The 2014 Emmys: The Winners

This morning I saw someone describe last night's Emmy Awards as "almost shocking predictability," which pretty much sums it up perfectly as the majority of winners went to those who have won Emmys before, most for the same category/roles they've won previously. In fact, all eight acting winners last night had won an Emmy before with only now 6-time Emmy winner Allison Janey winning for a new role. Meanwhile, Modern Family and Breaking Bad respectively won Best Series for a 5th and 2nd time fighting off buzzy newcomers such as Orange is the New Black and True Detective (both which a lot of people think were done in by category confusion).

It was a huge night for Breaking Bad in their last year of eligibility not only winning Best Drama Series but picking up hardware for all of its principal actors and for writing which went to only the third woman ever to win in this category for solely writing a TV script. True Detective did win Directing while Julianna Margulies won extending the wonderful streak of women from The Good Wife winning Emmys to five years. In the comedy side, it was no less predictable and yet more frustrating. Network TV stood tall here with Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, and Mom winning most of the awards while Louis C.K. (for his writing) and Veep's Julia Louis Dreyfus representing cable/premium. The latter by far had one of the best reaction to a win tonight as she got to hilariously make out with her previous Seinfeld beau Bryan Cranston on the way to the stage. Serious question though, when will the TV Academy tire of awarding Modern Family? With their win, they tied Frasier as the winningest comedy.

Fortunately/unfortunately, the miniseries/TV movie actually provided some surprises as presumed frontrunners Fargo and The Normal Heart only walked away with three trophies total including Best Miniseries and Best TV Movie respectively. The rest of went to Sherlock and American Horror Story: Coven. I actually went 0 for 4 in those Miniseries acting categories putting my overall prediction tally at 11 of 19 (with alternates 13 of 19).

The ceremony itself was okay even though there were a lot of skits and presenter banter/monologues that fell flat or went on too long. Unless you're Amy Pueblo (Poehler) or Julia Louis-Dreyfus, I don't recommend doing anything extra. Seth Myers was fine in his Weekend Update Late Night Show Host kind of way, but he really wasn't help by the lack of suprise winners or moments during the ceremony. The Weird Al performance of TV themes set to lyrics was equal parts genius and messy (would've help if they had provided captions). I also love Billy Eichner so his Emmy on the Streets routine was great, but I can see him being polarizing. The In Memoriam segment was beautiful and depressing and Billy Crystal's moving tribute to Robin Williams was perhaps the highlight of the night for a lot of people. The lowlight, at least for me, has got to be Sofia Vergara being placed in a rotating platform as Academy president ironically talked about diversity on TV.

The complete list of winners from tonight (plus the guest acting winners from last week):

DRAMA
SERIES: Breaking Bad (AMC)
ACTOR: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
ACTRESS: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife (CBS)
SUPP. ACTOR: Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad (AMC)
SUPP. ACTRESS: Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad (AMC)
DIRECTING: Cary Joji Fukunaga, True Detective (HBO)
WRITING: Moira Walley-Beckett, Breaking Bad (AMC)
GUEST ACTOR: Joe Morton, Scandal (ABC)
GUEST ACTRESS: Allison Janney, Masters of Sex (SHO)

COMEDY
SERIES: Modern Family (ABC)
ACTOR: Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory (CBS)
ACTRESS: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
SUPP. ACTOR: Ty Burrell, Modern Family (ABC)
SUPP. ACTRESS: Allison Janney, Mom (CBS)
DIRECTING: Gail Mancuso, Modern Family (ABC)
WRITING: Louis C.K., Louie (FX)
GUEST ACTOR: Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
GUEST ACTRESS: Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black (Netflix)

MINISERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIALS
MINISERIES: Fargo (FX)
TV MOVIE: The Normal Heart (HBO)
ACTOR: Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock (PBS)
ACTRESS: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven (FX)
SUPP. ACTOR: Martin Freeman, Sherlock (PBS)
SUPP. ACTRESS: Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Coven (FX)
DIRECTING: Colin Bucksey, Fargo (FX)
WRITING: Steven Moffat, Sherlock (PBS)

Predicting Guest Acting at Creative Arts Emmy Awards

I keep forgetting that the Emmy Awards are being held a whole month earlier than usual this year, which means the Creative Arts Emmys is happening this weekend, tonight specifically. It's their way of trying to handle the approximately 100 or so awards they have to give out. The only acting awards being given out tonight are those for Guest Acting, so here are my thoughts and predictions on those...

