Golden Globes Predictions

Can't wait for tonight's Golden Globes mostly to see Tina Fey and Amy Poehler host again. But I also didn't really realize how up in the air a lot of categories are until I sat down and tried to make predictions, which hopefully means an exciting show. My final predictions are below, but with many, many reservations...

Best Motion Picture, Drama: 12 Years A Slave
Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical: American Hustle
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Seems like a somewhat safe bet to pick Cuarón to win Best Director over McQueen, but the latter could still win. The question is would the HFPA split Director and Best Drama as I've predicted here? As for Comedy, American Hustle seems to be more in line with the HFPA, but the more critical pick of Her could also surprise.

Best Actress, Drama: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Actor, Drama: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave
Best Actor, Comedy or Musical: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actress, Comedy or Musical: Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

I think the Drama categories are set since I don't think the HFPA will disagree with consensus with Blanchett and Ejiofor. But Ejiofor could be slightly vulnerable if the HFPA wanted to honor a bigger name like Hanks or McConaughey. More difficult to predict are the Comedy categories. All of the men are in Best Picture nominees and seem to be playing at a relatively level playing field so they really could go any which way. I'm picking DiCaprio over Dern and Bale because in my head they think he's the bigger star. As for actress, NONE of these ladies have risen to top this season. Convention says it'll be between Adams and Streep since they're the biggest names. I think Streep ekes this one out on name alone.

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Would the HFPA really award Lawrence two years in a row? I think they will, even over Nyong'o just because they do love her. But don't underestimate Roberts' star appeal as well. As for Leto, he's been dominating all season but perhaps if the HFPA end up loving either American Hustle or 12 Years a Slave, Cooper or Fassbender could just take it. I don't think they will though.

Best Animated Film: Frozen
Best Foreign Language Film: Blue is the Warmest Color
Best Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Best Score: Gravity
Best Song: "Please Mr. Kennedy," Inside Llewyn Davis

Score and Song are the only ones I'm not 100% certain about. I think most of the films in the Score category can win and only giving the edge to Gravity, because it's such a big film. As for Song, "Let It Go" is the absolutely favorite... for the Oscars. But Oscar-ineligible "Please Mr. Kennedy" has seen strong support throughout the season... and it's very much like the HFPA to reward Timberlake.

With my film predictions out of the way, here comes TV, which is also perplexing me in a few spots...

Best TV Series, Drama: Breaking Bad
Best TV Series, Comedy: Girls

The HFPA's penchant for the newest thing, especially if they involve film stars, may be the downfall for Breaking Bad which for all intents and purpose should and will win. But House of Cards would probably be very, very appealing to the HFPA. As for Comedy, I think they'll pick last year's winner Girls, but they could also go back to their Modern Family love-fest. Anything could happen in this category and I wouldn't be too surprised.

Best Actress, Drama: Kerry Washington, Scandal
Best Actress, Comedy: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Best Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Best Actor, Comedy: Michael J. Fox, The Michael J. Fox Show

Fox seems like a solid prediction here, because again he's a star HFPA would like to honor. And you'd think Cranston would be a slam-dunk gimme as well, but with a category so full of movie stars including Spacey and it's a bit trickier. Louis-Dreyfus is also likely to win after her unexpected lost last year to Dunham AND she's double-nominated this year. But I honestly have NO CLUE who'll win Drama Actress especially with Danes not even nominated. Schilling and Maslany are new, young, and pretty just the way the HFPA likes but Wright is a movie star while Margulies and Washington has been getting so much buzz. I'd sooner predict a 5-way tie than actually pick someone. In this case I just closed my eyes and pointed.

Best Mini-Series or TV Movie: Behind the Candelabra
Best Actress, Miniseries/TV Movie: Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake
Best Actor, Miniseries/TV Movie: Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
Best Supporting Actress: Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Best Supporting Actor: Rob Lowe, Behind the Candelabra

Behind the Candelabra and Douglas are the only two wins I'm 100% confident in making this entire awards show. Moss seems likely to win, but who knows? The supporting categories are even more up in the air. I picked Lowe and Vergara for no apparent reason. We'll see how wrong I am later tonight...

