Monday, September 17, 2007

My bitchy 2007 Emmy review

James Spader over James Gandolfini??? Sally Field over Edie Falco? Ricky Gervais over Alec Baldwin?? Thomas Hayden Church over anybody???

What was the Television Academy thinking?? Were they just trying to stir up controversy in a desperate attempt to out rate last week’s Chabad Telethon? Were the results tabulated in Florida? Were the voters simply on peyote as most Americans suspect?

Trust me, if O.J. knew how easy it was to steal an Emmy he and his gunmen would be on stage thanking their parole officers.

Ryan Seacrest hosted the show. Also the red carpet show, the post-Emmys party show, the Channel 11 news, and the Chargers-Patriots halftime show on NBC.

How painful was his opening monologue? First of all, why the hell was he even DOING an opening monologue? Ryan, you introduce people. That’s your gift. You don’t try to be funny. You don’t wear silly costumes. You give out phone numbers. You tell people when to vote.

For examples of really funny see Lewis Black. His rant on the idiocy of television executives and screen clutter was brilliant, hilarious, and I’m sure the message that every television executive took from it is “let’s never hire him.”

I want to know what the censors cut out. They did it so artfully, by the way, just cutting the sound and showing an ugly black disco ball. I’m guessing they bleeped Ray Romano for suggesting that his screen wife Patty Heaton was now banging Kelsey Grammer and since they disco-balled Katherine Heigl when she stood to get her award I imagine she mouthed an objectionable word. Fox has to be very careful not to offend lip readers.

Red carpet hosts, Joan & Melissa Rivers have gone from E! to the TV GUIDE Channel to this year where they’re blogging. Next step down is “two cranks in a bar.” Expect that by 2009.

I do still wish they were on the red carpet however. Wouldn’t you love to see it? In addition to their stupid questions, now they’d be asking the celebrities to type in their answers.

The event was held at the cavernous Shrine auditorium. Capacity: Everyone who ever watched HAPPY HOUR.

They used a theater-in-the-round stage. I kept expecting a presenter to say, “Okay, now let’s play…the WEAKEST LINK!”

Gee, the montage of late night host one-liners took an odd turn. They went from a flurry of President Bush is an idiot jokes right into a somber tribute to Tom Snyder.

I felt sorry for the booth announcer. Not only did Katherine Heigl correct the pronunciation of her name on the air, the announcer couldn’t talk back. She couldn’t say, “This is Ms. Hy-GEL’S’s first win, an upset because there are many people who feel she ruined GREY’S ANATOMY this season.”

Okay, I’m extra bitchy this year. But James Spader????

How come Jon Cryer is considered a supporting actor when his character is represented in the title of the show?

One of my favorite moments was the big dance number with Glenn Close and the black-robed judges from DAMAGES. Oh wait … that was Jon Voight and the rabbis on the Chabad telethon. I’m so confused.

Al Gore is the only man who’s won an Oscar and now an Emmy and they’re both considered consolation prizes.

You could tell Robert Duvall won for a cowboy movie. Even while standing he looked like he was riding a horse.

The best acceptance speech wasn’t even aired. It was Elaine Stritch’s from a week ago. “I’m a recovering alcoholic, a brittle diabetic and I’ve got laryngitis – but I just won an Emmy!”

AMERICAN IDOL “Gives Back” resulted in AMERICAN IDOL “Gets Back”. They finally won an Emmy. Next year look for the very special TWO AND A HALF MEN “Gives Back” episode.

The ROOTS tribute on its 30th anniversary was lovely.

When was the last time you actually WATCHED a mini-series? For me, I’d have to say ROOTS.

On the other hand, the JERSEY BOYS tribute to THE SOPRANOS really didn’t need footage of Adriana being shot and other violent scenes during the touching love song, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”.

This may be the last year of HBO’s dominance at the Emmys but more recognition is in their future. They should be scoring quite a few AVN porn awards next January with TELL ME YOU LOVE ME. Michelle Borth should beat out Connie Lingis for “Best Actress in an Oral Sex Scene” and the pilot script should triumph over “Lawrence of Her Labia”.

But let’s get back to the Emmys where class and dignity reigns. The song of the year was “Dick in the Box” beating out “Everything Comes Down to Poo.”

Fox completely ignored Kathy Griffin’s acceptance speech from a week ago when she said Jesus had nothing to do with her win. She was wrong. Jesus has EVERYTHING to do with who gets recognized. Proof is that Debra Messing was nominated. Again! For acting!

