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fredfa

07-06-06, 01:12 AM

The Digital Revolution
The Not-So-Small Small Screen

By Damon Darlin The New York Times July 6, 2006

Samsung Electronics thought it won the bragging rights this year as maker of the world's biggest TV, with a 102-inch plasma screen, but Panasonic beat it by one inch. Samsung does have the largest plasma screen in stores, a 63-inch screen.

As it stands now, Sharp Electronics boasts of making the biggest liquid-crystal-display TV for sale, a 65-inch Aquos. It would be the biggest TV on the market if not for Samsung's 72-inch rear-projection TV. "We have the capability to build L.C.D. TV's much larger," said Bob Scaglione, senior vice president for marketing in Sharp's consumer electronics marketing group.

The title of maker of the biggest screen will constantly change hands, but one thing is certain: TV's will keep getting larger. Market analysts at Quixel Research of Portland, Ore., say many consumers now want a screen 50 to 55 inches. It projects that by 2009 the sweet spot will have shifted to a 60-inch screen. "That suggests the consumer doesn't have a maximum size," Mr. Scaglione said. "Maybe it will happen for an 80- or 90-inch screen."

Just how big is too big for a TV screen? Such an idea is anathema among TV executives.

"Can it be too large?" asked Phil Abram, Sony's vice president for television marketing. "Only in the sense that it overwhelms the room you are in. As a TV guy, I have trouble in my heart believing that a TV can overpower a room."

You wouldn't think that size matters, especially with new homes built ever bigger. The average new home is 2,434 square feet, 62 percent larger than a home built in 1970, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

But within the walls of the big new homes, changes are occurring that affect how people will watch TV. Some trends will make it easier to fit in a screen as big as 103 inches. Others will make it trickier to find the right spot for even the sought-after 50-inch screen.

A consumer might easily have space for a big screen in a home theater or media room. About 10 percent of homes are being built with a media room, the home builders' association said — although in many cases, it is just another name for the basement, or what builders in a previous era called the rumpus room or the rec room.

Another room that is increasingly conducive for big-screen TV's is the sprawling master bedroom. The dimensions of that room in the average new home is 15 by 20 feet, said Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president for research for the home builders' group.

All that bodes well for big TV's. But at the same time, the kitchen has opened up into the family room. Whole rooms are disappearing. "We think that in 10 years there will be no more living room," Mr. Ahluwalia said. Interior walls where a TV might be hung are gone. So now, where does the TV go?

This problem becomes clearer when you look at the mathematics of screen size. TV manufacturers measure sets on the diagonal of the screen. A 60-inch diagonal screen is about 52 inches wide and 29 inches high. That means a room needs to have an expanse of blank wall that is almost four and a half feet wide, or wider if the TV has speakers along the side of the screen or a wide-screen format.

A second consideration is viewing distance. A viewer should sit no closer than one and a half times the diagonal of a 1080p high-definition TV, the highest resolution TV available, according to the makers of high-definition sets. (The rule of thumb is two and a half times for TV's with lower resolution.) In the case of a 60-inch TV, that is about eight feet from the screen; otherwise you will start seeing the pixels in the picture.

Almost all new homes and most older homes have 12 feet of viewing distance for such a TV in a master bedroom or a family room. It starts getting difficult to find that room in many apartments.

Move up to a 103-incher and look what happens. You need a wall at least 90 inches wide — seven and a half feet. The TV has to be at least 13 feet away from the viewers. Some experts claim that the optimum viewing distance is about twice that. Now where does it go?

George McKechnie of Axiom, a high-end home theater installer in Monterey, Calif., put in a $24,000 Runco 3-chip DLP front projector for one customer that splashes a 100-inch or larger image on a movie screen in the room. "It's marvelous if you are sitting 16 feet away," said Mr. McKechnie, who founded the business with his son, Loren. "At 12 feet, you can see the pixels." In short, "you need a pretty big room." About 80 percent of his business is installing 50-inch TV's, and about 5 percent is for 61-inchers, he said.

John Revie, vice president for sales and marketing for visual displays at Samsung Electronics, is not worried that size will ever matter. "There is no reason why it can't get any bigger," Mr. Revie said. "It comes down to what the consumer wants and what they are willing to pay. As long as it is in reach financially, they will get the largest set possible."

Mr. McKechnie, a former clinical psychologist, is not so sure. "It's not driven by the consumer," he said. "The technology is so complex that is it driven by the perception of what the consumer wants."

Mr. Abram of Sony said the company's designers were starting to take note of size. For instance, the company's new 46-inch-diagonal rear-projection TV is only an inch wider than its 42-inch-diagonal plasma TV because the speakers are moved from the side to below the screen.

On some of its Bravia models, Sony gives owners the option of swapping the silver bezel around the screen for one that is red, white, blue, black or brown to help minimize the appearance of the TV in the room.

For rooms with controlled lighting, the front projectors may end up being the answer for many people. Front-projection TV's were the fastest-growing category last year, with a 55 percent increase in sales, according to Quixel. The units are portable — some are the size of a thick paperback book — and a screen could be pulled down from the ceiling when needed.

Robert Stephens, head of Best Buy's Geek Squad, said he had seen the future in college dormitories and fraternities. Students project movies and video games onto a large wall with special reflective paint. "If you want to see what's going to happen, watch the kids in college," Mr. Stephens said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/technology/06screen.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

fredfa

07-06-06, 01:19 AM

Nielsen Notebook
Reality gets a dose of …

By Gary Levin USA Today July 6, 2006

• Kyle no mystery. ABC Family drama Kyle XY premiered Monday with 2.6 million viewers, the most-watched original-series telecast in the network's history. A repeat on ABC Friday doubled its cable sibling's audience with 5.2 million and won its time slot among young adults against weak competition.

• Blade slices record. Spike set an original-series premiere record Wednesday with Blade. Its first scripted series, based on the feature film, opened with 2.5 million.

• Ride 'em, cowboy. Part 2 of AMC's first miniseries, Broken Trail, averaged 9.8 million viewers Monday, matching the first installment and topping the week's cable chart.

• Sunnier skies. The second-season premiere of FX comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia drew 1.6 million viewers, up from 1.4 million for last summer's series opener and from 1.1 million for last season's average.

• Reality bites. Several summer reality shows continued to wilt. ABC's Master of Champions fell to 4.7 million Thursday from 6.1 million for its premiere a week earlier; NBC's Treasure Hunters (5.8 million Monday) was down from 6.9 million for its opener June 18. The strongest new series, NBC's America's Got Talent (11 million), also slipped from its week-ago premiere (12.4 million). And Fox's So You Think You Can Dance averaged 8.7 million for last week's two episodes, down from its season average. In contrast, last summer's hit Dancing with the Stars added viewers nearly every week.

• Game over. CBS' Game Show Marathon hit the buzzer with a low (but first-place) 6.8 million viewers for Thursday's finale, while the network's Fabien Cousteau special, Shark: Mind of a Demon, managed a third-place 4.9 million Wednesday.

• You bet. The BET Awards averaged 6.6 million viewers Tuesday, matching last year's record high.

• No fireworks. The Fourth of July weekend, usually the least-viewed of the year, wasn't kind to HBO series. Sunday's Deadwood hit a series-low 1.7 million viewers, Entourage was off with 2 million (though still an improvement over last season), and Lucky Louie was anything but with 1.1 million.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-07-05-nielsens_x.htm

fredfa

07-06-06, 01:40 AM

TV Notebook
The Long-Awaited, Albeit Brief, Return of Dave Chappelle

By Lola Ogunnaike The New York Times July 6, 2006

Having been unable to persuade the comedian Dave Chappelle to return to his hit series, "Chappelle's Show," Comedy Central has pieced together sketches he did before his abrupt departure in May 2005 and named them "Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes."

The three "lost" episodes, which begin Sunday, don't shy away from the fact that its star is missing in action. "I don't think he's coming," says a member of the blues duo that used to play alongside Mr. Chappelle during the opening of each show.

Just weeks before the third season of his show was to begin, Mr. Chappelle suddenly left for South Africa, leaving his colleagues, friends and fans wondering why he would walk away from a hit show and the promise of a $50 million deal with Comedy Central. After nearly a year of waiting for him to return, Comedy Central decided to move on without him.

"We were hoping against hope that we would hear from Dave, and that he would come back," said Doug Herzog, the president of Comedy Central. "We really didn't want to do this without him, but we needed to bring some closure." He added, "We did pay for the episodes, so we might as well use them. I am trying to run a business."

Though he has been absent from his show, Mr. Chappelle has kept anything but a low profile. He has done interviews with Oprah Winfrey and James Lipton of the Bravo series "Inside the Actors Studio."

He has also performed stand-up comedy at clubs around the country. Donnell Rawlings, who plays the character Ashy Larry on the show, said he bumped into Mr. Chappelle at a stand-up spot in New York two months ago.

"It was like seeing a ghost and a friend," he said. "I wanted to ask him about what happened, but he had this look on his face like, please don't ask me about what happened."

In his interview with Ms. Winfrey earlier this year Mr. Chappelle said he became uncomfortable on the set of his show.

"I would go to work on the show, and I felt awful every day," he said. "That's not the way it was. I felt like some kind of prostitute or something. Like, if I feel so bad, why keep showing up to this place?"

He also addressed rumors that he might have suffered a mental breakdown. "I wasn't crazy, but it's incredibly stressful," Mr. Chappelle said.

Mr. Rawlings had his own thoughts about Mr. Chappelle's state of mind.

"I don't know how people define crazy, but in my 'hood not explaining your actions to people that are supporting you is crazy, walking away from $50 million is crazy," he said, laughing.

Money, and its effect, are recurring themes in the first episode's sketches, which deal primarily with Mr. Chappelle adjusting to his newfound wealth. While receiving a trim at his local barbershop, news that he stands to make millions in his new deal with Comedy Central breaks on BET. Suddenly his $8 haircut is hiked up to $11,000. His car wash, once $28, is now $873, plus an autographed picture.

In a darker sketch he appears to be grappling with whether he will be able to top his previous work. As the gargantuan bodyguard he has hired lies dying — after being shot by an overzealous I.R.S. agent — the guard says: "Your greed did this to me. You didn't have to do two more seasons. No matter how good the show is, they're only going to say it wasn't as good as last year."

It's not all that heavy. Mr. Chappelle has fun seeking revenge on all the little people who insulted him on his way to the top. He tricks a promiscuous ex-girlfriend into leaving her husband and then promptly dumps her; he brands a casting agent who once snubbed him as a racist in a commercial that is shown during the Super Bowl; and he torches a comedy club where he used to perform.

Neal Brennan, Mr. Chappelle's former co-writer and former best friend, agreed to piece together the "Lost Episodes" because, he said, he believes the work is funny.

"I thought it was a continuation of what we'd been doing, and I disagreed with Dave," he said. "I never had a problem with any of it."

He said that Mr. Chappelle had vetoed the filming of a number of the sketches, which he said was particularly frustrating since Mr. Chappelle had written or co-written all of them. One was about a rapper who won't stop rhyming.

"I had no idea why" he objected to it, Mr. Brennan said. "The few days before he went to Africa there wasn't a lot of filming going on. I knew that when he went, the show was over. I just had a feeling."

While he said he had an emotional five-hour conversation with Mr. Chappelle months ago, Mr. Brennan said he still doesn't quite understand why he left. He said he worries that viewers will spend too much time looking for clues as to why the comic departed and not enjoy the new material. "I was there," he said, "and the answer is not contained in the sketches. Only Dave knows the answer."

In the first of the new episodes, Charlie Murphy, a series regular who along with Mr. Rawlings now serves as a host of the show, says he is not angry about his boss's departure, adding that if it wasn't for Mr. Chappelle, he would still be known only as Eddie Murphy's brother. Mr. Murphy said it wasn't the money but rather the exposure and creative opportunities that persuaded him to do the show.

"I got paid SAG minimum, $500 an episode," he said, referring to the Screen Actors Guild. "We didn't even have contracts. But we were like the Little Rascals and N.W.A. all mixed together. We would get in a room, sit down, start talking and something funny would always come out."

He called the broadcasts of the last episodes both a happy and sad occasion. He said he is proud of the work — "It's definitely going out with a bang" — but once the three shows are seen, it means the show is officially over. "It's like the Tupac of TV shows," Mr. Murphy said. "It died way too early."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/arts/television/06dave.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

07-06-06, 01:47 AM

Sports On TV
ESPN juiced by baseball ratings

Cabler shows gains of close to 20%
By John Dempsey Variety.com

ESPN and ESPN2 are hitting this year's baseball coverage out of the park.

Cablers are soaring by gains of close to 20% thanks to more marquee teams on Sunday night and fewer primetime blackouts on Monday.

Critics took their share of whacks at ESPN late last year when the network agreed to shell out 51% more in rights fees to Major League Baseball for an eight-year renewal on the existing contract.

The implication was that ESPN was out of its mind to pony up $2.37 billion (an average of $296 million a year) for a sport that seemed to be on the decline.

And many thought that without as many home runs due to tough penalties for steroid users amid ongoing investigations, ratings would also decline.

Viewers are proving the naysayers wrong. The 52 games on ESPN are averaging 1.4 million total viewers through July 2, a 15% jump over the 1.13 million for the same period in 2005.

With fewer games (18), ESPN2 is up even more, averaging gains of 21% -- 923,000 viewers season-to-date compared with last year's 764,000.

"Our new contract with baseball allows ESPN to increase the number of times we can carry a high-rated team like the Yankees, Cardinals and Red Sox to a total of four," said Mike Ryan, VP of programming for ESPN.

That clause is important, Ryan said, because ESPN's Sunday-night games are exclusive; regional sports networks can't carry those games.

Ratings for Monday games have received a boost thanks to another new clause: The first two times a team is featured on Monday, the games will not be blacked out in the local market. In New York, for instance, that means ESPN will be allowed to carry two Yankees games and two Mets games directly to local fans, according to Ryan.

ESPN stresses these contractual benefits because other, more general factors are harder to pin down.

Sports-media consultant Mike Trager said he thinks one reason ESPN is doing better is that many big market teams, such as the White Sox, Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox and Tigers, are having solid years.

But baseball's two other national TV footprints are languishing somewhat this year. The number of total viewers of the first six Saturday-afternoon games carried by the Fox Network is off by 4% from the same period last year.

And TBS, during its coverage of the first 37 Atlanta Braves games through Saturday, is averaging only 731,000 households, a drop of 7% from last year's number.

A Fox spokesman pointed to the weather for the heaviest viewer losses. On June 3, a Giants-Mets game, booked regionally in 39% of the country, endured a three-hour rain delay. Similarly, on June 10, the Rangers-Red Sox game, slated for 23% of the U.S., was rained out.

TBS said one of the reasons for the decline of the Braves' numbers, in addition to the team's lousy play on the field, is that the network ran only 13 games in primetime this year compared with 19 through early July 2005.

Despite these glitches for Fox and TBS, David Carter, a principal in the Sports Business Group, said he's bullish on baseball.

"Attendance is headed for another record year despite the steroid scandals," Carter said. "And with most of the teams in the big markets doing well, 2006 is likely to end up as another chapter in the renaissance of baseball that we've seen taking place in the last four or five years."

fredfa

07-06-06, 02:27 AM

The TV Column
For the Primetime Emmys, a Series of Changes

By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 6, 2006; C07

LOS ANGELES, July 5--It took the cancellation of "Everybody Loves Raymond" to break Doris Roberts's stranglehold on the Emmy for best supporting actress in a sitcom -- and, just in time for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, the TV Academy has taken steps to make sure such a thing won't happen again.

In an effort to end the redundancy of winners that has plagued the Primetime Emmys for, oh, say 58 years, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has overhauled the steps for determining who and what will be nominated. The first nominations under the new rules will be announced here early Thursday.

What with TV Academy members being only human, voting to determine who gets nominated and who eventually wins has tended to be something of a popularity contest. How else to explain Roberts's reign, or John Larroquette's monopoly on the competition for best supporting actor in a sitcom that ran from '85 through '88, after which he had the good sense to withdraw his name from contention before he turned into a running Emmy joke?

This certain sameness to the Primetime Emmy competition is not entirely the TV academy's fault. Because prime-time series tend to run until the ratings get too small or the cast's salaries too big, the field of possible contenders has a "Groundhog Day" quality each year, unlike the Academy Awards, in which the product is thankfully gone and forgotten (except on DVD) same time next year.

This year, the TV Academy has taken radical steps.

In the past, the five nominees for, say, best drama series were the five drama series that had received the most votes from academy members.

This year, however, the 10 drama series receiving the most votes from academy members were then reviewed by a super-secret panel of judges who determined which five would be nominated.

In the acting derbies, nominees this year were chosen not just by their actor peers, but by directors and casting directors as well.

"The feeling has been that networks like NBC, ABC, CBS and HBO were overrepresented with Emmys, and networks like WB and UPN were traditionally underrepresented," as were niche cable networks, explained 20th Century Fox TV Senior Vice President Steve Melnick.

"The hope is that Numbers 8, 9 and 10 could be more interesting choices than the top five. Number 10 may be from a small network and off the [TV Academy voters'] radar. But once in the top 10, the show is on equal footing . . . it's a level playing field."

That said, the shows most discussed out here as being likely beneficiaries of the change are "Gilmore Girls" and "Battlestar Galactica," gawdhelpus. I mean, after all, "Gilmore Girls" just wrapped one of its dimmer seasons, and "Battlestar Galactica" is, well, "Battlestar Galactica."

Proponents of the change will be paying particular attention this morning to whether Lauren Graham snags a nomination for best actress in a comedy series, in which case the changes immediately will be declared a resounding success in certain circles.

Lauren Graham is the Susan Lucci of Primetime Emmys. Only in Lucci's case, she was at least nominated 18 times -- although without winning, until her streak was broken in 1999 and the Daytime Emmy Awards competition ceased to be interesting, or to get ratings.

Graham, who plays Lorelai, Rory's mom/best pal/competitor-in-cuteness in the WB series "Gilmore Girls," has never even been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, despite much hooting and hollering by TV critics who think she's the latest word.

For that matter, "Gilmore Girls" has never been nominated in its six-year run on the soon-to-be-defunct network, though the show did snag the trophy for best non-prosthetic makeup in a series a couple years ago. But this year, it could happen.

In theory, a noticeably different list of Emmy nominees will attract more viewers to the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, which does a good enough number -- about 19 million viewers last year -- while running a distant second to the Oscars. But in one of those twists that make covering the TV industry so invigorating, thanks to NBC's new deal to air Sunday football games, the Primetime Emmy Awards show has been moved from its traditional air date -- the Sunday before the official start of the new TV season -- to Aug. 27, the weekend before the Labor Day holiday, when the number of people watching prime-time TV takes a dive.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070501599_pf.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 03:15 AM

The 2006-2007 Season
ABC Changes Show Title

ABC has changed the title of its new Tuesday (at 9 PM ET/PT) show “Let’s Rob…” to “The Knights Of Prosperity”.

The network gave no reason for the change.

fredfa

07-06-06, 03:38 AM

Critic’s Notebook
If Life Were Fair, This Is How the Emmys Would Fall

By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline”

I've been involved in prognosticating the Primetime Emmy Awards long enough to know that the nominations never turn out the way you really want because the process is so maddeningly imperfect.

I mean, to my mind, it almost renders the entire thing obsolete that "The Simpsons" has never been nominated for outstanding comedy series. Not even once! Yes, it has been honored (and won) for top animated series. But that's not nearly enough.

It's like having a category for "best political series" and giving it to "The West Wing." Decades from now, there will be a trivia question surrounding the number of times "The Simpsons" was nominated for a comedy series Emmy, the correct answer will be a big fat zero -- and everyone will get it wrong.

But I digress.
Bright and early tomorrow (Thursday) morning arrive the 2006 Emmy noms, when we'll find out if the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences meant it when it said that its membership is dedicated to opening up the process a bit more this year in the major comedy and drama series/acting categories.

That would mean more inclusive of the new and obscure in terms of both performers and networks. We shall see.

In the meantime, here's my own personal nominations/winners dream list:

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES -- "The Office" (NBC); "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO); "Arrested Development" (Fox); "Entourage" (HBO); "Gilmore Girls" (WB)
And the winner would be..."The Office"

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES -- "Rescue Me" (FX); "24" (Fox); "The Sopranos" (HBO); "The Shield" (FX); "House" (Fox)
And the winner would be..."Rescue Me"

LEAD COMEDY ACTOR -- Steve Carell, "The Office" (NBC); Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO); Jason Bateman, "Arrested Development" (Fox); Tony Shalhoub, "Monk" (USA Network); Zach Braff, "Scrubs" (NBC)
And the winner would be...Carell

LEAD COMEDY ACTRESS -- Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle" (Fox); Lauren Graham, "Gilmore Girls" (WB); Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (CBS); Marcia Cross, "Desperate Housewives" (ABC); Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds" (Showtime)
And the winner would be...Kaczmarek

LEAD DRAMA ACTOR -- Hugh Laurie, "House" (Fox); James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos" (HBO); Michael Chiklis, "The Shield" (FX); Denis Leary, "Rescue Me" (FX); James Spader, "Boston Legal" (ABC)
And the winner would be...Laurie

LEAD DRAMA ACTRESS -- Kristen Bell, "Veronica Mars" (UPN); Edie Falco, "The Sopranos" (HBO); Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under" (HBO); Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer" (TNT); Jeanne Tripplehorn, "Big Love"
And the winner would be...Falco

SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY -- Jeremy Piven, "Entourage" (HBO); Jeffrey Tambor, "Arrested Development" (Fox); Rainn Wilson, "The Office" (NBC); Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Middle" (Fox); John C. McGinley, "Scrubs" (NBC)
And the winner would be...Wilson

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY -- Jenna Fischer, "The Office" (NBC); Jessica Walter, "Arrested Development" (Fox); Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace" (NBC); Elizabeth Perkins, "Weeds" (Showtime); Susie Essman, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO)
And the winner would be...Walter

SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA -- Alan Alda, "The West Wing" (NBC); Terry O'Quinn, "Lost" (ABC); Tony Sirico, "The Sopranos" (HBO); Forrest Whitaker, "The Shield" (FX); Harry Dean Stanton, "Big Love" (HBO)
And the winner would be...Sirico

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA -- Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal" (ABC); CCH Pounder, "The Shield" (FX); Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC); Blythe Danner, "Huff" (Showtime); Lauren Ambrose, "Six Feet Under" (HBO)
And the winner would be...Pounder

http://www.pastdeadline.com/

fredfa

07-06-06, 08:53 AM

Award Notebook
2005 – 2006 PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS

(NATAS News Release, July 6, 2006)

Nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, for the period of June 1, 2005 through May 31, 2006, were announced today (July 6) by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre, North Hollywood, California. The Academy’s Chairman of the Board & CEO Dick Askin presided, assisted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Garrett.

The awards presentation telecast awarding Emmys in 27 categories before a black-tie audience will be televised by the NBC Television Network on Sunday, August 27, from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and will be hosted by Conan O’Brien. The Academy's Governors Ball will follow the telecast at the Shrine Exhibition Hall, adjacent to the auditorium.

This year's Emmy telecast will be executive-produced by Ken Ehrlich and Jeff Ross and directed by Louis J. Horvitz.

On Saturday, August 19, also at the Shrine Auditorium, 63 awards “categories” (a single award) and “areas” (possibility of one, more than one or no award) will be handed out at a black-tie presentation chaired by Lee Miller, executive produced by Michael A. Hoey and John Moffitt with Spike Jones, Jr. producing and Ron de Moraes directing. The awards presentation will be televised on E! (date to be announced).

Additional awards may also be given for the four "juried areas" (no nominations) of Costumes for a Variety or Music Program, Voice-Over Performance, Individual Achievement in Animation and Interactive Television. The announcement of these awards, if any, will be released in mid-July. Two additional awards may also be given for Engineering Development and the Governors Award. These awards, if any, will be announced later this month.

A total of 451 separate nominations in 90 categories and areas, compiled by the independent accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP, were distributed as follows:

A&E – 9 Lifetime – 6
ABC – 64 National Geographic – 2
BBC America – 1 NBC – 46
Bravo – 5 Nickelodeon – 2
Cartoon Network – 2 PBS – 34
CBS – 47 Sci Fi Channel – 7
Comedy Central – 8 Showtime – 19
Discovery Channel – 7 TCM – 2
Disney Channel –8 The History Channel – 7
ESPN2 – 1 TNT –17
FOX – 41 UPN – 2
FX Network – 8 USA – 2
Hallmark Channel – 1 WB – 4
HBO – 95 Commercials – 4
(No network affiliation)

Nomination rosters will be finalized during the period July 6 to July 20, 2006. The rosters may be revised in cases where names or titles are incorrect, or appeals for changes—including the addition or removal of names—are approved by the National Awards Committee.

This year producer eligibility is based on both credit and function rather than just credit, which was the sole criterion in 2006 (and has been since 1993, the last time credit and function were both used as eligibility criteria). A review of title and function will be conducted by the Producers and Non-Fiction Peer Groups, and the nominees in the program categories will be announced during the week of July 17.

The complete list of Primetime Emmy nominations and other Academy news and information is available on the Academy's website, located at http://www.emmys.tv.

Nominations were made by active Academy members who voted for programs and other peer categories of their expertise. Peer panels made up of active Academy members will screen nominations during the month of July and August and, in secret ballot, select the Emmy winners.

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:05 AM

Award Notebook
2005 – 2006 PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS

(NATAS News Release, July 6, 2006)

Outstanding Comedy Series

Arrested Development • FOX • Imagine Television and
The Hurwitz Company in association with 20th Century
Fox Television
Producers TBA

Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Producers TBA

The Office • NBC • Deedle Dee Productions, Reveille, LLC
in association with NBC Universal Television Studios
Producers TBA

Scrubs • NBC • Touchstone Television
Producers TBA

Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions,
Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with
Warner Bros. Television Productions, a Division of WB
Studio Enterprises Inc.
Producers TBA

Outstanding Drama Series

Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Producers TBA

House • FOX • Heel and Toe Productions, Shorez
Productions and Bad Hat Harry Productions in
association with Universal Television Studios
Producers TBA

The Sopranos • HBO • Chase Films and Brad Grey
Television in association with HBO Entertainment
Producers TBA

24 • FOX • Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox
Television in association with Real Time Productions
Producers TBA

The West Wing • NBC • John Wells Productions in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Producers TBA
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Larry David as Himself

The King Of Queens • CBS • Sony Pictures Television
Kevin James as Doug Heffernan

Monk • USA • NBC Universal Television Studios in
association with Makeville Films and Touchstone
Television
Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk

The Office • NBC • Deedle Dee Productions, Reveille, LLC
in association with NBC Universal Television Studios
Steve Carell as Michael Scott

Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions,
Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with
Warner Bros. Television Productions, a Division of WB
Studio Enterprises Inc.
Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • A Wolf Films
production in association with NBC Universal Television
Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler

Rescue Me • FX Network • Apolstle, The Cloudland
Company and Dreamworks Television in association with
Sony Pictures Television
Denis Leary as Tommy Gavin

Six Feet Under • HBO • Actual Size and the
Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO
Entertainment
Peter Krause as Nate Fisher

24 • FOX • Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox
Television in association with Real Time Productions
Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer

The West Wing • NBC • John Wells Productions in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A
Movie

Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC
WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep
Indigo
Charles Dance as Mr. Tulkinghorn

Human Trafficking • Lifetime • Muse Entertainment for
Lifetime Television
Donald Sutherland as Bill Meehan

Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Ben Kingsley as Herman Tarnower

Pope John Paul II • CBS • Lux Vide Productions
Jon Voight as Pope John Paul II

Thief • FX Network • Regency Television
Andre Braugher as Nick Atwater

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series

The Comeback • HBO • Working Class and Is Or Isn’t
Entertainment in association with HBO Entertainment
Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish

Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Regency Television in
association with 20th Century Fox Television
Jane Kaczmarek as Lois

The New Adventures Of Old Christine • CBS • Kari’s Logo
Here in association with Warner Bros. Television
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell

Out Of Practice • CBS • CBS Paramount Network
Television
Stockard Channing as Lydia Barnes

Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Debra Messing as Grace

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series

The Closer • TNT • Shephard/Robin Company in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson

Commander In Chief • ABC • Touchstone Television
Geena Davis as Mackenzie Allen

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • A Wolf Films
production in association with NBC Universal Television
Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson

Six Feet Under • HBO • Actual Size and the
Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO
Entertainment
Frances Conroy as Ruth Fisher

The West Wing • NBC • John Wells Productions in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Ambulance Girl • Lifetime • Patricia Clifford Productions
in association with von Zerneck-Sertner Films for
Lifetime Television
Kathy Bates as Jane Stern

Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC
WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep
Indigo
Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock

Elizabeth I • HBO • Company Pictures and Channel 4 in
association with HBO Films
Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I

A Little Thing Called Murder • Lifetime • Grand
Productions and Stonemade Entertainment in association
with Fox Television Studios for Lifetime Television
Judy Davis as Sante Kimes

Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Annette Bening as Jean Harris

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series

Arrested Development • FOX • Imagine Television and
The Hurwitz Company in association with 20th Century
Fox Television
Will Arnett as Gob Bluth

Entourage • HBO • Leverage and Closest to the Hole
Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold

Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Regency Television in
association with 20th Century Fox Television
Bryan Cranston as Hal

Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions,
Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with
Warner Bros. Television Productions, a Division of WB
Studio Enterprises Inc.
Jon Cryer as Alan Harper

Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Sean Hayes as Jack

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series

Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in
association with 20th Century Fox Television Studios
William Shatner as Denny Crane

Huff • Showtime • Showtime Presents in association with
Sony Pictures Television, A Bob Lowry Television Show
Production, A 50 Cannon Entertainment Production
Oliver Platt as Russell Tupper

The Sopranos • HBO • Chase Films and Brad Grey
Television in association with HBO Entertainment
Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti

24 • FOX • Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox
Television in association with Real Time Productions
Gregory Itzin as President Charles Logan

The West Wing • NBC • John Wells Productions in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries
Or A Movie

Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC
WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep
Indigo
Denis Lawson as John Jarndyce

Elizabeth I • HBO • Company Pictures and Channel 4 in
association with HBO Films
Hugh Dancy as Earl of Essex

Elizabeth I • HBO • Company Pictures and Channel 4 in
association with HBO Films
Jeremy Irons as Earl of Leicester

Human Trafficking • Lifetime • Muse Entertainment for
Lifetime Television
Robert Carlyle as Sergei Karpovich

Thief • FX Network • Regency Television
Clifton Collins, Jr. as Jack “Bump” Hill

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy
Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Cheryl Hines as Cheryl David

Desperate Housewives • ABC • Touchstone Television
Alfre Woodard as Betty Applewhite

My Name Is Earl • NBC • An Amigos de Garcia production
in association with 20th Century Fox Television
Jaime Pressly as Joy

Weeds • Showtime • Showtime Presents in association
with Lions Gate Television and Tilted Productions
Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes

Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Megan Mullally as Karen

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama
Series

Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in
association with 20th Century Fox Television Studios
Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt

Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang

Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Chandra Wilson as Dr. Bailey

Huff • Showtime • Showtime Presents in association with
Sony Pictures Television, A Bob Lowry Television Show
Production, A 50 Cannon Entertainment Production
Blythe Danner as Izzy Huffstodt

24 • FOX • Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox
Television in association with Real Time Productions
Jean Smart as First Lady Martha Logan

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries
Or A Movie

The Girl In The Café • HBO • Tightrope Pictures and BBC
Wales in association with HBO Films
Kelly Macdonald as Gina

Hidden Places • Hallmark • RHI Entertainment Presents
an Alpine Medien production in association with Larry
Levinson Productions
Shirley Jones as Aunt Batty

Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Ellen Burstyn as Former Tarnower “Steady”

Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Cloris Leachman as Tarnower’s Sister

The Water Is Wide (Hallmark Hall Of Fame Presentation)
• CBS • Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, Inc.
Alfre Woodard as Mrs. Brown

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series

Extras • HBO • BBC and HBO Entertainment
Patrick Stewart as Himself

Extras • HBO • BBC and HBO Entertainment
Ben Stiller as Himself

Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions,
Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with
Warner Bros. Television Productions, a Division of WB
Studio Enterprises Inc.
Martin Sheen as Harvey

Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Alec Baldwin as Malcolm

Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Leslie Jordan as Beverley Leslie

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series

Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in
association with 20th Century Fox Television Studios
Michael J. Fox as Daniel Post

Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in
association with 20th Century Fox Television Studios
Christian Clemenson as Jerry “Hands” Espenson

ER • NBC • Constant c Productions, Amblin Television in
association with Warner Bros. Television
James Woods as Dr. Nate Lennox

Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Kyle Chandler as Dylan Young

Lost • ABC • Grass Skirt Productions, LLC in association
with Touchstone Television
Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy
Series

Desperate Housewives • ABC • Touchstone Television
Shirley Knight as Phyllis Van de Kamp

Extras • HBO • BBC and HBO Entertainment
Kate Winslet as Herself

Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Regency Television in
association with 20th Century Fox Television
Cloris Leachman as Ida

Monk • USA • NBC Universal Television Studios in
association with Makeville Films and Touchstone
Television
Laurie Metcalf as Cora

Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Blythe Danner as Marilyn Truman

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series

Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Kate Burton as Ellis Grey

Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Christina Ricci as Hannah

Huff • Showtime • Showtime Presents in association with
Sony Pictures Television, A Bob Lowry Television Show
Production, A 50 Cannon Entertainment Production
Swoosie Kurtz as Madeline Sullivan

Six Feet Under • HBO • Actual Size and the
Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO
Entertainment
Patricia Clarkson as Aunt Sarah

Six Feet Under • HBO • Actual Size and the
Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO
Entertainment
Joanna Cassidy as Margaret Chenowith

Outstanding Miniseries

Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC
WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep
Indigo
Producers TBA

Elizabeth I • HBO • Company Pictures and Channel 4 in
association with HBO Films
Producers TBA

Into The West • TNT • Dreamworks Television
Producers TBA

Sleeper Cell • Showtime • Showtime Presents in
association with Cardboard Guru Productions
Producers TBA

Outstanding Made For Television Movie

Flight 93 • A&E • A David Gerber Company Production in
association with A&E Network and Fox Television Studios
Producers TBA

The Flight That Fought Back • Discovery Channel • Brook
Lapping Productions in association with Discovery
Channel
Producers TBA

The Girl In The Café • HBO • Tightrope Pictures and BBC
Wales in association with HBO Films
Producers TBA

Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Producers TBA

Yesterday • HBO • Exciting Flms/Distant
Horizon/Videovision in association with HBO Films
Producers TBA

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series

The Colbert Report • Comedy Central • Central
Productions with Busboy Productions and Spartina
Productions
Producers TBA

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central •
Central Productions LLC and Hello Doggie, Inc.
Producers TBA

Late Night With Conan O’Brien • NBC • Broadway Video,
NBC Studios, Conaco
Producers TBA

Late Show With David Letterman • CBS • Worldwide Pants
Incorporated
Producers TBA

Real Time With Bill Maher • HBO • Kid Love Productions
and Brad Grey Television in association with HBO
Entertainment
Producers TBA

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy
Special

78th Annual Academy Awards • ABC • Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences
Producers TBA

Bill Maher: I’m Swiss • HBO • Music Link, Image
Entertainment and Kid Love in association with HBO
Entertainment
Producers TBA

George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing • HBO • Cablestuff
Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
Producers TBA

McCartney In St. Petersburg • A&E • Mark Haefeli
Productions in association with A&E Network
Producers TBA

The XX Olympic Winter Games - Opening Ceremony •
NBC • NBC Olympics
Producers TBA

Outstanding Reality Program

Antiques Roadshow • PBS • WGBH Educational
Foundation
Producers TBA

The Dog Whisperer • National Geographic Channel • MPH
Entertainment, Inc. in association with Emery/Sumner
Productions for National Geographic Channel
Producers TBA

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition • ABC • Endemol USA
Producers TBA

Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List • Bravo • Picture
This Television, Inappropriate Laughter, Inc., Bravo
Producers TBA

Penn & Teller: Bullshit • Showtime • Showtime Presents
in association with Penn & Teller, A Division of Buggs
and Rudy Discount Corporation, Star Price Productions,
The Wolper Organization
Producers TBA

Outstanding Reality-Competition Program

The Amazing Race • CBS • Amazing Race Productions,
Inc. and Touchstone Television Productions, LLC in
association with Jerry Bruckheimer Television and
WorldRace Productions, Inc.
Producers TBA

American Idol • FOX • FremantleMedia N.A., Inc. & 19TV
Ltd.
Producers TBA

Dancing With The Stars • ABC • BBC Worldwide
Productions
Producers TBA

Project Runway • Bravo • Magical Elves for The
Weinstein Company/Miramax, Full Picture, Bravo
Producers TBA

Survivor • CBS • Mark Burnett Productions in association
with SEG Productions
Producers TBA

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:34 AM

Award Notebook
2005 – 2006 Emmy Nominations

(Edited Version)
(NATAS News Release, July 6, 2006)

• Outstanding Comedy Series

Arrested Development • FOX •
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO •
The Office • NBC •
Scrubs • NBC • Touchstone Television
Two And A Half Men • CBS •

• Outstanding Drama Series

Grey’s Anatomy • ABC •
House • FOX
The Sopranos • HBO •
24 • FOX •
The West Wing • NBC •

• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • Larry David as Himself
The King Of Queens • CBS • Kevin James as Doug Heffernan
Monk • USA • Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk
The Office • NBC • Steve Carell as Michael Scott
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper

• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
Rescue Me • FX Network • Denis Leary as Tommy Gavin
Six Feet Under • HBO • Peter Krause as Nate Fisher
24 • FOX • Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer
The West Wing • NBC • Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet

• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • Charles Dance as Mr. Tulkinghorn
Human Trafficking • Lifetime • Donald Sutherland as Bill Meehan
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Ben Kingsley as Herman Tarnower
Pope John Paul II • CBS • Jon Voight as Pope John Paul II
Thief • FX Network • Andre Braugher as Nick Atwater

• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series

The Comeback • HBO • Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Jane Kaczmarek as Lois
The New Adventures Of Old Christine • CBS • Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell
Out Of Practice • CBS • Stockard Channing as Lydia Barnes
Will & Grace • NBC • Debra Messing as Grace

• ]Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series

The Closer • TNT • Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson
Commander In Chief • ABC • Geena Davis as Mackenzie Allen
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
Six Feet Under • HBO • Frances Conroy as Ruth Fisher
The West Wing • NBC • Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg

• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Ambulance Girl • Lifetime • Kathy Bates as Jane Stern
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock
Elizabeth I • HBO • Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I
A Little Thing Called Murder • Lifetime • Judy Davis as Sante Kimes
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Annette Bening as Jean Harris

• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series

Arrested Development • FOX • Will Arnett as Gob Bluth
Entourage • HBO • Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Bryan Cranston as Hal
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Jon Cryer as Alan Harper
Will & Grace • NBC • Sean Hayes as Jack

• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series

Boston Legal • ABC • William Shatner as Denny Crane
Huff • Showtime • Oliver Platt as Russell Tupper
The Sopranos • HBO • Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
24 • FOX • Gregory Itzin as President Charles Logan
The West Wing • NBC • Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick

• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • Denis Lawson as John Jarndyce
Elizabeth I • HBO • Hugh Dancy as Earl of Essex
Elizabeth I • HBO • Jeremy Irons as Earl of Leicester
Human Trafficking • Lifetime • Robert Carlyle as Sergei Karpovich
Thief • FX Network • Clifton Collins, Jr. as Jack “Bump” Hill

• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • Cheryl Hines as Cheryl David
Desperate Housewives • ABC • Alfre Woodard as Betty Applewhite
My Name Is Earl • NBC • Jaime Pressly as Joy
Weeds • Showtime • Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes
Will & Grace • NBC • Megan Mullally as Karen

• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series

Boston Legal • ABC • Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Chandra Wilson as Dr. Bailey
Huff • Showtime • Blythe Danner as Izzy Huffstodt
24 • FOX • Jean Smart as First Lady Martha Logan

• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie

The Girl In The Café • HBO • Kelly Macdonald as Gina
Hidden Places • Hallmark • Shirley Jones as Aunt Batty
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Ellen Burstyn as Former Tarnower “Steady”
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Cloris Leachman as Tarnower’s Sister
The Water Is Wide (Hallmark Hall Of Fame Presentation) • CBS • Alfre Woodard as Mrs. Brown

• Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series

Extras • HBO • Patrick Stewart as Himself
Extras • HBO • Ben Stiller as Himself
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Martin Sheen as Harvey
Will & Grace • NBC • Alec Baldwin as Malcolm
Will & Grace • NBC • Leslie Jordan as Beverley Leslie

• Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series

Boston Legal • ABC • Michael J. Fox as Daniel Post
Boston Legal • ABC • Christian Clemenson as Jerry “Hands” Espenson
ER • NBC • James Woods as Dr. Nate Lennox
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Kyle Chandler as Dylan Young
Lost • ABC • Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond

• Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series

Desperate Housewives • ABC • Shirley Knight as Phyllis Van de Kamp
Extras • HBO • Kate Winslet as Herself
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Cloris Leachman as Ida
Monk • USA • NBC Laurie Metcalf as Cora
Will & Grace • NBC • Blythe Danner as Marilyn Truman

• Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series

Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Kate Burton as Ellis Grey
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Christina Ricci as Hannah
Huff • Showtime • Swoosie Kurtz as Madeline Sullivan
Six Feet Under • HBO • Patricia Clarkson as Aunt Sarah
Six Feet Under • HBO • Joanna Cassidy as Margaret Chenowith

• Outstanding Miniseries

Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS •
Elizabeth I • HBO •
Into The West • TNT •
Sleeper Cell • Showtime •

• Outstanding Made For Television Movie

Flight 93 • A&E •
The Flight That Fought Back • Discovery Channel •
The Girl In The Café • HBO •
Mrs. Harris • HBO •
Yesterday • HBO •

• Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series

The Colbert Report • Comedy Central •
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central •
Late Night With Conan O’Brien • NBC •
Late Show With David Letterman • CBS •
Real Time With Bill Maher • HBO •

• ]Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special

78th Annual Academy Awards • ABC •
Bill Maher: I’m Swiss • HBO •
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing • HBO •
McCartney In St. Petersburg • A&E •
The XX Olympic Winter Games - Opening Ceremony • NBC •

• Outstanding Reality Program

Antiques Roadshow • PBS •
The Dog Whisperer • National Geographic Channel •
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition • ABC • Endemol USA
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List • Bravo •
Penn & Teller: Bullshit • Showtime •

• Outstanding Reality-Competition Program

The Amazing Race • CBS •
American Idol • FOX •.
Dancing With The Stars • ABC •
Project Runway • Bravo •
Survivor • CBS •

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:48 AM

Award Notebook
Emmys on a Good Night's Sleep:

Still Weird
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

Most years I'm in California when the Emmy nominations are announced; more than once I have actually gone to the Emmy announcement -- at 5:35 a.m. L.A. time. Even those years when I didn't go, I was up early to get the nomination bundle and try to figure it out.

This year, I'm still in the East, was able to sleep until a reasonable hour -- and am nonetheless befuddled by the nominations.

First glance suggests lots of sentimental favorites, and people are already buzzing over the omissions of ''Lost'' and ''Desperate Housewives.'' Looks like there's still no love for Lauren Graham (although ''Gilmore'' had an off year) and I haven't seen any major praise for my beloved ''Veronica Mars.''

But at least I'm not yawning while thinking about it.

More later.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

archiguy

07-06-06, 09:51 AM

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:52 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
And the nominees are...

'Grey's Anatomy,' '24' top Emmy noms. 'Lost' and 'Housewives' are shut out.
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

"Grey's Anatomy" and "24" topped the list of Emmy series nominations today when finalists for the 58th annual prime time television awards were announced at a predawn news conference.

The serialized Fox drama about a counterterrorism unit racing against the clock racked up 12 nominations, while the soapy ABC medical drama got 11. Both were nominated for best drama series, along with Fox's "House," HBO's "The Sopranos" and NBC's "The West Wing."

In a surprise upset, ABC powerhouses "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" were shut out of the top nominations, just a year after they dominated the finalist list.

The most nods went to the TNT miniseries "Into the West," which racked up 16 nominations.

Fox's now-canceled "Arrested Development," HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," NBC's "The Office" and "Scrubs," and CBS' "Two And A Half Men" were selected as best comedy series nominees.

The rules for nominating were different this year, with an emphasis on decisions by committee, and the result was a more eclectic and diverse list of nominations than in recent years - including many for shows no longer on the air.

NBC's "Will and Grace" got 10 nominations, while "The West Wing" got six, including nods for stars Martin Sheen and Allison Janney.

Kevin James made the list of lead comedy actors for his work in CBS' "King of Queens," as did Steve Carrel of NBC's "The Office."

Larry David of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Tony Shalhoub of USA's "Monk" and Charlie Sheen of "Two and Half Men" rounded out the list.

The winners will be announced at an evening ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium hosted by Conan O'Brien on Aug. 27. It will be broadcast on NBC.

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/emmys/env-emmynoms070606_wr,0,7089519.story?coll=env-home-headlines

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:56 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
Emmy Nominees Unveiled

By Rebecca Stropoli Broadcasting & Cable 7/6/2006

Julia Louis Dreyfus got a nice surprise as she was announcing the nominations for the 58th Prime Time Emmy Awards with Brad Garret—she was nominated in the Actress in a Comedy category for her role in The New Adventures of Old Christine.

Gray’s Anatomy was among others to also got a first-year nomination, for Best Drama series, but the real story seemed to be some of the shut-outs, including last year’s top winners Lost and Desperate Housewives, which both received no nominations.

HBO’s critically acclaimed Entourage was also shut out, as was its new series Big Love. And While The Sopranos was nominated in the Best Drama category, only Michael Imperioli received a supporting nod.

Meanwhile, the cancelled West Wing made the list once again with a nomination for Best Drama Series and a Best Lead Actor in a Drama series nomination for Martin Sheen.

The cancelled Will & Grace, an Emmys regular, also received a nod for Best Actress in a Comedy for Debra Messing.

Other cancelled shows that got nods: Geena Davis was nominated as Best Actress in a Drama for Commander in Chief, which started strong last season but faded quickly, and Stockard Channing received a Best Actress in a Comedy nomination for Out of Practice.

This year the Emmy voting underwent a change in procedure in an attempt to widen the voting pool, with each voter receiving DVDs to view.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6349913

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:59 AM

TV Notebook
How to read ratings for summer reruns

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jul 6, 2006

It would be tempting to look at the dismal ratings for “Lost” reruns this summer and proclaim the phenomenon that is the ABC hit show done, its viewership headed for a big plunge this fall.

That would be a mistake.

While you can read certain things into the patterns shown by summer drama repeats on the broadcast networks, it’s risky to draw too many conclusions about a show based on that performance.

A show that declines in the summer won’t necessarily decline in the fall. But at the same time, shows that rise in the summer often continue that trend in the fall.

This summer, two shows on the decline, "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," and a show on the rise, Fox's "House," are good examples.

Sometimes it’s a matter of its timeslot. Last summer “Lost” averaged a 2.1 adults 18-49 rating. Last week it averaged a 1.0. But last summer, “Lost” aired out of “Dancing with the Stars,” which gave it an average lead-in of 5.1. Last week, “Lost’s” lead in was a 1.3 for a repeat of “Freddie.”

Too, serialized dramas like “Lost” and “Housewives” don’t generally repeat well. Last summer was an exception for those shows, as many viewers began watching at the end of the season and thus were still catching up over the summer.

This year, viewership levels for “Lost” and “Housewives,” whose last two episodes are off a third from last summer's 2.1 average, have leveled off, and so there probably aren’t a lot of new fans playing catchup. That doesn’t mean fewer of them will watch this fall, just that they don’t want to waste the summer watching episodes they’ve already seen.

The opposite is true for Fox’s “House,” a non-serialized episodic drama. That show grew and grew last spring, and so there are probably many newer fans who did not see last fall’s episodes. They’ve helped the show’s repeats to big increases this year.

Last summer, “House” averaged a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating. Last week’s Tuesday 9 p.m. episode averaged a 3.5, up 25 percent and the third-highest-rated show of the week on broadcast. “House” should stay hot this fall, because it was growing at the end of last season.

Finally, summer viewing patterns may simply reflect spring viewing patterns. Hit shows that struggled at the end of the season will continue to do so in the summer. NBC’s “Medium” averaged a 1.9 last week, down 17 percent from last year’s 2.3 average.

In its season finale, “Medium,” which airs on NBC Mondays at 10 p.m., averaged a 3.8, down 16 percent from 2005’s 4.5 for its finale.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_5782.asp

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:31 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
Emmys ..... fzzzzzp

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”

Well, no love for the "Gilmore Girls." Not that it would have been vindication of the academy's revamped nominations process, but it certainly would have supplied easy proof. Right now, though, there's more evidence that things are exactly as they were.

If there is any surprise, it is the diminished profile of HBO, which saw "The Sopranos" drift off the map and "Entourage" fail to recapture the magic of last season. Instead, Larry David and "Curb" returned to the ballot.

Comedy: "Desperate" fizzled off as expected, and "Raymond," last year's winner, didn't return. And not even the academy could stomach another nomination for "Will & Grace." Main beneficiary: CBS comedies "Two and a Half Men," "Old Christine" and even "King of Queens," which saw Kevin James replace his old buddy Ray Romano on the ballot. The almost-all-new comedy actor catgegory also featured Charlie Sheen (dad Martin returned to the nominees for drama acting) and as expected, Steve Carell. Maybe Tony Shaloub won't win this year.

Drama: "Grey's Anatomy" got 11 nominations, confirming its status as the chewing gum that lasts (compare with "Desperate Housewives"). But "24" led all series with 12 noms. "House" replaced "Lost," "Sopranos" replaced "Deadwood," and Denis Leary took Ian McShane's spot as the lucky cable pick in best drama actor. Luck had nothing to do with Kyra Sedgwick's nomination for "The Closer" -- she's the favorite to win, if you ask me.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/07/emmys_fzzzzzp.html#more

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:38 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
Tony & Carmela & Desperate Housewives rubbed out!

By Tom O’Neil Los Angeles Times Staff Writer In “The Envelope” Award blog

Later today, when I have time to look over the episode submissions made by some surprise nominees, I'll have a better idea of how James Gandolfini and Edie Falco somehow managed not to get nommed for lead actor and actress in a drama series. Surely, the episodes submitted against them must've been whoppers to beat Tony Soprano's heart-to-heart chat with his son outside a police station and Carmela's teary hospital-room confession that she really loves a mobster (that is, she's not just in it for that great house).

But I can tell you why those Desperate Housewives were probably bitchslapped. It's their own fault! Why, oh, why did they submit the season opener to the judging panel instead of the season finale, which was 30 minutes longer and one of the most brilliant episodes of the whole past TV year? I can tell you why Felicity Huffman's not nommed. She submitted the episode where she goes out boozing after hours with the boss, probably thinking that it was a wise choice in the comedy categories. Wrong! Dear, dear, Felicity! You're still not listening to me! You made that same goof last year and only ended up winning because Marcia Cross screwed up and submitted your best episode for you! I've told you that in the past. Obviously, you didn't take it seriously! This must all be Marc Cherry's fault. Last year he bullied you into submitting the pilot. I sure hope you ended up sending Marcia a muffin basket later when you realized your mistake. Or, wait, that's right, you never quite realized it.

Graham left at Emmy altar again!

Ouch! Poor Lauren Graham got slapped again! After six previous snubs, the Emmys tinkered with voting system specifically to give that Gilmore Girl a shot at best comedy actress at last, but, weirdly, she got shut out again.

There are lots of other shockeroos among these nominations, which were supposed to boost the luck of all low-rated rivals. Somehow it ended up getting "Three and a Half Men" and Charlie Sheen the noms they couldn't reap under the old system -- a popular vote that should've, theoretically, favored TV's most popular comedy.

Specifically, those alternative networks like FX, UPN, WB, Showtime, TNT and USA were supposed to benefit most and that didn't happen. None of the nominees for best comedy or drama series are from those second-tier channels and only three contenders for lead actor and actress: Denis Leary ("Rescue Me"), Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer") and two-time past winner Tony Shalhoub ("Monk").

Last year America's TV critics were outraged that "Will & Grace" had the most Emmy noms even though it had one of its worst seasons ever. This year it leads again, after an even worse year, but at least it didn't make the cut for best comedy series!

http://goldderby.latimes.com/

keenan

07-06-06, 10:48 AM

BAH! Still no major nominations for one of the very best shows on TV, the new 'Battlestar Galactica'. Not one. It's ridiculous. And where is 'LOST' in the best drama category that it won last year? (But that piece of inconsequential fluff that is 'Grey's Anatomy' and the way too formulaic and predictable '24' get them??) That's why I don't watch awards shows; even the nominations usually piss me off too much. :(
Yeah, I can't believe "24" got a nom for Drama, that's just plain ridiculous, and snubbing BG, well I expected that.

I'm glad to see Andre Braugher and Clifton Collins Jr get noms though, well deserved and it's nice to see that at least a few other people other than me thought "Thief" was some darn good TV. Naturally, it's already been canceled.

Oliver Platt should win his category hands down, his being one of the most dynamic performances all year along with Blythe Danner although she has some heavy competition, but alas, another canceled show.

Glad to see Jaime Pressly and especially Kyra Sedgwick, but I don't understand Geena Davis, CiC was flat out a terrible show and I don't see how they could have pulled out a nomination for her.

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:50 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
2006 Emmy nominations

'Into the West' lands more noms than any other show
By Michael Schneider, Josef Adalian Variety.com

HOLLYWOOD -- The TV Academy has decided that old is gold this year, with voters deciding to honor a bevy of departing shows and actors -- and snubbing hot young 'uns such as "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."

And in another shocker, Fox's critically-praised hit "24" landed more noms than any other series, with 12 nods. Overall, TNT's mini-series "Into the West" was the highest scoring show with 16 noms.

Noms are the first to be produced under a new nomination process designed to give more obscure skeins a better shot at a statuette. The process didn't seem to work, however, as many of the noms went to folks who've been around forever.

Best evidence of that comes in the comedy actress category, where four of the five nominees are from shows that have been canceled.

Ditto the best drama actress category, which features mostly noms from now-dead shows.

Competing for best drama this year: "Grey's Anatomy," "House," "The Sopranos," "24" and "The West Wing."

In the comedy race, it'll be "Arrested Development" vs. "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Office," "Scrubs" and "Two and a Half Men."

Entire Emmy process -- including announcement of the noms -- has been moved up this year because of scheduling conflicts at NBC, home of this year's kudocast. Net's commitment to Sunday Night Football made it impossible for the show to air on a Sunday during September, causing the TV Academy to shift the date of the kudos to Sunday, Aug. 27.

Conan O'Brien will host this year's Emmys.

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:53 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
The Emmys:

Finding New Ways to Reward Mediocrity
By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic in Time’s Tuned In blog Thursday, Jul. 6, 2006

This was the year the Emmy nominations were going to be different. Thanks to a new voting process--in which panels of specialist judges picked the nominees from shortlists of ten--the process was supposed to be more open to new talent and less likely to rubber-stamp whichever shows and actors had been nominated the previous year.

And they're... umm... different. But "different," much like when you use the adjective to describe the habanero-pepper cranberry sauce your Aunt Bess makes to liven up Thanksgiving dinner, does not always mean better. There are some new names and faces in the major categories--but many of them are simply old faces in newer, mediocre shows. (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Charlie Sheen, I'm looking at you. And sorry, but Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni? Did Law & Order: SVU suddenly become freaking Shakespeare after seven years?)

Worst of all, Emmy has made room for the "new" faces not so much by booting old, past-their prime shows (like gold-watch recipients The West Wing and Will & Grace) but much more deserving newer series and actors. Fine, I'll forgive Battlestar Galactica, which was about as likely to get a Best Drama nomination from the sci-fi-averse Emmys as the Earth was to be invaded by Cylons. I'll even let slip Deadwood, which had a better season than either The Sopranos or Six Feet Under (which did pick up big nominations), because Emmy can only get away with honoring so many HBO shows. But Lost? Wildly creative television phenomenon Lost? Winner of last year's drama Emmy Lost? I'm sorry--there is no planet on which Lost is inferior to Grey's Anatomy or The West Wing, and I defy anyone with sight and a functioning brain to argue otherwise.

Let's be charitable, though, and look at what went right. Lisa Kudrow probably got nominated for the wrong reasons--big-name actress in a showy vehicle--but deserved it for her unsparing, discomfiting portrayal of Valerie Cherish in the underrated The Comeback. Jaime Pressly, who pops not just out of her outfits but off the screen as the venal, gum-snapping Joy in My Name Is Earl, should win supporting comedy actress.And 24 may partly be coasting on goodwill, but Gregory Itzin earned his spot as sniveling President Logan in this increasingly actor-driven show, as did Denis Leary for Rescue Me. The Office was a welcome comedy nominee, as to a lesser extent was Scrubs. (But Entourage should have gotten the flagging Curb Your Enthusiasm's spot.) And Desperate Housewives, overrated in its superior first season, deserved the snubbing for its inferior second one.

But as for the oversights: good God, where do I start? Big Love, the best series vehicle for actresses in years, was pretty much shut out. (Ironically, it got a casting nod--apparently not for casting any actual actors, however.) How I Met Your Mother lost out to the inferior Two and a Half Men, probably for a lack of boldface names. (Neal Patrick Harris, get Denise Richards' phone number, pronto!) And not to overpraise the perfectly fine House, but how can it be nominated for best series but Hugh Laurie--whose performance is essentially the entire show--get stiffed as best actor? As for Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Deadwood--hey, same old song, different verse.

And apparently no new process can shake Emmy out of one old habit: nominating excellent actors and actresses in less-than-excellent roles. Stockard Channing, who would get an Emmy nomination if she were gagged, covered in papier-mache and forced to play a boulder, was rewarded for overacting in CBS' not-forgettable-enough Out of Practice. (Likewise Geena Davis on the embarrassing Commander-in-Chief and Blythe Danner for her caricatured role in Huff.) And the star-laden but stiflingly dull miniseries Into the West somehow became the most nominated show of the night.

In the end, though, these are just Emmy nominations, and if they weren't disappointing every year, they wouldn't be as fun, I'd like to thank the academy, at least, for giving me a few different things to grouse about this year. And for the producers of Lost, a bit of advice: sign up Stockard Channing.

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/

HDTVChallenged

07-06-06, 10:54 AM

Good grief Emmy ... It seems like there should be some kind of rule against being nominated for "playing oneself." Where's the "challenge" in that. :D

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:02 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
New Emmy rules, the same old gripes

Acting noms for Charlie Sheen, Kevin James
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jul 6, 2006

As promised, this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards nominations featured lots of new faces. But once again, there will probably be more focus on who didn’t get nominated than who did, including two ABC shows that last year took home two of the biggest awards.

The Emmy nominees were announced this morning for the Aug. 27 ceremony. Among the first-time honorees: Denis Leary, up for best actor in a drama for FX’s “Rescue Me;” NBC’s Christopher Meloni, in the same category for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit;” Geena Davis, recognized for lead actress in the late ABC drama “Commander in Chief;” and Kevin James, long passed over for lead comedy actor for CBS’s “King of Queens.” Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer also received acting nominations for CBS’s “Two and a Half Men.”

Yet just as surprising as some of the nominees were some of the names left off. “Gilmore Girls’” Lauren Graham failed to get a nod for lead actress in a comedy, and Hugh Laurie, nominated last year for lead actor in Fox’s “House,” was shut out.

Perhaps most surprising were the snubs for Emmy favorites such as “Lost,” last year’s best drama winner that wasn’t even nominated in the category this year, and “Desperate Housewives.” Last year that show took three of the five comedy lead actress nominations, and Felicity Huffman won. This year it received a shocking zero.

Also passed over for the first time were “The Sopranos” lead actors James Gandolfini and Edie Falco.

The new process for nominating shows, which brought in a larger group of initial voters and sent on more possibilities to the nominating committee, received a lot of buzz in the run-up to the nominations.

The Television Academy of Arts and Sciences said it wanted to get a broader base for its nominations after years of critics and viewers griping that deserving performers like Graham, whose series ran on the little-watched WB, were ignored.

The lead actress in a comedy may have had the most surprise nominees, three of them on first-year shows, two of which have already been canceled. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, for CBS’s “New Adventures of Old Christine,” Stockard Channing, for the canceled “Out of Practice” on CBS, and Lisa Kudrow, whose “The Comeback” ran one season on HBO, were all nominated.

Alfre Woodard was the only “Housewives” actress nominated, for best supporting actress in a comedy. She’s leaving the show.

Fox’s “24,” which received three acting nominations, including one for lead Kiefer Sutherland, led all broadcast series with 12 nominations. ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” which received supporting nods for Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson, received 11.

TNT’s miniseries “Into the West” led all nominees with 16 total.

“Sopranos” did get a best drama nomination, as did “The West Wing,” in its final year.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_5785.asp

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:05 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
Canceled Series, Newcomers Among Emmy Nominees

'The Sopranos,' 'House,' '24' in Awards Contention
By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com July 6, 2006

Series that have left the air and perennial cable performer HBO placed among top recipients of nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

In the outstanding drama series category, HBO's "The Sopranos," ABC’s medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” Fox's "House" and "24" and NBC's cancelled "The West Wing" garnered nominations. Last year’s winner, ABC's “Lost” didn't get a nod.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominations at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, Calif.

Canceled shows garnered a number of nominations, with Fox scoring recognition for outstanding comedy with “Arrested Development.” Geena Davis received an outstanding actress in a drama nomination for the ABC's “Commander in Chief.” CBS also received a nomination for “Out of Practice,” with an outstanding actress in a comedy nod for multiple Emmy winner Stockard Channing. HBO got a spot in the same category with Lisa Kudrow for her canceled series “The Comeback.”

While “The Sopranos” got a nomination for drama series, previous winners James Gandolfini and Edie Falco were shut out of the acting categories. HBO saw “Six Feet Under” actors Peter Krause and Francis Conroy get nominations for their work on the funeral home drama.

Newcomer Kyra Sedgwick received a nomination in the best actress in a drama series category for TNT’s “The Closer,” while last year’s winner, Patricia Arquette of NBC’s “Medium,” was also shut out.

This year the TV Academy for the first time incorporated a panel into its nominating process to help add some variety to its nominations, which in the past have been criticized as recognizing the same shows over and over. The new nominating procedure produced some unexpected results, said Diane Gordon, author of the subscriber-based TV e-mail The Surf Report.

“It’s really schizophrenic--they have a foot planted in the old and they are trying to drag into the new,” Ms. Gordon said. “I’m shocked that ‘Lost’ is virtually absent given that it won last season. I’m surprised none of the actors from ‘Grey’s’ got nominated, when the show got nominated. And the same thing for Hugh Laurie -- ‘House’ got nominated, but he didn’t.”

Despite a glut of awards shows and a challenge from the Golden Globes, the Prime Time Emmys remain the most coveted TV awards in terms of industry prestige. Last year’s Emmy telecast on CBS scored a 6.1 rating in adults 18 to 49, according to Nielsen Media Research, growing 33 percent from its series low performance in the demographic in 2004.

This year’s nominations follow a tumultuous season for television. The industry was surprised by the January announcement that The WB and UPN were dissolving to form The CW. Both cable networks and broadcasters also have been grappling with how to provide more TV content on the Internet and mobile devices as consumers show growing interest in video games and Web browsing.

An Emmy nomination or win can raise an actor’s profile in Hollywood or help a program struggling in the ratings. Audiences don't always get on board, however, as illustrated by Fox’s comedy “Arrested Development,” which was an Emmys darling but eventually was canceled.

With the retirement of CBS’s “Everybody Loves Raymond,” there is no returning winner in the outstanding comedy category. Past winners also didn't get nods in the supporting actor and supporting actress in a comedy categories.

Emmy voters will receive DVDs for at-home judging during the week of July 24. Voters have until August 15 to submit their completed ballots.

The nominations announcement comes about a week earlier than usual, reflecting the Emmys’ move by a few weeks to the last weekend in August. Traditionally the Emmys have been held on a Sunday in mid-September. This year’s broadcaster, NBC, begins its Sunday night NFL football coverage in the fall, which set up a potential schedule conflict.

The primetime Emmy Awards will be presented on Sunday, August 27 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. NBC will broadcast the show live at 8 p.m. (ET) on the east coast with a tape delay for the west coast. Late night talk show personality Conan O’Brien is scheduled to host the telecast.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10313

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:09 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
All Emmy Nominees

If you are a glutton for punishment (or have a relative in casting or makeup) here are all the prime time Emmy nominees:

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:10 AM

Two words why the new, "improved" nomination system doesn't work:

Hugh Laurie.

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:14 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
Of Emmys and Chickens

By Alan Sepinwall of the Newark Star-Ledger in his TV blog “What’s Alan Watching”Thursday, July 06, 2006

Well, the Emmy nominations were announced, so please excuse me while I go pound my head against a rock until one of us gets bloody.

I'll rant more about this in the comments after I've had some time to process and to think about what I'm going to write for tomorrow's paper, but my initial reaction is that this is even worse than I was expecting. When the TV Academy announced its plan to revamp the nominations process, I was optimistic for about a half-second about the idea that the likes of Lauren Graham and "Veronica Mars" might finally get some love. Then I realized that the new process involved the same kind of blue-ribbbon panels that, until a few years ago, were responsible for all those years of Tyne Daly and Candice Bergen winning over and over and over again. The people who have the free time to sit on a panel tend to be either unemployed, retired, and/or old, and their tastes don't reflect the working body of the membership.

My fear was that we would just get more of the same nominees, but rather than obvious repeats, we got Emmy's Golden Oldies: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Stockard Channing, Geena Davis, etc., etc., etc. James Gandolfini? Snubbed? Hugh Laurie? Snubbed. Edie Falco, who all but won the damn award with "Sopranos" episode two? Snubbed.

There was a sprinkling of fresh blood -- "The Office," Denis Leary, the First Couple from "24" -- but overall this is a fiasco. Not that "Desperate Housewives" was good this year, but the fact that neither of last year's comedy or drama series winners were even nominated this year makes me think that the Academy is going to do an about-face on the new system in, oh, two or three days.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/07/of-emmys-and-chickens.html

keenan

07-06-06, 11:16 AM

Yep, Poniewozik got it right, how can it be Best Drama without being Best Actor as well...

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:24 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
New Players Nab Prime-time Emmy Awards Nominations

Marc Berman mediaweek.com JULY 06, 2006 -

Helped, no doubt, by a new voting strategy where a second round of voters judged a preliminary shortlist ballot to determine the top 15 vote-getters for the comedy and drama acting categories, and the top 10 apiece for the outstanding comedy and drama series, there was some new blood in the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards this year.

And that included nominations for ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Fox’s House for Outstanding Drama Series; Denis Leary (Rescue Me) and Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: SVU) for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series; Geena Davis (Commander in Chief) and Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series; and Stockard Channing (Out of Practice), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine) and Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback, HBO) as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

But, if you are looking for a major omission, not a single lead actress from ABC’s Desperate Housewives--Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman (who won last year) or Eva Longoria--was recognized, and the show itself did not make the cut as Outstanding Comedy Series. Although a season marred by creative mediocrity led to its downfall, more shocking was ABC’s Lost not being included as Outstanding Drama Series, and only one nomination, Henry Ian Cusick in the guest category, among the large ensemble cast.

Although the absence of Everybody Loves Raymond opened the door to seven nominations for the worthy Two and a Half Men on CBS, Charlie Sheens as Outstanding Lead Actor and Jon Cryer as Outstanding Supporting Actor is surprising. Aren’t they both on equal footing? Even more welcome, perhaps, was The King of Queens star Kevin James in his first nomination (after eight years) in the lead actor comedy category. Still snubbed, unfortunately, was James’ TV wife, Leah Remini.

TNT miniseries Into The West led the pack of nominations with 16 nods, including Outstanding Miniseries. Second was HBO miniseries Elizabeth I with 13, followed by 12 apiece for HBO made-for Mrs. Harris and Fox drama 24; 11 for ABC’s red-hot Grey’s Anatomy; and 10 apiece for Masterpiece Theatre’s Bleak House on PBS, and NBC’s unworthy Will & Grace (let’s be thankful that the concluded sitcom will finally be off the ballot next year).

Tied with 9 nominations were The 78th Annual Academy Awards on ABC (which always seems odd to be getting Emmy attention, doesn’t it?), PBS’ American Masters, ABC’s Lost (all in minor categories), and concluded HBO drama Six Feet Under. Last year’s critical darling, Desperate Housewives, netted seven nominations, including one for the departing Alfre Woodard in the supporting actress category. NBC’s concluded The West Wing also made the cut with six nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series.

Former winners failing to get a nomination included Sopranos stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, and three winners from last year: Medium’s Patricia Arquette, Boston Legal’s James Spader, and the aforementioned Felicity Huffman.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002800882

flint350

07-06-06, 11:28 AM

The idiocy of this process could not be better exampled than in the INCLUSION of Geena Davis in what was a mish-mash of a show - CIC; while at the same time and virtually the same category, INCLUDE House but IGNORE the fabulous Hugh Laurie!
House IS Hugh Laurie, though amply assisted by a fine ensemble.

My God, what brand of dope are these people smoking? :eek:

Like Congress, the awards show "judges/nominators" are getting so low in credibility, they need to climb up the ladder to find a decent used car dealer. (sorry in advance to those of you who are used car dealers). :D

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:30 AM

Cable Nielsen Notebook
Oddest couple: Sci Fi weds wrestling

A marriage of convenience but a shrewd one
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jul 6, 2006

It seemed the most ridiculous idea when it was announced several months ago: The Sci Fi network would begin airing wrestling.

What, media people wondered, did wrestling have in common with science fiction? Sci Fi loyalists complained that the faux sport has no place on their network, and wrestling fans also trashed the idea. A network for geeks was no place for loud, crude grapplers.

It wasn't any wrestling either but the extra loud, extra crude Extreme Championship Wrestling

So much for the grousing. Three episodes in, “ECW” is a big hit for Sci Fi, currently the network’s No. 1 program. “ECW” is more than doubling Sci Fi’s timeslot average in 18-49s and 25-54s from the previous four weeks.

In its third episode, airing the week ended July 2, “ECW” averaged 1.41 million viewers 18-49 in its Tuesday 10 p.m. time slot 25-54s. That's down 25 percent from week one’s 1.89 million but up slightly from its second outing. Among 25-54s, the show averaged 1.4 million viewers, down 17 percent from the 1.68 million who tuned in to the premiere.

“ECW” is known for its rude chants and even dirtier opening antics, which now features a woman stripteasing. “ECW” has incorporated elements of fantasy, with a zombie, a tarot card reader and a vampire appearing in the first few episodes. The league failed back in the 1990s but was revived this year by WWE’s Vince McMahon.

In justifying its decision to air “ECW,” network executives say the show is about imagination, which fit right in with Sci Fi’s identity. But more to the point, the network says internal research found that 44 percent of WWE viewers also watch Sci Fi.

Ultimately, though, the early success of “ECW” is a case study in the power of cross-network promotion, paired with “WWE,” which airs Monday nights on USA, sister network of Sci Fi under the NBC Universal umbrella. “ECW" is promoted to “WWE" wresting fans on Monday nights with the simple message: Tune in tomorrow on Sci Fi for more of the same, or better.

Sci Fi, which ranked No. 9 in primetime on basic cable during second quarter among its target 25-54s, probably won’t see any overall audience growth from the show, beyond the immediate tune-ins. Wrestling fans are notoriously loyal, and while they’ll go anywhere to watch their sport, they don’t tend to stick around.

“Sci Fi Network is inconsequential. It could be on The Food Channel or the Speed Channel, and if properly promoted, wrestling fans would find it,” says Dave Meltzer, editor of WrestlingObserver.com.

The most interesting thing to come out of “ECW’s” odd new home has been the fan diatribes. Messageboards have been abuzz for weeks over whether “ECW” should be on Sci Fi. Complains one fan on the Sci Fi boards: “It sort of takes the heart out of what the channel is supposed to be here for.”

Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended July 2:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s):
TNT
USA
BET
TBS
FX

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers):
USA
TNT
AMC
ESPN
BET

Top movie (18-49s):
AMC’s “Broken Trail Part II” (Monday, 8 p.m.) 2.32 million

Top sporting event (total viewers):
USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 10 p.m.) 5.86 million

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s:
USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 10 p.m.)
USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 9 p.m.)
BET’s “BET Awards Show” (Tuesday, 8 p.m.)
ESPN’s “World Cup: Brazil-France” (Saturday, 2:55 p.m.)

Show on the rise:
“Larry King Live,” CNN, Thursday, 9 p.m. Booted “View” co-host Star Jones promised to shut up after her appearance on “King” Thursday, and many turned in to hear her last words. “King” tripled its usual audience with nearly 3 million total viewers, and finished first among the cable news networks in total viewers and adults 25-54.

Show on the decline:
“Real World XVII,” MTV, Tuesday 10 p.m. Airing opposite the “BET Awards,” “Real World” was down 11 percent week to week among 18-34s to 1.15 million viewers. It was down 6 percent week to week among adults 18-49 to a still-formidable 1.4 million viewers.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_5784.asp

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:46 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
Late Comment Additions

By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

Having looked closely at the long Emmys list, I have gone from mere disappointment to prolonged rant -- and not just because of Kevin James, mentioned in Roger's comment below.

''Veronica Mars'' got skunked -- and you know that I was hoping for a Jason Dohring nomination in particular -- while the academy contrived ways to get one nomination to ''Reba,'' among other shows.

Little attention for ''Over There.'' Edie Falco, who had that ''just give her the doggone Emmy'' vibe in that hospital-bedside scene on ''Sopranos,'' did not even get nominated.

Looks as if the old guard has prevailed, thanks to the blue-ribbon panels.

And even though I am happy with some noms (Steve Carell, Kyra Sedgwick, Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh, Jeremy Piven), I can come up with a much longer list of omissions (let me throw in the rest of the ''Office'' ensemble, Hugh Laurie, ''Rescue Me'' and ''Lost'' for drama series), and the smoke starts pouring out my ears.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/2006/07/emmys_on_a_good.html#comments

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:51 AM

Emmy Award Notebook
Thoughts On The Emmy Picks

By Kevin D. Thompson Palm Beach Post Television Writer in his blog July 06, 2006

So, my first thought after the Emmy nominations were announced this morning was this: Did the folks at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences get a sneak peek at my Emmy column before voting?

I have to wonder. Really, I do. On Wednesday, I listed my picks of worthy shows and performers who I thought wouldn't get any Emmy love. Included in that list were The West Wing, The New Adventures of Old Christine's Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's Mariska Hargitay and The King of Queens' Kevin James.

Lo and behold, all of those picks were nominated. Perhaps I have more clout in the TV universe than I thought. Reality check: I don't. But it's nice to think that I do.

Hearing James' name called was the most surprising. I'm sure James felt the same way. Now, let's be clear: He has no chance of winning, considering he's up against such popular favorites as The Office's Steve Carell, Monk's Tony Shalhoub and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David. But in James' case, finally getting some major league recognition is a win itself.

Good to see The West Wing nomination. The show's last season was also on of its best. My hunch is NBC's long-running White House drama will take the gold over House, Grey's Anatomy, The Sopranos and 24.

As for the other nominations, here are a few quick thoughts:

The Desperate Housewives gals are shutout: Talk about a shocker. Sure, Housewives' second season wasn't nearly as entertaining as the first. Still, Marcia Cross did some fine work as troubled mom Bree and Eva Longoria fired off some of TV's funniest one-liners. At least the cast won't be catfighting this year about who won and who didn't.

Why was Alfre Woodard nominated?: The last time I checked, Woodard's Betty Applewhite appeared in only three minutes worth of scenes on Desperate Housewives. OK, it was more than that, but it sure felt that way. Woodard never gelled with the rest of the cast and was grossly underserved. We all know Woodard is a fine actress who has won Emmys before. But she certainly doesn't deserve one now.

Lost gets lost: After winning Best Drama last year, Lost wasn't even nominated this season. Perhaps the nomination, uh, got lost in the hatch.

Forest Whitaker was robbed: Every year there's one major Emmy snub. This year it's Whitaker. The man was brilliant as an intense Internal Affairs detective on The Shield. Is it too late to bump Boston Legal's William Shatner off the list? His bumbling Denny Crane has long worked my last nerve.

My Name Is Earl was robbed, too: No love for Jason Lee? And none for the show? Yet, Two and a Half Men, a mildly amusing comedy, is nominated. Go figure. Sometimes these anonymous Academy voters make me ill. At least the supremely funny Jaime Pressly was recognized.

Lisa Kudrow must have friends at the Academy: How else can you explain why Kudrow, who starred in HBO's dismal comedy, The Comeback, earned a nomination? I mean, her show was so awful, Kudrow's submission tape should've been mailed back as soon as the Academy received it. All I can say is it must be nice to have influential friends in high places.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/thompson/entries/2006/07/my_thoughts_on.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 11:59 AM

Wednesday’s network prime-time ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:04 PM

Emmy Award Notebook
Emmys change a little, miss a lot (Sorry, Lauren)

From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”July 6, 2006

The annual Emmy nominations are designed to break the hearts of serious television fans, and this year the awardsfest has done its duty again. The disappointments have a little more sting this year, since many observers thought things were going to be different this time around.

For the 2006 voting process, the Emmy bigwigs instituted new rules designed to allow critically acclaimed underdogs and a less predictable roster of actors and programs into the nomination process. Well, so much for that.

There are few real surprises in the final list of nominees announced Thursday by the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences: "Grey’s Anatomy" and "24" picked up the most nominations — 11 and 12, respectively — and there’s no argument there, as both series are coming off solidly entertaining seasons. Rounding out the list of best drama nominees are "House," "The Sopranos" and (what a surprise) "The West Wing."

A final Emmy nomination for Martin Sheen, the star of "West Wing," was to be expected — but no acting nod for Hugh Laurie, the magnetic star of "House"?

And how is it that Kevin James picked up a comedy acting nomination for "The King of Queens," while Jason Lee, the terrific star of the fresh new comedy "My Name Is Earl," got nada?

Steve Carell’s nomination for his star turn in "The Office" is well-deserved, as is the show’s nod as one of five outstanding comedies. But no nominations for "The Office’s" stellar supporting cast? The worst part is, in the best comedy category, the other nominees are "Arrested Development," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Scrubs" – all of which are more than deserving. But the final best comedy nominee is, er, "Two and a Half Men."

That last slot would be much better occupied by "How I Met Your Mother," "My Name Is Earl," "Weeds" or "Entourage."

"Two and Half Men" got a total of seven nominations. This is the new, better Emmy system?

The main cast of "Lost" also didn’t get a single nod, though Henry Ian Cusick did get a nomination for his excellent work in the guest role as Desmond on the ABC drama. "The Sopranos," which is coming off a weak season, did get a nomination as an outstanding drama – but James Gandolfini and Edie Falco didn’t receive acting nominations, nor did most of the show’s excellent cast (though Michael Imperioli, who plays Christopher, did get a supporting actor nod).

The Emmy nomination list is like that. For every worthy nomination, there are two or three heartbreaks.

There’s no reason to mourn the shutout of the cast of "Desperate Housewives," none of whom were nominated in the main acting categories, with the exception of supporting actor Alfre Woodard, who had the thankless guest role of Betty Applewhite on the uneven-to-unwatchable ABC series.

One can only praise the acting nominations for "Grey’s" Chandra Wilson and Sandra Oh, and it’s only fitting that hometown girl Shonda Rhimes, who hails from University Park, got writing nominations for her sensational post-Super Bowl episodes of the show. And nobody says "Now!" and "You have to trust me!" quite like Kiefer Sutherland, who was nominated as best drama actor once again this year. The sensational Gregory Itzin, "24’s" wily President Logan, also got a nod, and if he doesn’t get a supporting-actor statue at the Aug. 27 awards ceremony, every "24" fan in America will demand a recount.

Still, the Emmy nomination list is most notable for its omissions. There were no acting or writing nominations for Sci Fi’s "Battlestar Galactica" or FX’s "The Shield" – my two personal nominees for the best programs on television ("Galactica’s" technical staff did snag three well-deserved nods). Though the new Emmy nominating process had been dubbed "The Lauren Graham Rule" by at least one critic, there was no acting nomination — again — for the deft, talented star of WB’s "Gilmore Girls." Sigh.

It’s no surprise that awards juggernaut HBO snagged a few final awards for "Six Feet Under" — Peter Krause and Frances Conroy got acting nods, among other nominations for the defunct show — but it’s a shame that Emmy voters didn’t nominate any of "Rome’s" fine cast for the major acting awards. Polly Walker, "Rome’s" deliciously vindictive Atia, was robbed.

But the real story is that nominations for WB and UPN shows and for the cable networks that were supposed to benefit from the new system were thin on the ground. Some notable basic-cable shows were recognized: the magnificent Andre Braugher got a deserved nod as best actor in a miniseries for his role on "Thief"; Denis Leary was nominated for his work on FX’s "Rescue Me"; and Kyra Sedgwick got an acting nomination for "The Closer."

Still, even Fox didn’t get the nominations it should have: Not a darn thing for "Prison Break" except a music nomination? Nothing for Robert Knepper, Wentworth Miller or Dominic Purcell?

And where are Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell’s acting nominations for "Battlestar Galactica"? Where are the writing and other acting nominations for "Veronica Mars," "Battlestar Galactica," "The Shield," "Everybody Hates Chris," "Gilmore Girls" and "Everwood"?

Guess we’ll have to wait for the next Emmy rule change for those worthy shows to be recognized.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/07/emmys_change_a_.html#more

VisionOn

07-06-06, 12:09 PM

Oliver Platt should win his category hands down, his being one of the most dynamic performances all year along with Blythe Danner although she has some heavy competition, but alas, another canceled show.

Oliver Platt was outstanding in Huff from day one, so I'm glad he got a nod but most of this list is a joke. Kevin James but no Jason Lee? Louis-Dreyfus and Debra Messing but no Lauren Graham? No Hugh Laurie?

It's like they were filling out a multiple choice test just before rushing to lunch, and they all just filled in the circles in the first column as fast as possible.

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:12 PM

The Wednesday prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:13 PM

(From Marc Berman’s Thursday, July 6, 2006, Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
National Ratings in Primetime: Week of June 26, 2006

Although America’s Got Talent on NBC was the top-rated show overall (I can just hear Reege bragging now!), CBS and Fox finished the week of June 26, 2006 tied for dominance. The Eye net was first in households and total viewers, and Fox No. 1 among surveyed adults 18-49, adults 25-54, and adults 18-34. Ignited by two episodes (and three weekly hours) of summer hit So You Think You Can Dance (see top 20 rankings below), Fox built by double-digit proportions, with growth of 38 to 45 percent year-to-year. CBS managed to increase by minor proportions in four of the five categories (excluding a flat performance among adults 18-49). NBC was close to year-ago levels, while the remaining three networks -- ABC, UPN and the WB -- were on the downside. The biggest loser: ABC, with erosion of as much as 27 percent.

In new summer series news, the fourth season of NBC’s The Last Comic Standing continues to deliver, with 7.09 million viewers (#23 overall) and a 3.3/10 among adults 18-49 (#6) in the Tuesday 9 p.m. hour. Over at CBS, the season (or series) finale of the older skewing Game Show Marathon (kudos, Kathy Najimy) signed-off with 6.83 million viewers (#27), and a 1.7/ 6 among adults 18-49 (tied for #35) Thursday at 8 p.m. Competing with Game Show Marathon was week two of ABC’s The Master of Champions, at a depressed 4.71 million viewers (#49) and a 1.5/ 6 (tied for #51) among adults 18-49.

Elsewhere, ABC’s How To Get the Guy (Mon. 10 p.m. – Viewers: #76, 3.10 million; A18-49: #51t, 1.5/ 4) and leftover scripted NBC drama Windfall (Thurs. 10 p.m. – Viewers: #48, 4.73 million; A18-49: #26t, 2.0/ 6) both sunk to series lows. A Friday 9 p.m. airing of the pilot of ABC Family’s Kyle XY (a favorite in the Berman household) got more exposure on ABC, with 5.19 million viewers (#42) and a 1.6/ 6 among adults 18-49 (tied for #41). Amazing Race rip-off Treasure Hunters on NBC, meanwhile, got squashed opposite Hell’s Kitchen on Fox as follows:

Monday 9 p.m.
Hell’s Kitchen (Fox)
Viewers: 7.97 million (#16)
A18-49: 3.7/10 (#2)

Treasure Hunters (NBC)
Viewers: 5.79 million (#36)
A18-49: 2.5/ 7 (#15t)

In the specials department, CBS’ Shark: Mind of a Demon could not take a bite out of the Wednesday 8 p.m. hour, with 4.86 million viewers (#47) and a 1.4/ 5 among adults 18-49 (#59t).

Here are the final national ratings for the week of June 26, 2006 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago period in parentheses).

Households:
CBS: 5.0 rating/ 9 share (+ 2)
Fox: 4.0/ 7 (+43)
NBC: 3.9/ 7 (- 7)
ABC: 3.0/ 5 (-25)
UPN: 1.4/ 2 (-13)
WB: 1.2/ 2 (-20)

Total Viewers:
CBS: 7.38 million (+ 4)
Fox: 6.20 (+45)
NBC: 5.81 (- 1)
ABC: 4.33 (-27)
UPN: 2.06 (-14)
WB: 1.79 (-15)

Adults 18-49:
Fox: 2.4/ 8 (+41)
CBS: 2.0/ 7 (no change)
NBC: 1.9/ 6 (no change)
ABC: 1.5/ 5 (-21)
UPN: 0.8/ 2 (-20)
WB: 0.7/ 2 (-22)

Adults 25-54:
Fox: 2.6/ 8 (+44)
CBS: 2.5/ 8 (+ 4)
NBC: 2.3/ 7 (no change)
ABC: 1.7/ 5 (-26)
UPN: 0.8/ 2 (-20)
WB: 0.7/ 2 (-22)

Adults 18-34:
Fox: 2.2/ 9 (+38)
NBC: 1.5/ 6 (+ 7)
CBS: 1.4/ 5 (+ 8)
ABC: 1.1/ 4 (-27)
WB: 0.7/ 3 (-22)
UPN: 0.7/ 3 (-30)

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:19 PM

Cable Nielsen Notebook
USA Retains Top Cable Spot

By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek.com JULY 05, 2006 -

USA Network extended its stay as basic cable's most-watched network by a week, beating out rival TNT with an average prime time audience of 2.52 million viewers and a 2.1 household rating for the week ending July 2.

The network held TNT at bay with its Monday night WWE Raw franchise, which drew 5.86 million viewers at 10:00 p.m., making it the third highest-rated program on basic cable last week. The 9:00 p.m. hour of Raw lured 4.45 million viewers, good enough for fifth place.

Boosted by another strong performance from its original drama series, The Closer, TNT averaged 2.42 million total viewers and a 2.0 household rating. The Closer finished fourth on the week, as 5.59 million viewers tuned in, a bit of a drop from the record 8.2 million that watched the second season premiere three weeks ago. TNT’s latest series launch, the EMT drama Saved, continued to hold most of The Closer’s lead-in, drawing 3.46 million viewers in its third week in the Monday 10:00 p.m. slot.

While USA took the total prime-time audience crown for the week, TNT was tops in its key target demos, including adults 18-49 (1.08 million) and 25-54 (1.15 million).

AMC rode into third place (1.98 million/1.6 HH) on the strength of part two of its original miniseries Broken Trail, which took in 9.77 million viewers Monday night (8:00 p.m. - 9:45 p.m.), retaining nearly all of the 9.8 million viewers who tuned in the previous night for part one. The premiere telecast of part two was the most-watched cable program of the week, and a command performance immediately thereafter drew another 3.7 million viewers, good enough for seventh place.

The World Cup quarterfinal between France and Brazil helped ESPN end the week in fourth place, as the sports net averaged 1.69 million total viewers in prime and earned a 1.4 household rating. ESPN eked out a slim margin of victory over BET (1.67 million /1.4 HH), which was adrenalized by its sixth annual BET Awards. The event averaged 6.67 million total viewers Tuesday night between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., tying last year’s BET Awards as the most-watched show in the network’s 26-year history.

Non-ad-supported Disney Channel was the nominal fourth-place finisher in prime, averaging 2.32 million total viewers and a 1.9 household rating.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/cabletv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002800041

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:29 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Tommy hits a flat note with 'Rock Star'

CBS's returning reality show pulls a 2.2
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jul 6, 2006

New band, same story for CBS’s summer reality series “Rock Star: Supernova.” The program showed no improvement over last year in its second-season debut last night. In fact, it was down slightly despite adding tabloid staple Tommy Lee to the cast.

“Supernova” averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 overnight rating over 90 minutes, down 8 percent from last summer’s 2.4 for its 60-minute premiere.

In its first hour, its 2.1 rating tied with NBC’s rerun of “America’s Got Talent” for second in the 8 p.m. timeslot, well behind leader “So You Think You Can Dance” on Fox.

In its final half hour the show perked up to a 2.4 but was still more than a point in back of “Dance” and a fresh “Talent.”

The puzzler may well be why CBS brought the “Rock Star” franchise back after last year’s show, which searched for a new lead singer for INXS. Though the show averaged a so-so 2.8 last summer, it was never a big hit. Last night “Supernova” fared slightly better among the adults 25-54 that CBS dominates, averaging a 2.5, but it was still third in its timeslot.

CBS apparently thought Lee, who starred in last summer’s NBC flop “Tommy Lee Goes to College,” could bring the show a bit more oomph. He and former members of Guns N’ Roses and Metallica are looking for a lead singer to complete their new group, Supernova.

While has-been celebrities have been summer successes before, in the case of last summer's ABC hit “Dancing With the Stars,” this newly formed band is more of a never-been. Last year’s show at least had singers trying to imitate the INXS style to join the band. “Supernova” auditioners aren’t sure what they need to sound like.

Fox led for the night among adults 18-49 with a 3.6 rating and 11 share, followed by NBC at 2.9/9, CBS at 2.3/7, Unvision at 1.6/5, ABC at 1.2/4, WB at 0.8/2 and UPN at 0.7/2.

At 8 p.m., Fox led at 3.0 for the first hour of "Dance," followed by a 2.1 each for CBS's "Supernova" premiere and NBC's "Talent" repeat. Univision's "La Fea Mas Bella" was No. 4 at 1.9, ahead of ABC's "George" and "Freddie" repeats at 1.5, WB's original and repeat "Blue Collar TV" at 1.0, and UPN's reruns of "One on One" and "All of Us" at 0.7.

At 9 p.m., Fox's "Dance" led at 4.2, the first time it has beaten “Talent,” which was second at 4.0. That was followed by CBS's "Supernova" and "CSI: Miami" at 2.0, Univision's "Barrera de Amor" at 1.7, ABC's "Lost" repeat at 1.0, UPN's pair of "Eve" reruns at 0.8, and WB's "One Tree Hill" repeat at 0.5.

At 10 p.m., CBS's "CSI: Miami" rerun was No. 1 at 2.8, followed by NBC's "Law & Order" repeat at 2.5, Univision's "Don Francisco Presenta" at 1.4 and ABC's "Lost" repeat at 1.1.

Among households, NBC was No. 1 with a 5.8 rating and 10 share, edging Fox at 5.7/10. CBS followed at 4.4/8, ahead of ABC at 2.4/4, Univision at 2.0/3, WB at 1.2/2 and UPN at 1.1/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_5809.asp

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:38 PM

Emmy Award Notebook
Emmy Nomination Summary

16 Nominations
Into The West

13 Nominations
Elizabeth I

12 Nominations
Mrs. Harris
24

11 Nominations
Grey’s Anatomy

10 Nominations
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)
Will & Grace

9 Nominations
78th Annual Academy Awards
American Masters
Lost
Six Feet Under

8 Nominations
American Idol
Rome

7 Nominations
Boston Legal
Desperate Housewives
The Girl In The Café
The Sopranos
Two And A Half Men

6 Nominations
Baghdad ER
Dancing With The Stars
Flight 93
High School Musical
Survivor
The West Wing

5 Nominations
The Amazing Race
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
Late Night With Conan O’Brien
Late Show With David Letterman
My Name Is Earl
The Office
Sleeper Cell
Weeds

4 Nominations
Arrested Development
The Colbert Report
Extras
House
MADtv
Malcolm In The Middle
Rome: Engineering An Empire

3 Nominations
All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise
Battlestar Galactica
Big Love
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Deadliest Catch
Huff
Human Trafficking
Nip/Tuck
Penn & Teller: Bullshit
Project Runway
The Ten Commandments

2 Nominations
Alias
Andrea Bocelli: Amore Under the Desert Sky (Great Performances)
Barry Manilow: Music And Passion
Before The Dinosaurs
Bill Maher: I’m Swiss
Children Of Beslan
The Comeback
Dance In America: Swan Lake With American Ballet Theatre (Great Performances)
ER
Everybody Hates Chris
How I Met Your Mother
How William Shatner Changed The World
I Have Tourette’s But Tourette’s Doesn’t Have Me
The Kennedy Center Honors
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Masters Of Horror
Monk
The New Adventures Of Old Christine
The XX Olympic Winter Games - Opening Ceremony
Once Upon A Mattress
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live
South Pacific In Concert From Carnegie Hall (Great Performances)
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Stephen King’s Desperation
Supernatural
Thief
The 59th Annual Tony Awards (2005)
The Triangle
Two Days In October (American Experience)
The Water Is Wide (Hallmark Hall Of Fame Presentation)

One Nomination
According To Jim
AFI’s 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
Ambulance Girl
2005 American Music Awards
Antiques Roadshow
The Apprentice
Biography
Black. White.
Camp Lazlo
Category 7: The End Of The World
Classical Baby 2
The Closer
Clydesdale American Dream - Budweiser
Combat Diary: The Marines Of Lima Company
Commander In Chief
Concert - AmeriQuest
A Concert For Hurricane Relief
CSI: NY
The Dive From Clausen’s Pier
The Dog Whisperer
E-Ring
Eagles Farewell I Tour - Live From Melbourne
Elton John: The Red Piano
Escape From Cluster Prime
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Family Guy
The Flight That Fought Back
Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends
Four Minutes
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing
Get Ed
Ghost Whisperer
Gideon’s Daughter
48th Annual Grammy Awards
Hidden Places
In The Realms Of The Unreal (P.O.V.)
Inside 9/11
Inside The Actors Studio
Jazz At Lincoln Center - Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert (Live From Lincoln
Center) Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List
The King Of Queens
The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
A Lincoln Center Special: 30 Years Of Live From Lincoln Center
A Little Thing Called Murder
Mammoth
McCartney In St. Petersburg
NFL Opening Kickoff 2005
Nick News With Linda Ellerbee: Do Something! Caring For The Kids Of Katrina
The Nightingale (Great Performances)
Numb3rs
Out Of Practice
Over There
Perfect Disaster
Pope John Paul II
Prison Break
Reba
Required Reading - Hallmark
Rescue Me
Scrubs
The Simpsons
Smallville
South Park
Stacked
Stargate: Atlantis
Stick - FedEx
The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody
Surface
10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America
That ‘70s Show
Three Days In September
The Unit
The XX Olympic Winter Games
Yesterday

http://www.emmys.org/awards/primetimeawards.php

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:46 PM

Emmy Award Notebook
Emmys snub "Lost," Laurie

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic in the Sentinel’s TV Guy blog Jul 6, 2006

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"Lost," the victor as top drama series last year, cannot repeat. The Emmys overlooked ABC's island adventure in nominations announced Thursday.

The five contenders for top drama are "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC, former winner "The Sopranos" on HBO, former winner "The West Wing" on NBC; and two Fox series, "House" and "24." For its strongest season yet, "24" seems the likely winner.

In the running for best comedy series are "Arrested Development," which Fox canceled; HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm"; CBS' "Two and a Half Men"; and two NBC comedies, "The Office" and "Scrubs." "The Office" probably has the best chances, although ratings strength could bolster "Two and a Half Men."

The list of oversights was long. "My Name Is Earl," the best-reviewed new comedy last season, was not mentioned either in the series category or for leading actor Jason Lee.

Although "House" was nominated, star Hugh Laurie (left) -- who basically makes the show -- was not. Previous winners James Gandolfini and Edie Falco of "The Sopranos" didn't earn recognition this year.

The nominees for top drama actor are Peter Krause of HBO's "Six Feet Under"; Denis Leary of FX's "Rescue Me"; Chris Meloni of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"; Martin Sheen of "The West Wing"; and Kiefer Sutherland of "24." Sheen, who has never won for playing President Bartlet, has to be considered a sentimental favorite. "The West Wing" concluded its seven-year run last season.

For lead actress, former winner Allison Janney of "The West Wing" is in the running. Her competition is Frances Conroy of "Six Feet Under"; Geena Davis of "Commander in Chief," which ABC canceled after one season; Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"; and Kyra Sedgwick of TNT's "The Closer." Newcomer Sedgwick probably has the edge for her bravura work.

Up for top comedy actor are Steve Carell of "The Office"; former winner Tony Shalhoub of USA's "Monk"; Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"; Charlie Sheen of "Two and a Half Men"; and a surprise nominee, Kevin James of CBS' "The King of Queens."

Former winner Debra Messing of NBC's "Will & Grace" has another shot at top comedy actress. Her opponents are Stockard Channing of "Out of Practice," which CBS canceled; Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcolm in the Middle," which ended its run on Fox; Lisa Kudrow of "The Comeback," which HBO canceled; and Julia Louis-Dreyfus of CBS' "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

The nominations overlooked last year's winner, Felicity Huffman of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," and her co-stars Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher. Don't be surprised if Emmy plays catch-up this year and finally recognizes Kaczmarek for her memorable work as a high-powered mama.

The victors will be announced Aug. 27 on NBC.

For top reality competition, the nominees are CBS' "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor"; ABC's "Dancing With the Stars"; Fox's "American Idol"; and Bravo's "Project Runway." "Amazing Race" has won the contest three years in a row. But don't be surprised if the hugely enjoyable "Project Runway" emerges as winner.

For top miniseries, the nominees are PBS' "Bleak House," HBO's "Elizabeth I," Showtime's "Sleeper Cell" and TNT's "Into the West." The TNT epic led all programs with 16 nominations.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2006/07/emmys_snub_lost.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:47 PM

Emmy Award Notebook
Emmy Nomination Summary

Who's going to win Emmys?
By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic in the Sentinel’s TV Guy blog Jul 6, 2006

Let's talk Emmys ... Here are my early predictions.

Drama series: "24," for its best season yet. The Fox thriller (left) is perhaps the most influential show in the coming season, with new dramas aping the "24" way of telling a sprawling story. The other contenders are "Grey's Anatomy," "House" and two former winners, "The West Wing" and "The Sopranos."

Comedy series: "The Office," which is hugely popular in L.A. The other possibility is "Two and a Half Men," the highest-rated comedy. The other nominees: "Arrested Development," "Scrubs" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

Lead comedy actress: Jane Kaczmarek. I'm applying the Tony Randall Rule here. Randall won an Emmy for the last season of "The Odd Couple," which was the academy's way of saying he had played an influential character. Kaczmarek has never won for "Malcolm in the Middle." The field looks open for her. Debra Messing has won for "Will & Grace." Two competitors are in canceled series: Stockard Channing of "Out of Practice" and Lisa Kudrow of "The Comeback." Julia Louis-Dreyfus will be around next season if the academy wants to honor her for "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Lead comedy actor: Tony Shalhoub for "Monk." He won last year. Emmy likes its repeats. Other contenders: Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," surprise nominee Kevin James of "The King of Queens," Steve Carell of "The Office" and Charlie Sheen of "Two and a Half Men." (Sheen's co-star, Jon Cryer, is in the supporting category, although he's playing a lead role.)

Lead drama actress: Krya Sedgwick of "The Closer." A few newcomers have to make it to the winner's circle. The competition is former winner Allison Janney of "The West Wing" (who had some wonderful episodes last season); Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"; Frances Conroy of "Six Feet Under"; and Geena Davis of "Commander in Chief."

Lead drama actor: Martin Sheen of "The West Wing." It's the Tony Randall Rule again. This is the academy's last chance to honor Sheen. Kiefer Sutherland of "24" is deserving. The actor who most deserves the prize, Hugh Laurie of "House," wasn't nominated in the most inexplicable snub this year. The other contenders are Denis Leary of "Rescue Me," Peter Krause of "Six Feet Under" and Chris Meloni of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Miniseries: PBS' "Bleak House," a wonder. The stiffest comeptition will come from HBO's "Elizabeth I," which simply isn't as good. The other nominees are "Sleeper Cell" and "Into the West."

TV movie: HBO's "Yesterday," a stunning story about AIDS in South Africa. The other nominees are "Flight 93," "The Flight That Fought Back," "The Girl in the Cafe" and Mrs. Harris."

Supporting drama actor: Gregory Itzin for playing a vile president on "24."

Supporting drama actress: Jean Smart for portraying a courageous first lady on "24." Hers was the best performance of the season.

Supporting comedy actor: Jeremy Piven for "Entourage."

Supprting comedy actress: Jaime Pressly for "My Name Is Earl." This charming comedy was snubbed in other categories. It should win recognition somewhere.

Actress in a movie or miniseries: Helen Mirren for "Elizabeth I." Bank on it. This is one certainty that will be announced Aug. 27.

Actors in a movie or miniseries: Charles Dance for "Bleak House." But why, oh why, wasn't Bill Nighy nominated for "The Girl in the Cafe"?

Variety series: "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." It's still the one to beat, even if "The Colbert Report" made a lot of headlines.

Supporting actor in a movie or miniseries: Jeremy Irons for giving Helen Mirren stellar support in "Elizabeth I."

Supporting actress in a movie or miniseries: Alfre Woodard for "The Water Is Wide." Woodard's nomination for supporting comedy actress in "Desperate Housewives" is another strange development. She had a nothing role on that ABC comedy. The show wasted her, but she gets a nomination anyway? Bizarre.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2006/07/whos_going_to_w.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:52 PM

TV Notebook
Survive This

(How Not to Get Voted onto Any Future ‘Survivor: All-Stars’)
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog

Brian Heidik, winner of “Survivor: Thailand” was arrested Wednesday after shooting a puppy with an arrow near his home in Douglasville, Ga.

http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2006/07/how_not_to_get_.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:54 PM

Emmy Award Notebook
'24,' 'Grey's Anatomy' lead Emmy nominations

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog July 06, 2006

Earlier this year, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences made rule changes for its Emmy awards with the expressed intent of adding unpredictability and, perhaps, some controversy to the nominations.

It succeeded, although the results may not be quite what the organization had in mind.

The nominations announced early this morning were loaded with surprises but much of the attention is likely to be on some stunning omissions (notably last year's best drama winner, ``Lost,'' and ``My Name Is Earl,'' NBC's critically-acclaimed comedy) and head-scratching inclusions.

The big drama winners were worthy with ``24,'' Fox's non-stop suspense thriller, and ``Grey's Anatomy,'' ABC's buzz-heavy medical drama, topping the field with 12 and 11 nominations, including nods for best dramatic series. They will face off against Fox's ``House,'' HBO's ``The Sopranos'' and NBC's cancelled ``The West Wing,'' nominated for the seventh straight year.

The best comedy nominees included one returnee -- Fox's ``Arrested Development'' -- and four newcomers: HBO's ``Curb Your Enthusiasm'' (which was ineligible last year), CBS's ``Two and A Half Men,'' and NBC's ``The Office'' and ``Scrubs.'' The latter got its nod even though it did not receive any other nomination.

Kiefer Sutherland, who plays Jack Bauer on ``24,'' got his fifth nomination for best dramatic actor and will go up against previous nominees Peter Krause of HBO's ``Six Feet Under'' and Martin Sheen of ``The West Wing.'' Newcomers Denis Leary (FX's ``Rescue Me'') and Christopher Meloni (NBC's ``Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'') also got nods.

Among unexpected exclusions: James Gandolfini of ``The Sopranos'' and Hugh Laurie of ``House.''

The best actress in a drama category is dominated by performers from cancelled shows: Geena Davis of ABC's ``Commander In Chief,'' Frances Conroy of ``Six Feet Under'' and Allison Janney, a multiple Emmy winner for ``West Wing.'' Mariska Hargitay of ``Law & Order: SVU'' is back for the third year in a row while Kyra Sedgwick from TNT's ``The Closer'' got the fifth slot.

The notable absentees from the field included Edie Falco from ``The Sopranos'' and Ellen Pompeo, the lead actress on ``Grey's Anatomy.''

If anything, the comedy acting fields were even more unexpected.

Kevin James of CBS's ``The King of Queens'' came out of nowhere to get a nod, putting him up against Larry David of ``Curb Your Enthusiasm,'' Tony Shalhoub of USA's ``Monk,'' Charlie Sheen of ``Two And A Half Men'' and Steve Carell of ``The Office.'' Missing in action: Jason Lee of ``My Name Is Earl'' and Jason Bateman of ``Arrested Development.''

Four of the best actress nominees come from cancelled shows: Lisa Kudrow (HBO's ``The Comeback''), Jane Kaczmarek (Fox's ``Malcolm In the Middle''), Stockard Channing (CBS's ``Out of Practice'') and Debra Messing (``Will & Grace.'') The sole nominee whose show returns in the fall was Julia Louis Dreyfuss, who got a nod for ``The New Adventures of Old Christine.''

Left out were such early Emmy favorites as Mary-Louise Parker from Showtime's ``Weeds'' and any of the lead actresses from ``Desperate Housewives.''

The top winner overall was TNT's epic western ``Into the West,'' which got 16 nominations including outstanding miniseries where it will face off against HBO's ``Elizabeth I'' which received 13 nominations. PBS's ``Bleak House'' and Showtime's ``Sleeper Cell'' complete the field.

HBO dominated the television movie field with three choices -- ``Mrs. Harris,'' ``The Girl In the Cafe'' and ``Yesterday,'' an Oscar nominee for best foreign film earlier this year. A&E's ``Flight 93'' and Discovery's ``The Flight That Fought Back'' -- two films about United Flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001 -- also got nods.

In the world of reality TV, the best showdown comes in the outstanding reality-competition category where five top shows -- Fox's ``American Idol,'' ABC's ``Dancing With Stars,'' Bravo's ``Project Runway'' and CBS's ``Survivor'' and ``The Amazing Race'' -- will face off for the Emmy.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/14979226.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

07-06-06, 12:59 PM

Emmy Award Notebook
OMG! It's an Emmy Catastrophe!

By Michael Ausiello TV Guide

Wasn't this supposed to be the year that Emmy, with those much-ballyhooed new voting rules in place, finally got it right? 'Cause when I look at this year's list of nominees, all I see is one wrong after another.

In addition to the requisite Lauren Graham snub, Emmy overlooked Lost, My Name is Earl, Battlestar Galactica, The Shield, Entourage, Everybody Hates Chris, Jason Lee, Hugh Laurie, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Marcia Cross, Kristen Bell, Michael Chiklis, Forest Whitaker, the entire cast of Scrubs, and the list goes on...

There were some bright spots, namely the inclusion of Scrubs for best comedy, Denis Leary for best dramatic actor, Lisa Kudrow for best comedy actress, 24's Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart for supporting actor and actress in a drama and Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson for best supporting drama actress.

But overall, the negatives far outweigh the positives here. Nothing against Stockard Channing, but WTF? Ditto Kevin James, Martin Sheen and — and my pick for this year's funniest (unintentionally so) nod — glorified Desperate Housewives extra Alfre Woodard.

Read the list of the major nominees and weep. In the meantime, I'm going to see about opening that Tasti D-Lite store.

http://community.tvguide.com/forum.jspa?forumID=700000049

fredfa

07-06-06, 01:04 PM

Emmy Award Notebook
Complete Emmy Coverage

If you slept in, or just joined us late, the wall-to-wall Emmy coverage starts here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7952744&&#post7952744

By the way you’ll find complete saturation coverage of the upcoming Television Critic’s Association Summer Tour (July 11-27) here starting next week. So log on early and often so you don’t miss much!

keenan

07-06-06, 01:47 PM

Oliver Platt was outstanding in Huff from day one, so I'm glad he got a nod but most of this list is a joke. Kevin James but no Jason Lee? Louis-Dreyfus and Debra Messing but no Lauren Graham? No Hugh Laurie?

It's like they were filling out a multiple choice test just before rushing to lunch, and they all just filled in the circles in the first column as fast as possible.
Yes, he was, in my mind he and Laurie should have been neck and neck the last two years.

Another one that bothers me is Martin Sheen. If they want to give awards for actors and shows that have been canceled and/or after having had long runs, then they should create a category for it. There is no way Sheen even compiled enough screen time to even consider him for the nomination. He was in far less than half of the episodes and of those he was probably on screen less than 10% of the time, and yet they snub Laurie???

The Law and Order best actor nom blows me away as well, Meloni is good, but there were far better actors much more deserving.

fredfa

07-06-06, 01:49 PM

Emmy Award Notebook
Emmy deals disses to top-watched programs

By Verne Gay Newsday Staff Writer July 6, 2006, 9:50 AM EDT

No "Lost" and no "Desperate Housewives:" The two biggest shows of the last two years, at least in terms of praise and ratings, were shut out in all the major 58th annual Emmy categories announced this morning. Proving? That the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences voters, long chastised for predictability, demonstrated that they too can pop a few surprises now and then.

Indeed, there were surprises this morning, though the only shockers were the disses dealt to "Lost" and "DH:" Denis Leary, the hard-drinking, hard-living Tommy Gavin of "Rescue Me," scored his first best actor nomination for "Rescue Me," while Kyra Sedgwick - Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson - landed a best actress nod for "The Closer." Neither would be called "long-shots," but in a category long dominated by commercial network actors, they would not have been considered "shoo-ins" either.

"Grey's Anatomy" and "House M.D." also scored best drama nods - a first for both and, given the strength of last season, richly deserved. In the comedy category, a first-time nomination went to "The Office," which was as expected as the sun rising this morning.

Besides "Anatomy" and "House," the other best dramas were "The Sopranos," "24," and "The West Wing." "Wing," of course, is a multiple-winner in this category while "24" is reliably nominated and just as reliably dismissed on awards night.

In comedy, the other nominees were "Arrested Development," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Scrubs," and "Two and a Half Men." The odd man out here? ""Men," naturally, which is the only show that has what the business calls "wide commercial appeal." The others are (or in some cases were) beloved by critics and a solid if small base of fans.

In the drama actor category, Martin Sheen picked up another nod for "Wing," while Peter Krause ("Six Feet Under"), Christopher Meloni ("Law & Order: SVU") and Kiefer Sutherland ("24") were also honored. Meloni (Det. Elliot Stabler) would be considered the unexpected-man-out in this group. In the actress category, Frances Conroy ("Six"), Geena Davis ("Commander-in-Chief"), Mariska Hargitay (Det. Olivia Benson of "SVU"), and Allison Janney ("Wing") were honored. Hargitay got her first nod too, while Davis - a Golden Globe winner for the role - was expected.

In the comedy actor category, nods went to Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Kevin James ("King of Queens"), Tony Shalhoub ("Monk"), and Charlie Sheen ("Two and Half Men.") And the actresses: Lisa Kudrow ("The Comeback," Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Debra Messing ("Will & Grace"), and Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("The New Adventures of Old Christine.")

The ceremony, hosted by Conan O'Brien, will be broadcast on NBC from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Aug. 27 - a month earlier than normal because football will air on NBC in September.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-etemmy0707,0,5746526.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

Marcus Carr

07-06-06, 01:53 PM

FCC Could Vote on Adelphia July 13

By Ted Hearn 7/6/2006 1:11:00 PM

The Federal Communications Commission could announce later Thursday that it plans to vote at its July 13 public meeting to approve the $16.9 billion acquisition of Adelphia Communications by Time Warner Inc. and Comcast, ending a review that has lingered at the agency for nearly 400 days, according to FCC officials and pay TV lobbyists.

Under a merger proposal supported by FCC chairman Kevin Martin, Comcast and Time Warner would be barred from charging noncompetitive rates in an effort to effectively withhold affiliated regional sports networks from competing multichannel-video-programming distributors, such as EchoStar Communications and DirecTV, an FCC official said.

Any dispute over terms and conditions would be resolved through compulsory arbitration, an FCC official said, noting that the condition was akin to the one the agency applied to News Corp. in January 2004 when it needed the commission’s approval to take a controlling interest in DirecTV.

The News-DirecTV arbitration requirement expires in 2010. Consistent with that approach, the FCC is expected to sunset the Adelphia merger arbitration conditions in six years, an FCC official said.

A pay TV lobbyist said Martin's proposal would not break up exclusive sports-programming contracts that Time Warner and Comcast have with entities in which they do not have financial interests. An FCC official confirmed that statement.

Adelphia currently has about 5 million subscribers. Time Warner Cable and Comcast intend to divide Adelphia's assets in a series of cable-system trades designed to bolster their regional footprints in several large markets, including Los Angeles, Dallas and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Time Warner Cable would emerge with a net gain of 3.5 million subscribers and Comcast with about 1.8 million. Those figures were announced last year, when Adelphia had about 5.4 million subscribers.

FCC rules require cable operators to sell satellite-delivered cable networks in which they have financial interests to pay TV distributors. The rules generally do not apply if cable-affiliated programmers are distributed terrestrially, such as via microwave systems or fiber-optic lines.

In a setback for the two direct-broadcast satellite providers, Martin's merger conditions would allow Comcast to continue to withhold Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia from EchoStar and DirecTV, mainly because the FCC had ruled in program-access complaints brought by DirecTV and EchoStar in 1998 and 1999, respectively, that Comcast was not required to sell them the channel. The U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the FCC in the case brought by EchoStar in June 2002.

Comcast SportsNet is the pay TV home of the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers, the National Basketball Association's 76ers and Major League Baseball's Phillies. Comcast also owns the Flyers and 76ers. DirecTV and EchoStar have argued that they can't compete effectively with Comcast's cable properties in Philadelphia without the sports channel.

In another Martin proposal, the Adelphia merger would be approved without a commitment from Time Warner and Comcast to abide by the FCC's August 2005 four broadband principles, also called Internet network-neutrality principles, an FCC official said.

Last October, the FCC refused to grant mergers between SBC Communications and AT&T and between Verizon Communications and MCI unless the acquiring companies agreed to allow the commission to enforce the network-neutrality rules against them for a two-year period.

At the time of the phone-company mergers, the agency was evenly divided 2-2 between Republicans and Democrats. On June 1, Robert McDowell arrived at the FCC to give the GOP a 3-2 majority for the first time in Martin's tenure as chairman.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6349995.html?display=Breaking+News

fredfa

07-06-06, 02:00 PM

The Business of TV
Union Pushes Adelphia Issues

skyreport

One of the nation's top unions continues to push issues at the Portals tied to the still-pending takeover of Adelphia by Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, the Communications Workers of America said the billion-dollar cable deal should adhere to two conditions, both of which are tied to competitor access to regional sports programming.

The union said Time Warner Cable and Comcast should make all programming - including regional sports networks - available to competitors at non-discriminatory prices and conditions. The CWA also said RSNs should be made available to competitors if a carriage dispute tied to the network goes into arbitration.

"The conditions related to regional sports networks and programming are necessary because the transaction would otherwise adversely impact competition and consumers," CWA said in its letter. "The transaction - including both the transfer of Adelphia franchises and the swap of franchises between Comcast and Time Warner - will significantly increase market concentration in many urban markets around the country."

The companies involved are working under a July 31 deadline to complete the deal, a date established by Comcast and Time Warner Cable for acquiring the Adelphia assets.

fredfa

07-06-06, 02:04 PM

Obituary
Pioneering TV Producer Jack Sameth Dies

By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 7/6/2006

Jack Sameth, 79, renaissance TV man and veteran commercial and noncommercial producer whose credits spanned Beat the Clock, a Kennedy/Nixon debate, the first manned space flight, WNET New York's acclaimed Brain series, the wonderfully quirky Great American Dream Machine, and many more, has died of a heart attack at his home in Northport, N.Y., according to a WNET spokeswoman.

Samath retired in 1996 after a 50-year career in the TV business that took him from game show Beat the Clock to trying to beat the news competition to a cerebral series looking at what made humans tick.

After graduating from Syracuse University, Sameth parlayed a job as page at the old DuMont TV network into directing for shows including drama anthology The U.S. Steel Hour, games Stop the Music and Clock, and The Walter Winchell Show.

By the time the first American was launched into space in 1961, Samath was directing ABC news coverage of the event. He also directed one of the seminal Kennedy/Nixon debates that established TV as the new force in presidential politics, and was director of the ABC Evening News when Barabara Walters became the first female evening news co-anchor (with Harry Reasoner). He also worked with Bill Moyers and directed his This Week program.

After a stint as an ABC programming executive (The Jimmy Dean Show, for one), he began to divide his time between commercial and noncommercial projects.

His 1970 Great American Dream Machine series for WNET and PBS won an Emmy and numerous fans for its often offbeat look at society. The satirical newsmagazine featured Andy Rooney and Marshall Efron and became something of a cult classic with its mix of sketches, commentary and animation, with Pythonish elements, mixed with Saturday Night Live (Albert Brooks and Chevy Chase both contributed).

But Sameth is probably best known on the public TV side for his Peabody-winning WNET production, The Brain, and sequel, The Mind, plus dozens of PBS music specials on everyone from Mstislav Rostropovich to Benny Goodman, and a 1988 history of Television.

It is the third death in the WNET family in as many weeks. George Page, 71, creator and narrator of WNET's Nature series, died June 28, and veteran PBS producer and station executive Bill Lamb, who headed production of Nature when he was at WNET, died June 17.

Sameth is survived by two sisters, Lois Geldermann and Dorothy Buswell.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6349949

fredfa

07-06-06, 02:53 PM

The Business of TV
Congressmen brush back Comcast in stalemate over Nats

Three ask FCC to block merger if no deal made
By Childs Walker Baltimore Sun Reporter July 6, 2006

Three congressmen have asked the Federal Communications Commission to block Comcast Cable's merger with Adelphia Communications unless Comcast agrees to outside arbitration of its dispute with Orioles owner Peter Angelos over broadcasting Washington Nationals games.

Reps. Jim Moran and Tom Davis of Virginia and Albert Wynn of Maryland have tried to hasten a deal for months and are now hoping to do so by leveraging one of Comcast's most important business transactions. All three represent constituents who have been largely unable to watch the Nationals because of the Angelos-Comcast standoff.

"Requiring the parties to submit to arbitration in this instance would be a first step by the Commission to address the impact of potential restrictions on the availability of regional sports programming by major cable operators," the congressmen wrote in a letter to FCC chairman Kevin Martin.

Comcast officials did not comment specifically on the letter.

"Unlike the Orioles, Comcast has always supported the return of major league baseball to Washington and we have proposed multiple solutions to resolve this issue," said executive vice president David L. Cohen in a statement. "We continue to seek a resolution that protects our customers and Nationals fans to get the Nationals games on TV as quickly as possible."

An FCC spokesman said the agency does not comment on pending reviews.

Nationals games have been unavailable to 1.3 million Comcast customers in Maryland and Virginia since the team started play last season. Major League Baseball granted broadcast rights for the games to the regional Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, which Comcast refuses to carry.

The Orioles own about 90 percent of MASN and the Nationals own the rest. Angelos also pays an annual fee for the right to broadcast Nationals games. Comcast SportsNet sued the Orioles last year, saying the creation of MASN breached the cable company's contract to broadcast the club's games. A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge dismissed that case, but appeals are pending.

Meanwhile, Davis' House Committee on Government Reform held a hearing on the standoff in April. A parade of elected officials urged the sides to reach a rapid agreement for the sake of Nationals fans. But neither Comcast nor MASN has announced any progress in negotiations since.

The full House of Representatives voted to urge the FCC last month to review an MASN complaint that Comcast is using its dominant market position to keep Nationals games off the air.

MASN spokesman Todd Webster said the network welcomed the pressure from Congress.

"The anger over Comcast's anti-competitive behavior has reached a boiling point," he said. "We hope the FCC will stand up for consumers and respect the will of the Congress by ending the Comcast blackout."

MASN has signed distribution deals with other cable providers such as Cox Communications in Northern Virginia, DirecTV, RCN and Verizon.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp.comcast06jul06,1,6488334,print.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines

fredfa

07-06-06, 03:13 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy Rules Seem to Cut Bids for Big Names

By Edward Wyatt The New York Times

LOS ANGELES, July 6 — An effort by the overseers of the primetime Emmy Awards to shake up the nominating system and improve the chances of previously unrecognized actors and shows appears to have worked — in some cases, perhaps too well.

Frequent nominees like Frances Conroy of "Six Feet Under," Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcolm in the Middle" and Martin Sheen of "The West Wing" joined first-time nominees like Charlie Sheen of "Two and a Half Men," Steve Carrell of "The Office" and Kevin James of "The King of Queens" on the list of finalists for the 58th annual primetime Emmys, announced this morning.

But neither of last year's big winners — the castaway mystery "Lost" and the vixenish comedy "Desperate Housewives" — received a nomination for best show awards in their categories, although each received nominations for lesser awards. Many fans of both "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" complained this year that the shows had lost some of the pizzazz that marked their debut seasons.

Instead, the hit dramas "Grey's Anatomy" and "24" led the nominations among the most popular series. "24," the thriller that each season follows Agent Jack Bauer through a single action-packed day, led all series with 12 nominations, while "Grey's Anatomy," a medical drama, followed with 11.

The TNT miniseries "Into the West" led all nominees with 16 nominations, while HBO led all television outlets with 95. Among the broadcast networks, ABC led the way with 64 nominations.

The Emmys will be presented here Aug. 27.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/arts/television/06cnd-emmy.html?ei=5094&en=9cd461bae9fa7d5c&hp=&ex=1152244800&partner=homepage?8dpc&pagewanted=print

fredfa

07-06-06, 03:27 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
The Emmy nominations:

The Strange, the Weird and the Inexplicable
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog

I was really, really hoping I wouldn't have to rant this year about the Emmy nominations.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences changed the rules, having blue ribbon panels pick the final five nominees in the series and top acting categories from 10 (comedies and dramas) and 15 (actors) finalists picked by the Emmy voters. When the list of finalists leaked out, it looked as if some truly worthy series and performers -- Lauren Graham of "Gilmore Girls'', Showtime's "Weeds,'' FX's "Rescue Me'' -- would finally have a shot at a nomination.

But I rant I must.

The nominations announced today are just littered with jaw-dropping omissions (we can start with the dissing of "Lost'' and go from there) and nominations that make almost no sense (where in the hell did the comedy nominations for Kevin James and Stockard Channing come from?).

If the purpose of the Emmy awards is to acknowledge the very best of television, this year's nominees in the top categories don't even come close.

That doesn't mean many of the shows and actors don't deserve their recognition. But the Academy's new procedures didn't work any better than its old rules and the Emmys, once again, won't represent the finest work on TV.

I'll be dissecting the nominations in the top categories today and feel free to weigh in on your views of the nominees.

Best comedy

THE FIELD:
• "Arrested Development'' (Fox, third nomination, right)
• "Curb Your Enthusiasm'' (HBO, fourth nomination)
• "The Office'' (NBC, first nomination)
• "Scrubs'' (NBC, first nomination)
• "Two And A Half Men'' (CBS, first nomination)

THE TAKE:

This group of nominees almost looks OK -- until you get to what was left out.

"Arrested Development'' and "The Office'' rightly deserve the recognition. I have never been a big fan of "Curb'' -- although I admire its audacity -- but even its fans admit last season wasn't its strongest. Given how it's been treated by NBC over the years, it's nice to see the underappreciated "Scrubs'' get some love but it sticks out like a sore thumb in this field because it failed to get any other nominations -- nothing, zippo, nada.

As for "Two And A Half Men,'' it is, at best, a servicable traditional sitcom and simply doesn't belong.

Left out were TV's two best new comedies: NBC's "My Name Is Earl'' and Showtime's "Weeds'' plus HBO's "Entourage,'' which had a fine year. I would have put any of those shows on my ballot ahead of "Two And A Half,'' "Curb'' and even "Scrubs.''

I can sort of understand why "Weeds'' may not have made the cut since it wasn't seen by very many people and didn't have a wealth of buzz. But leaving out "Earl'' and "Entourage''? What was that blue ribbon panel drinking?

Best drama
THE FIELD:
• "Grey's Anatomy'' (ABC, first nomination, right)
• "House'' (Fox, first nomination)
• "The Sopranos'' (HBO, sixth nomination)
• "24'' (Fox, fifth nomination)
• "The West Wing'' (NBC, seventh nomination)

THE TAKE:

"Grey's Anatomy'' and "24'' both had terrific years and are very worthy candidates.

There are those who have issues with this past season of "The Sopranos,'' but even when it's not at its very best, it is still one of the best two or three series on TV. I wouldn't have put "House'' in the top five dramas of the year -- I would have replaced it with FX's sharper "Rescue Me'' -- but it comes close enough that I'm not going to go all rabid about its nod.

It's the exclusion of "Lost,'' one of TV's best series, that pulls my chain.

There's no question the show had its slow patches this year and is in danger of getting too caught up in its own mythology. But it is still compelling, innovative television with a cultural reach far beyond that of most series.

To give a nomination to "The West Wing'' -- a show I admire for going out with style and intelligence last season but not one that would make my top 5 drama list or even my top 10 list -- while leaving out "Lost'' is completely wrong-headed.

Best actress in a drama

THE FIELD:
• Frances Conroy ("Six Feet Under,'' HBO, fourth nomination)
• Geena Davis ("Commander In Chief,'' ABC, first nomination, right)
• Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, third nomination)
• Allison Janney ("The West Wing,'' NBC, sixth nomination)
• Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer,'' TNT, first nomination)

THE TAKE:

The biggest surprise here is that Edie Falco -- Carmela Soprano on "The Sopranos'' -- didn't get a nod even though she had a superb season. Also a head-scratcher: the lack of love for Ellen Pompeo while her show, "Grey's Anatomy,'' piled up a bunch of nomination. And if the Academy was looking for fresh blood, what about Kristen Bell on "Veronica Mars.''

That said, all of the nominated actresses are certainly worthy -- especially Davis (who managed to do fine work while her show was crumbling around her) and Janney (who pulled off some excellent episodes even though her character faded into the background for much of the "West Wing'' season.)

Sedgwick is a real gem, Conroy transcended the often shaky writing on "Six Feet'' and Hargitay has a compelling presence on "SVU.''
But leaving out Falco? You gotta be kiddin'.

Best actor in a drama

THE FIELD:
• Peter Krause ("Six Feet Under,'' HBO, third nomination)
• Denis Leary ("Rescue Me,'' FX, first acting nomination,right)
• Christopher Meloni ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NBC, first nomination)
• Martin Sheen ("The West Wing,'' NBC, sixth nomination for the role)
• Kiefer Sutherland ("24,'' Fox, fifth acting nomination)

THE TAKE

In baseball, two of five ain't bad. In the Emmys, that's a lousy batting average.

Sutherland and Leary deserved their nominations and Leary's was a particularly pleasant surprise given the darkness of his role.

But the others? What was this panel thinking?

Sheen deserved Emmys for his role as President Bartlet but, this past season, he was largely MIA as "West Wing'' was dominated by Jimmy Smits as Matt Santos and Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick. Krause and Meloni are solid actors but their work doesn't match up with that of those who were left out.

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano and Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House are two of the powerhouse performances in TV history and the actors were at the top of their game this past season. Leaving them out is a bit like leaving Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron or Sandy Koufax out of baseball's All-Star Game at the height of their careers.

A step down from Gandolfini and Laurie -- but still above three of the five nominees -- were such actors as Michael Chiklis on FX's "The Shield'' and Patrick Dempsey, Dr. McDreamy on "Grey's Anatomy.''

The Academy panel didn't even come close to getting it right with these nominees.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html

VisionOn

07-06-06, 03:50 PM

Another one that bothers me is Martin Sheen. If they want to give awards for actors and shows that have been canceled and/or after having had long runs, then they should create a category for it. There is no way Sheen even compiled enough screen time to even consider him for the nomination. He was in far less than half of the episodes and of those he was probably on screen less than 10% of the time, and yet they snub Laurie???

I'm certain just like the Oscars, Sheen is a sympathy/honorary vote. It's Martin Sheen, it was the final season of a critically acclaimed show - instant nod.

House I could see being bumped from best drama because House is basically the Hugh Laurie show. But for that fact alone Laurie shold have been in that list. Laurie is the show. The rest of the cast might be decent, but the whole thing literally revolves around him.

keenan

07-06-06, 04:22 PM

I can't wait to see Tim Goodman's take on the Emmy noms... :p

grittree

07-06-06, 04:30 PM

Disaster ahead alert!

ABC HAS HELD DISCUSSIONS ON the use of technology that would disable the fast-forward button on DVRs, according to ABC President of Advertising Sales Mike Shaw, with the primary goal to allow TV commercials to run as intended.

"I would love it if the MSOs, during the deployment of the new DVRs they're putting out there, would disable the fast-forward [button]," Shaw said.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=45264

keenan

07-06-06, 04:43 PM

That's fine with me, I'll just Netflix ABC shows if they do that. Especially ABC with their added 2 breaks per hour more than the other networks.

Or let me buy a subscription to the network that would leave out the commercials.

archiguy

07-06-06, 05:04 PM

ABC HAS HELD DISCUSSIONS ON the use of technology that would disable the fast-forward button on DVRs, according to ABC President of Advertising Sales Mike Shaw, with the primary goal to allow TV commercials to run as intended.

"I would love it if the MSOs, during the deployment of the new DVRs they're putting out there, would disable the fast-forward [button]," Shaw said.

Well, in that case, they'll have to pry my leased SA8300HD-DVR out of my cold, dead fingers! :mad:

The MSO's wouldn't actually do that would they? I wouldn't think the networks would have that kind of leverage over them, and it would be blatantly anti-consumer. Especially now that there are so many DVR's out there in service and people have gotten accustomed to that feature.

Actually, keenan's got a pretty good idea there. But if you're already paying a cable service for retransmission of OTA signals, then how many people would accept another charge on top of that for commercial-free commercial television?

fredfa

07-06-06, 05:18 PM

I can't wait to see Tim Goodman's take on the Emmy noms... :p

Your wish is my command, Jim.
Here is Tim's Emmy Commentary (so far at least) in its entirety:

Emmy Awards Notebook
The Emmy nominations:

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

Unacceptable.

The Emmy nominations.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

RussTC3

07-06-06, 05:22 PM

Not happy that Hugh Laurie got snubbed, all the other major stuff (no nods for BSG, Lost or Desperate Housewives) I'm perfectly content with.

There was simply a letdown in quality in all three shows for the last season.

Edit: I just noticed that Edie Falco didn't get nominatd. That's another big mistake.

So other than those two, I guess I'm okay with the rest.

fredfa

07-06-06, 05:30 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
58th Emmy noms add new blood, pass over past faves

By Cynthia Littleton The Hollywood Reporter July 07, 2006

Emmy voters have gone deep into the uninitiated this year. With new rules governing the balloting process, nominations for the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards were as notable for the names and titles left out as it was for all the new blood that made it onto the list this time around.

The surprises included a comedy series nom for CBS' "Two and a Half Men" plus noms for stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer and a lead comedy actor nom for Kevin James of CBS' long-running "The King of Queens."

Another CBS comedy star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, earned a lead comedy actress mention for her midseason entry "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Being canceled wasn't a bad thing for Fox's "Arrested Development," which picked up its third straight bid for comedy series. Stockard Channing earned a nom for her canceled CBS comedy "Out of Practice." Geena Davis did not win re-election to a second season on ABC's "Commander in Chief" but she did make the cut for a lead drama actress bid.

Notably absent from this year's list was ABC's "Lost," last year's winner for drama series, and "Desperate Housewives" in the comedy series category. Both of last year's lead drama actor and actress winners, James Spader of ABC's "Boston Legal" and Patricia Arquette of NBC's "Medium," were left out of the running this year.

HBO racked up the most nominations of any network, as usual, with a total of 95, including a best drama bid for "The Sopranos" and comedy series for "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but newer shows like "Entourage," "Rome" and "Big Love" failed to crack the top comedy and drama series categories. Nor did "Sopranos" stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, both past winners for their work on the mob drama.

But Lisa Kudrow lived up to the title of her short-lived HBO series with a lead comedy actress nom for "The Comeback." And HBO's "Six Feet Under" may have been gone for many months since its series finale in August but Emmy voters didn't forget stars Peter Krause and Frances Conroy for top drama acting bids.

TNT's "Into the West" proved irresistible to Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members, which showered the Steven Spielberg-produced sweeping Western miniseries with a total of 16 noms, most of them in craft and technical categories and a bid in the top miniseries category.

Fox Broadcasting's "24" was the most-nominated series with a dozen mentions, which marked the show's largest nominations haul since its premiere in 2001. Fox also earned a drama series bid for "House," marking the first time the network has had two shows competing for best drama in the same year.

ABC's red-hot medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" had a good showing with 11 bids, including drama series and supporting actor mentions for Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson.

NBC's now-departed veteran and Emmy fave "Will & Grace" was the most-nominated comedy series with a total of 10 noms, including acting bids for Debra Messing, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes but it was denied a last waltz as a nominee for comedy series.

Another dearly departed NBC Emmy fave, "The West Wing," made it an unbroken streak of seven consecutive nominations (and four straight wins from 2000-2003) in the top drama series category, plus acting mentions for Martin Sheen, Allison Janney and Alan Alda.

Joining "Two and a Half Men," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Arrested Development" in the comedy series heat are NBC's "The Office" and a return to the nominees circle for NBC's "Scrubs." In the reality-competition footrace, CBS' reigning king "The Amazing Race" earned its fourth consecutive nom, as did the network's "Survivor" and Fox's "American Idol." Joining them in the ultimate elimination style competition are ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and Bravo's "Project Runway."

Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" cracked the variety, music or comedy series category in its first year of eligibility, with star Stephen Colbert also earning a performer bid in the category of individual performance in variety or music program field.

Vying against "Colbert" for the series trophy are Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" and CBS' "The Late Show With David Letterman," whose host also earned a performer nod in the individual performance field.

Two telefilms dealing with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, A&E's "Flight 93" and Discovery Channel's "The Flight That Fought Back," were recognized with nominations for made-for-TV movie.

Three HBO titles rounded out the category: "Mrs. Harris," "The Girl in the Cafe" and "Yesterday." On the miniseries front, "Into the West's" competitors are HBO's "Elizabeth I," PBS' "Bleak House" and Showtime's "Sleeper Cell."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002800830

Marcus Carr

07-06-06, 05:50 PM

fredfa

07-06-06, 06:13 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmys will be awarded Aug. 27

By Gary Levin USA Today July 6, 2007

Actors in departed series won plenty of attention from Emmy voters as nominees for the 58th annual Emmy Awards were announced this morning.

But while ABC's Grey's Anatomy got its first best-drama nomination, network stablemates Lost — which won last year for its freshman season — and Desperate Housewives were shut out of best series and top acting categories.

Grey's will compete for best-drama honors against House, HBO's The Sopranos, Fox's 24 and NBC's The West Wing, which ended its run in May. For best comedy, Fox's critically acclaimed but canceled Arrested Development — a two-time winner — squares off against NBC's Scrubs and newcomer The Office, CBS' Two and a Half Men and HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

24 led series nominees with 12 honors, while TNT miniseries Into the West had 16.

Among exiting-series stars, Six Feet Under's Peter Krause and Frances Conroy joined Commander in Chief's Geena Davis, The West Wing's Martin Sheen and Allison Janney, Out of Practice's Stockard Channing, The Comeback's Lisa Kudrow, Will & Grace's Debra Messing and Malcolm in the Middle's Jane Kaczmarek in top acting categories. (Of those, Commander, Comeback and Out of Practice lasted one season or less.)

But the mostly jobless performers were joined by some first-timers: Seinfeld veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who presented the nominees with Brad Garrett, is a best comedy actress contender for CBS' midseason entry The New Adventures of Old Christine; and Kevin James, star of the network's The King of Queens — entering its ninth season — got his first Emmy nomination and will compete with first-timer Steve Carell, star of NBC's The Office.

First-time cable nominees included Denis Leary, star and co-creator of FX's firefighter drama Rescue Me, and Kyra Sedgwick of TNT's The Closer.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences added a new step this year that could have made it easier for lesser-known performers to triumph. After an initial list of 10 to 15 nominees was voted by members, new "blue-ribbon panels" who watch submitted episodes culled the lists to the typical five nominees in each category.

Among other categories, Bleak House, Elizabeth I, Into the West and Sleeper Cell will vie for best miniseries; and American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Project Runway and Survivor will battle multiple Emmy winner The Amazing Race for best reality competition program.

In supporting actor categories, Grey's Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson both received nominations, but the only acting nods mustered by Housewives was for departed supporting actress Alfre Woodard and for Lost, guest actor Henry Ian Cusick, who plays mysterious hatch-dweller Desmond.

Martin Sheen was nominated twice, for his starring role on The West Wing and his guest role on son Charlie's CBS comedy Two and a Half Men.

Among newly unemployed supporting actors, Huff's Oliver Platt and Blythe Danner, West Wing's Alan Alda, Arrested's Will Arnet, Malcolm's Bryan Cranston and Will's Sean Hayes and Megan Mulally were named contenders.

The Emmys will be awarded Aug. 27 on NBC.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/televisionawards/emmys/2006

fredfa

07-06-06, 06:14 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy Snubs

USA Today critic Robert Bianco's top snubs in the Emmy nominations announced Thursday:

Lost
My Name is Earl
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives
Lauren Graham, Gilmore Girls
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Hugh Laurie, House
Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy
Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars
Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
Ricky Gervais, Extras
Jason Lee, My Name is Earl
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives
Jorge Garcia, Lost
T.R. Knight, Grey's Anatomy
Isaiah Washington, Grey's Anatomy
Mary Lynn Rajskub, 24

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/televisionawards/emmys/2006-07-06-emmy-nominations_x.htm

keenan

07-06-06, 06:16 PM

Your wish is my command, Jim.
Here is Tim's Emmy Commentary (so far at least) in its entirety:

Emmy Awards Notebook
The Emmy nominations:

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

Unacceptable.

The Emmy nominations.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24
I love it, sums it up in one word.. :D :D

keenan

07-06-06, 06:18 PM

keenan

07-06-06, 06:21 PM

fredfa

07-06-06, 06:23 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy nominees share their thoughts

USA Today reporters Donna Freydkin, Will Keck, Bill Keveney and Ann Oldenburg are tracking the Emmy nominees to get reaction throughout the day. We'll update this page as we make contact with various nominees.

Shonda Rimes, Creator, Grey's Anatomy

The Grey's Anatomy mastermind had houseguests for the 4th of July holiday week: her sisters Delorse and Sandie and their kids. Rhimes and her sisters got up and watched the Emmy nominations and drank coffee.

When the Grey's nomination for outstanding drama series was announced, Rhimes says, "There was a lot of screaming." But she describes her own reaction as more stunned than surprised. "I never even think about these things in terms of that. It stills stuns me that we have a show on the air."

Rimes praised the effects of the new voting system. "They were interesting and really reflect the new process. I was shocked by Lost not being nominated for best drama." She adds, "I was excited for (Grey's stars) Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson. And Kate Burton, Kyle Chandler and Christina Ricci."

But she says that the Super Bowl episode — featuring Chandler and Ricci in guest appearances and including a bomb that exploded in an operating room — won't mean more bomb episodes.

But the adulation won't affect where Meredith and her surgical sidekicks are heading. "We were already quite well into the thick of writing Season 3," Rimes tells USA TODAY. The show's on the same trajectory. It doesn't change what I'm going to write." In fact, she says the writers are already back at work, while the show goes back into production next week.

That said, the Emmy nominations are inspiring. "It's really, really wonderful to be recognized."

Is a champagne toast in order? "I don't know, but I think we have to celebrate," Rimes says. "If there's champagne to be ordered, I'm buying!"

Jean Smart

Smart, who received a nod for her supporting role on 24, was fast asleep when the Emmy nominations were announced. "My manager called me and woke me up and said, 'Good news!' I said, 'Oh that's wonderful!' And my husband, who I thought was asleep, said, 'I told you so.'?"

Why didn't she set her alarm? "I was up till 2 a.m. playing Scrabble with my husband," says Smart, who's been enjoying a mini-family reunion with her in-laws near Santa Barbara.

Playing first lady Martha Logan, she says, was "the most wonderful time. Everything about the experience was what you'd hope. Great people. Great show. Great character. Great leading men."

Although there were the usual deaths and torture scenes, Smart's character lived to see the end of the season.

"I was glad I survived it. I know that they liked the character and want to try to resolve it a little bit more. They're going to try to work us in a little bit later. We might be there next season for few hours."

As for today, she's not sure how she'll celebrate. "I don't know. I just dressed," she says, yawning. "I haven't gone downtsairs yet. I'm going to walk on the beach and read a magazine. Sounds like heaven."

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

The woman who broke the so-called Seinfeld curse has one word to describe how she feels at the moment: "Fabulous!"

Louis-Dreyfus, who won an Emmy in 1996 for her role as brassy Elaine, is nominated for playing a divorcée in CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine. "It's very meaningful to me," she says of the recognition. "It's so exciting to be in this category, lead actress, because I was in the supporting actress category before."

Plus, says Louis-Dreyfus, "It's a great nod for our show and every little bit helps. I'm hoping this secures us for a nice long healthy run."

Ahead for Christine is "more horrible humiliation and life not working out as it should," says Louis-Dreyfus.

She just returned home after announcing the nominations and doing a round of interviews. "I'm boiling some eggs right now because I haven't eaten anything and I'm starving," she says.

Next up for Louis-Dreyfus is finding the perfect red-carpet dress. "Do you have any ideas?" she asks.

Upon being told that she'll most likely be showered with designer gowns, Louis-Dreyfus laughs: "That would be awfully nice!"

Gregory Itzin

Was the 24 prez surprised about his supporting actor nomination? "Yes, in the sense that anything can happen. For my category, 178 people were nominated. So just to end up being one of five is obviously a big surprise and very gratifying. But in another way, I wasn't surprised because the show is so damn good, it should get recognized. I'm not just saying that because I'm on it. I watch other shows. I watch this show. It's the show that everybody sits on the edge of their seat for."

Itzin is also happy for his on-screen spouse, Jean Smart, who plays first lady Martha Logan. "I think it would have been awful if only one of us had, that's for sure," he says. "It's amazing. It's wonderful. I think we are two sides of the same whole, so it makes sense in that way. I'm glad for Kiefer, too, and the show, too, and my favorite director in the world, Jon Cassar," for their nominations.

What is it about President Logan that gets viewers' blood pumping? "I think the simple answer is the layers of this guy, the fact he started out being a guy who was very complicated, and everybody said, 'Get a grip,' and then he turned out to be a bad guy but you could see the roots of all of what he was. People were fascinated by Jack Bauer having a good villain to play opposite (of), and also because it's the President of the United States. This is a bad president, so I think people were fascinated to see where this would go next."

But he wasn't always enthralled with the idea of playing evil. "At first it was slightly depressing, because I was creating a character I thought of was a hero even if he was a flawed hero. And then to find out he wasn't the hero. I went through a period of adjustment around that, then came to grips with it and then really liked it."

Will President Logan, who was arrested at the end of last season, be back? "They tell me that I will be back. They won't — can't — tell me for how much and for how long and when. I know you'll have President Logan to kick around a little bit."

Charlie Sheen

"What a great way to start the day," exclaimed the Two and a Half Men star in a statement. Sheen, who's nominated in the comedic lead actor race, went on to say "I'm extremely happy for all of the nominations our show received today. Everyone worked really hard to achieve this kind of recognition. I'm proud to be a part of it."

David Shore, Producer, House

"I was actually shocked that we got nominated, because there are so many good shows on TV," admits the man behind the hit medical drama. "I'm addicted to 24 and Sopranos."

But the good news was tempered by the absence of star Hugh Laurie from the lead actor race. "I was very surprised by that. It was a little up and down this morning. I would have been less surprised if Hugh had received the nomination and the show had not."

But there is a silver lining for Laurie. "We've got to give Hugh a producer credit so he can get a trophy," says Shore. "He is House. Literally. A lot of the attention we've gotten over the couple years has been focused on him and rightfully so."