BEST DRAMA GUEST ACTOR
Dylan Baker, The Good Wife
Beau Bridges, Masters of Sex
Reg E. Cathey, House of Cards
Paul Giamatti, Downton Abbey
Robert Morse, Mad Men
Joe Morton, Scandal

I expected stronger showings for Mad Men and The Good Wife (and it's insane both shows don't even make it into Guest Actress). For the past two years, I kept wrongly predicting Michael J. Fox and I don't even think he submitted his name this year. That said I'm rooting for Bridges for his heartbreaking storyline, but they might give it to Morse or Giamatti. I wished Pedro Pascal had been nominated though for his fantastic work in Game of Thrones.

Prediction: Paul Giamatti
Alternate: Robert Morse
Should Win: Beau Bridges
Should've Been Nominated: Pedro Pascal, John Noble

BEST DRAMA GUEST ACTRESS
Kate Burton, Scandal
Jane Fonda, The Newsroom
Allison Janney, Masters of Sex
Kate Mara, House of Cards
Margo Martindale, The Americans
Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones

A bit annoyed that last year's winner (yay!) Carrie Preston didn't repeat especially in a category with the a few repeats (Fonda, Martindale, Rigg), but I actually don't care because this category is ALL ABOUT Allison Janney for me. Her character and her performance is my everything. I might hurt somebody if she doesn't win this. Spoiler alert: I have similar feelings in the comedy category. Also to all voters, did you watch Hannibal? I count four women easy on that show who you should've nominated.

Prediction: Allison Janney
Alternate: Jane Fonda
Should Win: Allison Janney
Should've Been Nominated: Gina Torres, Gillian Anderson

BEST COMEDY GUEST ACTOR
Steve Buscemi, Portlandia
Louis C.K., Saturday Night Live
Gary Cole, Veep
Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live
Nathan Lane, Modern Family
Bob Newhart, Big Bang Theory

This category is pretty boring, which is why I really wished they had gone nuts and nominated Prince for his bit role in New Girl. It's also boring because I think everyone knows that Bob Newhart could very well repeat his (deserved) win last year. I don't even have anyone I'm really rooting for among the nominees. Maybe Cole just because he's in the show I like the most from the options.

Prediction: Bob Newhart
Alternate: Steve Buscemi
Should Win: Gary Cole
Should've Been Nominated: Prince, Andrew Rannells

BEST COMEDY GUEST ACTRESS
Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black
Joan Cusack, Shameless
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Natasha Lyonne, Orange is the New Black
Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live

I do love the TV Academy's love for Orange is the New Black and these specific nominations are pretty flawless. I would've even added Taryn Manning, but maybe that's a bit overkill. Of course even though her show change from Drama to Comedy, Cusack is still inexplicably in this category so whatever. But who cares because I'm putting ALL OF MY ENERGIES to making sure Aduba wins. Janney and Aduba are MUST wins. I will cry if they don't. I will throw pies. (If Laverne Cox wins, I'll be upset for like a second and then really happy though.)

Prediction: Uzo Aduba
Alternate: Laverne Cox
Should Win: Uzo Aduba
Should've Been Nominated: Taryn Manning, Romy Rosemont

Why I even make predictions in these categories is beyond me since year in, year out I've done horribly. I hope that doesn't jinx my picks. And just for kicks, three more random categories that will be decided tonight...

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"No Trouble," A Christmas Carol - The Concert
"Les Mis," Key & Peele
"Home For the Holiday," Saturday Night Live
"Merroway Cove," Sofia The First: The Floating Palace
"Day Is Gone," Sons of Anarchy
"Bigger!" 67th Annual Tony Awards

Even though I haven't heard of any of the other songs, I don't really care because "Bigger!" from last year's Tony Awards really needs to win. The song is great, but the performance by Neil Patrick Harris is EPIC. Just watch:


BEST MAIN TITLE DESIGN
Black Sails
COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey
Masters of Sex
Silicon Valley
True Detective

I would refer you to this post over at The Film Experience if you want to view all of these. I'm rooting for Masters of Sex, because it's just so fun (and to be honest I'm kinda over these deep, brooding title sequences that a lot of shows prefer to do now). And while it's not high art, I do love the fun and retro title sequence for Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

BEST SPECIAL CLASS PROGRAM
The 71st Annual Golden Globe Award
The Oscars
Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Opening
The Sound of Music Live!
The 67th Annual Tony Awards

This will be interesting, because I think it's a fight of the Award Shows with Cool Hosts (who get the Emmys if their show wins). On the one hand, NPH's Tony show was great (see above clip) but Ellen's Oscar was a viral hit. On the other hand, Fey and Poehler made the Golden Globes a must watch. Of course, I'm also assuming that while The Olympics is always a threat, Sochi being Sochi will make them not likely to win and The Sound of Music Live! was a joke nomination, right?

