July 2010 Archives

Watch AMC's "Rubicon" -- And Watch It CLOSELY!

July 30, 2010 1:30 PM

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Since AMC got into the one-hour drama series business, it's made one masterpiece after another. One was Mad Men, the other was Breaking Bad, and both are still on the air. Starting Sunday night at 8 ET, they're joined by a third new series, a modern-day spy thriller called Rubicon. Is it another TV triumph? Too early to tell. A TV show that should be watched? Most definitely... and very, very closely.

Rubicon is the story about spies at an American agency that takes all the information gathered by other agencies and tries to make sense of if all. The central characters in this drama are uber-geeks -- the kind of spies who read books on string theory during their off hours, and find hidden meanings in the replication of clues in independently published crossword puzzles.

I've seen the first four hours of Rubicon, which was created by Jason Horwitch and is executive produced by Henry Bromell. (Bromell has a career's worth of impressive TV credits, including Homicide: Life on the Street, Chicago Hope and I'll Fly Away.)

Two of those hours are shown Sunday from 8-10 p.m. ET -- and by the time they're over, you'll get a feel for the show and its aims. It's a conspiracy-paranoia brain twister -- a drama that, as its creators freely admit, was inspired by, and intended to evoke, such vintage conspiracy movie thrillers as All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor (left) and The Parallax View.

Those are three of my favorite films from that era, and Rubicon evokes the same "trust no one" feeling nicely. The most notable difference is the pace: After four hours, I'm still not sure where Rubicon is going, much less whether the destination will be worthwhile. But it's a show that keeps you thinking, and guessing -- and one that demands your full attention as well as a hearty supply of patience.

I can't say this clearly enough: You cannot watch Rubicon casually and expect to follow it, much less enjoy it.

Unlike so much of what passes for TV drama these days, it is not a show that rewards or tolerates multi-tasking. Watch Rubicon, and watch it attentively -- or don't bother watching it at all.

Otherwise, if you're doing the bills, or the dishes, or reading the paper (hah: like that still happens!), you'll miss too much.

Like, for example, the four-leaf clover that pops up as a menacing, unexplained harbinger of doom. Or the number "13" that pops up not only as an important numbered spot in a parking lot (see photo at top of column), but as the very first word spoken in this series, yelled as part of a hide-and-go-seek countdown as a young boy runs in the snow.

Rubicon stars James Badge Dale, who played Leckie on HBO's The Pacific, as Will Travers, the string-theory-reading loner at the New York-based intelligence analysis agency, innocuously named the American Policy Institute. His boss, the only person at API to whom he relates, is David Hadas, played by wonderful character actor Peter Gerety. Early on, Will takes his puzzling crossword-puzzle discovery to David, which sets a whole round of even more mysterious moves and counter-moves into action.

But action, really, may be too strong a word. Rubicon, at least in the first four hours, is more obsessed with mood than with mayhem. Characters count more than carnage. To find the closest equivalent in a previous TV spy drama, you have to go all the way back to that classic Alec Guinness vehicle, the imported 1979 miniseries brilliantly dramatizing John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Time, and future episodes, will tell whether Rubicon earns that comparison more fully -- and deserves the heaps of praise duly bestowed upon Mad Men and Breaking Bad, rather than the equally duly bestowed disappointment heaped upon AMC's misfire of a miniseries remake of another classic paranoia spy drama, The Prisoner.

Rubicon is a big risk for AMC, because many viewers will give up on it early because too little is explained or resolved. (Running the first two hours as a double-header is a clever move.) But Rubicon, also, is a smart risk, and a smart show -- AMC, right now, is as interested in building reputation as viewership. And Rubicon, when the jigsaw puzzle is more complete, may well turn out to be another key piece.

If you can't wait until Sunday night, AMC, which already has sneak previewed episode one a few times on its own network (after the season finale of Breaking Bad and the season premiere of Mad Men), is making the first hour available immediately on its website. Watch, if you wish, by clicking HERE.