But even as the House cast and crew pause to celebrate last year's work, it's time to get ready for the third season. "We started a week ago," Shore notes. "We're going to pick up where we ended with the physical and psychological ramifictions of his shooting. He is going to look to find change but he will ultimately fail, which is the reality of the human condition. There's very rarely a dramatic turning over a new leaf. And we don't want him to change. We like who he is. We'll also be exploring the fallout from his drug addiciton — he's going to be getting into a lot of trouble over that."

Blythe Danner

Danner sounds a little overwhelmed by her two nominations, for playing Will Truman's mother on NBC's Will & Grace and Izzy Huffstodt on Showtime's Huff.

"I'm still floating from last year! Three noms – that was wild! It was a great way to celebrate my 40th year in the business," she says. Last year, her son Jake called her at the "crack of dawn" with the news. This year, she heard the news from Showtime's publicist and was stunned.

"Having been on two shows that were unfortunately finished, I thought that was it. You get to be my age and (you appreciate) every good thing that happens." Danner plans on celebrating with her grandchildren Apple, 2, and Moses, three months, from daughter Gwyneth Paltrow. Moses, says the proud grandma, "is phenomenal. I'm having the time of my life. He's gnawing on my knuckle these days. It's wonderful. I feel really pleased and thankful."

Denis Leary

"I look at Kevin James, who's a friend of mine and made me laugh, and it took him almost a decade (eight years) to reach this (nomination)," says Denis Leary (nominated for FX's Rescue Me). "I guess I should count my blessings."

Was he surprised? "Nothing's ever guaranteed. There are so many great hourlong dramas out there, you can't count on anything."

Did the change in the nominating process, which created new judging panels, help a lesser-known series? "It must have helped, because I got nominated this year. It's easy for me to say it's fair, because I got nominated. It does feel like they spread it around a little more. My category and the show's were difficult categories now because of the wealth of good work on television."

Leary heard the news of his nomination listening to the radio on his way to work on Rescue Me's ninth and 10th episodes. The series is filmed in New York.

Asked about the show's controversial scene at the end of this season's fourth episode (which aired June 18) — his character, Tommy Gavin, forced himself on his ex-wife — Leary says, "We knew it was a scene that was going to cause controversy, (but) people reacted to it as if it was spousal rape, and they failed to see that the scene takes place between two characters who have a long history together. If they watched it in the context of the show, there's no way they can see it as rape. People who have a kneejerk reaction to stuff drive me crazy as a writer and even more as an actor."

Chandra Wilson

Wilson, who earned a supporting actress nomination for her role as Dr. Bailey on ABC's hit Grey's Anatomy, is in Milan, Italy, promoting the show. She was in the middle of press interviews when she got the news.

"My head is spinning! I feel like I have a hangover!" she laughs. She heard about the nomination from her manager during a routine phone call. Fellow Grey's stars T.R. Knight, Kate Walsh, Justin Chambers, Ellen Pompeo and James Pickens are in Italy with her, and they spread the news over their respective BlackBerries.

Wilson plans on celebrating later tonight with her fellow cast members. "We heard there's a cool jazz club here in town, so we'll probably do that," she says. "We're just so excited for the show. It's just really nice to see good things happen for the show."

Craig Ferguson

Feguson, nominated for outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program, didn't expect the nomination: "I'm amazed, really amazed. I actually had forgotten the nominations were out this morning. I got a phone call at at 6 a.m. I was asleep and my son is still asleep. I'm sure he'll be completely underwhelmed when I tell him. The 5-year-olds, the kindergarten set, aren't big Emmy watchers."

On being nominated along with late-night star David Letterman: "It's great to be on with David, because he's my boss. ...When I got the job, I was honored to be associated with David. ...It just is great for me. To be put in the same category is nice."

On his reaction: "The second thing that came that came to me after the amazement and gratitude about getting the nomination was, 'Yes, now I've got something to talk about in the monologue tonight,' which is always the pressure every day."

Kyra Sedgwick

Sedgwick, nominated for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for The Closer, called on her way to The Closer set in Los Angeles, where she had an 8 a.m. call time:

"I feel great. It's fantastic, just amazing. I feel like everyone (on the show) worked so hard. I'm just so grateful that my work is being acknowledged and the show's being acknowledged ... I love my character so much. I think she's such a great woman to have out there. I'm just so pleased people like her. All this award stuff is icing on the cake."

"I've done this for a long time. It's the first time I'm getting this kind of recognition."

She didn't see the nomination on TV: "I was sleeping and the phone rang. Kevin (husband Kevin Bacon) said, 'Well, I guess that must be yes,' and I said, 'Oh, no, we don't know that yet' ... Ever the cynic," she says. When her publicist told her of the nomination, she said. " 'That's great. That's so great. Thank you very much.' Now, let me see if I can go back to sleep ... I hope Kevin's gone back to sleep."

As to what she thinks voters liked about her character: "She's a very complex, multifaceted character. You never know what to expect of her ... She's a bundle of contradictions. ... I feel like she's written well. People like that she's funny. They like that she's powerful. They like that she's a real person."

As for celebrating, she says work comes first: "In a way, it's really good. It doesn't give you any time to rest on your laurels. I'll probably celebrate over the weekend, but there might be a little champagne at work this afternoon or this evening" on the set.

Candice Bergen

Bergen, nominated for supporting actress in a drama series for her portrayal of touch lawyer Shirley Schmidt on ABC's Boston Legal, is in Long Island with her two dogs. "I'd just gotten back from taking the dogs to the beach and was feeding the dogs and (my publicist) called. I'd sort of forgotten by that point but she told me. I was thrilled and thrilled for the show. I thought the show itself should have been nominated."

She plans on celebrating her nomination by counting calories. "I'm going to celebrate by depriving myself of dessert for the first time in a long time, so I can try to fit into some kind of outfit by the time the end of August rolls around," said Bergen.

Any ideas for an Emmy outfit? "A caftan is looking pretty good right about now!" laughed the five-time Emmy winner for Murphy Brown (1988-1998).

And because Bergen goes back to work in a week, she's relishing the rest of her time off. "We only get two months of hiatus, so I'd like to stay home with my husband (real estate developer Marshall Rose) and the dogs," she said.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/televisionawards/emmys/2006-07-06-emmy-reaction_x.htm

keenan

07-06-06, 06:25 PM

Bye, ABC. Nice knowing you.
That was my first inclination as well, but realistically, I would miss some of the shows, some which are very good TV. Although, I would not watch them if I couldn't skip the commercials, Grey's Anatomy and Housewives are so hideously burdened with some many commercial breaks I don't know how anyone watches them live anyway.

fredfa

07-06-06, 06:26 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy nominees share their thoughts II

USA Today reporters Donna Freydkin, Will Keck, Bill Keveney and Ann Oldenburg are tracking the Emmy nominees to get reaction throughout the day. We'll update this page as we make contact with various nominees.

Jon Cryer

Between the Two and a Half Men, they've now got two Emmy nominations. Cryer picked up a supporting actor nod while co-star Charlie Sheen was nominated for his lead role.

So what took those Emmy voters so long?

"I felt like the show was great this year," Cryer says. "I guess some shows take a while to resonate with Emmy voters, like Everybody Loves Raymond took a while. But we just sort of wrote it off. We felt like we'd done two good seasons and if they didn't like us then, why would they like us now? So I tried not to think about this it this year."

But the nonchalant approach didn't totally work. "I really wanted not to care about this, but (Wednesday) night, I got all these calls from people. The president of (producing studio) Warner Bros. called to say, 'Hey, good luck tomorrow.' Agents and managers, by the third (call), I said, 'OK, you people don't seem to understand that I don't want to think about it."

Between his nerves and overeager sprinkler system, Cryer was already padding around the house in his underwear when the nominations went out at 5:30 a.m. PT.

"I wanted to be the cool actor who sleeps through the whole thing, but sadly, that was not me. They announced everything but supporting actor and actress. I wondered, 'Did I hear it and just go into denial?' Turns out they hadn't mentioned it. I was happy about Charlie and the show getting nominated, so it was hard to be too discombobulated about it. (Later), I got a call from my publicist. Still in my underwear."

So, who decides who's a lead actor and who's a supporting player? "It's a weird area," Cryer says of the politics involved in submitting shows for consideration. "We didn't know what to do. It's Charlie's show, clearly, but at the same time, I'm a bigger part than most supporting parts."

He has one other working theory. "Charlie is the lead on the show. His real name is Charlie, and they call him Charlie (on the show). My real name is Jon. They call me Alan. I think that's the difference between us."

As far as picking a category,

Will Arnett

Give it up for Gob! Will Arnett's been tapped as a supporting actor in a comedy for his Arrested Development alter ego.

But unlike his colleages in L.A., Arnett was already up and at 'em when the good news came along. We found him in Stockholm Sweden, where he's attending a wedding with his wife, Saturday Night Live player Amy Poehler.

"I knew the nominations were coming out, so whenever that happens, I always like to fly to Sweden, the land of the midnight sun. I like to elongate this day," he quips.

But Arnett had to flount FAA regulations to learn about his nomination. "We had just landed (in Stockholm). They came over the P.A. and said, 'Please don't turn on your phones until we get to the gate.' I thought that's for everybody else. I can turn my (phone/Blackberry) on. All of a sudden, my pocket started buzzing. I saw I had like 13 messages. I thought, 'Oh my God, France won the World Cup,' but then I realized that's not till Sunday. I told everybody to call me if France wins.

Turns out, those messages weren't about soccer. "The first e-mail I opened said, 'You got nominated for an Emmy.' I looked at it and I was so stunned I put my phone back in my pocket immediately. I was just kind of out of sorts."

Arnett admits the adulation for both him and the already-cancelled Arrested Development, which was nominated in the comedy series field, is bittersweet.

"I'm so happy for (creator) Mitch Hurwitz. He's such an incredible writer and inventive and an amzazing person. Everybody else in the show, it's just an amazing group of people to work with. For me, it's the role of a lifetime. At this point, six months after the show was last on the air, to have this great news reminds me of what an amazing experience we all had. It's really rare."

Lisa Kudrow

The Comeback star has been battling "a flu thing" and had forgotten it was Emmy nomination day. "A little defense mechanism," she admits.

In bed dozing, she heard the phone ringing, which was dutifully answered by her husband. "He didn't want to wake me up." After the third call, Kudrow asked what was going on. Then he delivered the news: she'd earned a lead actress Emmy nomination for her work as Valerie Cherish in 13 episodes of the HBO comedy.

Her reaction?

"I smiled. And fell asleep."

Kudrow says The Comeback's status is still up in the air. "Depending on what week it is, I hear another thing. I'm not going to say anything about it. It would be too disapopinting. There's always the possibility of something," she notes wistfully, before adding,"I don't feel done with this character."

Right now, she's just focusing on the nomination.

"It was kind of a relief. Okay. Good. We thought we did a good job. Now we're happy for the validation. We're over the moon!"

Tony Shalhoub

Award show nomination calls are nothing new for Shalhoub, who's picked up two Emmys for playing Adrian Monk, USA's 'defective detective.' Still, that does little to calm his nerves.

"I've had it both ways. There have been mornings when I've been woken up and mornings when I haven't. This morning, I wasn't. I woke up on my own thinking the worst and, of course, all my demons came to the surface. And strangely enough, about an hour and a half later than normal, my manager did call. So I had to uncurse all the people I had cursed. I didn't realize how powerful and intact my demons are these days."

What does this nomination mean? "When you're in a series for a number of years, and we're now into fifth season, you're always hoping you can keep it on track, especially with a show like Monk, which tends to be a little more elusive. You sometimes tend to second-guess yourself and you want to make sure you're still in the groove. So this is really gratifying to know. I'm gratified, too, that Laurie Metcalf got a nomination in the guest-actor category for our show. She just really delivered."

The nominations for Monk couldn't come at a better time — the show kicks off its fifth season Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The premiere reunites Shalhoub with his Big Night co-star, Stanley Tucci.

"Hopefully, we'll be talking about that next year. I've been asking him for four years to be on the show. I was throwing different scripts at him and seeing which one he would bite on."

Shalhoub doesn't have much time to rest on his laurels, however. "I'm working on an independent film. I'm co-producing and acting in it. It's called American East. It's like a Do the Right Thing, but set in the Arab-American community in Los Angeles in (the present) day. We're really proud of it. It's a controversial story."

Geena Davis

The outgoing fictional Commander in Chief is jazzed about her dramatic actress nod. "If you're going to be woken up first thing in the morning, it's fantastic to have it be such good news," Davis exults. "It was funny because for some reason I had it in my head (that nominations would come out Friday), so I was sure that somebody dialed the wrong number that early in the morning. And it wasn't. It was good news."

While she admits disappointment at ABC's choice not to renew Commander, Davis appreciates knowing that "people seem to have a tremendous affection and loyalty for the show. (The scheduling) got a little confusing for folks – When is it on? What night is it on? – but this is fantastic support and encouragement."

But she saysCommander may live on in the form of a movie. "I'm thrilled that it looks like I'll get another chance to play Mackenzie Allen," she says. "And who knows? Maybe we'll end up making more episodes after that. Certainly, we're getting some good affirmation of people's fondness for the show."

Curiously, the executive wing was well represented in this year's nominations. Davis was one of three POTUS players to be recognized; The West Wing's Martin Sheen and 24's Gregory Itzin also received nods.

That thought worries Davis a little, as it might prompt the press to do more "if they ran against each other" stories. "They used to do that every once in a while with Martin Sheen and myself," she recalls.

Despite having won an Oscar, Davis says getting an Emmy nomination is a thrill. "I have tremendous feeling and affection for this character. It's really wonderful. (A nomination) is not something you expect or need; just the joy of playing a really great character is enough. That's the case with the Oscar as well. That was very early in my career and nothing I expected, but what a fabulous recognition that maybe you're doing something right. This is the same thing."

William Shatner

How many noms does this make? "Oh, who counts," the Boston Legal cut-up jokes. "Four!"

And how many wins? "Two, but there's always room for one more."

Where are his Emmys? "We have an interior waterfall it's true; and they're underwater being splashed even as we speak. They're seriously by this little waterfall with a spotlight."

But isn't he worried they might rust? "The Academy wouldn't give me something that would rust, would they? I'm oxidizing fast enough as it is."

Who spilled the beans to Shatner? "I have a source at ABC ... more than a secret source, it's like spring water. Actually, somebody called. It was a little too early for me. I've just come in from out of town. When the phone rang' I thought, 'Oh boy. It's either I did or I didn't.' One of those dreadful moments."

Shatner confirms that stars do get called even when they don't make the cut. "They leave you hanging if they don't call. Actually that happened one year and I thought, 'Oh well, what a shame.' I spent the three hours tossing and turning. When they did finally call, they said, 'Sorry, we didn't want to wake you up.'"

What does he make of his fellow nominees in the dramatic actor race? "Alan Alda (The West Wing) is brilliant and so is Oliver Platt (Huff)."

Shatner credits his easy chemistry with co-nominee Candice Bergen for the show's success. "I guess we deserve it," he jokes. "To be serious, she is really brilliant and makes everything so easy. When two people like us get together it's like old home week."

Shatner wonders if the good news might give him a little more leeway with his bosses. "We start shooting the middle of next week, but I have an important horse show to do. I think now I have a little more weight — in emotional terms, not protein. So maybe I'll lean on them a little more to let me go to this horse show in Lexington."

As for Boston Legal's upcoming season, Shatner makes this bold (if not altogether true) promise: "There's lots of flatulence.You're a shoe-in for an award if you can fart well. I'll at least suggest that."

But seriously folks: " Actually, I have the script in my hand now as I'm driving, so it behooves me not to look," he says.

Shatner is happy with the idea of Matt Damon playing the new young Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek film. "I think its great. The tragedy is that when somebody else is playing you younger, you're really old."

Chris Meloni

The first-time nominee is a little bummed to be doing interviews about his lead actor nomination for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He'd rather be getting a massage back at his vacation home, just outside New York City. "It's killing me because the masseuse is up at the lake house massaging my wife's entire family — and I'm paying for it!" he laughs.

Seriously, though, he's happy to be nominated for playing Detective Elliot Stabler on the gritty NBC crime drama. "The best part of it is the reaction I've gotten from my friends," he says. "It's a moment to celebrate with people who mean something to you."

He's thrilled that his co-star Mariska Hargitay got a nod as well, but hasn't spoken to the new mom yet. "It speaks a lot for our show and our characters," he says.

Meloni hasn't seen baby August yet, but Hargitay "sent me pictures. He looks just like her."

Tonight, he leaving his son Dante, 2, and daughter Sophia, 5, at home and having an "adult night" to celebrate the nomination with his friends.

Barry Manilow

The veteran crooner is in this year's race for individual performance in a variety or music program, thanks to his PBS special, Barry Manilow: Music And Passion. His competition includes talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, Craig Ferguson, David Letterman, and Hugh Jackman for his job as host of The 59th Annual Tony Awards.

"Wow, what a morning," says Manilow. Like many other West Coast nominees, he was asleep when he got the news.

"They do these things at 5:30 and I got awakened by my publicist and two producers Troy Queen and Mark Grove. They were all screaming and yelling."

He says he truly never imagined the nod because the category is so broad.

"That category is kind of weird. It includes these hardworking weekly shows, like David Letterman. So mine, no matter how hard we work, there's no comparison. They're trying to put together a show every night. I didn't think for a moment they would consider me. I'm a grateful guy."

The timing isn't lost on him, however. "You know, I got nominated and won an Emmy 30 years ago. I'm on a roll — every 30 years I get nominated!"

The second time around finds him a wiser man. When he got the first nod, "I was a real young guy, confused. It was all happening so fast. Now 30 years later, I realize how rare it is to be nominated. There's a big word called gratitude. That's what I'm feeling."

Manilow doesn't predict much celebration. There's too much work to be done, he says.

"I'm working on my new album, a tribute to the '60s. I'm right in the middle of recording it. And tonight I go back to work at the Hilton (in Las Vegas). I'm there every night. Music keeps me young and vibrant. I'm not ready stop."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/televisionawards/emmys/2006-07-06-emmy-reaction_x.htm

keenan

07-06-06, 06:33 PM

Well, in that case, they'll have to pry my leased SA8300HD-DVR out of my cold, dead fingers! :mad:

The MSO's wouldn't actually do that would they? I wouldn't think the networks would have that kind of leverage over them, and it would be blatantly anti-consumer. Especially now that there are so many DVR's out there in service and people have gotten accustomed to that feature.

Actually, keenan's got a pretty good idea there. But if you're already paying a cable service for retransmission of OTA signals, then how many people would accept another charge on top of that for commercial-free commercial television?
Obviously the price would have to be palatable, for example, if I could get commercial free streams of the 5 major nets I would have no issue paying, say, $5 a month to the network, maybe more, or who ever provided those feeds to me. It depends on the degree of annoyance and how one values their time.

If commercial skipping is banned, then the best method now would be to wait for the HD-DVD or BD discs and get them from Netflix, cheap as hell, and the quality would be better than any network or station is capable of doing, now or ever.

fredfa

07-06-06, 06:33 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy nominations

To hear The Washington Post TV Columnist Lisa de Moreas comment on the Emmys go here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/audio/2006/07/06/AU2006070600776.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 06:38 PM

Critic’s Notebook
TV hooked on dates

Reality TV dating shows: `Dating Game' to new Playboy TV `Foursome'
By R.D. Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal television writer Thursday, July 06, 2006

In a culture that prizes the speed of the Internet and the informality of flip-flops with a cocktail dress, the old-fashioned date has become too slow, too thoughtful, too tame for TV.

Instead, we're getting the likes of Foursome, which premieres at 9:30 p.m. Saturday on Playboy TV. The channel has called the series ``the most outrageous and uninhibited reality dating show ever conceived.'' But ``dating'' doesn't really describe what is going on.

The show takes four people -- two men and two women -- and has them stay together for 24 hours.

Alcohol is readily available. Challenges and games encourage sexual play. By the end of each episode previewed, some of them have ended up in bed together -- generally with no thought of a relationship after the show has ended. For the men and the women involved, it's about tapping or being tapped.

In other words, it's kind of like Blind Date without the pixeling.

Foursome, after all, is not killing the dating show. It's just driving another nail into a form that has already been hammered by the likes of Blind Date, ElimiDATE and Next.

All those shows, of course, have their roots in The Dating Game, which more than 40 years ago turned dating into a competition: Three bachelors or ``bachelorettes'' vied for a date with a possible mate who could not see them but could pose leading questions. (An earlier show called Blind Date had a similar format, notes TV historian Alex McNeil. But it did not become a cultural touchstone the way Dating Game did.) In a few questions, the show suggested, a match might be found -- although it hinted at the flaw in its process when a chooser finally saw the chosen, and couldn't hide some disappointment.

The next step came in 1983, with Love Connection. Choosing the date was a small part of the show; the accounts of the dates provided the drama, comedy and conflict -- especially when couples failed to hit it off.

Things began to move even faster with syndicated show Blind Date (1999), which sent cameras along with the couples, in order to chronicle every misstep -- and to highlight them with mocking on-screen graphics.

Like Love Connection, Blind Date is at its most entertaining when couples did not click (although there were enough extreme clicks to prompt uncensored versions of the show on DVD). And you could see that many of the dates were deliberately mismatched to encourage disaster.

But the demise of dating was just beginning. Ensuing years brought the likes of Chains of Love (people chained to potential matches), 5th Wheel (dates interrupted by the arrival of other potential dates) and two of the scariest shows out there, syndication's Elimidate and MTV's Next.

On Elimidate, a date-seeker puts four contenders through a series of challenges, dropping a contender after each challenge. (Tightly budgeted challenges have been as basic as a conversation or wrestling in chocolate pudding.) Trash talk among the contestants is encouraged, and a date may be chosen based on appearance, willingness to wrestle in pudding -- or how eagerly an open-mouthed kiss is offered to the chooser.

Next -- one of an array of dating shows MTV has tried -- is even more depressing. Again choosing from a series of contenders, the date-seeker can end an encounter simply by saying ``Next!'' In one case, a contestant didn't even get close enough to shake hands before the fatal word was called out.

This isn't dating, ultimately. It's simple cruelty.

But simplicity is what the shows strive for, and the women in particular toss aside subtler charms in favor of aggressiveness and bold descriptions of their physical attributes; when your fate can be decided in a matter of seconds, you reduce yourself to a product, and your pitch to a commercial.

As a result, real dating -- the carefully planned social engagement with the possibility of romance -- has become a mystery. A show like MTV's Parental Control has certainly argued that young people don't know how to find mates; it has their parents offering up alternatives.

How To Get the Guy, ABC's reality series about the search for love, has four obviously intelligent women being schooled on such matters as not drinking too much, remembering to smile and overlooking the superficial.

Of course, the show has its superficial elements, too, starting with its reducing the women to stereotypes like ``the girl next door'' and ``the party girl.'' But in its focus on old-school dating (with occasional contemporary flourishes like online matchmaking), How To Get feels quaint.

It believes that a match can take time. TV more generally wants a hookup before the first commercial.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/14976168.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

keenan

07-06-06, 06:43 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy nominees share their thoughts II

Geena Davis

While she admits disappointment at ABC's choice not to renew Commander, Davis appreciates knowing that "people seem to have a tremendous affection and loyalty for the show. (The scheduling) got a little confusing for folks – When is it on? What night is it on? – but this is fantastic support and encouragement."
Weird seeing her say this, it's like she really has no clue how bad the show really was.

William Shatner

How many noms does this make? "Oh, who counts," the Boston Legal cut-up jokes. "Four!"

And how many wins? "Two, but there's always room for one more."

Where are his Emmys? "We have an interior waterfall it's true; and they're underwater being splashed even as we speak. They're seriously by this little waterfall with a spotlight."

But isn't he worried they might rust? "The Academy wouldn't give me something that would rust, would they? I'm oxidizing fast enough as it is."

Hilarious!!! :D :D

fredfa

07-06-06, 06:44 PM

OK keenan -- get strapped in......

Emmy Awards Notebook
Unacceptable

The Emmys: The Dumbassification of America
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine” July 6, 2006

Wha?

That's my yearly reaction to the Emmy nominations. They always turn out to prove, as Chuck D said, "the dumbassification of America." Oh, and how Emmy voters regularly attend Short Attention Span Theater while leaving their Memory Meds in the glove compartment. "Will & Grace." 10 nominations. Case closed.

I have a windy and sigh-filled rant in Friday's Chronicle (which will probably be posted online soonish), but before I wrote it this morning, I almost didn't. Part of me thought, well hell, what's the point? It seems every year I rant. And rant. Nothing ever changes. Same as it ever was. But then I remembered there's always fresh injustices to seethe over and I got busy. Also - they pay me to rant. And I do love the paychecks.

When you crank out these Emmy reaction stories on deadline, it's easy to leave out some anger. Invariably I'll peruse the list more thoroughly and think, "Uh, WHY?!" But there are also small bits of justice that deserve more than a line in a story that stinks with anger (sometimes it's hard to shift gears from blinding rage to a gentle "good job.")

So here are some points I didn't get to in the main story:

• It was strange to see "Six Feet Under" get two major category nominations for Peter Krause and Frances Conroy. It seems like that show has been dead and buried for a while now.

• "Monk" is a show my mom would watch if she were still alive. It's cute. But not very good.

• Geena Davis. Really? Why?

• Three of the five women nominated for best actress in a drama series no longer have their shows on the air. Timely! Four of the five women nominated for best actress in a comedy series no longer have their shows on the air. More timely! What are Emmy voters saying here about women working?

• When lead actor in a comedy series was announced, do you think Kevin James called Charlie Sheen and said, "Dude, can you freakin' believe this?" Now, I'm on record as saying Sheen is funny. He really is. He's just not Emmy nomination funny. Especially in a year when Jason Lee and Jason Bateman got jack.

• Jason Lee perhaps called Jason Bateman and said, "Dude, these people are freakin' idiots."

• For the second year in a row, the person who lobbied to get "Huff" more nominations deserves a bonus package. That's an amazing achievement given this: The show sucks. It really does. I liked it for a while in the first season. The second season? Dreadful. And now it's canceled.

• I love "Curb Your Enthusiasm" but last season was average at best and certainly not up to past standards. "Entourage" would have been a better pick. In a perfect world, so would "Extras" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

• Do you think Alfre Woodard got her nomination because Emmy voters felt sorry for the lame ass way her story unfolded? Worst use of a major star on a fading second season TV show. Ever.

• Even though "Thief" didn't make it on FX, Andre Braugher got nominated for outstanding actor in a miniseries or movie. One of my favorite actors and well deserving.

• Tremendous job by "Extras" in landing so many of its guest stars Emmy nominations - Patrick Stewart, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet. I'd almost be willing to dismiss my anger over the ENTIRE Emmy fiasco if Winslet won for her "Extras" appearance which, in my book, might have been the best cameo in a decade.

• Of course, forgiveness isn't easily given when you factor in the glaring and gratuitous, inexcusable - and yes, unacceptable - snubbing of Gandolfini, Falco, Forest Whitaker, Michael Chiklis, Jason Lee, Jason Bateman and Jessica Walter. So if Winslet wins, it'll simply be bittersweet.

• I should get over this already because it proves how shallow and vindictive I am, but Jay Leno got snubbed outright. I find joy in that only because "The Tonight Show" is like a dumbed-down joke for America. The dumbassification of America, indeed.

• Unfortunately, poor Jon Stewart also got snubbed for outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program. Though Stephen Colbert, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson were duly rewarded.

• Stewart and company DID get the nod for outstanding variety, music or comedy series for "The Daily Show." As did "The Colbert Report," "Late Show with David Letterman," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Real Time with Bill Maher." Each of them were also nominated for best writing.

• When you look at the best writing category for a comedy, you might be looking at a collection of shows that should have been nominated for outstanding comedy series as well: "Arrested Development" (which was), "Entourage" (which wasn't), "Extras," (which wasn't), "My Name Is Earl," (which wasn't) and "The Office" (which was). Nothing against "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Scrubs," both series I love dearly, but that's a pretty great starting five right there.

• Now the frustration that sits on top of the anger here is this: When the winners are announced, there's going to be a whole lot more injustice. You just KNOW that Kevin James is going to win and "Two and a Half Men" and other awful things. Makes me wanna holler.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=24&entry_id=6815#readmore

PJO1966

07-06-06, 06:45 PM

Weird seeing her say this, it's like she really has no clue how bad the show really was.

Actually there are quite a few of us who enjoyed the show and are sorry to see it go.

AFH

07-06-06, 06:52 PM

I'm with Tim Goodman. How the hell can you nominate individuals who no longer have shows. I saw Peter Krauss from Six Feet Under nominated and I was like, "Damn". How long has that show been dead? Seems to me at least a year and the guy gets nominated. Strange!

mike_somd

07-06-06, 06:54 PM

Since Bianco left off Battlestar Galactica, I could care less about his opinion on the rest of it. :rolleyes:

Truer words have never been spoken... talk about a show getting the total shaft.

fredfa

07-06-06, 06:55 PM

I'll just insert a friendly request:

Let's all grumble about snubs of our favorites, or exult over good fortune for shows or performers we like.

But how about we allow the professional cynics -- the TV critics -- do the slamming of TV shows they don't like.

Why this plea for gentleness? I feel battered some times when so many of you make fun of the shows I enjoy -- and I hate feeling like a dolt for not loving some of your favorites!

But this is just a gentle request -- if you have slams you simply must get off your chest -- do you best to at least be amusing. Thanks!

:)

keenan

07-06-06, 07:00 PM

Thanks Fred, Goodman was a great laughing out loud read, as usual. :)

...and as far as the rest of my slams, just read Goodman, he covers it just about how I feel, even down to the "Charlie Sheen is really funny, but not Emmy funny", it's like the guy's reading my mind. :D

keenan

07-06-06, 07:07 PM

Actually there are quite a few of us who enjoyed the show and are sorry to see it go.
Oh, no doubt, these are all personal opinions of course, but I do recommend listening to the Lisa de Moreas interview where she talks about CiC if you haven't already, her remark about the very first episode exemplifies what I felt was wrong with the show, and it got worse from there. :)

fredfa

07-06-06, 07:13 PM

I thought his thoughts on "Huff" might have upset you, Jim.

fredfa

07-06-06, 07:17 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Nominees prove hard to kill

Even Jack Bauer couldn't finish off shows such as 'The West Wing' and 'Six Feet Under' in the eyes of Emmy voters
By Robert W. Welkos and Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers July 6, 2006

There is sometimes life after death in show business. Come this fall, television viewers won't be seeing "The West Wing," "Six Feet Under" or "The Comeback" returning to prime time. But these shows will be center stage next month at this year's 58th Emmy Awards.

In fact, 14 actors who received Emmy nominations in major categories this year appeared in nine shows that have either been canceled after wallowing in ratings purgatory or retired after growing mossy with age.

That didn't leave room for some of the most talked about shows currently on TV.

"Lost" couldn't be found in the best drama series category. Tony and Carmela Soprano were iced from the acting in a drama categories. And remember those four vixens who inhabit Wisteria Lane in "Desperate Housewives"? They won't have a date for the red carpet at the Emmys on Aug. 27.

Instead, nominees included Geena Davis for her role as the president of the United States in the now-canceled ABC drama "Commander in Chief"; Lisa Kudrow, who played an actress trying to revive her career in HBO's short-lived comedy "The Comeback"; and Martin Sheen in "The West Wing," which NBC retired after seven seasons.

Under rule changes implemented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, many thought that critically acclaimed underdogs and new faces would make their way into the list of contenders. The jury is still out on whether it worked.

"As someone who has been in the business for 18 years, I've seen a lot of very fine work recognized," said John Landgraf, president and general manager of FX Networks, which received eight nominations, including for actor in a drama series for Denis Leary in "Rescue Me." "I've also felt that, year after year, it was dreary to wake up and see the exact same people nominated," Landgraf said. "I, for one, applaud the academy for being willing to try something — to take risks."

But not everyone saw it that way.

"I don't know that we've solved any problems," said Bob Greenblatt, president of entertainment at Showtime, which received 19 nominations, including three supporting-role nods. "There are so many glaring omissions. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I am as mystified for [other networks] as for myself."

This year's major nominees are TNT's epic tale of America's 19th century expansion "Into the West," which received 16. Fox's nail-biting terrorist thriller "24" scored the most for a series with 12. ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" came in with 11, including a nod for drama series. The departing "Will & Grace" had 10 nominations.

There is some fresh blood among the nominees, including faces new to television, such as Kyra Sedgwick for TNT's freshman series "The Closer," and several actors who are achieving recognition for their roles in long-running series, such as Christopher Meloni in NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Kevin James in CBS' "The King of Queens" and Charlie Sheen in "Two and a Half Men."

But if the rule changes were designed to boost the Emmy fortunes of such shows as "Gilmore Girls," "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Veronica Mars," as had been widely speculated, they didn't seem to work. Only "Everybody Hates Chris" received nominations from this trio — and not in a major category.

Without such fan favorites as ABC's "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" in the mix, and because the telecast has been moved earlier in the year, one network exec thinks that viewership for the awards show could drop 10% to 15%.

The academy's voting guidelines were altered because in recent years Emmy voters were heavily criticized for selecting only hit series. Now the final contenders are selected not at-large but by a panel of Emmy judges. Emmy voters at large will ultimately select the winners.

Michael Patrick King, nominated for directing of a comedy series on "The Comeback," which also won a nod for Kudrow, said he sees the Emmy recognition as more of a celebration than a vindication that the show was canceled too soon.

"The thing I'm happiest about is that just because something is canceled, people didn't turn away," King said. "There's some sort of signal being sent about quality versus finance. I don't know. Stuff gets canceled primarily because people feel they can't syndicate [the show] or make money. Otherwise, more people would be experimenting."

There was a tinge of gallows humor in Peter Krause's remarks after learning he had been selected for his role as mortician Nate Fisher in the HBO drama "Six Feet Under." "It's really strange to be buried and dug out of the ground like this," Krause said.

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was nominated for the CBS comedy series "The New Adventures of Old Christine," confessed that even though she voted, the rule changes are a mystery to her. "I don't know how it worked." She stands alone in her category as the only actress to have her show return in the fall. Others not returning include "Arrested Development," "Out of Practice" and "Huff."

Confusing as it may be, the new voting process clearly benefited some of the nominees. Consider Leary, whose show about New York City firefighters has a small but devoted following. His first acting nomination this year likely bumped aside favorites James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos" and Hugh Laurie of "House."

Leary said that fellow executive producer Peter Tolan had told him "that if I didn't get an acting nomination this year, he was going to take his Emmys, go to the academy and throw them over the wall. Peter called me first thing this morning and said, 'Well, I get to keep my Emmys.' "

(Times staff writers Maria Elena Fernandez, Greg Braxton and Melissa Pamer contributed to this report.)

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/emmys/env-emmynoms070606_wr,0,7014999,print.story

fredfa

07-06-06, 07:22 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Effect of new rules questioned

By Andrew Wallenstein and Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter July 07, 2006

Did the new Emmy rules create new problems?

That was one of the questions being bandied about the television industry Thursday morning when the results of changes instituted this year to the nomination process to increase diversity in key categories got scrutinized.

The answer depends on whom you ask.

Showtime president of entertainment Robert Greenblatt was overjoyed Thursday at his network's record showing of 19 nominations but admitted to feeling "incredibly ambivalent" about the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' experimental formation of a blue-ribbon panel charged with finalizing the list of candidates for the comedy and drama series and lead performer categories.

"I think this new system is as flawed as any I've seen in an awards competition," said Greenblatt, who was particularly dismayed about the omission of "Weeds" star Mary Louise-Parker in the lead actress in a comedy category. "It feels like the electoral college to me as far as being outdated. It's like a version of taking away the popular vote and leaving it to fewer people to make the decisions ultimately."

While the comedy and drama series categories featured such new entrants as CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," WB Network, UPN and basic cable were shut out of those categories. They did make a few inroads in the acting categories, such as the lead actor nod for Denis Leary of FX's "Rescue Me" and lead actress recognition for Kyra Sedgwick in TNT's "The Closer."

Michael Wright, senior vp original programming at TBS and TNT, gave the new rules the thumbs up after surveying not only Sedgwick's nomination, but the field-leading 16 nods enjoyed by TNT miniseries "Into the West."

"I have to say I didn't know what to think about the new system when I first heard about it," Wright said. "But I look at the nominations this morning and say, 'Good for the academy.' It seems to have had really positive effects."

But when all was said and done, a long list of series that critics deemed Emmy-worthy were passed over in key categories, including UPN's "Veronica Mars," FX's "The Shield," WB's "Gilmore Girls" and Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica."

"I read a lot about getting the fresh blood in, but there seems to be an awful lot of the same names coming up," Bravo senior vp programming and production Frances Berwick said.

There were shockers aplenty, like the omission of "Lost" in key categories, as well as no-shows from the heavily favored lead actors from "The Sopranos." "I'm surprised that Edie (Falco) and Jim (Gandolfini) didn't get nominated," HBO chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht said. "I think it defies any theories."

Still, the new voting system did give more than a few actors who have been ignored by Emmy voters for years their first nominations, including Christopher Meloni of "Law & Order: SVU" and Kevin James of "The King of Queens."

Shonda Rhimes, executive producer of "Grey's," noted that a lot of shows were nominated along a broad cross-section of categories.

"The wealth seemed to get spread around amongst many shows in a really lovely way," Rhimes said. "I feel like the new voting system made things more interesting than ever."

For "My Name Is Earl" executive producer Greg Garcia, the nominations were a mixed bag. He was more than gratified to see "Earl" get five nods, but it got shut out of the comedy series and lead actor categories.

"I think Jason (Lee) is outstanding, and I expected him to get a nomination, but you look at the other people who got nominated and I couldn't be disappointed," Garcia said.

Added "Earl" executive producer Marc Buckland (who earned a directing nom for the show's pilot): "My heart sank when our name wasn't called with the comedies and Jason's wasn't with the actors. But it obviously just wasn't meant to be this year."

Ben Silverman, executive producer of "The Office," was thrilled to see how well the NBC series fared, including a comedy series nomination. "I would have liked to have seen more nominations for our supporting actors and more of our writers and directors, but I can't complain," he said. "Outstanding comedy celebrates the work of the entire cast and crew."

However, Showtime's Greenblatt didn't mince words about how Emmy 2006 has shaped up.

"Taken as a group, this nomination list just felt surreal across the board," he said. "Again, I know there is no perfect system. But at some point, they need to try to stop reinventing it every year and give one setup a chance to establish itself."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801172

RussTC3

07-06-06, 07:24 PM

Since Bianco left off Battlestar Galactica, I could care less about his opinion on the rest of it. :rolleyes:
Wow, this is the first time I've ever agreed with anything Bianco has written. That surprises me.

Yeah, keenan, I think BSG has lost its focus and become a shadow of its former self. I will not be tuning in for the 3rd season. Something that I thought would never happen after the unbelievable mini-series and first season. Hell, I even caught the first season episodes when they were aired in the UK, told friends about how great it was, and watched it again when it finally came to the US via Sci Fi.

What was once a great Sci-Fi/Drama show with interesting characters, great mythos and more, has degraded into a soapy drama with unrealistic characters, shallow plots, and boring pacing. Not to mention it's been plagued by its de-emphasis of sci-fi.

The only positive comment I can give the show is the acting of Edward James Olmos. He was always amazing.

Other than that, it's just not for me anymore.

EDIT: My bad, fredfa. I didnt' notice your post until after I posted this one. I hope this one isn't too bad, I'll refrain from posting more about this subject. :)

fredfa

07-06-06, 07:27 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy nominations: Do you agree?

By Diane Holloway Austin American-Statesman in her TV blog Thursday, July 6, 2006

“24” was on top, but “Grey’s Anatomy” was close behind in the total Emmy nominations, announced pre-dawn in Los Angeles this morning by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Garrett.

Louis-Dreyfus looked more awake than Garrett, probably because she landed a best-actress nomination for her midseason sitcom “The New Adventures of Old Christine.” Garrett, formerly of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” was ineligible, thank heavens.

The hour-by-hour suspense thriller “24” racked up 12 nominations, including best drama series, and the medical comedy-drama “Grey’s Anatomy” had 11 nominations, including best drama series.

The 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be handed out Aug. 27 on NBC.

The big news is the absence of “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives,” last year’s big nominees, from either of the best series categories. Were they really all that good before and not so good now? Well, both shows did drop off a bit, but not totally off the radar.

The good news is that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences finally noticed the outstanding work of Denis Leary as best actor in the searing FX drama “Rescue Me.” The august body also saw fit to recognize the superb work of Kyra Sedgwick in “The Closer” and Steve Carell in “The Office.”

And, as is decidedly deserved, Jean Smart and Gregory Itzin both snagged supporting acting nominations for their amazing turns as President and first lady Logan on “24.”

But the Academy turned a blind eye to FX’s equally fine drama “The Shield” in the best drama and best actor categories. Any list of drama bests that doesn’t include Forest Whitaker or Michael Chiklis or CCH Pounder is deeply suspect in my mind.

Also omitted from the best drama category was Fox’s “Prison Break.” Yes, it was a freshman show, but that shouldn’t take it out of contention.

And how could any best-comedy list not include “My Name Is Earl”? And where was Rainn Wilson, the irresistible Dwight from “The Office?” Unfathomable.

There really ought to be a rule against getting nominated for playing yourself, as Larry David is, yet again, for “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” How much talent does it take to play yourself?

Big surprises? Lisa Kudrow nominated for her lame and quickly canceled HBO series “The Comeback.” Please. And Kevin James for his blow-hard blue-collar guy on “The King of Queens?” Double-please.

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/

tkmedia2

07-06-06, 07:31 PM

fredfa

07-06-06, 07:31 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
How Does Emmy Define Supporting?

By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog

It’s tough to figure how the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences – one of my favorite oranizational oxymorons – and their august body of nominators define “supporting.”

In the long, long roster of Emmy nominations, released this morning, for example, “Two and a Half Men” was nominated as outstanding comedy and Charlie Sheen was among the nominees for outstanding lead actor in a comedy. But Jon Cryer only got nominated as best supporting actor in a comedy. Isn’t he one of the two in the title?

Similarly, how does Jane Kaczmarek get nominated for outstanding actress in a comedy as the mom in “Malcolm in the Middle” but Bryan Cranston only gets best supporting actor by playing the dad?

I can understand how Jeremy Irons got a supporting actor nomination for his work in the miniseries "Elizabeth I," the HBO production that claimed 13 nominations; he was only in the first half of the work that earned Helen Mirren a nomination for outstanding actress in a miniseries. But how exactly did Kelly Macdonald get a nominated for outstanding supporting actress in my favorite HBO movie last year, "The Girl in the Cafe"? Excuse me, but she was the Girl in the Cafe.

This kind of grey area is not anything new to the Academy. We are reminded that Allison Janney has been nominated and won both supporting and lead actress on “The West Wing” for the same role –-did her profile go up when she went from press secretary to chief of staff? (She’s up for lead actress again this year – one of six nominations for the final season of “The West Wing.”)

And, speaking of grey, if “Grey’s Anatomy” is one of top nominees this year – its 11 nominations are second only to the 12 for “24” among series -- how come none of the cast is nominated to anything higher than supporting actress, where both Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson are nominated?

http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2006/07/how_does_emmy_d.html

keenan

07-06-06, 07:32 PM

I thought his thoughts on "Huff" might have upset you, Jim.
Yes, but like I said, he's 95% right on the money, according to "keenan", the critic. :D

keenan

07-06-06, 07:34 PM

woohoo a nom "Thief"! That was surprising! mini series eh...

Overall I'm happy with this years noms, thou some are definetly left out at least it's a bit better overall selection than last years. IMO
Yeah, I wondered about that category as well, it's almost as if someone slated it for that category to get it nominated. Hey, whatever it takes, I think "Thief" was excellent.

fredfa

07-06-06, 07:35 PM

TV Review
“Brotherhood”

Blood Brothers
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic

Politician, criminal: There's a difference?

Will the Caffee family of Providence ever achieve the mythic status of Jersey's Sopranos clan?

Probably not. Which shouldn't keep you from the darkly compelling world of Brotherhood (Sundays, 10 pm/ET). Showtime's morally ambiguous family saga (substituting thick Irish brogue for Italian swagger) is richly plotted and totally absorbing, one of summer TV's best surprises.

Shot distinctively on location, Brotherhood paints Providence as a cesspool of political chicanery and violent disorganized crime — each subculture embodied by a Caffee brother.

Tommy (Jason Clarke) is the good, responsible son, a family man and ambitious state representative, local hero to his decaying working-class neighborhood, "the Hill." He tries to maintain integrity in a backstabbing climate of ethically murky deal-making.

Older brother Michael (Jason Isaacs) has no such qualms. A charismatic criminal with a contempt for weakness, he returns to town after a seven-year absence, determined to reclaim his position of influence in the underworld.

"It's not about love," Tommy says of his volatile, complicated bond with Michael. As their paths inevitably collide, often under police scrutiny, the fallout embroils many vivid characters, including their brassy mom, Rose (Fionnula Flanagan), and Tommy's recklessly dissatisfied wife, Eileen (the excellent Annabeth Gish), who turns to extramarital sex and drugs to quell her depression.

Her boredom is not contagious. I've seen all 11 hours of Brotherhood, and I found myself hungry for 11 more.

http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/review/

keenan

07-06-06, 07:38 PM

The only positive comment I can give the show is the acting of Edward James Olmos. He was always amazing.

Other than that, it's just not for me anymore.

Based on your comments, I think you and I are watching it for different reasons and that's probably where our differences arise, but I do respect your opinion, hopefully you'll give season 3 a chance, and hopefully you'll enjoy it. :)

fredfa

07-06-06, 07:40 PM

Obituary
Death claims soap star in 'ATWT'

By Carolyn Hinsey editor of Soap Opera Weekly for the New York Daily News July 6, 2006

"As the World Turns" star Benjamin Hendrickson died suddenly over the weekend at his home in Huntington, L.I.

He was 55.

No cause of death was released.

Hendrickson joined "ATWT" as Detective Hal Munson in 1985.

"The entire daytime community has lost a dear friend and a talented actor who brought to life the character of Hal Munson," said "ATWT" executive producer Christopher Goutman yesterday. "Benjamin always joked that he was hired for one day, then, before he knew it, he had impregnated the leading lady and had to sign a contract. He intended to stay with the show for one year. How lucky for us and the fans that we had him for 21 years."

He won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2003, after having also been nominated for the award in 2001 and 2002.

He took a leave of absence after winning the Emmy and was replaced by Randolph Mantooth ("Emergency") in 2004. He returned to the soap last year.

Hendrickson attended Juilliard, where he was a member of the first class of the drama division and a founding member of the Acting Company under the late John Houseman.

He went on to appear on Broadway in the 1984 revival of "Awake and Sing," "Strider" and in the title role in "The Elephant Man."

His Off-Broadway credits include "The Lisbon Traviata," "After the Fall," "The Rear Column," "The Philanthropist" and "Life and Limb."

He also appeared in the feature films "Regarding Henry," "Consenting Adults" and "Manhunter," as well as prime-time TV's "Law & Order" and the PBS Theater in America production of "Time of Your Life."

Prior to joining "ATWT," he appeared on "Another World," "Guiding Light" and "Texas."

"The quality we will miss is Benjamin's joyful sense of humor," said Ellen Dolan, who portrays "ATWT" Detective Margo Hughes, one of Hal's many paramours. "His humor was one of his most endearing qualities."

Plans for a funeral and/or memorial service were pending at press time. Hendrickson's last airdate on "ATWT" will be next Wednesday. There are no plans to recast the role.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/432685p-364609c.html

PaulGo

07-06-06, 07:44 PM

CableLabs Chief Sees HD VOD as Next Killer App
Posted by Alan Breznick
Posted on Jun 29 2006

If you're wondering what the next hot video product might be for cable, Dick Green has the answer for you: HD VOD.

Green, the veteran president & CEO of CableLabs, is a long-time fan of high-definition TV (HDTV) programming. He believes that cable operators can use high-def video-on-demand (VOD) content to seize the competitive advantage against satellite TV providers and telco TV operators closing in on cable's core business. Speaking at last week's Cable-Tec Expo conference in Denver, he said only cable can offer HD VOD in abundance because of the bandwidth restrictions faced by the two rival industries.

In particular, Green sees HD VOD as a potent weapon against DirecTV and EchoStar, which have been loading up with high-def national and local channels in recent months thanks to launches of powerful new satellites. He noted that the two DBS providers have been focusing on HD content because they don't have many other places to turn if they wish to compete against cable.

"They're going to come at us with a lot of HD because it's relatively easy for them to do," he said. "That's why it's so important for us to do HD, particularly HD VOD. It's really the killer app."

Green also sees HD VOD as a "great weapon" against the new breed of telco-delivered IPTV services because he doesn't think the RBOCs can offer a similar product. He urged MSOs to deploy HD VOD offerings in markets where AT&T and Verizon Communications are now rolling out video service.

"They've got a real problem," he said. "I don't think they have a comparable service… Where they're weak, that's where we ought to push forward with new products and services."

Michael Fries, president and CTO of Liberty Global Inc., said he expects the phone companies plunging into the TV market to hit some tough sledding. "Video is the toughest piece of the bundle," he said. "I think they underestimate how difficult it will be."

But Gerry Laybourne, chair and CEO of Oxygen Media, warns that cable operators can't let down their guard, even with their bandwidth and first-to-market advantages in the video business. She especially expects the two satellite TV giants to find new ways to compete effectively.

"I don't think we can relax," she said. "DirecTV and EchoStar are great marketers. They'll adapt."

http://blog.cabledigitalnews.com/index.php?id=477

fredfa

07-06-06, 08:10 PM

Washington Notebook
FCC To Weigh In On Adelphia Breakup

By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 7/6/2006

The FCC is scheduled to take up the break-up of bankrupt Adelphia between Comcast and Time Warner at its July 13 meeting.

It is widely expected to approve the deal, though it could put conditions on it. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is a fan of cable a la carte, for instance, backing a bill in the Senate that would have effectively required the cable industry to offer per-channel programming.

Meanwhile, three D.C.-area legislators have asked Martin to condition the merger on requiring Comcast to submit to arbitration its decision not to carry Washington Nationals baseball games on its D.C. area cable systems.

The FCC has been considering the deal for over a year, but lacked a third Republican vote on the five-member commmission that might have sped up the process.

Adelphia has also been in protracted bankruptcy proceedings that affected the length of the review.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6350118

fredfa

07-06-06, 08:28 PM

Washington Notebook
Noms new experience for Lorre and his 'Men'

By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter July 07, 2006

Chuck Lorre was so accustomed to shrugging his shoulders and muttering "What can you do?" every year on the morning when Emmy nominations are announced that he had to catch himself from starting out a telephone chat with his stock line on Thursday. Not that his glass suddenly looked half-full for the first time. Maybe let's say a quarter-full.

Regardless, the fact that the CBS comedy Lorre created and executive produces -- ""Two and a Half Men" -- had pulled in seven nominations (including honors for outstanding comedy series and for stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer) was a new experience that he was doing his best to enjoy. And he was succeeding. More or less.

"Now I get two months to bask in the glow of not losing," Lorre quipped.

But seriously, folks, Lorre was careful to convey how "delighted and thrilled and very grateful" he and the "Men" cast and crew were to be honored with the kind of overwhelming validation that had managed to elude him at every stop in his career journey as a television writer-producer. It's an impressive list of comedies that includes "Roseanne," "Grace Under Fire," "Dharma & Greg" and "Cybill." None had ever received a top comedy Emmy nom -- not even "Roseanne," which remains a black eye for the TV Academy.

To paraphrase a joke Bob Hope told one year while hosting the Academy Awards, the Emmys have long been viewed by Lorre by another name: Passover. The shutout streak had continued with "Men," which grew to become primetime's highest-rated comedy but couldn't shake the tag of being the kind of cute little family comedy that never gets taken seriously by the self-appolinted arbiters of quality. And so he resigned himself to being not the bride, not even a bridesmaid, but a bridesmaid-in-waiting.

"Sometimes I ask myself: do I have any Emmys?" Lorre says. "I have to think about the layout of my house. I envision the mantle. It's empty. So then it dawns on me I don't have any. But it isn't like this has caused me pain, except as it relates to guys like Charlie and Jon who so deserve to be recognized. That's who I'm most over the moon for is those guys. They do such stunning comic acting week after week. And they make it look effortless."

Of course, this isn't just about his actors. This is about Lorre, too, about a guy who has always worked on shows deemed somehow unworthy of Emmy acknowledgment despite critical acclaim, popular acceptance and long network lives. He could never figure out who "Roseanne" -- which Lorre proudly recalls as "a totally groundbreaking show, a classic that tackled hugely edgy material" -- was always overlooked for the big prize.

"It's easy to overlook shows with kids and not take them as seriously," he says.

So go figure. Out of nowhere, Lorre scores an invite to a dance he'd never been deemed cool enough to attend. What changed?

"You're asking the wrong guy," Lorre replies. "Maybe we improved. Maybe we made the right submission. At the end of the day it doesn't matter. You can't overanalyze what got you nominated or what didn't. It's out of your control." And does this feel like vindication? "I think a better word would be gratitude. We're just idiotic giddy with happiness over here right now. I finally get to see if my tuxedo still fits. Or if I even still have a tuxedo. It's much more fun to ponder that question than 'What can you do?' "

And as Lorre already is sensing, two months of competitive anxiety far surpasses a lifetime of dashed hopes.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/the_pulse_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801187

fredfa

07-06-06, 08:43 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Television's dead rise from their graves on Emmy day

By Glenn Garvin Miami Herald Thu, Jul. 06, 2006

Like reanimated corpses clawing out of their graves to walk the Earth as zombies, dead television shows lurched to the forefront of the Emmy nominees announced Thursday, with canceled programs dominating the most coveted acting awards.

A change in the nomination process, putting choices in the hands of blue-ribbon panels rather than the entire membership of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, was supposed to breathe new life into what many critics believe has become a repetitive and predictable Emmy process.

But with one spectacular exception -- ABC's hypersexed medical drama Grey's Anatomy, which got 11 nominations after being virtually ignored a year ago -- Thursday was mostly a roundup of the usual suspects, particularly the canceled ones.

The major beneficiary of the zombie vote was NBC. Two of its shows that were finally axed this spring after years of fading ratings and notices, Will & Grace and The West Wing, garnered six major acting nominations: for Megan Mullally, Debra Messing and Sean Hayes in the case of Will & Grace (which got nine nominations altogether, the most of any comedy) and Martin Sheen, Allison Janney and Alan Alda of The West Wing (with six total).

Other canceled shows that scored big in the acting categories were HBO's Six Feet Under, with nominations for Frances Conroy and Peter Krause (and nine total); Fox's Malcom in the Middle for Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston; and ABC's Commander in Chief for Geena Davis. The most extreme example of all was Showtime's middle-age-meltdown drama Huff, which barely had 200,000 viewers -- next to nothing in the megamillions world of TV ratings -- when it was canceled last month. It nonetheless picked up a best supporting actor nomination for Oliver Platt, his second in a row.

''It's totally bittersweet,'' said Platt, who played an out-of-control lawyer with multiple addictions. ``Bittersweet is the order of the day. But we'll take the sweet.''

The change in the nomination process was intended to help highly acclaimed shows from little-watched networks. But two of the perennial critical favorites who were expected to win their first nominations -- Kristen Bell, the outcast girl detective of UPN's Veronica Mars and Lauren Graham, the nimble-tongued single mom of The WB's Gilmore Girls -- were shut out again.

The thoughts of Bell and Graham on yet another rejection were not recorded. But in Milan, Italy, where the cast of Grey's Anatomy was visiting to promote the show, there was delirium.

''I'm so happy for our show,'' said Chandra Wilson, nominated for best supporting actress for her role as the no-nonsense Dr. Miranda Bailey. ``My family is here, so I got hugs right away, and the cast is here, so we're hugging on each other. Maybe we can go have a really expensive dinner.''

Wilson will be competing with her co-star Sandra Oh for the supporting actress award, and Grey's Anatomy was also nominated for best drama. But its 11 nominations made it only No. 2 among broadcast programs. Fox's spy thriller 24 led the chase with 12 nominations, including best drama as well as best actor for Kiefer Sutherland, best supporting actor for Gregory Itzin and best supporting actress for Jean Smart.

The explosion of attention for Grey's Anatomy, which got only three minor Emmy nominations its first season, may have come partly at the expense of two other ABC programs. Desperate Housewives and Lost, which had seven major nominations between them last year, had just one this time: a supporting actress bid for Housewives' Alfre Woodard.

When minor categories were added in, though, the two shows wound up with 16 nominations, enough to make make ABC the leading broadcast network with 63. The overall leader, as usual, was HBO, with 95 -- even in an off-year for its prize gangster drama The Sopranos. The show picked up only seven nominations and its stars Edie Falco and James Gandolfini were snubbed -- though The Sopranos was nominated for best drama. HBO's costume-drama miniseries Elizabeth I received 13 nominations, while Mrs. Harris -- a movie about the murder of the Scarsdale Diet doctor Herman Tarnower -- had 12.

The single most-nominated program was TNT's mean-cowboys-and-nice-Indians miniseries Into The West, with 16.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/entertainment/television/14980014.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:13 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
ABC at a loss over snubs

'Housewives,' 'Lost' denied Emmy noms
By Michael Schneider Variety.com Jul. 6, 2006

A new mystery is brewing on Wisteria Lane: Why did Emmy thumb its nose at the "Desperate Housewives"?

The sudser failed to earn a nomination for outstanding comedy, and none of its stars appeared in the top acting categories.

Meanwhile, Emmy watchers were also stunned by another glaring omission: Last year's outstanding drama series winner, "Lost," didn't make the cut this year.

At ABC, the surprise shutouts stung on what was otherwise a stellar day for the net. The Alphabet web led all broadcasters in nominations, and its breakout hit "Grey's Anatomy" took home an impressive 11 nods -- the second most of any series (behind only "24").

But the "Housewives" and "Lost" snubs left ABC execs scratching their heads.

"It seems to reflect some lingering issues in the new nomination process that may still need to be addressed," said a network spokesman.

Last year, "Housewives" scored 15 nominations -- the most of any series (tied with "Will & Grace"). That tally included nods for outstanding comedy series, as well as three of the five comedy actress spots (Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross and eventual winner Felicity Huffman).

This year, supporting actress Alfre Woodard earned a nom, as did guest actress Shirley Knight. "Housewives" still scored seven nominations overall, but most of them were in craft categories, including art direction, costumes and hairstyling.

Granted, some critics believed that "Housewives" hit a creative sophomore slump, and that the wide exposure of the "Housewives" stars (who were magazine cover regulars in the show's first year) may have prompted a slight backlash from voters.

But "Housewives" remains a Nielsen powerhouse, and picked up creatively later in the year. In the end, the decision to enter "Housewives" in the comedy category may have hurt its chances.

According to TV academy rules senior VP John Leverence, dramedies like "Housewives" face an uphill Emmy battle because they're "neither fish nor fowl."

"To a certain degree that's advantageous because you're a broader-ranging program," he said. "But on the other hand you don't have the concentration of drama or comedy that a straight drama or comedy would have."

Earlier this year, the TV Academy issued a rule clarification on how to handle "dramedies." Now, according to the org, shows must prove that at least six episodes over the course of a season contained enough comedic material to be considered for outstanding comedy consideration -- or enough drama for the drama categories.

That clarification, however, stopped short of actually ruling on whether hourlongs like "Housewives" or "Boston Legal" should be allowed to compete against sitcoms. That's because the burden of proof is relatively small.

While guffaws of laughter were heard in the rooms when straight sitcoms like "Two and a Half Men" were played for the new blue-ribbon panels, shows like "Housewives" and "Entourage," by their nature, contain fewer laughs.

"At the panels, the ha-ha comedies had 'em rolling in the aisles," Leverence said. "Whereas 'Desperate Housewives' does a both a drama dance and a comedy dance. Having the dramatic elements in with the comedic perhaps tended to dilute the force of the comedic."

As for "Lost," the show may have also been hurt by the blue ribbon proceedings. Voters who weren't regular viewers of the show may not have been able to keep up with the show's rich mythology.

Leverence said "24" managed to avoid that problem by submitting its first episode of the season, which laid the groundwork for the year but wasn't hindered by a complicated backstory.

"If 'Lost' in fact chose an episode that was midway into a very complex action and you had people in that room who were seeing it for the first time, there's a distinct possibility they might not have gotten it," Leverence said. "It might not have had that kind of resonance that a non-serialized program would have."

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:22 PM

TV Reviews
Boy Detective

A police poseur on “Psych.”
by Nancy Franklin The New Yorker

Now, more than ever, Friday night is behavior-disorder night on the USA Network. For the past four years, there’s been “Monk,” whose main character, Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), is a brilliant detective who has been on leave from the San Francisco police force since his wife was murdered and some of his tics and habits and eccentricities flowered into a full-blown obsessive-compulsive disorder.

And, starting this Friday (after the première of the new season of “Monk”), we have “Psych,” a show about the wacky crime-solving adventures and personal misadventures of Shawn Spencer (James Roday), a Santa Barbara policeman’s son who is immature, distractable, and impulsive, and who, though he’s only in his late twenties, has had—and lost—fifty-seven jobs since he graduated from high school. O.C.D. and A.D.D.: there’s a good reason that USA’s branding motto is “Characters welcome.”

(The madness continues on Sunday nights, with back-to-back paranormality: “The 4400,” about a group of forty-four hundred people who were abducted from Earth over the course of years and are one day returned here, en masse, and “The Dead Zone,” in which Anthony Michael Hall comes out of a six-year coma with the gift of second sight.)

“Psych” is, in a sense, Son of “Monk”; both shows revolve around characters whose past rules tyrannically over their present and both try to squeeze comedy from their situations. “Monk,” which, in addition to Shalhoub, has a wonderful supporting cast, is often very touching, whereas “Psych” is, for the most part, merely jokey.

Shawn’s father, Henry (Corbin Bernsen), now retired from the force, groomed him for detective work from early childhood. In the third episode, we see a flashback of Shawn when he was seven, playing detective by himself, pretending to shadow a perp. His father, watching him, criticizes his technique. The dispirited Shawn says, “I was just playing.” Henry, exasperated, shoots back, “Well, play right, Shawn. Or don’t play at all.”

That kind of attitude will put a damper on a person’s development; in Shawn’s case, this means that later in life when his friend Gus (Dulé Hill), a responsible pharmaceutical salesman, teases him about having had so many jobs, he says, “Yes, I have, and they were all fun.” Shawn plays all the time—but, wouldn’t you know it, he also turns out to be an absolute ace at detective work. Take that, Dad.

In the opening scene of the series, while the two are at a diner, Henry quizzes young Shawn on the details of their surroundings—how many people are wearing hats, which letter in the exit light is burned out, and so on. The waitress suggests that he’ll be a detective when he grows up. “I’m never going to grow up,” he says.

In the next scene—twenty years later—he’s making out with a waitress on his couch with the TV on, and solves a crime just by watching the story on the local news and noticing details in the picture. He immediately calls the police to tell them, and inadvertently becomes a suspect himself. For some reason, he decides to use the bogus explanation that he’s a psychic.

The series flows from that premise, and what also flows is our sense that there is something wrong with Shawn that is unacknowledged by the show’s producers, many of whom also have other works of whimsy and preposterousness on their résumés, such as “Ed,” “Boston Public,” and “Picket Fences.” (The show’s creator, Steve Franks, wrote the Adam Sandler movie “Big Daddy.”) Shawn is both in your face and completely absent as a human being. His puckishness verges on the pathological, calling to mind Jim Carrey’s more manic creations, as well as the title character of “Ed,” whose quixotic and supposedly amusing attempt to win over a woman was a grating case of narcissism without charm.

Once Shawn has presented himself as a psychic, he has to play the part. When “visions” come to him, he thrashes around the way Carrey did in the courthouse-bathroom scene in “Liar, Liar,” and when a police detective chides him for not being serious enough—for acting as though helping the police were like being a kid in a candy store—Shawn, channelling the deadpan looniness of Ace Ventura, says, “Let me be honest with you, Detective. I used to work in a candy store, and it’s nothing like this.”

But Roday doesn’t quite have the chops to back up his Carreyisms. Shawn is a first-draft version of Jason Lee’s title character in “My Name Is Earl”—a lovable goof, but with little ability to gain traction in your heart.

“Brotherhood,” a new drama on Showtime on Sunday nights, is almost a parody of itself. It’s about the struggles between two brothers in Providence, Rhode Island, one of them a state representative and the other a lifelong criminal, who shows up after seven years in hiding.

But watch out—slippery gray areas ahead. The politician, Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke), is no saint (this is the legendarily corrupt Rhode Island, after all), and his thuggish brother, Michael (Jason Isaacs), has a yearning for redemption. Well, if you stab a woman fifty-four times, you’re going to spend a lot of time yearning for redemption. Comes with the territory.

Both Tommy and Michael are fiercely loyal to the Hill, the fictional working-class Irish neighborhood where they grew up and still live, and fiercely loyal to their ma, Rose, who works at “the mill,” plays bingo, is herself fiercely loyal to her sons, and is played by the fiercely Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan.

“Brotherhood” is a heavy stew, with chunks of “The Sopranos” floating in it, and it reeks of stage Irishness. After Michael has beaten a waiter at a seafood joint because he thinks the recipe for the breading for the stuffed clams has been changed, his mother tells Michael’s young niece, “Your uncle has been cursed with a volatile nature. But deep down in his heart he is the best of men.” Bless this show, Father, for it is blarney.

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/critics/060710crte_television

fredfa

07-06-06, 09:25 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Has-beens get Emmy nominations

By Jeanne Hakle San Antonio Express-News 07/06/2006

Listening to the Emmy nominations Thursday made me feel I was in a TV graveyard.

"The West Wing" for best drama and "Arrested Development" for best comedy? C'mon! They're yesterday's news.

Other series that have died also got nods in acting categories. For instance, Geena Davis was nominated for "Commander in Chief" and Peter Krause and Frances Conroy for "Six Feet Under."

Not that some of these aren't deserving, but the fact so many of these has-beens were recognized makes the Emmys, which will be broadcast Aug. 27 on NBC, seem creakier than ever.

The good news? "The Office," which, in my opinion, is the funniest show on network TV, is getting a crack at best comedy; and its standout lead, Steve Carell, has been nominated for best actor-comedy.

The lack of recognition given to "My Name is Earl" made me smile. The blue-collar comedy may be a favorite with some critics, but I find its writing dull and predictable.

"Desperate Housewives," which won for best comedy last year, got passed over and deservedly so; this past season was irritatingly uneven. However, Marcia Cross, whose Bree character was put through the mill this year, did merit a best actress nod, particularly over Lisa Kudrow of HBO's "The Comeback."

"Grey's Anatomy," with its huge ratings, certainly has the people's vote for best drama. I lean toward "The Sopranos," however, for its brave and interesting storylines. "Lost" fans undoubtedly will be up in arms over the fact that their series was ignored in all major categories; it won best drama last year.

Kyra Sedgwick, my personal actress favorite, got nominated - and should win - for her incredibly nuanced work in TNT's "The Closer" and Kiefer Sutherland has another chance to get the Emmy for his intense portrayal on "24."

If either Martin Sheen or Allison Janney - who amazingly were nominated for "The West Wing" again - nabs the best actor or actress Emmy, my respect for this particular awards show will plummet to new lows.

It boggles the brain that "House" could be nominated for best drama and Hugh Laurie, the man who makes the show so compelling as the surly lead doctor, wasn't acknowledged.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/global-includes/printstory.jsp?path=/entertainment/columnists/jjackle/stories/MYSA070606.jakle.EN.306de0ec.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:09 PM

The TV Column
'Housewives,' 'Sopranos' Snubbed by Emmys

By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, July 7, 2006; C01

HOLLYWOOD, July 6 Changing how the TV academy comes up with its list of Primetime Emmy nominees worked out well for CBS's "Two and a Half Men," which Thursday snagged its first-ever nominations, for best comedy series and for stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer.

But for the more artsy, so-called niche network programming the change was supposed to help -- not so much.

Never-nominated "Gilmore Girls" star Lauren Graham, who became the poster child this year for the need to change the nominations process, got snubbed again by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Ditto "Battlestar Galactica," which Emmy-watchers expected to be the glam-category beneficiary of the change -- and of a massive Sci Fi for-your-consideration campaign. It received three noms -- for costumes, sound mixing and special visual effects.

On the other hand, some good did come of the tinkering.

"The academy totally [slapped] 'Desperate Housewives' and really roughed up 'The Sopranos,' " Tom O'Neil, who wrote the book -- literally -- on the Primetime Emmys -- told The TV Column. Loosely translated, that means none of the three lead housewives on the ABC series was nominated, including Felicity Huffman, who took home last year's trophy for best sitcom actress. And the show itself -- last year's Emmy-winningest series, was shut out of the best-comedy derby.

O'Neil, whose "The Emmys" is considered the definitive tome on all things Primetime Emmy, also was saying that "Sopranos" leads James Gandolfini and Edie Falco did not get their taken-for-granted Emmy noms this time around. HBO did, however, continue to squash all competitors with 95 nominations -- more than CBS (47) and NBC (47) combined -- thanks to its total control of the movie and miniseries races. That domination included 13 nominations for Helen Mirren starrer "Elizabeth I" and 12 for the Annette Bening vehicle "Mrs. Harris." On the other hand, the most nominated miniseries this year -- heck, the most nominated program of any genre -- is TNT's 12-hour, Steven Spielberg-produced "Into the West," with a total of 16.

For the first time, special panels chose nominees from among the shows or actors who had received the most votes from academy members. The change was intended to bring fresh names from smaller networks into the competition.

But all 10 nominees for best drama and comedy series this year air on a Big Four broadcaster or HBO -- business as usual.

In drama they are ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," HBO's "The Sopranos," NBC's "The West Wing" and Fox's "House" and "24," which is this year's most nominated series, with a haul of 12.

Comedy contenders are Fox's "Arrested Development," HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," NBC's "The Office" and "Scrubs," and CBS's aforementioned "Two and a Half Men."

Only three actors in the lead-acting derbies hailed from niche networks: FX's "Rescue Me" star Denis Leary, TNT's "The Closer" lead Kyra Sedgwick and USA's "Monk" star Tony Shalhoub. But both Leary and Shalhoub have been nominated before, and Shalhoub has won the trophy for best comedy actor twice.

Besides Leary, the race for best drama series actor includes Peter Krause of "Six Feet Under"; Kiefer Sutherland, "24"; Martin Sheen, "The West Wing"; and this year's only surprise, Christopher Meloni of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Leary reacted to the news with one of those carefully crafted, too-hip-for-the-room, spontaneous-reaction quotes that make covering trophy-show nominations such a thrill: "My son and I were on our way to work and we had forgotten it was Emmy day. We were trying to get the baseball scores from last night."

Joining Sedgwick in the race for best drama series actress: first-timer Geena Davis, "Commander in Chief"; and repeaters Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: SVU"; Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under"; and Allison Janney, "The West Wing."

Charlie Sheen, Kevin James and Shalhoub will duke it out for best comedy actor with Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Steve Carell of "The Office."

And four of the five nominees for best sitcom actress worked on shows that have been canceled: Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Debra Messing ("Will & Grace"), Lisa Kudrow ("The Comeback") and Stockard Channing ("Out of Practice"). The fifth nominee is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose "The New Adventures of Old Christine" is the only sitcom in the batch that's returning this fall.

"It's hard to even believe it. You dream about these kinds of things and then it happens and it doesn't seem real, kind of. I'm still digesting this," Louis-Dreyfus said in her carefully crafted, spontaneous-reaction quote, which she might have pulled off had she not been nominated every year from '92 through '98 for her role on "Seinfeld."

On the other hand, Kaczmarek -- back for her seventh try at the best sitcom actress statuette -- hit a spontaneous-reaction-quote home run with, "I'm the nominee who won't go away."

The jaw-dropping lack of fresh names sent shockwaves through the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre at the TV academy's North Hollywood headquarters, where Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Garrett announced the glam-category nominees early Thursday morning.