Anyways, those are just a small percentage of the awards being given out tonight. I'm sure the pundits are hoping to see which shows win those technical categories to figure out which way the TV Academy is going. The Normal Heart should be a big winner, but the regular series race is actually up in the air. Last year, Breaking Bad had this race sewn up, but True Detective is a tough challenger. And could this finally, FINALLY be the year Modern Family loses (to Orange is the New Black)? We'll all find out next week for sure!

SNL: What Does My Girl Say?

With nearly 200 million views on Youtube, Ylvis' music video for their super catchy song "The Fox" is very popular. Whenever something like this happens, I'm usually out of the loop, but I actually saw the video a couple of days after it was uploaded and proceeded to forward it to all of my friends. I've since seen it more than a dozen times (probably way more) and I'm oddly still not sick of it. So just imagine my reaction when Saturday Night Live put their own twist on the viral hit over the weekend:


It was a pretty big episode for host Kerry Washington as SNL tries to deal with the fallout regarding the show's lack of diversity among its cast. Regardless, her and Jay Pharaoh really brought it for this fun music video, which I'm sure will be stuck in my head for days/weeks to come, just like the original.

Predicting Guest Acting at Creative Arts Emmy Awards

The Emmy Awards are next week, but since there are approximately over 100 awards to be given out, most of the awards will actually be handed out tonight at the Creative Arts Emmys including the four Guest Acting categories. So before that takes place, a few of my thoughts and predictions of the nominees:

BEST DRAMA GUEST ACTOR
Dan Bucatinsky, Scandal
Rupert Friend, Homeland
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Harry Hamlin, Mad Men
Nathan Lane, The Good Wife
Robert Morse, Mad Men

It's no surprise for Mad Men and The Good Wife to take up the majority of nominations, but it's also a good sign for Scandal and Homeland since the two actors cited from those two shows are newcomers showing solid love among the industry. Looking at the nominees, this should be Fox's category to lose, but I said the exact same thing last year and he lost. Lane is probably his closest competition (and Lane is also nominated in Comedy). And all respect to Morse, but I'd have easily traded him for Eddie Izzard's turn in Hannibal.

Prediction: Michael J. Fox
Alternate: Nathan Lane
Should Win: Michael J. Fox
Should've Been Nominated: Eddie Izzard, Dallas Roberts

BEST DRAMA GUEST ACTRESS
Linda Cardellini, Mad Men
Joan Cusack, Shameless
Jane Fonda, The Newsroom
Margo Martindale, The Americans
Carrie Preston, The Good Wife
Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones

Last year, Martha Plimpton won this category and I'm rooting so hard for fellow Good Wife guest star Preston to repeat. But man this nomination was a long time coming, wasn't it? This is a pretty solid list though and I don't think there's an actual frontrunner. Perhaps Fonda since she's a beloved movie star. But I can honestly see any of these women win. Why not give it to recent Emmy winner Martindale especially with the show's sole acting nomination? A couple of Alison (Brie and Wright) should've been nominated for their memorable roles on Mad Men and The Americans respectively.

Prediction: Jane Fonda
Alternate: Margo Martindale
Should Win: Carrie Preston
Should've Been Nominated: Alison Brie, Alison Wright

BEST COMEDY GUEST ACTOR
Louis C.K., Saturday Night Live
Bobby Cannavale, Nurse Jackie
Will Forte, 30 Rock
Nathan Lane, Modern Family
Bob Newhart, Big Bang Theory
Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live

It would be very difficult to see a way legendary Newhart wouldn't win his first Emmy Award (out of seven nominations!) especially for a show that Emmy seems to love. His biggest competition are the two Saturday Night Live hosts that Emmys definitely love (C.K. has NINE nominations this year alone and Timberlake has won FOUR). The rest should just be lucky to be nominated, but I wished Patton Oswalt and Andrew Rannells were nominated from Parks and Rec and Girls respectively.

Prediction: Bob Newhart
Alternate: Justin Timberlake
Should Win: Justin Timberlake
Should've Been Nominated: Patton Oswalt, Andrew Rannells

BEST COMEDY GUEST ACTRESS
Dot-Marie Jones, Glee
Melissa Leo, Louis C.K.
Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live
Molly Shannon, Enlightened
Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live

Even when I was making my own ballot for this category, I was left mostly uninspired so I don't have much to say about the nominees here. I wouldn't even know who is the frontrunner here. Maybe Oscar winner Leo or 3-time Emmy winner Stritch? Everyone still loves McCarthy and/or Wiig right? Your guess is as good (or better) as mine.

