Dream Emmy Ballot time!

It’s that time of year again: Time for the Emmy nominations! I actually have absolutely no faith that the best television show or actors and actresses will win, but it can still be fun to work up a dream ballot, right? Besides, this is the last year that I can march with my sign and scream at the top of my lungs: ‘BATTLESTAR GALACTICA! MARY MCDONNELL! EDWARD JAMES OLMOS!’, and while I would never ever expect all three to win, the show winning would still get the cast on stage and woah, I would be a totally happy camper. So, without further ado, my dream ballot!

Best lead actor in a drama series
Michael Chiklis – The Shield
Edward Jams Olmos – Battlestar Galactica
Jon Hamm – Mad Men
Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
Denis Leary – Rescue Me
Kiefer Sutherland – 24

Best lead actress in a drama series
Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men
January Jones – Mad Men
Mary McDonnell – Battlestar Galactica
Glenn Close – Damages
Regina King – Southland
Jeanne Tripplehorn – Big Love

Best supporting actor in a drama series
Michael Emerson – LOST
Jeremy Davies - LOST
John Noble – Fringe
Walton Goggins – The Shield
Vincent Kartheiser – Mad Men
Nelson Ellis – True Blood

Best supporting actress in a drama series
Elizabeth Mitchell – LOST
Christina Hendricks – Mad Men
CCH Pounder – The Shield
Connie Britton – Friday Night Lights
Katey Sagal – Sons of Anarchy
Sandra Oh – Grey’s Anatomy

Best Drama Series
Battlestar Galactica
LOST
Mad Men
The Shield
Big Love
Breaking Bad

Best lead actor in a comedy series
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
Zachary Levi – Chuck
Steve Carell – The Office
Danny McBride – Eastbound and Down
Chris Lilley – Summer Heights High
Lee Pace – Pushing Daisies

Best lead actress in a comedy series
Tina Fey – 30 Rock
Christina Applegate – Samantha Who?
Anna Friel – Pushing Daisies
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – New Adventures of Old Christine
Eva Longoria-Parker – Desperate Housewives
Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds

Best supporting actor in a comedy series
Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother
Tracy Morgan – 30 Rock
Jack McBrayer – 30 Rock
Adam Baldwin – Chuck
Chi McBride – Pushing Daisies
Aziz Ansari – Parks and Recreation

Best supporting actress in a comedy series
Kristin Wiig – Saturday Night Live
Kristin Chenoweth – Pushing Daisies
Jane Krakowski – 30 Rock
Andrea Anders – Better Off Ted
Alyson Hannigan – How I Met Your Mother
Swoosie Kurtz – Pushing Daisies

Best Comedy Series
30 Rock
Chuck
The Office
Pushing Daisies
How I Met Your Mother
Big Bang Theory

Agree, disagree? Wish you could slip a few more onto my list? Let’s take it to the comments!

Scrubs news + CW announces fall schedule

Just a random bit of Scrubs news. The creator, Bill Lawrence, says that since Donald Faision's pilot got passed up by all the networks, they'll probably go with the idea that Turk is teaching at med school. He also says this: "The way to bridge that gap is I've got to consider Scrubs over. The way that I'm viewing it is the way Frasier was to Cheers: It'll be essentially a new show with some characters that people liked."

Your thoughts? Yay or nay? The way he spins it makes me feel mildly interested. It might help feel less like Scrubs if they changed the name. To what though? Lab Coats?

Oh well. Here's the CW schedule if anyone cares:

Monday
8 Gossip Girl
9 One Tree Hill

Tuesday
8 90210
9 Melrose Place

Wednesday
8 America's Next Top Model
9 Beautiful Life

Thursday
8 Vampire Diaries
9 Supernatural

Friday
8 Smallville
9 Top Model encore

CBS announces fall schedule

Monday
8 p.m. How I met Your Mother
8:30 p.m. Accidentally On Purpose
9 p.m Two and a Half Men
9:30 p.m. The Big Bang Theory
10 p.m. CSI: Miami

Tuesday
8 p.m. NCIS
9 p.m. NCIS: Los Angeles
10 p.m. The Good Wife

Wednesday
8 p.m. The New Adventures of Old Christine
8:30 p.m. Gary Unmarried
9 p.m. Criminal Minds
10 p.m. CSI: NY