Click here to see my thoughts on the nominations... Film/TV

End-Of-Year: 2013 TV Winners

Took a bit longer than expected, but here are my TV acting winners from 2013. I'll be posting my ranked list of my favorite shows in a few days. But the winners here pretty much give away my favorites shows of the past year, don't they?

Best Ensemble: Orange is the New Black
Runner-Up: The Good Wife
Other Nominees: Breaking Bad, Broadchurch, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Masters of Sex, Parks and Recreation, Veep

Looking at the shows I didn't end up picking, you just realized how many great ensemble shows there are on TV right now. This year I had to go with the largely female and kick-ass ensemble of Orange is the New Black, because it's nearly impossible to pick a favorite character from that show and they all work so well together. And The Good Wife has the best drama ensemble on network TV. No question about that. BTW last year's winner Shameless only fell because of all the new shows.

Best Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Runner-Up: Luke Newberry, In the Flesh
Other Nominees: Hugh Dancy, Matthew Rhys, Kevin Spacey, David Tennant

While the other men nominated here are really quite good, especially Dancy and Rhys who pleasantly shocked me by playing against type, this award belonged to Cranston for absolutely nailing the already iconic role of Walter White in his show's final episodes. We will remember his name. Newberry is a young British actor in the little-seen, but fantastic zombie miniseries In the Flesh. I love to honor younger actors especially in genre shows and he really deserves it for what he was asked to do with the tough role.

Best Actress, Drama: Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Runner-Up: Keri Russell, The Americans
Other Nominees: Lizzy Caplan, Julianna Margulies, Elisabeth Moss, Emmy Rossum

Speaking of younger actors in genre shows, Maslany pretty much showed everyone how acting is done by expertly playing multiple clones with differing personalities. She really is the breakthrough TV star of 2013 for me and so happy for all the attention and success she's getting. Of course, there's Russell who, like her co-star, played against type and surpassed even my high expectations. Finally, the four other nominees are too fabulous for words. Margulies and Caplan debatedly gave career-best performances this past year.

Best Actor, Comedy: Matt Smith, Doctor Who
Runner-Up: Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Other Nominees: Jake Johnson, Jim Parsons, Adam Scott, Josh Thomas

This was one of the more difficult categories, because this year I didn't really FULL OUT LOVE any one of these performances. I still really, really liked all of them and definitely love certain episodes, but in general, there wasn't a name that rose to the top. In the end, I picked Smith to pay tribute to his tenure as the Doctor and Samberg as runner-up to stick up for him a bit. Many people seem to love Brooklyn Nine-Nine as I do, but still mixed on Samberg.

Best Actress, Comedy: Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Runner-Up: Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black
Other Nominees: Malin Akerman, Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sarah Michelle Gellar

This would be the third time I'm picking Poehler in just the five years I've been handing out awards on this blog and while I can totally understand people scratching their heads on my pick this year, I just needed to follow my gut. Her character Leslie went through so many ups and downs this season and Poehler navigated through it all wonderfully. Schilling was the obvious runner-up just for managing to maintain the audience's focus while being surrounded by flashier (better?) performances.

Best Supporting Actor, Drama: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones
Runner-Up: Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
Other Nominees: Josh Charles, Jordan Gavaris, Mads Mikkelsen, Corey Stoll

Bad guys with redemptive arcs is a well-worn TV trope certainly, but it doesn't mean it's uneffective with the right actor and part and my top two proves that. Playing the humbled King Slayer, Coster-Waldau showed he's more than just a pretty face full of snark. And while Paul's Jesse had long since dropped his bad guy designation, these final episodes showing him going through hell, so helplessly trapped by his previous bad decisions, have been heartbreaking in the best way.