And while I'm offering links to elsewhere, here's a link to audio and text of my radio review of Rubicon for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, which ran Wednesday. Read that, and listen, by clicking HERE. (Or, if you're listening to Fresh Air Weekend this weekend, the review is being repeated there, too. Check, as they say, your local listings.)

Either way, please return with your reactions once you've seen an hour, or two, or four, or more. The TV WORTH WATCHING readership is PRECISELY the target audience for Rubicon -- so I'm interested in whether these guys have hit their mark. And, no doubt, so are they...

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AMC's "Mad Men" Returns, Starting with Four Brilliantly Weighted Words

July 23, 2010 9:30 AM

Sunday's season premiere of AMC's period drama series Mad Men begins with Jon Hamm's Don Draper being interviewed by a reporter for a trade journal, who asks Don an innocuous puffball question as preparation of a profile about the successful advertising-agency executive. But because of what we know about Don's past -- and what most people around him DON'T know -- that puffball turns into a potential hand grenade.

The question the reporter asks, to begin season four of Mad Men, is this:

"Who is Don Draper?"

Brilliant.

The quizzical look on Hamm's face (at top above), reflecting the slightest nervousness about what may or may not be coming next, says it all, while Don himself, at first, says nothing.

Series creator Matthew Weiner wrote the opening episode, and his opener to that opener couldn't be more on point, more tantalizing, or more inviting to multiple interpretation.

On one level, Don Draper is the name of the dead Korean War soldier whose identity Dick Whitman stole on the battlefield -- a secret that Dick, now the Don of Madison Avenue, does not want to be discovered (even though two of the people who know that secret continue to work with him at the new agency).

But on a deeper level, "Who is Don Draper?" is a question Don has to confront the entire episode, and presumably the season, even if he can dodge it when posed by a friendly reporter. It's like a nesting doll of meanings within meanings. Who is Don to his colleagues? To the image-obsessed world of New York advertising? To the family that once signified success, but now is torn apart? And finally, who is Don Draper to himself?

After reinventing himself AS Don Draper, now he has to reinvent Don, too. And while I'll reveal nothing about when this new season takes place, what happens or where it begins to lead, I will say this: The first episode is bookended by Don being interviewed with reporters, and the difference between the two signifies the beginnings of a new answer to the question posed at the start.

Who is Don Draper? Like Mad Men, he's a work in progress -- always moving, always changing, always smarter and slicker than most of what surrounds him. And, also like Mad Men, he's fascinating to watch.

(You can hear my NPR Fresh Air with Terry Gross report on Mad Men and other summer TV treats, which was broadcast Thursday, by clicking HERE. Mad Men returns Sunday night at 10 ET on AMC.)

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Burt Reynolds Should Be a Recurring Character on USA's "Burn Notice"

July 22, 2010 8:47 AM

Thursday night at 9 ET on USA's Burn Notice, Burt Reynolds guest stars as a retired spy targeted by a Russian hit squad. Michael and his crew come to the rescue -- in a crisp TV "buddy movie" so delightful, it all but demands a string of sequels...

Reynolds plays Paul, a former spy whose drunken posting on the Internet catches the eye, and sparks the ire, of a Russian special ops team, who descend upon Miami determined to find Paul, and kill him. At first, Jeffrey Donovan's Michael Westen presumes the Russians are coming for him -- but when he IDs the true target, he and his team decide to intercept the hit men, and save the old man.

The old man, meanwhile, loves the action: breaking into a safe, being chased by bad guys, drawing a gun again. He has two settings: grumpy old-timer and wide-eyed overgrown kid. Reynolds, of course, is great at playing both.

It's not surprising, but it is gratifying, to see Reynolds exude so much ease and comfort acting for television. After all, he started there -- and not just in the title role in 1970's Dan August, before attaining movie stardom in Deliverance and Smokey and the Bandit.