Thursday
8 p.m. Survivor
9 p.m. CSI
10 p.m. The Mentalist

Friday
8 p.m. Ghost Whisperer
9 p.m. Medium
10 p.m. Numbers

Saturday
8 p.m. Crime drama repeat
9 p.m. Crime drama repeat
10 p.m. 48 Hour Mystery

Sunday
7 p.m. 60 Minutes
8 p.m. The Amazing Race
9 p.m. Three Rivers
10 p.m. Cold Case

FOX announces fall and midseason schedule:

Monday
8:00-9:00 House
9:00-10:00 Lie to Me

Tuesday
8:00-10:00 So You Think You Can Dance

Wednesday
8:00-9:00 So You Think You Can Dance (results show)
9:00-10:00 Glee

Thursday
8:00-9:00 Bones
9:00-10:00 Fringe

Friday
8:00-8:30 Brothers
8:30-9:00 ‘Til Death
9:00-10:00 Dollhouse

Saturday
8:00-8:30 COPS
8:30-9:00 COPS
9:00-10:00 America’s Most Wanted
11:00-Midnight The Wanda Sykes Show (working title)
Midnight-12:30 Animation Domination encores

Sunday
7:00-8:00 The OT (NFL post-game)
8:00-8:30 The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 The Cleveland Show
9:00-9:30 Family Guy
9:30-10:00 American Dad

Midseason schedule

Monday
8:00-9:00 House
9:00-10:00 24

Tuesday
8:00-9:00 American Idol
9:00-10:00 Past Life

Wednesday
8:00-9:00 American Idol
9:00-10:00 Human Target (January) / Glee (spring)

Thursday
8:00-9:00 Bones
9:00-10:00 Fringe

Friday
8:00-8:30 Brothers
8:30-9:00 ‘Til Death
9:00-10:00 Dollhouse

Saturday
8:00-8:30 COPS
8:30-9:00 COPS
9:00-10:00 America’s Most Wanted
11:00-Midnight The Wanda Sykes Show
Midnight-12:30 Animation Domination Encores

Sunday
7:00-7:30 Animation Domination Encores
7:30-8:00 American Dad
8:00-8:30 The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 Sons of Tuscon
9:00-9:30 Family Guy
9:30-10:00 The Cleveland Show

Your morning updates!

- The Mentalist moves to Thursday after CSI.
- CBS has officially picked up Medium and will air after Ghost Whisperer on Fridays.
- NCIS renewed; spin-off is greenlit.
- Cold Case renewed.
- Flashpoint renewed, new episodes either this summer or the next.

NBC announces fall schedule and mid seasons

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. Heroes
9-10 p.m. Trauma
10-11 p.m. The Jay Leno Show (I am still 'ugh' about this.)

TUESDAY
8-10 p.m. ­ The Biggest Loser
10-11 p.m. The Jay Leno Show

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. Parenthood
9-10 p.m. ­Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
10-11 p.m. ­The Jay Leno Show

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. ­ SNL Weekend Update Thursday (multi-episode run)
8:30-9 p.m. ­ Parks and Recreation
9-9:30 p.m. ­ The Office
9:30-10 p.m. ­ Community (moves to Thursdays 8-8:30 p.m. after 30 Rock returns)
10-11 p.m. The Jay Leno Show

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. ­Law & Order
9-10 p.m. ­Southland
10-11 p.m. ­The Jay Leno Show

SATURDAY
8-9 p.m. ­ Dateline NBC
9-10 p.m. ­ Trauma (encore broadcast)
10-11 p.m. ­ Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (encore broadcast)

SUNDAY
7-8:20 p.m. Football Night in America
8:20-11 p.m. NBC Sunday Night Football

NBC MID-SEASON 2010 SCHEDULE
(2010 WINTER OLYMPICS preempts regularly scheduled programming from February 12-28, 2010)

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. ­ Chuck (season premiere)
9-10 p.m. Day One
10-11 p.m. ­The Jay Leno Show

TUESDAY
8-9:30 p.m. ­The Biggest Loser
9:30-10 p.m. 100 Questions
10-11 p.m. The Jay Leno Show

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. ­Mercy
9-10 p.m. ­ Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
10-11 p.m. ­The Jay Leno Show