Best Supporting Actress, Drama: Olivia Colman, Broadchurch
Runner-Up: Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Other Nominees: Christine Baranski, Gwendoline Christie, Lena Headey, Annet Mahendru

It's actually pretty funny that Colman and Gunn are my top two picks since Gunn is actually going to be playing Colman's character in the American version of Broadchurch so you might just see Gunn here next year if she affectively delivers the same way Colman did. Of course, Gunn herself was amazing to watch this year with her character trying her best to survive amidst the chaos. The other nominees are just as amazing and wonderful, especially Mahendru who I knew nothing about before this show.

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy: Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Runner-Up: Albert Tsai, Trophy Wife
Other Nominees: Adam Driver, Nick Offerman, Jim Rash, James Wolk

I was really sad when Last Resort was cancelled last year mostly because Braugher would be off my TV, but thankfully he came back as a gay NYC captain with a penchant for the rules in Brooklyn Nine-Nine in a role that was so unexpected AND perfect at the same time. His chemistry with Samberg elevates the latter and is a key highlight for the show. Tsai in the meantime is ridiculously hilarious and watchable and not even just for his young age. Just an aside... James Wolk is super pretty. More on that below.

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy: Danielle Brooks, Orange is the New Black
Runner-Up: Kate Mulgrew, Orange is the New Black
Other Nominees: Stephanie Beatriz, Mayim Bialik, Jenna Fischer, Jane Krakowski

So I said above that it was nearly impossible to pick a favorite character in Orange is the New Black, but my top two picks here would definitely be near the top. All of the characters in that show are bigger than life, but there's something about Brooks and Mulgrew's portrayals just stick with you. Plus one of them is Captain Janeway! Finally, just a tip of the hat to Fischer and Krakowski whose shows ended this year. Wished these two superbly talented ladies were awarded more.

Best Limited Role, Actor: James Wolk, Mad Men
Runner-Up: Eddie Izzard, Hannibal
Other Nominees: Arthur Darvill, Nathan Lane, Andrew Rannells, Mark Sheppard

Wolk, who is unnaturally handsome, was the epitome of a scene stealer in this past season of Mad Men. Seemed like everyone was analyzing every word his character Bob Benson said and every outfit he wore. When we finally found out what he was up to, it was all anyone could talk about. Then there's Izzard who managed to rise to the top of sick serial killers in a show full of sick serial killers. That's a talent right there.

Best Limited Role, Actress: Allison Janney, Masters of Sex
Runner-Up: Natalie Dormer, Elementary/Game of Thrones
Other Nominees: Uzo Aduba, Cristin Milioti, Carrie Preston, Alison Wright

Finally, this is the one category where I wished I could award a 6-way tie. I'm serious. Aduba plays probably my favorite character in her show (I really love its cast if you couldn't tell) while Milioti has been such a breath of fresh air in every conceivable way. Preston is ALWAYS good be it playing the best goddamn lawyer in The Good Wife or the sassiest waitress in True Blood while Wright is such a revelation in a role that just breaks your heart. The latter you could also say for Janney who was the best part of Masters of Sex. You literally felt all of the emotions she felt and my God were there a lot of emotions. Dormer in the meantime proved in her two roles as Margaery Tyrell and Moriarty that she's pretty damn kick-ass.

As I said up top, my ranked list of TV shows will be posted in a few days. Click here to refresh your memory on my picks for Best Drama, Best Comedy, and Best New Show.

BAFTA Nominations

The BAFTA announced their nominations yesterday and it seemed like the one question everyone had afterwards was, "Wait, Gravity is British film?" In any case, British or not, it garnered the most nominations including one for Best British Film totaling 11 nods. The rest of nominees are as follows...