It’s not fair that producers who have to turn out 22 or 24 hour episodes of drama a year must compete with producers who complete 13 episodes in a year and a half.

Has Helen Mirren ever NOT won? If there’s a nuclear attack I want to be under Helen Mirren.

Nominating Minnie Driver and not Eddie Izzard for THE RICHES is like nominating Pam Dawber and not Robin Williams for MORK & MINDY.

The people in the first ten rows you don’t recognize are called “seat fillers”. When the seat fillers have to go to the bathroom they’re replaced by the “nominated writers”.

It would be easier for Jack Bauer to disarm a dirty bomb, find Osama bin Laden, end world hunger, and build an Ikea baby crib than to repeat as an Emmy winner after this dismal season of 24.

Can ANYONE remember last year's Movie of Week winner? And that includes the winners themselves?

Choreographer Louis van Amstel must feel great. Out of the four nominees for Outstanding Choreography he is the only one who DIDN’T win.

Brad Garrett always tells two jokes too many.

Michael C. Hall from DEXTER deserved to win. And if he’d been nominated I’m sure he would have. Jesus apparently doesn’t shell out the $14.95 a month for SHOWTIME.

Bill Maher is now Emmy’s biggest single loser with 19 defeats. I’m sure Republicans and Angela Lansbury are thrilled. New Rule: Only Arianna Huffington can be on the Blue Ribbon Committees.

Every time Sally Field wins an award I wind up saying the same thing, “Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!!!” Play the “get off” music the second her name is announced.

Steve Carell’s acceptance speech was so great I only wish he had won.

I was happy for America Ferrara, Greg Daniels, Tony Bennett, Tony Bennett, Terry O’Quinn (although I’d be happier for Michael Emerson), Robert Duvall, Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart, and Tony Bennett.

I was THRILLED for Tina Fey and 30 ROCK. Not that the Emmys mean anything, especially now that James Spader has beaten out James Gandolfini, but hopefully this win will bring more viewers to this very deserving and funny comedy.

And it’s hard to argue with THE SOPRANOS taking Best Drama. Although, considering the way the Academy voted this year, I’m shocked it wasn’t beaten out by KIDNAPPED.

46 comments :

Rob said...

Okay, gotta rant on you comments...

Spader was a joke. Only thing I can figure is that the others split the vote and he won by accident.

Ryan Seacrest's monologue wasn't as horrible as it could have been. Look at it this way. Whoopi could have been hosting.

Lewis Black's monologue may have been true, but it wasn't very funny, and if you didn't see the payoff coming from the moment he said it, you weren't paying attention.

I thought the Family Guy intro was very funny, and made me wonder if Seth McFarland should just host.

Was it just me or did Katherine Heigl come across as the biggest bitch in the world? She tried a joke at her mom's expense, acted like she deserved the award for simply working hard and being in the business for "17 years". She acted in a movie with Stephen Seagal, for God's sake.

It was nice of Thomas Hayden Church to show up in his best outfit from Kohl's however.

Anonymous said...

I was hoping that just as David Chase started to speak to accept his award that Fox would cut to black for 11 seconds.

MrCarlson said...

I was thrilled that James Spader won. As Ken Said, it is a little bit harsh not to compare performances when you put out 24 episodes a year, when "The Sopranos" only had 9 under its belt. (9 excellent episodes, but still just 9). walking away with best directing, best writting and Best show can not be clearly viewed as a defeat, although Eddie Falco was ROBBED, and she had an easier name to pronounce as well, so it was a win-win situation.

Terry O'Quinn was a class act. the first thing he did when walking on stage was call attention to his fellow nominee Michael Emerson, and he still had time to dish a couple of DH jokes across those loosing ladies.

isn't everyone else getting fed up with all those Helen Mirren wins? ok, we get it, she IS good. now, can we move on please? I mean, her special got 3 straight wins. her, the show and the director. it was like Wham, double wham, and "just in case you are not dead yet" Wham.

I guess, apart from walking away from 18 million dollars so far, Ricky Gervais, decided to walk away from another Emmy win. Give it up to Steve Carrell already, he's gonna play Maxwell Smart, for crying out loud!.

Ray Romano, another nice guy. his 3-4 minute stand up was all about promoting his fellow ex-costars new shows. It shows you a guy can't have everything, he's got piles and piles of money BUT Frasier is now screwing his tv wife. still, a personal nod to Peter Boyle would have been nice.