You could see the outrage in the heaving bosoms of the celebrity suck-up show hostesses, dressed in snug, revealing tops, who were there to cover the Emmy noms, as they grilled Louis-Dreyfus about the tight, white, cleavage-revealing number into which she had poured herself for the morning's festivities.

Male on-air talent who were there to cover the nominations were outraged, too; you just couldn't see their chests heaving under their dark suits. But their eyes flashed, which is almost as good:

"It's television's biggest night! The Emmy nominations are in and we'll tell you who's got some serious celebrating to do!"

Okay, maybe that guy isn't such a good example. But how about this: "It didn't accomplish its goal to boost those other networks," said O'Neil, the Yoda of prime-time Emmy nominations, who'd come to do commentary for CNN Headline News and pick up inside dope for his all-things-trophy-show Web site.

In one of few nominations that seem to have benefited from the change in the process, Craig Ferguson received the first-ever nomination for "The Late Late Show," for best individual performance in a variety or music program. Ferguson, the third host, snagged the nomination in his first year on the CBS show.

Noticeably missing from yesterday's nominations was Graham, darling of some TV critics, and of O'Neil. "That Lauren Graham is not here is going to cause industry outrage," O'Neil told The TV Column. "Many think the system was tinkered with so she could finally get her due. . . . The system that was designed to help mostly the artsy stuff ended up boosting 'Two and a Half Men.' "

Talking to CNN Headline News, he added that "TV critics of America say she's given the best performance on the tube."

"There are some surprises, but the surprises we'd hoped to see were not here," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/06/AR2006070600703_pf.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:24 PM

(Updated version of an earlier post.)
Emmy Awards Notebook
58th Emmy noms add new blood, pass over past faves

By Cynthia Littleton The Hollywood Reporter July 07, 2006

Emmy voters veered far off the beaten path this year. With new rules governing the process, the nominations for the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards were as notable for the names and titles left out as it was for all the new blood that made the list.

Surprises when the nominations were unveiled at dawn Thursday included a comedy series nom for CBS' "Two and a Half Men," plus noms for stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer, and a lead comedy actor nom for Kevin James of CBS' long-running "The King of Queens." Another CBS comedy star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, earned a lead comedy actress mention for her midseason entry "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Being canceled wasn't a bad thing for Fox's "Arrested Development," which picked up its third straight bid for comedy series. Stockard Channing earned a nom for her canceled CBS comedy "Out of Practice." Geena Davis did not win re-election to a second season on ABC's "Commander in Chief," but she did make the cut for a lead drama actress, her first Emmy nom.

Notably absent from this year's list of drama series contenders is ABC's "Lost," last year's winner, while "Desperate Housewives" missed out in the comedy series category. Last year's lead drama actor and actress winners, James Spader of ABC's "Boston Legal" and Patricia Arquette of NBC's "Medium," also are out of the running this year. None of the leading ladies of "Housewives" made the cut for lead comedy actress this year despite last year's win by Felicity Huffman, though Alfre Woodard is recognized in the supporting comedy actress field (as well as for the CBS telefilm "The Water Is Wide"), and Shirley Knight made it for guest comedy actress.

HBO racked up the most nominations of any network, as usual, with 95, including a best drama bid for "The Sopranos" and comedy series for "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but such newer shows as "Entourage," "Rome" and "Big Love" failed to crack the top comedy and drama series categories. Nor did "Sopranos" stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, both past winners for their work on the mob drama. But Lisa Kudrow lived up to the title of her short-lived HBO series with a lead comedy actress nom for "The Comeback." And HBO's "Six Feet Under" may have been gone for many months since its series finale in August, but Emmy voters didn't forget stars Peter Krause and Frances Conroy for top drama acting bids.

Despite the loss of big-time bids for "Lost" and "Housewives," ABC increased its overall nominations haul from last year by 12 for a total of 63, good for second place among networks. CBS had a strong year, tying NBC with 47 noms. Fox pulled in 41, followed by PBS (34), Showtime (19) and TNT (17).

TNT's "Into the West" proved irresistible to Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members, who showered the Steven Spielberg-produced sweeping Western with 16 noms, most of them in craft and technical categories along with a bid in the top miniseries category.

Fox Broadcasting's "24" is the most-nominated series with a dozen mentions, including drama series, which marks the show's largest nominations haul since its premiere in 2001. Fox also earned a drama series nom for "House," marking the first time the network has had two shows competing for best drama in the same year. ABC's red-hot medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" had a good showing with 11 bids, including drama series and supporting drama actress mentions for Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson.

NBC's now-departed veteran and Emmy fave "Will & Grace" is the most-nominated comedy series with 10, including acting bids for Debra Messing, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes, but the show was denied a last waltz as a nominee for comedy series. Another dearly departed NBC Emmy fave, "The West Wing," made it an unbroken streak of seven consecutive nominations (and four consecutive wins from 2000-03) in the top drama series category, plus acting mentions for Martin Sheen, Allison Janney and Alan Alda.

Joining "Men," "Curb" and "Arrested" in the comedy series heat are NBC's "The Office" and a return to the nominees circle for NBC's "Scrubs." In the reality-competition footrace, CBS' reigning king, "The Amazing Race," earned its fourth consecutive nom, as did the network's "Survivor" and Fox's "American Idol." Joining them in the ultimate elimination-style competition are ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and Bravo's "Project Runway."

Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" cracked the variety, music or comedy series category in its first year of eligibility, with star Stephen Colbert also earning a performer bid in the category of individual performance in a variety or music program field. Vying against "Colbert" for the series trophy are Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" and CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," whose host also earned a performer nod in the individual performance field.

Two telefilms dealing with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, A&E's "Flight 93" and Discovery Channel's "The Flight That Fought Back," were recognized with nominations for made-for-TV movie. Three HBO titles round out the category: "Mrs. Harris," "The Girl in the Cafe" and "Yesterday." On the miniseries front, "Into the West's" competitors are HBO's "Elizabeth I," PBS' "Bleak House" and Showtime's "Sleeper Cell."

In the acting heats, the biggest surprise in the lead drama actor race is Christopher Meloni, a first-time nominee for NBC's "Law & Order: SVU." Denis Leary of FX's "Rescue Me" fulfilled the pundits' predictions that this would be the year he entered the spotlight for his gritty post-Sept. 11 firefighter drama. Kiefer Sutherland earned his fifth consecutive nom for his hard-driving days on "24." Sheen of "West Wing" picked up nom No. 6 for his work in the Oval Office. Krause of "Six Feet" earned his third mention for the show.

For lead drama actress, Davis of "Commander in Chief" was a left-field surprise, but Kyra Sedgwick didn't disappoint those who called her a shoo-in for TNT's "The Closer." Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: SVU" bagged her third consecutive nom. Janney of "West Wing" landed her sixth nom for the show (her first two wins came in the supporting actress category). Conroy of "Six Feet" earned her fourth nom.

On the comedy side, Steve Carell was a no-brainer to pick up his first Emmy nom for the offbeat NBC comedy "The Office." Charlie Sheen took the "it's about time" honor in his third try for "Men." James of "King of Queens" was an unexpected entry, but there was no surprise at the return of last year's winner, Tony Shalhoub of USA Network's "Monk," nor in Larry David picking up his third acting nom for "Curb."

Among the funny ladies, Jane Kaczmarek has one last chance to claim the trophy that has eluded her despite seven consecutive nominations for her work on Fox's now-departed "Malcolm in the Middle." Kudrow and Channing were unexpected nominees for "Comeback" and "Out of Practice," respectively, though both actresses are proven Emmy faves. Messing of "Will & Grace" wrapped her run on the show with her fifth nomination. Louis-Dreyfus, who was on hand at dawn to announce the noms at ATAS headquarters in North Hollywood, was not as much of a surprise given the warm critical reception to her new CBS sitcom "Christine" and her own legacy of seven consecutive noms for her "Seinfeld" work, including a win in 1996. Still, her giggly reaction to hearing Garrett read her name in the comedy actress category made it clear that getting an Emmy nom never gets old.

The supporting actor categories are a mix of old and new. Repeat nominees on the drama actor side include last year's winner, William Shatner for "Boston Legal," along with Oliver Platt for Showtime's "Huff," Alda of "West Wing" and Michael Imperioli for "The Sopranos." Gregory Itzin of "24" made sure that "West Wing's" Sheen wasn't the only actor nommed for playing the president of the United States this year. Itzin's on-air wife, Jean Smart, also earned a supporting drama actress bid for "24." Blythe Danner, last year's winner in the category for "Huff," is back in contention again in this category and in the comedy guest-star field for her turn on "Will & Grace." And Candice Bergen is up for Emmy honors once again, this time for "Boston Legal."

Jaime Pressly is the only cast member from NBC's "My Name Is Earl" to make an Emmy stand this year with her bid for supporting comedy actress. Elizabeth Perkins is the lone Emmy standout for Showtime's "Weeds" despite strong buzz for star Mary-Louise Parker. Mullally of "Will & Grace" and Cheryl Hines of "Curb" earned repeat mentions. Will Arnett of "Arrested" had it going on for supporting comedy actor. "Two and a Half Men's" Cryer earned his first bid. "Malcolm in the Middle's" Bryan Cranston, "Entourage's" Jeremy Piven and "Will & Grace's" Hayes were repeat nominees.

The longform acting categories are typically full of star power. Andre Braugher picked up his fifth career Emmy nom, for FX's mini "Thief." Charles Dance is a newcomer for PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" rendition of "Bleak House." Donald Sutherland made sure that Martin and Charlie Sheen aren't the only father-son act in this year's Emmy derby with his bid for Lifetime's "Human Trafficking," though Martin Sheen has the edge by earning a second nom for a guest shot on Charlie's sitcom. Jon Voight was recognized for his portrayal of the late pontiff on CBS' telefilm "Pope John Paul II."

Annette Bening, Kingsley's co-star in "Mrs. Harris," earned her first Emmy bid. Gillian Anderson, a winner in 1997 for Fox's "The X-Files," is up for "Bleak House." Kathy Bates has a shot at her first Emmy, after seven career noms, for Lifetime's "Ambulance Girl." Judy Davis bagged her ninth career bid, this time for Lifetime's "A Little Thing Called Murder." Helen Mirren's courtly presence brought her Emmy nom No. 9, this time for HBO's "Elizabeth I."

The drama and comedy series directing categories also are full of familiar names. HBO's "Big Love" earned its most prominent mention for director Rodrigo Garcia for the pilot episode. "Lost" director Jack Bender is up for the "Live Together, Die Alone" episode. Other drama director nominees are Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under"), Tim Van Patten ("The Sopranos"), David Nutter ("The Sopranos"), Jon Cassar ("24") and Mimi Leder ("West Wing"). "Entourage" earned comedy directing bids for Dan Attias and Julian Farino, who will compete with Marc Buckland ("My Name Is Earl"), Michael Patrick King ("The Comeback"), Robert Weide ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") and Craig Zisk ("Weeds").

"Arrested Development's" Chuck Tatham, Jim Vallely, Richard Day and Mitchell Hurwitz are carrying the flag for the show into a comedy series writing nom for the episode "Development Arrested." Greg Garcia is on the list for penning the pilot of "My Name Is Earl." "Entourage" creator Doug Ellin is up for the episode "Exodus." Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were recognized for HBO/BBC's "Extras," while Michael Schur is up for an episode of the American rendition of "The Office," the show Gervais and Merchant created.

Among drama writers, the show to beat is "Grey's Anatomy," which earned writing bids for series creator Shonda Rhimes and another for Krista Vernoff. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof are up for the "23rd Psalm" episode of "Lost." "Six Feet" creator Ball is up for the "Everyone's Waiting" finale episode. And what would the drama writing category be without a "Sopranos" contender? The nom glory this time around went to Terence Winter for the episode "Members Only."

Primetime Emmy winners in 63 categories will be presented Aug. 19 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The remaining 27 awards will be handed out Aug. 27 in a ceremony telecast live on NBC and hosted by Conan O'Brien.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002800830

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:29 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Some of the nominations and snubs are out of this world

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Friday, July 7, 2006

Oh, boy. Wool socks at Christmas again. And this time, with moth holes!

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences voting body must be composed of the nation's most bitter, clueless aunts and uncles, terrible gift-givers all. How else to explain this year's Emmy nominees, a list jampacked with canceled series, with actors and actresses who don't even deserve to be there?

They must not like us. Or, at the very least, they don't watch and value television in the same way that viewers do.

For starters, "Lost" is absent from the top categories, as is "The Shield." Winning last year didn't guarantee spots for "Boston Legal's" James Spader, "Medium's" Patricia Arquette or "Desperate Housewives' " Felicity Huffman. "House" and "The Sopranos" are both up for best drama, but Hugh Laurie, Edie Falco and James Gandolfini were snubbed.

But let's pause to list the positives. The 58th annual Primetime Emmys managed to bestow the highest number of nominations on a few series that deserved it. Perennial nominee "24" had an outstanding season deserving of its 12 nominations, including the ones for the best drama, a best actor nod for Kiefer Sutherland and a supporting actress notice for Jean Smart.

"Grey's Anatomy" came in second with 11 nods. Gripe about its soap operatics as much as you want, but the cast is terrific (Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson are up for supporting actress statues), and series creator Shonda Rhimes, nominated for writing, is at the top of her form.

Similarly welcome were nominations for "Scrubs" and "The Office" in the best comedy category, "Office" star Steve Carell for lead actor in a comedy, "The Closer's" Kyra Sedgwick for best actress in a drama, and "Rescue Me's" Denis Leary for best actor in a drama.

Mediocre miniseries "Into the West" received the most nominations for an individual program at 16, besting Masterpiece Theatre's superior "Bleak House," on the scoreboard (it pulled 10) if not in terms of quality. But "Into the West" was executive produced by Steven Spielberg, director of blockbusters, while "Bleak House" was adapted from a novel by Charles Dickens, dead and British. Guess which name has more juice.

Among networks, HBO topped the tally with 95 nominations, with ABC coming in a distant second with 64, CBS netted 47, NBC came in with 46, and Fox received 41. Showtime snagged 19, a record for the other premium channel.

What a poke in the eye it is to follow up a solid season like 2005-2006 with a list that lays laurels on the dead. Not even the fresh bodies, but the crusty, moldy deceased.

We say this every year, but seriously, it bears repeating -- it's doubtful that these people really watch much TV beyond the top three or four must-see series.

If they did, Lisa Kudrow would not be in sniffing distance of this list. Yet there she is, up for lead actress in a comedy for HBO's "The Comeback," which for this ex-"Friend," was anything but.

Kudrow's nomination played a small part in a limping funeral march that included cast members from the shriveled "Will & Grace" in various categories, along with dearly departeds "Six Feet Under" and "Arrested Development." Geena Davis ("Commander in Chief") and Stockard Channing ("Out of Practice") -- and by the way, why?!? -- received nods for two series that were pushed off cliffs.

Alfre Woodard was the sole nominee from the "Desperate Housewives" cast, up for supporting actress in a comedy. Emmy should have snubbed "Desperate's" rotten second season outright, but if a nod was to go to anyone, why not Huffman? Woodard, the victim of a shoddy story line, hardly made an impression.

Not every disappointment was as baffling as these because we've come to expect many of them. Putting "The West Wing" in contention has become a tradition for voters, and its final season received six nominations, including ones for Martin Sheen, Allison Janney and for outstanding drama. My gawd, how will voters fill the gaps next year?

Gee, how about taking a look at "Rescue Me" and "The Shield"? And two better alternatives to Sheen and Janney would have been Michael Chiklis and CCH Pounder. Or, and I know this sounds wild to people who don't actually watch television, but "Battlestar Galactica" and "Veronica Mars" are both excellent shows. Give 'em a whirl.

And since we know Emmy has no problem rewarding performances in series in their waning years, let's finally show some love for great work by "Gilmore Girls' " Lauren Graham and "Veronica's" Kristen Bell.

Get the hint, Emmy voters: A crappy gift is worse than none at all. We viewers have compiled reams of lists that spell out the series worth noticing. Next year, try paying attention.

Conan O'Brien hosts this year's primetime Emmy Awards show, which airs Sunday Aug. 27, on NBC. The earlier than usual air date is due to NBC's football commitment, which interferes with time slots in September.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/276719_emmys07.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:36 PM

Critic’s Notebook
''Monk''/''Psych''

By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

A new season of ''Monk'' begins tomorrow night, followed by another quirky detective in ''Psych.'' We've got our share of twitchy snoops right now -- ''Monk,'' ''Medium,'' ''The Closer,'' ''Ghost Whisperer'' -- but ''Psych'' may have the ultimate tic: none.

It involves a guy who has been well trained in observation (thanks to his policeman father), so well that he can figure out things no one else can. But, since no one believes you can simply observe the truth -- figure that no one on this show has ever read Sherlock Holmes -- he claims to be psychic. The weird is more plausible.

It's not a bad show, although the 90-minute premiere feels padded and the premise, once established, doesn't have very far to go. I have more hope for the father/son relationship as a reason to watch than I do for the sleuthing itself. Of course, I feel similarly about ''The Closer,'' engaged by the characters even when I'm bored by the mystery. And I always try to watch ''The Closer.''

I don't always watch ''Monk,'' even though I usually enjoy it when I do. And tomorrow night's premiere has some good things in it, notably in the way Monk has to deal with his grief over the loss of his wife, with an unlikely helper -- another version of himself.

That version is played by Stanley Tucci (who, you will remember, worked with Tony Shalhoub in ''Big Night''), as an actor preparing to play Monk in a movie. There's some fun stuff, as Monk's cohorts offer tips to Tucci on being Monk, and in the scenes where the two of them face that old grief. But there is also a lot of predictable material. After all, the actor-imitating-life thing has been done before on TV and in the movies, and the gag well is pretty dry.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:39 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Beating a dead horse:

Another Emmy lament
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” July 6, 2006

• Lauren Graham of “Gilmore Girls”
• Michael Chiklis and Forest Whitaker of “The Shield”
• Kenneth Johnson and Walton Goggins of “The Shield”
• Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell of “Battlestar Galactica”
• Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring of “Veronica Mars”
• Hugh Laurie of “House”
• Terry O'Quinn of "Lost"
• James Gandolfini and Edie Falco of “The Sopranos”
• Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman and Jessica Walter of “Arrested Development”
• Treat Williams and Gregory Smith of “Everwood”
• Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon of “Entourage”
• Neil Patrick Harris of “How I Met Your Mother”

Those are just a few of the deserving actors who were not nominated for acting Emmy awards this year. The writing staffs of many of those superlative shows were shut out as well. Those sigh-inducing travesties occurred despite rule changes meant to ensure that a wider variety of shows and actors get nominations.

Oh, Emmy. Why did you have to break my heart again!?

What actors and shows do you think should have been nominated? Leave your thoughts in the comments area here. Maybe on Aug. 27, the day of the Emmy ceremony, I'll hand out some Watchie Awards -- to the people who should have been nominated by the television academy this year.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:42 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Try, Try Again:

By John Eggerton bcbeat.com Jul 6 2006

King of Queens, West Wing, Will & Grace. Six Feet Under, Arrested Development, Malcolm in the Middle, Commander in Chief. All those shows are now six feet under or close but all got Emmy nods, sometime to the exclusion of fresher fare.

Since when did the Emmys become posthumous awards. Maybe it should be changed to 'ME,' as in "medical examiner" for all the cold bodies getting the the Academy's attention.

I actually applaud the recognition that something had to be done to keep the awards from becoming like a Friars Club roast, with the same faces showing up year after year, only older. But the new review-board approach didn't appear to cure that problem when the nominations were announced Thursday.

The Academy is in danger of inadvertently spinning the gold of TV's new golden age into a straw man version of its iconic statue (OK, that's a metaphorical stretch, but you get my meaning). Of course, having moved the awards to the ratings doldrums of Aug. 27, maybe nobody will notice.

Yes, there were some new faces, but between those and the ones headed for the undertaker's cosmotologist, there were some glaring omissions. No Shield, no Lost, no Hugh Laurie. No Hugh Laurie? Not even a nod for TV's reining tour de force performance. A part to autopsy a cat in?

House would be called The Hugh Laurie Show if they named shows after stars anyore, and it is one of the best shows on TV, as loyal readers of my ramblings will have heard before.

I was pleased to see that Martin Sheen was nomninated for the drama award he has never won but should have, but without Laurie in the running it would be a hollow victory if he won, which he probably won't.

No actor from Sopranos gets a nod, while 24 gets a dozen. I like 24, but it is salted peanuts to Sopranos Smokehouse brand flavored almonds.

The Academy is right that something needs to be done. But this isn't quite it.

http://broadcastingcable.com/blog/1380000138.html

fredfa

07-06-06, 10:51 PM

(keenan: please note the bottom of the sixth paragraph)

Emmy Awards Notebook
Lost in the Emmy shuffle

By Robert Bianco USA Today July 6, 2006

Leave it to the Emmys to find a new way to make bad decisions.

After years of criticism for churning out the same old choices, the Emmys changed its voting procedure this year, using special panels to pick the nominees from a list of 10 to 15 finalists provided by the voting membership. The hope was that the change would lead the Emmys to recognize newer shows and smaller networks and the actors who work there.

Unfortunately, the result is a group of nominees that, though clearly different, is also in its own peculiarly random way even worse. Which, come to think of it, is exactly what we should have expected.

After all, it isn't enough to change the voting procedure. You have to change the academy voters themselves, who continue to be bizarrely out of touch with viewers and critics alike — disconnected from the season and addicted to old shows and odd choices.

Really, you almost have to give the voters credit. It can't have been easy for the panels to avoid so many of the shows and performances people actually talked about this season in favor of The West Wing, Will & Grace, and Law & Order: SVU.

As for the hope that the new procedures would open the Emmys up to new networks, the results are spotty at best. Denis Leary was justly rewarded for his incredible star turn in FX's Rescue Me, and thank goodness for that. But the change did nothing to help WB or UPN, or to stop the academy from once again snubbing Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars — not to mention the Sci Fi powerhouse Battlestar Galactica.

Though this was no doubt not the intent, splitting the nominations into panels inevitably led to some truly nonsensical split decisions. I'm glad the best-drama panel picked House — but how can the Emmys justify nominating House without nominating Hugh Laurie, who basically is the show? What were they rewarding, the set?

Then there's the year's most outrageous omission: the failure to nominate ABC's Lost, which won last year and should have been a front-runner this year

And though it's possible that the ensemble nature of the show hurt the chances of the individual stars, it's impossible to explain how voters decided that the only actor who merited a nod was Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond.

Indeed, it was a mixed morning for ABC, which gained nominations for Grey's Anatomy (though not as many as the show deserved) but lost them for Lost and Desperate Housewives. True, Housewives had a bad year, but that's no excuse for snubbing Felicity Huffman — or, stranger still, for nominating Alfre Woodard, a terrific actress who had virtually nothing of interest to do all year, and certainly nothing comic. It's as if the voters went out of their way to slap the show.

But then, how can you make sense out of a comedy list that shafted Everybody Hates Chris and shortchanged My Name Is Earl and the show's fabulous star, Jason Lee?

And though it's impolite to rain on anyone's Emmy parade, you have to think even King of Queens' Kevin James was shocked to see himself nominated over such more expected choices as Lee, Jason Bateman, Zach Braff and Ricky Gervais. In fact, in terms of shock value, James ranks just ahead of the choice of SVU's Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni over Sopranos stars Edie Falco and James Gandolfini.

Still, as always, there were pleasant surprises. Along with Leary's nomination, I was particularly pleased by the nominations for Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jaime Pressly (two of the precious few nominations that went to first-year shows).

And I was happy to see good work recognized from Jean Smart, Sandra Oh, Chandra Wilson, Stockard Channing, Bryan Cranston, Gregory Itzin and Jon Cryer — though how Cryer's starring role in Two and a Half Men falls into the supporting category escapes me.

But then with the Emmys, escape may be the wisest choice.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/televisionawards/emmys/2006-07-06-emmy-analysis_x.htm

fredfa

07-07-06, 12:32 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Roush Dispatch

Shock Waves at the Emmys
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic

For years, we’ve bitched and moaned about the sameness of the Emmy nominations. You know the arguments: once nominated, always nominated. Impossible to tell one year’s list from another.

Well, you’d never make that accusation after looking at this year’s strange brew of nominees.

Shocking doesn’t begin to describe a list that fails to include so many presumed front-runners.

In what would look like an ABC backlash if not for the strong showing of breakthough hit Grey’s Anatomy, the Emmys snubbed both last year’s drama winner Lost (a travesty) and the show that should have won best comedy a year ago (Desperate Housewives, which admittedly had a subpar second season).

You could hear jaws drop from coast to coast, including in the homes of many a TV fan who had hoped the change in nominating rules would allow some underdogs and perennial also-rans into the mix.

Somehow I don’t imagine we were expecting Kevin James and Christopher Meloni to be the ones to benefit, while Lauren Graham, Kristen Bell and Battlestar Galactica once again came up empty.

There’s something random and maddening in nearly every major category. At a loss to know where to start, let’s just take them one by one.

Best Drama: The Lost snub is as appalling as Grey’s Anatomy’s triumph is heartening. (Go, Chandra Wilson!) 24, coming off what many (including me) consider its best season ever, is the year’s most-nominated series. That’s a good thing. The Sopranos, while disappointing many fans, is a solid choice. So, for that matter, is the resurgent (except in ratings) final season of The West Wing. Unfortunately, that show represents a depressing trend on this Emmy list of honoring shows that are no longer with us. This year’s Emmy show is going to look more like a funeral than a celebration. While I’m thrilled that House made the cut, how can they justify leaving its brilliant star Hugh Laurie off the best-actor list? Just one of many head-scratchers. (My prediction to win: Grey’s or 24.)

Best Comedy: I expected NBC to have three comedies on the list: Scrubs (check), The Office (check), My Name Is Earl (Whaaa? Where’d it go?). How the season’s best and most consistently funny new comedy was ignored is a mystery almost as great as how Two and a Half Men made the cut. HBO is always guaranteed a slot, but I hoped it would go to Entourage over Curb Your Enthusiasm (no such luck). In the dearly departed category, I’m glad Arrested Development got one last nod over Will & Grace. (My prediction to win: The Office.)

Comedy Actor: With Jason Lee and Zach Braff not in the running, I’ve mentally checked out of this category. Steve Carell and multiple winner Tony Shalhoub were locks. Larry David represents Hollywood’s love affair with Curb, while Charlie Sheen and Kevin James (finally emerging from Raymond’s shadow) show that work on more traditional comedies still counts for something. (My prediction to win: Steve Carell.)

Comedy Actress: What a mess. The Housewives backlash should never have gone so far as to exclude Marcia Cross’ brilliant work. An outrage. For Stockard Channing (not at her best in the late Out of Practice) and Debra Messing to make it in over Cross, Weeds’ Mary-Louise Parker and of course the eternally passed-over Lauren Graham is just baffling. Kudos, though, to The Comeback’s Lisa Kudrow (a great performance in a flawed show) and to Old Christine herself, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, for kicking the Seinfeld curse. Jane Kaczmarek? She was still on TV? (My prediction to win: hard to know or to care. But I’ll go with Kudrow for now.)

Drama Actor: Christopher Meloni and Peter Krause each had classic “Emmy” episodes (Krause died in his), but that doesn’t justify unseating the likes of Hugh Laurie and James Gandolfini.

(No tears shed here, though, for the omission of James Spader, this category’s winner the last two years.) Martin Sheen gets one last chance at the statue, but he’ll have to beat Kiefer Sutherland and Denis Leary, who are both magnificent. (My prediction to win: at long last, Sutherland.)

Drama Actress: Yesterday, I would have said no one can touch Edie Falco. Guess I was right. No one can touch her, because she’s not even nominated! Unbelievable.

Instead, three actresses from defunct series make the list (Allison Janney and Frances Conroy —again — and president Geena Davis), alongside repeat nominee Mariska Hargitay and cable’s Kyra Sedgwick.

I’m sorry Ellen Pompeo, so undervalued as the emotional wreck at the core of Grey’s Anatomy, was passed over. And I wonder if Allison DuBois saw former winner Patricia Arquette’s snub coming. (My prediction to win: a so-what toss-up led by Sedgwick.)

Supporting Actor/Actress, Drama: Let’s praise 24’s Jean Smart and Gregory Itzin above all others. (Smart’s strong competition are Sandra Oh and the marvelous Chandra Wilson of Grey’s Anatomy, as well as Emmy faves Blythe Danner and Candice Bergen.) Ironically, Itzen’s strongest adversary is Alan Alda's would-be president, unless William Shatner can make it three in a row for his deranged Denny Crane.

]Jeremy Piven of Entourage leads the male pack, though Bryan Cranston has deserved one for years as Malcolm’s wacky dad. And how exactly is Jon Cryer a supporting player in Two and a Half Men? Seems like cheating to me.
(Nice surprise, though, for Will Arnett to be noticed in the Arrested ensemble.)

In the actress field, Earl’s sole nominee, Jaime Pressly, is my fave. (The biggest puzzlement is how Alfre Woodard scored a nomination as Housewives’ weakest link.)

Finally, in the [b]reality-competition category, how satisfying is it to see ABC’s guilty pleasure Dancing with the Stars trump NBC’s The Apprentice for the fifth slot? Could this be the year Survivor, American Idol or even the delicious Project Runway beats The Amazing Race, now vulnerable because of the collapse of its family edition?

That’s at least an interesting question, which is more than I can say for the messy confusion generated by so many of the other major categories this year.

http://community.tvguide.com/forum.jspa?forumID=700000048

SnakeEyes

07-07-06, 12:37 AM

Has anyone seen any more about the World Cup ratings of the past week on ABC/ESPN?

keenan

07-07-06, 12:57 AM

(keenan: please note the bottom of the sixth paragraph)

Emmy Awards Notebook
Lost in the Emmy shuffle

By Robert Bianco USA Today July 6, 2006

But the change did nothing to help WB or UPN, or to stop the academy from once again snubbing Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars — not to mention the Sci Fi powerhouse Battlestar Galactica.

Yeah, he's just covering his butt after reading my earlier post. :p

fredfa

07-07-06, 01:03 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
'24' and 'Grey's Anatomy' Are Among Leaders as Emmy Nominations Are Announced

By Edward Wyatt The New York Times July 7, 2006

LOS ANGELES, July 6 — Big-network hits like ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," which garnered its first nomination for best drama, and Fox's "24," which received its fifth, were among the shows that led the list of nominees for the 58th annual prime-time Emmy Awards, announced here this morning.

The thriller "24," which each season follows Agent Jack Bauer through a single action-packed day, led all series with 12 nominations, while "Grey's Anatomy," a feelings-laden medical drama, followed with 11. The nominations were heavily populated by shows and performers who will not be back in the next television season.

An effort by the overseers of the awards to shake up the nominating system and improve the chances of previously unrecognized actors and shows produced mixed results.

Frequent nominees who have not previously won in their current roles — like Frances Conroy of "Six Feet Under," Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcolm in the Middle" and Martin Sheen of "The West Wing" — joined first-time nominees like Charlie Sheen of "Two and a Half Men," Steve Carell of "The Office" and Kevin James of "The King of Queens."

But neither of last year's big winners — the castaway mystery "Lost" and the vixenish comedy "Desperate Housewives" — received a nomination for best show in its category, although each received nominations for lesser awards.

"You can definitely feel a difference in the list of nominees from the last couple of years," said Denis Leary, who garnered his first nomination for best actor in a drama series for his role as a New York City firefighter in "Rescue Me," now in its third season on FX.

"It's good to know you can be on a show on FX and included in the mix with the big shows that have a lot of money behind them," Mr. Leary added.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences added a step to the nominating process this year, using a special screening panel to choose the five nominees from among the top 10 or 15 shows or actors as voted on by the broader membership.

The TNT mini-series "Into the West" led all nominees with 16 bids. The HBO mini-series "Elizabeth I" followed closely with 13. That helped HBO continue its annual lead among all television outlets, with 95 nominations, while among the broadcast networks, ABC led the way with 63 nominations.

The Emmys will be presented here on Aug. 27.

The nominees for best drama, in addition to "24" and "Grey's Anatomy," were "House," the Fox medical drama; "The West Wing," which ended its seven-season run on NBC in May; and "The Sopranos," which returned to HBO this year after a layoff of more than a year. "The West Wing" won best drama four straight years, from 2000 through 2003, while "The Sopranos" won the award in 2004.

The finalists for best comedy series included "Arrested Development" (Fox), which won best comedy in 2004 but was canceled after its third season; "Scrubs" (NBC), which will return as a midseason replacement; and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," the HBO series starring Larry David, which is expected to return.

Also nominated for best comedy series are "The Office," the NBC sleeper, whose audience grew last season, and "Two and a Half Men" (CBS). Missing from the list was NBC's "My Name Is Earl," which won praise from critics and had a larger audience than "The Office."

Mr. David also received a nomination for best actor in a comedy series, his third, along with three first-time nominees — Charlie Sheen, Mr. Carell and Mr. James — and Tony Shalhoub, who has won twice for his role as a detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder on the USA series "Monk."

Only one of the nominees for best actress in a comedy series has previously won for her current role. Debra Messing, who won in 2003 for NBC's "Will & Grace," is joined by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a previous winner for her role as Elaine on "Seinfeld" and now in her first year as the star of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" on CBS; Lisa Kudrow, a previous winner for supporting actress for "Friends," now nominated for her role in the canceled HBO mockumentary "The Comeback"; Stockard Channing, a two-time Emmy winner for supporting actress, nominated for her lead role in "Out of Practice," an almost invisible CBS comedy; and Ms. Kaczmarek, who earned her seventh straight nomination for Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle."

Four actresses either new to a series or with multiple nominations without a victory made the list for best actress in a drama. Geena Davis was nominated for her role as the first female president on ABC's "Commander in Chief," which won critical acclaim but not enough fans to keep it from being canceled. And Kyra Sedgwick received her first nomination for the TNT drama "The Closer."

Also nominated, for the third year in a row, was Mariska Hargitay, for NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and, for the fourth time in five years, Frances Conroy, for HBO's now-finished series "Six Feet Under." Allison Janney, who has won four Emmys for her role on NBC's "West Wing," rounded out the field.

In addition to Mr. Leary, nominees for best actor in a drama include Christopher Meloni, who received his first nomination for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"; Kiefer Sutherland, who received his fifth straight nomination for "24"; Peter Krause, with his third nomination for "Six Feet Under"; and Martin Sheen, named for the sixth time for his role as President Josiah Bartlet on "The West Wing."

Two families were represented more than once in the nominations: Mr. Sheen, for a guest role on "Two and a Half Men," which stars his son Charlie Sheen, who received his own best actor bid for a comedy. And Kiefer Sutherland's father, Donald Sutherland, was nominated for best actor in a mini-series or movie for "Human Trafficking" on Lifetime.

While several shows and performers who previously had not been nominated apparently benefited from the new system, others were still left out. Among them is the popular "Gilmore Girls," the WB series that has won a makeup award but has received no other nominations. Hugh Laurie, the critically praised star of "House," was also snubbed.

Arguably, however, the new procedures did mean the nominations were more widely spread. While "The Sopranos" was nominated for best drama, neither of its lead performers, both previous winners, received a bid this year. Nor did any of the lead performer nominations go to "Desperate Housewives" or "Lost." Many fans of "Desperate Housewives" complained this year that the series had lost some of the pizazz that marked its debut season.

Both "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" remained among the most-watched shows this year, but the most popular shows do not always win Emmys. "American Idol," the Fox juggernaut in the reality series category, has lost for three years running to CBS's "Amazing Race." It will get another chance, in a field that this year includes "Project Runway" (Bravo), "Survivor" (CBS) and "Dancing With the Stars" (ABC).

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/arts/television/07emmy.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

07-07-06, 01:07 AM

Sports Media and Business
OLN Sizing Up Impact of the Post-Lance Era

By Richard Sandomir The New York Times July 7, 2006

When OLN acquired the rights to the Tour de France in 2001, Lance Armstrong had already won two in a row. As he won each of the next five, OLN built its coverage increasingly around him. He was the "cyclysm," the star of "The Lance Chronicles," the face of a channel emerging from its hunting and fishing roots, the star of a network without any others.

• Because of cycling's low profile in the United States, he dominated his sport more than Michael Jordan did pro basketball and Tiger Woods does golf. For casual viewers, there was no other face of cycling than Lance.

Now that Armstrong is in retirement, his impact on OLN is even clearer now that the network must rely on possible American successors whose first names don't resonate like Lance: Levi, George and Floyd.

Through the first four stages, viewership of OLN's live Tour coverage has tumbled 49 percent to 207,544 people. Combined viewership of the live show and its daily repeats has plunged by 47 percent to 749,472. At the same time, online traffic at olntv.com has spiked with the addition of more video.

A further look at past trends shows that viewership for the first four days swelled by 135 percent, from 171,975 in 2002 to 403,802 last year.

If the downward pattern continues through the Tour's end, Armstrong's impact will exceed what happened to the N.B.A. finals after Jordan's first two retirements. In 1994, viewership of the Knicks-Houston series tumbled 37 percent to 17.3 million. In 1999, the Knicks-Spurs finals slumped by 45 percent to 16 million. The league has not approached the Jordan peaks, leading to the obvious conclusion that the Airness Era was a great statistical aberration as, almost certainly, the Armstrong years were

Gavin Harvey, the president of OLN, said the Tour's decline in viewership through Stage 4 "is within the range of where we thought it would be."

"We've talked about this for two years, both the Lance effect and the post-Lance era," he said.

Armstrong's absence is compounded by the Spanish investigation into a drug ring that forced the withdrawals from the Tour of several competitors, including the cyclists who finished second (Ivan Basso), third (Jan Ullrich), fourth (Francisco Mancebo) and fifth (Alexander Vinokourov) to Armstrong last year. Vinokourov was not implicated in the investigation, but the ouster of five of his teammates left him with too small a team to continue.

"As a business executive, we all have to deal with doping in sports," Harvey said. "You can't wish for clean competition and push for clean athletes, then all be dramatically disappointed when certain athletes are pushed out of these races. We have to move on and focus on what we have."

Watching the Tour now is a peculiar experience, with no Lance in the pack. Even if he was not leading, he was the center of attention with the OLN crew. Where was he? How would he do in the mountains? How fast would he be in the sprints? Yet, at the same time, there is normalcy, the leveling of a field that had been skewed so long that it obscured the larger Tour universe.

Bob Roll, an OLN commentator, agreed that having Armstrong win every Tour since the seventh year of the Clinton administration was a wonderful albatross for a network that reaches just under 70 million homes. "It was a windfall, like winning the lottery," he said by phone from Vitré, France, where today's Stage 6 will end. "There's no way to overcalculate his impact on the American audience. Without Lance, we wouldn't be where we are."

But, he added: "From a competitive, tactical standpoint, it will perhaps be more exciting without him, because you can't identify an unequivocal favorite. Rather than chase one story, there are 5 to 10 stories to tell."

OLN took heat from hard-core fans, said Harvey, for morphing into the Only Lance Network. (Soon it will change, simply, into Versus.)

In its first post-Lance Tour, OLN appears to have improved and balanced its coverage. By being less focused on Armstrong, it has moved beyond its yellow jersey fixation to enhanced interest in the green one (for best sprinter), the white (best young rider) and polka dot (best mountain climber).

The graphics have also improved to keep better track of the riders' standings and to provide enhanced readings of several cyclists' heartbeats, power output and stress caused by the race.

• Armstrong has not disappeared from OLN. He is still there in reruns of "The Lance Chronicles" and in segments from a recent interview that will be inserted into each day's coverage. And Armstrong is a major part of a sweepstakes created by the Discovery Channel, which sponsors the team he raced for and partly owns, which will culminate in a contestant joining the Discovery team for the U.S. Pro Championship in September.

Meanwhile, the absent Lance did not keep CBS Sports away from the Tour; its Sunday coverage will return, with Bob Neumeier as the host.

"The race keeps rolling," Roll said, "and Lance would be the first to say that time waits for no one."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/sports/othersports/07sandomir.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

07-07-06, 01:17 AM

And now, finally, some contrarian points of view:

Emmy Award Notebook
Emmy Reax: 3 Experts' Smackdown

By Tom O’Neil Los Angeles Times Staff Writer In “The Gold Derby” Award blog

I asked two Envelope forum moderators, who are also brilliant Emmy experts — Chris Beachum ("Boomer") and Robert Licuria (former nickname "Xanadu") — to share their reactions to Emmy nominations.

When I read what they wrote, I found myself disagreeing so passionately, that I decided to jump into the mix and stir up one of our famous Envelope/GoldDerby fights. (You know how much I love those!)

Robert Licuria: First of all, ATAS has got to get rid of the panels. They made so many bad and — may I say? — unpopular choices. Yes, this is not a popularity contest, but, wow, so many left-field choices. And it seems that the panels didn't help marginal networks, just marginal shows on the big 4 nets.

Chris Beachum (Boomer): Totally agreed. Some of these nominees are among the worst ever, and this will no doubt be the lowest-rated Emmy Awards of all time. On the comedy side, you actually brought up a good point recently. Live audience shows (as opposed to single-camera shows) would do better with Emmy voters. You were right.

Tom O’Neil: I think these are some of the gutsiest and best Emmy nominations ever. I agree that they failed to achieve their goal to boost shows on those alternative networks like the WB, UPN, FX, TNT, USA and Showtime, but there's not a single nominee that doesn't deserve to be on the list. Some of the choices are kooky, sure, but marvelously courageous — like Stockard Channing in "Out of Practice," Lisa Kudrow in "The Comeback" and Geena Davis in "Commander in Chief." I just love it when the Emmys totally go their own way and don't care if a show's canceled.

Robert Licuria: For Drama Series, no "Lost" - these are a good mix. I'm happy about them overall, except, "Six Feet Under" did so well elsewhere. It deserves to be here.

Chris Beachum (Boomer): I actually got 4 out of 5 correct on my predictions in this category but am not shocked by a final goodbye to "The West Wing."" There are such discrepancies, though. How do the shows "House" and "Sopranos" make it in the big category but their biggest reasons for success (Laurie, Gandolfini and Falco) are snubbed? How do they NOT nominate last year's winner Lost? In fact,"Lost" got majorly snubbed today with only one acting nom — for Desmond of all people.

Tom O’Neil: Look at all of the nice things you guys are saying about the drama nominees, in general. Sounds like you're starting to agree with me! But, personally, I weep no tears over the snub of "Lost." All five shows that beat it to the drama lineup are superior, I truly believe. Do agree with Chris, though, about snubs for Laurie, Gandolfini and Falco. Sad, sad, sad. Look at the bright side: that terrif nom for Denis Leary!

Robert Licuria: Good for Denis Leary (poster child for the new system along with Lauren Graham). But no Gandolfini and Falco is just embarassing. Really.

Chris Beachum (Boomer) : Completely embarassing snubs, but there is an embarassment of riches in the drama field overall, so I think most of these nominees are deserving. I am amazed that both of last year's winners (Patricia Arquette and James Spader) were left out. Geena Davis was good, but come on? Martin Sheen and Allison Janney come back from nowhere?

Robert Licuria: The supportings in drama were very good selections; more akin to what we expected. Some "Huff," some "Sopranos." Disappointed to not see Lauren Ambrose and Rachel Griffiths.

Chris Beachum (Boomer): Of course the supporting categories were not involved in the new voting system, and they are some of the best nominees to be found. Michael Imperioli becomes the only "Sopranos" performer nominated this year (and the least deserving). I am so pleased to see Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart as the first non-Sutherland actors recognized for "24."

Robert Licuria: Comedy offered plenty of shockers: No Housewives. No Entourage (a lesser shock). Two and a Half Men? Wow. Thrilled about The Office and Scrubs.

Tom O’Neil: The best thing about the comedy lineup is that it ended up paying overdue homage to traditional knee-slappers often dismissed as silly sitcoms: like "Two and a Half Men" and "King of Queens." When TV pros sitting on judging panels looked at them up close, voters ended up giving those shows the recognition they probably deserve. That fabulous curmudgeon TV critic Robert Bianco of USA Today keeps telling us that "Two and a Half Men" is really a great show and it's time that we all woke up. Now Emmy voters are backing him up. Maybe we should admit that they might be right.

Chris Beachum (Boomer): Well, many of us had suspected that the new system might not favor a non-traditional "comedy" like Desperate Housewives. Curb Your Enthusiasm over Entourage is no big surprise, either (since HBO was going to get at least one slot). I'm glad to see the gone-but-beloved Arrested Development was remembered. The Office and Scrubs are incredible choices. The voters finally woke up and booted an undeserving Will and Grace. Actually, this category is not bad at all.

Tom O’Neil: Yay, Boomer!

Robert Licuria: The comedy leads include Stockard Channing? Kevin James? No Housewives? No Mary-Louise Parker? Wow. On the other hand, ecstatic to see Lisa Kudrow, Jane Kaczmarek and Julia Louis-Dreyfus here.

Chris Beachum (Boomer): Yes, here is where the wheels come off the Emmy cart. The fact that the Lead Actress category has four (count them, four) out of five ladies from CANCELLED shows. The only one still on TV is JLD. I can live without the Housewives in this category, but the snub of Mary-Louise Parker is unforgiveable. The same goes for Jason Lee and Zach Braff (especially for low-grade performers like Kevin James and Charlie Sheen).

Tom O’Neil: The fact that 4 out of the 5 funny ladies are from canceled shows is what is so GREAT about the Emmys! Shows what great guts Emmy voters have and how little value they put on Nielsens when they look at shows carefully. I agree with you and it's bad news that Mary-Louise Parker and Zach Braff weren't nommed. I'm really bummed about that.

Robert Licuria: The supporting comedy lineups have lots of omissions, but the most embarrassing nod is Alfre Woodard. All due respect, but it looks so bad when she is the only Housewife nodded.

Chris Beachum (Boomer): I think even Alfre is embarrassed by this nomination (and probably her time spent on Wisteria Lane, for that matter). On the plus side, the mass Emmy voting public (which did a better job than the panels), finally chose to honor Will Arnett over Jeffrey Tambor, plus Jeremy Piven (who will win), Jaime Pressly and Elizabeth Perkins. Good job, mass voters (except for Woodard)!

Tom O’Neil: Good job, mass voters for picking Woodard!

Chris Beachum (Boomer): In conclusion, the new system certainly "worked" (if by worked we mean showed its ugly teeth), but it needs a major overhaul by next summer. Maybe they should try some sort of combination between the popular vote and the panel vote. Combine them together to get a better representative feel of what the Academy members want to nominate. Also, this Emmy show will feel much more like a farewell party with so many cancelled or retired shows and stars ("West Wing," "Commander-in-Chief," "Six Feet Under," "Huff," "Arrested Development," "Will & Grace," "The Comeback," "Out of Practice," "Malcolm in the Middle"). Farewell to the relevance of the Emmys, too, if they can't get their act together next time.

Tom O’Neil: I agree that the Emmys need to tweak the new panel system. Clearly, they didn't get the result they wanted. But these results are worthy and, most important of all, they're noble and eye-opening and fascinating and good. Emmy leaders had the best intentions and they tried something new, daring and heroic and I applaud them for it. Except for snubbing "Desperate Housewives." It had another brilliant past season — the TV critics are wrong, wrong, wrong.

http://goldderby.latimes.com/

fredfa

07-07-06, 01:33 AM

Obituary
Top Soap Star in Shock “Suicide”

“As World Turns” Star Found Shot
By Cynthia R. Fagan and Robert Rorke The New York Post

July 6, 2006 -- Award-winning soap star Benjamin Hendrickson - who played Hal Munson, the hard-bitten police chief with a tender heart on CBS's "As the World Turns" - shot himself in the head in an apparent suicide, police and cast members said yesterday.

The 55-year-old Long Island native, who friends said had been depressed since the death of his mother from cancer in 2003, was found dead in his Huntington home on Saturday.

Hendrickson had been filming scenes in which his TV daughter is dying - and that may have been the final straw as he fought his own real-life depression.

It was not known if he left a note.

"He was a marvelous and gifted man," said longtime cast member Ellen Dolan, who plays Margo Hughes, a detective sidekick. "I just know him to be a wonderful man with a big heart - we are all part of a tight family here. I am just heartbroken."

Hendrickson, who was single, had played the stolid police chief since 1985 and won a Daytime Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in 2003, around the same time his mother died after a long illness.

In his acceptance speech, the balding actor joked he always believed the award went to actors with the best hair.

But he dedicated the trophy to his mother.

"To my mom, who scrimped and saved to send me to Juilliard to study the classics - I'm sorry," he quipped.

Hendrickson was a member of the first graduating drama class of Juilliard alongside Kevin Kline and Patti LuPone.

He also was a founder of The Acting Company with John Houseman.

But his best-known work was on the daytime soaps.

"His character was a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, a salt-of-the-earth character and the women fell for him," said one soap source.

The veteran actor, who once appeared in Broadway's "The Elephant Man," divided his time between his Upper West Side home and his home on Long Island, where he loved to go fishing.

"Benjamin always joked that he was hired for one day. Then, before he knew it, he'd impregnated the leading lady and had to sign a contract," said executive producer Christopher Goutman. "How lucky for us and the fans we had him for 21 years."

Yesterday, during the taping of the show, there were technical difficulties that delayed production, Dolan said. "I blame it all on him," she quipped.

Some of the cast and crew had been unaware of Hendrickson's shocking suicide because of the Fourth of July holiday.

The beloved soap star had his ups and downs during his 20-year tenure with the show.

He briefly quit in 2004 over a contract dispute, but close friends said it also gave him time to mourn the passing of his mother.

Hendrickson's last appearance on the show will be July 12.

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/top_soap_star_in_shock_suicide_nationalnews_cynthia_r__fagen ________and_robert_rorke.htm

fredfa

07-07-06, 01:43 AM

TV Q&A
Ask Matt

(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic

Question: What do you think of the networks' new Sunday lineups? First, I think NBC will undoubtedly improve thanks to Sunday Night Football, but not so dramatically that it will beat ABC or CBS. I seem to remember that Monday Night Football on ABC constantly took a backseat to CBS and declined in the ratings for several seasons. I've heard many analysts claim CBS will give ABC a run for its money on Sundays, but I don't see that happening, either.

CBS will now have Without a Trace to fall back on, but Trace is lacking a CSI lead-in, and it was down 10 percent in the 18-to-49 demo this past season. That, coupled with a weaker lead-in from Cold Case, will result in big declines for Without a Trace. I also think CBS made a grave error in placing The Amazing Race at 8 pm/ET. This past season Race was down by double-digit proportions, and I highly doubt it will now find an audience against Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Sunday Night Football. The Amazing Race isn't the hit that CBS would like to think it is. Cold Case will likely suffer when it faces off against ABC's still-strong Desperate Housewives. If anything, Case's demo ratings will be greatly affected. I don't see Fox or CW in the Sunday game this season. Both will continue to air their artillery of mediocre comedies.

I think ABC will still dominate on Sundays, albeit not as much as a year ago. While Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Desperate Housewives were down this past season, both shows are still forces to be reckoned with. Housewives will be especially potent if it gets back on track. I also think ABC will win the 10 pm/ET hour with Brothers & Sisters, which is not only compatible with Housewives, but also has a well-known cast. What do you think? — Ryan

Matt Roush: Whew. Been giving this much thought, Ryan? My take on the overall Sunday picture in the fall goes like this: It's a strong night, where there's truly something for just about everyone. Good for most of the networks, good for us.

With football on NBC, and CBS scrapping the movie franchise for a one-two crime-drama combo, both networks are likely to improve greatly on the night, and possibly not even at the expense of ABC. As noted above, Desperate Housewives is popular even when it isn't very good, and will likely do just fine, as will Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I do agree it's risky to put Amazing Race opposite another established reality hit (although of a different subcategory), but even that feels like counterprogramming to me. Not every show has to win every time period to be considered a success.

If Cold Case and Without a Trace improve CBS' position that night, which is almost certain to happen, even if the demographics skew older (which they will, as often happens with CBS), it will still look like a victory.

And don't underestimate the power of prime-time football, especially with NBC getting to cherry-pick many of the best matchups (at least that's my understanding — not my specialty). For the first half of the season, while football dominates Sunday nights, I wonder if Fox's male-skewing animated comedies will suffer.
Probably not by so much that it will affect those shows in the long run.

The biggest question mark on Sundays is Brothers & Sisters. Just being serialized isn't enough to make it compatible with Housewives. Like Grey's Anatomy, this show has to be fun to watch. If it isn't, it could end up losing a lot of that spectacular lead-in, as opposed to Grey's, which often improved on Housewives' audience (because, frankly, it was a better show).

All in all, this is one of the more fascinating and competitive nights of the week (and we haven't even mentioned HBO or basic cable), with plenty of interesting face-offs to follow and, needless to say, shows to watch.

________________________________________

Question: I have some big TV issues for next fall, since I think every network has come up with good and interesting concepts for new shows. But I don't have the time or energy to keep track of every single program.

For example, on Mondays I have Heroes against Vanished and Two and a Half Men, and later, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is in the same time slot as CSI: Miami. Tuesdays are even more confusing: Boston Legal, Smith and Law & Order: SVU are all at the same time. Wednesdays are not easy, since Kidnapped and The Nine both look great.

Last season you were right about the supernatural race by supporting Invasion (although it was canceled, I enjoyed it very much), so hopefully you can help me out this time as well. Also, I would like to congratulate you on your Everwood review. The words, feelings and ideas were as beautiful as the show itself. — Terrence

Matt Roush: Thanks for that last mention. The Everwood send-off was a painful pleasure to write. As for the fall face-offs: It's a bit early for me to be handicapping shows on a qualitative basis. I'd rather wait until I see how they are presented at the upcoming TCA press tour and give some of the pilots another look-see before committing myself for fall-preview purposes.

But from what I've seen so far, I would say that on Mondays I'll be focused mainly on Fox and CBS in the early hours, switching to Studio 60 at the 10 pm/ET hour, which is excellent if risky counterprogramming against the CSI: Miami juggernaut (an enthusiasm I find increasingly hard to share with each excessively preposterous season).

Tuesdays, in that 10 pm/ET hour, I'll likely do what I always do: stick with FX, catching SVU on occasion. (The verdict on Smith was polarized in our offices — some loved it, some hated it — and I'm waiting to hear how the producers explain that show before I comment further.)

On Wednesday at 10, it's not really close. The Nine is one of my fave pilots of the new season so far. Kidnapped has an excellent cast that somewhat overcomes an awfully familiar setup. I'll need to see more of that (and of Vanished, which has a more compelling story but a weaker cast) before making a final call, although, as I said, I'm already hooked on The Nine.

________________________________________

Question: Deadwood is the most bittersweet TV-viewing experience I'm having this year. This season is shaping up to be the best so far, in terms of the characters and plot. Shows are always at their most dramatic when you give the main characters challenges and adversaries worthy of their steel. George Hearst definitely qualifies, as he's not intimidated by Al or Seth and has done some bully work of his own. I'm savoring every minute of this show, but it always hurts when the hour is up and I turn off the TV and realize that this is almost it. I'm still stunned that HBO canceled such a wonderful masterpiece. What are your thoughts on the season thus far, and do you think Deadwood has a shot at the Emmys? Also, if the two movies do air next year as promised, will they be eligible in the series or TV-movie category? — Ryan

Matt Roush: Couldn't agree more. Deadwood and Entourage are at the top of this summer's TV food chain, and Deadwood in particular is a rewarding, if demanding, viewing experience. The richness of character, language, production design and detail are magnificent. I reviewed the show after screening the first five episodes of the season, and my thoughts haven't changed. I'm also sorry that it's not getting a complete fourth season, but I'll settle for whatever I can get. As for the Emmys, Deadwood didn't qualify for this year's awards because it didn't air new episodes during the eligibility period, but at next year's awards it has to be considered a strong contender, even though the episodes will have aired so long before the nominations process. I'm not sure how the two Deadwood sequels will be considered, but since HBO is billing them as movie specials at this point, they'll probably fall into the movie or miniseries categories. With only four hours between them, theoretically that wouldn't be enough to be eligible for series consideration.

________________________________________

Question: I was bored to tears this evening trying to find something on the good old satellite when I happened to notice a show called Kyle XY on ABC. The info button said it was the series pilot, so I gave it a go and was actually quite surprised.

I had never seen or heard anything about it and really liked the sci-fi mystery. The acting may not have been on a level of, let's say, Lost, but all in all it was worth my hour. The writing seemed fairly good, and the scene with Kyle and the son in the bathroom was actually quite priceless. Have you seen this at all, and if so, am I way off base? If I'm not, maybe you can pass along the tip to the person who was concerned that there was absolutely nothing to watch on the Big Four over the summer. — Darrell P.

Matt Roush: Yeah, Kyle XY kind of slipped in under my radar as well. But it's there now. To clarify matters, this was actually produced for basic cable, and original episodes first air on ABC Family on Monday nights. But these same episodes are currently airing on ABC on Fridays, giving the network something fresh (reminiscent of when Monk repeats aired on ABC for a while, the network having passed on the show initially).

The first airing of Kyle did very well for both ABC channels, and for good reason. It's a great premise, even if the execution and especially most of the acting is, to put it generously, amateurish. Kyle himself is very appealing — this mysterious savant-like adolescent who showed up naked in the woods, unaware of his past, minus a belly button (so how was he born?), curious about human customs and behaviors as he tries to fit in with a new family that regards him as an alien or an overgrown newborn. I like the mix of sci-fi elements with family drama and comedy. Far from a great show, but more than suitable as a summer diversion. And judging from how well it launched, it looks like a keeper.

________________________________________

Question: I am truly nervous about Las Vegas' next season, since the ratings had been truly awful this last year. Josh Duhamel's show used to create some impact on Monday night, but the move to Fridays made it impossible for the show to keep up the good work. Friday night is not made for young, fresh shows. This fall, NBC is developing some interesting options (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Heroes, etc.), so I am scared that these potential hits could help the network dismiss Las Vegas easily. What do you think? I appreciate all the help you could give me, since Las Vegas is my favorite show and the only reason I stay home on Friday nights. — Michael

Matt Roush: Well, if it kept you at home on Fridays, then it did its job. Honestly, I wouldn't fret too much about this one. While it's true the show was more visible and successful on Mondays, NBC is actually kind of paying the show a compliment by treating it as a utility player.

Moving it to Fridays, where it will be paired, at least initially, with the durable (if fading) Law & Order, is a sign that NBC realizes that mind-and-eye candy like this is perfect Friday programming. It doesn't have to pull huge numbers or even win the time period to be considered successful; it just needs to draw a decent number in the proper demographic, which Vegas tends to do. Should NBC's fall programs falter (and Heroes in the old Las Vegas slot has its work cut out), I would imagine that shows like Las Vegas and Crossing Jordan will have the option to move around and fill holes. They're not in any imminent danger that I can see.

________________________________________

Question: I just finished reading your 6/30 column, and I agree with your answer about what was worth watching on broadcast TV. I did want to point out that there is another series on PBS that is definitely worth watching: History Detectives.

Granted, I am somewhat of a history buff, but I find this show really interesting and a great way to spend Monday night. I really love how, for the most part, the histories they investigate are personal and brought to the detectives' attention by someone with a connection to that particular piece of history. I don't know if you have taken the time to watch it, but if not, I highly recommend it. — Tiffany

Matt Roush: Thanks for the reminder/tip. It's a solid show, I agree, and when you mentioned Mondays on PBS, I also realized I'd forgotten to make note of Antiques Roadshow, which is a favorite of my family (as I'm always reminded this time of year, when I go back home for reunions and holidays). Really, you can't go wrong many nights by turning to PBS if you can't stomach the regular networks' off-season obsession with reality, which really does require a steady supply of Tums.

________________________________________

Question: OK, Matt, I must protest! I was skeptical about Windfall, but it has turned out to be a pretty decent show. I would have liked to see the people enjoy their good fortune for a couple of episodes rather than having problems right away. All in all, it's been a good summer fill-in — I don't think the networks give shows enough time, but then I am not the one losing money! — Donna A.

Matt Roush: That's one way of looking at it (more generous than most who write in here). I'm hoping you aren't getting too attached to Windfall, which has rightfully begun to tank in the ratings after a surprisingly strong start. (Proving it's not that hard to launch a show during the summer, with lots of promotion focusing on one or maybe two series at a time.) Windfall is a classic case of an intriguing premise and a promising cast undone by overwrought, at times almost incoherent, melodramatic plotting and substandard execution. It sat on the shelf for an entire season. We really should have higher standards for our summer fill-ins. And it looks like in this case, most of its early viewers have moved on. Or, I would hope, gone on temporary vacation from summer TV.

________________________________________

Question: What do you think of FX's comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? I find it refreshing and hilarious. A great way to make up for the sad reality that Arrested Development will never air again! — Matthew C.

Matt Roush: I welcomed the show back for its second season with a short notice in my review column, and while I wouldn't dream of comparing Philly to an inspired pinnacle of twisted genius like Arrested Development, I do appreciate its nasty sense of anything-goes humor and its low-key, low-budget, unassuming grunginess. Adding a little star power with Danny DeVito's character doesn't hurt. He seems to be having a great time getting down and dirty with these unrepentant goofs.

________________________________________

Question: Regarding the CSI finale: Perhaps the reason that this issue won't die is that it is the move that killed the No. 1 show. The Grissom-Sara supporters may be a vocal bunch, but that does not mean that they represent the majority. I hope you are savvy enough to realize that. — Cindy

Matt Roush: I'll believe the No. 1 show is dead when, like the CSIs themselves, I see the actual evidence. And I'm savvy enough to know that my mail has been pretty evenly divided (which is why I've aired both sides' reactions at length). But nearly every letter reads like this, assuming that those who feel a certain way are in the right and thus must be in the majority. (What is this, politics?) From where I sit, it looks like that final scene split the fans pretty much in the middle, and both sides are pretty loud and vocal about it. I'd be perfectly content if they all just left me alone until we see how it plays out in the new season. My opinion stands that CSI isn't a soap opera and is treated like one at its own, and our, peril.

________________________________________

Question: I watched the first two episodes of Master of Champions, and I have to say that it hasn't been easy. I like the premise of the show, the actual performances are pretty cool, and even the bios are OK, but everything else is tough to watch. The intros, the judging and the audience participation are all very forced and anticlimactic, and frankly, it all seems fixed. I'd like to see a real talent show without all the reality crap in between. Do you think I'll ever get my wish? — Kim

Matt Roush: I could barely make it through one episode of this turkey, so you get this week's Master of Champions medal for sitting through it. Cheesy doesn't begin to describe this one's freak-show setup and laughably smarmy judging panel. America's Got Talent is an excruciatingly mediocre waste of time, but at least it didn't have me running for the vomit bucket. To answer your question, keep wishing, but don't get your hopes up.

Actually, I've found myself enjoying So You Think You Can Dance more than I expected. Now that we're well into the competition phase, it doesn't seem nearly as junky. The dancers and the eclectic styles of dance can be fun to watch, and I already have my favorites. Plus, the judge-choreographers do at times seem to actually know what they're talking about, and express themselves with more variety and insight than the garden-variety Paulas and Randys of the world.

http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/askmatt/

fredfa

07-07-06, 01:54 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
New mix, but no fix

Rule changes were meant to shake up the voting. Better shake some more.
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 7, 2006

The cries of outrage you may have heard Thursday morning came from the nation's TV critics, lambasting those dunderheaded Emmy voters for nominations that snubbed the worthy and the innovative ("Big Love," "My Name Is Earl") while extolling the safe ("Two and a Half Men") and/or the canceled ("Will & Grace").

When will the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences get the memo? No matter how many times "Arrested Development" gets nominated for outstanding comedy series (this year makes three, which coincidentally is how many viewers regularly tuned in), the show has gone surfing and it's not coming back. Can't they find a non-terminal cause to champion — like, say, "Lost," MIA in the drama category while the exiting "The West Wing" gets a parting shot?

The river of scorn is partly the academy's fault. Officials overpromised and underdelivered on the rule changes that were supposed to shake up the nominations this time, ensuring greater recognition for niche favorites such as "Battlestar Galactica" and "Rescue Me." This was the so-called Lauren Graham Rule, a homage to the long-snubbed actress who plays the hot mom on "Gilmore Girls." But where was that shakeup at dawn Thursday? "Battlestar" got three nods, "Rescue Me" got one, and Graham and "Gilmore Girls," zip.

Ah, well. Emmyland has always existed as a parallel universe to Critics' Corner, and neither necessarily has much to do with Nielsenville, the only town TV executives really care about. If anything, there are signs that the new rules — which basically involve a Sanhedrin of Emmy elders picking the nominees from a list of contenders supplied by the larger academy (perhaps we need to bring Western-style democracy to Emmy's North Hollywood headquarters?) — led not to a rash of surprise contenders, à la Michael Chiklis on "The Shield" a few years back.

Rather, this year we're seeing some reasonable compromises between the critically beloved and the widely seen, a twain that in these days of 100-plus cable and satellite systems seldom meet.

Consider the case of Fox, which earned well more than half its 41 nominations for its three most-watched shows: "24" (the most-nominated series, with 12 nods), "American Idol" and "House." This is the first year Fox has ever had two contenders in the drama category, and it's probably not coincidental that both "24" and "House," formerly fringe shows, touched new ratings heights this past season. That's largely thanks to the phenomenon of "Idol," the most popular series on television; Fox painstakingly built each show into a hit by exploiting scheduling adjacentcies with the smash singing competition.

Of course, "Idol" is such a ratings beast that critics tend to pass it by on pet adoption day. Where's the thrill in "discovering" a show 30 million people watch? "Idol" is nominated this year, along with "Survivor," "The Amazing Race" and "Dancing With the Stars," in the amorphous reality-competition category, but that's misplaced: It's actually one of the best variety shows in TV history — and I say that remembering Paula Abdul's blowzy incoherence this year. The Emmy politburo found a way to honor both "Idol's" excellence and its singular popularity with a total of eight nominations, the most ever for any unscripted series.

ABC's hit medical soap "Grey's Anatomy," relatively ignored last year, burst out with 11 nominations, another example of the academy balancing popular taste with critical appeal, or at least acceptance.

In this, Emmy is really continuing a tentative move back toward the TV mainstream, after a years-long epic romance with HBO, which roughly three-quarters of the nation's TV households do not get. Much has been made of the pay cable network's decline in prestige as measured by Emmy nominations. Two years ago, it had 124 nominations, more than all the broadcasters combined; this year, it was down to a still-formidable 95. But in addition to the snub for its "Big Love," "Entourage" also failed to nab a nod in the comedy category (the HBO slot was evidently reserved for the previously nominated "Curb Your Enthusiasm").

The trend extended to the movie and miniseries categories. After dominating last year with fare such as "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" and "Empire Falls," HBO was checked this year by TNT's crowd-pleasing western "Into the West," which racked up 16 nominations, more than any other program.

That's not to say that voters completely bypassed the out-of-the-way critical faves. Showtime had its best showing ever, with 19 nominations, including five for "Weeds" — exactly the kind of low-profile, highly regarded series the new rules were presumed to benefit. Similarly, Comedy Central garnered the most nominations in its history thanks to a pair of Beltway spoofs, "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."

This might strike some as mere tokenism. As TV Guide blogger Michael Ausiello observed Thursday morning, with characteristic droll restraint: "OMG! It's an Emmy catastrophe!" Hey, I said the same thing in the late '90s, when "3rd Rock From the Sun" was one of the most-lauded shows on TV. Amazingly, the sun continued to rise in the East.

But even the mob of critics brandishing torches on their way to the Emmy offices must admit, once the passions of the day die down, that Emmy's star chamber at least made an effort to walk a middle path between the most-loved and the most-viewed.

In these days of hyper-fragmented media and super-niche audiences, with each family member watching a different program in a different room of the house, that's probably the best we can hope for.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-channel7jul07,0,3839021,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

SVonhof

07-07-06, 02:01 AM

fredfa

07-07-06, 02:12 AM

That is what the critics said, Scott.

But, at least according to Nielsen, DH was one of the top five shows of the year. So the viewers seemd to like it, even if the critics didn't.

fredfa

07-07-06, 02:14 AM

Has anyone seen any more about the World Cup ratings of the past week on ABC/ESPN?

Most of the Radio/TV columns (which report such things) appear on Fridays, so I'll keep an eye out for ratings news regarding the World Cup for you, SE.

fredfa

07-07-06, 02:20 AM

Sports On TV
Seamheads should be satisfied by All-Star coverage

(Note: all times are Pacific)

By John Maffei (San Diego) North County Times Staff Writer

It's a little bit of a chicken-or-the-egg deal.

Do fans watch the Major League Baseball All-Star Game because it has Monday's Home Run Derby as a lead-in? Or do people watch the Home Run Derby because it leads into Tuesday's All-Star Game?

For the networks involved, it doesn't really matter, because ESPN (Home Run Derby) and Fox (All-Star Game) plan to go all out.

ESPN is sending Chris Berman, Harold Reynolds, Karl Ravech, John Kruk, Joe Morgan and Bonnie Bernstein to Pittsburgh for the Home Run Derby, which starts at 5 p.m. Monday.

Berman, Reynolds and Bernstein will work from the field. Ravech, Kruk and Morgan will operate from a studio in the outfield bleachers.

This is the 14th straight year ESPN has carried the Derby and the ninth year the event has been carried live. The Derby is traditionally ESPN's highest-rated summer program.

While ratings for the All-Star Game have been in flux the past few years, Fox Sports president Ed Goren feels good about carrying the game.

Goren thinks the "This One Counts" format ---- in which the league winning the All-Star Game gets home-field advantage in the World Series ---- has added interest.

"Historically, All-Star ratings go down in the last hour, especially if the game isn't competitive," Goren said. "What we've seen with the 'This One Counts' format is that the managers get to manage, that the star players play more and get more at-bats.

"Our numbers for the All-Star Game are higher than the ratings for the NBA Finals. And our ad spots were sold out two weeks before the event. So those are positives."

Tim McCarver, who will call the game along with Joe Buck, is positive about one thing.

"The All-Star Game is the most difficult thing to do because of the large rosters and all the lineup changes," McCarver said. "But from a broadcast point of view, the 'This One Counts' adds something. It gives us something to talk about."

And there will be plenty of talking.

All-Star Game coverage starts at 4 p.m. Tuesday with the "MLB All-Star Red Carpet Special," where players are followed from their hotel to the ballpark, then interviewed on a red carpet.

Jeanne Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy host a pregame show on Fox, starting at 5 p.m. First pitch is set for 5:40 p.m.

Fox will use 20 cameras for the game, including a "Diamond cam" set just in front of home plate.

More All-Star talk

• Baseball's All-Star Futures Game, featuring the best minor-league players from the U.S. against the best from the rest of the world, is set for 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2. The Padres have two representatives on the World team ---- catcher George Kottaras (Canada) and shortstop Luis Cruz (Mexico).

• The Triple-A All-Star Game, matching the best players from the Pacific Coast League against the best from the International League, is 5 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2. Portland third baseman Justin Leone is the Padres' lone representative. Poway High graduate Anthony Gwynn, an outfielder with Nashville, is also on the PCL roster.

• The All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game airs on tape immediately after Monday's Home Run Derby at about 7 p.m.

• The WNBA All-Star Game, featuring the top women's professional basketball players, is 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN.

Fox talk

• Fox's contract with MLB expires at the end of this season. Fox's Goren said there is nothing new to report because there are still some issues to be resolved. But the parties are making progress, and he hopes to work out an extension.

"Look at sports in general," Goren said. "Some of the most-memorable moments have come in October with Major League Baseball on Fox."

• Goren is still looking to replace James Brown on Fox's NFL pregame show. Buck is considered the favorite.

"We're still interviewing people," Goren said. "We have time because we don't need a host until the start of the regular NFL season."

World Cup fever

The World Cup has been an overwhelming success for ESPN and ABC, especially in San Diego.

The national rating for matches on ABC is 2.5. The number in San Diego is 4.0, fifth-best in the nation. For matches on ESPN, the national rating is 1.6. The number in San Diego is 2.6, best in the country, again proving that San Diego is the No. 1 cable market in the U.S.

Despite players flopping like mackerel on the deck of a boat and matches being decided by penalty kicks, the pictures and the announcers have been superb.

ABC has coverage of the World Cup final, pitting Italy against France. Pregame coverage starts at 10:30 a.m., but since Brent Musburger is the host, just tune in at 11 a.m. for the kickoff.