Burt Reynolds began his acting career on television more than 50 years ago, playing a one-episode role on M Squad in 1959. He co-starred as Ben Frazer for a season on Riverboat, opposite Darren McGavin (pictured) that same year, Reynolds' first recurring role. For the next decade, appeared on an exhaustively long list of still-familiar TV shows, including Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, Route 66, Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, Branded, Flipper, 12 O'Clock High, Gentle Ben, The F.B.I. and Love, American Style.

And now, here he is on Burn Notice, wisecracking effortlessly, safecracking laboriously, and making the most of his screen time with Notice co-stars Sharon Gless, Bruce Campbell and Gabrielle Anwar.

Especially, in this episode, Anwar, whose beautiful, trigger-happy, violence-prone Fiona instantly catches the eye of Reynolds' Paul.

Regaling her with an exciting tale of watching Michael fight and subdue a couple of bad guys, Paul tells Fiona, "They used to call it karate, but I think they got a new name for it now."

She smiles at him and replies, "Foreplay?"

"Hello!" he says, his eyes widening with unchecked delight.

It's the way Reynolds delivers that line, and so many others, that makes me hope Burn Notice finds a way to return Reynolds to the fold. He and Donovan have an obvious chemistry together -- and when it comes to Burt Reynolds, 51 years of television doesn't seem like enough.

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Letter from the TVWW Mailbag -- One Contributor Writes a Reader about... ME?

July 14, 2010 10:49 AM

[Bianculli here: It's getting nuts around here. First Eric Gould writes a column about a Lady Gaga video. Then I write an open column, addressed to Eric, challenging him to review three more videos, and selecting them for him as a dare. Then one of our readers writes in, good-naturedly questioning my psychological stability in selecting those videos. And then another of of our contributors, Tom Brinkmoeller, replies to that reader with what amounts to a column about...ME. This is where we pick up the story...]

Neil,

Though I don't know you, after reading your comments I feel obliged to share with you some suspicions about the TVWW blog's owner. Feel free to wring your hands along with me, should you wish.

I'm not so worried about what psychoanalysis might reveal about David. Nearly everyone who writes for him has been part of the four-star forced march that was known as the press tour. Spend enough enclosed time around the same group of people who are paid to sneer, and you learn that we're all damaged to the point where we'd hide from anyone who claims a knowledge of psychology. (Probably why I used to skip large blocks of the PBS portion of the tours.)

What I worry may have happened is that some V-like miniseries somehow came to life in New Jersey and what once was the singular Bianculli has been cloned into all kinds of equal shadows.

Think about it: This guy previews all kinds of programming. But he also continues to watch full episodes of series he's already reviewed, whether he liked them or not. (All of this is evident from reading his blog entries.) I sometimes try to figure out how much of my day would be eaten by such video vigilance. I waffle on a final answer, but most days I think trying to duplicate just these things would eat up more than a third of my day.

If that were all, my suspicions would be crazy. But this entity claiming to be David Bianculli also writes books, sometimes freelances, teaches, does network radio work, plays tennis, makes frequent trips to medical specialists, is proud father to two accomplished offspring and participates in mundane things like opening mail and cooking. Not microwaving. I have been told of omelets, sauces, sushi and other fine meals. And once a year he cleans his office.

And he travels. Call his cell and you'll usually reach him. But hardly ever in New Jersey. Once he was running through the L.A. Farmers Market, in search of a TV Guide. He's been in Colorado for a weekend. He goes to Italy for film festivals and Australia to watch whales. Does anyone know the complete itinerary?

But think: With all the viewing he does, plus all the other things he is known to take part in, the day starts to look like 50 pounds of air in a 20-pound tire. One person can't do all that.

When I was growing up in Cincinnati, the local gas and electric company named all of its customer-service reps Ann Holiday. No matter when you'd call, Ann would answer the phone. That was marketing to the naive. This Bianculli thing is more serious.

There is good reason to think there are many David Biancullis roaming the world as we sit in one place and do mortal tasks. They're not everywhere yet. But they're clever and they're covering their bases well. If this is true, we can only hope the FBI swoops in soon, makes a massive arrest of these print pretenders and arranges a swap with the broadcast bloc for all the Ryan Seacrest clones blanketing much of the world.