Best Film

• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave

Best British Film

• Gravity
• Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
• Philomena
• Rush
• Saving Mr. Banks
• The Selfish Giant

Second to Gravity are its Oscar rivals, American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave, with 10 nominations each. It's a particularly strong showing for the first film and perhaps just very slightly disappointing for the latter to not have more. One of these three films will win here and at the Oscars, the only question is which one? Philomena expectedly gets a boost here doubling up like Gravity while Saving Mr. Banks surprisingly got into the British shortlist, also like Gravity.

Best Director

• David O. Russell, American Hustle
• Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
• Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
• Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
• Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

This lineup matches 100% from the DGA nominations which could mean this is also what we'll see next week during Oscar nomination morning, but I'm hoping there'll be surprises like last year. Scorsese makes it in despite his film not cracking the Best Film category, but at least it received a few nominations which is better than completely snubbed films Dallas Buyers Club and Her, the latter of which saddens me. Now, this will be a battle between Cuaron and McQueen certainly and you'd think the British cred of the latter will give him a leg up, but who knows? Finally, how about Greengrass and his film (9 nominations!), which is having a pretty solid awards season, certainly more than I have it credit for.

Best Actor

• Christian Bale, American Hustle
• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

Best Actress

• Amy Adams, American Hustle
• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock, Gravity
• Judi Dench, Philomena
• Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

Yes, he's English and she plays "British," but nominating Bale and Adams here shows great support for the film which managed to get a nomination in each acting category. This meant that a few big names were left out including Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, and Matthew McConaughey among others. My dark-horse wish of a Julie Delpy nomination though didn't come to fruition. In fact, I'm pretty annoyed Before Midnight didn't register at all. Was it ineligible? Meanwhile, Brit Ejiofor and Australian Blanchett should handily win their respective categories.

Best Supporting Actor

• Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
• Daniel Bruhl, Rush
• Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
• Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

Best Supporting Actress

• Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
• Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
• Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
• Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels' The Butler

The biggest shock here is the absence of Leto who has been dominating this category all season and is the frontrunner to win an Oscar. His replacement is Matt Damon whose film had a theatrical release in Britain and thus qualified the film for the awards. Fassbender should then be seen as the front-runner here. Meanwhile, no shocking things for the actresses with the exception of June Squibb's snub. It's probably between Nyong'o and Lawrence. The BAFTA might be tempted to give Lawrence a make-up win after not giving her the award last year for her Oscar-winning role.

Best Original Screenplay

• American Hustle
• Blue Jasmine
• Gravity
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Behind the Candelabra
• Captain Phillips
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street

You want to see how much they loved Gravity? Well, they've nominated it for its screenplay. Again, Her and Before Midnight are shockingly left off which I hope won't repeat at the Oscars next week. Good day for Inside Llewyn Davis, 12 Years a Slave, and Philomena who were all passed over for WGA nods for one reason or another. I really hoped though that this group would've picked The World's End, but alas.

Best Foreign Language Film

• The Act of Killing
• Blue is the Warmest Color
• The Great Beauty
• Metro Manila
• Wadjda

Best Documentary

• The Act of Killing
• The Armstrong Lie
• Blackfish
• Tim's Vermeer
• We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

Best Animated Film

• Despicable Me 2
• Frozen
• Monsters University

Should be easy wins for Blue is the Warmest Color, The Act of Killing, and Frozen since they've all dominated their respective categories so far this season. It also helps that their toughest opponents were nominated (or eligible) in this case, The Hunt, Stories We Tell, and The Wind Rises respectively.

Best Cinematography

• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Nebraska
• 12 Years a Slave

Best Production Design

• American Hustle
• Behind the Candelabra
• Gravity
• The Great Gatsby
• 12 Years a Slave

Best Costume Design

• American Hustle
• Behind the Candelabra
• The Great Gatsby
• The Invisible Woman
• Saving Mr. Banks

Best Film Editing

• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• Rush
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Makeup and Hair

• American Hustle
• Behind the Candelabra
• The Great Gatsby
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Lee Daniels' The Butler

Best Music

• The Book Thief
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• Saving Mr. Banks
• 12 Years a Slave

Best Sound

• All is Lost
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Rush

Best Visual Effects

• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Iron Man 3
• Pacific Rim
• Star Trek Into Darkness

Gravity expectedly picked up the most technical nominations with 6 total missing out on two understandable categories (Hair/Makeup and Costumes). Captain Phillips and 12 Years a Slave picked up 4 nominations each with the latter more shockingly missing out on the same two awards Gravity wasn't nominated for.