Dave O'Brien, who has been solid on play by play, will call the action with Marcelo Balboa as his analyst. Balboa's comments throughout the World Cup have vaulted the San Diego State product into elite status among analysts.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/07/sports/maffei/21_57_497_6_06.txt

fredfa

07-07-06, 02:23 AM

Sports On TV
His Cup is full

Soccer doesn’t really lend itself to television, but who’s watching? During the semifinals, everyone
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times TV critic July 7, 2006

Soccer, to the neophyte, is a terrifically dull TV sport. Unlike the NBA playoffs, say, or the Super Bowl, television resists the game — the players often look far away, and nothing ostensibly happens until someone scores a goal, which can take anywhere from one to 120 minutes to happen.

It's a chess match between two armies of men who alternately advance and retreat toward opposing goals. Sometimes during this, they make contact with one another and pretend they've been shot. I have seen much better acting watching World Cup than I have on the following TV programs: "Lost," "American Idol," "Desperate Housewives."

This is not necessarily an insult to the above shows. Granted, all of the actors in World Cup are playing the same note: I am in tremendous anguish as I writhe here on the ground. Please end my life now and tell my dear ones I love them. Failing that, could you summon the vintage stretcher?

But within all of this genuflection is a crackling live event, bereft of the natural and unnatural breaks that in most sports are stuffed to the brim with commercials and network promos, not to mention the dreaded in-game sideline report.

The Super Bowl, for instance, is an all-day commitment; the World Cup final on Sunday will play out in two hours and change. There's no doubt-alleviating instant replay, and nobody is evidently mulling which moment deserves to be deemed the Gillette Close Shave of the Day or what the coach is going to tell his players as he jogs off the field at halftime.

I had what I would diagnose as a mild to fair case of World Cup fever when I arrived at Café Marly on Melrose on Wednesday to see whether France would beat Portugal to advance to Sunday's final against Italy. I had contracted the fever in Paris, not long after France beat perennial power Brazil to advance to the semis.

In Les Halles, where I watched the game, people honked horns, waved flags, chanted "Allez les Bleus." Weirdly, it looked the same on Melrose just east of La Brea Avenue on Wednesday, after France beat Portugal, except that it was midday and there were maybe just as many people in line at Pink's.

But Melrose became little Paris, with two groups of revelers, the ones who'd been watching on the back patio of Café Marly and another group across the street who'd poured out of Joga Bonito, a space sponsored by Nike for World Cup viewing, complete with a grandstand and big-screen TVs.

France's coach is named Raymond Domenech, and he's even hipper looking than Phil Jackson of the Lakers. The camera mostly finds Domenech on the sideline in his dark suit and stylish glasses, arms folded, at once excitable and pensive. I don't really understand what soccer coaches do during the game other than pace and yell at the referees and wonder if they've packed enough clothes to proceed immediately into exile on the Baltic coast if they lose.

But I don't care; I like Domenech's whole aspect. He isn't wearing a headset sponsored by Nextel. He reminds me more of Francois Truffaut in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

The French players are TV-worthy characters too, guys with the names of poets, Henry and Zidane and Ribéry, a.k.a. Frank Ribéry a.k.a. "Scarface," the nickname a reference to the scars on his face from a terrible childhood car accident.

In Paris, Zinedine Zidane's likeness and No. 10 uniform is as ubiquitous as Kobe Bryant's No. 8 jersey is here. "Zizou, Zizou," the fans kept chanting at the restaurant in Les Halles whenever Zidane did something magical with his feet.

The cafe was packed, and an overflow crowd stood for a good two hours watching the TV from the street. A young French woman started a chant of "Allez les Bleus," which brings up a point: Chicks dig the World Cup. It was chicks with whom I was standing in the back of Café Marly on Wednesday, craning to see the screen.

It could have been Les Halles. I had asked for the check in pigeon French, even though I was only blocks from home.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-world7jul07,0,2224684,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

archiguy

07-07-06, 06:47 AM

That is what the critics said, Scott.

But, at least according to Nielsen, DH was one of the top five shows of the year. So the viewers seemd to like it, even if the critics didn't.

We quit watching Desperate Housewives about halfway through the season, right about the time Lynette ate a pound of raw bacon to please her dysfunctional boss, just one such eye-rolling plot development in this dysfunctional season. Hilarity did not ensue and we had had enough. Life is too short to spend part of it watching bad TV (even if it's gorgeous in HD; that ship has sailed). :rolleyes:

I think a lot of people, and by that I mean an enormous lot of people, watch TV by habit. They liked the show its first year, made a Sunday night appointment with it, and just continued to tune in by rote like little Neilsen automatons. And they either did not notice that the show took a nosedive in quality, or more likely, just didn't care. This complacency is why there's so much outrage in this year's Emmy nominations. Quality is definitely not the top consideration where the vast, anonymous body public lives.

fredfa

07-07-06, 09:12 AM

Sports On TV
U.S. World Cup coverage attracting criticism

By Michael Hiestand USA Today Updated 7/7/2006

What we've learned as the month-long World Cup ends with Sunday's Italy-France final:

• Soccer diehards are still, uh, special. On the Olympics, U.S. TV uses play-by-play announcers who've never called events such as the bobsled or badminton. And though it's the Olympics, life seems to go on.

But ABC/ESPN using Dave O'Brien as its lead Cup play-caller, although he hadn't called soccer until this year, caused angst among U.S. soccer fans.

It's enough to make you wish ABC/ESPN had instead used, say, Jillian Barberie— just for the self-flagellation that might have ensued among the soccer faithful.

Still, they have a point. Calling the biggest Cup games isn't the best place to get your feet wet. ABC/ESPN should have put veteran JP Dellacamera in its lead slot rather than in a lesser role.

• •Studio analyst Eric Wynalda, about to go back to calling Major League Soccer and his job as a sports turf marketer, should be back on Cup TV in 2010.

Who knows if he was right about blistering the U.S. team?

At least he didn't mince.

"I maintain I'm the only one being honest about what happened," he said. "I know in our country we have a tendency to favor fluff (on TV). I take absolutely no pleasure in pointing out the obvious. But there were some massive mistakes."

Wynalda says he hasn't been able to talk them over with U.S. coach Bruce Arena: "He's screening my calls."

• As further evidence that Americans just don't care about foreign athletes — unless in small doses when they pop up for cameos in sports in theUSA — millions of Americans have now watched hours of Cup soccer and still can't name more than a few foreign soccer stars.

Sunday's lineups could join crowds waving behind TV morning-show weathermen and not stand out to most viewers.

• Brent Musburger, hosting ABC's studio show Sunday, can go anywhere and look live at something really big. Musburger said Sunday's game looks perfect: "We couldn't have asked for a better matchup!"

OLN troupe suffering for its art

OLN, in its ongoing Tour de France coverage, uses a hydraulically controlled lift to raise its studio set and its mahogany desks, about 24 feet above ground. That way, the set can be positioned to have a scenic background including, say, a picturesque chateau.

The boost comes in handy because the Tour's ongoing TV caravan — including more than 150 giant production trucks serving various networks — could make things seem less-than-pastoral.

But technology, suggests OLN executive producer Marty Ehrlich, has its limits. While the uplifted studio was above a cow pasture this week in weather well above 100 degrees, "it was attacked by a wave of fleas. (Host) Al Trautwig was being eaten by fleas as he was roasting alive."

As OLN's 70-person crew winds through France and the Tour darts into neighboring countries, Ehrlich says, "There is absolutely no time when there isn't somebody so lost they just want to cry."

But then they should have known chasing TV ratings can demand sacrifice.

And here OLN's wine glass is half-empty and half-full.

Without Lance Armstrong, its live Tour coverage — starting at 8:30 a.m. ET — is off 50% from last year — averaging 0.24% of the households getting OLN. What's half-full: Even with that time slot, the Tour still beats OLN's ratings for NHL games.

No U.S. in Wimbledon = no good for networks

NBC and ESPN2 didn't exactly luck out at Wimbledon, as the ladies' and gentlemen's quarterfinals didn't include an American for the first time since 1991.

NBC's John McEnroe suggests that could be the luck of the draw as well as something bigger: "I've talked about this ever since I came into the sport. Our sport doesn't give opportunities to the kids who — like in boxing — see sports as the only way they can make it in life."

The Long Island native cites the New York area as a place where tennis should be finding more prospects: "I look at the National Tennis Center (in Queens) — what a waste. I don't think a pro player has come out of New York since my brother (Patrick) 20 years ago. And for American tennis, things are probably going to get worse before they get better."

NBC, getting first choice of which men's semifinal it airs live Friday, chose Rafael Nadal-Marcos Baghdatis for coverage to begin at noon in all time zones. ESPN2, starting at 8 a.m. ET, will air Roger Federer-Jonas Bjorkman. Later, the Federer-Bjorkman match will re-air on NBC — after that, ESPN2 will re-air NBC's match.

So tennis, at least from Wimbledon, can't blame its diminutive TV ratings on lack of exposure. McEnroe suggests it's just hard to translate tennis to TV:

"It's a lot better when you're there than on TV — reminds me of hockey."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2006-07-06-hiestand_x.htm

DoubleDAZ

07-07-06, 09:15 AM

IMHO, the Emmys don't care what the ratings are, they award performances and, like it or not, Marcia Cross was still brilliant in an otherwise flawed season for DH. Lke the rest of you, I'll never understand Hugh Laurie's snub and although I thought West Wing caught much of it's former glory, Martin Scheen didn't. William Shatner is a love him or leave him kind of guy, I enjoy his role and I see I'm obviously not alone. :)

Geena Davis is my biggest head-scratcher though. While the show had a lot of possibilities and probably would have been much better but for all the back-stage changes, etc., Geena did not even deliver the goods on what she was given and this nomination alone shows how flawed the process is, BSG, VM, etc., not withstanding.

fredfa

07-07-06, 09:22 AM

The Digital Revolution
DISH Adds St. Louis, Detroit HDTV

(skyreport.com)

EchoStar's DISH Network launched local high def channels for customers in St. Louis and 31 surrounding counties and in Detroit and its nine surrounding counties.

In St. Louis, channels available are ABC (KDNL), CBS (KMOV), NBC (KSDK) and FOX (KTVI).

In Detroit channels available are ABC (WXYZ), CBS (WWJ) and FOX (WJBK).

fredfa

07-07-06, 09:30 AM

Sports On TV
From L.A. Times to FSN

A former sports editor is relishing his job as an executive producer for Fox
By Joe Davidson Sacramento Bee Staff Writer Friday, July 7, 2006

Rick Jaffe had it pretty good with the Los Angeles Times. In his 11 years as executive sports editor, he supervised a department that earned more writing and design awards than any sports section in the country.

And like so many print journalists, when the topic of the lazy television sports anchor came up, he snickered.

No, more than that, actually.

"We laughed at them," he said, amid laughter Wednesday afternoon, cracking that the long-standing gag aimed at some TV media is they beg, borrow and steal anything and everything from newspapers for a story lead.

Jaffe's been on the other side since 2000, a TV guy well aware people could be guffawing at him.

And maybe there's some admiration, too. As Managing Editor/Executive Producer of Fox SportsNet, Jaffe is overseeing the ambitious "The FSN Final Score" that debuted this week.

It's a half-hour highlights show (11:30 p.m.) that comes 10 years after the "Fox Sports National Report" flopped. The idea, Jaffe said, is to provide 30 minutes of highlights, news and updates without the viewer being subjected to cute talk and fist-pounds and self-serving lines such as "thanks for the knowledge," that is heard on ESPN.

But Jaffe is quick to remind that FSN isn't trying to supplant ESPN as the highlight leader. Just provide a more newsy tone.

"It's still sports and you want to have fun, but we also want to make this straightforward," Jaffe said. "We're not looking at it as (a competition with ESPN). They've had a big head start. We're different. We have a lot of highlights in a short time."

FSN has perfectly capable anchors to pull it off, including Van Earl Wright, Barry LeBrock and Andrew Siciliano.

But what does take some getting used to is the incredibly busy screen.

There's a ticker on top, a steady line of matchups and information on the bottom and preview teasers and notes on the right side of the screen, making for a much smaller viewing area to actually see the highlights.

In short, it's a wealth of information in one viewing.

"You do have to get used to that," Jaffe admitted. "At first glance, it might be, Holy Cow! Where do I watch first?"

"The Final Score," Jaffe hopes, gives FSN another identity. The network already has two gems in "Best Damn Sports Show Period" and the documentary series "Beyond the Glory."

Jaffe also is overseeing four football shows this fall, including an NFL preview show and two BCS programs as Fox will carry BCS bowl games.

All told, the former newspaper guy has grown to appreciate the electronic side. He admits he had no interest in leaving the Times, that Fox courted him heavily and that he sweated out some nervous times in 2000 when he was in charge of the online aspect of Fox.

"I never would have guessed this would have happened," Jaffe said. "It's a different world. It's a different way of gathering news, but it's fun."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/v-print/story/14275681p-15085247c.html

fredfa

07-07-06, 09:37 AM

Sports On TV
Game has meaning: big ratings drop

By Jay Posner San Diego Union-Tribune July 7, 2006

It was three years ago that Major League Baseball and Fox presented a new slogan for the All-Star Game: “This time it counts.”

No longer would the game be a meaningless exhibition. Now it would determine home-field advantage for the World Series. Now people would forget the horror of the 2002 game ending in a tie when both managers ran out of healthy pitchers and an exasperated Bud Selig was forced to call the game.

Three years later, there's only one problem: It hasn't worked.

Oh, the game still counts. The winner still gets the home-field edge in the World Series. It's just that fans haven't bought into the concept. (For good reason, I might add.)

In 2002, the year the tie almost ruined baseball (or so we were led to believe), the All-Star Game earned a 9.5 Nielsen rating, at the time the lowest since 1953 (8.6).

The next year, with all the hype about how the game counted for something, the rating was exactly the same – 9.5.

In 2004, it was 8.8.

In 2005, it was 8.1.

As trends go, that one is, uh, not good. It's not Arena Football or the WNBA, or even the NBA All-Star Game, but it's still a 26 percent drop from an 11.0 rating in 2001.

“I don't buy into your premise,” Ed Goren, Fox Sports president and executive producer, said yesterday. “It's had a positive effect on the overall feel of the game.”

Maybe. Maybe, as Goren said, we've seen managers manage differently and star players play more. It's just that fewer of us have seen it.

Sure, there are many factors that go into ratings – that six-run first inning by the AL two years ago didn't help much – but baseball shouldn't try selling this as a game that counts.

“I've never been a big fan of the All-Star Game meaning something as far as the World Series,” ESPN studio analyst Harold Reynolds said this week. “I look at it more as an exhibition.”

If it were an exhibition, it wouldn't look so bad when a manager such as Ozzie Guillen was allowed to pick three players and all three came from his team at the expense of more deserving players.

“It almost puts the manager in an unfair situation,” Reynolds said. “There's got to be a system to take it away from him where he just manages.”

Of course, is he supposed to manage to win or to make sure everybody selected gets into the game? Try telling fans who support teams with no chance of advancing to the World Series that it's more important for the league to win than for their hometown player to participate. For that matter, try telling the players on those teams.

The game worked pretty well as an exhibition for a long time. No one should try to pretend it's anything else.

] More from Fox [/COLOR

• Fox's game telecast starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday, with first pitch at about 5:40. ESPN carries the Home Run Derby at 5 p.m. Monday. Both events also will be on ESPN Radio.

• Goren said Fox is “making progress” on a new contract with Major League Baseball. The current deal expires after the World Series. The New York Post recently reported TBS also could be involved in the postseason mix.

• Don't be surprised if Joe Buck, already Fox's lead play-by-play voice for baseball and football, also winds up hosting the network's NFL pregame show, which would join Buck on the road each week. A decision could come before the end of the month.

[COLOR=red] So long, soccer

With the World Cup continuing to draw remarkably large audiences here – Tuesday's Germany-Italy match earned an 8.1 rating on ESPN and a 2.7 on Univision – I'm sure many San Diegans will be sorry to see the tournament end Sunday. (To be fair, many others won't.) ABC's coverage of the France-Italy final starts at 10:30 a.m. with kickoff at 11.

ABC/ESPN's coverage continues to mystify at times. There are still those absurd cutaways from actual action (or replays) to show pictures of fans gathered in some other city. (If fans must be shown, what's wrong with those actually in attendance?) Even worse, after Saturday's England-Portugal match, the studio crew spent several minutes debating a controversial red card – without the producer ever cuing up a replay so we could see what they were talking about.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060707/news_1s7media.html

fredfa

07-07-06, 09:44 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
This Year’s Emmys:

The best and brightest of the small screen snubbed yet again for the mediocre in Emmy nominations
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Friday, July 7, 2006

Hope is always a mug's game when it comes to the Emmys, but this year there was more than a faint whiff of it in the air. Why? Because the staid and broken nomination process was getting a minor upgrade, a tweak in the process that was supposed to allow so-called niche channels and networks -- FX, UPN, WB, Showtime, Comedy Central, etc. -- a better chance of getting their shows and actors nominated.

In fact, the cliche du jour before the nominations was that the new system was called "The Lauren Graham Rule," in honor of the fantastic "Gilmore Girls" actress who has been snubbed virtually every year. Result? Snubbed again. In fact, the representation from niche channels was pretty much in the form of expected nominee Denis Leary from "Rescue Me" and popular actors Kyra Sedgwick from TNT's "The Closer" and past nominee Tony Shalhoub from USA's "Monk."

Inconceivably, not only did great series and worthy actors from across the spectrum get largely ignored by the new fix, Emmy voters put a blindfold over their vision thing and actually regressed. The result, even when factoring in that Emmy voters are traditionally clueless and about a year behind what's actually happening, quality-wise on your television, is a staggering lameness.

Both James Gandolfini and Edie Falco from "The Sopranos" were left off the best actor and actress lists -- that's not just wrong, it's shameful. "Two and a Half Men" and "King of Queens" somehow managed to get important nominations, and "Will & Grace" managed to steal a deflating 10 nominations as it left the small screen forever, a mere four seasons too late.

In the past there have always been rare Emmy surprises -- nominations that made critics believe real progress was being made instead of the traditional rubber-stamping of meritless nominees.

Some years there were enough surprises to count as a trend. This year? It's almost as if there were a backlash against the new improvements -- a surge of head-scratching, what-in-the-world-were-they-thinking nominations meant to prove old-guard voters weren't going to be goaded into voting for "Veronica Mars" or "Battlestar Gallactica" or even "The Shield."

And so we get Kevin James and Charlie Sheen in the best actor in a comedy category; Geena Davis and Mariska Hargitay in the best actress in a drama category; too much love for "Grey's Anatomy," not enough for "Lost," and a continued fear that HBO gets too many nominations, thus taking away from the networks' haul (and, conversely, shunting "Rome" and "Big Love" and "Extras" while disrespecting "The Sopranos").

Is it too late to go back to the old voting system where the incomprehensible omissions were somewhat contained, where hope was not allowed to flourish (thus allowing for surprises)? Is it too late for a do-over?

About the only thing Emmy voters got right was a much-deserved backlash against "Desperate Housewives," but that enthusiasm somehow spread to last year's winner, "Lost," which was puzzlingly dumped from the category this year after a fine season. (In fact, some winners last year, such as James Spader, Patricia Arquette and Felicity Huffman, weren't even nominated.)

Here's a partial list of the major snubs (we can't kill enough trees to make it all right):

-- Outstanding drama: You can make an argument that everyone here deserved it, but you'd be wrong. "Grey's Anatomy" is popular, but hardly the best. "The West Wing" improved in its final season, but the inclusion here is out of sympathy not worthiness. Where's "Rome" or "Big Love" or "Rescue Me" or "The Shield"?

-- Outstanding comedy: This is a particularly strong field with "Arrested Development," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Office" and "Scrubs," but "Two and a Half Men" has no business here. In fact, "Entourage" is a better choice than "Curb," which had a down year, and it's ridiculous that this season's best sitcom, "My Name Is Earl," is not nominated.

-- Lead actress in a drama: Without Falco, this is just a sham. Polly Walker from "Rome" and Jeanne Tripplehorn from "Big Love" deserved consideration. But CCH Pounder from "The Shield" not being here is just flat out sad.

-- Lead actor in a drama: Peter Krause? (The love for "Six Feet Under" - Frances Conroy also got a nomination for lead actress -- seems dated.) Krause is a wonderful actor and he's a better fit here than Christopher Meloni from "Law & Order: SVU," and even the sympathy nod to Martin Sheen. But without Gandolfini, what's the point of even discussing it? Leary and Kiefer Sutherland deserve the attention, but why no Hugh Laurie from "House," Michael Chiklis for "The Shield," or anyone from "Lost"? By the way -- there's no "House" without Laurie. He is the show. Period.

-- Lead actress in a comedy: Look, let's cut a deal. No predictable quibbling over Debra Messing and Stockard Channing here -- or even the stunning inclusion of Lisa Kudrow from "The Comeback" (a literal interpretation, no doubt) -- provided that somebody pays dearly for leaving out Jessica Walter from "Arrested Development." She's the funniest woman on television -- except she's not on television anymore.

-- Lead actor in a comedy series: Kevin James? It's time to go home now, right?

OK, two pretty blatant snubs here: Jason Lee from "My Name Is Earl," only the funniest network comedy on TV, that's all. By the way, he plays EARL.

And Jason Bateman from "Arrested Development," who's been deserving of not only the nomination but the win for, oh, three seasons now. Their omission -- asinine.

You know what? This exercise is pointless. Kevin Dillon could have been recognized as a supporting actor in the comedy "Entourage," but then again, "Entourage" wasn't nominated for best comedy. Cheryl Hines getting nominated for "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is great and all, but here's an update on that: She's really not supposed to be funny on that show. She's the straight woman. Whatever.

Alfre Woodard was the only "Desperate Housewives" cast member nominated -- and that was in the supporting actress from a comedy category. Two things -- the show is not a comedy, at least not intentionally, and neither is she funny in it.

Oh, right -- pointless.

On the plus side, it was good to see Jaime Pressly recognized for her excellent work in "My Name Is Earl" -- she stunned the world with that performance, which was truly funny. And also Will Arnett from "Arrested Development," Bryan Cranston from "Malcolm in the Middle" and Jeremy Piven from "Entourage," all delivering brilliant and hilarious performances.

Supporting actor in a drama -- oh, no, please let's not get started there. Forest Whitaker from "The Shield" is missing. Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson and Ciaran Hinds -- all from "Rome" and all missing? To go there would only mean bringing up William Shatner's nomination. Let's not do that.

Let's just say that it's a pretty sad day for the Emmys when a new system to fix oversights and omissions doesn't work, and the end result is that an organization meant to celebrate the greatest achievements of the medium doesn't appear to be watching much of it.

The Emmys air live Aug. 27 on NBC.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/07/DDGAVJQ0DD1.DTL&type=printable

Marcus Carr

07-07-06, 09:47 AM

CableLabs approves Motorola 'M-Card'

By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
July 6, 2006

CableLabs has qualified a multi-stream CableCARD from Motorola Inc. that will support video-on-demand, picture-in-picture, and other interactive cable services and applications.

The M-Card, as the multi-stream version of the CableCARD is often called, is a removable conditional access device for OpenCable digital set-tops and set-top-free, "Plug & Play" digital televisions. The currently deployed version of the CableCARD supports only unidirectional digital cable services. The cable industry is also working on a downloadable conditional access system (DCAS) that could eventually replace the more expensive and less elegant CableCARD. Next July, U.S. cable operators will be banned from buying digital set-tops with integrated security.

Motorola marks the second company to obtain M-Card qualification from CableLabs. In April, Scientific Atlanta became the first. With qualifications for SA and Motorola, the U.S. cable industry now has qualified M-Cards for the cable industry's two major conditional access system suppliers.

CableLabs said it is expected that M-Cards will be available from major MSOs within the next few months.

http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/CA6350049.html

fredfa

07-07-06, 09:49 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Send in the clowns; Emmy's blue-ribbon panel picks are a joke

By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Friday, July 07, 2006

The Emmys can't be saved.

That's the only sane reaction to this year's list of primetime nominees. No nominations for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco? No love for Hugh Laurie? "My Name Is Earl"? "The Shield"? "Everybody Hates Chris"? Alfre Woodard as the only "Desperate Housewives" nominee? Stockard Channing for best actress in a comedy? In a year when the nominations were supposed to be better than ever, they actually got worse.

All show business awards are inherently flawed, most of them operating on the chamber of commerce theory that what's best usually takes second to what's best for the industry. But because the same shows and the same actors playing the same characters are eligible year after year, the Emmys tend to be more flawed than most.

So every few years, the TV Academy comes up with a new plan to spruce things up, to bring in new nominees and winners, and with them, hopefully, new viewers.

For years, the only people allowed to vote for the winners were Academy members willing to volunteer for blue-ribbon panels, which would be locked in a hotel room for several days to watch all the submitted videos of the nominees. This ensured that the Emmys were the only entertainment awards where you knew the voters had actually seen the things they were voting on, but it also limited the pool to people who actually could spare several days in a row for the panels. That's a group almost entirely composed of the unemployed and the retired, and they tended to vote for the same comfortable old names over and over.

Tiring of the sight of Tyne Daly or Candice Bergen or Helen Hunt walking up to the podium to give another speech, the Academy abolished the blue-ribbon panels in 2000. Instead, any Academy member who promised to would watch the nominees in their category were sent the submitted videos at home. Whether or not voters kept to the honor system, the turn of the century brought with it plenty of fresh blood: Gandolfini, Falco, Allison Janney, Patricia Heaton, etc.

But after a while, it turned out that the younger voters just had their own group of favorites, and those people kept winning over and over. Even worse, the nominations continued to be done blind -- Academy members just had to check names off a list -- which made it difficult for new people and shows to be nominated, much less win. (People who actually work in television watch less television on average than any group of Americans outside of select monasteries.)

So this year, the Academy decided to add a second, misguided step to the nominating process, in the hopes that worthy shows and performances on fringier networks have a shot. In what was nicknamed "The Lauren Graham Rule," in honor of the never-nominated "Gilmore Girls" star, the entire voting body would make their picks off the list, and then the top 15 in each major category would be screened for ... wait for it ... wait for it ... a blue-ribbon panel!

After working so hard six years ago to make the process more democratic, the Academy handed all the power back to the same self-selecting, star-struck bunch who made the Emmys irrelevant by the end of the'90s. You have to admire organizational stupidity like that.

Who else but the blue-ribbon panelists would have deemed Oscar winner Geena Davis' stiff performance on "Commander in Chief" as better than Falco, whose tearful work in the first "Sopranos" coma episode should have guaranteed her the win? Heck, Davis didn't even give the best performance as a female president on television this season; that would be Mary McDonnell on "Battlestar Galactica," but because that's a show with spaceships and robots on a niche cable channel, it didn't have a shot at getting respect from this crowd.

Speaking of fictional presidents, how do you explain Martin Sheen, who arguably should have won an Emmy by now for playing Jed Bartlet, getting nominated again for a season in which he barely appeared? Watch: This is the year he'll finally get the statuette. And Sheen's fake first lady, Stockard Channing, has enough name recognition and old friends in the Academy to get a nomination for CBS' lousy, long-since-canceled "Out of Practice." In fact, four out of the five lead comedy actress nominees came from shows that were either canceled or retired; the lone nominee to be returning was Julia Louis-Dreyfus from "The New Adventures of Old Christine," and she was nominated seven times before for "Seinfeld."

(Another presidential couple, Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart from "24," also got nominated, though Smart is already a two-time winner.)

There was a sprinkling of new names and faces this time around. After being nominated as a writer but not an actor last year, Denis Leary from "Rescue Me" got the reverse treatment. NBC's "The Office" was deservedly nominated as the best comedy on television, and star Steve Carell got a nod as well. And Kyra Sedgwick of TNT's "The Closer" is up for best drama actress.

But few of the previously-ignored got much help this time. Not Graham. Not "The Shield." (Michael Chiklis' best actor win a while back seems more like a fluke with each passing year.) Not "Galactica." Not "Veronica Mars." Not even "My Name Is Earl," which graced magazine covers and was credited with saving TV comedy.

In fact, most of the new nominees came from fairly old, popular shows: Chris Meloni from "Law & Order: SVU," the highest-rated show in the franchise; Kevin James from "King of Queens," which has been around for eight years with no previous nominations; and Jon Cryer and Charlie Sheen for "Two and a Half Men," TV's most-watched sitcom.

Meanwhile, the panelists seemed to go out of their way to provide rebuke to the favorites of the post-2000 voting system. They didn't only snub multiple winners Falco and Gandolfini, but two-time winner James Spader from "Boston Legal" and all of the leads on "Desperate Housewives." (That Alfre Woodard, who had the worst-written, least-funny role, was the show's sole acting nominee is further evidence that it was all about who the panelists liked going in.) No "Sopranos" acting nominations except for Michael Imperioli. No "Lost," which was named the best drama on television by voters last year, and wasn't appreciably worse this year.

The only good thing about the nominations is that they're so blatantly, egregiously wrong-headed and counter to the purpose of the new rules that I wouldn't be stunned if the Academy announced plans to re-abolish the blue-ribbon panels by, oh, lunchtime today

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/sepinwall/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1152251925116570.xml&coll=1

Marcus Carr

07-07-06, 10:01 AM

Family Guy Goes to Tribune

By Jim Benson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/6/2006 12:39:00 PM

To the surprise of many, Twentieth TV has sold the off-network adult animated sitcom Family Guy to the Tribune station group for a fall 2007 launch.

Tribune is estimated to have paid in the low to mid six figures per episode, said by some to be on par with what Warner Bros. got from Tribune recently for Two and a Half Men. Tribune, Twentieth and Warner Bros. would not comment on price.

The off-Fox series, now in its fifth season on the network, goes to Tribune under a straight four-year deal with no extensions. The initial batch of 96 episodes of Family Guy was widely anticipated to be destined for the Fox station group.

"We set up a very fair and equitable bidding situation and Tribune won," Twentieth President/COO Bob Cook says.

Marc Schacher, VP of programming and development for the Chicago-based station group, notes Tribune has a close relationship with Twentieth, since it owns six Fox affiliates and has three stations now affiliated with Fox’s new MyNetworkTV.

Family Guy will appear twice weekdays and on weekends in access and late fringe time periods, depending on the needs in Tribune’s 20 markets covering nearly 38% of the U.S. Stations get to keep eleven 30-second spots each half hour and the syndicator retains three for national advertisers.

Schacher says it was a "huge priority" for Tribune to acquire at least one of the two sitcoms on the market this year. After losing Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld to Fox in the major markets, and with no other major comedies on the horizon, Tribune stepped up for both.

It will pair Family Guy with The Simpsons in a handful of markets where it airs the show, but the big push will come in teaming it with Men in many top cities. Although the two sitcoms may not seem compatible at first glance, Schacher points out they both appeal strongly to men.

The acquisition allows Tribune to even the playing field somewhat with Fox—though neither sitcom is believed to be in the same price league as Friends, Seinfeld or Raymond, estimated to have grossed more than $2 billion each in their first two syndication cycles.

It also enhances the value of Tribune’s stations at a time when there is internal corporate debate over whether the broadcast division should be split off from the company’s publishing assets.

Had Fox acquired both sitcoms it would have cornered the market on the most popular form of syndicated programming. Additionally, Family Guy, appearing as a companion to The Simpsons, would have provided Fox with off-net momentum as Homer & Co. enter their 18th season on the network.

Industry analysts say such a strategy, while costly for Fox, would have virtually removed Tribune as a significant player and left Fox as the only remaining major sitcom buyer—a dire prospect for syndicators, which until Fox acquired Chris-Craft in 2000 had three major bidders for their programming in the top markets.

"We look forward to the show having a positive impact on ratings and revenues across our group," said John Reardon, president of Tribune Broadcasting.

Along with the veterans The Simpsons and American Dad, Family Guy has helped Fox establish a strong adult animation block on Sunday night.

http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6349983.html

taz291819

07-07-06, 10:10 AM

My two biggest disappointments with the Emmy nominations were that Hugh Laurie and Kristen Bell didn't make the cut. Not that it's a big deal, I don't watch the Emmy Awards anyway.

fredfa

07-07-06, 10:13 AM

Washington Notebook
FCC Tees Up Big Cablers’ Adelphia Bid

By Todd Shields MediaWeek.com JULY 07, 2006 -

The Federal Communications Commission could vote next week to approve the long-pending bid by No. 1 cable company Comcast and No. 2 Time Warner to absorb nearly 5 million customers from the bankrupt Adelphia Communications.

The merger appeared on the agenda released late Thursday for the agency’s regular monthly meeting on July 13. That indicates FCC Chairman Kevin Martin thinks he can garner three votes for the proposal, which has drawn controversy from critics alarmed that the enlarged cable giants may abuse their market power.

To blunt such fears, Martin has proposed requiring binding arbitration for some disputes over access to regional sports programming considered must-have fare by many consumers.

Martin’s proposal, however, would exempt Comcast’s control over Philadelphia’s pro sports broadcasts, according to people familiar with the matter.

There is pressure on the deal from Congress, with three Washington-area representatives on Wednesday asking the FCC to condition approval on Comcast’s reaching an agreement to carry Washington’s professional baseball team for viewing by 1.3 million customers.

The merger would boost penetration for Comcast in markets including Washington, D.C., West Palm Beach, Fla., and Pittsburgh, and for Time Warner in cities including Los Angeles and Cleveland.

Sources said Martin’s proposal did not include so-called Net neutrality requirements that would bind the cable giants to abide by principles of non-discrimination when providing customers with high-speed Internet.

The Net neutrality issue could become pivotal in closed-door negotiations at the agency ahead of the Thursday meeting. FCC member Robert McDowell, a Republican whose arrival on June 1 gave Martin a 3-to-2 partisan edge, came from a trade association that supports Net neutrality requirements. Some Washington insiders believe McDowell might be receptive to Democrats’ arguments for Net neutrality conditions.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801330

fredfa

07-07-06, 10:17 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Nominators nod off

By David Bianculli New York Daily News TV Critic Friday, July 7th, 2006

The Emmy nominators for 2006 made room for lots of new blood - Kyra Sedgwick in TNT's "The Closer," for starters.

As usual, though, they made some blatantly absurd errors of omission.

Start with Hugh Laurie. Though the Fox medical series "House," like ABC's medical series "Grey's Anatomy," made the Outstanding Drama Series cut for the first time in its sophomore season, Laurie himself was snubbed in the Outstanding Lead Actor category. That's ridiculous, since without House, there is no "House." Laurie's performance is too central, and too good, to be ignored - yet it was.

In that same category alone, other Emmy snubees include James Spader of ABC's "Boston Legal" and Bradley Whitford of NBC's "The West Wing" (whose work this year was more leading man than supporting player). James Gandolfini of HBO's "The Sopranos," like co-star Edie Falco, also was ignored, but in a less-than-stellar season with such strong competition, that makes sense.

It makes less sense - no sense at all, really - for the nominations to exclude ABC's "Lost" from the Outstanding Drama category, or to forget the work of so many superb supporting players, starting with Terry O'Quinn, Naveen Andrews and Josh Holloway.

FX's "Rescue Me" and HBO's "Six Feet Under" didn't make the drama cut, either. And because it showed no new episodes during the calendar year of eligibility, "Deadwood" missed out entirely.

Other overlooked actors and actresses can't cite the calendar as a reason - only the poor taste of the Emmy nominators. In comedy, how do you overlook Jason Lee in NBC's "My Name Is Earl"? Mary-Louise Parker in Showtime's "Weeds'? Jason Bateman in Fox's "Arrested Development"? And in the season's second half, the work of Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria and Marcia Cross in ABC's "Desperate Housewives"?

In drama, the unfairly overlooked performances include those by Kristen Bell in UPN's "Veronica Mars," Lauren Graham in WB's "Gilmore Girls" and - another especially egregious omission here - Ellen Pompeo in "Grey's Anatomy." Other forgotten players from "Grey's" include Patrick Dempsey, T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl, whose work in the two-part season finale was wonderful. And Jimmy Smits? His work on "The West Wing" was overlooked, though Alan Alda's, as the opposing presidential candidate, was not. Smits won the race on TV, but Alda wins in the race for Emmy nominations.

Finally, in Outstanding Comedy Series, NBC's "The Office" and CBS's "Two and a Half Men" made it, but "My Name Is Earl" didn't. That's a wrong that should be on someone's list, and corrected, or else bad karma may follow.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/col/dbianculli/v-pfriendly/story/433094p-364838c.html

fredfa

07-07-06, 10:31 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy sentimental journey bad trip

By R.D. Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal television writer July 7, 2006

How do the Emmys stink? Let me count the ways:

• No nominations for Gilmore Girls.
• No nominations for Veronica Mars.
• No nomination for James Gandolfini.
• • No nomination for Edie Falco.
• Peter Krause is nominated?
• And Candice Bergen?
• And Geena Davis? GEENA DAVIS?

Now, I know that all entertainment awards are skewed, biased and prone to sentimentality. I know that prizes often fall under the Chamber of Commerce Theory -- honoring what makes the industry feel good about itself, instead of what is genuinely best of the lot.

Still, with Thursday's announcement of the Emmy nominations, the only reasonable reaction was, ``What happened?''

And the answer is probably that TV's old guard ruled.

This year, the television academy modified its rules -- adding a blue-ribbon panel to membership votes -- in order to broaden the major categories to include shows that had been overlooked in the past.

The process was supposed to favor shows on fringe networks that might not have been watched by voters.

But the use of panels in entertainment awards has been criticized in the past. The people with enough free time to review long lists of nominees may also be the people who aren't very busy at work -- usually because they're, well, old. And old translates into a preference for traditional forms, recognizable names and sentimental favorites.

Which leads us to:

• Kevin James and Charlie Sheen getting nominations for best actor in a comedy thanks to old-school shows King of Queens and Two and a Half Men. I like Sheen on Two and a Half, but his acting takes understatement to the sub-basement level.

• Geena Davis, still thought of by the TV business as a movie star, nominated for old-fashioned drama Commander in Chief.

AndFalco should have just been given the award for her work on The Sopranos this season, including her hospital-bedside monologue early on; instead, she isn't nominated.

• • Martin Sheen nominated for The West Wing in a season in which his character was often on the sidelines. But he's a well-known Hollywood name and has never won an Emmy for West Wing, so sentiment appears to be in play.

• The best drama nominations for The West Wing, in a year that wasn't remotely its best, and 24, whose silliness has been obscured by its rise as a fave among red-state politicians. Among deserving shows left out are Rescue Me, Lost, Over There and Veronica Mars. (The Emmys also allowed some notable fudging in drama, by letting the series Thief and Sleeper Cell compete in the miniseries categories.)

To be fair -- although I don't want to be -- there are some worthy nominees: Steve Carell from The Office, Denis Leary for Rescue Me, Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer, a writing nod for the Christmas party episode of The Office, Jeremy Piven for Entourage.

But then I start seeing what's missing. Where's Jason Dohring (Logan on Veronica Mars)? How could Veronica have no nominations for anything when Reba, That '70s Show, CSI: New York, E-Ring and Ghost Whisperer managed one apiece?

What about Rainn Wilson (Dwight) and John Krasinski (Jim) from The Office? Heck, where's the entire cast of The Office? What about the actors on My Name Is Earl? The Emmys stink. I can't stop counting the ways.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/entertainment/television/14985253.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

07-07-06, 11:01 AM

The Business of Television
Prime-time TV fails to properly award itself

By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune Media Columnist July 7, 2006

Television doesn't just need to sell ads, it needs to sell itself.

When all the paperwork is done from this year's just-concluded national upfront ad campaign, it looks as though the major networks will have brought in between $8.5 billion and $9 billion in commitments for next season, not counting My Network TV, News Corp.'s answer to the demise of UPN, still in the marketplace.

But it's highly unlikely that the fledgling program service supplying orphaned stations with English-language telenovelas, given its emphasis on local ad sales, will nudge the national total past last year's upfront mark of $9.1 billion. And the upfront traditionally accounts for around three-quarters of prime-time sales.

It turns out advertisers are as likely as viewers to stray from prime time.

Yet when TV has the chance to present a live, three-hour-plus tribute to itself, highlighting its best in advance of the fall season, what does it do? It squanders the opportunity. Completely.

The 58th Annual Prime Time Emmy Awards are getting buried on the last Sunday in August, instead of the traditional night before the mid-September launch of the TV season. And they're airing on fourth-place NBC.

Ostensibly this is because NBC has pro football on Sundays, but it means the industry's love-in competes with the weather and the last barbecue before Labor Day weekend.

The Aug. 27 date still might have been salvageable had the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the people who make TV, been half as smart as people who actually watch it.

They revamped the voting procedures this year, going with blue-ribbon panels that were supposed to bring new faces, shows and networks into contention. It didn't work

Just try to get excited about the Emmys when Stockard Channing and Geena Davis--hardly newcomers--were nominated Thursday for first-year shows that won't be back next year. In fact, of 10 women nominated for comedy and drama leads, seven are from shows that are toast.

"Lost," last year's top drama, isn't a finalist this year. The fact that "Desperate Housewives" had all four of its lead actresses (after three nominations last year, including winner Felicity Huffman) shut out should have meant new blood; instead four of the five lead comedy actress nominees already have Emmys on their shelves.

The magnitude of the snubs was awesome and too numerous to mention here, and it's damaging to more than the egos of those left out in the cold.

The artists and scientists of the TV academy, whether they realize it or not, are selling viewers utter ambivalence at a time when the TV industry can least afford it.

Stranger in a strange land: "It's a robotized twilight zone, otherworldly, in more ways than I can recount," Dan Rather said, not talking about his now-severed 44-year tie to CBS News but rather his 2005 visit to North Korea.

What was notable was that Rather was talking about Pyongyang on CNN, instead of CBS, for whom he filed his "60 Minutes" report on the trip.

"If you say `Good morning' to someone, they are very polite, and they will smile and say: `Yes. Our maximum leader told us this morning on the radio that it was going to be a beautiful day. And you know what, sir? It is a beautiful day,'" Rather told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday. "The first few times you hear that, you're at least bemused, if not amused, by it. But hour after hour, day after day, there's an unsettling quality to that."

"That's incredibly creepy," said Cooper, who this season will be more or less inheriting the occasional "60 Minutes" slots that once belonged to Rather. "I have never heard that."

CNN makes sense for Rather, but it's not clear that Rather makes sense for CNN, a place enchanted with rising star Cooper, who segued from Rather to a tease for his exclusive interview with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0607070154jul07,0,529019,print.column

fredfa

07-07-06, 11:36 AM

If I read all the stuff on this thread like I thought I did, the Housewives shouldn't even have been in the running for anything this year, since the ratings fizzled and the drama was nothing special. People kept waiting for the series to get going and it never did. Did I read wrong all year?

Scott: Clearly the central storyline of season one ("Who killed Mary Alice?") was far more compelling than anything Marc Cherry came up with in the second season.

But I though the series sort of regained its footing late in the year and shows -- to me at least -- promise of rebounding next season.

The critics were unmerciful. But, at least according to Nielsen Media Service ratings, the audiences weren't as unforgiving.

During its first (2004-2005) season "Desperate Housewives" averaged 23.40 million viewers. It was the fourth most popular show in prime-time.

This past 2005-2006 season, "Desperate Housewives" averaged 22.15 million viewers. It was again the fourth most popular show in prime-time.

fredfa

07-07-06, 11:42 AM

AReminder
TV Critics Summer Tour

The nation’s TV critics descend on Los Angeles next week for their annual summer tour. The official dates are July 11-27. Late in the month they will bestow their annual awards. (Frankly their nominees didn’t impress me much more than the Emmy lists we saw yesterday.)

The summer critic’s tour gives us an in-depth chance to see how the new TV season will shake out.

You will get complete and comprehensive coverage of what those critics are hearing, writing, blogging, and saying for the next three weeks here in the Hot Off The Press thread.

So keep checking in during the next three weeks to see what is happening – and what WILL be happening -- in the world of TV.

fredfa

07-07-06, 11:54 AM

TV Review
“Psych”

By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter
Bottom line: A clever private eye romp that wittily illustrates the unheralded virtues of slackerdom.

10-11:30PM ET/PT Friday, July 7 USA Network

I watched the pilot for the lighthearted new USA Network hour "Psych" not quite sure how I felt about its star James Roday, who portrays a slacker with phenomenal powers of observation masquerading as a psychic. It took me awhile to decide whether he was annoying or the second coming of Bruce Willis.

So I watched the 90-minute pilot again and realized that Roday and his show are indeed cool. Viewers are thus advised to give "Psych" time to grow on them. Like the consistently endearing "Monk," the show that precedes it on USA's Friday night slate, this one supplies a fresh, quirky take on the detective genre. It takes itself seriously pretty much not at all, which is precisely what we want at 10 p.m. on a summer Friday.

Once you lock into Roday's sassy, wisecracking rhythm, it dawns on you that this is how it felt when we first laid eyes on that guy who rose to fame in a little series titled "Moonlighting."

Indeed, the "Moonlighting" analogy is hardly accidental. Executive producer Steve Franks has talked about how he used to hang out on the set of that iconic 1980s hour with his cop father, who worked security on the show. He considers "Psych" to be "Moonlighting" with two best friends.

While this show has a long way to go before real comparisons between the two are justified, it embodies a similarly breezy, rat-a-tat-tat dialogue rhythm (with Roday's alter ego Shawn Spencer subbing for Willis' sassy jokemeister David Addison). Not that there is any sign of Cybill Shepherd to be found here.

In this case, the incredulous straight-woman sidekick is instead a man: Dule Hill, late of "The West Wing," who plays Shawn's brainy but reluctant best friend Gus Guster.

As "Psych" opens, it is quickly established that Shawn is greatly stifled by Peter Pan Syndrome, creeping into adulthood as a maturity-challenged man-child without a pot to urinate in. This greatly disgusts his gruff, tough-love cop daddy Henry (Corbin Bernsen) whom we see drilling Shawn from childhood onward in feats of observation. But because his boy had his development arrested at roughly age 15, father and son are now officially estranged.

Shawn uses his uncanny gift to call in endless tips to the cops because no clue escapes his razor-sharp gaze. But it doesn't do much to pad his bank account.

So anyway, Shawn goes too far and gets dragged into a real case as a suspect, forcing him to play the psychic card. The problem is, he has no actual clairvoyant abilities. He can't read the future, only crime scenes. But hey, it's a living.

By the end of the opener, Shawn will have hung out a shingle as a (phony) law enforcement spiritualist, with Gus pulled along to accompany him in his crazy schemes.

The premiere, penned by executive producer Franks, strides along with wit and charm to spare, aided by Michael Engler's able direction. A device wherein objects regularly light up to signify Shawn's analytic gaze seems a little forced initially but winds up working well.

As for Roday, he dives right into a role that's something of an actor's dream. He convinces us that his character has the smarts and charisma to hoodwink the world (most of it, anyway), and if "Psych" flies as it should, we're no doubt looking at the birth of a star.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801122

fredfa

07-07-06, 12:06 PM

Thursday’s network prime-time ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).

fredfa

07-07-06, 12:08 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
CBS's 'Big Brother' returns with a thud

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jul 7, 2006

The granddaddy of summer reality shows is really starting to gray.

“Big Brother: All-Stars,” the seventh edition of CBS’s reliable summer franchise, debuted last night to a 2.8 adults 18-49 overnight rating, down 18 percent from last year’s 3.4 in the same Thursday 8 p.m. timeslot.

It was down even more, 24 percent, from the 3.7 that the 2004 premiere averaged. Though “Brother” still won its exceedingly weak timeslot quite handily, topping No. 2 Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” by 33 percent, it was a disappointing debut for a show with so much hype.

CBS had invited viewers to choose which houseguests should return in this edition, presenting 20 possibilities and allowing fans to vote online for three male and three female players. The network then said it select the other six finalists.

But by the time last night’s show aired, word had leaked on various web sites that CBS would invite 14 players on the show, instead of the expected 12. Indeed, last night CBS introduced eight viewer selections instead of six.

It seemed that the rumored twist, along with hype for several new media innovations designed to kick up interest in the show, should have led to better ratings. But “Brother” was also below last season’s Thursday average, a 3.0.

The three weekly editions of the show will air Thursdays, Tuesdays and Sundays.

A night of mostly new programming led CBS to No. 1 for the night in 18-49s with a 2.8 rating and 9 share, trailed by Fox at 2.6/8, ABC at 2.2/7, NBC at 1.9/6, Univision at 1.6/5 and the WB and UPN each at 0.7/2.

At 8 p.m., CBS was No. 1 with a 2.8 for "Brother," followed by Univision at 2.1 for "La Fea Mas Bella," NBC at 2.0 for "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" reruns, Fox at 1.8 for "That ‘70s Show" repeats and ABC at 1.5 for "Master of Champions." The WB's repeat "Smallville" and UPN's reruns of "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Love, Inc." each earned a 0.8.

At 9 p.m., Fox led at 3.3 for "So You Think You Can Dance," followed by CBS's "Rock Star: Supernova" at 2.6, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" repeat at 2.3, NBC's "Office" repeats at 1.8, Univision's "Barrera de Amor" at 1.5, UPN's repeats of "Eve" and "Cuts" at 0.7, and WB's "Supernatural" rerun at 0.6.

At 10 p.m., CBS's "CSI" rerun was No. 1 at 3.0, followed by ABC's "Grey's" repeat at 2.9, NBC's "Windfall" at a series-low 1.9, and Univision's "Aqui y Ahora" at 1.3.

Among households, CBS led again at 5.1/9, ahead of No. 2 ABC at 4.7/8, Fox at 4.0/4, NBC at 3.0/5, Univision at 2.1/4, UPN at 1.3/2 and WB at 1.2/2.

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_5838.asp

fredfa

07-07-06, 12:12 PM

Has anyone seen any more about the World Cup ratings of the past week on ABC/ESPN?

Sports On TV
ESPN’s Cup Ratings Stay Strong

(Multichannel.com) 7/7/2006 12:08:00 PM ET

ESPN said Tuesday’s Germany-Italy 2006 FIFA World Cup semifinal delivered a 4.1 Nielsen Media Research rating and was viewed in 3.74 million households, making it the highest-rated non-U.S. game ever on the network and its third highest-rated World Cup game ever.

And Wednesday’s Portugal-France semifinal earned a 2.6 rating and drew 2.38 million households.

Overall, the World Cup on ESPN is averaging a 1.9 rating, drawing 2.287 million viewers and 1.735 million households per match -- up 73%, 76% and 80%, respectively, versus the 2002 tournament.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6350453

fredfa

07-07-06, 12:46 PM

(From Marc Berman’s Friday, July 7, 2006, Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
TV Tidbits: Notes of Interest

GSN Salutes the Best in Baseball:
Cable net GSN will honor baseball Hall of Famers on classic episodes of What’s My Line beginning tomorrow at 9 a.m. ET. An installment with Ted Williams will lead-off a two-hour What’s My Line block, followed by Joe DiMaggio at 9:30 a.m., Jackie Robinson at 10 a.m., and Willie Mays at 10:30 a.m.

Reader Feedback: The 58th Annual Emmy Award Nominations

“Although there is some new blood among the Emmy nominees this year, there are still notable exceptions: Lauren Graham and everyone involved with Gilmore Girls, and My Name is Earl to name a few. No matter how many people are used in the nominating process, they still stick with the critical favorites -- Grey's Anatomy, House, etc., and neglect the fan favorites.”
-C.L.

-The P.I.:
While I would agree that enough is enough with departing (and tired) shows like NBC’s Will & Grace and The West Wing, I would say that the nominations for fan favorites Grey’s Anatomy and House more than deserved. And considering it took NBC’s Scrubs four years to get recognized, there is still plenty of time for the freshman My Name Is Earl. But chances of Gilmore Girls ever getting any attention is nil. After six years, it’s time to give up hope for the residents of kooky Stars Hollow.

“Why is everyone so surprised that ABC’s Desperate Housewives was snubbed by the Emmy voters this year? While I understand the accolades in season one, the show this year was truly awful. I never recall a show spiraling downward this fast.”
-A.K., Boston, MA

-The P.I.:
The common term for a show losing steam in year two is a sophomore slump, and I am also personally not surprised by the lack of Emmy attention. Only the great Marcia Cross, in my opinion, was snubbed. If I were Marc Cherry I would get off the stage, and get back to finding a united story line for the four principal actresses next season.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

fredfa

07-07-06, 12:48 PM

The Thursday prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

07-07-06, 12:51 PM

TV Notebook
ABC Cancels “How To Get The Guy”

''Guy'' Gone
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

ABC has yanked ''How To Get the Guy'' with two episodes still to go. There's a chance that the network will make the remaining episodes available as downloads for the 3.5 million people (including me) who watched the show.

''We are all disappointed, but what can you do?'' Michelle -- AKA ''the career girl'' told me in an e-mail. ''It's sorta like dating: you go into it hopeful, but sometimes, inexplicably, it just ends.''

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

fredfa

07-07-06, 02:00 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Weekend TV:

"Brotherhood,'' "Chappelle's Show,'' "Psych,'' "Reno 911!''
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog
(All times are Pacific)

The most interesting debut on television this weekend is Showtime's "Brotherhood,'' a good new drama about two brothers (one, a politician; the other, an often nasty criminal) building power in an Irish working class neighborhood of Providence, R.I. Check out my full review [utl] http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/charlie_mccollum/14976592.htm[/burl] for more details. But before you do that, here are some other shows of note on what is a rather busy weekend:

• USA has come up with a really nice compliment complement to its highly popular "Monk'' with "Psych,'' which makes its debut at 10 p.m. tonight. As is the case of "Monk'' at its best, this comedy-drama about a crime-solving slacker who convinces the cops that he's a psychic isn't as much about the crime mysteries as it is a vehicle for lighthearted fun. James Roday ("Miss Match'') is utterly charming and delightfully funny as Shawn Spencer (who may not be psychic but who does have wonderful powers of observations), and he gets fine support from Corbin Bernsen ("L.A.
Law'') as his cop father and Dule Hill ("The West Wing'') as his Dr. Watson-
esque sidekick. The combo of "Monk,'' which returns with new episodes at 9 p.m. tonight, and "Psych'' makes for a couple of hours of solid entertainment.

• In early 2005, comedian Dave Chappelle walked off his hit Comedy Central show in the midst of production on season three, leaving behind a $50 million contract and a lot of still-unanswered questions about why he took a powder. Now, the cable channel has pulled what skits Chappelle did finish into the three-installment "Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes'' (9 p.m. Sunday). There are a lot of laughs in the individual bits. But as a complete package, the episodes are disjointed and not nearly at the quality level of Chappelle's first two seasons. In addition, there's an underlying bitterness to some of the sketches that suggests just how troubled the comedian was at the time of filming. As a piece of TV history, the shows are fascinating; as entertainment, they may not be what fans had hoped for.

• Even though it's now entering its fourth season, "Reno 911!'' (10:30 p.m. Sunday, Comedy Central) doesn't really get the attention it deserves as one of the funniest half hours on television. The show, about some decidedly inept crime-fighting sheriff's deputies in Reno, is wacky, absurdist comedy that manages to be politically incorrect but is never really offensive. If you've never sampled "Reno 911!'' give it a shot.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html

fredfa

07-07-06, 02:07 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Reflections on the Nominations

Who Are These People, and What Have They Done With the Real Emmy Nominations?
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline”

You know how it is with we critics. We cannot achieve satisfaction, except on those rare occasions when someone does something so completely and utterly perfect that even we can't touch it. Then there are those things that are the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. With an AK-47. At a distance of two inches. This is what Thursday's Emmy nominations felt like. It was a nearly unprecedented example of an entertainment industry entity successfully following through on a promise to shake up the status quo and somehow managing to make things roughly 20 times worse. The list is, in a word, head-scratchingly outrageous (OK, three words, or two plus a hyphen). The only future that was served was the one preceded by the words "back to the."

It's difficult to know where even to begin. So let's get the stuff the TV Academy got right out of the way first, which we can dispense with in a few sentences: 1. The nomination of Denis Leary for lead drama actor for "Rescue Me"; 2. "The Office" landing a comedy series nod (though this may have been more of a "Duh!"); 3. Giving final nominations to perpetual bridesmaids Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston for the departed "Malcolm in the Middle"; 4. Snubbing "Desperate Housewives" and its five regulars for its tank of a second season; 5. Four nominations for Comedy Central's brilliant "The Colbert Report."

So much for the good news.

It turns out that all of the hype about the new voting process in the drama and comedy series and lead series performer categories and its desired effect of paving the way to honor new blood was successful only to the extent that it effectively erased logic from the equation. And let us please begin with the fact that the swan-songing NBC comedy "Will & Grace" -- whose best days were at least three seasons behind it -- was the only sitcom to earn double-digit nomination attention with 10. Curious, to say the least. And what was number two amongst comedies? A tie, with seven apiece, between "Two and a Half Men" and "Desperate Housewives." If this is what's considered the top of the comedic food chain, the business of creating TV laughter is in big trouble.

Chew on this, too: four of the lead comedy actress nominees amd three of the lead drama actresses were cited for shows that are no longer on the air. I mean, Stockard Channing gets a nomination for "Out of Practice," which I believe was viewed by four Nielsen households and could just as easily have been called "Out of Production." Stockard Channing, for something other than "West Wing"? Like...why? Were her family members permitted to cast ballots in suspiciously large numbers?

But let's just cut right to the chase here (and not the David Chase, though he probably isn't too happy right about now, either):

• James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, each three-time Emmy winners for "The Sopranos," can't even land nominations this time around. Meanwhile, Christopher Meloni gets one for "Law & Order: SVU" and Geena Davis for "Commander in Chief," a show that spent its single season on the air playing executive producer hot potato. ("Here, you take it! No, you!") That Gandolfini was snubbed is an embarrassment. That Falco was is pretty much unforgiveable.

• The nominations of Lisa Kudrow (for HBO's dreadful "The Comeback"), Kevin James and Martin Sheen leave the impression that at least one sizeable block of voters are under the mistaken impression that this is 2000 rather than 2006.

• Hugh Laurie, arguably the finest performer in all of television for his role on Fox's mega-rated "House," wins a Golden Globe...and someone can't scare up even a nomination from the Emmys. This may be the biggest outrage of all. Oh, and here's the kicker: the show itself was nominated even though all agree that Laurie is the show.

• Mary-Louise Parker wins a Golden Globe for her role on Showtime's "Weeds," is widely viewed as a true artist -- but isn't nominated. Hey, you know, Stockard Channing, "Out of Practice"...so much quality, so few available slots.

• "Lost" wins the Emmy last year, isn't even nominated this year.

• James Spader ("Boston Legal"), Patricia Arquette ("Medium"), Felicity Huffman ("Desperate Housewives"), all Emmy winners last year -- not nominated this year. Did their performances really nosedive that far? Has everyone simply lost their mind?

• Forrest Whitaker and CCH Pounder, both revelations this season on FX's "The Shield" -- aren't nominated. Meanwhile, Michael Imperioli (who plays Christopher) gets a nomination for "The Sopranos" in what was arguably his weakest season while guys like Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts) are ignored.

• The whole purported reason for the voting process revamp was to get shows like "Gilmore Girls" and "Veronica Mars," networks like the (former) UPN and WB and actresses like Lauren Graham and Kristen Bell some overdue Emmy recognition. So what happened? Nothing. No major honors for the WB or UPN or Graham or Bell or anyone remotely like them. Maybe if they could just change their names to Stockard Channing and Alfre Woodard, it would all turn around.

There's more, but we all have lives we need to get to. To summarize, it appears that in the quest to alter the configuration of the major categories, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences voting members confused the concepts of change and invigoration. Modifying something for its own sake ultimately achieves little if you don't move forward, and in embracing oldies and retreads while pretending to stoke diversity, the academy boldly took a giant step backward.

I applaud ATAS for trying something new. It was a good thought. But this approach clearly didn't work for whatever reason. Is there a Plan B? I'll even accept Plan G at this point -- and I'll bet Hugh Laurie would, too.

http://www.pastdeadline.com/

fredfa

07-07-06, 03:27 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy reactions:

By Paul J. Gough, Cynthia Littleton, Kimberly Nordyke and Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter July 07, 2006

The phone rang early at Kyra Sedgwick's house in Los Angeles, where both she and husband Kevin Bacon were asleep. "We heard the phone ring, and Kev said, 'I guess it's a yes,'" Sedgwick said Thursday morning. "I said, 'No, no, we don't know that yet.' He said, 'Congrats, I love you.'" It was hard to go back to sleep after Sedgwick confirmed that it was true.

The star of "The Closer" had gotten her first nomination for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for the quirky TNT crime drama. She said she loves playing deputy chief Brenda Leigh Johnson in the show, which recently got picked up for its third season.

"She's so incredibly great at her job, (and) she's so incredibly inept at her social skills," Sedgwick said. "She's a fascinating woman who's a real fish out of water in Los Angeles." She said executive producers James Duff, Michael M. Robin and Greer Shephard are amazing and incredible. But there will be precious little time to celebrate. Sedgwick, who is in the middle of filming "The Closer," had to go into work. "I'm sure it'll be a fun day to work, and hopefully there will be champagne at some point," Sedgwick said.

****

It's been a hell of a year for Craig Ferguson, host of CBS' "The Late Late Show." His program has the kind of momentum you can't buy; his first novel, "Between the Bridge and the River," was published in April to good reviews; and on Thursday he picked up his first Emmy nomination, for performer in a variety or music program.

Ferguson credits CBS and "Late Late Show" executive producer Peter Lassally for giving him the freedom to let him be himself, thick Scottish accent and all. "It takes courage in this town to let someone like me go out and be himself in a town where everyone has a survey or an opinion or market research and flow charts to back up everything they do," Ferguson said. "I think you have to throw all that out with comedy and be yourself. It all comes down to authenticity."

The one cloud in Ferguson's life came in January with the passing of his father, to whom he paid tribute on the Jan. 30 edition of the show, bringing critical raves. "I phoned my mother with the (Emmy) news this morning, and she said 'Your father will be delighted,' like she was going to go tell him about it," Ferguson said wistfully. "I'm just glad to work for a company that would let me do the kind of show that I needed to then."

****

An Emmy nomination as outstanding actor in a drama series meant one thing initially to Denis Leary. The "Rescue Me" star wouldn't be able to sit with co-creator Peter Tolan like last year, when they shared a writing nomination, and offer a running commentary on the Emmy ceremony. "Peter's one of the funniest people on the planet," said Leary, who received his second nomination. Not that he's complaining about the second trip to Los Angeles: He's pleased for the nomination, though he spreads the credit around. "I feel it's validating all the work that we're doing here. I don't feel like it's just me, though. They're recognizing the show and the people doing the show."

Leary was driving to work with his son, drinking coffee and listening to the radio to find out Wednesday night's Red Sox score when the station cut to Los Angeles for a live announcement of the nominations. "It was quickly right in our faces," Leary said. He praised FX and its chief, John Landgraf, and said it's gratifying to see the cable network get so many nominations (eight). But he said that it's a key time for drama.

"There are so many great shows, there's a wealth of great one-hour shows on television," Leary said, mentioning "The Sopranos" (which he said is his favorite show) and "24." And Leary doesn't think another Emmy nom is going to go to his head. He knows he's been fortunate. "It's hard for me to even believe that I was in the movies with Clint Eastwood, that I know Robert De Niro and that (Boston Bruins legend) Bobby Orr calls me on my cell phone," Leary said. "Everything's gravy at this point."

****

With five Emmy wins in seven nominations for sitcom "Murphy Brown," Candice Bergen is no stranger to nominations. But Bergen says her nomination for supporting actress in a drama series for playing attorney Shirley Schmidt on "Boston Legal" is all about the writing as well as the relationship between stars William Shatner and James Spader. "I'm so devoted to this show and everybody on it and in it. I love the quality of 'Boston Legal,'" Bergen said Thursday morning. "Everybody seems to appreciate the quality of the writing, the substance of the issues the show takes on."

But she admitted to being disappointed that the show itself wasn't nominated. "It's a distinctive show, it's just not quite like anything on television, and it's so much fun to work on, and it's really a privilege," Bergen said. She praised her other nominees, including Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson from "Grey's Anatomy," Blythe Danner from "Huff" and Jean Smart from "24." "I admire their talent so much," Bergen said.

****

It was a bittersweet nomination Thursday for Oliver Platt. Platt, who plays Russell Tupper on Showtime's "Huff," received his second nomination in as many years for the role. But Showtime pulled the plug on the drama, which also received a nomination for supporting actress Blythe Danner. "Given that we knew the show wasn't coming back, it's the sweet part of the bittersweet," Platt said from New York City, where he's on Broadway starring in "Shining City." "It's a nice little footnote."

Platt also praised the television academy for giving nominations this year to shows like "Huff," "The West Wing" and "Arrested Development," all of which are no longer in production. He acknowledged that it was a bit of a surprise that "Huff," which was critically acclaimed, wasn't returning. "It's kind of confounding; we thought being on Showtime, that because the people seemed to like the show so much, that it would be around," Platt said. "And what I learned from this business, show business will just find new ways to surprise you."

****

Thursday found Emmy-winning actor James Woods back home in Rhode Island, visiting his mother. It was a call from his publicist that alerted him to the fact that he had been nominated as outstanding guest actor in a drama series for his role of ALS-afflicted Dr. Nate Lennox on NBC's "ER."

Woods won widespread acclaim for his spot, which tracked the progression of the character's disease in flashbacks to the point where it was difficult to understand his speech and then, finally, to an emotional scene where his character could do no more than blink. On Thursday, Woods said there were physical and emotional requirements for playing the character that led him to view the role as separate characters. He credited the time he spent on the Saturday before shooting began with six people who have ALS, ranging from someone who had been just diagnosed to one man at the end stage. He said that they let him into their lives, an experience he called "spiritually affecting." "They were incredibly brave people; they were essentially baring their souls. ... They were all so giving, with everything they did," Woods said.

Woods won Emmys in 1987 for "Promise" and 1989 for "My Name Is Bill W.," and has been nominated several other times. He said the experience on "ER" led him to want to do series television, something he will do in the fall with CBS's much-anticipated "Shark" -- up against "ER" in its time slot. "Ironically, if it hadn't been for 'ER,' I wouldn't have wanted to do 'Shark,'" Woods said.

****

In seven years on the air, "The West Wing" grabbed seven nominations -- and four consecutive wins -- in the category of outstanding drama.

"It was unexpected," said the show's executive producer John Wells. "We were surprised to be able to stay on the air past the first year," "West Wing" followed the Bartlet administration from about 18 months after the first election through a second term. Wells said that everyone knew the show's move to Sunday night, and the ratings decline, probably spelled the end to the series.

"We realized we ought to have some fun, and we did, doing things like the live debate. It was an insane thing to try to do, (but) we just had a blast doing it," Wells said.

The fun and creativity was put aside after the death of actor John Spencer, one of the series' mainstay characters. "When John died in December, we all sort of looked at each other and said, 'We're done even if we get renewed,' " Wells said Thursday. "He was such an essential part of what we were all doing. It felt done at that point."

****

"Arrested Development" creator and executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz was vacationing with his family on the big island of Hawaii on Thursday. And while the islands reside in a time zone that is three hours earlier than the Pacific, he rose before 3 a.m. and logged onto the Internet to see if his Emmy number got called again even in the wake of the show's demise on Fox. He wasn't disappointed.

But was he surprised? "Very," he said. "I'm touched by this continued, incredible support for a show that no longer even exists. We've always been nourished by this unbelievable support by our peers, and it continues even in death, if you will. And I mean, we got these nominations for a show that didn't send out screeners, didn't have an ad campaign and hasn't been on the air since we aired opposite the Winter Olympics early in the year. It would have been so easy to overlook us this year. Yet they didn't."

****

Jaime Pressly said she's "shell-shocked, overwhelmed and flabbergasted" about her nomination for supporting actress for her role on NBC's "My Name Is Earl." She had been watching the nominations announcement on television from bed Thursday morning when she realized that only the lead acting categories were being announced. "My boyfriend was online trying to find out something," she said, before getting the call that she had been nominated. "Then I was bouncing on the bed."

Pressly is leaving today on a trip to North Carolina to visit her family and celebrate. "I guarantee you there's going to be a pretty big Pressly celebration with my family when I get home. They're so proud of me." She said she expected the show to be great when she signed on for the role, "but I never in a million years expected this."

The actress said there are definitely some similarities between her and Joy, the character she portrays. "We're both Southern women, and Southern women all have one thing in common: their strength. They are tough with a survival instinct, and we both have that in us."

Pressly returns to work on "Earl" on July 31. Until then, she's been busy promoting the upcoming "Earl" Season 1 DVD as well as her feature film "DOA: Dead or Alive," which opens Aug. 25.

****

"What great way to have us go out in nice mini-blaze of glory," said Megan Mullally, nominated for best supporting actress in a comedy series for NBC's "Will & Grace," which received a total of 10 nominations for its final season. "It was a very poignant, bittersweet wrap, and then to have one last nod from the Emmys is really nice." Mullally said she was spending Thursday working on her upcoming syndicated talk show, "The Megan Mullally Show." During birthday festivities for the show's executive producer, Corin Nelson, the crew of her talker feted Mullally with her very own version of "Happy Birthday to You," changing the lyrics to "Happy Emmy Nomination to You." Mullally also lamented the fact that the show's writing team wasn't nominated. "It just escapes me; I don't understand it. There's no way that what people love about the show -- the funny stuff -- the good actors that make it come across wouldn't be nominated if it weren't for these characters created in conjunction with the amazing writers we've had over the years."

****

Christopher Meloni was water skiing when "Law & Order: SVU" executive producer Neal Baer called to tell him that he had been nominated for lead actor in a drama series for the NBC show. "I was expecting really bad news," he said. "I was already out skiing, but thought I'd call back. His message had said that it was an emergency, but I thought, 'Well, whatever.' To be honest I just didn't know."

He said most actors don't expect recognition like this. "I don't think anyone really goes about a job expecting an award -- I think it's great just having a job itself after the amount of rejection that most actors go through to get where they are," he said. Meloni added that his nom is especially nice considering that his co-star Mariska Hargitay also was nominated for lead actress in a drama.

"That was the nicest thing about it. I felt that (both noms) spoke beyond great actors -- it spoke to a great show, well-developed characters, and she and I playing off each other with what the writers are giving us to work with."

"SVU" starts shooting again at the end of September, Meloni said. Until then, "I'm trying to perfect my skiing technique," he joked, before adding that he has "a couple of irons in the fire" in terms of any other projects in the meantime. "But I'm more than happy to kick back."

****

Julia Louis-Dreyfus had the best seat in the house to hear her name called as a nominee for lead actress in a comedy series for her title role on CBS' "The New Adventures of Old Christine." The actress was one of announcers of the nominations early Thursday morning.

"Brad Garrett and I were together, and he was reading the girls' names, so at first I wasn't sure. It's such a blur. But I saw my name on the teleprompter, and I was trying to remain calm and not scream and start swearing. I had totally convinced myself I wasn't getting nominated."

Louis-Dreyfus, who won a supporting actress Emmy for her role on NBC's "Seinfeld," said her Christine character "is probably a lot like me. If you turn up the personality volume on me, that's what she's like. But I would like to think that I'm not anywhere near as crazy and neurotic as the character I play."

The actress goes back to work in a couple of weeks and hopes the Emmy recognition will give a boost to the show's ratings. "Hopefully, this will bring even more people to the party," she said. "I'm really grateful to CBS for giving us a good time slot and giving us time to grow."

****

For Andre Braugher, receiving an Emmy nomination as lead actor in a miniseries or movie for FX's "Thief" might not make up for the fact that the program isn't coming back, but it helps.

"I was heartbroken (when I found out) that the show was not going to be back," he said. "We put everything into it. It's a common occurrence in this business, to watch shows be canceled, but we grieve and then move on."

He said numerous people involved in the show -- from writers, producers and directors to FX Networks president John Landgraf -- called to congratulate him and say that "we did a good job and stayed true to our objectives." In terms of his Emmy nom, Braugher said: "It's always gratifying when your peers have singled out this work as being something special. I'm nominated with actors that I admire. I kept my fingers crossed, but I'm as surprised as anyone else."

Braugher, who won an Emmy for his role on NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street," just finished shooting a role in the indie film "Live!" opposite Eva Mendes and is "looking around for things that interest me, that are provocative" in terms of his next project.