I wasn't aware Jane Wyman had passed on. at least half of her Falcon Crest co-stars let out a little cheer among the aplause, if the rumors are to be believed.


well, here's hoping that Kelsey Grammer's new show can succeed on FOX (see the irony, success, good programming and Fox, in the same sentence) and that his Chuck Darling differs A LOT from our darling Frasier. I have to go, I still have to call and plead for Conan O'Brien next year presenting the Emmys, now that they got Jon Stewart back on the Oscars, and I'm gonna write "Heigl" a thousand times, because I pronounced it wrong.

Anonymous said...

Jesus, Ken, you barely left me anything to rant about:

http://sidesalad.net/archives/003391.html

Anonymous said...

Whatever you think of Spader's win (Gandolfini was more deserving), he gave a great speech. His line about the "thousands of concerts" he's attended, and these were the "worst seats I've ever had" was the funniest of the night. I was surprised that Stewart and Colbert weren't very funny at all in their moments onstage--the material was lame. And by the way, if EVERY single winner has to be played off because they've talked "too long", maybe THEY SHOULD ALL GET MORE TIME! Another 15 seconds apiece, easily. Compensate by moving the TV-movie and miniseries categories to another night, so the 90% of us who've never seen any of them don't have to fast-forward past them with our TiVos. And whose brilliant idea was it to have that musical fiasco for The Sopranos? And since when does the Emmy Awards single out one show to honor when it goes off the air? Did they do that for M*A*S*H, Ken? Or Cheers? Or Mary Tyler Moore? Why The Sopranos? Sure, it was a great show, but it still seemed inappropriate. Other shows have been on longer, or been seen and loved by many more people. Funniest moment of the whole broadcast: the video clips for the writing nominations for The Daily Show, Bill Maher, Conan, etc.

Tallulah Morehead said...

What a relief darling, after posting my own Emmy review over on my flog, to then read yours and see that I don't have to go back and cut anything from mine. Two completely different takes, although we both are - let's say puzzled - about James Spader's win. But while he shouldn't have won, his speech was so much funnier than Seacrest's whole evening that he was welcome anyway.

I understand that at the technical Emmys, Helen Mirrin picked up 7 more awards.

Cheers darling.

Nat G said...

Hey, singling out The Sopranos for tribute made a lot more sense than singling out Don't Forget The Lyrics. If you want more time for acceptances, do you really need to look past those minutes lost on a gag that was obvious from the moment they started the bit. I know Fox wants a little promo love for hosting this thing, but at least force 'em to make it interesting...

"The Book of Don" said...

The Canadian simulcast was not censored.

Romano joked that Kelsey was (quote) "now screwing my wife".

and

Heigl mouthed an obvious 'OH SHIT'...when her name was announced.

unfortunately none of Seacrest was censored.

Brian Scully said...

The fact that Ryan Seacrest was chosen as Host, is exactly in tune with a show like "Entourage" being nominated for "Best Comedy"... Television has turned to crap and crap is now qualifying for Awards. It's all one huge embarassment.

Feisty Crone said...

I thought the whole show was a joke. The mistake I made was watching E's red carpet show. By 9:00 pm., I was experiencing the toxic effects of a Seacrest overdose. I like him, really I do, but in small doses.

maven said...

Great rant, Ken! Some of those wins were shocking. Unfortunetly, Terry and Michael both couldn't win...I'm glad one of them did.

Ryan Seacrest was missing in action, thankfully!

Anonymous said...

To crutnacker -- I think it was just you. Or mostly you. I thought she was honest (IMAGINE THAT) and charming. She didn't do the choreographed Mom and Jesus talking points. So what? It was spontaneous and entertaining.

Heigl and Spader said the same thing in different ways. ("We thought 'The Sopranos' were going to sweep, WTF?'" And pre-Emmys, Laurie implied he wasn't expecting anything for the same reasons.) Which leads me to believe that people voted the way they thought they OUGHT TO in the "prestige" catagories -- writing, directing, series -- but went with their guts in acting. (Don't actors make up the largest voting block in the academy?) Votes split, and here we are.

Honestly, it's a surprise, but I don't see anything horribly wrong with it. There's no dictum that says TV has to be dark to be good. In fact most of the audience doesn't like it that way.

--SD

Anonymous said...

"Has Helen Mirren ever NOT won? If there’s a nuclear attack I want to be under Helen Mirren."

Personally, I think "it's Thursday" would be a good enough reason to be under Helen Mirren. (Rimshot. Thanks, folks, I'm here all week.)