Laugh if you will at this theory. But today, when I discovered this Bianculli phenomenon also has encyclopedic knowledge of music videos from watching, I dared to go public with my theory. Before, in the back of my head, I theorized that maybe he just doesn't sleep. Can't rationalize that way anymore. The facts just pile too largely in favor of the eventual appearance of an army of Biancullis covering the earth. That in itself isn't so scary. But just think of the millions of awful puns such an army would produce.

Be wary,

Tom

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USA's "Covert Affairs" Worth Watching; Other Summer Shows, Not So Much

July 13, 2010 8:53 AM

The newest offering from the USA Network, a mostly lighthearted concoction called Covert Affairs (10 p.m. ET Tuesdays) and starring Piper Perabo as a fledgling CIA agent, couldn't be more well-timed, given the recent Russian spy swap and the inescapable images of young, sultry Anna Chapman. For that, and other reasons, it's TV worth watching -- but many other summer offerings are not...

One benefit of concocting a website called TV WORTH WATCHING, in theory, was that we wouldn't have to write about the bad stuff, unless we felt an urge to do so. Oh, we still have to WATCH as much TV as before, to separate the wheat from the chaff. But once we know it's chaff, we don't feel the urge to chime in just because it's another premiere episode of "Chaff: The Series."

That's why, for example, you saw nothing in BEST BETS, or anywhere else on this site, about A&E's new series The Glades, which premiered Sunday. I was very interested, beforehand, in how it would be filmed and handled -- since my eclectic resume, in my younger days, includes serving on the U.S. geological survey crew that mapped the Glades during a mid-'70s drought.

But once the hero wandered into a swamp barefoot, and was surprised when he reached in and got bitten by a gator, I rejected the entire series as a giant croc.

The same goes for TNT's Rizzoli & Isles, which premiered Monday. Didn't recommend it, didn't review it. Why bother? And earlier this summer, many other shows fell into the same black hole of justifiably ignored mediocrity: ABC's Downfall and Rookie Blue, CBS's The Bridge, this means you.

But things aren't all bad this summer, not at all. Fantasy genre fans have reason to delight not only in BBC America's Doctor Who on Saturdays, but in the new Friday double-header of Haven and the returning Eureka on Syfy, which also scores with Tuesday's enjoyable Warehouse 13. TNT just brought back The Closer on Mondays.

HBO has me giddy with its outrageous new episodes of True Blood each Sunday. I'm lapping up Rescue Me on FX, and developing a strong acquired taste for Louie, both on Tuesdays. On Fox, there's Lie to Me and The Good Guys on Mondays, Hell's Kitchen on Tuesdays.

ABC has Boston Med each Thursday, a rare and welcome burst of summer intelligence, while USA has the addictively enjoyable Burn Notice. And Showtime's Green Room with Paul Provenza -- what an unexpected treat THAT turned out to be! Others on this site, especially Diane Holloway, are thrilled by other fare as well, including TNT's Memphis Beat. All in all, a good summer.

So if you don't see something covered on TV WORTH WATCHING, it's not because we're negligent, or not paying attention -- well, most of the time, anyway. We're just pre-selecting, and hoping to protect you from exposure to the bottom of the barrel. Because, believe us, it's out there. And it's a big, wide, deep barrel.

And now, finally, to Covert Affairs. Yes, it has the overall shades of ABC's Alias, which had a better actress (Jennifer Garner) at its center, and was brazen about encouraging her to adopt one or more sexy covert identities in each episode. But Covert Affairs is brighter in tone, and is not without chops in both the action and the background divisions.

Its executive producer is Doug Liman, who directed Mr. & Mrs. Smith and produced the Bourne trilogy. Here, you might say, he's Bourne again, with some razzle-dazzle action sequences that turn into high-octane set pieces. But also, a consultant for this series is outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, so some little touches ring true.