****

"This is more of a surprise now than when the show was bursting on the scene," Peter Krause said of his nomination for lead actor in a drama series for HBO's "Six Feet Under," which ended its five-season run last year. "I take it as high praise after the show has completed to receive a nomination. It feels really good ... that the show is gone but not forgotten."

Krause, who was nominated for the role twice before, said it was hard when the show came to an end. "I miss my family there -- my 'mother' Frances (Conroy), my 'brother' Michael (C. Hall), my 'sister' Lauren (Ambrose), Freddy Rodriguez. ... I spent a lot of time with them." So what's next for the actor, whose character died during the last season of "Under"? "I'm going to brush the dust off myself from being 'six feet under,' " joked Krause, who stars in the indie film "Civic Duty," which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival.

****

David Shore, creator and executive producer of Fox's medical drama "House," was in shock upon learning that the show was nominated for its first drama series Emmy.

"I found out when (executive producer) Katie Jacobs called me, and my first reaction was basically not to believe her," he said. "You keep reading that you've got a shot, then you look at all of the other dramatic shows -- there's so many great ones, and frankly, one of them has to not be picked for us to get picked."

Shore said he also was shocked that star Hugh Laurie wasn't nominated for a second year for leading actor in a drama series. "I have no explanation for it," he said.

For her part, Jacobs joked that she has come to realize a good system for ensuring awards nominations. "It's funny because I didn't watch the (nominations) last year. But the times when my partner and husband, (fellow 'House' executive producer) Paul Attanasio, was (eligible) for an Oscar, both times we watched he was nominated. So I thought, this year I'm going to turn on the TV, and hopefully that luck rubs off on me. I watched with my fingers and toes crossed." Jacobs said a bottle of champagne already had been uncorked in the writers' room. "That's how we work at 'House,' " she joked.

****

Jean Smart had seen various prognosticators' Emmy predictions and thought there was a possibility she would be nominated, but she still was surprised and excited to get the phone call saying she received a supporting actress nom for her role as first lady Martha Logan in Fox's drama series "24."

"A lot of publications had lists predicting nominations, and if you were in a betting situation, the odds were a little bit better for me, but I was still surprised," said the actress, winner of two Emmys for guest-starring roles on NBC's "Frasier."

Smart, who noted that it is looking like she'll be back next season "for a few more hours," said she had "an absolute blast" with her role. "There are only one or two scenes that I guess I wouldn't care to repeat, but it's something that I looked forward to every time I went to work. ... I loved that fact that she continued to surprise people with her actions and that she was always trying to find a way to do the right thing, even if it wasn't always the wisest thing to do."

So what's next for the actress? "Nothing specific workwise," she said. "I might be doing a play." But first, some relaxation time: "I'm going to go sit on the beach today and read a book."

****

Joanna Cassidy isn't afraid to say exactly how she feels about receiving a nomination for guest actress in a drama series for her role on HBO's "Six Feet Under" as Margaret Chenowith, the mother to Rachel Griffiths' character. "I'll cut to the chase: I deserved it," said an elated Cassidy, who was nominated for a leading actress Emmy in 1984 for the comedy series "Buffalo Bill." Cassidy added that it's gratifying to be nominated for a role she played through the five-year run of the show.

"I feel like I'm floating on air. We all just put in such hard work, and the show is so incredible in so many different ways, from the writing and style, and the people are amazing. It does kind of wrap it up for me."

Cassidy, who next appears in the feature films "The Grudge 2" and "The American Standards," has some big plans to celebrate her second Emmy nom. "I'm going to go for a swim -- naked -- and I'm going to, in every private moment, leap around and hug myself. I'm planning on having a beautiful day."

****

Gregory Itzin, nominated for a supporting actor in a drama series Emmy for his role as President Charles Logan in Fox's "24," had no idea the character was going transform from nervous bumbler into "the guy who killed (former president) David Palmer." "It was revealed in Episode 16, and they didn't tell me until Episode 14," he said.

"I was a little upset because I was creating the character with certain things in mind, and I wanted him to be a good president. But I took two steps back and dealt with it, filled in the back story, got my mind around it and started to enjoy it."

He realized that he wanted viewers "to feel bad for him, to love him and to absolutely hate him. I wanted him to be a full human being. I haven't had as much fun in front of the camera." The season ended with Logan's arrest, but Itzin says, "I'll be in the next season to a certain degree," though he said he hasn't yet been told anything about the upcoming season or what is going to happen to his character.

The first-time nominee had hoped for a nomination but never expected it. "There are 178 people in the category; to end up being one of five is -- you don't expect it, but at the same time, you hope desperately that it will happen."

Itzin said he hopes whatever his next role is will live up to Logan. "The problem is, I'm spoiled now. I've been playing the best character on TV. What a great, deep, twisted part to play."

****

"We shoot for one nomination every year; that's our goal," joked Bill Lawrence, executive producer of NBC's medical comedy "Scrubs," nominated for a second time as best comedy series. "Our plan is to come (to the Emmy ceremony) in a giant group and wait until this award is announced, and if we don't win, we'll exit in a giant huff. And we'll be wearing tuxedos that say, 'We've never won anything.' "

On a more serious note, Lawrence said it's always a nice surprise when the show is nominated. "Because our show is rarely on television," he said, alluding to the fact that "Scrubs" premiered at midseason last season and will again this season. "We never know when it's going to be on, so it always makes for a nice morning. We're working in a vacuum -- we don't know if and when it's going to be on television -- so this (nomination) puts everyone in a good mood."

He added that the fact NBC aired the show back-to-back last season was a "double-edged sword. At the time, we didn't think it was cool, but it actually worked. The show was good as its own lead-in." He also lamented that fact that none of the show's cast was nominated for individual Emmys, including the perennially overlooked John C. McGinley, who "must have at some point or other punched an academy member in the face, and word spread."

Lawrence is in preproduction on the show's sixth season -- "I'm writing the show in a creepy deserted hospital in the Valley, where it's about 120 degrees" -- but offered little in terms of what viewers can expect next year. "I would imagine on 'Scrubs' we always do things dangerously close to jumping the shark but avoid being cheesy. Everybody's pregnant right now," including Lawrence's real-life wife and "Scrubs" cast member Christa Miller, who is "going to buy a big giant pregnant dress, which is great because I know she'll wear that again," he joked.

****

In 1977, Barry Manilow won an Emmy for best primetime special for ABC's "The Barry Manilow Special," which brought in 37 million viewers. On Thursday, PBS' "Barry Manilow: Music and Passion" scored a primetime Emmy nomination in the category of outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program. "I'm on a roll, once every 30 years," Manilow joked from his home in Palm Springs. He said that time has given him perspective about winning that first Emmy. "There is a strange feeling when this happens to you 30 years later," Manilow said. "It's a deep feeling of gratitude. When it happened the first time, I just didn't know anything. It was happening to me so fast -- so fast that I didn't realize at the time that it was so rare to be nominated for something like this. Thirty years later, there's a sense of amazement and gratitude." He credited the look of "Music and Passion" to director David Mallet and executive producers Mark Grove, Garry Kief and Troy Queen. Manilow, who flies to Las Vegas every night to do his Las Vegas Hilton show upon which the special is based, is in the middle of production on a second album based on the 1960s that will come out this holiday season. He said he's not scheduled to do another TV special, at least not right now. "I haven't really thought about it, but now that this has happened, maybe," Manilow said.

****

Michael J. Fox was vacationing with his family when he learned of his nomination for guest actor in a drama series for ABC's "Boston Legal." Fox won three Emmys for his role on NBC's "Family Ties" and another for his role on ABC's "Spin City." "It was just such a thrill to work with 'Boston Legal's' talented cast, crew, producers, directors and writers," he said. "The nomination is a nice bonus, and I am very grateful."

****

Ironically, Rosie O'Donnell was vacationing on a cruise ship near Alaska when she got word that her HBO special "All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise" had been nominated for three Emmys, including outstanding nonfiction special. Partner and fellow executive producer Kelli O'Donnell woke her up "at the crack of dawn" to tell her about the noms. "I said, 'That's amazing; I have to get some more sleep now,'" she joked. O'Donnell said the news was especially gratifying considering what was going on during shooting. "Last year during the cruise, the federal marriage amendment (regarding gay marriages) was beaten for the first time. This year, when we said we had gotten nominated, everybody was cheering. There are 3,000 people on this cruise, and it's touching to get nominated while on board." She added that she's happy to see that that special has touched people's lives. "It's reached people in a way I never thought it would. ... It's really changed a lot of people's perspectives. It's easy to vilify a group of people until you see their lives and see the humanity. ... But what unites us is much bigger than what makes us different." O'Donnell starts her role as co-host on ABC's daytime talker "The View" in September, saying she's both excited and nervous about the job. "I've never been on a daytime show where I wasn't the boss," she said. "All of a sudden, I have a lot of bosses

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002800961

keenan

07-07-06, 03:35 PM

I like actually like Ferguson more than Letterman but it's on late and I hope it goes HD soon.

fredfa

07-07-06, 03:47 PM

keenan

07-07-06, 03:58 PM

I think it is getting harder to "like" Letterman. He just seems to be such an unpleasant person.

And to my eyes, he seems to be mailing it in far more often than he used to.

Craig took a while to get used to, but he is very enjoyable.
Same here, I still like some of Letterman's silliness, but I enjoy Ferguson far more now, he gets more involved in discussions with his guests, Letterman not so much anymore, it's like a script, whereas Ferguson seems to be more free-form.

fredfa

07-07-06, 04:36 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Catch them while you can

(Note: Times are Central)
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star Friday, July 07, 2006

What do "Brotherhood," a promising new drama on Showtime and "Chappelle's Show," which catapulted comedian Dave Chappelle to superstardom, have in common? Besides the fact they're airing new episodes this Sunday?

Catch ‘Brotherhood,’ ‘Chappelle’s Show’ now

That is, while they’re still on the air.

Bait and switch. That’s what we have here. Times two.

Case 1: The so-called return of “Chappelle’s Show” at 8 p.m. CT Sunday on Comedy Central. As you probably know, comedian Dave Chappelle no longer has anything to do with the sketch show that bears his name. That’s reflected in the show’s new, cryptic subtitle, “The Lost Episodes.”

Actually those episodes were never lost. Viacom, which signed Chappelle to the $50 million deal that he walked away from in the middle of the third season of taping “Chappelle’s Show,” always knew exactly where they were.

After a couple of obligatory opening gags about Chappelle being gone, show writers Donnell Rawlings and Charlie Murphy appear onstage to introduce the sketches that Chappelle wrote and starred in before leaving the set, never to return.

In previous seasons, “Chappelle’s Show” was known for introducing far-out characters like Clayton Bigsby, the blind white supremacist who didn’t know he was black, and profane Colonial brewmaster Samuel Jackson.

On this program, though, all but one of the sketches revolve around the character of Dave Chappelle, Superstar, his sudden celebrity and fortune, and the fact that everyone, it seems, knows about it. Even a sketch that seems to have nothing to do with him — a parody of those “newly discovered” Tupac songs that keep cropping up long after the rapper’s death — manages to work a couple of Chappelle references in.

There’s an irony there. Chappelle came to Comedy Central after spending several years trying to develop a TV show about himself for much larger networks. His failure rate was so high that it got to be an inside joke. He even satirized himself on HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show,” in an episode where Larry’s head writer (played by Wally Langham) and Chappelle work together on a network pilot … that goes down in flames.

That was a funny show. And so is tonight’s “Chappelle’s Show.”

Is there a message here? Did Chappelle realize he was funnier when he was in development hell before success came his way and DVDs of his show flew off the shelves? (In interviews he has admitted to endless knockdown-dragouts with network executives over sketches.)

More likely, Chappelle realized what tonight’s “Chappelle’s Show” inadvertently makes clear: He doesn’t need cable anymore. His insta-movie, “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party,” is out on pay-per-view this Thursday and should get him a long ways back to whatever money he left on the table.

Bait and switch, Case 2: “Brotherhood,” premiering an hour later, at 9 p.m. CT Sunday on Showtime. It’s an intense drama about two brothers in Providence, R.I., one a powerful local politician, his brother a gangster-on-the-lam, both fiercely loyal to their Irish-American stomping grounds.

Loosely based on the real-life drama that took place down the road in Boston, involving longtime Massachusetts Senate president Billy Bulger and his thug brother, Whitey, the show is slickly produced, decently written and very violent. It’s not near HBO quality but certainly better than that “Sleeper Cell” tripe that Showtime put on last year.

But before you rush to subscribe to the No. 3 premium cable provider (behind HBO and Cinemax), go to my TVBarn.com Web site and who are infuriated that “Huff,” Showtime’s highest-profile series and recipient of 10 Emmy nominations, was just canceled.

The ending of “Huff” after two seasons “is the height of TV network arrogance,” according to e-mailer Russ Blum, not to mention “a serious, serious betrayal of Showtime subscribers’ trust.” Another subscriber wrote, “I am switching back to HBO.”

Who can blame them? Leslie Moonves, who took over as chairman of CBS Corp. and overseer of Showtime in January, recently declared that most shows on the channel were like “an off-off-Broadway production,” more interested in pleasing critics than winning over the masses.

Well, this critic saw plenty to like in “Brotherhood.” Does that mean the show is doomed?

[url]http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/07/chappelle_and_b.html#more

fredfa

07-07-06, 04:54 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
2006 Emmys: Can we go back to the old system?

By Terry Morrow Knoxville News Sentinel in his blog “Tele-Buddy”

Two words sum up what I think about this new Emmy systems and the results it produced: Kevin James.

Readers, please! Freakin' Kevin James? Eeeek! Sad!

Shut outs for "Lost," "Six Feet Under" and "Desperate Housewives." The finale for "Six Feet" was one of the best I've ever seen. The whole last season was terrific. While "Lost" had an uneven season, it was still one of the best the past season had to offer (I hear the episode "Lost" submitted for nomination was not the show's strongest, though).

Also a shut out for "My Name Is Earl" and Jason Lee! Once again, I say this -- KEVIN JAMES??
: (
Julia Louis-Dreyfus? Womens, please!

My happiest moment: Lisa Kudrow snagged a much-deserved nomination for "The Comeback," a show I still miss!!!

http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/telebuddy/archives/2006/07/2006_emmys_can.shtml

fredfa

07-07-06, 05:35 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Basic cable makes it to the big time

With a slew of nominations, TNT, FX and others show quality TV isn't limited to networks or premium cable
By Lynn Smith Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 7, 2006

Even at TNT, eyebrows were raised Thursday morning when the multigenerational saga "Into the West" topped all of last year's television shows with 16 Emmy nominations. In addition, TNT's series "The Closer," the highest-rated show for any ad-supported cable network, earned a best actress nod for its star, Kyra Sedgwick.

Across the board, there were more signs that basic cable has broken through to compete with network and premium cable in quality programming.

FX won eight nominations, the most it has had in a single year, including best actor for "Rescue Me's" Denis Leary. The Disney Channel received seven nominations, six of them for "High School Musical," a contestant for outstanding children's program.

Among other nominations, A&E and the Discovery Channel earned prime-time Emmy nods in the outstanding made-for-television movie categories with "Flight 93" and "The Flight That Fought Back," respectively.

And Comedy Central received nominations for "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show."

"The cable networks have had consistent growth patterns, not just in ratings but in ratings and quality," said Michael Wright, senior vice president of original programming for TNT and TBS. "USA, FX, everybody is stepping up their game."

One reason for the improvement in quality, he said, is that viewers, especially the young, no longer distinguish among premium cable, network and basic cable. To compete, basic cable has been forced to spend more on quality and promotion, he said, which has paid off in increasing industry recognition.

"For years, the networks have tried to make you believe they're the only game in town," Sedgwick said. "It's not the case anymore. We can do rich, interesting stories. And people respond to it."

With all the attention, "it's easy to lose sight of the fact that it wasn't until four years ago that ad-supported cable even entered this game," added FX spokesman John Solberg. The channel's "The Shield" was the first such show to receive any major Emmy recognition, followed by USA's "Monk," FX's "Nip/Tuck" and others.

"The quality of television, especially ad-supported cable TV, has improved exponentially every year," Solberg said. "It really is amazing. A lot of people believe this is a new golden age of drama, there's such tough competition."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-cable7jul07,0,4400795.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

07-07-06, 05:44 PM

Emmy Awards Analysis
New Emmy voting rules help old guard

By Barry Garron The Hollywood Reporter July 07, 2006

A new system of Emmy voting in the major categories was expected to bring sweeping changes. It did, but it wasn't what the experts predicted.

This year, judging panels considered the top 10 or 15 vote-getters in the big categories and then narrowed the list to five nominees. The new layer added to the nominating process, according to professors of awardology, chiefly would benefit the "second tier," meaning series and actors on WB Network, UPN and basic cable.

The belief was that the actors and series on these networks are Emmy-worthy but just lack the exposure (and the campaigns) to land in the top five. By tinkering with the rules to give panels the power to give a show or actor a nudge, the result was bound to be new and worthy nominees that otherwise would have been left on the sidelines.

Exactly the opposite happened. Such denizens of WB, UPN and basic cable as "Everybody Hates Chris," "Gilmore Girls," "Veronica Mars," "Supernatural," "Battlestar Galactica," "The Shield" and "Nip/Tuck" remained trapped in Emmy Neverland.

At the same time, some shows and stars who were deemed the very best on TV only a year ago saw their stock inexplicably sink faster than Enron debentures.

Remember how "Desperate Housewives" was the toast of last year's Emmycast? Remember how Felicity Huffman beat out Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher to claim the Emmy? You won't find any of those names in this year's list of nominees.

"Lost" was last year's best drama. This year, "Lost" is how Emmy nominators treated the show. Then there's Patricia Arquette, winner for best drama actress last year, and James Spader, winner for best drama actor. Neither received a nomination this time. Clearly, this year's arbiters decided to go in a new direction. Sort of.

So who or what ended up with a boost from the voting changes? Well, it wasn't, for the most part, the newcomers (though noms were given to Kyra Sedgwick of TNT's "The Closer" and Denis Leary of FX's "Rescue Me"). Overall, the new system favored veterans, many of whose series rode off into the sunset when the TV season ended. Look at it this way:

Stockard Channing got a best actress nomination for the short-lived comedy "Out of Practice"; Lauren Graham was ignored (again) after years of stellar work on "Gilmore Girls."

Debra Messing was nominated for "Will & Grace," which faded and folded last year; Mary-Louise Parker was overlooked in the fresh and clever "Weeds."

Frances Conroy of the canceled "Six Feet Under" was nominated yet again for best drama actress; Ellen Pompeo, the heart of the appealing "Grey's Anatomy," was omitted.

"Arrested Development," a show that neither critical approval nor Emmy Awards could save, is among the nominees for best comedy; "My Name Is Earl," a show with an equally unique vision and one that may be the salvation of NBC, barely was noticed.

At the same time, it is interesting to see what wasn't changed by the new rules. Viewers who turn on the awards telecast Aug. 27 will see a contest for best drama that pits "The Sopranos" against "The West Wing," just as they had in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. (Had "Sopranos" been eligible, there's not the slightest doubt the shows would have competed last year as well.)

Academy favorites Martin Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland will face off in the best drama actor category, as they had in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Crime procedurals, which dominate the primetime schedule, continue to be largely shut out of the nominations. None was nominated for best drama. Of the 10 drama actor nominees, only three were from crime procedurals (Mariska Hargitay, Sedgwick and Christopher Meloni).

In the longform category, the choices were generally more obvious and, hence, more predictable. Perhaps the only oddity was the lack of a fifth nomination in the miniseries category, a shortfall that could have been remedied by including either CBS' "Pope John Paul II" (with Emmy nominee Jon Voight in the title role) or Lifetime's "Human Trafficking" (starring nominee Donald Sutherland).

One might quibble about the TV movie nominations, but the field was not particularly strong last season, and at least "Martha Behind Bars" didn't make the cut.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801087

fredfa

07-07-06, 06:09 PM

Critic’s Notebook
'Lost Chappelle' a worthy find?

By Diane Werts Newsday Staff Writer July 7, 2006

"Somebody had to do this," Charlie Murphy says, stating the obvious, as he and sketchmate Donnell Rawlings take the stage to introduce the puzzle pieces Dave Chappelle abandoned when he bolted "Chappelle's Show" a year ago April. Finally premiering on Comedy Central this weekend as "Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes" - without Chappelle's input - the slated-for-third-season sketches Dave has since disowned are as outrageously pointed, loaded with potential and fitfully funny as the man who left $55 million behind.

That much-reported contract clearly was weighing heavy on Chappelle's mind as he went to work earning its big bucks by lampooning them. In Sunday's first sketch, car washes suddenly cost Dave $873, and haircuts go for $11K after the locals get wind of their homeboy's hefty payday. There's also a mournful warning voiced, right after nefarious IRS agents pull pieces to collect their silver: "You didn't have to do two more seasons," Dave is told by a dying comrade. "No matter how good the show is, they're only gonna say 'It's not as good as last year was.'" "I know," comes the somber reply from a hardly jesting Chappelle. "I already know that."

Keen as this is, it's not all that funny, which is probably why Chappelle belatedly decided to leave well enough alone. Not that he couldn't have delivered more kick-butt material. Chappelle's a sharp enough guy to ultimately produce. But the pop culture timing and comedy atmosphere might not have been favorable for the kind of out-of-left-field flair that made "Chappelle's Show" such a sensation originally, from its Rick James swagger to its blind racist unaware he's black.

Sunday's first half-hour contains essentially four skits that barely fill half that length (Murphy and Rawlings do the padding), and two of those are "Dave's rich"-related. The others are hip-hop swipes that feel a little too easy to resonate with the slap "Chappelle's" should have. Most of the bits have their clever moments, even some of the signature bite, but it seems Dave knew what was coming, so he got gone.

Comedy Central's main stage now seems left to Carlos Mencia, whose "Mind of Mencia" has shown plenty of spark, too, when it comes to American cultural absurdities. The second season kicks off Sunday with Carlos in blackface helping ensure "freedom of speech" gets amended into the Constitution. It's delivered with a surplus of screech, though, a tactic to which the livewire Mencia too often resorts as a laugh accelerator. Rappers, rednecks, Middle East sheiks and an "office pimp" provide this week's racial red meat, while Mencia manages celebrity name checks from Rosie O'Donnell to Star Jones Reynolds' husband's, uh, body parts.

And he reaches, too, for a "Chappelle's Show" shout-out. Mencia may air on the same network but hasn't reached the same stratosphere.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-etledew4807922jul07,0,1620340,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

fredfa

07-07-06, 07:29 PM

Critic’s Notebook
“Psych" just might make believers of us

By Robert Bianco USA Today

You don't have to be a psychic to sense that the silly season is upon us at USA.

Your first sign comes tonight at 9 ET/PT with the fifth-season return of Monk —a once-wonderful series that is now, well, less wonderful. The show still boasts a stand-out central performance from Emmy nominee Tony Shalhoub (joined on Friday by the equally fine Stanley Tucci). But it has become increasingly hard to find Shalhoub under the rickety plots, excessive quirks and overall credibility-busting silliness the show now sports.

If you're a pessimist, it's easy to foresee some of the same flaws overwhelming the frailer Psych, USA's new Monk companion piece that makes a special extended premiere on Friday. But hey, it's summertime, when temperatures rise and expectations drop. Which means it might be wise to enjoy the best of what Psych has to offer tonight, and hope the problems will iron themselves out before fall arrives.

On that list of Psych-ic benefits, start with a clever premise and an appealing performance by James Roday. A veteran of several quickly canceled series, Roday shines in his first star turn as Shawn Spencer, abnormally observant guy turned fake psychic. And yes, that is a redundancy if ever there was one.

Mind you, Shawn didn't plan on becoming a made-up medium. The son of a demanding cop (Corbin Bernsen) who trained him at an early age to pay close attention to everything around him, Shawn just enjoys figuring out crimes from the clues he sees on the news. Unable to explain his seeming insider knowledge to the police, he pretends to have psychic gifts, the better to launch his own crime-solving service.

Basically, Shawn works in much the same way Monk does; he just masks his powers of reason and observation under voice-from-beyond nonsense. The joke is he's pretending to be psychic in the same way psychics pretend to be psychic; he just lets us in on the trick.

Granted, the premise is a stretch. But the gimmick allows for some clever comic jibes while creating some useful dramatic tension between Shawn and the cops, Shawn and his father, and Shawn and his best friend and reluctant partner, played by a slightly underemployed Dulé Hill.

All in all, it's an auspicious debut. But my hope is that in future episodes, Roday will ratchet back the tremors and convulsions he uses to signal his "visions" from beyond. Smaller would be better, and less silliness would be preferable to more.

Even in the silly season.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2006-07-06-psych-review_x.htm

fredfa

07-07-06, 10:51 PM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy nominations full of lost opportunities

By Mark McGuire Albany Times Union staff writer Friday, July 7, 2006

Call these the Lost Emmys.

Where did all the expected nominees go?

No "Lost," last year's winner for best drama. No best comedy nod for "Desperate Housewives." No James Gandolfini or Edie Falco -- both of whom have been nominated every year in which "The Sopranos" was eligible since its 1999 debut.

But Christopher Meloni for "Law & Order: SVU"? Really.

But no Hugh Laurie for "House," who has crafted one of the most fascinating characters on TV. (The show, at least, was nominated for best drama.)

Yes, The Lost Emmys. A number of nominees come from shows that won't be back in the fall, like "The West Wing," "Arrested Development," Peter Krause and Frances Conroy for "Six Feet Under," Jane Kaczmarek for "Malcolm in the Middle" and Stockard Channing for "Out of Practice."

Geena Davis? For "Commander in Chief"? Really.

The drama category is absolutely brutal when you consider quality shows like "Lost," "The Shield," "Rescue Me" and "Boston Legal" can't get a nod -- and I still can't complain (much). The only borderline show to make the cut is "The West Wing," but a final tip of the cap was expected.

Kevin James for "King of Queens"? Seriously, that's just wrong.

Rule changes in the voting process -- a panel decided the list of final nominees, based on viewing selected episodes and the top vote-getters among the membership. The idea was to broaden the pool of nominees, so it's not an endless parade of the same names from hit shows.

Nice idea, but there were some huge misses; that's the case (and most of the fun) every year. Maybe the voters were in a rush. The announcement was moved up this year, as is the actual awards show. Instead of taking place in September, the "58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards" will air at 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27, on NBC (WNYT Ch. 13) from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Perhaps that explains the absence of Forest Whitaker as a supporting actor for his delightful performance as an internal affairs investigator on "The Shield." He's an awful big man to miss. A Whitaker nomination would've made for a great head-to-head matchup with Gregory Itzin, the insidious president on "24."

Some other quick observations from Thursday:

• "Two and a Half Men" is a serviceable, predictable, traditional CBS comedy. But there's absolutely no way it deserves to be nominated over quality comedies like "Everybody Hates Chris" and "My Name is Earl." In other words, watch it win.

• "24" led all shows with 12 nominations, followed by "Grey's Anatomy" with 11. (The TNT miniseries "Into the West" led all programs with 16 nods.) "The Sopranos" only garnered seven nominations -- the same number as "Two and a Half Men."

• "According to Jim" received an Emmy nomination. Listen, I don't care if it was in the Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series: It's not right. If we continue to encourage "According to Jim" like this, it might continue to keep coming back season after season.

• "ER" is losing viewers and cachet as the long-running NBC series limps home. But James Woods must have known he was a lock to get a guest actor Emmy nod: In 12 seasons, "ER" has tallied 19 for guest stars ranging from Rosemary Clooney (1995) to Don Cheadle (2003). Ray Liotta won last year for his "ER" episode.

• This has to be the year "American Idol" beats "The Amazing Race" in the reality competition category.

• Stephen Colbert was nominated for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. His former boss at "The Daily Show" was not. Just saying.

• Nominees I'm rooting for: Denis Leary ("Rescue Me"); "Arrested Development"; "House" (or "24;" check back with me later); Steve Carrell ("The Office"); and "High School Musical."

• Nominees I'm rooting against: Kevin James ("King of Queens"); "Two and a Half Men"; and, by the power of Jerry Bruckheimer, "According to Jim."

If they win, this truly will be the Lost Emmys.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=497733

fredfa

07-07-06, 10:54 PM

Barring some incredibly perceptive or humorous column, this will conclude the Emmy nomination coverage posts -- at least until voting time in a few weeks.

And now the three-week extravaganza known as the Summer TV critics' Tour draws near:

A Reminder
TV Critics Summer Tour

The nation’s TV critics descend on Los Angeles next week for their annual summer tour. The official dates are July 11-27. Late in the month they will bestow their annual awards. (Frankly their nominees didn’t impress me much more than the Emmy lists we saw yesterday.)

Nonetheless, the summer critic’s tour gives us an in-depth chance to see how the new TV season will shake out.
Of course you will get complete and comprehensive coverage of what those critics are hearing, writing, blogging, and saying for the next three weeks here on the Hot Off The Press thread.

So, starting this weekend, log in and keep checking during the next three weeks to see what is happening – and what WILL be happening -- in the world of TV.

dad1153

07-08-06, 02:03 AM

Barring some incredibly perceptive or humorous column, this will conclude the Emmy nomination coverage posts -- at least until voting time in a few weeks.

Thanks. As much fun as it is to read/watch TV critics bitch about Emmy picks/misses as if the TV Academy killed their first newborn it's time to move on. Ultimately it's Nielsen that counts, so I'll make my vote count by skipping the Emmy Awards altogether and tuning in to Battlestar Galactica and buying the Veronica Mars/House (shows I've never seen) DVD Box Sets. I'm just glad Laura Graham (who really is the reason for all this silly eligibility rules change nonsense) isn't doing any interviews.

fredfa

07-08-06, 10:11 AM

TV Notebook
Protecting Their Turf

“Brotherhood:” Murky Morals Govern a Family's Noble Cause
By Amy Amatangelo, Special to The Washington Post Sunday, July 9, 2006; Y05

Not so long ago, HBO's "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos" were the talk at water coolers everywhere. But Carrie left us for Mr. Big, and Tony and his paisanos stayed away too long -- when they finally came back to TV, some viewers found it hard to still care.

Meanwhile, Showtime quietly developed niche audiences with series such as "Queer as Folk" and "The L Word," while "Weeds" and "Sleeper Cell" earned critical acclaim.

Now, with a bada-bing, Showtime takes a whack at the big time with its new series "Brotherhood" (Sunday 10 PM ET/PT). Filmed entirely on location in Providence, R.I., the 11-episode series explores the inner workings of a close-knit Irish family.

After a mysterious seven-year absence, mobster Michael Caffee (Jason Isaacs) has returned to regain control of his blue-collar Irish American neighborhood known simply as "The Hill." Michael's sudden emergence causes strife for his street-smart politician brother Tommy (Jason Clarke) and Tommy's beleaguered wife Eileen (Annabeth Gish).

But don't think of "Brotherhood" as an Irish version of "The Sopranos." The show vibrantly brings to life the gritty minutiae of local politics and small-time crooks.

Series creator and executive producer Blake Masters, a self-described political junkie who grew up all over the Northeast, said the show is, at its core, about the death of the American dream.

"The idea of the middle-class ethnic enclave is basically being wiped off the map," Masters said. "This is a middle-class neighborhood that is dying, and Tommy is sort of the captain of the sinking ship -- and he's trying to keep it afloat."

The collision of gangster crime, shady political dealings and shifting alliances isn't an accidental one.

"I've always loved this one particular scene in 'The Godfather' where [Marlon] Brando says to [Al] Pacino, 'You could have been Governor Corleone, Senator Corleone,' and I thought about that," Masters said.

During the show's filming, the city of Providence gave the producers plenty of freedom. Crews shot inside the stunning Rhode Island State House, where Clarke sat in on congressional committee meetings and shadowed state House Speaker William J. Murphy.

"It's about shaking hands -- once you find your politician's handshake, it all comes after that," Clarke said with a laugh.

Though the series' setting couldn't be more quintessentially Northeastern, both lead actors are originally from way out of town: Clarke is a native of Australia, and Isaacs hails from Liverpool, England. But Masters said the pair reflects a more mature authenticity that's harder to find in modern American actors.

"I didn't want familiar TV [stars] with well-scrubbed, pretty faces," Masters said. "What I wanted were men who had been through life. I wanted a Steve McQueen type."

Masters insisted that the actors sound like Rhode Islanders. He even had locals tape dialogue so the actors

could hear their lines in an authentic brogue. Doing the series without the distinctive accents "would be like doing 'The Sopranos' and having everyone speak in mid-Atlantic English," Masters said. But tackling a New England enunciation can be tricky. Often, actors default to sounding like a parody of the Kennedy political clan.

"With any accent you do, the hardest part is to still find your own voice within it," Clarke said. "The accent is part of the physicality. It has to come from your own place -- from your own emotional connectiveness." Otherwise, he said, "you can't connect to a scene, because all you hear yourself doing is the accent. When you actually cross that bridge, it kind of releases you."

For Gish, an actress best known for her roles in "Mystic Pizza" and "The X-Files," the series provides a chance to play the bad girl.

"I fought like hell to get the part," she said. "My character goes through a very provocative journey of drug use and sex, and all at the same time of being a good wife and a good mother.

"She has a secret. She has this yearning," Gish said of her character. "She's caged and she needs to break free, but she doesn't know how."

Gish said the show deals with political agendas more realistically than any she's ever seen. "There's no polish. It's the real ins and outs, the real goings-on behind a small state's political events."

But be forewarned: Among the politics, the family, the neighborhood and the accent, there is some serious bloodshed. A severed ear plays a pivotal part in the pilot.

"Our portrayal of violence is supposed to be horrific," Masters said. "I wanted the violence to make you recoil. I wanted it to come out of nowhere and be shocking and brutal and not pretty, because violence is a bad thing. This is the world they live in."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070501259_pf.html

fredfa

07-08-06, 10:38 AM

TV Review
Showtime's 'Brotherhood' shows promise

(don't mess it up, guys )
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Saturday, July 8, 2006

(Brotherhood: Drama. 10 PM ET/PT Sundays on Showtime.)

There is an element of critical worrying that accompanies anything remotely good that Showtime does. And here's why -- there's a serious stewardship issue at the pay cable channel.

Showtime has been, for too many years now, just on the verge of being real creative competition for HBO, but somehow something always happens to make much of it go sideways. Part of that stems from relatively recent changes in direction at the channel, as it shifted from a heavy slate of original movies to a heavy slate of original series -- two different animals. While Showtime has been trying to figure out what works -- yes on "Weeds," no on "Huff" -- the channel has been far outdistanced by FX when it comes to must-see programming, and even BBC America has a better allotment of series that somehow stay consistent when, say, "The L Word" has its ups and downs.

If this seems like needless concern about what's happening on the creative end of the management team as opposed to the head end -- what you see on your TV -- trust that it's all connected. People want to know that if they get invested in a series, that series has at the very least a fighting chance of returning -- that a "new vision" or a "new direction" won't make their investment of time and devotion a pointless exercise.

And while programming executives can't salvage every series that loses its way or ruins its own potential, good guidance is invaluable in building a brand. For instance, viewers know that if HBO rolls out a series like "Big Love" or "The Wire," it's committed to it. Why else would such a passionate uproar surround the premature ending of "Deadwood"? Loyal viewers rightly believed that HBO messed up handling a series they pay good money to watch. Same thing with FX, which has managed to keep "The Shield" and "Rescue Me," among others, creatively challenging as they mature. It's a necessary covenant in a TV market saturated with channels, with viewer loyalty waning.

Here's hoping that Showtime stands behind and nurtures "Brotherhood," a compelling new drama that's a superb addition to the channel's stable of originals. Combining family, organized crime, politics and a believable working-class aesthetic, "Brotherhood" gives Showtime the kind of gritty drama it has always wanted but could never nail down (even more so than the acclaimed "Sucker Free City," which couldn't make the jump from movie to series).

Set in and shot entirely in Providence, R.I., "Brotherhood" is about a fictional Irish area known as the Hill, and two brothers, Tommy and Michael Caffee, who take disparate paths into adulthood but aren't as different as they think.

Eldest brother Michael (Jason Isaacs, who plays Lucius Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" movies) chose crime and its brand of glory. He's wiry and intense and very dangerous -- but not without a hint of honor, especially when it comes to protecting people on the Hill.

Younger brother Tommy (Jason Clarke, "Rabbit Proof Fence") is a local politician in Providence, trying to protect the working class on the Hill while constantly having to shift his morals to stay successful in politics (apparently, a state representative position only pays $12,000 a year, so he's also a real estate agent trying to get white-collar wealth from Boston to sample Rhode Island).

At its core, "Brotherhood" is a familiar story of two brothers caught in an internecine struggle to do right by the Hill. But there's more here than good-son/bad-son storytelling (or, for that matter, the well-trodden angle of wrong and right). Because even though Tommy wears a suit, serves the people and believes that situational ethics are unsavory but necessary, he's ultimately no better than Michael, who comes back to town after seven years on the run and promptly cuts off a man's ear. It takes a few episodes of "Brotherhood" to realize that underneath Michael's coiled intensity and willingness to break the law, his sense of justice is applied with more integrity than Tommy's.

The 11-episode series, created by writer Blake Masters, gets a real boost with the addition of writer-producer Henry Bromell ("Homicide: Life on the Street," "Carnivale," "Northern Exposure," etc.) and pilot director Phillip Noyce ("Rabbit Proof Fence," "Patriot Games," "Dead Calm," etc.). They have added some gravitas to the series, both in making the writing hard-edged without being forced or unreal, and in giving the Providence area a worn look, keeping the Hill working class without being completely economically depressed. Noyce has created a template of stark blacks and washed-out colors -- there's no sheen here that screams "high-gloss production."

That's essential to give viewers a sense of place. Tommy may be a politician on the rise, but it's clear that he's on the bottom rung. Michael may have plans to be a kingmaker in organized crime -- the East Coast Irish mafia -- but he's not even running the show in Providence. Freddie Cork (Kevin Chapman) is in that role, and you can't help but think, as he rolls around in his Escalade, that he's nowhere near as powerful as, say, Tony Soprano. But that's what's good about "Brotherhood" -- it feels real, of a place, original even when playing with conventions.

What will no doubt sustain the series beyond the troubling exploits (and complicating familial bonds) of Tommy and Michael is their extended family. Masters and Bromell have peopled "Brotherhood" with plenty of quality characters. Annabeth Gish plays Eileen, Tommy's wife, who suffers through his endless political meet-and-greets. But her inability to escape the Hill -- now she's got three daughters -- starts to leak into her private life. Fionnula Flanagan plays Rose, Michael and Tommy's mother and a longtime resident of the Hill. It's clear she favors and forgives Michael while still being proud of Tommy's apparently straight-arrow ambitions. And Ethan Embry plays Declan Griggs, a police officer in Providence who practically grew up at the Caffee house, so his ties to Tommy and Michael complicate his job.

"Brotherhood" works hard at the seemingly impossible -- adding something new to the biblical history of quarreling brothers and small-time hoodlums from small-town America bumping up against morality, family allegiances and friendly obligations. But for the most part "Brotherhood" does an exemplary job, bringing in memories of "EZ Streets" and "The Sopranos" and even "The Wire" without pantomiming any of them.

The acting here is exceptional and the writing strong and honest. Though "Brotherhood" may not be in the rarefied air of "The Sopranos" or "The Wire," it's still a major achievement for Showtime's original-series development and yet another top-notch cable drama. Maybe the most difficult trick won't have anything to do with establishing an identity in an already crowded field, but instead getting solid guidance and true support from Showtime beyond these first 11 episodes. If so, "Brotherhood" belongs on a short list of series to seek out this summer.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/08/DDG8SJR2J91.DTL&type=printable

fredfa

07-08-06, 10:44 AM

TV Review
Showtime's too dark 'Brotherhood'

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Showtime's "Brotherhood" (is) the story of two Rhode Island brothers -- one a big-deal politician, the other a local mobster.

They both have a loyalty to their family and to their poor Irish neighborhood, and they both live in worlds where loyalties and morality shift unpredictably. Also, it's not always clear who's the "good" brother.

Showtime would like you to think it's another "The Sopranos," just set among New England politics and mobsters, but, although the new drama has some strong points, "Brotherhood" is not in the league of "The Sopranos."

"The Sopranos" has a bold sense of abandon -- in subjects, approach and writing -- and an equally bold sense of humor. Much of that is missing in some degree from "Brotherhood," and particularly the sense of humor.

As is often the case with "Showtime" dramas, it's all so exhaustingly dire, and you can see the effort behind the show. It's too dark, everyone is too tortured, and the production feels like it's trying so hard to be a "great drama." It ends up a pretty good drama, but without a little more subtlety and a lot more humanity, it'll wear viewers out after a while.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/story/14275399p-15084994c.html

fredfa

07-08-06, 11:48 AM

The Digital Revolution
The Costs of War

By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable 7/10/2006

The best place to get a snapshot of the costs of the cable-TV/telco war is New York. To launch video and fast Internet services on suburban Long Island, Verizon spent heavily on an extensive overhaul of its telephone plant. Some estimates put the cost at up to $1,100 in capital for each home “passed” in its new FiOS TV optical-fiber systems, and it will take an average of an additional $700 or so to actually connect a new subscriber.

Preparing to defend itself, local cable operator Cablevision Systems tweaked its own plant. It boosted its Internet service to even higher speeds than Verizon's and stepped up its sales of cable telephone service, to steal Verizon's residential customers before the telco's system was ready.

Cablevision's capital expenditure was lower. The Internet boost cost it just $15 per home passed; each new phone customer cost around $200.

The yawning capital-spending gap shows how much of a disadvantage telephone companies are at as they push into the video business. Cable operators have largely been finished with their gigantic rebuild for several years and have a big video and Internet customer base already giving them a return on that investment.

Verizon is expected to spend $20 billion. Compatriot AT&T—deploying a much cheaper technology—is spending $5 billion. Because they'll be splitting the video market with entrenched cable and DBS companies, both companies face difficulties generating strong returns from the heavy investment.

Despite skepticism on Wall Street and from cable operators because of earlier half-hearted attempts, the telcos show no signs of hesitating. “We are only limited on this in terms of how quickly we can deploy the fiber,” Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg declared at a recent investor conference held by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. “And just for what it's worth, we are deploying it as quickly as we know how and as fast as we know how in every place we can.”

Why such optimism? Verizon and AT&T aren't just calculating the revenues from new businesses; they're also taking into account the value of protecting existing ones, according to UBS media analyst Aryeh Bourkoff and telecom specialist John Hodulik. The two analysts have made telco video a special franchise and write about it extensively. “The whole strategy is a defensive strategy,” Bourkoff says. “They're going to continue to build. They don't really need it financially.”

Telcos have an enormous—$20 billion or so a year—cash cow in consumer telephone service; their relatively slow DSL service has also captured half the Web market. Pushing into video could trip up cable operators and slow the pace at which they're stealing telco residential customers.

Further, telcos see that cable's next obvious move is targeting services to small and medium-size businesses.

Seidenberg considers cable executives' recent talk about business services a sign of their anxiety: “We have picked up our momentum on broadband; we have slowed down the cable juggernaut a little bit. And that is part of the reason they are now looking at some collateral moves into small and medium business.”

Both telcos' plans are ambitious. Verizon is dramatically upgrading its network in parts of its service area, primarily suburban towns. Like cable operators, the company is stretching fiber deep into neighborhoods. But the telcos are going a step further, pulling fiber all the way to customers' homes.

That offers enormous capacity for video and data, but “fiber to the home” (FTTH) is also enormously expensive. One major cost: labor. With strong unions and a history of bureaucratic bloat, Hodulik estimates that the labor cost alone to lay that “last mile” of fiber underground to subscribers' homes is $700. (Stringing it on poles is about half that.)

AT&T is avoiding that cost with a cheaper but more limited architecture. The telco is laying fiber to neighborhood “nodes” but relying on plain-old twisted-pair copper to bridge the last few thousand feet to customers' homes. To get quality video through those wires, AT&T is relying on IPTV (Internet Protocol television) technology.

“I can tell you that cable is impressed so far because I know of one case where they offered a San Antonio customer a 33% discount off his cable bill if he would not switch to our IPTV service,” said AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre at the Sanford Bernstein conference. “So I know it's working.”

How badly might cable be hurt? Not a lot—at first. UBS analysts believe it will take the telcos a while to get going, predicting they'll secure fewer than 3 million subscribers each by the end of 2010.

And cable may not be the most vulnerable here. In Verizon's initial video launches, Hodulik sees a different victim: “They're taking a disproportionate share from satellite TV.” Whereas DirecTV and EchoStar combined have 27% of the video market, around half of Verizon's video customers are coming from DBS.

Why? “Most of these customers already have DSL,” he says. “They're already Verizon customers.”

Senior executives don't appear panicked yet about the telcos' entry into the video market. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts notes that cable already faces huge competition. Newspapers are filled with ads for a free satellite dish or a $12.95 monthly broadband connection. And yet, he says, “we're going to have maybe the fastest growth rate of the company at any time in the last four or five years.”

fredfa

07-08-06, 12:55 PM

The Business of TV
Cable actors get raise in residuals

By Greg Hernandez Los Angeles Daily News staff writer July 8, 2006

The producers of such live-action cable shows as "The Shield" and "Monk" have reached an agreement with the Screen Actors Guild on a two-year contract that includes a 21 percent increase in residuals, officials said Friday.

The agreement, which came after six months of tough negotiations, covers shows produced specifically for basic cable television and runs through June 30, 2008. The new residuals formula is retroactive to Jan. 1.

"The sole priority in these negotiations was to achieve a residuals increase for the actors who do this work, and we accomplished that," SAG President Alan Rosenberg said.

"For many members of Screen Actors Guild, these extra dollars mean the difference between whether or not they pay rent, qualify for health care or earn points toward their pensions."

Rosenberg called the residuals hike a victory for middle-class actors, since residuals are often a "lifeline" for them in addition to more money up front.

He described the negotiations as "lengthy and difficult" and said the union worked long and hard to convey to producers just how much is at stake for SAG members.

While basic cable has exploded in popularity over the past 16 years, this marks the first new contract and pay raise since the first one was negotiated with no end date in 1990.

Although the residuals hike was not as high as actors had sought, they will have a chance to renegotiate in two years when the agreement will expire.

"After 16 years of extraordinary growth in the cable TV industry, in which actors helped producers generate billions of dollars in profits, our members deserved a new contract that protects their health and pension plans and puts more money in their pockets to support their families,” Rosenberg said.

The residuals formula for the first repeat airing of a show increased from 12 to 17 percent of a performer's minimum pay for live action programs made directly for basic cable.

The bottom end increased from 1 percent to 1.5 percent of the minimum for the 13th rerun and subsequent airings thereafter, a figure that is particularly important to actors.

In addition, the second, third and fourth reruns will be paid in one lump sum when the show first airs, resulting in a larger check for actors. This results in accelerated and guaranteed payment for these first four airings even if the show doesn't reach that many reruns.

This is the second agreement covering basic cable television reached by the guild over the past few months.

A new contract covering animated programs produced for basic cable was ratified by the guild's national board on April 21.

http://www.dailynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=4025872

fredfa

07-08-06, 01:22 PM

TV Review
Showtime's mob almost a match for 'Sopranos'

By Joanne Weintraub Milwaukee Journal Sentinel TV critic

"Brotherhood" is dark, dramatic, bloody, profane, obsessed with good and evil - and no, as a matter of fact, it's not on HBO.

It's the latest effort by Showtime, that other premium cable channel, to steal some thunder from its formidable rival. And, because it dares to focus on family and crime, it can't escape comparison to a certain HBO series centering on the same two subjects.

So let's just get it out of the way: "Brotherhood" isn't another "Sopranos." Take it on its own terms, however, and you'll find a compelling story of people struggling to make good in an environment where everything seems to go bad.

The setting is Providence, R.I., a city long plagued by corruption and hobbled by unemployment.

The Hill, the city's working-class Irish district, is the home of the Caffees, the sort of outgoing family who know and are known by everyone in the neighborhood.

Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke, "Rabbit-Proof Fence") is the state representative for the area, a smart young politician with an altar boy's perfect manners but an ambition that has already made him compromise his principles. His wife, Eileen (Annabeth Gish, "The X-Files"), looks equally perfect, but she has found a dangerous way to escape the frustrations of life as a stay-at-home mother and the smiling consort of an elected official.

Tommy's older brother, Michael (Jason Isaacs, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"), is a powerful lieutenant in the city's Irish mob.

Handsome, charismatic and ruthless, he's the favorite of his mother, Rose (Fionnula Flanagan, "Waking Ned Devine"), who determinedly ignores his sordid activities and expects Tommy and their sister, Mary Kate (Kerry O'Malley) to do the same.

But Michael, who combines calculation with acts of stunningly sudden violence, is hard to ignore. Even Freddie Cork (Kevin Chapman, "Mystic River"), the city's crime boss and an ugly piece of work himself, is afraid of him.

"Your brother is a biblical (expletive) plague," Freddie tells Tommy. "Flies, frogs, locusts and Michael (expletive) Caffee."

"Brotherhood" would be less interesting than it is if Michael and Tommy were as easy to tell apart as Cain and Abel. But as the story unfolds - I watched 9 of the 11 episodes Showtime sent to critics - Tommy becomes more and more duplicitous and Michael reveals himself to be surprisingly honest, if only about his own motives and methods.

Rose, too, is far from the sentimental Irish ma of second-rate drama. Silvery-blond and stylish, she's still got an eye for men - influential ones, preferably - and uses her power as confidently as her sons use theirs and for similar ends.

A trio of talented immigrants portray these three central characters: Isaacs was born in Liverpool, Flanagan in Dublin and Clarke in Australia. Each exudes the sort of power that enables actors to command the screen even when they're doing nothing more than driving a car or reaching for the phone.

Gish, whose Eileen has channeled all her energy into self-destructiveness, is nearly a match for them. So are Chapman as the feral Freddie, Stivi Paskoski ("Third Watch") as Michael's halfway-off-the-rails henchman and Ethan Embry ("Sweet Home Alabama") as a cop whose childhood friendship with the Caffees still has an unhealthy hold on him.

The writing is fluid and the setting authentically faded and sooty, like a visual eulogy to this once-vibrant corner of New England. The humor is as dark, strong and bitter as the drama.

If "Brotherhood" falls short of brilliance, it's because it comes during an extraordinary renaissance in TV drama, where "The Sopranos" shares the stage not only with HBO's "Deadwood" and "The Wire" but with FX's thrilling "The Shield," all of them with large casts and plots that keep pulling secondary and even minor characters in toward the center, setting in motion wheels within wheels.

"Brotherhood," though far from simple, doesn't have this dazzling complexity. That I'm tempted to call it merely excellent says something about the dramatic richness the very best dramas have achieved.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=456099&format=print

fredfa

07-08-06, 04:24 PM

The Friday prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

07-08-06, 05:07 PM

TV Notebook
Lucky Deadwood: It's C__________ing Hilarious!

By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic in Time’s Tuned In blog Saturday, Jul. 8, 2006

Several weeks ago, I wrote a review of HBO's new sitcom, Lucky Louie, which got yanked at the last minute from the print edition of Time, to make room for so-called breaking news. (Apparently they blew up some guy in Iraq. Priorities, people, priorities!) In it, I argued that the laugh-track comedy, dissonantly conventional except for its nudity and swearing, betrayed HBO's raison d'etre of doing what the rest of TV can't.

"At heart," I wrote, "Louie works from the same playbook as the first cavemen who storyboarded a domestic sitcom on the walls of Lascaux: misunderstandings, cartoony second bananas, forced setup-zinger jokes. It’s as if HBO has bought into the misconception that the only difference between it and the networks is dirtiness. The real differences are—or should be—risk taking, nuance, intelligence, resistance to cliché. Would According to Jim be a radical innovation if you could see Jim Belushi’s butt?"

It's just as well Time never ran the review, because a collective of YouTubers by the handle of recidocast have made the point better than I could in mere words, turning Lucky Louie's own laugh track against it. In this brilliant video mashup http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rtBQAdPjtI (link thanks to tvtattle.com), the online auteurs play scenes from the exceptional Deadwood, with the guffaws of Louie's studio audience played over it. Catch it now, lest HBO's lawyers have it yanked: I laughed harder at these four minutes than at all three episodes of Louie I reviewed. The audience yuks it up over a tense scene between Sheriff Bullock and his wife; howls at an exchange between Al Swearengen and his minions; and gives a sassy one-liner from ex-hooker Trixie a hearty "Who-o-o-o-oa!" For a few shining minutes, Deadwood becomes Dirty Petticoat Junction.

There's a serious point to the joke, as recidocast's annotation of the video says: "Each Sunday now, my brain struggles to adjust to the pressure drop that takes place on HBO from the consistently brilliant Deadwood to the much anticipated but consistently...um...less brilliant Lucky Louie. Despite mad props for Louis C.K., one of the R collective's favorite comedians, his stand up act has yet to translate on screen to any comparable degree of hilarity." (The video, by the way, also demonstrates that Deadwood is a hilarious show, as well as a great drama.)

It's not TV, it's YouTube. Let's hope the folks at HBO are watching.

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/

fredfa

07-08-06, 05:19 PM

TV Review
An Irish Blessing

Showtime's 'Brotherhoood,' about crime, politics, family and betrayal, is this summer's must-see series
By Mike Duffy Detroit Free Press TV Critic

"Brotherhood" cooks up a primal Irish stew of gangsters, politicians and richly entertaining family drama.

It's easily the summer's best new series.

But the exceptional Showtime saga will have to endure inevitable comparisons to a certain legendary HBO show anchored in the same dark, turbulent waters. So pass the Guinness and the guns. We'll say it up front and get it out of the way: "Brotherhood" is a shamrock twist on "The Sopranos." Now let's try and move on.

Forget the Bada Bing Club in New Jersey -- we're headed to Mulligans' saloon in Providence, R.I. That's the gritty New England city where the rip-roaring "Brotherhood," premiering at 10 p.m. Sunday on Showtime, carves out a fierce, working-class Celtic niche as its own original storytelling thing.

These are the intense, smartly wrought tales of two Irish-Catholic brothers.

There's the charismatic, wickedly ambitious state Rep. Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke, "Farscape"). And then there's older brother Michael (Jason Isaacs, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"), a violent gangster with a mysterious past and his own viscerally unflinching moral code.

"Brotherhood" is the stirring work of writer and series creator Blake Masters, who makes an impressive television debut with this sweeping odyssey of love, betrayal and furiously tangled family and political loyalties.

Masters knows he'll have to cope with the mob motif associations to "The Sopranos." But just because "House" and "Grey's Anatomy" both involve hospitals and doctors doesn't make them the same thing.

And with its themes of down-and-dirty ward politics and government corruption, "Brotherhood" echoes "All the King's Men" or "The Candidate" as much as it channels the spirit of "The Sopranos" and even more so the Cain and Abel themes of brothers Michael and Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather."

"Socioeconomically, 'The Sopranos' is a story about an upper-middle-class gangster, a suburban dad whose business just happens to be life and death," says Masters. "Ours is about the reality of lower-middle-class life in the Northeast, where the industrial economy died 30 years ago and these people are left behind."

It's the passion for helping his deprived Irish row house neighborhood in the embattled Hill district of Providence that relentlessly drives Tommy Caffee and fuels his sometimes ethically tainted political schemes and dreams.

Tommy is a tormented idealist, while prodigal older son Michael is a deadly realist. As "Brotherhood" opens, Michael has just returned to Providence after seven years, with little hint of where he's been or what he's been doing.

But he quickly and violently insinuates himself back into the criminal fabric of the city, working out an uneasy alliance with bitter rival and local mob boss Freddie Cork (Kevin Chapman, "Mystic River"), who would just as soon see Michael Caffee toe-tagged on a slab down at the morgue.

With his brother back in town, Tommy starts to fear that his rising political star could be extinguished by Michael's newly revived criminal life.

"You're a tornado. You suck everything in and spit it out broken," Tommy bitterly tells his brother after chaos starts to erupt in Michael's wake.

But Irish blood is a whole lot thicker than water or Jameson's. They may loathe each other in angry moments, but Tommy and Michael's bond of brotherly love and loyalty sure seems ironclad.

And so Freddie Cork spots an opportunity to profit by applying a little pressure to the Caffee family ties, hoping to finagle some sweet state contracts with Tommy's wheeling, dealing assistance. That's the tradeoff for Freddie agreeing not to kill Michael. Of course, gangsters lie and politicians spin the truth as a means to their own occasionally devious ends.

"One of the things we discovered is Tommy Caffee is most fun when he's being bad, and Michael Caffee is most interesting when, for inexplicable reasons, he's good," says Masters of the show's moral ambiguities. "Everything happens in shades of gray."

Each fascinating, well-drawn character in "Brotherhood," from Tommy and Michael to indomitable matriarch Rose Cafee (Fionnula Flanagan, "Transamerica") to police detective Declan Giggs (Ethan Embry), comes equipped with very human fallibilities and emotional shortcomings.

And then there's Eileen Caffee (Annabeth Gish, "The West Wing"), Tommy's pretty, long-suffering wife and the mother of their three young daughters. She copes with her disappointing life as a political wife by smoking pot and sneaking off to have hotel sex with a guy she knew in high school.

But throughout, "Brotherhood" always keeps the primary dramatic focus on the compellingly fraught relationship of the brothers Caffee, beautifully played by Isaacs and Clark, in a pair of knockout performances.

They inhabit an old-fashioned Irish-American neighborhood epic, one filled with vivid New England accents in a hardscrabble Rhode Island setting. And while the colorful stories of the extended Caffee clan move from backroom political infighting to gangster street brutality to tempestuous Sunday family dinners, "Brotherhood" fully arrives as a terrific TV drama. It possesses a different sort of socially aware, politically charged personality. So please, no shamrock snarkiness. No chatter about "The O'Sopranos."

Start to finish in its first-rate opening season, Showtime's "Brotherhood" has the makings of something neat, offbeat and special. Maybe even an instant O'Classic.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060707/ENT03/607070322/1038&template=printart

keenan

07-08-06, 05:47 PM

TV Notebook
Lucky Deadwood: It's C__________ing Hilarious!

By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic in Time’s Tuned In blog Saturday, Jul. 8, 2006

It's just as well Time never ran the review, because a collective of YouTubers by the handle of recidocast have made the point better than I could in mere words, turning Lucky Louie's own laugh track against it. In this brilliant video mashup http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rtBQAdPjtI (link thanks to tvtattle.com),
Holy cow, that is hilarious, in fact, I may not be able to watch Deadwood again without thinking about it. :D

fredfa

07-08-06, 06:03 PM

That is the downside -- but I agree, Jim, it is fall-down funny.

I can't imagine the HBO attorneys will allow it to remain online much longer.

RussTC3

07-08-06, 06:19 PM

That clip was funny!

I don't really like Lucky Louie all that much, but I continue to watch.

Strange and unexplainable.

fredfa

07-08-06, 06:44 PM

I agree with you on Lucky Louie, Russ - except that I have stopped watching.

fredfa

07-08-06, 06:51 PM

TV Review
Too late for funny business

Don't call it a comeback ... Chappelle's lost it
By Ed Bark The Dallas Morning News Saturday, July 8, 2006

(Note: all times are Central)

A mind is a terrible thing to lose, and Dave Chappelle apparently lost his when he walked away from a $50 million deal that obligated him to make a measly 27 half-hours of entertainment for Comedy Central.

Now the network is picking up the pieces with three "lost" episodes of Chappelle's Show, the first of which can be found at 8 p.m. Sunday. All of the sketches have been on the shelf since Mr. Chappelle suddenly left the building in April 2005.

The opening half-hour, which is hardly top-shelf, deals in large part with Mr. Chappelle's newly acquired cash cachet. His barbershop shave suddenly costs 11 grand and a car-wash tab is upped from $28 to $873. It's funny how money changes everything, even if this particular sketch is only semi-amusing.

In his off-camera real life, the comedian soon went AWOL to South Africa, leaving the nascent third season of his show in the lurch. He's never returned to Comedy Central, despite telling Oprah Winfrey in a February interview that a "proper work environment" and the freedom to donate half the proceeds of future DVD sales to charity might cause him to reconsider.

"I don't want the money," Mr. Chappelle told her. "I don't want the drama. I just want to do my show again. I want to have fun."

Talk is cheap.

Gamely standing in for him are Chappelle's Show collaborators Donnell Rawlings and Charlie Murphy. Consider them the Pips without Gladys or the Stones without Mick. The crowd in a compact theater pretty much goes with their flow, though, laughing it up when Mr. Murphy cracks, "I happen to know if it wasn't for Dave Chappelle, you [expletive] would still be calling me Eddie Murphy's brother."

Which, in fact, he is.

Four sketches are in play, as is Mr. Chappelle's use of the N word on several occasions. He told Oprah of his concern that some of the show's biting racial humor had become "socially irresponsible." At the same time he felt deprived of "vitamin love" from both co-workers and Comedy Central.

The centerpiece sketch, "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold," finds the newly minted multimillionaire maniacally mistreating those who spurned him as a cash-poor nobody. A fiancée who cheated on him, a casting agent who dumped him and a comedy-club owner who evicted him are crossed off his list in a reverse twist on My Name Is Earl.

The latter target, now in a wheelchair, is pushed down a long flight of stairs before Mr. Chappelle torches his club and then punts an infant sky-high. Spike Lee appears briefly as himself; it's all very painfully predictable.

Mr. Chappelle also reprises "Hip Hop Newsbreak" anchor Chuck Taylor, who reports on rapper Method Man's alleged below-the-belt attack on a victim also played by Mr. Chappelle. Faring better is a closing sketch in which Mr. Chappelle dances at a club to an amazingly prescient Tupac Shakur song recorded in 1994.

Stay tuned for the closing credits, which include a brief but telling still shot of the Pilot Boy Productions logo. It depicts a shackled, bare-chested Mr. Chappelle holding up two handfuls of cash.

Poor oppressed him.

• Program note: Comedy Central's revised Sunday comedy lineup also brings the second-season premiere of Mind of Mencia at 9 p.m. and the fourth-season launch of Reno 911! at 9:30 p.m.

http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/columnists/ebark/stories/DN-barkchappelle_0708gl.ART.State.Edition1.23ff911.html

keenan

07-08-06, 07:04 PM

I got about 15 mins in before I flipped the channel on Lucky Louie.

fredfa

07-08-06, 07:16 PM

fredfa

07-08-06, 07:51 PM

TV Notebook
It's Murphy's show, too

By Terry Morrow Scripps Howard News Service Saturday, July 08, 2006

It's called "Chappelle's Show," but now it's also Charlie Murphy's.

"I deserve this. I have been in movies 17 years and never got an opportunity like this," Murphy says during a telephone interview.

After more than two years between new episodes, "Chappelle's Show" is back sans Dave Chappelle. He walked away in the middle of making season three. So Comedy Central, with enough material for three new episodes, is running what Chappelle left behind (10 and 10:30 PM MT, Comedy Central).

But without Chappelle to shepherd the introductions and exits from the sketches, the channel asked "Chappelle" regulars Murphy and Donnell Rawlings to step in.

We'll see sketches starring Chappelle, but everything else is Murphy and Rawlings, mainly doing a little bit of standup in front of a studio audience — the kind of stuff Chappelle would have done normally.

For Murphy, the 47-year-old brother of Eddie Murphy who was the brunt of several "Chappelle" jokes and sketches, this is his chance to shine. He unapologetically wants to go with it.

"I always thought I was capable of doing more," he says. "I have been on the road doing standup for years. How can you tell me that I can't do this? How can you tell me I am not funny?

"You can't do that anymore."

Up until now, Murphy says his career was in the shadows of his brother.

These days, Murphy doesn't care what Chappelle might think of this latest twist (Chappelle has reportedly said he doesn't like the idea of Comedy Central airing these "lost" episodes).

If Chappelle wants to walk away from his show, Murphy says, then it shouldn't matter if Murphy picks up the pieces.

"My gift (for comedy) comes from God. I use it within the confines of my own personal belief in myself," he says. "Dave is Dave. I'm Charlie.

"He's got his kids to feed, and I've got mine. I don't make decisions based on what somebody else thinks. I don't work for him."

There's no denying that exposure on "Chappelle" heightened Murphy's profile. He went from being Eddie Murphy's brother to a comedy talent all his own.

Charlie Murphy first came to the attention of audiences when Chappelle re-enacted Murphy's tall-tales encounters with pop mega-star Prince and Rick James. According to these stories, the diminutive and high-heel wearing Prince bested Murphy in basketball while James slapped Murphy in one of the show's hallmark moments.

From there, Murphy made other appearances and even spawned the show's most-popular catchphrase: "I'm (fill in a name here), (word that rhymes with witch)."

The catchphrase dogged Chappelle so badly that he said it interfered with his standup routines. Fans would yell the catchphrase from the audience, interrupting punch lines and the flow of the routine.

Murphy hears it all the time, too, but he says he can handle it.

"People yell out 'Charlie Murphy.' That's not a character. It's my real name," he says. "You know what that took the place of? It took the place of 'wow, he sure looks like Eddie Murphy.' "

Now, Murphy's career is going beyond "Chappelle." He's working on "Twist the Cap," a big-screen comedy. He's also recently completed work on "Unearthed," a sci-fi thriller.

" 'Chappelle's Show' has shown people I can do more than one thing," he says. "Anyone who is talking about things I can do or things I can't do doesn't know what they are talking about."

http://www.desnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,640192845,00.html

fredfa

07-08-06, 08:28 PM

TV Notebook
New, From HBO: It’s Sunday Night

(July 10, 2006)

Multichannel.com--Home Box Office subscribers tuning in on Sunday nights this fall will see more of Jessica Alba and Vince Vaughn than James Gandolfini or Adrian Grenier.

HBO plans to move the premium TV window premieres of Hollywood movies such as Fantastic Four, Wedding Crashers and Brokeback Mountain out of primetime on Saturdays.

The new slot: 8 p.m. Sunday night, a time usually reserved for original series, according to HBO president and CEO Chris Albrecht.

With its marquee original shows such as The Sopranos, Entourage, Deadwood, Big Love and Rome on hiatus until next year, HBO will seek to draw Hollywood movie fans to its urban drama The Wire, which will debut its fourth season in September.

The series, which will air at 10 p.m. on Sunday nights, averaged 1.5 million households during its third campaign that ended in 2004, according to HBO.

By comparison, The Sopranos averaged 8.9 million viewers during its sixth season run earlier this year.

Albrecht also said the theatrical releases would benefit from greater exposure on Sunday, the most watched night of the week for the pay service. The current primetime Sunday night lineup of Entourage, Lucky Louie and Deadwood is drawing a combined 5.9 million viewers in their premiere installments.

Year to date, HBO’s Saturday night movie block – which has featured the pay TV debuts of such blockbusters as Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, has averaged 2.1 million viewers.

“We’re taking our Saturday night movies and putting it on Sunday nights to put it in front of more eyeballs,” Albrecht said.

Albrecht said he’s happy with the performance of its original series on Sunday evenings — which also includes the late-night standup comedy/reality series Dane Cook’s Tourgasm. In particular, he’s pleased with Lucky Louie, the family-show vehicle for standup comedian/writer Louis C.K., which has received at best lukewarm reviews. The series is averaging a Sunday night-low 1.4 million viewers, but the network said its viewership numbers cumulatively add up to 4 million, once all the weekly airings are tallied.

“It’s not surprising that it’s elicited some strong responses, both positively and negatively, but at the moment we’re happy with the show,” Albrecht said. “This is us trying something — we got where we are by following our noses and responding to strong creative talent with a strong point of view about a relatable subject, supporting that vision and executing it well. As long as we continue that formula, we’ll be fine.”

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6350486.html

fredfa

07-08-06, 08:31 PM

TV Notebook
HBO Looks for Missing Link

By R. Thomas Umstead Multichannel.com 7/10/2006

With The Sopranos ready to finally sleep with the fishes and Deadwood set to fire its last shot in 2007, attendees of the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, Calif., this week are expected to pound Home Box Office executives with questions about whether the premium service can — once again — come up with a groundbreaking hit.

CEO Chris Albrecht has seen this show before, though. “I’ve been answering the 'What’s next?’ question since the end of Sanders in 1996,” said Albrecht of the service’s first true breakout series, the sarcastic send-up of late-night talk shows, The Larry Sanders Show, which starred Garry Shandling.

Two years after that encounter, the network delivered Sex and the City; 12 months after that, it launched The Sopranos. This time the network’s future programming slate — which includes a new series from Deadwood creator/producer/head writer David Milch and 24 creator Joel Surnow — may have difficulties matching the brand-defining achievements that four sexually liberated single women and a ruthless mob family provided the premium TV leader.

THE STANDARD BEARER

HBO has long been considered the standard bearer of cable creativity and innovation. When launched in 1973, it was the first satellite-delivered premium channel to offer uncut, uninterrupted movie fare to viewer homes. Soon, it was the first premium cable channel to secure a national sports-rights deal, for early-round action from the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 1975.

In the 1980s, it was the first premium service to create original movies like 1983’s The Terry Fox Story. Later that year, it was the first to roll out an original scripted series: the sketch-comedy network news spoof Not Necessarily the News.

In the 1990s, HBO was the first premium channel to produce edgy dramatic series like The Sopranos and Sex and the City. It was also one of the first to take advantage of new distribution technologies such as video-on-demand when it launched the subscription HBO On Demand service in 2002.

But as the first decade of a new century winds down, where can — or will — the network go next? Will it move beyond being a flagship premium channel on cable and satellite into other forms of distribution like broadband video, as MTV: Music Television or ESPN have begun to do? Or will it continue to mine more creative programming ideas in search of the next big thing?

HBO executives aren’t showing their hand. But Syracuse University professor of popular culture Robert Thompson say it’s clear the network needs to begin placing its bets soon. Otherwise, HBO could become just another television network, rather than an industry trailblazer and TV fan favorite.

“Right this second, I think they’re still the most exciting place on television ... it still has some programming that isn’t going on anywhere else on television,” says Thompson. “I think HBO is still sitting in the catbird seat of that 'It’s not TV ... It’s HBO [slogan].’ But one could predict that if some new things don’t get into the lineup that could serve as a true anchor programming, within five years we could be saying, 'HBO ... It’s pretty much TV.’ ”

Indeed, with the looming departures of The Sopranos and Deadwood, the lineup of original series on HBO lacks a high-profile ratings champion. At the same time, the premium service faces increasing competition for writing talent and ideas from such networks as Turner Network Television and FX. These ad-supported networks have provided a one-two punch with their own scripted shows, such as The Closer or The Shield, that have knocked HBO against the ropes, rendering its once unchallenged domination of cable scripted fare as fragile as Janice Soprano’s psyche.

Albrecht’s HBO, though, is not ready to lay down: the network says its existing stable of series such as the polygamy-centered Big Love, Hollywood insider comedy series Entourage, the lavish period piece Rome and the gritty urban street drama The Wire will keep the network solvent creatively — and, more important, financially — for the near term as it looks to develop its next Sopranos or Six Feet Under, the acclaimed mortuary show.

The network has taken full advantage of such technological developments as HBO On Demand, and more recently wireless platforms, through its recent deal with cellphone provider Cingular Wireless.

The service also continues to increase annual subscriptions, from 27.6 million in 2004 to 28.2 million in first-quarter 2006. HBO last year filled the coffers of parent company Time Warner Inc. with $3 billion in revenue, according to Time Warner officials. And on the critical front, the programmer picked up 95 Emmy nominations last week.

Not bad for a network many critics consider to be in a slump.

VIEWERSHIP BLUES

Still, none of the network’s current shows have emerged as the heir apparent to The Sopranos, Sex and the City or, to a lesser extent, Deadwood and Six Feet Under — all considered revolutionary for their character development, story lines and willingness to push the creative envelope, relative to language and sex, as only a subscription-based service could.

From a viewership standpoint, however, HBO’s current crop of shows hasn’t attracted giant audiences.

Through the first four episodes of their current seasons (as of July 2), the average viewerships for the first-run episodes of Entourage (2.4 million) Deadwood (2.1 million) and sitcom Lucky Louie, an explicit version of The Honeymooners (1.4 million), combined are 5.9 million. That is 3 million less than the 8.9 million who tuned in on average to watch each episode of the sixth and arguably most disappointing season of The Sopranos.