MrCarlson said...

the thing I didn't understand about Helen Mirren's win is, the episode she submitted was not a special at all, it was part of a series with like 30 episodes. if you go on amazon.co.uk, you can check out the full list. Is that allowed? I mean, I thought that category was for one or 2 part specials, but not a longer tv series.

Cage Free Brown said...

Spader's winning was like Jethro Tull winning 'metal band' instead of Metallica. maybe he was in the wrong category but I was glad to see him win.

my favorite bit every year is the variety show writing (or whatever the hell it is) with all the late night shows writing staffs names read while we look at all sorts of other stuff. ALWAYS my biggest belly laugh of the night.

the less glamoured up Joely Richardson is, the hotter she looks. how the hell does that work?

what's a 'Ryan Seacrest'? he seems like a nice enough guy but every time somebody like Jon Stewart or Ellen went onstage, I felt like the host had finally arrived.

Anonymous said...

Lewis Black's rant about those idiotic, drama killing, comedy snuffing pop up promos was a balm to my soul. It was funny and right on target. Those promos clearly show the disrespect and ignorance of network execs and marketing assholes for the whole creative process.

Howard Hoffman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Howard Hoffman said...

(Previous post had an anti-war message which Fox censored. Let's try again...)

Ken...did you catch "Inside Deep Throat" on HBO? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe it's the first time one of the mainstream premium channels actually showed the big oral nasty. It had the entire payoff scene of that flick...in the context of the documentary, of course.

Also, since Ron Howard's outfit produced it, I guess that also makes it okay.

Anonymous said...

The Emmy's were on? Oh well, chalk up another to irrelavance.

Aaron Barnhart said...

Ken, you forgot that Sally Field got the disco ball treatment, too. Or maybe while you were screaming "SHUT UP!" at the TV you had your eyes tightly shut. Or you blacked out.

Anyway, on radio this morning they played the quote that got bleeped. A paranoid would come away thinking she'd been bleeped for saying "if mothers ruled the world there would be no more wars." Maybe she said "no more MF'ing wars," and AP edited it. Anyway, the sentiment goes back to the mother of Mother's Day, Julia Ward Howe.

But it is amazing how every time she wins, it's like she's won for the first time.

Anonymous said...

Maybe any show with less than 15 episodes in a season should be classified as a mini-series instead of a series.

Maybe the Emmy awards should be for a whole season of shows rather than one episode so you don't get crazy stuff like the Soprano's getting nominated three times for writing.

Personally, I think that Alec Baldwin not getting the Emmy for 30 Rock was much more of a travesty than Spaeder for Boston Legal.

Aaron Barnhart said...

Found it:

Referring to the Iraq War, she said, "Let's face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamned wars in the first place."

I guess she can be excused. She's only been doing broadcast television for FORTY YEARS.

Anonymous said...

After Seacrest and Pace-is-your-Pal Romano, I switched over to QVC which was action-thriller by comparison.

Later that night while surfing happened to land on Sally Field HOWEVER there was no "bleeped" omission -- heard the whole thing. Perhaps it was a cable-provider who did the bleeping???

FYI - Emmy winners are chosen by committee and not by academy vote. Stop complaining, you can make a difference by joining one and wasting precious moments of your life...but who really cares when actors are merely giving themselves one more venue to applaud themselves? Like the exhorbitant money is not enough.

Anonymous said...

Two things (of many) that bug me about the Emmy Awards ... why does an actor win year after year for playing THE SAME ROLE? One award for the role...that's it.
And why is Tony Bennett (who I do love) nominated for a one shot special in a category against people like Jon Stewart and David Letterman who are on 5 nights a week?
Makes no sense ... and finally, enough of boorish Seacrest. How about "Seacrest ... out!" --- for good!

sugarmeg said...

Just so you know, your blog brought me to 30 Rock. I've watched the whole first season online several times over now and I can't wait for the next season!

Thank you for sharing!

Also, I'm lookig forward to hearing your thoughts on the Fall season's comedies!

:)

estiv said...

I just read Ken's post and all the remarks by the great commenters here (crutnacker, tallulah, et al.) and I'm satisfied. It took me less than fifteen minutes. Why watch the Emmies for three hours?

Anonymous said...

Is anybody besides me tired of rants?

When did nastiness become hip? These are awards you're talking about, meaningless except in their attempt to applaud talent, effort and hard work. How can you find pleasure in attacking that?