One standout original feature of Covert Affairs is embodied by the handler of Piper Perabo's Annie Walker. He's Auggie Anderson, a good-looking, confident young man played by Christopher Gorham. And Auggie's twist is that he used to be a field agent, before an accident left him blind -- but now, despite that, he's guiding Annie in the field, and overseeing, without seeing, her transition from spy school to actual CIA agent.

So try it; my guess is, you'll like it. That's why Covert Affairs is written about here -- unlike other shows I could mention.

Could, but won't.

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TVWW Internal Memo: Your Mission, Eric Gould, Should You Decide to Accept It...

July 12, 2010 10:08 AM

The website upgrade is coming along great. Lots of progress on all fronts this weekend. Meanwhile, our website designer, Boston architect Eric Gould, posted one wildly entertaining column, analyzing Lady Gaga's latest video. So I have a challenge for him, which I'm sharing with all of you...

Dear Eric,

There's nothing I want completed so much,or so quickly, as the redesigned website. But you're clearly having so much fun in your new hobby as a TV critic -- and doing so well at it -- that I thought, after you did so well deconstructing Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" video, that I'd steer you towards a few others that are crying out for comment, if not explanation.

So here we go: Three other videos, all current, and all by popular female artists. In one big column, or taken separately, compare and contrast. I dare you. Meanwhile, keep working on those last few TV WORTH WATCHING web pages...

1) MILEY CYRUS, "Can't Be Tamed."

One image from this video is posted at the top of this column, showing Miley Cyrus spreading her wings defiantly while being gawked at, caged like a bird. The rest of the video follows this theme, of a preteen and tweenage idol making her first steps at, quite literally, leaving the nest.

The visual symbolism of all this should give you lots of material with which to work (my mind goes straight to Barbarella, for example), but don't neglect some of the lyrics. In spots, I doubt she's singing what I think she's singing -- but there's room for interpretation.

2) CHRISTINA AGUILERA, "Not Myself Tonight."

This video clearly reacts to the Lady Gaga phenomenon, so I'll let you work through the dark range of intentionally outrageous images here -- images meant to outrage, anyway.

Some of the settings, as with Gaga, seem to go back to mid-career Madonna -- dark, smoky sets, lots of imposing stairs, period clothes, nods to Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

But other parts are just imagery for imagery's sake -- until you explain otherwise. Why are monocles suddenly popular again? What interpretation is intended as Aguilera, on all fours, crawls hungrily towards a bowl of milk?

And if there's no larger message to be gleaned from this video, and if it's not art at all, why don't I mind?

3) KATY PERRY, "California Gurls."

Snoop Dogg plays a sexy game of Candyland here, as Katy and her cute cohorts cavort around a board full of confections. In one scene, she lies naked, like a Coppertone kid, atop a cotton-candy cloud. In another, she ascends undulating candy canes that have heads like snakes. Make of that what you will.

I particularly like one dress, in which Perry is costumed in the minidress equivalent of those old-fashioned candy dots that used to come attached to long narrow strips of waxed paper. I know nostalgia probably wasn't the reaction the video was going for there -- but hey. What can I say?

But Eric, I'm waiting to see what YOU have to say about this video, and whether any of it, to your trained eye, honestly resembles art.

Is it art, for example, when she attaches whipped-cream projectile guns to -- well, she attaches two of them -- and aims them in our direction? You be the judge.

Respectfully,

David

P.S. You -- ANY of you -- can see these videos, on MTV's website. Click on the titles to see the videos.

Miley Cyrus, "Can't Be Tamed."

Christina Aguilera, "Not Myself Tonight."

Katy Perry, "California Gurls."

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Newest Emmy Nominations: Lots of Past Oversights Corrected!

July 8, 2010 8:52 AM

The nominations for the 2009 Emmy Awards, announced early Thursday morning, offered a few surprises, many of them pleasant -- including an in-your-face nomination for Conan O'Brien's version of NBC's Tonight Show, while Jay Leno's version, also eligible, was snubbed in the variety category...

