead Actor categories respectively. Since both of them are the undisputed stars of their hilarious shows, well-deserved!

- How I Met Your Mother is nominated for Best Comedy Series! HUZZAH! Will it win against the overwhelming favorite 30 Rock? Probably not, but to be nominated at all is wonderful!

- Lost is nominated once again for Best Drama Series. And why the hell not? It's been my favorite TV show for what 2-3 years running? Insanity. Also congrats for Michael Emerson's second nod for his amazing work as Ben Linus.

- Pushing Daisies and Battlestar Galactica got some love with 5 and 6 Emmy nominations respectively. Kristin Chenoweth got a second nod for her character Olive Snook!

- Speaking of Chenoweth, how fun is the Best Supporting Actress (Comedy)? Krakowski, Perkins, Poehler, Wiig, and Williams. I want to have dinner with these ladies (or go to a strip club with them).

- Phil Keoghan is nominated for Best Reality Host! He should've been nominated last year and won, but I'm almost relieved he didn't since he would have had to host the crapfest that was last year's ceremony.

- Joss Whedon and Co. are nominated for their work on Dr. Horrible! The category is for Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs. What a mouthful.

- So You Think You Can Dance got 4 well-deserved nominations for Best Choreography. Whee!

THE BAD

- Despite some Emmy nominations, Pushing Daisies and Battlestar Galactica did not get Best Series nominations or any other major nominations other than for Chenoweth. Emmy, you're insane.

- I know 30 Rock and Mad Men are the BEST.TV.SHOWS.EVER but together they took up 8 of the 10 writing nominations. I'm sorry, but that is BULLSHIT.

- They STILL don't like vampires. True Blood couldn't bite their way in despite having that HBO/Anna Paquin cache.

- Final seasons of series get the shaft: Pushing Daisies, Battlestar Galactica, The Shield, ER, and Boston Legal all don't get much love.

- Lost got lots of love, but it needed like a bazillion more nomination. That was perfect TV from the first episode to last bar none. And to only have ONE acting nomination? RIDICULOUS!

- Sorry, but I don't see Cat Deeley nominated for Best Reality Host. What's up with that?

THE WHATEVER

- Snubs I don't care about: Katherine Heigl, Two and A Half Men. I'm sure there's more.

- Family Guy for Best Comedy Series? I like the show, but wow, really?

- Previous Emmy favorites ER, Heroes, Desperate Housewives, and Ugly Betty only muster 2 nominations each this year. Major ouch for those shows.

- If you want to get a quick Emmy nomination? Guest star in either 30 Rock or Law & Order: SVU.

- The sorta lame 24 Movie got more nominations than the pretty damn good past season of 24. WHAT?! The mind boggles.

The facts were these...

I already declared the cancellation of Pushing Daisies one of the more egregious blunders of the past TV season and it's also not the first time I ranted about it's untimely demise on this blog, but seeing the final three episodes unfold these past few weeks on ABC sort of re-opened the wound. And now I'm just angry.

Yes, it was completely different from anything else on television. A Jim Dale-narrated story of a piemaker who brings dead things to life set in fantastical and vibrant surroundings full of quirky and bigger-than-life people and situations. Oh and there's singing, too! It's not American Idol, so I guess it was destined to fail. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

The show was wonderful in almost every sense of the word. The cast itself was gloriously conceived headlined by the adorable Lee Pace and the even more adorable Kristin Chenoweth. The latter was even able to showcase her breathtaking voice for a few episodes. Sigh.

With only 9 episodes in its first season it was able to garner critical and award acclaim with 12 Emmy nominations (it won 3 including Directing), 3 Golden Globe nominations, a Satellite award for Best TV Series, and a DGA award. It debut strong in the ratings, but lost a few heads in subsequent episodes. The Writer's Strike though killed the show. People just forgot about the show and it was too bad since this was around the time it got all of those award nominations. It was never able to capitalize on being the "It" New Show of the season and when it came back on air, absense did not make the heart grow fonder.

With the low ratings and fading buzz, ABC had no choice but to cancel it. They shelved the last three episodes until this summer. The series finale aired this past Saturday and I was just just so sad to say goodbye to this show. I'm glad that the finale was at least gave us fans a satisfying end for the main cast. Of course I would've wanted to see more stories of these people, but alas it's done.

And instead of leaving on a sad note, I just wanted to congratulate everyone who was involved in the show. They all deserved more than the 22 episodes they made, but on behalf of all of the fans out there, thanks anyways.

Pushing Daisies Gets Encore

The facts were these...

ABC is finally giving fans the opportunity to watch the last three episodes of Pushing Daisies starting tonight at 10pm. The last episode was shown all the way back in December and even at that time Daisies' fate was already sealed.

The cancellation of Pushing Daisies ranks at the top of my dissapointments from this past TV season. It's just too bad the show never connected with America. Its cast was phoenomenal headlined by the adorable Lee Pace and the even more adorable Kristin Chenoweth. The Writer's Strike of last year really hampered the show because at a time when it was nominated for scores of Emmy's and Golden Globes, the show was forced on hiatus due to the strike. Quite sad and ironic really, because the writing on said show was just top-notch and unlike any other show that was out at the time.

But neither here nor there. It's cancelled. It's not coming back. It joins other beloved shows that were cancelled way too early in their runs such as Firefly and Journeyman.

In any case, the DVD for the second (and final) season comes out in July, but again if you can't wait that long, ABC is showing the last three episodes on consecutive Saturday nights starting tonight at 10pm. Of course ABC is not even making an effort to promote this, but what can you expect?