This blog and many of the responses sadly verify what many of us average American heathens have long believed: Hollywood is filled with vicious people who justify their petty jealousies as the birthright of a professional pedigree.

I'm not just talking about you, Ken, but what would Cliff Levine think of this?

Anonymous said...

Based on last night, I'm embarrassed to be a television writer. Those awards should be a celebration of good work, not everything that's wrong with the business. And what did Marcia Cross do with her original face?!

Anonymous said...

You did leave out the absolute best moment of the night: Alec Baldwin's mom from 30 Rock giving an angry/confused look and saying, "I'm not kidding, folks, I don't have any idea what the hell I'm doing."

For me, that narrowly nudged out Black.

Admiral Neck said...

the thing I didn't understand about Helen Mirren's win is, the episode she submitted was not a special at all, it was part of a series with like 30 episodes. if you go on amazon.co.uk, you can check out the full list. Is that allowed? I mean, I thought that category was for one or 2 part specials, but not a longer tv series.

diogo, Prime Suspect airs in the UK as small seasons of a few episodes, so the 30 episodes are considered chapters of mini-seasons, but the final "season" was aired as a two-part special to finish the series off. So yeah, it's not technically a TV movie or a mini-series, but it's kind of a hybrid of the two.

Terry O'Quinn's tie was the only sparkling thing of the whole night. I echo the sentiment that both he and Emerson shared the award.

Anonymous said...

//But let’s get back to the Emmys where class and dignity reigns. The song of the year was “Dick in the Box” beating out “Everything Comes Down to Poo.”//

"Everything Comes Down to Poo" was ROBBED!

Although, if any song from the "Scrubs" musical episode should've won, it should've been either "Guy Love" or the Dr. Cox/Janitor rant song.

Anonymous said...

Seems to me if Ryan Seacrest opens the show with an embarrassing musical number, dressed in a bikini, he immediately goes from being everyone's whipping boy to Billy Crystal-like host/hero.

Thank God Alec Baldwin didn't win so I don't have to move to England.

Anonymous said...

As someone who worked on the Emmys I though I'd add my 2 cents...

I have worked on 200+ 'Award Shows' and the Emmy audience is maybe the toughest one to get a reaction from. I assume this is due to a combination of cynicism and award show fatigue on the part of the attendees. Still, if you don't want to be there, don't go. It's like the audience is daring you to entertain them. (Incidentally Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards has by far the most enthusiastic audience.)

I was most struck by the lack of applause for departed industry members during the 'In Memoriam' segment. Just a smattering of applause for Ed Bradley? Are you kidding me? (During the ESPY's the 'In Memoriam' elicits thunderous applause.) In the audiences defense they may have all been asleep by that point in the show. (It is a long show.)

I was shocked to see the 'Disco Ball' treatment when I watched a little of the show on TIVO. I can almost guarantee that the producer (Ken Erlich) and the director (Bruce Gowers) will be appalled when they see what was done. The 'disco ball' shot was so jarring that FOX should have just gone to black.

But... in FOX's defense we should really be blaming the FCC for creating a climate in which the Disco Ball shot was necessary. Maybe the Emmys should be moved to Comedy Central (after midnight) so people can say whatever they want.

I thought Ryan did a good job, especially considering it was not an audience predisposed to liking him. He's certainly a competent host and it's not a crazy idea to use him to try and attract a younger audience to an increasingly irrelevant show, but there is no question a good comedian is a better candidate to host because they have a better stage presence. Even for the couple of minutes Ellen held the mic you can see the difference.

I think maybe the biggest challenge with these shows is capturing the 'look and feel' of being there. If you watched on HD then it looked good-- regular TV doesn't nearly do it justice. The set looked really great in person.

Producing the Emmys has got to be one of the most thankless tasks in Hollywood. You have to try and produce a show that will please the academy, network, appeal to a broad (and hopefully younger) audience, be entertaining and edgy but not offensive. These shows are an enormous amount of work, you get almost no sleep for five days, you have no control over whether or not your presenters are going to even read there lines and it's a live show so you have no margin for error. Fun stuff-- definitely not for the faint of heart.

MrCarlson said...

Admiral Neck,

I know that it was a 2 hour "Special", but correct me if I'm wrong all seasons (or series) in the UK are 6-10 episodes long, so technically they should be eligable as complete seasons, otherwise it could be argued that the 9 episode season of the sopranos was also a "mini series to wrap things up".

also, I start to notice a trend where series like CSI (the original) are always short changed. this year, the Las Vegas one had some AMAZING episodes that are certainly up to par with the other nominees. please, people who have seen season 7, tell me if I'm wrong. William Petersen and Marg Halgenberger at least should be allowed presence in between the nominees. you don't find much fluff or "sunglasses mania" in those episodes.