Prediction: Kristen Wiig
Alternate: Elaine Stritch
Should Win: Kristen Wiig
Should've Been Nominated: Kate Hudson, Octavia Spencer

So there are my guest acting predictions. And below are three more categories that will be decided tonight that I'm randomly going to say a few words on, just because.

BEST REALITY TV HOST
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars
Anthony Bourdain, The Taste
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance
Heidi Klum & Tim Gunn, Project Runway
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
Betty White, Betty White's Off Their Rockers

I don't understand how Phil Keoghan was left off this list, but I'm rooting for Cat Deeley or Heidi Klum/Tim Gunn. I still don't get how Bergeron won last year.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Nothing In This World Will Ever Break My Heart Again," Nashville
"More Or Less The Kind Of Thing You May Or May Not Possibly See On Broadway," The Neighbors
"Hang The Moon," Smash
"I Hear Your Voice In A Dream," Smash
"Rural Juror," 30 Rock
"If I Had Time," 66th Annual Tony Awards

Other than the song from The Neighbors, I've heard and like all of the other songs so I'll be fine if any of them wins. I'm rooting for "Rural Juror" (for the hilarity) and "I Hear Your Voice In A Dream" (only song I've listened to more than 5x). I would root for Neil Patrick's Tony Awards song from last year, but I'd rather he win NEXT year for his epic opening song from the Tony Awards this year.

BEST MAIN TITLE DESIGN
American Horror Story: Asylum
Da Vinci's Demons
Elementary
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
The Newsroom
Vikings

Rooting for Elementary just because I just love their Rube-Goldberg-esque main title, but I also like the dark and pretty one for The Vikings. Haven't seen any of the others!

There's way more awards than these to be given out tonight, but I can't cover them all! Though after tonight, it should tells us which shows the Emmy voters are loving. Though last year the results where mixed with Homeland and Game Change translating their early wins with dominating on the big night while Girls and Game of Thrones didn't.

TV Report: Week of 4/1

Looking back on this past week of TV, it seems I skipped watching as many shows as I actually did find the time to watch. The list of shows I didn't get to see included Castle, Ringer, Big Bang Theory, Grey's Anatomy, and Fringe as well as the season/series premieres of The Killing and Scandal. In any case, onwards to those shows I actually saw...


Game of Thrones

As I had already mentioned briefly elsewhere, I loved the season premiere. Unlike the premiere last year when I had no idea who anyone was or where anything was, this episode felt like coming back home and seeing old friends. We do get caught up on the lives of most everyone in Westeros from Jon Snow traveling beyond the Wall to Dany traversing the great desert. We spend lots of time in King's Landing seeing how that rat bastard Joffrey is liking being the king. We actually begin and end the episode seeing just how far Joffrey would go to fulfill his blood lust. More entertaining are his mom Cersei and his uncle Tyrion by his side especially with both of them getting the best scenes of the episode. Rather than the episode feeling disjointed and schizophrenic, it actually flowed quite well together and a lot of the scenes were held together by the red comet in the sky signaling dragons. We do meet new people and see new places, but for the most part it was more of the same from the first season only so much better. If anything this show is just tempting me more and more to pick up the books they are adapted from.

Once Upon A Time

This was a big episode for the series since it presumably explained just exactly why Regina hates Mary Margaret so much. It turned out Regina had an Evil Mother herself when she was much younger who was even more overbearing and magically powerful than her and so deliciously played by Barbara Hershey. Regina's mother wants her to marry the King aka Snow White's father, but Regina has already fallen in love with their stable boy. Young Snow White, played by Bailee Madison (who really was cast perfectly to play a young Ginnifer Goodwin), finds out about Regina and the stable boy and while sad for her father was actually okay keeping Regina's secret to run away with the stable boy because of True Love. Of course Snow was manipulated by Regina's mother and that was all she wrote. Stable boy dies, Regina's heart turns dark, and young Snow's mistake may mean the end to Mary Margaret's life in the real world. As a showcase for Hershey and Madison, this was a great episode. As an actual explanation to the Evil Queen's evilness? I still don't buy it. Yes, having your True Love die because of your mother will mess you up, but to that extent and to blame a little girl? Katherine showing up at the end will hopefully mean things are moving forward with that interminable storyline.

