Let the Emmy Madness Begin

On Thursday, July 19th at 5:40 am/PT, Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men and Kyra Sedgwick of The Closer will join Dick Askin, Chairman and CEO, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, to announce the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations. This bodes well for Cryer and Sedgwick since the actors chosen for this coveted crack-of-dawn duty are either winners from the previous year or will make the short list this year.

Speaking of making the short list, the revamped nominating procedures are more twisted and convoluted than the plots of 24, Lost and Heroes combined. After reading 2007 Emmy rules and Emmy authority Tom O'Neil's article, I think there's a general vote by the Academy members. The top 10 vote getters then get judged by a blue ribbon panel. However, the panel's votes are only worth 50% and their results are combined with those from the general election and the top 5 from that group are revealed on July 19th. Then there is another vote, I think by another panel, which will determine the winner announced on September 16 on FOX. Does that make sense? Then explain it to me.

Over the next few weeks I'll weigh in with my picks for the top 10 categories (Outstanding Series, Lead Actor and Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress in Comedy and Drama) and on that fateful morning compare my choices with those of the Academy.

She's Not Messing Around

USA's miniseries, The Starter Wife aired its final chapter last night, but not before Debra Messing delivered a performance that made people sit up and take notice.

Messing deftly displayed the comedic chops which she honed to perfection during her 8 season run as the neurotic and somewhat narcissistic Grace Adler on Will & Grace. However, as Molly Kagan, the devoted-wife-dumped-by-her-movie-producer-husband-for-a-younger-ditzy-blonde, the redhead proved she had a flair for the dramatic arts as well. Whether hilariously haggling with her horny husband over the terms of their divorce or putting on a brave face as the Hollywood community shuns her for being the cast-off spouse, Molly made sure she was not a woman to be ignored anymore.

Ms. Messing may want to clear some space on her mantle, because come July 19th, she may well be on her way to winning another Emmy.

Sayonara, Studio 60

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip faded to black for the last time (at least until its DVD release on October 18th). The series finale, "What Kind of Day Has It Been" (also the title of the season 1 finales of Aaron Sorkin's other series, The West Wing and Sports Night) blended drama, humor and heart. It answered several questions (Will Jordan survive? If not, will Danny get custody of the baby? Does Tom's brother get rescued? Will Matt and Harriet get back together?), but also left room to explore the aftermath of those resolutions.

I still find it hard to believe with a ridiculously talented cast, headed by Bradley Whitford (who directed the finale) and Matthew Perry, and multi-award-winning Sorkin at the helm, that the freshman dramedy could not do well. The main reason cited for pulling the plug was poor ratings. If that's the case, then NBC has no one to blame but itself.

When NBC unveiled the series at the May 2006 Upfronts, it was originally scheduled for 9 p.m. on Thursdays. However, when ABC moved Grey's Anatomy to that time period, NBC shuffled Studio 60 off to 10 p.m. on Mondays and thus sealed its fate. Much like Sorkin's highly-acclaimed series, The West Wing, Studio 60 was a show where the audience needed to pay attention to all of the myriad events and conversations unfolding on the screen simultaneously. The last prime time slot at the beginning of the work week wasn't really conducive to success for a show that placed a premium on character and dialogue. The target demographic would have been getting ready for or already been in bed.

The other major problem was that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was constantly being confused with NBC's other series about a late-night sketch comedy show, 30 Rock.

It's a sad day when the lights go out on a thought-provoking series like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and a show like According to Jim gets an 18 episode renewal.

Photo by Art Streiber/NBC Universal Photo

Cure for the Summertime Blues

Anyone who knows me knows that I detest the summer. To me, summer is a time when the bugs crawl out of the woodwork, the local ice cream man (whom I refer to as Satan) tortures me with that incessant music blaring for hours at a time (I live by a Little League field), the heat is within 15 degrees of my body temperature (which is just wrong and wreaks havoc on my hair and sinuses) and there's nothing on TV (except for baseball). However, I've been saved, at least for one night, by TNT's The Closer.



Although the show just aired the 2nd episode of the third season, don't hesitate to start watching now. Kyra Sedgwick (aka Mrs. Kevin Bacon) is phenomenal as the title character Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson of the Priority Homicide Division of the LAPD. Her portrayal of Brenda is multi-faceted, fierce, quirky and honest. She is a force to be reckoned with in her professional life, but a natural disaster when it comes to anything not involving a homicide case.

The entire cast is amazing and the writing is crisp, inventive and compelling. So make time for The Closer on Mondays at 9 PM. It will open your eyes to what good TV really is.

For a Cliff's Notes summary of the first two seasons, check out this!

Isaiah Is No George

Isaiah Washington must have skipped his history lesson. Folklore attributes George Washington as saying, "I cannot tell a lie." But unlike founding father George, this Washington can.

When I read this latest bit of info on Matt Webb Mitovich's blog on tvguide.com, I was speechless (and anyone who knows me that is not an easy feat). Apparently, the former Grey's Anatomy heart surgeon is claiming that T.R. Knight has used Washington's anti-gay slur incident as leverage with the Powers That Be on the hit ABC drama. Washington also claims that Patrick Dempsey, with whom he had a physical altercation over the comment, believes that if anyone should be fired from the show, it should be T.R. Knight.

A few salient points to keep in mind:

* Isaiah Washington's contract was not renewed at the end of its cycle. He was not FIRED. If he had been fired, they would have kicked him off when the incident occurred.

* Even if T.R. Knight has used this incident to get attention or make demands with the creative team of the show (which I seriously doubt), Washington was the one who made the comment, had a fist fight with Dempsey, denied that he made the comment and then cried "mea culpa" in the press.

* Washington now has dragged Patrick Dempsey into the middle of it. If Dempsey wants to show his support of or for Washington, then let him speak out. If not, Washington should refrain from putting words in his mouth.

* This story still has a pulse because Washington keeps it alive. Knight went on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about it, but as far as I know hasn't said anything publicly about it since.

Enough already! If Isaiah Washington ever hopes to resuscitate his career after all of this, he should just deal with his anger management issues and move on or it's a lesson he's doomed to repeat.