Anonymous said...

"Boston Legal" should not even be mentioned in the same breath as "The Sopranos". That said, Spader is an excellent actor, and gives fine performances week after week. There's nothing shameful about his winning. Now Sally Field is another story altogether...

Cap'n Bob said...

The next time you see Sally Field remind her that when women got the vote it was considered a harbinger of no more wars since, the reasoning went, no woman would allow her son/husband/brother to go. That was around 1920, wasn't it?

Dr. Leo Marvin said...

Ken,

I'll submerge my arrogance in the hope of learning something, and there's no question you're more of an expert on TV comedy than just about everybody, and certainly me. So where have I gone wrong believing they haven't invented an award for TV comedy that Ricky Gervais doesn't deserve to win?

Admiral Neck said...

I know that it was a 2 hour "Special", but correct me if I'm wrong all seasons (or series) in the UK are 6-10 episodes long, so technically they should be eligable as complete seasons, otherwise it could be argued that the 9 episode season of the sopranos was also a "mini series to wrap things up".

That's right, though UK TV shows are beginning to run in longer seasons now. That's beside the point, though. I think the Emmy judges just didn't want their awards to be the only ones this year that didn't give Mirren an award. The Tony judges are probably in a meeting right now, trying to figure out how to bend the rules so they can give her a nod for being in National Treasure 2.

As for CSI, agreed. How the episode Monster in the Box didn't get nominated for something is a mystery. That might be the best CSI episode yet.

Thank God Alec Baldwin didn't win so I don't have to move to England.

No respite from the Baldwin love in the UK, benson, at least there won't be soon. 30 Rock is going to start screening here in the new year, so the Alec Baldwin fanwagon will start rolling then.

The Cajun Boy said...

last night's show was, in more ways than one, a complete wire hanger abortion. you pretty much hit on every point of contention that i have. i will never watch again as long as fucking fox is the broadcast venue.

Anonymous said...

I've missed the last 4 seasons of The Sopranos, so I can't say anything about Gandolfini's worthiness this year. I expected Hugh Laurie to win and was surprised that Spader repeated. That said, Spader is superb on BL, so I'm not too bummed (especially since his speech was so entertaining).

Heigl should have won for the previous season's heart transplant storyline. Last season's writers turned Izzy into one of the most annoying characters on TV (they managed to do the same for about half her co-stars, too). I assume her victory last night was at least partially for Knocked Up.

A pity Jenna Fischer didn't win, but big props to Jaime Pressley, who is equally great in a completely different comic style.

I finally figured out why The Amazing Race keeps winning: half the Academy works on the show. At least I assume that explains why the entire audience took the stage when the win was announced.

The only conceivable reason to have Ryan Seacrest dress up like one of The Tudors would be if he were presenting Best Costume Design. It still wouldn't be funny, but at least we'd see the stupid logic of it.

I thought Lewis Black was funny, even if he belabored his point. But I do hate it when I'm enjoying a show, only to suddenly be thrown out of the story by a rush of text and the arrival of a tiny version of Tony Shalhoub or some such at the bottom of the screen. Makes me think I've accidentally switched to a new version of Gulliver's Travels.

Anonymous said...

The Wire

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure that Jon Cryer's status as supporting actor is something that is determined by Charlie Sheen's agent.

William C Bonner said...

The most recent mini series that I watched was Jekyl. I think I may have originally heard about it here.

A mini series has an advantage, in that everyone knows it's going to end.

New series in the US, it seems like they are all ending halfway through a season, or less. The alternative is that halfway through the season they start watering things down, to try to stretch storylines into a second season.

Anonymous said...

This just in -- Helen Mirren just won the NAACP award for Best Actress in a TV mini-series.

Anonymous said...

Lewis Black's line about the annoying scroll during newscasts was totally lifted from Seinfeld, who was doing it on tour during his stand-up tour of 2004 about distraction during the news, having to try to digest the Middle East and the fact that it's Charlie Sheen's birthday at the same time. Something along those lines. It must have had many incantations since then in pop culture.

Rob said...

I wasn't the only one who thought Heigl was a Bitchel.

http://www.idontlikeyouinthatway.com/2007/09/katherine-heigl-is-bitchy.html