Best Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer

• Colin Caberry and Glenn Patterson, Good Vibrations
• Kelly Msarcel, Saving Mr. Banks
• Kieran Evasns, Kelly + Victor
• Scott Graham, Shell
• Paul Wright and Polly Stokes, For Those in Peril

Rising Star Award

• Dane DeHaan
• George Mackay
• Lupita Nyong'o
• Will Poulter
• Lea Seydoux

Two years ago, I knew almost all of the names in Best Debut, but like last year I'm pretty much flying blind this time around. I do most most of those nominated for the Rising Star Award with the exception of Mackay. Since this category is voted on by the public, it'll be whoever has the biggest fans. So... DeHaan? I mean he is going to be in the new Spider-Man film, but that hasn't come out yet. Any ideas?

Sarah Michelle Gellar Wins People's Choice Awards

The People Choice Awards were held last night. I didn't watch, because there are only so many hours in a day and who really cares what the "people" think. But there were still a few well-deserved winners like The Good Wife taking home Favorite Network TV Drama and Orange is the New Black the top choice for Favorite Streaming Series. It's also hilarious that Breaking Bad, which aired its final episode just a few months ago, won Favorite Series We Miss Most. See a complete list of winners here.

My favorite win though was Sarah Michelle Gellar for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series. It was a great moment not because I really thought she deserved this particular award (see Keri Russell, Tatiana Maslany, Taylor Schilling, Lizzy Caplan, etc.), but because it's always good when an under appreciated and under-rewarded actor gets their due. She highlighted this sentiment by touchingly paying tribute to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the show that catapulted her as a TV icon. The quote and video are below:

For seven years, I had the privilege to be a part of one of the most amazing television shows and I've never gotten a chance to publicly thank them--the cast, the crew, and all the fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So thank you.

To say I was emotionally overwhelmed after seeing the clip above would probably be understating it. Buffy the Vampire Slayer remains my favorite show ever and I'm just glad its star is still so appreciative after all of these years. And you know what, she's pretty great in her new show The Crazy Ones.

Box Office: Catching Fire and Frozen Reach Milestones

On the second to last weekend of November, Catching Fire and Frozen made their contrasting debut. Catching Fire made over $158 million in super wide release, good for 6th highest grossing opening weekend and the best ever November opening. Frozen started out in just one theater for a still impressive $243,000+ gross. The week after that was Thanksgiving and by the end of the weekend, they both claimed the top two spots at the box office as well as getting the highest and second-highest Thanksgiving gross ever. Both films would hold well the next few weeks taking advantage of good word-of-mouth and the holiday season.

Yesterday, the second Hunger Games film finally surpassed the final gross of its predecessor ($408,010,692) and is just a day or so away from overtaking Iron Man 3 for the top film of 2013. Frozen in the meantime, fresh off from being ranked #1 at the box office on its 7th week, reached the $300 million milestone, a tally not many people thought it would reach let alone surpass by a good amount. People are now looking to $350 million and perhaps even to beat the $368 million gross of Despicable Me 2. To add to this amazing feat, it was confirmed today that the film's soundtrack was the best-selling album of last week, only the fourth animated film soundtrack to do so in the chart's 58-year history.

Girl freaking power indeed.

Directors Guild Nominations

And then there were five. With the announcement earlier today of the five directors nominated by the Directors Guild of America, the field just got that much smaller at least when it comes to predicting which film will win Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. Of course these nominations also offer a good preview of which directors might get nominated for an Oscar, but not always as we saw last year with only two DGA-nominated directors making the Oscar shortlist.