Because Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has won in that category for what seems like forever, it's not likely O'Brien will win. But if he does, after his show was taken from him by the network, it'd be the best example of Emmy revenge since The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour won as Outstanding Variety Series after CBS fired the Smothers Brothers and dumped the show.

So maybe, just to make NBC feel really, really awkward, enough members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will vote for O'Brien to make that happen.

The other big, big news -- and least for many writers and readers of this website -- is that both Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton of NBC/DirecTV's Friday Night Lights were nominated in their respective dramatic actor and actress categories. Could it be because more episodes were sent out to academy members this year, so more of them actually SAW how good Britton and Chandler were?

The series itself, though, did NOT get nominated this year. But, to be fair, it wasn't the show's strongest season -- and it WAS a year of exceptionally strong competition.

And finally, another quick series of nods to Fox's Glee, which got nominations for series, and for leading players Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison, among lots and lots of others.

Aaron Paul, who plays Jesse on AMC's Breaking Bad, got his supporting actor nomination this year, in a drama category that also made room for Martin Short on FX's Damages, Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson of ABC's Lost, John Slattery of Mad Men, and Andre Braugher of TNT's Men of a Certain Age.

On the actress side, on the supporting comedy side, Jane Lynch got nominated for Glee, both Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen were cited for ABC's Modern Family, and, among other nominees, Kristin Wiig was singled out for her chameleonic work on NBC's Saturday Night Live. And in the leading category, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was NOT overlooked for her final year of The New Adventures of Old Christine.

In drama, supporting actresses nominated included both Christina Hendricks and Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men, Rose Byrne of Damages and -- good call here, too -- Archie Panjabi of CBS's The Good Wife.

Finally, one of my favorite sets of categories, Guest Actor and Actress in comedy and drama series, made room for some very smile-worthy nominations.

In drama, John Lithgow's killer performance on Showtime's Dexter got noticed, as did Ted Danson's returning role on Damages and Robert Morse's on Mad Men. On the actress side, nominees include Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost and Lily Tomlin from Damages.

In comedy, guest actors given nods include Neil Patrick Harris on Glee, Mike O'Malley (Kurt's dad) on Glee, and Jon Hamm on 30 Rock. (I have no idea why O'Malley isn't entered as supporting actor, but hey, his standout role was so terrific, I'm not complaining.)

Guest actresses of note, or at least noted, include Kristin Chenoweth on Glee, Christine Baranski on The Big Bang Theory, Elaine Stritch on 30 Rock, and both Tina Fey and Betty White, competing as guest hosts of Saturday Night Live.

The awards are scheduled to be televised by NBC August 29.

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GUEST BLOG #102: TVWW Gang Weighs In On Emmy Nomination Wishes: Who SHOULD Get Noticed...

July 7, 2010 10:00 AM

[Bianculli here: With the Emmy nominations coming Thursday morning, I asked our TV WORTH WATCHING contributors to weigh in on the subject. And boy, did they, with a passion that explains why we all spend so much time watching, and writing about, television...]

How About Some Love for Aaron Paul, Michael C. Hall, and... Tom Bergeron?"

By Diane Werts

There's hope for the Emmys yet, since they've managed to honor both Bryan Cranston and Toni Collette for their stellar work on such little-seen series gems as AMC's Breaking Bad and Showtime's The United States of Tara.

So, now, how about a little love for Aaron Paul, the loser teen who helps Cranston's "Mister White" cook meth on AMC's audacious dramedy, while paradoxically serving as this twisted show's moral center? It's actually the tougher role, being so much less defined than Cranston's hapless chemistry teacher and family man. And Paul aces it, till we laugh, pity and marvel at his inarticulate anguish.

At least Michael C. Hall has been nominated for Showtime's Dexter. But he certainly deserves the Emmy for this season, when his serial-killer-of-serial-killers finally searched his own soul, and actually found something there, just before that glimmer of hope was expunged in the season's most shocking cliffhanger twist.