The three series’ cumulative viewership of 13.2 million watchers — the network’s preferred audience measuring stick, as it includes the total number of viewers who watch a show over several repeat airings — are just equal to those generated by Tony Soprano’s near-death experience that punctuated season six.

The Sopranos numbers are even higher if you add viewership from the 10 million or so HBO subscription on-demand households. In fact, HBO executive vice president of program planning Dave Baldwin has said that once all on-demand figures are in, the season six Sopranos campaign will outperform the 14.4 million viewers from season five.

Even Big Love, the network’s highly touted dramatic series about the travails of a man with multiple wives, could only muster an average of 4.1 million viewers during this season’s Sunday night episode premieres and 7.1 cumulative viewers. Compare that to the 6 million viewers who, on average, watched the final season of Sex and the City.

The shows are the latest in a string of original series HBO has started over the last few year that have unsuccessfully filled the big Manolos of Sex and Six Feet Under. Remember the relationship comedy The Mind of the Married Man; the Lisa Kudrow-vehicle The Comeback; the obscure, 1930s Dust Bowl drama Carnivale, or the George Clooney-created, Washington Beltway-based K Street?

“HBO has had a lot of shows on the air, and some have been more high-profile than others,” acknowledged Albrecht. “But the job of HBO programming, including the movies, is to deliver value programming worth paying for [to] each subscriber. It has to deliver on the promise of distinct, unique quality and worth paying for.”

HBO should get credit for trying such new, innovative programming as K Street and Carnivale, even if those shows failed, said Tim Brooks, Lifetime Television’s executive vice president of research and a TV historian and author.

“They don’t have the mega-hit that they’ve had, but they continue to put things on,’’ Brooks said. “The creative community respects that, and everyone knows they’re only one hit away from being back in the glory days again.”

THE NEXT ONE

HBO is hoping one of its new projects will prove it has not lost its creative mojo.

The seamy side of surfing: Along with developing the final four-hour Deadwood movie for 2007, series creator David Milch will also bring out John From Cincinnati next year. The hour-long drama looks at the Southern California surfing underworld.

Everybody loves a dying rich man: 24’s Surnow will help HBO create a series starring Ray Romano as a billionaire that has six months to live.

Therapist swapping: The network is developing a series with Roseanne executive producer Cynthia Mort about three couples with intimacy issues that share the same sex therapist.

But the ultimate question is: Can those, or any other as-yet-announced series, live up to the creative genius of Sopranos, Sex and Deadwood? Is it even fair to judge any new HBO show by the standards set by its predecessors?

No, says Thompson. But that’s the burden subscription-based HBO will always carry.

“When you get something as good as The Sopranos or Sex and the City, you attract a lot of subscribers because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime great show,” he said. “But what happens when that show isn’t on anymore? HBO has set a standard now that they have to turn around 15 once-in-a-lifetime shows to keep their base satisfied.”

So far, HBO subscribers are more than happy, Albrecht notes — and, more than ever, they are plunking down $10 to $15 monthly to watch the service.

Indeed, HBO has continued to grow its subscriber base sans Sex and despite the long breaks between new episodes of Sopranos and Deadwood.

Since Sex left in 2004 and Sopranos went on a 21-month hiatus before premiering this past March, HBO posted a 2.6% increase in subscribers to 28.2 million in the first quarter of 2006, according to Kagan Research.

Albrecht attributed much of that increase to diverse content ranging from theatrical movies from Universal Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox to video magazine Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel.

The network’s World Championship Boxing and Boxing After Dark franchises are drawing hard-core and casual boxing fans to the network. HBO’s live WCB shows, featuring such fighters as middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, are averaging 2.5 million viewers in 2006, according to the network. And there’s soft-porn content, such as Real Sex.

More importantly, Albrecht says the network is making money. Although HBO would not disclose figures, executives close to Time Warner said the programmer earned more than $1 billion in profits through subscriptions and ancillary services, such as DVD sales, in 2005.

“If the proof is in the pudding, HBO has more subscribers than ever before, has more revenue and more earnings than ever before, and we’re executing a more complex business plan than ever before,” Albrecht said. “If we keep our eyes on the job that we need to do and not get distracted by people who mistake someone else’s business model for HBO’s model, we’re going to be in fine shape.”

HEIGHTENED COMPETITION

But as HBO tries to find the next water cooler show, ad-supported networks such as FX, Sci Fi Channel and USA have taken a page out of HBO’s playbook and created high-profile, quality original scripted series, narrowing the quality gap between HBO and the rest of the industry.

Showtime’s The L Word and Huff; FX’s The Shield, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck; Sci Fi’s Battlestar Galactica; and USA Network’s Monk have generated the kind of ink from TV writers usually reserved for broadcast-network and HBO fare.

In fact, Los Angeles Daily News TV critic David Kronke believes FX’s The Shield and Rescue Me rival the quality of the edgy scripted fare that HBO pioneered nearly a decade ago.

“I think [FX’s] shows have an energy and a provocative nature that I find more intriguing than some of the more recent offerings that HBO has come up with lately,” he said.

“It used to be that HBO was the only show in town,” added Syracuse’s Thompson. “But now if you’re interested in doing a scripted TV series, you can take it to HBO, [Turner Network Television], FX or, depending what the show’s genre is, Sci Fi Channel or Comedy Central.”

Albrecht admits the competition has upped the ante for HBO. But he encourages the networks to take their best shots.

“We showed what was possible to do on television,” he said. “I think what that did was to bring more people into the category and to spend more money on original scripted programming. It’s good for everybody when the bar gets raised.”

HBO is holding up to the competitive shots. The audiences for the premiere episodes of Entourage and Deadwood are just below the 2.7 million viewers arrested by the FX’s highly touted edgy cop series The Shield earlier this year and the 2.8 million viewers on average drawn by the current run of Rescue Me, Denis Leary’s chronicle of the lives of dysfunctional firefighters — despite a 60 million subscriber disadvantage against the ad-supported basic cable network.

And while the The Sopranos saw a 9% dropoff in premiere installment viewership compared to its fifth season two years ago, its 8.9 million average series viewers still places it well above any scripted series this year.

That includes the 6.6 million viewers garnered by ad supported cable’s No. 1 show, The Closer, on the 89 million-subscriber TNT.

But HBO knows that isn’t enough to appease the critics. So what can it do for an encore?

NO BROADBAND PLANS

The network is providing short-form programming from the Sopranos and other original series to Cingular phone subscribers as part of a long-term deal. But the network said it has no plans to launch new, original series on the platform in the near future.

HBO executives also said there are no immediate plans to follow some of its cable brethren into the broadband video arena, for which new and unique original, short-form content is being developed. But the network owns all distribution rights to all of its original content, giving it carte blanche to put its signature programs anywhere it wants, without having to negotiate rights with a Hollywood studio or music publisher.

But don’t expect any big push outside the TV screen anytime soon.

“Right now, cable content for broadband is gaining prominence, but until [broadband] becomes more universally acceptable and affordable, TV will still be king,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV critic Melanie McFarland said. “Their future lies in finding that next hit, which is always around the corner.”

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6350486.html

keenan

07-08-06, 08:40 PM

I watched the whole (first) episode.

But long before the end I found myself wondering just what the execs at HBO had been smoking when they approved the show.

(And let's not evcen start with "Tourgasm".)

It astounds me how the same HBO executives could have okayed "Sex and the City", "Larry Sanders", "Six Feet Under" and "The Sopranos". But then I remembered they probably weren't the same executives.

And it sure isn't the same HBO. A pity.

These days I would much more readily pay my $12 a month for a combo of TNT and FX. I certainly find myself watching them more -- and enjoying them far more -- than HBO.
Absolutely, especially if FX was in HD. I'll stick with HBO until "The Wire" expires, "Big Love" is not bad, "Rome" is extravagant, big, but honestly it wouldn't prevent me from canceling HBO. If the Argentine "Epitafios" were to have another installment I would stick with HBO for that, easily. That was some of the best TV all year in my opinion. I'm still angry with HBO over the Deadwood fiasco, frankly, I think they've just gotten cheap, the premiere of the premiere networks and they're putting out cheap to make stuff like Entourage, Lucky Louie, the Lisa Kudrow thing that was so bad it's not even listed on their site anymore. The worthy "Oz" is still listed even. I haven't seen any details of Milch's new adventure, but from what I have read so far it sounds like it's a lower budget production.

Can't help but think they blew a fortune on "Rome" and they are smarting badly from it.

You know, I don't recall which writer is was you posted here in the last few days, but it mentioned "The Wire" as being a staple of HBO's, a strong performer, something like that, anyway, "The Wire" was as close to being history after the 2nd season that a show could be, it barely sidestepped the hatchet, I remember David Simon wrote about how HBO had essentially written it off before it finally did make it. So that writer, who ever it was, hasn't paid close attention the "The Wire's" history, and in turn gave HBO a little more credit than they deserved.

Sorry, "The Wire" is one of my top 5 favorite shows so I had to throw that in there.

fredfa

07-08-06, 08:49 PM

It'll be fun, as Multichannel's Umstead notes, to watch the nation's TV critics deal with the HBO execs next week!

keenan

07-08-06, 08:51 PM

See, the Multichannel News article said the same thing, talking about "The Wire" like it's been an HBO untouchable from Day 1. I'd love to see one of these writers confront Albrecht about how it took a ton of lobbying by Simon to keep "The Wire", the impression given lately in the media is that "The Wire" has been a keeper all along, not true. Talk about spin.. :rolleyes: :p

keenan

07-08-06, 08:53 PM

Indeed, I do hope they don't pull any punches. :D

fredfa

07-09-06, 01:19 AM

I really am looking forward to being able to post so much of what the critics will be writing next week.

It should be a very fun -- and informative -- several weeks.

fredfa

07-09-06, 01:46 AM

TV Review
This mob story works the old-fashioned way

Compelling characters, believable storylines. 'Brotherhood' scores by going back to the basics.
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 8, 2006

An 11-part series that begins Sunday night on Showtime, "Brotherhood" tells the story — or rather gathers together the small stories that make up a big story — of two brothers, one a politician, one a mobster, and of their friends, families, neighbors, colleagues and enemies. It has a novelistic scope and pace, a fine sense of place, characters that are compelling without being ostentatiously extreme and whose reality the script does not betray for an easy effect or to make cultural or political points about things that have nothing to do with their lives.

In a time when willful eccentricity, self-conscious style and pop-cultural knowingness dominate TV drama, it is refreshingly straightforward and unaffected, radical by virtue of being old-fashioned. In its emphasis on character over plot it reminds me of movies from the pre-Spielberg '70s, and is in so many ways what I want from television that I feel almost like phoning each of you personally to deliver the news.

It is not stunningly original, as attested to by the fact that one can describe it, not inaccurately, as an "Irish 'Sopranos'," and it is in a long tradition of brother-against-brother stories that certainly goes back further than Cain and Abel's "God always liked you best" routine. Also time-honored is the story of the wild prodigal whose return to town sets off an unfortunate series of events. (Though "Brotherhood" is set in the relatively large city of Providence, R.I., it is more particularly set in the virtual small town of a working-class Irish neighborhood called "The Hill.")

It also has deep roots in the Irish gangster films and social dramas of the Warner Brothers 1930s — it wasn't until "The Godfather" that movie mobsters were reliably Italian — and without too much tweaking one can imagine Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien speaking this dialogue. There's a bit of "Dead End" in it as well. That it's inspired by Boston's real-life Bulger brothers, William (former president of the Massachusetts Senate, and of the University of Massachusetts) and James, still on the FBI's most-wanted list, does not make it any less literary.

And yet "Brotherhood" seems fresh nearly all the time. A thoroughgoing naturalism smooths its rough spots, improves its dialogue, keeps it from falling into cliché, moderates the melodrama toward which its premise naturally impels it. It has a quality of transparency that lets you into what feels like an actual world; the form does not obscure the content. Improbable things do happen in "Brotherhood," and not every action has the consequences one would reasonably expect. But it is all played believably. Even when it gets hard to follow, it feels like a conversation you can't quite understand, rather than a load of nonsense that the writers did not sufficiently work out.

As in "The Sopranos" and Dennis Leary's "Rescue Me" — another show involved with Irish-American family dysfunction, anger issues and alcoholism — it is pervaded by nostalgia and suspicion. Its characters are almost mystically reverent toward their roots and toward an Old Country in which they would never actually want to live; they are old enough to hate change, clannish often to the point of racism, and are wondering where the good times have gone. The neighborhood is deteriorating, becoming a target for NIMBY projects.

The Caffee brothers — Tommy, the political brother (played by Jason Clarke, of "Rabbit-Proof Fence"), and Michael, the criminal (Jason Isaacs, who plays villain Lucius Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" movies) — each regards himself as protector of the Hill, even as each is poised to help destroy it. We are meant to feel that Tommy is not as good a person as he thinks, that his desire to help his constituency is inextricable from his personal quest for power — and that Michael, despite his being a murderer, a thief and extortionist among other things, is not without a code. (It's a difficult code for those around him to read at times, and one he might himself interpret as convenient from case to case.) He sees himself as a good son, brother and uncle, and he is not entirely wrong.

Isaacs' is only the most obviously splendid performance in a uniformly brilliant cast that also includes Annabeth Gish as Tommy's depressed, drugaddicted, unfaithful wife (significantly, in a show so concerned with a fading past, she's sleeping with someone from high school); Fionnula Flanagan as the Caffee boys' mother; Ethan Embry as a police officer who's also a conflicted family friend; Stivi Paskoski as Michael's right hand and Tina Benko as his old flame.

Created by Blake Masters and written by Masters along with Henry Bromell, Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, with director Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American") a co-executive producer, "Brotherhood" feels like a new dawn for Showtime, which has finally begun to work out how to stage an original series that does not look like second-rate HBO. (HBO has been taking care of that itself lately.) Had they filmed it in Vancouver, Canada, as was originally planned, instead of Providence, it might have been just another not-quite-as-good-as-it-should-have-been series, but by whatever mix of intention and accident, things were done right, and they've produced a show that is not only addictive but excellent. Its lack of flash, quiet tone and insistently unhurried tempo — broken here and there by an explosion of violence or spectacular set piece (a multicar collision on a rainy night, a climactic, episode-long wedding) — will not be to everyone's taste. Some even might find it dull. But it is a cool drink on a hot day to me.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-brotherhood8jul08,0,6412107.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

07-09-06, 01:58 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Deadwood: Not Emmy Eligible, Hoopleheads

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine” July 8, 2006

Granted, I'm the hooplehead who should have pointed this out to f-ing trigger-happy c-suckers who have bombarded me with e-mail, sometimes using these lovely "Deadwood" terms liberally (but with respect, as I do here). "Deadwood," to make the point that has been reiterated in the user comments here (thanks for the help on that, honestly), did not air in the period that the c-suckers at the f-ing Academy of Television Arts & Sciences stipulates. That time period is June 1, 2005 to May 31, 2006.

Everybody got that? Put your f-ing guns down. Politely step back. And I'll thank you in advance for that. Now, two quick things. One - do you not have an ounce of f-ing faith in me? How much do I love "Deadwood"? You know I do. How many times have I proclaimed the genius of Ian McShane? A lot, you c-suckers, a lot. I get Christmas cards from the man. You think I'd forget to bash some g-damn heads of Emmy voters if they left him out when he was eligible? A little faith, people. (There are a mere handful of things - perks, sentimental swag - in this job that get me excited. Getting a Christmas card from one of the best actors alive, yeah, that counts. And yes, he signs it himself, you f-ing doubters!)

Hey, Goodman. Merry Christmas, c-sucker!

I will say that I am g-damned proud of each and every one of you "Deadwood" loving c-suckers who stepped up and fought fiercely in support of the show. That your rage was misplaced ill-sprayed does not take away from that pride. However, now that we all know that the show wasn't eligible, let's back off the e-mail anger.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

fredfa

07-09-06, 10:08 AM

Critic’s Notebook
Dave Chappelle Faces Bob Hope's Demons

By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

''Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes'' begins tonight (and will be on DVD on July 25) as Comedy Central harvests the remains of its aborted megabuck deal with Dave Chappelle.

The comedian was one of Comedy Central's biggest stars when he made the deal, only to drop out while the show was in production. And you can see exactly why in tonight's telecast (at 9 PM ET) as a couple of sketches show Dave dealing with the idea of being really famous and really rich.

The sketches in toto are only sporadically funny, and the show is padded with introductions and jokes by Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings. But I did laugh hard at times, especially in a bit where Dave decides to use his new fortune to get revenge on some people from his past. And I thought a lot about Bob Hope while watching.

Like Chappelle, Bob Hope made his bones as an outsider, as a mocker of convention. There were some differences -- Hope often played coward and the sneak, while Chappelle is more directly confrontational -- but they both often came back to the idea of hey, I'm just saying what a lot of people in the audience are thinking -- even if they're too nice to say it.

In both cases, they also received considerable financial rewards for their efforts. But money changed things. It was much more difficult to accept Hope as an outsider when you saw him playing golf with presidents or read about his fortune. And while Hope worked long and hard into his eighties, he did not do so as inventively as he had when he was younger; the jokes were more automatic, the delivery closer to phoning it in.

Based on tonight's sketches, Chappelle found himself in a tough spot. He wasn't some outside guy anymore. He was rich, he knew it and, even more importantly, his audience knew it. So he had to face that issue in his comedy. But once he had done that, what next? Would he be willing to do material that didn't work? Would he accept that he could phone it in and still collect a big check? He may not have looked specifically at Bob's arc, but he surely anticipated the consequences. And he took a different road -- one that got him out of town.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

fredfa

07-09-06, 10:53 AM

Sports On TV
World Cup Draws 3.74M on July 4

Multichannel.com. — The 2006 FIFA World Cup semifinal between Germany and Italy produced some ratings fireworks for ESPN, netting a 4.1 household rating and some 3.74 million households on July 4, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

Network officials said that made the contest — in which Italy advanced to the final, by winning 2-0 in overtime — the highest-rated non-U.S. soccer match on the network and its third highest-rated World Cup game ever.

France's 1-0 victory over Portugal the following day earned a 2.6 rating, attracting 2.38 million households.

With one match to go — the third-place game on July 8 — ESPN averaged a 1.9 household rating, 2.29 million viewers and 1.74 million households for 20 contests — respective gains of 73%, 78% and 80% from the 2002 tournament.

Over 31 matches, ESPN2 averaged a 1.0 rating, 1.15 million viewers and 919,000 households, increases of 67%, 76% and 88%, respectively, from when the tourney was held in South Korea and Japan four years ago.

ABC, which was scheduled to televise the championship game on July 9, had scored with an average of 3.85 million viewers (125%). 2.88 million households (122%) and a 2.6 rating (117%) with its first 11 matches.

All told, ESPN officials reported that more than 90 million people have tuned into the World Cup coverage on the three networks, a 15% increase from the 78 million who had watched through the 2002 semifinals.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6350824.html?display=Top+Stories

fredfa

07-09-06, 11:36 AM

The Business of TV
When Multicasts Mean Cash

By Stewart Schley Broadcasting & Cable 7/10/2006

In Baltimore, a new TV channel that's being distributed by cable operator Comcast Corp. is providing a welcome boost to local advertising revenues.

But the beneficiary isn't Comcast. It's WBAL, the NBC affiliate owned by Hearst-Argyle, which is running NBC's new Weather Plus channel as one of its multicasting channels carried by the cable system.

Those multicast channels are opportunities for broadcasters but just more competition for local cable ad-sales staffs. The irony, of course, is that multicast channels get much of their audience largely because cable operators carry them. And viewers and advertisers are now learning they exist.

“We began selling Weather Plus as soon as we launched it,” says Jordan Wertlieb, WBAL's general manager. “It has been very well received in the marketplace.”

Multicasting is still tiny. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants to establish a multicast must-carry rule, although he has delayed that vote for now. But if he succeeds, multicast could proliferate quickly.

As stations launch digital channels like NBC Weather Plus, the Hispanic-targeted LaTV and The Tube, a youth-oriented music network, they're arming themselves with a reservoir of local advertising inventory that can be packaged and presented in fresh ways that broader-based broadcast fare cannot. That could bring local cable operators more competition for local-TV advertising budgets.

“The addition of these multicast channels will change the landscape a little bit. We'll be selling different demographics at different price points than we traditionally have done,” says Mike Ruggiero, a multicasting consultant who was part of a panel about multicasting at last month's Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association (BCFM) conference. The Tube is one of his clients.

For stations, the addition of digital channels means not just more local advertising inventory but the possibility of doing business with local advertisers that traditionally haven't advertised on over-the-air TV because of cost or other considerations.

“It can open up a whole new group of advertisers,” says Abby Auerbach, the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) executive VP who heads the trade association's multiplatform committee. Targeted networks like The Tube, she explains, can provide an outlet for stations to court advertisers with narrower demographic targets than primetime broadcast schedules typically deliver. “You haven't been on MTV before,” she says, “but now you can be.”

One example: In Memphis, a local business group, the Beale Street Merchants Association, has booked for a year the entirety of local commercial time made available by The Tube over Raycom Media Inc.'s WMC, according to The Tube founder Les Garland. He advises affiliate stations to look for similarly creative advertising deals that bring in incremental money: “If it were me, I would look for new revenue, for incremental dollars from advertisers who haven't been on television before. I'd bring them into this environment.”

The big question mark for TVB is how lucrative the multicast market can be for stations, mainly because most stations are still figuring out how many multicast channels they'll start. (One advertising executive says that, in a major market, some multicast channels are bringing in $500,000 a year in revenue.) While those new channels may take advertisers away from newspapers and radio, it will make it tougher for local cable ad staffs, too. Says Auerbach, “It certainly gives them a lot more competition.”

An “Easy Buying Process”

The TVB has worked with traffic-systems providers and advertising agencies to produce a new set of software codes that will identify digital multicast channels in commercial schedules. Auerbach thinks that technology helps makes it an “easy buying process” for advertisers.

Nearly all of the 85 stations affiliated with NBC Weather Plus have begun selling local advertising time on the channel, which launched in November 2005. It allocates roughly half of its total commercial time—or around 100,000 30-second spots per year—to its affiliates, says Michael Steib, general manager of the NBC Universal-owned channel.

He says, in some markets, close to 80% of advertisers on the channel are new to the television station.

“The most successful stations are those that have recognized a new way to sell against other platforms, such as cable,” Steib says. Even though NBC Weather Plus isn't rated yet by Nielsen, he adds, some stations “are making substantial dollars” by selling local time.

Raycom Media Inc., which distributes NBC Weather Plus and The Tube in many of its markets, has seen “moderate success” so far in advertising sales on its multicast channels, says President/CEO Paul McTear. He told a BCFM panel that the channels open broadcasters to “a different business than the core television business.” But he cautioned ad execs against giving away multicast spots to big existing advertisers as a sweetener. “You don't want to throw it in as a closer. You really need to look at separate target advertisers.”

Not every station buys that strategy. In some markets, says NBC's Steib, stations are packaging multicast inventory alongside primary station inventory to extend the reach and frequency of commercials from incumbent advertisers. WBAL's Wertlieb says NBC Weather Plus “is a great complement to some advertisers. It's not necessarily an exclusive sales item.”

One of the ironies of the digital multicast market is that, while stations may compete with local cable ad-sales organizations for advertiser budgets, the same stations depend on cable for distribution of their digital channels. Although channels like NBC Weather Plus and The Tube can be received using digital rooftop antennas, few homes are likely to be outfitted with the devices, industry executives believe. That leaves cable and the Internet as the primary delivery system for the channels, which typically get cable carriage through retransmission-consent negotiations.

That sort of interdependence could lead to joint ad- sales efforts in which cable and broadcast providers are more friend than foe, suggests Robert Gessner, president of Ohio's Massillon Cable.

“Our local ad sales people already intimately know the people in that market. Perhaps we could provide the sales effort to go along with the distribution of the programming,” Gessner says. It's also possible that cable operators could arrange to vary the commercials that appear within digital multicast channels based on cable “zones,” or geographic selling areas.

“Cable has a technology available at its headend, that, if they make it available to broadcasters, would enable us to deliver ZIP-code–effective advertising for our core channels,” Ruggiero says. “So there are still lots of things that can be talked about in common over the long haul to create value for both parties.”

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6350793

HDTVChallenged

07-09-06, 12:37 PM

The Business of TV
When Multicasts Mean Cash 4

By Stewart Schley Broadcasting & Cable 7/10/2006

In Baltimore, a new TV channel that's being distributed by cable operator Comcast Corp. is providing a welcome boost to local advertising revenues.

Ah yes the pig finally snorts! :)

Here we have proof from the source that MC/MC is not and never was about "serving the public interest," it's always been about profit maximization.

keenan

07-09-06, 12:53 PM

Really, like there was ever any doubt. Ever checked out The Tube website? In big bold lettering it says "SEE, HEAR, BUY". It's a shopping channel for music related items.

http://www.thetubetv.com/
THE TUBE MUSIC NETWORK

fredfa

07-09-06, 01:04 PM

TV Review
Showtime's “Brotherhood”

Crime and Politics Meet in Providence
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times

The legal system is a pillar of television drama, and "The Sopranos" opened the doors to organized crime, but the intersection of the two is harder to find. Showtime's new series, "Brotherhood," is all about that convergence.

The show, featuring two Irish-American brothers, one a lawmaker, the other a gangster, is the next-best thing to "The Wire" on HBO. It too explores the fluid, almost imperceptible way corruption seeps into the spine of a family, a neighborhood and local government.

HBO, which recently brought "Six Feet Under" and "Oz" to a close and will soon let go of "The Sopranos," no longer has a monopoly on great television. "Entourage" and "Deadwood" are superb, but the rival premium cable channel is catching up: "Huff" and "Sleeper Cell" are exceptionally good. So is "Brotherhood," which has its premiere on Sunday.

Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke) is an up-and-coming state legislator from a clannish working-class section of Providence known as the Hill. His prospects are clouded, however, by his older brother, Michael (Jason Isaacs), a local mobster who has returned home to Rhode Island after a seven-year absence that led even his mother, Rose (Fionnula Flanagan), to think he was dead.

The Caffees speak with the broad "a" of New England and are fiercely competitive, close-knit and loyal. Their film noir tale mirrors the real-life Bulger brothers of South Boston; William Bulger became a state senator and president of the University of Massachusetts, while James Bulger, better known as Whitey, became a mobster and a fugitive from the F.B.I. But viewers are more likely to see the Caffees as the unKennedys, a cautionary tableau of what that Massachusetts dynasty might have been like if its patriarch, Joseph Kennedy, had not made a fortune as a bootlegger during Prohibition.

"Brotherhood" is filmed in dark, brooding light, and the usual garish signposts of ordinary American life — Dunkin' Donuts, Payless shoes, drive-through banks, StairMaster machines — have been airbrushed out. Visually, the series presents a romanticized view of urban decline, as painterly and static as northern Europe or a Woody Allen movie in his "Interiors" period.

Little girls in pastel Sunday dresses play hopscotch on empty sidewalks, while schemes are hatched, scores are settled, and feuds simmer in dank Irish bars, wilting clapboard row houses and, most of all, the State House.

"Brotherhood" is a family saga, but it is at its best when delving into other kinds of bonds, particularly those that intertwine labor, business, government and organized crime. Even the most prosaic legislative bills are veined with quid pro quo compromises and kickbacks, backroom machinations worked out with a handshake or a shove at banquets, wakes and committee hearings. Tommy is ambitious and clever, but he is no match for the glad-handing speaker of the House, beautifully played by Michael Gaston, or the state's most powerful and least visible player, Judd Fitzgerald (Len Cariou), who heads the Department of Public Works.

"Brotherhood" revels in the kind of politics that are rarely seen on television shows: brass knuckle, not grass roots. Each Caffee brother sees himself as the paladin of the Hill, but the politician and the prodigal son are anything but contrasts in good and evil. Tommy, a churchgoing family man with a lovely wife and three daughters, wants to defy the political machine but inexorably ends up greasing it. Michael is a sociopath with a do-gooder streak: he is known as "three-part Mike" because when he takes on what he views as wrongdoing, he acts as "judge, jury and executioner." In the premiere episode Michael's judicial process includes slamming a hoodlum's head into the side of a car and slicing off his ear in the kind of customized violence that, along with de-eroticized sex, is the purview of premium cable.

Michael is under surveillance by the Providence police, but his main shadow is a lifelong family friend, Declan Giggs (Ethan Embry), who, like almost everyone else on the Hill, is pulled between duty and tribal loyalty.

The women of "Brotherhood" are no less complicated. Annabeth Gish ("Mystic Pizza") plays Tommy's wife, Eileen, the perfect helpmate, except that she is unhappy and hiding a problem with drugs and extramarital sex. Ms. Flanagan is mesmerizing as the matriarch, Rose, a shop steward at the town's ailing sewing factory and a doting mother who has her own manipulative ways and secret life. Even the beautiful college girl whom Michael starts sleeping with turns out to be as mercurial and baffling as he.

Mr. Clarke, an Australian actor, is an unlikely choice to play a male lead: pale, with dark hair and pinched features, he looks like the young Napoleon in portraits by Jacques Louis David. His borderline looks echo his character: an intelligent man wavering between ambition and loyalty, public service and self interest. Tommy and Michael lack the charisma of a Tony Soprano and are hard to embrace at first, but like the series itself, their appeal deepens with each episode.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/arts/television/07brot.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

HDTVChallenged

07-09-06, 01:08 PM

Really, like there was ever any doubt.

LOL ... Of course there was no doubt ... I just find it refreshing whenever the hogs slip up and admit the truth. ;)

PS: I'm still waiting for Chairman Martin's (or other industry insiders') "consise" explaination(s) of how increasing the ownership caps and relaxing the ownership rules will "serve the public" interest, especially when combined with MC/MC. It's clear what's really going on here. ;)

fredfa

07-09-06, 01:30 PM

The explanation, it seems to me, is simple: the folks controlling the stations spend more on lobbying (and political contributions) than we do.

What I have never understood is how national politicians let themselves be charged usurious rates for their TV commercials.

Just legislate that the stations "contribute" four minutes an hour for political spots each hour for a month before a national election. They do have a license to broadcast (and make money) on our airwaves, after all.

That simple act would negate almost all the money-driven obscenity that goes on in Washington regarding telecommunications policy.

Legislators, freed of having to raise immense sums for their TV ads, could spend time actually trying to figure out legislation that benefits their constituents. (I am not saying all of them would, but they certainly could.)

fredfa

07-09-06, 02:45 PM

TV Review
Protecting Their Turf

Murky Morals Govern a Family's Noble Cause
By Amy Amatangelo Special to The Washington Post, Sunday, July 9, 2006; Y05

BROTHERHOOD Sundays, 10 PM ET/PT, Showtime

Not so long ago, HBO's "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos" were the talk at water coolers everywhere. But Carrie left us for Mr. Big, and Tony and his paisanos stayed away too long -- when they finally came back to TV, some viewers found it hard to still care.

Meanwhile, Showtime quietly developed niche audiences with series such as "Queer as Folk" and "The L Word," while "Weeds" and "Sleeper Cell" earned critical acclaim.

Now, with a bada-bing, Showtime takes a whack at the big time with its new series "Brotherhood." Filmed entirely on location in Providence, R.I., the 11-episode series explores the inner workings of a close-knit Irish family.

After a mysterious seven-year absence, mobster Michael Caffee (Jason Isaacs) has returned to regain control of his blue-collar Irish American neighborhood known simply as "The Hill." Michael's sudden emergence causes strife for his street-smart politician brother Tommy (Jason Clarke) and Tommy's beleaguered wife Eileen (Annabeth Gish).

But don't think of "Brotherhood" as an Irish version of "The Sopranos." The show vibrantly brings to life the gritty minutiae of local politics and small-time crooks.

Series creator and executive producer Blake Masters, a self-described politcal junkie who grew up all over the Northeast, said the show is, at its core, about the death of the American dream.

"The idea of the middle-class ethnic enclave is basically being wiped off the map," Masters said. "This is a middle-class neighborhood that is dying, and Tommy is sort of the captain of the sinking ship -- and he's trying to keep it afloat."

The collision of gangster crime, shady political dealings and shifting alliances isn't an accidental one.

"I've always loved this one particular scene in 'The Godfather' where [Marlon] Brando says to [Al] Pacino, 'You could have been Governor Corleone, Senator Corleone,' and I thought about that," Masters said.

During the show's filming, the city of Providence gave the producers plenty of freedom. Crews shot inside the stunning Rhode Island State House, where Clarke sat in on congressional committee meetings and shadowed state House Speaker William J. Murphy.

"It's about shaking hands -- once you find your politician's handshake, it all comes after that," Clarke said with a laugh.

Though the series' setting couldn't be more quintessentially Northeastern, both lead actors are originally from way out of town: Clarke is a native of Australia, and Isaacs hails from Liverpool, England. But Masters said the pair reflects a more mature authenticity that's harder to find in modern American actors.

"I didn't want familiar TV [stars] with well-scrubbed, pretty faces," Masters said. "What I wanted were men who had been through life. I wanted a Steve McQueen type."

Masters insisted that the actors sound like Rhode Islanders. He even had locals tape dialogue so the actors

could hear their lines in an authentic brogue. Doing the series without the distinctive accents "would be like doing 'The Sopranos' and having everyone speak in mid-Atlantic English," Masters said.

But tackling a New England enunciation can be tricky. Often, actors default to sounding like a
parody of the Kennedy political clan.

"With any accent you do, the hardest part is to still find your own voice within it," Clarke said. "The accent is part of the physicality. It has to come from your own place -- from your own emotional connectiveness." Otherwise, he said, "you can't connect to a scene, because all you hear yourself doing is the accent. When you actually cross that bridge, it kind of releases you."

For Gish, an actress best known for her roles in "Mystic Pizza" and "The X-Files," the series provides a chance to play the bad girl.

"I fought like hell to get the part," she said. "My character goes through a very provocative journey of drug use and sex, and all at the same time of being a good wife and a good mother.

"She has a secret. She has this yearning," Gish said of her character. "She's caged and she needs to break free, but she doesn't know how."

Gish said the show deals with political agendas more realistically than any she's ever seen. "There's no polish. It's the real ins and outs, the real goings-on behind a small state's political events."

But be forewarned: Among the politics, the family, the neighborhood and the accent, there is some serious bloodshed. A severed ear plays a pivotal part in the pilot.

"Our portrayal of violence is supposed to be horrific," Masters said. "I wanted the violence to make you recoil. I wanted it to come out of nowhere and be shocking and brutal and not pretty, because violence is a bad thing. This is the world they live in."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070501259_pf.html

fredfa

07-09-06, 06:29 PM

The Digital Revolution
An Indirect Path to Mandate

By Ted Hearn Multichannel.com 7/10/2006

Washington— Senate telecommunications legislation would “indirectly” provide the Federal Communications Commission with a new opportunity to impose broad digital broadcast-TV carriage requirements on cable operators, according to Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

Stevens — who is sponsoring a sweeping telecommunications bill (S. 2686, H.R. 5252) that passed his committee on June 28 — included new language that addressed cable carriage of digital TV stations that demand access without compensation, also called must-carry.

'PRIMARY’ CHANGE

The new language states that cable operators have to carry “any digital video signal requiring carriage;” existing law requires carriage of a TV station’s “primary video.”

The change has potential importance because the FCC has twice determined that the phrase “primary video” meant mandatory cable carriage of one programming service per station. Broadcasters are hopeful the FCC could be persuaded to read “any digital signal” more broadly than it did “primary video.”

Asked if the addition of the words “any digital video signal” was aimed at imposing must-carry on cable, Stevens indicated that was his intention. “I don’t think it does directly. But indirectly it does,” Stevens said June 28. “Indirectly, it does, yes.”

The FCC rejected broadcasters’ interpretation that “primary” should have only a plural meaning and that cable operators should be required to carry every free video service a station can deliver with its digital bandwidth. Based on current technology, “multicast” must-carry could require carriage of six or more services per station.

National Cable & Telecommunications Association spokesman Brian Dietz downplayed the significance of the changes made in the Stevens bill. Cable has opposed multicast must-carry as a violation of First Amendment free speech and Fifth Amendment private property rights.

“We are not disputing the change in language,” Dietz said. “But we are saying that the change in language — from primary video to video signal — does not change cable’s must-carry obligation.”

Dietz said that because the Stevens bill would require carriage of any video signal “requiring carriage,” cable’s obligation to carry one programming service per DTV station would not be affected.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin supports multicast must-carry for cable, but he’s still searching for a three-vote majority to reverse FCC precedent that “primary video” meant one service per TV station.

“If I were chairman Martin, I would say [the Stevens bill] is helpful because this is broader language — clearly intentional,” said broadcast attorney Jonathan Blake, with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C.

By imposing multicast must-carry after twice rejecting it, the FCC would likely have to justify its more expansive reading of “primary video” to a federal court. Federal agencies must provide a reasonable basis for reversing themselves.

Stevens, Blake added, could assist Martin’s quest for a multicast must-carry majority and improve the FCC’s chances in court if the “any video signal” language became law.

VOIDS A NEGATIVE

“I think it’s more helpful in eliminating a barrier,” Blake said. “It eliminates a negative. It isn’t in itself a strong positive.”

DirecTV Inc., the largest satellite TV provider, had concerns that the Stevens bill would require satellite TV providers also to carry “any video signal” instead of the “primary video.”

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) won approval of an amendment that would require satellite carriage of the “primary video.” But a DeMint aide said that Stevens aides blocked DeMint from making the same change for cable.

James Assey, telecommunications policy adviser to Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), co-chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said he thought the inconsistency between cable and satellite carriage was an oversight and the two would be conformed so that both were required to carry the “primary video.”

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6350826

fredfa

07-09-06, 07:25 PM

The Business of TV
Perpetual Development

By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable 7/10/2006

When ad executives at NBC's upfront presentation in New York last May began to fiddle with their Blackberries during previews for new dramas The Black Donnellys and Kidnapped, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly wasn't worried.

That's because he knew that many in the audience had already previewed the pilots at a pre-upfront showcase in Los Angeles a month earlier.

Reilly has touted Donnellys and Kidnapped as the product of NBC's new commitment to so-called year-round development. By developing the shows outside the traditional pilot season, he argues, the network was able to deliver finished pilots in March while other networks were rushing to wrap theirs in time for the upfronts.

Although Reilly has trumpeted NBC's efforts, he is the first to admit that his is not the only network—or the first—to embrace year-round development. But this year more than ever, broadcast networks are feeling the pressure to make off-cycle development a crucial piece of their overall strategy in an attempt to stay nimble and competitive in a changing TV world.

Competition from cable throughout the year is pushing networks to create programming for a greater number of launch windows. With viewers—and advertisers—abandoning TV for the Web and other platforms, networks are awakening to the reality that they must shrug off old habits in order to survive.

“The television community has a collective consciousness,” says Jamie Erlicht, co-president of programming and production for Sony Pictures Television. “Like a farming community, it's 'This is the time we do this, and this is the time we do that.'”

The system was established in the 1970s, when there were only three networks and no competition from cable. Just as the upfront advertising market in the spring is pegged to the traditional start of the season in the fall, the development cycle backs up from those May upfront presentations.

A mad scramble

The cycle begins each July and August, when networks field pitches for dramatic series and generally decide by the end of September which ones to purchase. Pitches for comedies, which have shorter production schedules than dramas, tend to come in during September and are bought as late as November.

Once the ideas are sold, the scriptwriting phase lasts through the end of the year; the networks then spend January into early February deciding which to turn into pilots. It's at this point that the process begins to resemble a battle royal, as networks jostle to hire from the same pool of directors, casting directors, and actors and to book the same facilities to shoot upwards of 150 pilots. This mad scramble—and the actual shooting of the pilots—takes place between late February and mid April.

Late April is a post-production marathon, with network bosses reviewing rough cuts at all hours. The networks then rush the pilots into the field for testing, a five-day process that can be squeezed into three in a pinch. As they head to New York for the upfronts in May, sleep-deprived executives set the fall schedule.

“The whole thing is fairly insane,” says NBC's Reilly. “It's shocking that this business has been basically manufacturing pilots on the exact same timetable and process for at least 25 years. It's a miracle that anything good comes out.”

Steve Mosko, president of Sony Pictures Television, which produces Kidnapped, contrasts the process with the film industry's. “If everyone developed and shot all their movies at exactly the same time,” he asks, “how many great ones could get made?”

But while many agree that the system chokes off creativity, it endures largely by virtue of its ingrained familiarity and through sheer inertia. Reilly wishes talent agents would do more to motivate creative types in the off-season. “I honestly believe the agencies aren't diligent enough about this,” he says. “They aren't engaging their clients enough to get them in here early.”

One Hollywood-based TV agent shares Reilly's frustrations but wonders if the inertia is too great: “The most challenging aspect is getting people to break out of patterns they become so accustomed to year after year.”

For NBC, however, breaking the pattern may be just the thing to reverse its ratings decline. The network greenlighted the pilot for Kidnapped in September and decided to pick up the series within 24 hours of seeing it the following March. That enabled NBC to showcase the pilot at its pre-upfront presentation to advertisers that month, generating some early buzz and giving the network some momentum going into the upfronts.

Flexibility in production

Having clips for a pre-upfront presentation is far from the only advantage to developing off-cycle. Not having to battle over actors, writers, directors and facilities gives a show an opportunity it may not have in the spring. And with television increasingly looking to film and theater for actors and directors, flexibility in production scheduling can also attract new talent.

“These people aren't necessarily on the same schedule we are,” says Craig Erwich, executive VP of programming for Fox. “So we are not going to be so arrogant as to say, 'You can only come play with us when we are available.'”

Fox has been developing off-cycle for years, in part to schedule around Major League Baseball in the fall. It ordered The O.C. in late March 2003 and rushed it to air that August.

The network is again departing from the norm with Drive, a race-car pilot that began on the traditional cycle but stalled when first-choice director Greg Yaitanes wasn't available initially. “We just kind of looked at each other and said, 'What are we doing?'” Erwich says, explaining the network's decision to wait for Yaitanes.

By the same token, writers and producers appreciate not having to wait months for pitch season.

“If you come up with an idea and have to wait nine months to pitch it, it tends to go stale,” says Kidnapped creator Jason Smilovic.

Although Reilly is quick to acknowledge that his network's year-round approach is not revolutionary, both NBC and Fox have established themselves as go-to networks for early pitches. But executives at rival networks tout their own efforts in off-cycle development.

Wendi Trilling, executive VP, comedy series development, CBS Entertainment, says that her network has put more than 10 projects into development since January, including a recently announced comedy from Ben Stiller. “They just seem to be more panicked than we are,” she says of NBC. “It just seems like they are putting the word out because they need more new shows and need to get the word out to get more stuff coming in.”

ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson also dismisses the notion that NBC and Fox are ahead of the curve. “The idea that Fox invented this new idea and NBC is doing something incredibly innovative is much more PR,” he says. “Everyone is doing it. We are all getting slowly and surely away from the pilot-season model.”

ABC is actively developing off-cycle projects, including a pilot about TV news correspondents from Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes that begins shooting in August. A David Kelley project will move forward as soon as the script is ready, McPherson says.

“We are putting our money where our mouth is”

The off-cycle option allowed The CW President Dawn Ostroff to hold off on developing comedy Aliens in America while she readied the new network for its fall launch. And with a more fluid development process, she notes, networks can serve up fresh product at the increasing number of points in the season when shows are launched.

“There are two places in midseason—January and March—and two places in the summer,” she says. “Launches are everywhere now.”

Indeed, Grey's Anatomy, the Sunday-night drama that sent shock waves through the fall grid when ABC announced its move to Thursdays, originally debuted almost as an afterthought late in spring 2005.

But while there are many advantages to putting a show into production on an early track, there is actually no clear financial incentive. A typical drama pilot costs between $5 million and $7 million while a comedy runs close to $2 million, regardless of when a pilot is shot.

“There is no true business benefit to doing it early,” says Sony's Erlicht. “It just betters the odds of making a good show by having better talent.”

Reilly says that NBC's year-round development incurred no incremental costs but required “moving some money around” and some internal shuffles at the network to dedicate certain executives to off-cycle development. “In that way,” he says, “we are putting our money where our mouth is.”

On the other hand, he adds, developing off-cycle “can financially expose you”—particularly if the show tanks early on.

When a network shuts down a show developed on the traditional track, it usually is only a few episodes ahead in the schedule. Production costs that would have gone into filming the rest of the episodes can then be recovered to offset the loss. However, if a network has committed early and, therefore, has more episodes shot and in the can, there is no way to recoup the money. With dramas often costing $2 million to $3 million per episode, the losses can be significant.

Off-cycle development isn't a panacea for producers either. While most are thrilled to get an early commitment, they can be left hanging if a project is greenlighted without a planned launch. Even if a network buys the show, it may be shelved and forgotten or fall victim to poor scheduling.

Imagine Television President David Nevins, a former network executive with NBC and Fox, has been involved in multiple off-cycle launches as a producer. Imagine's Treasure Hunters was ready to go early in the spring, but NBC held it until mid June, when the network could give it stronger promotional backing.

On the flip side, Imagine's crime drama The Inside, which was developed in early 2004 and set for January 2005 launch, was held by Fox until that June and never found an audience. Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori later told reporters he wished he'd launched it earlier, behind the American Idol and 24 season finales.

“The Inside was made without much of a plan,” Nevins says. “A project can grow stale, and a network can grow tired of a show if it sits on their shelf for too long. The worst-case scenario is being off-cycle and not a favorite of the network. That's when you are really in trouble.”

The end of entrenchment

Actually, the worst-case scenario is what happened to Nevins' show Misconceptions earlier this year. Slated for The WB's midseason, the show never saw air after the network's January announcement that it would shutter and bequeath its programming to The CW.

“When the network folds, that doesn't work in your favor either,” Nevins quips.

Still, Hollywood appears to be warming to the notion that networks are open for business year-round.

“I went into my packaging meeting this morning and told them there is an appetite to hear pitches now,” says an agent who packages show pitches. “Now more than ever, we can tell clients NBC is open or Fox is open and they are serious about buying stuff and buying it now.”

ABC's McPherson is sanguine about the prospects, but he doesn't expect the traditional cycle to be scrapped anytime soon. “The idea of year-round development is fantastic,” he says. “The problem with it is, we are still on a cycle and everyone is entrenched in that.”

But that entrenchment is showing signs of giving way. Indeed, many advertisers are openly questioning the wisdom of concentrating their ad buys in the upfront market. While talk of the upfronts' passing into obsolescence is premature, it is clear that the industry is no longer anchored by many of the customs and practices that have formed its foundation for decades.

“We are in a place where, the next five years, there is going to be lots of changes in the way networks are scheduled, content is rolled out and sold, windowed, distributed, all of the above,” says NBC's Reilly. “In that environment, I do not want to be bound to the traditional scheduling and development process.”

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6350835

fredfa

07-09-06, 08:47 PM

Opinion
Improving Emmy

By Staff Broadcasting & Cable 7/10/2006

There has to be a better way to decide who will get an Emmy Award, and we have a solution that might do it.

Clearly, something should be done. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) set out this year to refresh the Emmys to ensure that fresh faces and different shows would get nominated. Good idea. The awards and the awards show seem stale, and the academy is prone to praising the same handful of programs and stars year after year. So this year, “Blue Ribbon Panels” were added to whittle down the list of nominees, presumably to reshape the playing field.

Unfortunately, good intentions often have unintended consequences. We're not here to slime the nominees. There isn't as much wrong with who will win as with those who didn't get a chance to play.

Emmy snubbed the actors of Desperate Housewives, Hugh Laurie of House, and the creators and stars of Entourage and My Name Is Earl, to name a few. But number one on the list of quality series that were forgotten is Lost, which won an Emmy as the best drama last season, won the Golden Globe this season, and topped the recent B&C Critics' Poll as the best drama and the best show. But this year, Lost didn't even get nominated for best drama by the Academy. The Emmy Awards ought not become a popularity contest (that's what the People's Choice Awards are for), but Lost mesmerizes critics, producers, writers and the folks in Peoria.

That's precisely the mix ATAS and Emmy should be looking for, systematically. In time for next year's awards, ATAS should rethink the process in a way we believe would make the Emmys truly exciting for viewers—because they'd be a part of it.

For major awards, let viewers help choose the nominees and the winners by voting online, using the interactivity that helps make American Idol such a hit. Let ATAS also select a group of television critics to vote, and let academy members vote as they always have. Weight the results so critics and viewers' tastes represent a combined total of 50% of the vote and that of academy members represents the other 50%.

ATAS would still control the awards, but the arrangement we propose would likely produce a better crop of nominees and winners. It also would give viewers a sense of empowerment. Television viewers vote every day with their remotes. Letting them vote for the awards would lift audience engagement throughout primetime. That would also help viewership, which after this Emmy telecast, could be a real concern. The Emmys this year air in August, not September, and, as noted, the nominations don't include many fan favorites that might draw a crowd.

ATAS should be thinking about next year now. Our suggestion is a creative way to make sure series like Lost don't get lost in the Emmy process.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6350840

fredfa

07-09-06, 10:30 PM

Critic’s Notebook
A decade of 'Stargate' goodness

From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

In honor of the start of “Stargate SG-1’s” 10th season Friday — which makes the show the longest-running sci-fi show in American history — a little commemoration is in order.

But first, be aware that if you’re a fan of Sci Fi Channel’s “Stargate SG-1” or “Stargate Atlantis” (which also returns Friday), you’re in for a real treat. The first couple of episodes of the new seasons of both programs are just swell (Robert Picardo and Connor Trinner, both alums of “Star Trek” TV series, guest on “Atlantis,” and Claudia Black of “Farscape,” now a series regular on “SG-1” — all add a lot of juicy fun to the proceedings).

Now, on to the commemoration. From the depth of the Watcher’s fevered imagination comes this maybe just slightly exaggerated list of the show’s most memorable numerical milestones:

• Number of times Teal’c has raised his eyebrow in a quizzical manner: 298

• Number of times either Jack O’Neill (a.k.a. Richard Dean Anderson, who returns for some Season 10 episodes) or Cameron Mitchell (played by “Farscape” main man Ben Browder) looked amusingly blank and uncomprehending after Samantha Carter finished a long scientific explanation of some complicated science-y thing: 188

• Number of times Baal or Apophis were resurrected with kooky alien technology: I lost count around 20.

• Number of apostrophes it takes to power one solid sci-fi TV show: At least 20, including Teal’c, Bra’tac, Cha’ra, Di’nor, Ma’kar, Sha’kar … I could go on, but you get the i’dea.

• Number of times I’ve wished Scorpius from “Farscape” would come through Stargate Command’s gate: 67

• Number of times I’ve wished they’d lose the whooshing wormhole graphic that appears whenever the team goes through the gate: 332

• Number of times Gate Guy, a.k.a. Walter Harriman (played by Gary Jones), has said “Chevron one encoded”: 137 (he has said “Unauthorized off-world activation” way more times).

• Number of times I’ve wished an actor from “Firefly” was joining the cast: 82 (and I got my wish: Morena Baccarin from the late, lamented Joss Whedon show guests on “Stargate” this season, as Vala’s daughter, who, not surprisingly, turns out to be a universe-conquering handful).

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

fredfa

07-09-06, 11:18 PM

TV Notebook
NBC 'Team' player with comedy

By Kimberly Nordyke The Hollywood Reporter July 10, 2006

NBC O&Os and affiliates are set to air a sports comedy series dubbed "Sports Action Team" following the network's Sunday night telecasts of NFL games starting in the fall.

The original half-hour show is a semi-scripted series featuring improv actors and comedians as a hapless team of sports reporters. Every week, they will interact with real-world professional and amateur athletes, managers, fans and celebrities.

"Team" stars Kevin Fleming, Steven Fleming, Niki Lindgren, Antoine McKay, Katie Nahnsen and Al Samuels.

Chicago-based production company Towers Productions Inc., which developed the show in association with NBC owned-and-operated WMAQ in Chicago and its president and general manager Larry Wert, said Friday that it will produce 17 episodes of "Team."

The company said the show will air via NBC's West Coast and Rocky Mountain feeds as well as on other NBC O&Os and affiliates.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002802031

fredfa

07-09-06, 11:41 PM

TV Critics Press Tour Notebook
Critics play a game of survivor

The biannual television press tour opens today in Pasadena, but it's not quite business as usual
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 10, 2006

One of the most memorable moments of the TV press tour, the twice-a-year junket that starts today in Pasadena, was provided by Gail Shister, the scrappy columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In early 2004, Shister took the microphone and in front of 200 or so colleagues asked network honcho Leslie Moonves whether he'd recuse himself from decision-making for "The Early Show," given that he was then dating co-host Julie Chen. Moonves, who seems to enjoy sparring with reporters and is seldom caught speechless, reacted to Shister's query as if he'd just seen the ghost of Edward R. Murrow rise up and do the Dance of the Seven Veils.

"Are you writing for Page Six now?" was the best riposte he could manage. (Chen later married Moonves.)

Shister, alas, won't be putting any executives on the hot seat at this summer's tour. In a sign of how the newspaper industry's financial woes are catching up even with supposedly reader-friendly media and entertainment coverage, her bosses have ordered her to alternate attendance at the winter and summer meetings of the Television Critics Assn. with a colleague.

A tour veteran and the paper's TV columnist for nearly 25 years, Shister is miffed to be staying home, cut off from making new contacts and trolling for scoops. But given the economic turmoil shaking the newspaper business — especially at the Inquirer, recently sold to a group of private investors after former owner Knight-Ridder was put on the block — a prudent journalist might want to avoid second-guessing too many spending decisions, lest the gaze of the powers-that-be alights on the spreadsheet line that includes the reporter's salary.

"Basically, our budget was decimated, especially our travel budget, and TCA was a big-ticket item," Shister told me Friday. (Her editor, Sandy Clark, did not return an e-mail seeking comment, but reporters interviewed for this column said papers typically spend up to $5,000 each tour to pay for plane tickets, hotel costs and incidentals.)

At the press tour, cable and broadcast networks bus in stars and producers to hype the new fall and midseason shows to reporters, spending $100,000 to $250,000 apiece for panels and parties, according to publicists. The reporters then massage, dress and send home that news to you, the end user. So the event is as good a place as any to weigh the changes affecting — afflicting? — what used to be known as feature (or, in other precincts of the newsroom, "soft") journalism. At the very least, the changes hitting newspapers may influence how readers get their news about what's on TV, not to mention the other arts.

Journalists and network officials alike rib the event held at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena for its endless inanities: the rubber-chicken lunch buffets, the occasionally idiotic panel exchanges, the petty internecine grudges among a group of beat reporters entrusted to divine, say, the nuance of Jenna Elfman's career. As someone who's been covering television awhile myself, indulge me to state a painful truth: The tour is a biannual reminder that our corner of the Fourth Estate is not always accorded the highest respect. "I normally cover Congress, but I'm covering programming this week," a reporter informed a TCA panel in 2002. Producer Gavin Polone shot back: "What did you do wrong?"

Legitimate headlines do spill out of every tour, however; as Shister put it, "TCA is the Super Bowl of television coverage. Anybody who's anybody is there and accessible."

Shister's is not the only familiar big-paper byline that may go missing; rumor has it that other TV writers are being pressured to pare or eliminate their Pasadena trips because of cost-cutting, a change in coverage priorities or both. "Papers have no money," said Diane Werts, the longtime TV columnist for Newsday, which like the Los Angeles Times is owned by Tribune Co., another media conglomerate recently hammered by profit concerns on Wall Street. "People are having a harder time getting money to come to the tour." (This newspaper will dedicate at least four writers to covering the event, including yours truly, but then we have to trek only 10 miles from downtown.)

Newspaper analyst John Morton says that in the current media recession, it's natural that discretionary travel and entertainment items like TCA get tossed overboard. "It's better to cut 'T & E' than to cut staff," he said.

Meanwhile, even the reporters whose travel budgets remain untouched for now are being asked by editors to multitask, to get more bang for those scarce bucks: Why can't you blog from the Ritz? the managers will say. Do a podcast. Grab some audio clips for the website.

While individual scribes may be facing financial pressures from the top, Chris Ender, the West Coast PR chief for CBS, told me there's no evidence TCA attendance is dropping. In fact, his network is issuing press tour credentials this month to 253 journalists, up 3% from last year, which Ender attributes to an increase in outlets covering TV, especially on the Web.

However, Ender said he's noticed lately that attendees, in addition to spreading their labors over more media "platforms," are devoting more time to big-picture TV industry issues and somewhat less to profiles of hometown actors and other traditional TCA grist. That's partly in a bid, he said, to prove to higher-ups that the tour isn't all fluff, that it amounts to more than just two pampered weeks in the Pasadena sun.

Are you feeling sorry for my peers and me yet? Jeff Jarvis isn't.

A former TV critic for TV Guide and People and founder of Entertainment Weekly who now works as a media consultant and operates the widely read blog buzzmachine.com, Jarvis, in this matter as in many others, tends to see the "old media" as a bunch of ossified whiners.

"I don't think it's a tragedy for journalism and Western society," he said dryly, "if we have fewer [newspaper] critics going to TCA." The print media has to focus on unique content, he said, "and frankly, that means not sending a whole lot of people to an event everyone else is going to."

Instead, Jarvis said, editors and publishers should learn from the example of popular entertainment-oriented websites such as Rotten Tomatoes, where fans can sift through reams of data and participate in forums devoted to their favorite shows. In such a venue, trained journalists can be ringmasters rather than performers. "There's a chance to be more of a moderator and recognize that it's a community there," Jarvis said.

That may well be the wave of the future, but don't expect vets like Shister to surf it. She's resisted bosses' entreaties to write a blog because, she said, she'd prefer to focus on her print column, which runs four times a week. But the noise from the Internet is permeating even her hermetically sealed cubicle. "Technology has compressed the whole notion of journalistic time," she lamented. "The day of a scoop being a scoop for 24 hours is long gone."

My chat with Shister brought me down, admittedly more for selfish reasons than because I'm such an empathic guy. Her struggle today is mine tomorrow; "Do not ask for whom the bell tolls," and all that. What's more, the press tour — which as you may have guessed can be dominated by superficiality and ephemera — also happens to need her toughness and sense of history.

So maybe she summed up the nervous rumblings of a generation of journalists when she ventured a joking question of her own at the end of our interview: "You wanna buy my ticket?"

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-channel10jul10,0,4987620,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

07-10-06, 12:12 AM

TV Q&A
Ask Matt

(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic

Question: Six of one, half dozen of the other, huh? So much for the "improved" Emmy nomination process. It seems that just as many glaring omissions were made this time around as before, just different ones. Now, rather than the overlooked performers from small shows getting shafted, the respected stars from equally respected shows got the pie in the face. How any panel of humans viewing televised programming could find five more deserving fellow Homo sapiens than Hugh Laurie in the best-lead-actor category boggles the mind. Yes, Denis Leary, Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart got welcome nods, but the rest? Sheesh! No James Gandolfini or Edie Falco, but Martin Sheen and Geena Davis? No Jason Bateman or Lauren Graham, but Kevin James and Stockard Channing (for Out of Practice, no less!)? Just when you think Channing's rote nomination days for The West Wing were over, the Emmys find another way. (Maybe we should get those people on the alternative-fuel issue, pronto.) I mean, just look at TV Guide's Dream Ballot choices. Fourteen out of 50 became reality, from my estimation, and just one per category in seven of the eight acting categories. Since the ballot was rightfully deemed a dream, were the nominations a nightmare? Save for a few minor aberrations, nothing really changed all that much in the "new" Emmys. Not surprising, but disappointing nonetheless. — Todd S.

Matt Roush: "Nightmare" is a pretty good word for it. Inexplicable nightmare, more like. For my own analysis of the Emmy nominations, check out my Dispatch from last week. Todd sums it up pretty well when he describes a flawed process that didn't exactly improve itself under a new system. It's true: They just made different mistakes this time, affecting some of the players that we would have thought inviolable. I can say with confidence that on the day of the announcements, I didn't get a single piece of mail praising what had transpired on Thursday morning.

________________________________________

Question: I just need to vent to someone who understands. As I watched you Thursday morning on Good Morning America, I was so glad they had an expert to analyze the noms. After they announced the names, and I stopped screaming at the TV (never more so than at Lost's omission), I was trying to read on your face all the things I was feeling. It seems like what was supposed to be an experiment for good (the new voting system) was a catastrophe. It was finally going to give the Lauren Grahams and Kristen Bells a real shot. In the end, not only did they not benefit, but Lost, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Hugh Laurie and a host of others that would surely have been nominated under the old system were excluded.

It seems ridiculous that a show that won last year's Emmy for best drama, and was generally just as well-received by critics in its sophomore year, was totally snubbed. I was already nervous the night before when Tom O'Neill predicted that Lost would not be nominated because that panel didn't "get" the episode that was submitted. It seems really unfair that out of up to 24 hours of compelling television, a show can submit only one episode for judging by a jaded panel that is not really familiar with the show. I really think it should be up to people like yourself, Robert Bianco and others who watch and discuss TV all year long. Thanks for listening. — Marc H.

Matt Roush: Thanks for writing. And for watching. (I admit I was in complete shock and panic during the live GMA broadcast. As they handed us slips of paper with the various nominees on them, I kept thinking, "Surely this is a misprint. This can't be right.")

One of the flaws of the Emmy process, as we've often said, is that the people doing the judging are the people who watch less TV than almost anyone else in the country, because they're all too busy making TV. If it's true that an episode of Lost was judged as too dense and baffling to be appreciated, then woe to all shows that step outside the box and into the genre of the weird and fantastic.

________________________________________

Question: I really need to voice my complete disgust at this year's Emmy nods. As a huge fan of Lost, you must also be repulsed by the fact that the show isn't nominated. The series experienced no real decline in quality, and it's as much favored by audiences and critics as ever. What is the motivation behind snubbing it this way? Also, I know your opinion of Desperate Housewives has soured this season, but even at its worse, its quality is far greater than the completely mediocre Two and a Half Men, yet for some reason Men got the nomination. Marcia Cross did the best work of her career this season. In fact, toward the end of the season, she was basically carrying the show on her shoulders, yet the nod went to Alfre Woodard! Woodard is a fine actress, but this is a mere sympathy vote. She barely had any Emmy-worthy moments during her run, and her performance wasn't even comedic! I'm sure you share my pain. — Adam

Matt Roush: Do I ever. There's some feeling that Lost may be getting punished because of a sense that it's not moving forward fast enough or maybe even going anywhere in particular. That's probably overstating the case, but of course it isn't true. It's a shocking snub, as is Marcia Cross being left out of the running for best comedy actress. She's not in the same category as Woodard, but even so, Woodard's nomination is a joke. The character was so dreadfully conceived not even Meryl Streep could have salvaged it, and at times it looked like Woodard wasn't even trying. I'm actually OK with Housewives not making the best-comedy list, but shows like Entourage and especially My Name Is Earl should have taken that slot instead of Men. I actually like Men, just not enough to give it an award.

________________________________________

Question: After the Emmy nominations were announced, I was angrier than I've been any other year. The new voting system and the greatness of some shows gave me hope to see some new faces on this year's list. I can overlook the mistake of no Kristen Bell. I can see why Lauren Graham and Kelly Bishop didn't make the cut. And I could have predicted that no Lost stars were going to be nominated. But what I can't stand is the fact that Marcia Cross wasn't on the comedy-actress list. In a year when Housewives was terrible, Cross' Bree was the only thing that kept me watching. She delivered the most amazing performance on the show, carrying the torch of a once-hilarious dramedy. The fact that Stockard Channing, Lisa Kudrow or even Debra Messing earned a spot over Cross is the biggest insult the Emmys made this year. And Hugh Laurie was overlooked in place of Christopher Meloni. I am sorry, but this makes no sense to me. For the first time in several years, I won't be watching this awards show, because I am tired of such unfair nominations. — Marvin

Matt Roush: Given that the Emmys will be airing August 27 (it's early because NBC is carrying the show and has no Sundays free in September, thanks to football), I imagine a lot of folks will be ignoring the broadcast this year. Certainly the bizarre nature of the nominations makes it easy to dismiss, I agree. Going through the mail, I'd have to say that the Marcia Cross and Hugh Laurie snubs lead the pack where outrage is concerned.

________________________________________

Question: Wow. What a disaster. Way too much Will & Grace and The West Wing (and I am a big fan of The West Wing). No Lost? No Battlestar Galactica? But to me the big kicker is the lack of Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee. Did no one watch My Name Is Earl? I'm happy for Jaime Pressly, but Lee and Suplee are the reasons that show should have been nominated for best comedy. — Erin

Matt Roush: The omission of Earl and its hilarious male stars was one of the bigger and unhappier shocks to me as well. I thought it was a shoo-in.

________________________________________

Question: As we have all heard, the Emmys were screaming to the world that they had changed their selection process this year, and after seeing the nominees this year, I have to ask: What changed? — Gregg G.

Matt Roush: An excellent question. It's like they tried to fix something that was broken and, if they didn't make it worse, they exposed new and possibly even more damaging flaws. We've been screaming for new blood in the nominations for years, but now we've traded one set of gripes for another. Given the number of deserving nominees that were excluded this year, I'm wondering if another trip to the drawing board isn't called for. (Not that anything can truly fix this system.) Now moving on to a few more select topics, to appease those who are over the Emmy madness (and who can blame them?)....

________________________________________

Question: Not a question, just an "attaboy" for getting it exactly right regarding Rescue Me. This is the best show on television, and the only thing I watch regularly. You said, "Leary has so much charisma that he keeps you (or at least me) glued to his story, alternately amused and appalled. If he were any less horrible, he and the show would probably be a lot less interesting." Exactly. I don't think the rape scene with Tommy and Janet was meant to glorify spousal rape. I think the writers wanted to show just how dysfunctional this couple is, and that she will never really be his redemption. Sure, there's still love there, and plenty of lust and history, but too much hurt and too much anger to ever work (sorry, Dr. Phil). Every week I watch this show and there comes a moment when I think, "That line or that moment could not be any truer or more real than it is, no matter who played it." There are also several moments when I say little "please god, let this stay on the air" prayers. Great acting, great writing, great directing, funny and dark. It doesn't get any better than this. — Jana

Matt Roush: Couldn't agree more, but thanks for the backup. And here's this from Michael S.: "Matt, I'd like to use your column as a makeshift patent office. I'm going to start calling Rescue Me by the name 'NYFD Blue.' When that catches on and everyone starts using it, I'll at least have your column to prove I said it first. Deal?" Deal. And an excellent point to boot. I've often likened Tommy Gavin to Andy Sipowicz, and it's a fact that this firehouse is just as volatile a workplace as the 15th Precinct.

________________________________________

Question: I was just wondering if you have any reaction to the shocking, sad and truly tragic death of Aaron Spelling, who I believe to be one of the most important figures in pop culture in the last 60 years. How do you think this will affect the future of television? — M.C.

Matt Roush: For my tribute to Aaron Spelling, check out my recent Dispatch. His pop-culture legacy is tremendous, to be sure, but I'm not sure how his passing affects TV. He'd already pretty much slowed down, though he never truly retired. I just hope there are others out there with his indefatigable love of TV. We can never have too many guilty pleasures, and that's where Spelling was truly a master of his craft. He will be missed, there's no doubt.

________________________________________

Question: Have you heard anything about the new show Caprica, set in the Battlestar Galactica universe? (I won't call it a spin-off, since none of the characters will be the same.) I've heard the basic plot, and I know Ron Moore and David Eick are involved once again, but that's about it. Has a pilot been filmed? Are any actors attached? Any time frame for this show to be seen? I can only hope for a day when the end of my week is filled with Battlestars. — Chip

Matt Roush: You and me both. When I conducted a BSG panel in early June at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York, the producers said the script for this prequel series was still being finished and hadn't yet been turned in, though it wouldn't be long. Since then I've heard nothing. (But it's been a busy summer.) Once, or if, it gets the actual green light for production, and casting gets underway, I'm sure it won't be kept a secret. But certainly there's no projected airdate yet.

________________________________________

Question: I heard that Kim Raver will be getting her own show this coming season and will not be on 24 any longer. Is this true? — Rosanne

Matt Roush: It's true that Kim Raver is in the cast of the excellent new ABC drama The Nine. How that affects her role as Audrey Raines on 24 remains to be seen. If, in fact, Jack Bauer leaves L.A. for the coming season, maybe geography can explain her absence (and maybe she can do some cut-ins by phone, since cell batteries never die on 24, unlike some characters).

http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/askmatt/

fredfa

07-10-06, 01:20 AM

Critic's Notebook
Critics play a game of survivor

'The Closer's' Kyra Sedgwick, a Study in Nuance
By Virginia Heffernan The New York Times July 10, 2006

If you want to find out what a woman is made of, send an enormous arrangement of flowers to her office. She'll instantly have to field an onslaught of mental states, including surprise, pride, humility, vulnerability and aggravation. Big bouquets are unwieldy: they invite questions and jealousy and pity, and they sit awkwardly among the cubicles of a standard office. It's hard to be professional among too many flowers.

Siccing flowers on someone is also a good way to find out if she can act. Last week "The Closer," the crime drama that returned to TNT for its second season last month, confronted its flagrantly uncool lead, Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick), with a blizzard of roses, daisies and lilies. The suitcase-size delivery interrupted the confident banter of Brenda, the deputy police chief, and her homicide division at their Los Angeles headquarters, compelling her to forfeit her authority, affect graciousness, assume the floral burden and trundle back to her private office with the hedge. There she checked the card — yup, her boyfriend — and finally stared dolefully at the flowers, head in hands.

Flowers. We get it. She's good with interrogations, bad with compliments. Good with corpses, bad with love. But Ms. Sedgwick, who was nominated last week for an Emmy for her portrayal, has brought nuance, cunning and idiosyncrasy to Brenda's divided competencies. She often uses her character's bewildered interaction with the material world — the flowers, and notably Brenda's cavernous black hole of a pocketbook — to shade the role.

What makes a great television actress? Stage acting and film acting are often contrasted: as they say of China and Japan, one is very big and the other very small. But television acting is an altogether different enterprise. Accomplished without much rehearsal, homework or even direction, television acting, especially in soap operas and sitcoms, can become nothing but the hitting of marks. To be sure, at any given time the floor of the police department set of "The Closer" is pocked with colored gaffer tape, the small T's that show an actor where to put his toes and which way to angle his body. On last week's episode, "Aftertaste," the off-screen tape would have been used to show Ms. Sedgwick where to cross and stop as she debriefed her staff about a recent murder.

But acting on a drama like "The Closer" is more than gaffer tape. Dramatic leads like Ms. Sedgwick — or Kiefer Sutherland on "24" or Edie Falco on "The Sopranos" — work extremely long days, often late into the night. While shooting, they are chronically exhausted, and much of their time between takes is spent conserving energy. A television set is therefore rigidly hierarchical, with the overworked leads given a wide berth by the crew and the lesser cast. After all, they must more than anyone manage the stop-and-start of television shoots without losing the thread of the plot and their performance. They have to keep focused even as the crew is mercilessly manipulating them with blocking and then racing them through shoots so everyone can accomplish all that needs to be done.

The job of television leads is still more complex because they rarely have time to commit their lines to memory; instead, they are typically fed dialogue between scenes. Moreover, they don't have many takes to get a line reading right, and minimal on-set work is done to ensure continuity — that sense of visual flow and verisimilitude that moviemakers take pride in.

To supply the illusion of continuity where none is assured, then, an actor has to be able to bring herself unerringly back to the same note — same voice, same gait, same tics — every time she is in character. In a successful drama, she will be required to find this note on cue day after day, year after year, for possibly hundreds of hours of airtime. If the note is actually a tricky chord, with lots of harmony, even some dissonance, it can become exceedingly hard to hit.

Because of this difficulty, great television actors wisely keep their characters comfortable and within easy reach, often playing versions of themselves (Lauren Graham in "Gilmore Girls"), commedia dell'arte archetypes (Denis Leary on "Rescue Me") or a touch of both (Kevin James in "The King of Queens"). Comfort and ease suit the mostly homebound medium well: people in their living rooms like their small-screen friends relaxing, familiar and mostly predictable. For this reason, television acting is often dismissed by movie snobs as either too uninflected or too broad.