THURSDAY
8- 8:30 p.m. Community
8:30-9 p.m. ­ Parks and Recreation
9- 9:30 p.m. ­ The Office
9:30-10 p.m. ­ 30 Rock
10-11 p.m. The Jay Leno Show

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. ­ Law & Order
9-10 p.m. ­ Southland
10-11 p.m. ­The Jay Leno Show

SATURDAY
8-9 p.m. ­ Dateline NBC
9-10 p.m. ­ Southland (encore broadcast)
10-11 p.m. ­ Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (encore broadcast)

SUNDAY
7-8 p.m. ­ Dateline NBC
8-9 p.m. ­ The Marriage Ref
9-11 p.m. ­ The Celebrity Apprentice (season premiere)

As promised for ABC, expect rundowns of the new shows and what they are soon!

Lunch time updates!

- The Gossip Girl spin off is officially axed (Sorry Brittany Snow!)
- Privileged has been canceled
- Without a Trace has been canceled
- Numb3rs has been renewed

I never watched Privileged, but apparently some people are pretty upset about this? I wouldn't know; sorry guys.

Break time updates

I'm at my real job (where I get paid) and here are the updates as I've been informed in t.v. land:

- My Name is Earl has been canceled.
- The Unit has been canceled.
- Medium has been canceled
- Heroes moves to 8 p.m. Monday
- Chuck will be midseason
- CBS may or may not pick up Medium (The show is owned by CBS and could pair it with Ghost Whisperer.)
- Friday Night Lights won't air until summer of 2010 (DirecTV expected)
- Heroes will air 19 consecutive episodes.


My thoughts: NOOOOO MEDIUM!!!!!!

ABC's fall schedule revealed

MONDAY
8:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars
10:00 p.m. Castle

TUESDAY
8:00 p.m. Shark Tank
9:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars the Results Show
10:00 p.m. The Forgotten

WEDNESDAY
8:00 p.m. Hank
8:30 p.m. The Middle
9:00 p.m. Modern Family
9:30 p.m. Cougar Town
10:00 p.m. Eastwick

THURSDAY
8:00 p.m. Flash Forward
9:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy
10:00 p.m. Private Practice

FRIDAY
8:00 p.m. Supernanny
9:00 p.m. Ugly Betty
10:00 p.m. 20/20

SATURDAY
8:00 p.m. Saturday Night College Football

SUNDAY
7:00 p.m. America's Funniest Home Videos
8:00 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9:00 p.m. Desperate Housewives
10:00 p.m. Brothers & Sisters

The Bachelor will air Monday nights from 8:00-10:00 p.m. following the run of Dancing With the Stars, and Scrubs and Better Off Ted will air at 9:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., respectively, following the run of Dancing with the Stars The Results Show.

Stay tuned as I get more information on the new shows!

some quick t.v. updates

- Multiple sources have confirmed that although Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet, LOST) has a pilot on ABC that will probably get the greenlight, we will see Juliet for a handful of episodes next season.

- The show Elizabeth Mitchell is starring in is a remake of V and will air in 4 arcs on ABC.

- NBC has officially renewed Law and Order.

- ABC has moved Ugly Betty to Fridays (death note) at 9/8 central.

- Scrubs, Better Off Ted and LOST will all air mid-season.

- According to Jim has officially been canceled - FINALLY.

- ABC has said that they don't have a premiere date for LOST yet, but it will feature 'some of the best writing ever'.

- ABC also will not confirm if Katherine Heigl or TR Knight are coming back to Grey's Anatomy next season.

- Allegedly, the rumor around the mill is that when Scrubs comes back, it will no longer take place at Sacred Heart.

a lot of t.v. commentary

Breaking news: Samantha Who? has been canceled by ABC. The Sarah Conner Chronicles has been canceled by FOX. The Unusuals has been canceled by ABC.

I wasn't going to post all of my thoughts all at once because I was afraid this post would get long. Then I decided I'd just try to get this all short. All of my shows have ended for the summer, and I have some stray thoughts about LOST, so let's get moving.

As I stated in my previous entry, upfronts have started for all of the networks. Congratulations to the fans of Dollhouse and Chuck for seeing their shows renewed for at least one more season. Here's hoping that FOX moves Dollhouse out of its lackluster Friday night spot and gives it a healthy place to grow.