Mad Men

It's very easy to not like, or even straight-up, hate Betty. She is pretty pathetic and the writers on this show seems to relish on this as evident by the weight gain the character went through to signal how depressed and unfulfilled she has been. In truth they were just trying to deal with January Jones real-life pregnancy, but the fat suit and make-up were still a touch comical even as it signified something deeper. I wished more people appreciated Jones' performance though. Her phone call with Don or the very last scene with her eating Sally's ice cream were just so well done. Also I'm a bit jealous of her new gothic house. Elsewhere i.e. inside the offices of SCDP everyone is aware of a change in the air. Don has a new (and black) secretary hilariously named Dawn. Peggy hires an obnoxious, but very talented new copywriter. And Roger plays into Pete's hand over the Mohawk Airline account. A slightly less successful episode than the 2-hr premiere, but still a good solid hour.

Shameless

We say goodbye to the Gallaghers yet again and at least this time they all seem to be in a roughly good spot. I'm actually surprised we ended on such a happy note after a season full of setbacks and drama that I really thought SOMETHING horrible was going to happen in those last few seconds. Yes, Frank is still his miserable self and he is drunk outside in the snow with no one to give a crap about him, but it's quite difficult to feel sorry for him after all of the stunts he pulled this past season. Okay, my heart went out to him a little bit after Monica left him especially since he has been the most human around her these last couple of episodes. But Fiona and Jimmy (not Steve anymore!) are together, Lip is back home where he belongs, and Ian has a new sugar daddy who is... SHOCKING TWIST... Jimmy's father. As soapy and insade as that development was I still give them kudos for going there. It also means we will hopefully get more of Jimmy's whole crazy clan next season. Karen, like Frank, is off into the cold by herself after leaving home when her mom (and Jody) picked her baby over her. Sheila really grew into herself this season and at the end finally stood up for herself and for what she wanted. That's a big as step for her as it was leaving the house last season. And finally, Emmy Rossum. There's nothing to say really. She's just wonderful here as she had been every damn episode of this show. Stay warm, Gallaghers.

Happy Endings

Gay wedding season finale episode as the gang gets together for yet another wedding this time for their friend Derrick's wedding with his partner Eric (so are they Derric or Erick?). Plus the Year of Penny ends with her feelings for Dave almost out in the open if it weren't for her now maybe boyfriend in the shape of Brian Austin Green. Her single status was a joke throughout but it really paid off when she had to dance with a laptop. I'm okay with them dipping into the Dave/Alex well again. There have been small (and big) moments this season regarding them and Alex in general has blossomed into a great character that I see them working even if it isn't endgame. As for Brad/Jane, they're always a hoot as they have been all season. Brad freaking out about being laid off and Jane taking the wedding into her own hands were great. Plus Jane's replicating Jolie's Oscar leg right after the show coined "Dujardin" as "being dressed sharply" was my favorite part of the night. Or was it Max's performance of "Like a Prayer" with the band Mandonna? I don't know! I love this show.

Community

This show has delivered out of the box episodes before and have done them well such as the paintball episodes and the documentary episodes. So an episode that mixes the best parts of those episodes has got to be amazing right? In this case, yes it was. "Pillows and Blankets" had the look and feel of Ken Burns-narrated war documentary. I almost don't have the words to express what an amazing episode it was. It's TV storytelling at its best. Yes, it was super weird, but it also had a lot of heart. When Troy and Abed were hurling insults at each other or Jeff had the realization that he'd do anything for his friends, it all felt sincere, earned, and affective. But it was damn funny too like Britta's terrible photography, Annie's and Jeff's texts, or the Dean's apt question of "Do people go to classes?" Brilliant. Poignant. Nuts. Pretty much this show in a nutshell.

Awake

Despite its low ratings which pretty much guarantee its cancellation, it's episodes like this past week that keeps watching until the bitter end as Britten gets more than he can handle as he is forced to negotiate with a mental patient just as he starts experience hallucinations himself (that penguin was hilarious). All the while he is trying to convince everyone, both his therapists especially, that he is okay even as he's starting to realize that he is probably lying to himself. It's a twisty episodes with lots of turns which gives the episode some needed suspense and differentiating it enough from episodes prior, but the heart of the episode, Britten's relationship with his wife in one world and his son in another is intact. Again, the show will get cancelled with the ratings it's been getting, but if anyone wants my opinion on whether or not to still watch the show then my answer would be YES.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

The title of this week's Smash episode was "Hell on Earth" and really the jokes write themselves... I'm very glad that the Cece/Schmidt relationship on New Girl is now out and I quite liked how the show handled it... It's been years since I've seen an episode of One Tree Hill but I wanted to give it a quick shout-out for its series finale this past week... I laughed way too hard at seeing Jenna as a Smurf on 30 Rock this week... Touch had an above average episode but I'm still pretty lukewarm to the series... And finally Sofia Vergara on SNL was good though it all depended on the skits with half of them close to brilliant while the other half absolutely horrible.