Ms. Sedgwick, who has taken the risk of not being comfortable on "The Closer," errs on the broad side, and that's a good choice, as she enlivens what could have been a by-the-numbers procedural. But Brenda also represents a reach for Ms. Sedgwick: she is stammery, addicted to sugar, socially annoying and — above all — reflexively but insincerely polite and kind. She also has a big, bendy Southern accent that is not native to the actress. She slathers other people with lines like, "I'm so, so sorry" and "Thank you so, so much." And when her serpentine interrogations compel confessions from sympathetic and lawyer-less people (including, this season, a man whose young son had cancer and a victim of elder abuse) she seems borderline cruel.

None of Brenda's dark, bothersome side comes through in the print advertisements for "The Closer," of course, because Ms. Sedgwick in photographs can easily be made to look like a regular InStyle television belle. She is certainly attractive enough for it, as well as slim and streaky-blond. But when she is animated and in character, she works tirelessly against the loveliness of her face, confidently playing up its homely dimensions to create a curious and perceptive character whose lifework is squinting, staring and straining to see. In spite of what other female television detectives might have you believe, constant study of bodies and documents does not soften the lines of the face, plump the lips or retard aging. Instead, a good-looking detective might, at 40, look plausibly like Brenda, whose face appears permanently creased with concern and perplexity and whose nervous eyes are evidently more used to peering than being gazed into.

Because Ms. Sedgwick, whose background is in movies, is not a small-screen pro like Mr. James, she has had to use a little commedia with Brenda, and she is un-self-conscious enough to really go for it. With the pocketbook wrestling and the accent, there is inevitably scenery-chewing, but in general the performance is defined by gusto and lack of vanity.

Ms. Sedgwick has cited Helen Mirren's showpiece character, Jane Tennison (on "Prime Suspect"), as her inspiration for Brenda. Like Ms. Mirren, Ms. Sedgwick has somehow managed to incorporate the practical challenges of television acting into her performance. In fact, Brenda's balance of nervousness, virtuosity, arrogance, self-effacement, prettiness and neuroticism elegantly reflect the character of television itself. Now if she can get viewers comfortable with her discomfort, Ms. Sedgwick will not only win an Emmy, she'll also carry "The Closer" all the way to syndication, that state of television grace.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/10/arts/television/10clos.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

07-10-06, 01:44 AM

Emmy Awards Notebook
Emmy Tweaks Baffle Observers

Unusual Field of Nominees Draws Skepticism
By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com July 10, 2006

Changes in how the Primetime Emmy nominations were selected this year could make the 2006 awards the year of the asterisk.

Following a revamp of the nomination process for six major series categories, the nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards left some industry observers scratching their heads last Thursday. Several potential nominees considered shoo-ins were left off the nomination list, and others who were well off the industry awards radar made the Emmy cut.

"It's completely crazed," said Matt Roush, senior TV critic for TV Guide. "I'm still looking at the list in disbelief. It's baffling to me."

While the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the organization that presents the Primetime Emmys, can change its nomination process back to the way it was, it's more likely the organization will just tweak the new system going forward, said John Leverence, senior VP of ATAS.

For now, the academy will let the final votes play out and see who wins Emmys in August, said ATAS Chairman and CEO Dick Askin.

"We're going to do a critical analysis of the process this year to see if there are ways to improve it," Mr. Askin said. "We'll look at final decisions and compare them to the popular vote to see if there are correlations."

The contrast between the 2006 nominees list and that of 2005 was striking.

Last year's outstanding drama series winner, ABC's "Lost," for example, was almost completely shut out of major categories, as was high-profile actor Hugh Laurie on Fox's "House" and the five lead actresses from ABC's "Desperate Housewives." HBO's "The Sopranos" received a drama series nomination, but its lead actors, Emmy favorites James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, failed to get nods.

In the meantime, Kevin James, who has starred in CBS's "King of Queens" for eight seasons, scored his first outstanding actor in a comedy series nod, while critical favorite Jason Lee from NBC's "My Name Is Earl" was left on the sidelines with no Emmy love.

The shift in nominations was not spontaneous, Mr. Askin said.

In the six most high-profile categories, the academy added a step in the nominee selection process. After the eligible submissions were narrowed by a popular vote among academy members to a list of 10 to 15 potential nominees (depending on the category) a panel was formed for each category to determine the five nominees.

This year, in the outstanding comedy and drama series categories, hundreds of TV academy members came to the organization's headquarters in North Hollywood, Calif., on the weekend of June 24-25 to participate in the nomination panels.

Broken up into groups, panelists viewed single episodes of the top 10 series culled from a popular vote of the entire membership that had been sent out weeks before.

In the four lead actor and actress in a comedy and drama series categories, panelists were asked to judge from the top 15 vote-getters.

In addition, the lead acting categories were expanded to include panelists from the casting and directing ranks. In the past, acting nominations came solely from academy members who were actors. This dynamic made the single episodes submitted by the potential nominees crucial, Mr. Askin said.

"The people who were doing the judging were tasked with sitting down and watching the tapes that were submitted," Mr. Askin said. "It really depends on the judges' viewing of that episode compared to the other episodes they saw. It is not a body of work comparison. Some of this comes down to the episodes that were submitted."

That explains why a show like last year's drama winner "Lost" made the top 15 but didn't make the final cut, said Tom O'Neil, author of "The Emmys" and a columnist for awards Web site TheEnvelope.com.

"Lost," a complex, mysterious serialized drama, could have easily confused panelists who don't watch the show regularly, Mr. O'Neil said.

"Taking a serialized show out of context to judges who must react immediately puts the show at a disadvantage," he said.

Conversely, Mr. James' submission from "King of Queens" helped the actor secure a nomination for best lead actor in a comedy, Mr. O'Neil said, noting the plus-size Mr. James presented an episode that featured scenes of him grappling with a stripper's pole.

"It was a great classic comic turn that won over these TV professionals," Mr. O'Neil said.

Deserving Over Popular?

The academy started incorporating panels in the guest actor in a series categories in the late 1990s, Mr. Leverence said. Big-name stars doing guest stints were crowding out lesser-known actors delivering strong performances.

"The assumption was there is so much television it is difficult for the voters to watch everything, so they cast their vote based on the general sense of a performer's abilities," he said.

With the incorporation of panels into the series and lead acting categories, "The whole system has radically changed," Mr. Leverence said.

The system has shaken up who gets nominated.

In 2004, Mr. Leverence noted, 80 percent of nominees in the lead acting categories also had been nominated the year before. In 2005, a year Mr. Leverence described as an outlier because of the debut of "Desperate Housewives" and the retirement of several big Emmy veteran shows, the repeat of nominations was at 57 percent.

For 2006, the number of returning nominees dropped to 50 percent.

Whether the right nominees were dropped and added is being debated by critics of the new system. Mr. Roush was pleased that newcomer Denis Leary got a lead actor in a drama nod for FX's "Rescue Me," but was frustrated to see Lauren Graham once again ignored for her work in The WB's "Gilmore Girls."

"This almost fixed something that was broken, but they made it worse," Mr. Roush said.

And for Emmy telecast viewers, Mr. Roush is predicting a disappointing awards show on Aug. 27, since so many nominees are from series that have completed production or been canceled. In the lead actress in a comedy category, only one nominee -- Julia Louis-Dreyfus -- is on a show that will still be in production for the 2006-07 season.

"The Emmys are going to look like a funeral," he said.

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30163

fredfa

07-10-06, 09:55 AM

TV Notebook
Rather to Host 'Fearless' Show on HDNet

By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, July 10, 2006; C07

Dan Rather is about to announce his comeback.

Three weeks after being let go by CBS, the former anchor has agreed to launch a program called "Dan Rather Presents" on HDNet, the high-definition channel owned by billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

"We are excited about it," Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, said yesterday. He described the show as "an opportunity to do news in what I like to call 'fearless mode,' what Dan calls 'with guts.' Go out there and find the stories we think will have impact."

Rather, 74, plans to announce the new venture this week at the television critics' tour in Los Angeles. He moved to "60 Minutes" after relinquishing the anchor chair last year, but complained last month that CBS had not offered him a meaningful role during contract talks.

HDNet, available on the DirecTV and Dish satellite networks, reaches about 3 million homes, a small fraction of the audience for the broadcast networks. But Cuban said that as a premium network featuring news, sports and entertainment, it should be compared instead to such pay channels as HBO and Showtime. "Like HBO, we don't program for ratings, we program for happy subscribers," he said. "We think 'Dan Rather Reports' fulfills that goal and then some."

He added: "Traditional broadcast and cable news is all about numbers. Get a pretty face, pay for it in the upfront," the annual conference for advertisers. " 'How does MSNBC beat Fox?' The lead story is never the reporting or news itself."

HDNet plans to roll out the Rather program in October.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/09/AR2006070900779_pf.html

fredfa

07-10-06, 10:11 AM

Sports On TV
Even with its woes, baseball's way hot

ESPN games are up 15 percent in total viewers
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jul 10, 2006

There haven’t been a lot of cheery storylines for Major League Baseball heading into tomorrow’s All-Star Game. After a season dominated by the depressing, you might expect MLB viewership to be down.

A suddenly flat Barry Bonds is months away from breaking baseball’s all-time home runs record, and defending National League MVP Albert Pujols has been hurt. Top pitcher Roger Clemens took a three-month holiday, and steroid headlines continue to dominate baseball coverage.

Yet baseball’s biggest national carrier, ESPN, has seen huge viewership increases this year compared with last. ESPN’s 52 games through last month have averaged 1.4 million total viewers, up 15 percent over 1.13 million at this time last year. Eighteen games on ESPN2 have averaged 923,000, up 21 percent over last year’s 764,000, according to figures given by the network to Variety.

Some credit certainly goes to changes in restrictions on which teams ESPN can show. The network is now allowed to show teams four times per year on the weekly “Sunday Night Baseball” instead of three. That means that the Red Sox and Yankees, for example, can be featured once more than last year, thus drawing more viewers.

Also, as part of their most recent deal, MLB and ESPN agreed that in their first two weekday appearances on the network, teams would not be blacked out in local markets in deference to regional carriage deals.

But some of the credit for the surge in ratings also goes to teams that have turned themselves from basement dwellers to contenders, from the New York Mets and Detroit Tigers to the Cincinnati Reds, though they are now fading. And of course there's the dominant Boston Red Sox.

Even those who aren’t fans of those teams tune in to see if their hot streaks will continue.

Detroit leads the AL Central with a record of 58-24 through Saturday night. Last year the Tigers lost 91 games and finished second-to-last in the division. A game with the Astros last month even set a record on FSN for the best-ever Tigers household rating, at over a 10.

Meanwhile, the New York Mets have had such a resurgence that regional coverage of the team outdrew the crosstown Yankees once this season. The Mets finished seven games behind Atlanta last year in the NL East; this year they lead the division by an astounding 12 games. And Cincinnati, which finished 27 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central last year, was behind by just three through Saturday night despite cooling off from a hot early start.

Meanwhile, in other sports ratings for the week ended July 2, Fox’s Pepsi 400 NASCAR race ranked No. 1 with an average 5.1 household rating.

On cable, ESPN’s annual July 4 telecast of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest was up 74 percent over last year, from 660,000 households to 1.15 million.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_5844.asp

fredfa

07-10-06, 10:16 AM

The 2006-2007 Season
NBC Looks Best On Buzzmeter Web Study

By John Consoli MediaWeek.com July 10, 2006 -

The initial buzz on the broadcast networks’ new fall shows has been compiled by Brandimensions, and the NBC dramedy Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is far and away the show generating the most interest right now.

The Brandimensions pre-season analysis monitored a broad range of Internet sources, and found 2.3 million mentions of new fall shows (which it narrowed down to 712,500 unique results and 45,300 relevant results from mid-May to late June). The data revealed that Studio 60 was talked about in 22.2 percent of the online audience discussion, far ahead of the second-most talked-about show, NBC drama Heroes, which averaged 9.3 percent.

Rounding out the Top 10 most discussed new shows were CBS drama Jericho (5.5 percent); NBC sitcom 30 Rock (5.4 percent); ABC dramas Six Degrees (4.4 percent) and Betty the Ugly (4.2 percent); Fox drama Vanished, ABC drama The Nine and NBC drama Friday Night Lights (all 3.9 percent); and CBS drama Shark (3.8 percent).

Studio 60 also received the highest “sentiment” score—the most positive audience feeling about a show—with a 3.81. Heroes came next with a 3.6, followed by Six Degrees (3.56), Betty the Ugly (3.52), Vanished (3.48), Jericho (3.47), 30 Rock (3.45), Brothers and Sisters (3.44), The Nine (3.33), and NBC sitcom 20 Good Years (3.31).

On the low end of the audience discussion gauge was CW sitcom The Game (0.70 percent of the total). That said, the show scored a 2.76 sentiment score, higher than four other new shows. Fox sitcom Happy Hour scored the lowest sentiment score at 1.97.

Combining results for all new shows on each net, NBC generated 41 percent of all new show discussion on the Web, with CBS second at 19 percent, ABC third at 15 percent, Fox with 14 percent and CW with 11 percent. NBC also led in sentiment with a 3.61 rating, following by CBS with a 3.29, ABC with a 3.15, Fox at 2.97 and CW at 2.32.

“NBC appears to have generated the most viewer interest in its new crop of shows,” read the Brandimensions report.

“The network has three out of the top four most anticipated new shows. This is a substantial turnaround from this time last year, when NBC was a distant second to CBS.”

The report also indicated that discussion for most shows turned more positive when a trailer of the show had been viewed either on TV or online. Once trailers were seen, shows like Friday Night Lights, Shark and ABC sitcoms Help Me Help You and Let’s Rob enjoyed a turnaround in viewer perception.

“This suggests an opportunity for all networks to greater spread awareness that previews for the fall 2006 season can be seen on their respective Web sites,” the report said.

For example, Friday Night Lights was originally perceived to be a show about football, but after seeing the trailer, web surfers commented that the show appears to have interesting characters and depth beyond football. The report also found that James Woods is a major audience driver for Shark, which has a “substantial” opportunity to capture a loyal male audience.

Six Degrees and The Nine received significant positive discussion from adults 25-54. And women 18-24 appear to be big supporters of Betty the Ugly and its star, America Ferrera (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants). “This show could be a surprise hit for ABC,” the report said, but added that the show’s core audience is not happy with the Friday 9 p.m. time slot.

Interestingly, NBC’s 20 Good Years, starring John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor, which was panned by media buyers, scored particularly high (11th overall out of 26) in the report.

Vince Manze, president and creative director of The NBC Agency, charged with promoting NBC’s shows, said the Brandimensions report “is a reinforcement that we are doing something right and that what we are doing to promote these shows is working.”

But Manze added that while NBC is running Web trailers, some outside forces are also adding to the shows’ exposure. For example, he said about a half dozen independent Web sites went up within days of Heroes’ unveiling at NBC’s upfront presentation in May. “You can’t really create buzz,” Manze said. “People will either take to a show or not. But once there is buzz about a show, either positive or negative, we can use it to make adjustments.”

Dave Poltrack, executive vp and chief research officer for CBS Corp., said measurement of online buzz has become “an increasingly valuable tool that gives us an advance look at how audiences perceive shows.” Poltrack added he is encouraged by CBS’ showing in the Brandimensions report. Poltrack plans to compare the information from the Brandimensions report with the results of his own show testing at CBS’ Television City public research facility in Las Vegas to see how the results correlate.

Media agency execs also see some value in monitoring buzz. “I doubt whether [online buzz] can predict whether a show that has never aired—and the people commenting on it have never seen—will succeed or fail,” said Steve Sternberg, executive vp and director of audience analysis at media agency Magna Global. “But it may give an indication that a show will get higher viewer sampling for the first episode than we might have thought.”

And that is the goal of this type of research, according to Michael Coristine, market analyst for Brandimensions. “This is not a report that predicts what will succeed or not succeed for the entire season,” he said. “It is a reflection of what potential viewers are thinking and what they are excited about right now, based on what they have either heard or seen.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801884

fredfa

07-10-06, 10:22 AM

The 2006-2007 Season
MacNicol among '24' numbers

By Kimberly Nordyke The Hollywood Reporter July 10, 2006

Peter MacNicol's schedule is about to become even busier as the "Numbers" cast member is joining Fox's "24" next season as a series regular.

The actor will portray a high-ranking government official in the real-time drama from 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television that kicks off its sixth year at midseason.

MacNicol has been a cast member on CBS' "Numbers" since the drama from CBS Paramount Network Television and Scott Free Prods. premiered in January 2005. He will shoot "24" and "Numbers," which is heading into its third season in the fall, simultaneously.

MacNicol earned three supporting actor Emmy nominations for his role as John Cage on Fox's "Ally McBeal," taking home the award in 2001. He also shared a SAG Award with the show's cast for best ensemble performance in a comedy series in 1999.

His credits also include ABC's "Boston Legal" and CBS' "Chicago Hope," along with voice roles in such series as Adult Swim's "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" and WB Network's "The Batman

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002802044

fredfa

07-10-06, 10:53 AM

The Saturday and Sunday prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

07-10-06, 11:12 AM

The TV Critics Summer Press Tour
The show that never ends

By Alan Sepinwall of the Newark Star-Ledger in the “All TV In Hollywood” blog Monday, July 10, 2006

Welcome back to the All TV press tour blog! For the next two and a half weeks, I'll be coming at you live from beautiful Pasadena, Calif., where a few hundred half-shaven TV critics and an equal number of well-pressed TV executives will act like they all enjoy each other's company. Sometimes, they won't even be acting.

It's the start of the winter version of the Television Critics Association press tour (TCA or “press tour” for short), one of the strangest, coolest, most confusing parts of our job. If you've been here for coverage previous tours, come back tomorrow for new stories, but if this is a strange and alien concept to you, keep reading the traditional primer of all things TCA.

Long story not that short: Twice a year, TV critics and reporters from every significant publication in the greater United States and Canada swoop down on a single hotel in the greater L.A. area. For three weeks (two in the winter edition), we're shuttled from room to room as we attend news conferences, one-on-one interviews, parties and other events featuring executives, producers and stars from every major network, broadcast and cable.

The networks are here because they get major bang for their buck, hawking their upcoming wares to as many as 200 reporters at one time, depending on the session. In their perfect world, we would march from session to session, ask softball questions and write puff pieces about how wonderful all their new shows will be. The reality is a lot more unpredictable; depending on a program's subject matter, the charisma and intelligence of panel participants and the press corp's mood and interest level, the tone of any given press conference ranges somewhere between a birthday party, a Friar's Club roast and the Watergate hearings.

The reporters are here because it’s an all-access pass to TV Land (and MTV, HBO, NBC, etc.), an epic, democratic free-for-all where a writer from a small paper in Kansas can interview the cast of “Desperate Housewives” right along with the major players. And even for those of us who can get many of the actors and behind-the-scenes people on the phone for interviews, there’s no substitute for doing it in person. I’ve had five-minute conversations at press tour that were more enlightening and quotable than hour-long sessions over the phone.

Other areas of show business have more scaled-down versions of press tour, but none is as long or as wide-ranging. Movie junketeers fly in for a weekend, catch a flick or two, do a few hours of interviews, and fly home. (Many of them also travel on the movie studios’ dime; TV critics have been paying their own way to press tour for the last few decades.) We’re here for weeks on end, coming face to face with everyone from former presidents (usually when PBS is on the schedule) to puppeteers (also a PBS staple, come to think of it). We have to ask knowledgeable questions of the fifth co-star on “NCIS” and the chairman of Viacom's cable divisions.

The presence of the network suits is one of the unique parts of press tour. Not many other businesses force their top executives to regularly stand in front of a room full of hostile reporters and explain their every blunder; at press tour, it’s a ritual. Some love the scrutiny, some despise it. CBS head honcho Les Moonves used to turn his press conferences into grand performances; even though he's now so high up on the company food chain that he doesn't really need to mingle with the great critical unwashed, he still shows up to take questions from an adoring throng. Conversely, as soon as critics' punching bag Jeff Zucker got promoted out of the head of primetime entertainment job, he cut back his press tour presence to the bare minimum.

I’ve been attending press tours for a decade, and while I have to pull long hours each time, I never get tired of going. There are too many fascinating people to talk to (including some of the other critics), too much news made, too many weird encounters with the famous and quasi-famous.

Highlights of this tour should include a visit to the set of "Grey's Anatomy," Ted Koppel in his first significant post-"Nightline" job with Discovery Channel, the return of HBO's "The Wire," Trey and Matt from "South Park" celebrating Cartman's 10th anniversary, former "American Idol" winner Fantasia discussing the challenges of playing herself in a Lifetime movie, executives from the new CW network trying to defend the "Everwood" cancellation to a room of bitter critic/fans, and producers of NBC's dueling behind-the-scenes at "SNL" shows (Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and Tina Fey's "30 Rock") trying to explain why they can both co-exist.

Once the tour begins, these blog entries will be much shorter and quicker, but I wanted to get you up to speed on what the hell I'm talking about, including this glossary of the most common tour traditions. Feel free to refer to it if you come across an unexplained reference to The Scrum a few days from now:

The Press Conference: The staple of the tour. Most days feature eight or more of them, ranging from 30-60 minutes. The cast and creators of a show are led onto a stage so brightly lit that they can't see anyone in the audience, and reporters fight for the microphone to ask questions -- some smart, some dumb, some inexplicable. ("Your sons, they're both boys?")

The Fillibuster: A phenomenon that usually pops up at press conferences for struggling networks executives, wherein the exec uses up a third to a half of the allotted time giving a speech about useless demographic trivia, a strategy designed both to trim the time for Q&A and bore the critics so much that they're too sleepy to ask the appropriate "Why do you still have your job?" type questions.

The Transcript: Each press conference is transcribed by a pair of court stenographers to save the critics some time and trouble. Sometimes, transcripts can conveniently omit an embarrassing moment for the network in question, or they can introduce an embarrassing new moment on their own. (A transcript for an "SNL" press conference described Lorne Michaels as doing a Dr. Evil impression when he was just talking like himself.) In one of the oddest transcript-related moments of all time, a few years back a critic spotted Max "Wojo from Barney Miller" Gail working in the transcription room.

The Scrum: For 5-15 minutes after each session, reporters surround one or more of the panelists to ask follow-up questions or parochial stuff they wouldn't feel comfortable asking in front of the group. ("How did growing up in Boise shape your acting?") Because the circumstances are more intimate, the answers tend to be much better, which is why many veteran reporters save their questions for the scrum, leaving plenty of dead air during the press conferences for the dumb stuff.

The Scrum Evacuation: Sometimes when the press conference is over, the producers and writers will beat a hasty retreat through the backstage door rather than loiter onstage or come outside to take follow-ups. This is usually a sign that (1) the show is in trouble, (2) the network is terrified that the talent might say something unflattering about the network, or just plain dumb, (3) a star from another field (usually music or movies) who considers themselves above one-on-one contact (Diana Ross once stationed bodyguards in front of the stage to prevent a scrum) or (4) the network is blowing off the print and Internet reporters in order to get their people across the hotel in time to do pre-scheduled puff piece interviews with TV outlets like "ET," "Access Hollywood" and "CNN Showbiz Today," which attach themselves to press tour as remorahs attach themselves to the underbellies of sharks.

The Working Lunch: While the critics pay to travel and stay at the tour hotel, the networks make breakfast, lunch and dinner available for free, mainly as a means of keeping every critic from fanning out to the restaurant of his or her choice and losing attendance for the sessions. Some meals are just meals, but lunch often includes a press conference in order to maximize a channel's time that day. Also, most lunch sessions are devoted to shows that the critics might be inclined to skip if there wasn't the promise of convenient nourishment attached. In my proudest moment on the tour, I was trapped years ago at a Martha Stewart working lunch where the lunch was delayed more than an hour, first because Martha couldn't bother to show up on time, then because she insisted on doing a cookie-decorating demonstration before she released the waiters. Determined to bring an end to this tyranny, I took Martha up on her offer to show my cookie design off to the rest of the room: it read "FEED ME." Lunch was served inside three minutes.

The Non-Party Party: Press tour is a dawn till midnight affair, and every night ends with a "party" thrown by that day's network that, in theory, is designed to give the critics more informal access to the stars, producers and executives. Problem is, in order to get their top talent to come to the thing, the networks try to throw actual parties, complete with music so loud that it's all but impossible to conduct an interview. One year, a critic on the verge of retirement entered a WB party filled with interchangeably attractive20-something actors all talking amongst themselves while the reporters who hadn't already left in disgust stood along the walls; the critic waded into the middle of the room, held up his notebook and loudly asked, "Does anyone here have a personality?"

The Celebrity Elevator Ride: The celebs are either staying in the tour hotel for a day or two, or they're being sent to all parts of the hotel to do TV interviews and photo shoots. Either way, odds are strong that a critic will find himself sharing an elevator with a famous person at least once a day, often to comical effect. One critic once spent her ride explaining her dislike of Sam Waterston to a colleague - until Waterston silently exited the elevator from behind them.

The Rule of Jay: Named in honor of genial Tribune Media reporter Jay Bobbin, who fills two valuable public services at press conferences: 1) He is always able to come up with the perfect simple question at the start of a session to put the panelists at ease; and 2) When a show is so bad that no one can think of anything to ask the panelists, Jay is able to think of question after question to fill the dead air. Another critic once realized that, whenever Jay asks seven or more questions in a session, the show is doomed to fail, no exceptions. So when it becomes obvious that Jay is on a roll, the critics start keeping tallies to see whether a show will live or die by Jay's microphone, while some of the savvier publicists do everything in their power to end the session before Jay hits the magic number.

And, to quote a show that I believe was felled by The Rule of Jay ("Line of Fire"), that's that with that. More from the first cable day sometime tomorrow.

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_alan/archives/2006_07.html#159309

fredfa

07-10-06, 11:25 AM

TV Notebook
The Wisdom of Denis

By Matthew Gilbert The Boston Globe TV Critic in the Globe’s “Viewer Discretion” blog July 10, 2006

I never expected to be a big Denis Leary fan. I’ve always admired his fuming, but I could never take too much of it. But here I am, cheering like a teenybopper about his Emmy nomination and hanging on his every word.

In this week’s Entertainment Weekly, Leary made a fascinating statement about his fantasy ending for “Rescue Me”: “I'd love to do a fifth season where people think you're doing 13 episodes, and, in week 6, there's a giant fire and half the crew's dead – and the show's over. You tune in and the … thing’s gone. I don't think they'll ever let us. But that would be great television.”

What I love about Leary’s comment is that he’s so right; that would be the perfect ending for this show. How better to capture the unpredictable and sometimes unpredictably short lives of firemen? How better to viscerally recall 9/11, which has defined the series? And how better to make viewers feel the shock of the sudden death of a loved one?

Also, Leary points to one of series television’s biggest problems. If a show is successful, the network wants to keep it going as long as possible despite creative realities. Timely endings and bold risks are not supported. Mark my words, that need for more-more-more is what will turn “Lost” from great TV into a mess.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/blog/

fredfa

07-10-06, 11:55 AM

TV Notebook
All Set For 'Late Late's' Ferguson

By Michele Greppi TVWeek.com July 10, 2006

When "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" returns July 24 from a week of vacation reruns, it will be to a brand-new set designed by Akira Yoshimura, the award-winning creator of more than one set for "Saturday Night Live" and "Tonight," among numerous other shows.

Mr. Ferguson's last night on the set he inherited from Craig Kilborn in January 2005 will be this Friday. There are hints that no fan of Craig Ferguson -- and regular readers of The Insider knows she thinks the Scotsman can do no wrong -- would want to miss it.

The dismantling of the old set will be done briskly. Gary Considine, the former NBC executive and late-night producer who became Peter Lassally's co-executive producer of "Late Late" nearly a year ago, will need plenty of time to load the new set into the CBS Television City studio and play with it until all concerned are confident it will look the way they want it to and do what they want it do by the time July 24 rolls around.

Mr. Considine said the set is "another step in making this Craig Ferguson's show." He said it will conjure up the air of a trendy Los Angeles loft, with soft furniture, eclectic accents, L.A. iconography and colors that flatter Mr. Ferguson and his guests.

There will be a little more breathing room for bands who perform live in the "Late Late" studio, which could be described most charitably as intimate -- original "Late Late" host Tom Snyder's long legs sometimes seemed to fill the space, which was usually so quiet as to suggest a hermetic seal.

There'll be a permanent green screen area in which Mr. Ferguson and his comedy repertory group members will continue letting the studio audience in on the process as well as the punchlines in skits.

Mr. Ferguson is partial to sound effects -- the cracking of a whip, a riff of evocative music -- to punctuate his comments to the audience. Now, video is going to be incorporated into the set after some quiet testing.

"He'll have toys at his disposal, both audio and visual," Mr. Considine promised. "What we like to do is present him with as many options as we can, and then we go along for the ride and see what he does."

Mr. Ferguson, who knocked the socks off reviewers with his first novel, "Between the Bridge and the River," this spring, has taken the predictable out of late-late programming.

He has redefined the monologue, turning it into a nearly 19 minutes of freewheeling standup comedy marinated in his philosophy, which is two parts common sense and one part unhinged absurdity.

He treats guests like conspirators in conversations that seldom if ever get around to the projects they are ostensibly plugging.

He has steadily built the biggest audience in "The Late Late Show's" history, averaging 1.9 million viewers in the second quarter of 2006. While that may be a half-million viewers behind "Late Night With Conan O'Brien's" 2.4 million viewers in the same time frame, it's the closest CBS has come to NBC during that hour in 11 years. And "Conan O'Brien" was flat year to year for the quarter, while "Craig Ferguson" was up 9 percent.

So will the cost of the new set reflect the improved fortunes of the network in the time period?

Mr. Considine humorously fended off The Insider's attempts to pry out some kind of price tag.

"We're a small-budget show operating in a studio that was originally occupied by Tom Snyder. This is a 12:30 CBS type of set," the executive producer said. "It would be hard to spend a whole lot of money on the set."

But it would be worth it.

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30162

fredfa

07-10-06, 12:49 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Snoozer of a summer Sunday evening

A night of reruns and an absence of sports
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer

The NBA and NHL finals are long over, and there was no NASCAR runover on Fox. Add to that the fact that there was almost no original programming on the broadcast networks last night, and it made for one very slow Sunday.

In fact, only two networks edged above a 2.0 average for the evening, with ABC and NBC tying at a 2.1 adults 18-49 overnight rating. Even Fox’s comedy repeats managed just a 1.9 average for the night.

Earlier this summer, sports had given Sundays a boost, as had premieres of new shows such as even NBC’s modestly rated “Treasure Hunters.”

Last night only NBC’s “Dateline” and CBS’s “60 Minutes” were originals. Neither of them won the 7 p.m. timeslot, both finishing behind a rerun of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on ABC. Though “Dateline” perked up in its second hour, it wasn’t the highest-rated show of the night.

That honor went to Fox’s repeat of “Family Guy,” which averaged a 2.9 at 9 p.m. Reruns of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” tied for second on the night at 2.6.

Meanwhile, NBC squeezed into No. 1 for the night with a 2.1 rating and 7 share, followed closely by ABC at 2.1/6. Fox was No. 3 at 1.9/6, followed by Univision at 1.2/4 and the WB at 0.7/2.

At 7 p.m., ABC was No. 1 at 1.7 for a repeat of "Videos," followed by CBS's "Minutes" at 1.6, NBC's "Dateline" at 1.4, Fox's reruns of "Malcolm in the Middle" and "King of the Hill" at 1.0, WB's pair of "Reba" reruns at 0.8, and Univision's "Primer Impacto: Fin de Semana—Edicion Mundial" at 0.6.

At 8 p.m., NBC tied for No. 1 at 2.4 for the second hour of "Dateline" along with ABC's 2.4 for a repeat "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," followed by Fox's 2.2 for reruns of "The Simpsons" and "American Dad," CBS's 1.7 for a "Cold Case" rerun, Univision's "Cantando Por Un Sueño" at 1.0 and the WB's 0.7 for a "Charmed" rerun.

At 9 p.m., NBC led at 2.6 for a repeat of "L&O: CI," followed by Fox at 2.5 for reruns of "Family Guy" (at 2.9) and "War at Home" (at 2.1). ABC's repeat of "Desperate Housewives" was No. 3 at 1.7, ahead of the second hour of Univision's "Cantando" at 1.4, CBS's 1.1 for the first hour of TV movie repeat "Saving Milly," and WB's 0.7 for a "Charmed" rerun.

At 10 p.m., ABC's repeat of "Grey's" was No. 1 at 2.6, followed by NBC’s "Crossing Jordan" rerun at 2.1, Univision's "Cantando" at 1.7 and CBS's "Milly" at 1.1.

Among households, NBC led at 5.2/9, ahead of CBS at 5.0/9, ABC at 3.8/6, Fox at 2.6/5, Univision at 1.6/3, WB at 1.2/2 and UPN at 0.8/1.

• Ratings courtesy Nielsen Media Research. Ratings information is taken from fast national data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts.

fredfa

07-10-06, 12:57 PM

TV Notebook
Dan Rather, on CNN -- and HDNet, too

Disdains identification with CBS
By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist July 10, 2006

He may deny it, but Dan Rather is still hotter than a Laredo parking lot about CBS.

Sharp-eyed viewers may have noticed that Rather was not identified on screen with his network of 44 years when he appeared on Anderson Cooper's 360 Wednesday to discuss his recent trip to North Korea.

CNN didn't drop the ball, graphically speaking. Rather, ol' Dan didn't want CBS in the picture.

Literally.

In an in-house memo sent from a 360 staffer Thursday to CNN producers, they were told to "please feel free" to use taped snippets from Cooper's interview with Rather the previous night, but with one glaring caveat:

"Mr. Rather requests that his font not associate him with CBS News. So no 'Former CBS Anchor.' We thank you and Dan thanks you."

A CNN rep confirms the authenticity of the e-mail. Rather had no issue with being verbally identified on the show, she adds.

Rather was fishing in Upstate New York and couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Rather, 74, left CBS in a rage June 20, saying the network had not lived up to its obligation to allow him to do "substantive work." His contract runs until late November.

Rather anchored CBS Evening News for an unprecedented 24 years before being forced to step down in March '05 due to the Memogate scandal. He became a full-time correspondent for 60 Minutes.

Look for Rather to crackle like a hickory fire Wednesday on Larry King's CNN confessional when he discusses his life after CBS and takes viewer calls. (Think Les Moonves will dial in?)

Rather will be on set with Father King in L.A. No word whether CBS will appear anywhere near his name on the screen this time.

Not to get too Oliver Stone-y, but could Rather be in L.A. for other reasons - like announcing that he's joining HDNet, Mark Cuban's high-definition TV network based in Dallas?

It's been rumored for weeks that Rather will develop and host a weekly documentary series for HDNet, which reaches an estimated three million homes.

HDNet is scheduled to present a Q & A session tomorrow to TV critics gathered in L.A. Thus far, the network has not confirmed the content of the session or who will be there.

From a publicity point of view, HDNet would get a major bang for its buck by announcing Rather to critics, followed the next day by an hour-long wet kiss on CNN's most popular show.

Dan Rather and HDNet. Turn the lights down, the party just got wilder.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/entertainment/television/15002650.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

07-10-06, 01:00 PM

TV Notebook
Are Nielsen Program Ratings Doomed?

Shaw: ABC Ready to Sell Now Using Commercial Ratings
By John Consoli MediaWeek.com July 10, 2006 -

ABC sales president Mike Shaw says his sales department is ready to begin selling right now based on commercial ratings if any of the media agencies or advertisers want to begin buying that way. "We have the software and our system is in place," Shaw said. "We can sell show by show, daypart by daypart, whatever the client wants."

Nielsen Media Research, owned by Mediaweek parent VNU, will begin offering syndicated data on commercial ratings to the entire industry at the beginning the new television season this fall, with the liklihood that commercial ratings, rather than program ratings, will become the currency on which the media agencies make their upfront buys next May.

But Shaw said he can accommodate any buyer who wants to use the commercial ratings currency right now for scatter buys, even before Nielsen begins releasing the commercial data this fall.

Shaw said shifting to commercial ratings will end the debate over which program ratings--live, live plus same day, or live plus seven day--should be used as the negotiating currency.

In the aftermath of the debate over which program ratings should have been used in the just completed broadcast upfront, Shaw said be believes going forward the broadcast networks should create an association, much like the Television Bureau of Adveritsing which represents TV stations, or the Syndicated Network Television Association, which represents the TV studios, that can be a forum for discussion on issues like these.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002802373

fredfa

07-10-06, 01:10 PM

TV Notebook
Dan Rather's Media Tour

After Larry He's Booked (Twice!) On The Chris Matthews Show
(from Brian Stelter’s TVNewser at mediabistro.com) July 10, 2006

Tomorrow at the TCA Press Tour, HDNet will announce Dan Rather's new gig, as scooped by the Post this morning. Then another press tour will begin, beginning with Rather's appearance on Larry King Live Wednesday night.

The former CBS anchor is also booked on The Chris Matthews Show for the next two Sundays, July 16 and 23, TVNewser has learned. Rather will serve as one of four panelists on the show, along with NBC's Andrea Mitchell, BBC's Katty Kay, and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

It'll mark his first broadcast network TV appearance since leaving CBS.

http://mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

fredfa

07-10-06, 01:40 PM

TV Notebook
Summer Shows Hit Cold Front

By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek.com July 10, 2006 -

Despite solid debuts from several unscripted series, no show has popped this summer like ABC’s Dancing with the Stars did last year. And with few shows left to launch, it’s unlikely a breakout hit is imminent.

Some broadcast executives say a lack of unique concepts could be the reason. “Everything feels like it’s a version of something that exists already,” said Preston Beckman, executive vp of strategic program planning for Fox. Ironically, Fox has maintained its top position among adults 18-49 this summer on the strength of its contest shows Hell’s Kitchen and So You Think You Can Dance.

Meanwhile, other execs said a competitive summer landscape may also be blocking break outs. “There’s an awful lot of product out there,” noted Kelly Kahl, executive vp, program planning/scheduling at CBS. “That’s what’s also making it tough.” CBS has maintained its strength among total viewers this summer on the back of scripted repeats.

But its two new unscripted entries—Game Show Marathon and Tuesday Night Book Club—stalled. Against stiffer competition, Kahl noted that even last week’s launch of Rock Star: Supernova fell short. But he believes the program’s regularly scheduled Tuesday night pairing with Big Brother: All-Stars, starting this week, will help.

ABC has also struggled with Master of Champions and the now-pulled How to Get the Guy. “Shows either catch the attention of the public or they don’t,” said Jeff Bader, senior vp at ABC Entertainment. “If we knew why, everything would work.” Bader added ABC has one more chance to spark interest with its July 18 launch of music contest show The One.

While most of NBC’s summer programs have trended downward, the network received good news last week when America’s Got Talent scored a 4.1/12 among adults 18-49 in its third outing. Those numbers seemed to bolster hopes among execs there that the show could shift into the schedule in January.

Mitch Metcalf, executive vp of programming, planning and scheduling for NBC Entertainment, added that whatever viewer drop-offs have occurred in its other summer programs—including Last Comic Standing, Treasure Hunters and scripted drama Windfall—NBC has still made a 5 percent gain in 18-49 viewers versus last summer. “Any time there’s a plus sign,” Metcalf joked, “I’ll take it.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801880

fredfa

07-10-06, 02:14 PM

TV Q&A
It was a (bad) prequel

By David Inman The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal Monday, July 10, 2006

Question: We have been watching reruns of "Bonanza" and enjoy them, but we also get a lot of laughs at the unreality of so many things. Then we found that there is a show called "Ponderosa," which turns out to be about the Cartwright family at an earlier age as they were building the Ponderosa ranch. Is this a recent show or has it been around for quite a while? The only character who resembles one of the "Bonanza" characters even somewhat is the one who plays Hoss. What's the story?

Answer: "The Ponderosa" ran on the PAX network in 2001-02. Like many of the shows on that network, it was seriously budget-impaired, so the ranch was actually the producer's backyard. Daniel Hugh Kelly played a younger Ben Cartwright. Sons Adam, Hoss and Little Joe were played by Matt Carmody, Drew Powell and Jared Daperis, respectively.

Question: Pat Boone and Buddy Hackett starred in a movie about life on a Navy LST. What was the title? Is it available on video or DVD?

Answer: A Navy comedy with Pat Boone? Is it as funny as I think it is? Anyway, it's 1961's "All Hands on Deck," which also stars Barbara Eden. It's not on video or DVD.

Question: Could you please tell me the name of the artist who sings on the Dockers commercial? I think the song is titled "Sunday Kind of Love." Some friends and I would like to buy her CDs and see her in person.

Answer: The singer is Etta James, the CD is "Love Songs," and you're in luck — she's still touring.

Question: My mother is off her rocker. She says that Elvis is not singing the song in the opening credits of "Las Vegas." I say there is no other voice than that of the King on that soundtrack. Please help me set her straight. By the way, I only watch the show until the song is over. It is the only good part of it!

Answer: The singer is Presley. It's a remix by JXL of the Presley song "A Little Less Conversation."

Question: Can you explain why the movie "Trapeze," which I believe came out around 1959, has never been shown on TV? Does someone such as Burt Lancaster, who was in this movie, own exclusive rights to this film?

Answer: If it's never been shown on TV, then what exactly is that box in my living room with the buttons and the glowing screen? For I have seen "Trapeze," and it was by virtue of that magical machine! You can also rent or buy a video or DVD of this film, which, for the record, was released in 1956 and co-stars Gina Lollobrigida and Tony Curtis.

Question: Could you please help me in finding out if Cheryl Ladd is Alan Ladd's daughter or daughter-in-law? My friend and I have had a discussion on this subject and cannot agree.

Answer: Oh, a "discussion," eh? It didn't involve fisticuffs or heated invective, did it? Well, rest easy. Cheryl Ladd was married to David Ladd, Alan Ladd's son, which means that she was technically his daughter-in-law, except that she married David Ladd 10 years after his father's death in 1964.

Question: Is the man who plays Mr. Bentley, the neighbor on "The Jeffersons," related to or the same person as Graham Kerr the TV chef?

Answer: You mean because they both act like silly blighters? Paul Benedict played Mr. Bentley. He isn't related to Graham Kerr.

Question: I have been watching a show called "Prison Break." Could you tell me if the actor who is trying to free his brother is the same actor who played in the movie "Powder"?

Answer: Sean Patrick Flanery starred in that 1995 film. He isn't in "Prison Break." The actor trying to free his brother on "Prison Break" is Wentworth Miller.

Question: Just saw the movie "Annapolis" and something is bugging me about Chi McBride, who's in it. I seem to recall a show he starred in about a slave during the Civil War. I think it was a comedy, and I think it only lasted a few weeks. Does this make any sense at all?

Answer: The show was "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer," which ran on UPN for a few weeks in 1998. McBride played a British citizen who is run out of that country and finds work as a servant in the Lincoln White House. It is the only sitcom in TV history to feature Abe Lincoln, wife Mary and Gen. U.S. Grant as regulars. (They were played by Dann Florek, Christine Estabrook and Kelly Connell, respectively.) Because it was so offbeat and was canceled so quickly, you might think it was daring and funny. You would be wrong.

http://www.desnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,640193113,00.html

fredfa

07-10-06, 02:20 PM

TV Notebook
Study: Hispanics' viewing habits aren't fitting the mold

By Tom Dorsey Louisville Courier-Journal Monday, July 10, 2006

In the midst of the angry debate over immigration reform and English-only arguments, a report suggests that the way Hispanics watch television may not fit the stereotypes.

The study by Encuesta Inc., a Miami-based market research firm, says 57 percent of the Hispanics born in other countries watch television in English, not Spanish.

It's hard to know exactly what this means without breaking down the details of how the research was conducted, but it suggests that many immigrants are trying to learn English and perhaps see television as a way of doing it. The Web site hispanicbusiness.com says its studies show younger Hispanics overwhelmingly favor English.

Encuesta also says Hispanics' favorite shows are newscasts and political programs and not the popular telenovelas (Spanish soap operas) we hear so much about, which are coming to this country on TV in prime time this fall via MyNetwork TV in English.

The Florida firm says dramas were the second most-watched programs overall in its poll, followed by telenovelas. It also reports Hispanics are less likely than non-Hispanics to watch reality shows and sitcoms. Univision, a Spanish-language cable network, was the favorite network for people watching Spanish-language television.

Total TV Audience Monitor, another research company, reports that more than 75 percent of Hispanic TV viewing is over the big broadcast networks because Hispanic viewers are a lot less likely to subscribe, or able to afford, cable television.

Nielsen Media Research, which tracks viewing patterns, says there are about 11 million Hispanic households in this country, and the U.S. Census reports there are close to 40 million Hispanics here. They are by far the fastest-growing segment of the population and are projected to represent 25 percent of the nation by 2050.

Thosenumbers are hard to verify. No one knows for sure how many unregistered immigrants there are. According to radio and TV researchers, they are suspicious of talking to anyone doing surveys for fear the information may be used against them. They are also more likely to use cell phones than regular home phones, which also makes research harder to do.

When one Spanish radio company began operations in Louisville, it estimated there were twice as many Hispanics in this area as the Census Bureau was able to locate.

That said, what do Hispanics watch on broadcast networks, according to Nielsen?

About the same things everybody else does. A check during the May sweeps shows "American Idol" was No. 1 and 2 on their list, followed by "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy" and "House."

Many of the other shows in the top 25 were the same as those series watched by all viewers, but while Hispanics didn't watch "Survivor," they did put "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons" in the top 10. They also liked wrestling and "America's Most wanted" more than non-Hispanics.

Last month Hispanics put the NBA basketball championships rounds in the top three spots. In fourth and fifth places was "So You Think You Can Dance," which would have been in the top spot without the basketball games.

Interestingly enough, "Freddie" and "George Lopez," two sitcoms starring Hispanic characters, were in the top 10 when they were on in early April. These two sitcoms did not air during the May sweeps.

Hispanic viewing research, like all polling, is open to interpretation. But these studies do provide some interesting indicators that appear to show the Hispanic audience is in the throes of transition and integration into the larger American society, a process that will probably take a generation to complete.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060710&Category=COLUMNISTS15&ArtNo=607100317&SectionCat=FEATURES07&Template=printart

fredfa

07-10-06, 02:39 PM

TV Notebook
Reality TV That's a Cut Above

By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic July 17 issue of “Time”

Six years after the debut of Survivor, 14 after the premiere of The Real World, reality TV has been around long enough for potential contestants to realize that appearing on a reality show is perhaps not the genius career move it seemed to be. If you're lucky, post--15 minutes, maybe you get to host a show on the TV Guide Channel. If you're less lucky, you get to co-host The View. Maybe you just swallow your pride and do the whole thing over again, as on the oxymoronically named Big Brother: All-Stars. But more likely, you eat a few bugs, you win a few bucks, you date Flavor Flav, and pretty soon you're back on the couch with the rest of us zeros, without a True Hollywood Story to your name. Is that all there is?

It is, except for the contestants in reality TV's unlikeliest but most satisfying genre: shows about people who actually know how to do something. This week the fashion showdown Project Runway (Bravo, Wednesdays, 10 p.m. E.T.) returns for its third season, having smashed Bravo's ratings records by proving that you can spin a good yarn from threads. Elsewhere, designers, chefs, moviemakers--even preachers--are turning to reality TV to show their stuff. Think of these series as American Idol goes to trade school competitions not for neophyte performers looking to get famous but for professionals to advance their careers long after the cameras shut off. In the summer of America's Got Talent--which might more aptly be called America Can Balance a Sword on Its Face--these shows are out to prove that America's also got creativity.

The godparents of this Geek Idol genre are Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, a producing duo operating under the name Magical Elves, who created Runway and its culinary spin-off, Top Chef, and also produced Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's movie-director search Project Greenlight. The Elves' projects share one philosophy: "We feel that the creative process is inherently dramatic and interesting to watch," says Cutforth.

They feel that way now. At the start of Runway, Cutforth admits, "we were nervous that we could make people sewing into interesting television." Not only did they, but they did it without dumbing down the creative process. There's a scene in the first season in which eventual winner Jay McCarroll, stuck trying to draw up a design that is classic and tasteful while reflecting his flamboyant style, looks out the window and sees the burnished Art Deco crown of Manhattan's Chrysler Building, which he reinterprets as a dress. It's a better, more succinct illustration of creative inspiration than most novels and movies about artists manage. "That was a magic moment," says Lipsitz. "At best, we want to show that the way the individual characters see the world translates into their work."

Runway is far more successful than Greenlight was. Besides the fact that host-producer Heidi Klum looks better in a cocktail dress than movie producer Chris Moore would, Runway has the sizzle of a tense competition, while Greenlight picked its filmmakers right off the bat. (Perhaps learning from Greenlight, in Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett's On the Lot, for Fox next season, filmmakers will duke it out Runway-style.)

Just as important, Runway isn't afraid to be fun. Like the couture world itself, it plays with the tension between high- and lowbrow, combining earnest discussions of artistic intent with shamelessly over-the-top challenges. In the first challenge of Season 3, the contestants "source" the materials for their first outfits from the apartments they're staying in--tearing down chandeliers and shearing the fabric off mattresses. And the contestants know that performance is part of their business. A contestant in the Season 3 premiere lays out her "four cs" theory of success: "courage, creativity, cash and celebrity."

Magical Elves took much the same approach to this spring's Top Chef. Fox's Hell's Kitchen (Mondays, 9 p.m. E.T.), on the other hand, is more about heat than flavor; lobster-faced British chef Gordon Ramsay puts a group of cooks through boot camp, overseeing them with such helpful advice as "Move your arse!" Compared with Top Chef, the show places less emphasis on menu planning and presentation than on the chaos of running a kitchen--especially with a half-crazed Brit chasing you.

Kitchen is not likely to draw in Thomas Keller fans, but a broadcast network has to program for an Olive Garden crowd. "We wanted to create a show that I could watch, and I'm not a foodie," says executive producer Arthur Smith. "It's like a live sporting event. It's hot, there's time pressure, there's someone yelling at you, and there are sharp things. There's danger." Still, hundreds of food professionals applied for the chance to become chef at a new restaurant--though they'll probably be glad to escape without a cleaver in the back.

On HGTV Design Star (Sundays, 9 p.m. E.T.; debuts July 23), celebrity is the prize: as on The Next Food Network Star, the winner gets to host a show on the channel. (Runway's winner gets, among other perks, $100,000 to start a business.) Otherwise, the show is basically Project Living Room--10 aspiring home designers try to please a troika of judges--with a focus on collaboration. In the first episode, the competitors work in teams to appoint the extremely narrow town house they're staying in. "Design is not all about your personal tastes," says HGTV programming vice president James Bolosh. "It's about melding them with the homeowner's." Or not, as when a zealous designer paints someone's treasured heirloom table in the show's second challenge. While it doesn't have Klum's star power, Design Star is sharp and addictive, with a memorable cast that includes a pair of ebullient twins, a loopy artist, a tense Janeane Garofalo look-alike and a 30-year-old single mom who, I'm certain, was chosen for her design talent and not because she was once Miss Utah U.S.A.

Ultimately, these shows work when they remind you why you care about the subject. They appeal to the curious part of you that leaned on the kitchen counter and watched Mom or Dad cook dinner or that lingers by construction sites. By showing the choices and ideas that go into ordinary consumer products--and using editing to speed up their creation like time-lapse photography--the series remind us that food, clothes and furnishings are not just frivolities but deeply personal expressions. The opposite happens with TLC's The Messengers (Sundays, 10 p.m. E.T.; debuts July 23), which, seeking nothing less than "the next great inspirational speaker," takes serious problems and renders them trivial. Ten contestants (among them a pastor, a surfer and an ex-cheerleader) deliver a speech to judges and an audience each episode after going on a "field trip"--which, in the premiere, involves spending the night on L.A.'s streets with the homeless.

If there's one thing more unsettling than a bunch of contestants dragging cameras to skid row as they vie for a book deal and TV pilot, it's seeing their responses critiqued as if they were singing a Christina Aguilera song ("You call that a speech?"). Messengers, to be fair, is self-conscious about that: in one scene, a homeless woman lectures TLC's cameras, "This ain't no damn zoo. These are human beings." She's right. This is possibly the best-intentioned--and creepiest--TV show you will see this year.

Of course, TLC did not invent the idea of inspiration as a performance, any more than Runway, Top Chef et al. transformed design, cooking and so on into entertainment. Isaac Mizrahi, Emeril Lagasse and Martha Stewart turned their fields into reality TV long before reality TV did, making their personae inseparable from their work. Says Kara Janx, who finished fourth on last season's Runway: Celebrity "is part and parcel of being a designer today. When people know the person behind the brand, they become invested in it." That said, she adds, "I want to die as a good designer, not as a TV personality." As if that were even a choice anymore.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1211582,00.html

fredfa

07-10-06, 03:33 PM

TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Death March With Cocktails

TV execs, critics are meeting, so this blog will spy for you -- instant scorn, eye rolling are bonuses
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Monday, July 10, 2006

(07-10) 04:00 PDT Pasadena -- By the time you read this, there's a very good chance that I'll be sitting in a gloriously downscale place called Pie 'n Burger. If you're ever in Pasadena, where the days are hot, the nights crisp and the smog envelops the mountains, you ought to stop here for some, well, some pie and burger. Between bites I'll contemplate whether I've got the will to do this again.

And by "this" I mean partake in the Television Critics Association summer press tour -- or as you've come to know it, the Death March With Cocktails. I suppose I'll have to. I'm going to blog the whole thing every day, sometimes all day, from now until the 27th. If I just sit here and eat burgers, someone is bound to notice that the Bastard Machine, in turn, is not being fed. Right?

We are trying something new this year because not only does old media love new media like reality TV shows love skanky, amoral losers, but I'm a little tired of the old ways as well. It has been a very long trek, year after year, lie after lie, series after failed series. At some point, one person can't take the pain of the spin, much less the burden of so much anger.

"Don't call this a comedy. A comedy makes people laugh. Call this something more true -- like, '30 minutes not worth losing.' "

Now when I'm apoplectic about something, I won't have to wait two days to share it with you. I can post it immediately and regret it then. That will also allow the people I cover down here a much quicker turnaround -- they can actually knock on my hotel room door and harass me instead of phone me at 6 a.m. from their Lincoln Town Car on the way to work. It's more intimate all around.

I've been coming down here for 10 years -- maybe more. Like Southern California cities, it all begins to blur. I'm sure at some point I'll look in the mirror in my fabulous hotel/jail and think, "I swear to God I've seen all of these shows before, in some kind of incarnation. Am I losing my mind? Why am I here? Why didn't I study harder in school? Why can't I see the mountains and why is it hard to breathe?"

I'm only partly joking. The truth is that even when the Death March With Cocktails reaches its zenith of stupidity -- current odds are Day 2 -- I still love it. I love that all five broadcast networks and most of the cable channels on the planet (at least the ones we invite), come out twice a year (yes, we do this in January, as well) to explain themselves, which usually translates into my favorite thing about the industry: failure analysis.

What other industry does this? Certainly not the auto industry. Or the tech industry. This is not a movie junket paid for by studios looking to convince a nation of pay-for-play hacks that "Garfield: Tale of Two Kitties" was "the best family movie of this or any other year." No. The Television Critics Association, while not without its faults, kooks and embarrassments, brings in about 200 critics and reporters from all across the country and Canada and we spend roughly three weeks kicking the tires on the coming fall season. Part of that process involves kicking the executives who make the decisions that affect you. No network is allowed to present, over the course of two days each, any new series if it doesn't agree to trot out its entertainment president for an executive session. Outside of a shareholders meeting -- which you can get tossed out of pretty quickly -- there aren't many other industries that proffer their leaders in an environment they can't adequately control.

It leads to cheeky fun. Like asking, "You had no hits last year, your new series are generating no buzz and yet you're still employed. How did that happen?"

But mostly the Death March With Cocktails is about access and information. Its all there for you. While I have a big city newspaper and, one would hope, a fraction of either respect or fear on my side that allows me to call up executives (and stars -- though they don't pay me enough to do that) while I'm in San Francisco, smaller papers don't always get that kind of access. And since the TCA gets the whole industry to pile into a luxury hotel and trot out their fall trinkets, the market-bazaar experience just makes things easier for everyone.

Plus there's an ungodly amount of booze here. Sometimes that helps the journalist-meets-spinmeister circle of life thing. While I don't advocate drinking, the opportunity exists, and historically it has loosened the lips of a number of executives and let -- gasp! -- the unvarnished truth slip out in a town filled with feints, lies and spin.

So yes, I guess I do love this dog-and-pony show. A lot of information comes out of here, a lot of stupidity as well. By blogging it all with possibly reckless abandon and a foolhardy belief that you're actually interested in the minutiae of what happens here -- instead of, say, using my critical faculties to winnow out what's important or even true -- maybe we'll both get a fresh take on the Death March With Cocktails.

Or just pointless rambling and snarkiness.

In any case, you might want to check the Bastard Machine pretty frequently www.sfgate.com/blogs/goodman because I plan to post early and often from today through July 27 -- including nights and weekends, since we don't actually stop much once we get started. There will be lots of opportunities for me to do live blogs of some of the sessions. There will be random updates about which networks or cable channels are in the hotel, what they're spinning and how it's being received. I'll even lower myself to give you star sightings (with mockery, naturally) party updates (there's usually one every night) and a slew of personal revelations (like, "Hi, I'm at the pool -- check back later.")

I will try to post a schedule of the day's events in case you are, in fact, very bored at work and might want to follow a live blogging of Aaron Sorkin's session for "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," or -- depending on your character -- what the new head of PBS plans to do about pledge.

Today through Thursday is all cable, all the time. Sessions are shorter, weirder and more desperate, at least until the big ones like HBO get here. When the networks arrive, they generally get two days each. A typical day consists of sessions with the casts, writers and producers of each new fall series (plus some returning series), from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. There's generally an hour break, then a party. Every night. When cable is here, there's a post-party party. Your results on the blog at that point may vary.

I'll have my laptop at the sessions, unless, say, I'm sleeping or at the pool or trying to find one person in the world who will not flatter me and then lie to my face. I'm going to break tradition on the Bastard Machine and log in to reply to some comments, which might also give you an opportunity to pose a question for me to ask during the sessions, especially if I'm very bored by or very annoyed with what I'm hearing from the stage.

If it all goes sideways, I'll be at Pie 'n Burger.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/10/DDG8SJRO511.DTL&type=printable

fredfa

07-10-06, 03:41 PM

TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Death March With Cocktails

And We're Off...To The Local Dive
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine” Monday, July 10, 2006

The first couple of days of the Death March with Cocktails is like summer camp for critics. There's roughly 200 of us from across the country and Canada, but actually far fewer if you limit it to newspapers and magazines. There's not a whole lot of us (probably a good thing overall) and many of us see each other only at the press tour. We are, in short, a select group of asses.

And yet, it's always nice to see people who you only read online or converse with through e-mails. We have abandoned family and friends and routines and familiarity, so once we're together the first thing we generally do is, well, drink. But besides that, we need to eat, so on Sunday night, I ventured out with four other critics, meeting up at one of our favorite downscale eateries, Clearman's Galley in San Gabriel, also known as "The Boat."

Get a load of that boat! It carried mail from San Francisco to Alaska, so there's your local tie-in and without question a reason for me to write it off - all $9 of it.

I've already mentioned the legendary Pie 'N Burger in today's Chronicle story on the TV critics press tour. Given that there's a lot of swanky dining on the press tour and the only way to counteract that outside of getting used to it - not likely on our salaries - is to hit the old school dives. You will periodically get updates on those fine establishments here.

By the way, here's where I'm staying: http://www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/huntington/. Lousy, I know. Give me a week and I'll be playing Wiffle ball on that gorgeous lawn. Honestly.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

fredfa

07-10-06, 03:43 PM

TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Death March With Cocktails

Uh, What Was That Show Again?
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine” Monday, July 10, 2006

One of the things that invariably happens down here is we all talk shop. Did you like this show, did you like that show, so and so really sucks in this, can you believe Network X actually paid to make that show.

It's fun for a day or so. Then we all - and by "we" I mean only the critics I hang out with, not the TCA as an entity - tire of it and a rule is made that if you keep talking about television someone will beat the snot out of you.

Now, there are two or three critics who don't come to the press tour because they think it's pointless and they fear "group think." A couple of things on that: If you don't have and hold onto your own opinions then you don't belong in this business. I have never, ever, seen a critic say he or she hates a show and then changes his or her tune come September because "that's what everybody else thinks." And lastly, if a couple of those critics who don't come actually did come they would A) Realize there's rarely consensus here anyway - doesn't anyone check Metacritic for proof? and B) If they showed up intead of sitting on their fat asses and high horses, they wouldn't get so much of what they do wrong.

Anyway, I digress. So just the very early beginnings of TV chatter have begun and one thing is hilariously clear - so many critics can't remember what they've watched, including me. Someone will toss up a title and two or three of us will say, "Is that the Fox one or the NBC one?" Or, "That's not the one with the superpowers right, it's the lawyer one?"

A bad sign, perhaps.

Either that, or a case of too much too soon. I've found that I need at minimum two prompts to figure out what anyone is talking about. Sometimes that's due to my desire that said show be forgotten entirely, sometimes it's because I'm prematurely addled, sometimes it's because so much of what we've seen is so similar.

I will tell you all this: In the 2006-07 television season, the networks are gambling - heavily - that you have unlimited time (and a TiVo) to watch television. Because they have flooded the market with open-ended, ongoing serials, ala "Lost" and "24." Just a few seasons ago, television was cluttered with close-ended police procedurals - someone got killed, a crime was solved, a perp went to jail. The hour ended with closure. Next week, a new story

But with "Lost" and "24" among others doing so well, serialized dramas are now all the rage. Networks will be taking an entire season to tell a story and in some instances there's no guarantee that story will end after 22 episodes. I think this is a disaster in the making. A lot of the best dramas I've seen so far involve ongoing storylines that would suck the life out of any normal viewing household. Nobody has that much time, nor desires to watch television that closely for so long. The idea that "appointment television" has flooded the market - where a network will ask you to commit every week at the same time - is fraught with peril. Very few people actually have a DVR of any sort and those people with VCRs tend not to be adept at multiple-recordings. And, one would guess, people have lives to live.

So in a season where it may be hard to remember a series name, the networks are banking on unprecedented viewer loyalty and commitment. Just be happy these people are making entertainment and not managing your money.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

fredfa

07-10-06, 03:46 PM

TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Fall TV: The Tour

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog July 10, 2006

OK, here we are, on the road again.

As of this morning, I'm off -- and, hopefully, you're coming along with me -- on the semiannual Television Critics Assocation press tour. For those of you who haven't tuned into the The Tour before, here's how it works:

The summer tour is the one that cranks up the volume for the fall season -- for three weeks. (The other is in January and deals with the midseason stuff.) There's five days of presentations from the cable channels, two days each from the networks and two days from public television to finish things off.

More than 200 television writers (most of the major newspapers and magazines plus a growing number of online folk) descend on one hotel in southern California. This time, it's the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena, which -- at one point in time -- was THE home of The Tour.

Now, it alternates with the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

Anyway, the days start at 8 a.m. with a string of press conferences where the writers get to ask questions of network and cable executives and the creators and cast of various TV shows. Sometimes, it borders on the bizarre and, this time around, there are sessions the first week with -- among other folks -- Gene Simmons from Kiss, Shannen Doherty and Mr. T (above). Things wind down around 6 pm and then you get to drift off to various parties where the networks and channels offer booze, food, music and the chance to smooze with stars and executives.

But before you think this is a lot of fun and play, I can testify it is not (well, there is some fun and play but not as much as you may think). It's a news event, a bit like a political conventions (I used to cover those in a previous life) with Katie Couric, Paris Hilton, Neil Simon and the cast of "Lost'' instead of governors, senators and political operatives. If you work it -- and ignore some of the silliness that is part and parcel of The Tour -- you will find gems, nuggets of news and (occasionally) some real insight into the medium.

So, for the next three weeks, I'll be posting on a regular basis, giving you an idea of what's going on, what looks hot, what looks like it's dead meat and what you can expect on your TV this fall. Stay tuned -- for Mr. T, if nothing else.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html

fredfa

07-10-06, 03:50 PM

TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Fall TV: The Tour

Emmy rants and Peter MacNichol
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog July 10, 2006

Skimming the Web this morning -- an occupational necessity these days -- the most interesting tidbit that popped was Tom O'Neill of the goldderby.com and a guy who follows the Emmy process with great devotion going off on a rant on all the TV writers who slashed and slammed this year's nominees last week. You can read his blog post http://goldderby.latimes.com/ for yourself but the bottom line is that Tom thinks we don't know what the hell we're talking about, don't understand the process and are simply too lazy to pay attention to what gets entered.

Tom and his fellow posters at the goldderby pay great attention to whether a show or actor has entered just the right episode or episodes. (In fact, it sometimes seems like the whole purpose of goldderby is to dissect those episodes.) In other words, they're missing the forest while concentrating on the trees.

The Emmys should represent the best of television (but only rarely have) and this year's nominations -- which were supposed to be improved by some changes in the rules -- is absolutely the worst since I started covering television in the fall of 1999. Start with the absence of "Lost'' (above) in the drama categories (which O'Neill chalks to entering the wrong episodes) and go from there.

And if the email I've been getting and the postings I've seen at various Websites (including this one) are a reflection, the viewers at home know that something want very, very wrong. "Sham,'' "fraud'' and "wrong-headed'' are some of the more polite adjectives aimed at the Emmy voters.

Oh, by the way, most TV writers do understand the process and know that what episodes are entered play a role. But that's not the point. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences should find some way to move beyond that so the real quality stuff gets nominated and the Emmy Awards don't look like the Night of the Living Dead.

* One brief note: One of my favorite actors, Peter MacNichol, is going to do double duty this season. MacNicol -- best known for his work on "Ally McBeal'' -- will continue his role as a wonderfully quirky math whiz on CBS's "Numbers'' but will also a regular spot on Fox's "24'' (when it returns in January) as a high-ranking government official. Given the "24's'' great track record with supporting characters -- Emmy-nominated (deservedly) Jean Smart and Gregory Itzin last season -- MacNichol should be in for quite the thrill ride.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html

fredfa

07-10-06, 03:53 PM

OK, here is the column Charlie McCollum was discussing in the previous post:
TV Notebook
'Lost' and 'Housewives' committed Emmy suicide

By Tom O’Neil Los Angeles Times Staff Writer In “The Gold Derby” Award blog July 10, 2006

If you saw what sample episodes the producers of "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" submitted to the Emmy judging panels as examples of their "best" work from this past TV season, you'd not only know why their shows got snubbed, but you'd wonder about their sanity or sobriety.

So why should the TV academy get blamed because those shows didn't get top nominations?

Over the past week hundreds of America's TV critics have heaped ridicule and scorn on ATAS for being too stupid to recognize what's best on TV (particularly "Lost" — they don't agree with me that "Housewives" had another superb season), but not a single one of them has pointed the blame where it really belongs: at the producers of the snubbed shows, who, frankly, committed Emmy suicide.

Call it the Susan Lucci Syndrome. For 18 years daytime TV's biggest star got furious at Emmy voters because they spurned her over and over again, subjecting her to repeated public humiliation, but all that drama was really her own fault. The grand diva refused to give them episode submissions that reflected her talents. Isn't it obvious what voters want? Since Lucci was being judged by fellow actors, her peers wanted to see her full acting chops: a broad range of emotions from cheers to tears, with at least one big Money Scene. Instead, she gave them over-the-top diva meltdowns so jarring that Emmy judges sometimes had to turn down the volume on their TV monitors.

Back in the mid-1990s I remember walking down a hallway at the TV academy in New York and hearing hoots of laughter coming from behind a closed door.

"What's going on in there?" I asked a staffer.

"Oh, judges are watching Susan Lucci's reel," he said. "Her mother just died."

That year Lucci's Emmy submission featured her character standing on her mother's grave screaming and flailing her chest in such exaggerated expressions of mourning that it all looked like a Mad TV parody of bad Wagnerian opera. Those histrionics probably seemed fine to regular viewers of a daily soap opera, but, taken out of context and shown to a bunch of crusty media types unfamiliar with "All My Children," voters busted a gut. The only reason Lucci won that Emmy in 1999 was because she finally blundered into giving judges a reel with psychological depth and range — her battle to save her anorexic daughter. In the end there turned out to be no conspiracy against TV's most conniving soap diva. Lucci, her fans and those clueless TV critics (see my rant against them — below) whipped up that theory to explain something they didn't understand because they weren't paying attention to the Emmy voting process.

Usually, it's obvious to Emmy contenders what their best work is and they submit it, but every now and then the Susan Lucci Syndrome pops up again. Most often it's due to laziness or inattention by contestants — like John Goodman back in his "Roseanne" days. Believe it or not, his performances on his costar's episode submissions for best actress were usually better than the acting turns he gave on his own tapes. The only possible explanation I could come up with: he was so cavalier about picking a tape that he just fished one recklessly out of a VHS barrel on the "Roseanne" set and told Emmy chiefs, "Here, take this one." But he never took responsibility for the outcome. In fact, Goodman got so angry after 7 losses that he withdrew his name from series competition in protest.

Roseanne, by contrast, won an Emmy in 1993 for a powerful episode in which she recalls how she was sexually abused as a child. If Goodman had submitted that same episode, he probably would've won, too.

And therein this year lies the lesson for "Desperate Housewives." Roseanne won for giving judges her best acting work that season, not for an episode most likely to inspire giggles.

Felicity Huffman tells me that "Housewives" producer Marc Cherry has a stubborn notion that his show must submit comedic work in the Emmy comedy categories. Why? Why doesn't he just enter his best work? The top category — in which he failed to be nominated this year — is called "best comedy series," which means the best series that considers itself a comedy. It doesn't mean "funniest show."

Two months ago "Housewives" aired what I consider to be the single greatest episode on TV this year past: "Remember 2," its 90-minute season finale. Even if you don't agree with my assessment, surely you must concede that it was "Housewives'" best night of season 2, right? Well, here's a shockeroo for you: "Housewives" didn't submit it to any Emmy nominating panel. Yes, you heard that right. Isn't that insane? Instead, Cherry submitted the ho-hum season opener in the series race and pressed Huffman to submit that episode where she goes out boozing with her boss after work and dances the hoochie-koochie on the bar. If Felicity had submitted the season finale instead, she not only would've been nominated, she probably would've ended up the winner on Aug. 27.

Actually, she committed the same mistake last year: Felicity submitted what she considered her funniest episode, not her best one — the series pilot, in which she only had about 10 minutes of unremarkable performance time. But, oh, yeah, she did have that humorous scene where she fishes her rascal boys out of a neighbor's swimming pool during a backyard party. Marc Cherry told Felicity to submit that, so she did as she was told. The only reason she ended up winning the Emmy was because Marcia Cross screwed up, too. She submitted Felicity's best scene — the one where she faces off indignantly against the director of her sons' school play (Sharon Lawrence) and tells her to go to You-Know-Where. Felicity is fully aware of how she ended up winning the Emmy by default, I know, because I explained it to her myself one night in New York several months ago as he listened intently, nodding, saying, "Fascinating! That's fascinating!"

But she went ahead and made the same blunder again and this time got what she deserved.

Frankly, too, the producers of "Lost" got their comeuppance for failing to take the Emmy race seriously. Did they really believe they'd impress voters with that "Man of Science, Man of Faith" episode? There's nothing to it and it doesn't make sense. A dog runs away into the jungle at night and a couple of islanders go looking for it. Whoopdeedoo. Meantime, a few other islanders blow the lid off a hatch in the jungle floor and we see partial glimpses of a man living in a modern-style apartment down below. Huh? That's it. That's the whole episode. I repeat: Huh?

Why didn't producers submit the one about the Tailies, which had a full story arc and was dramatically compelling? That would've cinched them a bid for best drama series.

The reason: they didn't think about it. Having won last year, they assumed they'd be nominated again, so they pulled a John Goodman and just pulled any old thing out of a barrel, they got snubbed, and now they blame Emmy voters for not hailing the brilliance of that weird, unintelligible "Man of Science."

Frankly, I think that if you show such contempt for the Emmys, you deserve not to be nominated by them.

http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2006/07/desperate_house.html