Scrubs was also renewed. How do I put this in a way that still reflects how much I have loved this show. Um...okay I have it. LET IT GO. I understand that people absolutely love this show but let's face it; it isn't what it used to be. And if it's coming back, then what purpose did that finale serve? I just want to remember Sacred Heart in its glory days, but it seems like it will be beaten with sticks before it finally goes away probably hardly recognizable anymore.

After watching The Office finale, I've decided that it probably won't make it after this next season. Babies? Babies ruin shows and are often shark jumping moments. Believe me; jumping the shark is not a term I use lightly, but depending on how this is all played out, the majority of the audience is going to jump ship. It pains me to say that seeing as how I've loved The Office since the beginning, but with the Jim and Pam story line unfolding like the American Dream all of a sudden, what's the point of continuing?

Desperate Housewives finally ended it's Dave story line and...that's what we waited for all season long? It was kind of...boring, and the whole story line was far-fetched to begin with. Have everyone from Dave to Susan to the newspapers omitted the fact that the stop sign was laying on the ground and that the accident was just that - an accident? I understand grief and all, but aside from Susan not actually having her driver's license on her, where was a real crime committed? I guess this is what I get for trying to think about it logically.

I think that as we go through the LOST hiatus it'll be fun to have a theory a week or so until the show comes back. Because Lord knows there are enough things to speculate. And if I try to write something long it will come out like this: OMG JULIET IS DEAD BECAUSE DARLTON SAID ONCE SOMEONE DIES ON THIS SHOW THEY'RE REALLY DEAD!!!!

I'm not even 100% sure where to start, but I'm just going to dive in.

What is Jacob, exactly?
We know that he's old; as old as the island? He also has a connection to most of our Losties. He visited a young Kate and Sawyer, Jack as he took out his frustrations on his father, Locke after plummeting out of the 8th floor window of a building, and Hurley after getting out of jail. But probably most important is that he physically touched every single one of them. Why? What is the significane of those moments?

Comments below, everyone!

It was all a dream

WARNING: There will be spoilers in this post for the season finale that aired on 5-11-2009. This is your only warning!

Alright, I'm going to start by saying I don't hate the way the episode was written or executed. By House standards, that was pretty amazing in and of itself.

I also want to say that this is probably one of the only shows I watch where I just don't care about the pairings other than Amber and Wilson. THAT I loved. I think that my aversion to the pairings on this show is due to how absolutely rabid the fandom is when it comes to Huddy, Wilson/House, Hameron and whatever else you have that I just never got into it. I don't really care one way or another if House is with Cuddy or if in the last episode ever Wilson and House reveal they've been boning the entire time. It doesn't make me enjoy the show any more or any less.

Here's what I really am not liking: We have DONE the hallucinations. Not once to end and/or start a season. Not twice. But now THREE TIMES. I love Amber and Kutner and I'm glad that gives them an excuse to be back but could we PLEASE have something that hasn't been done before? Maybe that's the problem with this show: everything starts to feel like it's been done. I liked the direction of House and Cuddy and while I feel 'eh' about them being together one way or another, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no way the writers were going to give the fans of that pairing such an easy fix. However I do find it rude that David Shore would proclaim that it would finally happen only to take it all back. On the flip side of that, now everyone knows how House really feels about Cuddy and what kind of man he wants to be for her (?) so there is that.

Maybe the hallucination thing would have felt better to me if it hadn't been the season closer. Because for some reason this just didn't feel like a finale to me. By the end of the episode I wasn't on the edge of my seat and at the end I wasn't wailing 'OH GOD I HAVE TO WAIT HOW LONG FOR A NEW EPISODE???' which is disappointing to me.

I feel very, very alone in this conclusion. Everyone I know in real life, everyone on the internet - everyone seemed to love it except for me. It's true that you can't please everyone but I don't understand why I was so adverse to this episode. I wish that I weren't, but maybe this is a sign that my instincts to leave the show alone for good were right back at the beginning of the season. Did I listen? No. I watched, and I'll probably do it again in the fall.

I'm pretty sure that by the time this show is said and done, we'll be finding out that some kid in Africa hallucinated the whole damn thing.