Monday TV Report

The talking heads are babbling about election results on the TV right now which means no Glee, Raising Hope, or The Good Wife this week. At least with baseball season over, we're getting Fringe back on Thursday! But let's back up a bit on the Monday TV shows I saw...

Chuck - A wonderful episode full of comedy, heart, action, and OMGWTF moments. Timothy Dalton showed off his comedic side and did it brilliantly which is something I didn't really expect. The scenes between Ellie and her mom moved me to tears. Big kudos to totally underused Sarah Lancaster for those scenes. The twist in the end is still reeling in my mind, but I'm excited that it was left WIDE OPEN for both Linda Hamilton and Timothy Dalton to come back. God, just make them regulars. I'm only half-kidding.

How I Met Your Mother - Where's the poop? I mean really. I actually was totally fine with the episode until we saw Robin seemingly degrade herself yet again. I'm just tired seeing this character down and out and so very ISOLATED from her friends. Like the idea of the Zoe character, but the execution in this episode was not so hot. And Randy and his Wharmpiss was funny for the first half, then not so much. Overall, one of the weaker episodes this season.

Castle - Can't lie. It was very nice seeing some male eye candy throughout the episode. Unfortunately none of the male main characters actually stripped last night, but it was a hoot seeing Esposito and Ryan reacting to being labeled as "A-Rod" and "Twilight guy." The only thing, I kind of figured out who the bad guy was first time we see him. It's actually rare I do that in Castle, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the show one bit.

Women of SNL - Hilarious. Too bad I was only able to see the first hour. But it was really fun seeing all of those women again. I was actually hoping they brought back Jane Curtin, but alas it wasn't meant to be. The Debbie Downer sketch brought me to tears just like it did the first time they aired it. Also, how quaint is it now that sketch Fey and Poehler did as Palin and Clinton? "Bitch is the new Black." Good times.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see Hawaii Five-0. Before today I was three episodes behind, but I managed to see the episode from two weeks ago so I'm now just TWO episodes behind. Things have just been hectic.

TV Report Catching Up

Birthday festivities got in the way on my regular TV postings (and frankly) watching. Still catching up so here's a few quick thoughts on TV shows from 10/21 - 10/25

Thursday, 10/21

Community - So yet another comedy series does a religion episode. I rolled my eyes, but with this cast, they made it work. The non-religious end tag was frickin' hilarious.

30 Rock - Didn't think much about this episode. In fact I can barely remember what happened. Something about Liz being a prude and Jack on a hot streak. Suffice it to say, I just thought it was... whatever.

Big Bang Theory - It's sad knowing that Penny will be MIA for a few episode due to injury, but the cast (aka Sheldon) seem to be doing just fine picking up the slack. His relationship with Amy is still comedy gold.

Grey's Anatomy - I liked it. I find myself saying that more and more often about this show. That's good. I thought the Chief picked the right guy to "win" the $1 million (aka Owen) but Derek's plea re: Meredith's possible Alzheimer's future is intriguing. Wonder if the show has the balls to go there. Also Owen making Christina smile finally is one of the best moments of the season.

Fringe was not shown because of baseball. Damn you baseball.

Friday, 10/22

Supernatural - Even though Castiel was nowhere to be found, I actually enjoyed the episode. We don't get much in terms of new answers, but seeing Sam slyly smike as he looks on at his brother getting turned into a vampire was chilling. Also anything to mock Twilight is A-OK by me.

Saturday, 10/23

Saturday Night Live - Was hoping to get tickets for this on my birthday because I LOVE Emma Stone. I thought she did a great job for what she was asked to do... which unfortunately wasn't a lot. What is UP with SNL squandering perfectly great hosts with craptastic material this season?

Sunday, 10/24

Sherlock - This modern re-telling of Sherlock Holmes is just as brilliant as its title character. A few sentences can't possibly do this show justice, but I love the chemistry between Sherlock and Watson and adapting this old school tale to the modern world has never looked better.

The Amazing Race - Volleyball teammates Katie/Rachel just couldn't catch up from the previous leg while Nat/Kat took the fast forward and increased their lead. All my favorites are still around and the locations/challenges have been top-notch as per usual. LOVE this show.

Brothers & Sisters - I've decided I only really care about what's happening with Kevin/Scotty and so OF COURSE they begin the episode with Kevin neglecting Scotty only to end the episode with Scotty confessing about having an affair recently. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, 10/25

The Event - Finally some backstory for hottie Simon who is one of the more intriguing characters in this show for me. His scene with his long lost loved was heartbreaking. Looking forward to seeing the kind of division these aliens have within their ranks and WHY ARE THEY HERE?