If those are the two races about which I feel most strongly, there's a third that even I'm surprised gets me worked up. And that's best reality show host. I'm no "reality" fan, yet I am an absolute disciple of Tom Bergeron, whose work on ABC's Dancing With the Stars utterly defines that show. Forget Bruno or Len -- it's Bergeron's effortless wit that makes DTWS a breezy delight. He knows what to express how, when to sympathize or prod, and best of all, when to joke with real bite. He does it all on live TV, too. Bergeron losing to Survivor host Jeff Probst continues to be Emmy's biggest shaft.

--

My Emmy Thoughts: "Friday Night Lights" or Bust

By Diane Holloway

If Zach Gilford (playing Matt Sacaren, eligible for supporting actor), Connie Britton (Tami Taylor, lead actress) and Kyle Chandler (Coach Eric Taylor, lead actor) don't get drama acting awards, the Emmys lose all credibility.

Seriously, what is it about Friday Night Lights that causes Emmy voters to slam the door? Makes no sense.

That's all I have to say about the Emmys.

--

Ditto on "Lights" -- Among Lots of Other Emmy Thoughts

By Ed Martin

When it comes to Emmy nominations, no series in the history of television has been so egregiously overlooked as Friday Night Lights. The first three seasons of this remarkable drama about life in one of those small Texas towns where high school football rules were all award-worthy, yet it has never once been in the running for Outstanding Drama Series. Outrageous!

Further, the fact that FNL leads Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton have never even been recognized makes me sick. I'd like to see them both nominated this year, along with the series itself and three of its supporting players: Taylor Kitsch, Michael B. Jordan and especially the awesome Zach Gilford.

For reasons known only to the guy himself, Gilford has submitted his work for consideration in the category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, where he doesn't stand a chance against John Lithgow's terrifying turn as a serial killer in Dexter. That's a shame, because I think as male supporting players go, Gilford gave the performance of the year, especially in the episode in which his character dealt with the sudden death of his estranged father. (The female supporting performance of the year, by the way, came from Lily Tomlin in Damages, but she, too, has been submitted in a guest category.)

Along with FNL, I hope that voting members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences see fit to nominate Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Lost, Damages and Dexter for Outstanding Drama Series. If FNL is once again benched, then HBO's Treme should make the cut.

Meanwhile, Julianna Margulies of CBS's The Good Wife, Glenn Close of Damages, Holly Hunter of TNT's Saving Grace and Kyra Sedgwick of TNT's The Closer are top of mind in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Here's hoping the Academy also gives some serious thought to January Jones of Mad Men, Mary McCormack of USA's In Plain Sight and, especially, Katey Sagal of FX's Sons of Anarchy. If it were up to me, Sagal or Hunter would take home the award.

And with all due respect to the amazing Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad, I'd like to see the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series finally go to Jon Hamm of Mad Men or Michael C. Hall of Dexter, as they both had extraordinary seasons.

On the comedy front, I'm certain that Jim Parsons of CBS's The Big Bang Theory will be nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. I’d like to see him take home the award, rather than perennial winner Alec Baldwin of NBC's 30 Rock. My choice for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series is the consistently surprising Courteney Cox of ABC's Cougar Town, but I suspect the award will go to Toni Collette for United States of Tara or Edie Falco for Nurse Jackie.

In the supporting arena, the Academy should consider honoring John Noble of Fringe, Martin Short of Damages and Josh Holloway of Lost with nominations, but I think Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad deserves the actual award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

Similarly, I think Sharon Gless deserves a nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her underappreciated contribution to USA's Burn Notice, and it wouldn't suck if her striking co-star Gabrielle Anwar were acknowledged, as well.

But I think it's time for the Academy to finally honor the work of either Sandra Oh or Chandra Wilson in ABC's Grey's Anatomy. They both deserve awards for their contributions to the show's shattering season finale. On the comedy front, I'm pulling for Peter Facinelli in Nurse Jackie over industry favorite Ty Burrell in ABC's Modern Family as Outstanding Supporting Actor, and Julie Bowen of Modern Family over seeming shoo-in Jane Lynch of Fox's Glee for Outstanding Supporting Actress.