The DGA nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film for 2013 are:

• Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
• Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
• Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
• David O. Russell, American Hustle
• Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

The trifecta of Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, and American Hustle just solidified their front-runner status with the latter film getting notices in all of the main guild organizations showing wide support and true momentum. But I will be truly shocked if the winner isn't Cuarón or McQueen as they've pretty much dominated the season so far. If they do end up winning, then it would be the 7th straight year of a first-time winner. In fact, this streak will hold true if any of the nominees win other than Scorsese, who got his 12th DGA nod today.

NBR winner Spike Jonze, Golden Globe nominee Alexander Payne, and previous DGA champs Woody Allen and Joel & Ethan Coen found themselves looking from the outside, but I think at least one of them will replace someone on the road to the Oscars. I was especially rooting for Jonze and the Coen brothers, the latter of which have gotten way less love for their film so far this season.

Matt Smith's Final Doctor Who Episodes

Must have been a mixed blessing for Matt Smith that the end of his tenure as the Doctor was filled with so many milestones for the series--the 50th anniversary, the 800th episode, the onset of a new cycle of regenerations. Because as awesome as it is to be the actor present for these big moments, it also means giving up some of the spotlight at a time when everyone should be celebrating you. Fortunately, the show was lucky that their lead actor has been nothing but humble as well as superbly talented enough to handle everything thrown at him. And boy did the show throw him a lot...

Starting at the end first, the Christmas special "The Time of the Doctor" was literally a buffet of all the hanging plot-lines that Steven Moffat created during his tenure as the show-runner. Now that "his" Doctor is leaving, he may have felt he needed to address them all, but even with the extended running time the explanations to the Silence, "Silence Will Fall," Trenzalore, crack in the fabric of spacetime, "Doctor Who?," etc., just felt simultaneously rushed and convoluted dragging most of the episode down. Not that I didn't appreciate them trying to explain literally everything, but a little mystery would've worked. The one plot point decision I was fine with was the regeneration cycle reset even though I still felt the execution of it was badly handled mostly due to the muddled and confusing motivations of the Time Lords.

With all of that said, Smith, even hampered by hilariously bad old-man make up for the latter half, was fantastic. He hit all of the emotional beats just right, echoing David Tennant's ability to cut through all of the bullshit in his last episode as well. The hundreds-year long siege of Trenzalore seemed as half-baked an idea as a lot of Moffat's ideas the past few years and yet there was something quite affecting seeing the Doctor stay in one place for so long (too bad we only get a montage and a time jump). Eleven's scenes with Handles (seemingly a more realized companion than Clara at this point) and his touching monologues reflecting the end are highlights as was the surprise cameo of Karen Gillan in the form of Eleven's first companion Amy Pond. A solid final episode in terms of acting from Matt, but everything else left much to be desired.

Fortunately the 50th Anniversary "The Day of the Doctor" was much more successful even with a plot that was seemingly as convoluted. It all revolved around the Time War, a universally devastating war between Daleks and Time Lords, that forced the Doctor who kill his own people for the sake of saving the universe. This war launched "New Who" and had only been revisited a few times indirectly until this episode. John Hurt played the War Doctor, a regeneration that came after Eight and before Nine. In his quest to end the war, he encountered his future selves played by Tennant and Smith. Smith was masterful here never relinquishing the lead, but always giving the others the spotlight as needed. Plus his chemistry with Tennant, as expected, was crazy good. Clara was again slightly a bit incidental to the whole thing (hoping more for her as Peter Capaldi's companion), but their decision to make Billie Piper not play Rose was inspired. Though my dream scenario would've been for The Moment to have been played by different companions, no matter how logistically impossible it would have been in real life.