How I Met Your Mother - Really enjoyed last night's episode with Marshall and Lily trying to deal with names and gender of their babies while we get a touch of Barney/Robin which is always ALWAYS welcome.

Chuck - Don't get me wrong, loved that we (and the characters) finally get to meet Chuck's mom, but it all felt inorganic to me. The Halloween bent was nice though especially with Freddy Krueger on their midst. Poor, poor Ellie.

Castle - Not Halloween-centric, but it certainly kept me on the edge of my seat and creeped me out sufficiently. The last ten minutes were harrowing as I actually thought they were going to kill Ryan. The whole case kept me guessing until the end as well. This show is just on fire.

Still have not caught up with last week's Hawaii Five-0 so had to skip last night's episode because I'm OCD like that.

Weekend TV

I saw the premiere of Supernatural on Friday with some hesitation since I'm definitely on the camp that think the show should've ended last year, when its original creators had wanted it to end. Instead they brought it back and sad to say it feels like a retread of previous plots. One of the brothers died, but has been resurrected? You don't say! There are bigger and mysterious forces at work? Wow, that is SO REFRESHING AND NEW. There's family tension? How groundbreaking! I jest, because I care. It also didn't help matters that my favorite character, Castiel, was nowhere to be found, which is just lame. A friend of mine says that the best way to go into this season is to have ZERO expectations. I think I'll do the same. Supernatural - B

After a long day outside, I managed to catch the premiere of Saturday Night Live with guest host Amy Poehler and company. I say "and company" because familiar faces like Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Rachel Dratch, and Maya Rudolph made skit appearances as well as Justin Timberlake and musical guest Katy Perry. Overall, it was just OKAY. Nothing to really write home about. The first show back after summer hiatus is always tough since they try their best to get in all of the newsworthy stuff from the past 3 months. Kudos on the Gay Marriage at the Ground Zero Mosque sketch as well as Weekend Update's rant on DADT. Saturday Night Live - B


Sunday night for me was the premiere of The Amazing Race (its 17th season! wow!). I more or less posted my thoughts on the first episode in a previous entry, but I just want to say again how delightful this show is with its almost always interesting cast and gorgeous locales. Then there's the super awkward, over-dramatic episode of Brothers & Sisters and I actually see those qualities as a good thing. They obviously needed to deal with the fallout from the big accident from last season finale which they did with the special help of a convenient one year jump. Though was it just me or did they totally ripped its viewers off by not showing us the obviously awesome funeral of Robert? Just think about the possible guest list: crazy Holly, Robert's reverend brother/Kevin's ex, angry Rebecca, cast away Tommy, Robert's ex-wife, etc. I want to see THAT episode, please. Amazing Race - A; Brothers & Sisters - B

Weekend Update

- Eighty-eight year old Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live accompanied by some of SNL's more recent female alums: Ana Gesteyer, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudoplh, and Molly Shannon. Most of the jokes were of the "granny says dirty jokes" variety, but it mostly worked in no small part due to White's still pitch perfect comedic timing. Jay-Z was the musical guest and it was touching he dedicated his performance of "Forever Young" to Betty White.

- Another clay court tournament, another uncharacteristic loss from French Open champion Roger Federer as he crashed out of the Estorial semifinals to eventual champion Albert Montanes. Maria Jose Martinez grabbed the Rome title from Jelena Jankovic who managed to defeat both Williams sisters en route to the final. Sam Querrey and John Isner contested the first all-American final in a European clay court tournament in nearly two decades with Querrey taking the title in Serbia. Defending champion Novak Djokovic retired with breathing problems.

Outlook: Give Rafael Nadal his fifth French Open win because none of the other contenders have done anything worthwhile this clay season. Hell if I know who to predict on the woman's side.

- A pair of brothers won The Amazing Race, but it wasn't the one a lot of people wanted to win. Fan favorite cowboy brothers Jet/Cord came in second place to twin brothers Dan/Jordan who ran a strategic and confident final leg. Helped by being upgraded to first class in their international flight, they stayed in front the whole time navigating the streets of San Francisco and finally to Candlestick Park where Phil declared them winners. I'd be lying to say I wasn't disappointed that Jet/Cord didn't win, but I was also very pleased to see Brent/Caite check in a distant third. Here's to hoping for an All-Stars season starring those gentle cowboys.

Catch-All Post on TV

I meant to post all of these as separate entries in the past five days or so, but one thing led to another and I never wrote any of those entries. So in hopes of getting it all off my chest before I completely forget and/or it becomes pointless...