--

A Big Vote for an Under-appreciated Broadcast TV Sitcom

By Tom Brinkmoeller

I would be amazingly happy if Julia Louis-Dreyfus and/or anyone associated with that series, CBS's The New Adventures of Old Christine, won big. I'm guessing most of the nominated and winning shows will come from premium cable.

--

Love Letters to Jim Parsons, Hugh Laurie... And "So You Think You Can Dance"?"

By Theresa Corigliano

And the Emmy should go to:

JIM PARSONS (as Sheldon Cooper, CBS's Big Bang Theory).

I have never done this before. I was stopped at a light on a major street in Los Angeles when I saw him. Quickly, I rolled down the passenger side window and yelled: 'I love you!" I was grinning like an idiot. He smiled shyly and acknowledged the compliment and, lucky for him, when the light changed, I drove on. (Believe me, there was a moment, just a moment, when I considered getting out of the car and...well, I don't know why I would have done that, but I considered it.)

It was early in the first season of Big Bang, and at the time, I didn't even know Jim Parsons' name. All I knew was that he made me laugh, and that's what "I love you" meant to me. To me, Parsons is the Fred Astaire of comedy: so nimble, so organic in his delivery of the impossible tongue-twister dialogue of BBT, I marvel every week how he and his fellow actors manage to do it. But the thing Parsons has nailed down is the truth of the misanthropic Sheldon -- he has found the character's humanity, and that's what makes his performance sing.

Of course, it's always about the writing -- if it's not on the page, the actor will be hard-pressed to make it work. (This is why, in most sitcoms, actors have a tendency to yell. I can only assume it is the same thinking that leads people to shout at non-English speakers, in the hope that they will be able to get their ideas across at a higher decibel level.)

If you are still not watching BBT, you have to trust me on this: it is the funniest show on television. How Parsons did not earn an Emmy for the Christmas gift episode ("The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis") is inexplicable to me... Did the Emmy voters actually bother to watch it?

I have been known to carry around seasons 1 and 2 on DVD and say casually to my unsuspecting friends: "Just watch the pilot." The Lays potato chip effect takes hold -- they have all simply been unable to watch just one episode, and I am pleased, knowing that if it means converting one person at a time, I will do it.

Drama? Hugh Laurie. Period. The man is marvelous and he is and has been the best actor in a drama. If you need further proof than his searing portrayal of Gregory House, rent episodes of the British comedy Jeeves and Wooster, and then watch Fox's House. Contrast and compare -- the man is British, he does not walk with a limp, for starters.

Just try to catch him slip in the dialogue. He doesn't. He has a created a pathetic, brilliant, wry, sad, touching mess of a character, and always transcends, even when the plots betray him. (Patient sick, no one knows why, doctors on his dysfunctional team try a bunch of stuff, House has his eureka moment after he has pissed everyone off with his arrogance and anti-social bedside manner, most patients live.) It's been six years -- give the man his due!

So You Think You Can Dance... an entertainment magazine recently observed if you've seen one dance competition show, you've seen them all. What a stupid comment. SYTYCD is stunning. Cat Deeley does the best hosting on television -- not even reality television, frankly, but it's always about the dancers. Some of the kids who are competing are 18 years old, the others not much older.

They are babies when they speak to the judges -- and then, they take flight, and something ageless and not of this world happens. The dedication, the training, the passion they exhibit every week is mind-boggling. I danced for many years, and I can tell you that the easier a dancer makes the choreography look, the harder it is. Trained in one kind of dance, and asked to do something completely outside their expertise, week after week, these kids deliver goose bump performances. When they soar, you will. When they triumph, you'll melt.

If the dance numbers are good enough to honor with Emmys, than the show deserves to be honored. Note to Nigel Lythgoe -- I say this even in a season when the format changes are not working for me. Love the "All-Stars" -- but we learned so much more about these dancers when they were partnering each other.

[What are YOU hoping gets noticed this year?]

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