The episode was chock full of homage to Classic Who complete with a surprise cameo of Tom Baker and it all seemed to work organically. Even the big polarizing reveal that the Doctor didn't really kill his own people trapping them only in an alternate universe was fine by me since I don't think that really took away to the emotional journeys taken by Nine and Ten and opened lot of possibilities moving forward (then again how they were used in the Christmas episode gave me pause). The only thing I didn't like about the episode was how lame the Time War looked. As my friend brought up, it looked Star Wars-lite. And why did it seem like the war was only being fought between the Daleks and the Time Lords on Gallifrey? What made the Time War so devastating was how wide-ranging its impact was to the entire universe. In all, I still found it quite good especially with the lower expectations I've had for Moffat.

But to end this long-winded post, I want to bring it back to Matt Smith who was the youngest actor to ever play the Doctor. His physicality, his penchant for hats, his impossible hair, his cool bow ties, and his ability to exude age old wisdom will all be missed. Geronimo!

Writers Guild Nominations

Another day, another guild announcement as the Writers Guild chime in with their pick. Like every year, a few of the frontrunner films are ineligible, which means there's a good chance a more than a few of the films nominated here won't translate for the Oscars.

Adapted Screenplay

• August: Osage County
• Before Midnight
• Captain Phillips
• Lone Survivor
• The Wolf of Wall Street

Original Screenplay

• American Hustle
• Blue Jasmine
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Her
• Nebraska

Documentary Screenplay

• Dirty Wars
• Herblock - The Black & The White
• No Place on Earth
• Stories We Tell
• We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

In Adapted, BFCA and Golden Globe nominees 12 Years a Slave and Philomena were deemed not eligible, which gave room for the surprise inclusion of Lone Survivor. The other films were more or less expected as they've been cited elsewhere with Wolf of Wall Street and Before Midnight possibly fighting for the win. I really like Wall Street, but I have to admit to rooting for the writing team of Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, and Richard Linklater here if only so they can be duly rewarded for their work for the past three films.

The biggest shock in Original Screenplay is the absence of the Coen brother's NBR-winning screenplay for Inside Llewyn Davis. After all the critical love, the film is suddenly on life support after missing out on the recent guild awards. This left room for Dallas Buyers Club to swoop in and along with fellow nominee American Hustle, have hit all of the guilds so far. The overwhelming critic's favorite is Spike Jonze's Her, but underestimate Woody Allen here, receiving his 21st nod, at your peril.

Finally, quick shout out to Sarah Polley who was nominated for her documentary Stories We Tell. I really loved it and hope she wins.

Producers Guild Nominations

The Producers Guild released their nominations today and they barely rocked the boat. In fact they pretty much picked all of the films that's been cited so far this awards season with just the one notable snub.

Producer of the Year Award in Films

• American Hustle
• Blue Jasmine
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• Her
• Nebraska
• Saving Mr. Banks
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street

The snub would be the Coen brothers Inside Llewyn Davis. It's the only BFCA Best Picture nominee to miss out here since the rest of its fellow nominees made it in. I had always thought the film was one of the frontrunners, but missing out here and getting no love from the actors guild show real vulnerabilities. I would think other films would have been more prone to being ignored such as Dallas Buyers Club, Saving Mr. Banks, or Captain Phillips. In any case, Blue Jasmine is the film that replaced Inside Llewyn Davis, but a Woody Allen film being cited by an industry guild is hardly a game-changer. I liked the film, but I wished this group found room for more smaller films that needed real boosts like Before Midnight or Short Term 12 or perhaps something like The Heat. In any case, like most of awards season, it's going to come down between the two front-runners, 12 Years a Slave and Gravity. Winner will be the heavy favorite for the Oscars.

Producer of the Year Award in Animated Films

• The Croods
• Despicable Me 2
• Epic
• Frozen
• Monsters University

Epic? Really? That's a pretty random choice considering it hasn't popped up anywhere else, but the rest were pretty much expected with the lone snub coming in the form of Miyazaki's last film The Wind Rises. I'm just going to assume it was ineligible somehow. With its absence though, this is Frozen's award to lose.