Justin's Sweet Coming Out and the Dreaded Betty/Daniel


I have nothing but superbly positive words on how the show has handled Justin coming out to himself and to his family these past few episodes. From confiding with Marc to asking Austin to dance with him at his mother's wedding, it was quite touching and definitely had me in tears. But hold up, with one episode remaining, why the hell would they try to bring us a possible Betty/Daniel ending. I know that's how every other version of Ugly Betty ended, but it just would not be right for these versions of those characters!

It wouldn't have been so heinous if they had just built it up during these last few episodes. Instead we have seen more of a brother/sister type relationship development between these two this past season. If anything, they should be building more on that development i.e. that they both consider each other as family now. It still provides that drama of Betty having to decide between London and leaving her family, extended or otherwise. No matter what though, I'll be a bit disappointed if Betty does not go to London. And if the reason is Daniel, I might scream.

Idol Eliminates Nobody and Dubiously Brings Back Runner-Up


The Top 9 gets a second week to prove themselves as one of them, Michael Lynche, ended up with the lowest number of votes last week only to be saved by the judges. With the Judges' Save used, two people will be leaving next week. This non-elimination was surprising enough, but even more so was the realization that Tim Urban is gaining fans. He wasn't even in the bottom three this week!

With that said, I'm still rooting for Crystal and Lee with Siobhan and Casey as possible dark horses. Clearly hoping to add some much needed buzz this season, Idol have asked back last year's showstopper Adam Lambert to mentor the contestants. I love Adam and all, but it's a little odd considering the show has not previously extended this offer to previous Idol winners, let alone other runner-ups. Not to mention that while Adam has released his album and kicking ass performing everywhere, he's still very VERY new to the industry and well, it all sort of reeks of desperation for both parties really. Still looking forward to it though.


Tina Fey Does Palin and Flirts with Bieber


Haven't seen much of Saturday Night Live the past few months, but I knew I had to see Tina Fey especially since I saw the hilarious Date Night this past weekend. Maybe I'm conflating her with her character Liz Lemon, but for some reason I was pleasantly surprised to see Tina so extraordinarily confident. Her standout sketch was, of course, her Sarah Palin sketch where the "Vice-Presidential silver medalist" started her own network to obvious hilarious results.

Musical guest and tween idol Justin Bieber showed up in a few sketches in between performing and fighting off all the ladies. His most surreal (and funny?) sketch had to be him singing about his feelings for his teacher (as played by Fey) all the byproduct of the teacher's fantasy. Other episode highlights include Fey eating her Brownie husband with the "caramel surprise" and The Devil putting a 5-min smackdown on the Catholic church.

Going Viral for Buzz

With the proliferation of social media and digital distribution of primetime television, it seems every show is looking for that one viral hit that will essentially help increase their ratings (or more importantly create much-needed buzz).


Think about Saturday Night Live earlier this decade as its ratings and buzz factor were dwindling fast. In 2005, Andy Samberg joined the cast and he along with his comedy troupe The Lonely Island brought the idea of Digital Shorts to SNL. One of their first shorts "Lazy Sunday" became an instant internet success and suddenly SNL was back on the pop culture map. Since then they followed it up with Emmy-winning viral hit "Dick In A Box" and now it's expected that every episode of SNL have a Digital Short.

Other recent examples off the top of my head has been the success of Joss Whedon's Emmy winning Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and the fact that the only thing people remember about this year's VMA Awards is Kanye West award-blocking Taylor Swift as the clips ran wild in the internet.

How I Met Your Mother has been able to use internet tie-ins effectively in its show. Most notably was the music video they released to highlight one of its character's secret Canadian pop singer past. And thus Robin Sparkles and her viral hit "Let's Go to the Mall" was born. More recently i.e. this past week, the show led viewers to ItWasTheBestNightEver.com where they showed a music video of Marshall singing "Best Night Ever."

Just wanted to highlight this because this week also featured music videos from two other shows that I watch. ABC's new hit comedy Modern Family ended this past week's episode with a character singing a highly inapproriate, but funny song in front of his girlfriend's family about how he wanted said girlfriend to do him in the moonlight. Entitled "In The Moonlight (Do Me)," of course, ABC posted the music video online.

The other show has been using music videos and songs to promote itself and in fact was probably greenlighted into production because of that basic premise. As a musical, Glee is able to preview songs and videos to its fans days before an episode would air to create buzz and then, here's the key that probably made the suits smile, sell the music/videos on iTunes and other digital outlets.

Speaking of viral, this past weekend on Twitter, one of Glee's more memorable character, Coach Sue Sylvester, became a trending topic as she became the new Chuck Norris (or Jack Bauer).