NBC vs. the public

Upfronts are happening right now at all of the major networks, and while (as of this posting) NBC has already released most of their schedule, ABC , FOX, CBS and the CW don’t happen until later this month. So, I’ll wait to discuss the fall pickups (and drops) until much later. For now, I’d like to discuss Jay Leno. Look, I know that there are very opinionated people either way. I’ll save my opinion for the end of the article. Let’s just talk about why it’s happening and why it seems the majority of television watchers are up in arms.

Jay Leno took over The Tonight Show in 1992 after Johnny Carson’s retirement and a huge uproar between NBC, Leno, and David Letterman. He’s gone on to be the highest rated after-news talk show for his entire run by a 19 percent margin in adult viewers. In 2004, NBC made an announcement that Leno would be retiring in 2009, and would be succeeded by Conan O’Brien. All of this was announced early in order to avoid a repeat performance from 1992. Everyone believed that would be the end of it and Leno would go the way of Carson: remembered fondly for his tenure as host. However, in December of 2008, NBC released a statement explaining that Leno would move into primetime with an hour long show at 10 p.m./9 central. The internet exploded about that time with concerns over shows that have always been on the fence and what this would mean for Conan O’Brien.

For starters, this really puts the pressure on shows like Medium that have been ‘bubble’ shows; meaning when NBC has nothing else to air, they toss Medium into the fray. And shows like Law & Order and Chuck that have wobbling ratings are left up in the air. From a network standpoint, it is much more cost effective to make an hour long Leno show than it is to order a full season of any one of the bubble shows. (For example, it costs around $15 million a week for shows like Law & Order, whereas Leno’s show would be around $2 million a week). I don’t believe that up against shows like CSI or Grey’s Anatomy NBC could win the ratings time slot, but on Wednesday and Friday which are traditionally the slower days of the week, he could easily bring in large numbers. But what’s happening is that a full hour of primetime is being eaten up by this show that is (for all intents and purposes) a clone of The Tonight Show with more Jay Walking and Headlines.

One debate on the internet is that this effectively takes away from Conan O’Brien. Think about it: If you were an A-list celebrity and you had the option of promoting your film in primetime or taking a chance and waiting until after the local news, which would you rather do? Personally, I’m going for that early spot when people are still awake and families are gathered around the television. So Conan will get the leftovers and the B-listers just as he always has. (Of course that’s not always the case, but it is the trend. You won’t see Sue Johanson on The Tonight Show.) And that leaves Jimmy Fallon with relative nobodies. And after three talk shows, do we really need to stay up for a fourth with Carson Daly? It’s exhausting just typing it all out. Honestly, Jimmy Fallon would have to be better at what he does for me to be concerned anyway, and Carson, well, whatever. Sorry Carson. But it feels like Conan deserves a lot better from NBC.

No, I don’t blame Leno for this debacle. I think that NBC didn’t want him to go to another network (FOX most likely) and compete against their show. How many of us would say yes, I definitely want to retire, and then five years later have a different idea of how to spend the rest of your life? Things change in five years, and I’m not saying that Leno was innocent in all of this, but when NBC approached him with this idea (because I don’t think he pulled it out of thin air), he jumped at the opportunity to stay at NBC both because of his reputation and fan base there, and the millions of dollars I’m sure he’s receiving. Do I think he maliciously thought ‘This definitely screws over Conan’? No. I don’t even think he would have done it if NBC hadn’t offered. In fact, by what I can tell, he would have been ready to go to a different network and that scared the crap out of NBC.

My deal is that I’m afraid of what this means for shows like Medium, Law & Order and Chuck. I know that personally I don’t care to see Jay Leno invade prime time, and I don’t think the ratings will be as successful as NBC is hoping. He averages around 4.8 million viewers and in prime time, shows with ratings like that get canceled quickly. I’ll call NBC a hypocrite if they cancel Chuck which hits a rating average of about 7.28 million. I feel like this is a hit to Conan, as if NBC is saying ‘you know, we don’t really trust you at the helm of this show, so we’re going to keep the current face of The Tonight Show and if you’re successful, then it’s even better for us’.

So what do you think about all of this? How do you feel regarding Leno’s move? Do you blame him, or do you blame the greedy network? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Brittany is an aspiring television critic currently living in Oklahoma. Catch her weekly reviews of Heroes, Mad Men, and more at TheTwoCents.com