End-Of-Year: 2013 TV Nominees

Happy New Year everyone! It's back to work/school for a lot of people today and new episodes of TV shows are also airing tonight after a brief holiday hiatus. Now it's been quite established how much I love TV and this past year there has been more of it to watch. Thankfully a lot of the new shows that debut this year kicked ass making it that much more difficult to narrow down my favorites for the year. So without further a due, here are my admittedly overstuffed nominations:

Best Show, Drama
The Americans
Breaking Bad
Broadchurch
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
In the Flesh
Mad Men
Masters of Sex
Orphan Black
Shameless

Best Show, Comedy
Arrested Development
The Crazy Ones
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Doctor Who
Girls
Orange is the New Black
Parks and Recreation
Please Like Me
Trophy Wife
Veep

Best New Show
The Americans
Broadchurch
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Hannibal
House of Cards
In the Flesh
Masters of Sex
Orange is the New Black
Orphan Black
Trophy Wife

Best Ensemble
Breaking Bad
Broadchurch
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men
Masters of Sex
Orange is the New Black
Parks and Recreation
Veep

Best Actor, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Hugh Dancy, Hannibal
Luke Newberry, In the Flesh
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
David Tennant, Broadchurch

Best Actress, Drama
Lizzy Caplan, Masters of Sex
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men/Top of the Lake
Emmy Rossum, Shameless
Keri Russell, The Americans

Best Actor, Comedy
Jake Johnson, New Girl
Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory
Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Adam Scott, Parks and Recreation
Matt Smith, Doctor Who
Josh Thomas, Please Like Me

Best Actress, Comedy
Malin Akerman, Trophy Wife
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Crazy Ones
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black

Best Supporting Actor, Drama
Josh Charles, The Good Wife
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones
Jordan Gavaris, Orphan Black
Mads Mikkelsen, Hannibal
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
Corey Stoll, House of Cards

Best Supporting Actress, Drama
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Gwendoline Christie, Game of Thrones
Olivia Colman, Broadchurch
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Annet Mahendru, The Americans

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Adam Driver, Girls
Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation
Jim Rash, Community
Albert Tsai, Trophy Wife
James Wolk, The Crazy Ones

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy
Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Mayim Bialik, Big Bang Theory
Danielle Brooks, Orange is the New Black
Jenna Fischer, The Office
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Kate Mulgrew, Orange is the New Black

Best Limited Role, Actor
Arthur Darvill, Broadchurch
Eddie Izzard, Hannibal
Nathan Lane, The Good Wife
Andrew Rannells, Girls
Mark Sheppard, Supernatural
James Wolk, Mad Men

Best Limited Role, Actress
Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Natalie Dormer, Elementary/Game of Thrones
Allison Janney, Masters of Sex
Cristin Milioti, How I Met Your Mother
Carrie Preston, The Good Wife
Alison Wright, The Americans

7 - The Good Wife, Orange is the New Black; 6 - The Americans, Broadchurch, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Game of Thrones; 5 - Breaking Bad, Masters of Sex, Parks and Recreation; 4 - Hannibal, Mad Men, Orphan Black, Trophy Wife; 3 - The Crazy Ones, Girls, House of Cards, In the Flesh, Veep; 2 - 30 Rock, Big Bang Theory, Doctor Who, Please Like Me, Shameless; 1 - Arrested Development, Community, Elementary, How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, The Office, Supernatural, Top of the Lake

I tried to limit each category to six nominees, but I had to expand the show ones to ten because I just couldn't narrow it down thus giving me 100 total nominations to honor my favorites which means I'm just as worst as the Grammys. That said, 31 shows and 60 performances are listed above with just as many (if not more) not making it in. Picking the winner in each category will be an easier task probably, which I'll have in a couple of days before I finally post my yearly ranked list of TV shows.