Awards Watch: God Bless America

Tonight was yet another bizarre year in the bizarre history of the Emmy Awards. (James Spader? Over James Gandolfini? Really???) Questionable wins aside, let me first give a shout out to the four actors from "my shows" that did win:

• America Ferrera, Best Comedy Actress for Ugly Betty: Not only is it fantastic to see somebody win who so very much deserves it, but our gal America was so gracious and humble in her acceptance speech, I confess to tearing up just a tad. You go, Betty, we love you!
• Katherine Heigl, Best Drama Supporting Actress for Grey's Anatomy: What a year our Izzie Stevens is having -- first she's Knocked Up, then she wins what was probably the most competitive race of the night, and on top of all that, she was the best dressed of the evening; seriously, she looked fabulous. (And it's "High-gull", not "High-jull" ... you would think they would prep their announcers on such things.)
• Terry O'Quinn, Best Drama Supporting Actor for Lost: He rightfully should have won two years ago, so it's great to see this incredible character actor finally get the gold. His John Locke is a complicated role, and he pulls it off brilliantly every week.
• Sally Field, Best Drama Actress for Brothers & Sisters: I love this show, and Field's Nora Walker is the heart and soul of it. She gave a great speech too ... until she got flustered ... and then she was cut off in the middle of an anti-war statement. Gee, what a surprise from the Fox Network ...

Rob Marshall also won for his classy Tony Bennett special, as did another Tony ... the awards show, that is. Also, the über-gay friendly Ugly Betty won two other awards (and if you too can't wait for that show's second season to start, here's a hilarious preview to tide you over until September 27).

All right, back to the show. Some random observations:

• The "in-the-round" set: A good idea in theory, but it seemed to throw most everybody who stepped foot on it. Just goes to show how many television actors these days have very little experience in the "thea-tah". (I did love that cool circular video screen though.)
• Ryan Seacrest: Ryan, Ryan, Ryan ... you know, you were doing OK ... until you came out in that costume from The Tudors and said it looked "a lot less gay on the rack". Are you kidding me? At what point did you think that was funny, let alone that it would fly in this day and age? What flabbergasts me about the whole thing is that the whole thing was just that: a lame gay joke. GLAAD better be all over this by tomorrow is all I'm saying.
• I also expect some backlash to be directed at Conan O'Brien and Bill Maher for their little skits showing, respectively, Mexican immigrants piling into a pick up and a toe-tappin' bathroom brigade. Oy, where do I start?
• It always amazes me that these award shows really think they can get it all in during the allotted time, so they have clips of all the early acting nominees but then have to cut them for the bigger categories later in the show. In other words, we get to see a bit of Ed Asner's nominated performance in something called The Christmas Card, yet none from Helen Mirren's winning performance in Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act. Go figure.
• Forgetaboutit! The cast of Jersey Boys was awesome! But is it just me to think that it was a big stretch to connect it to The Sopranos (winner of Best Drama Series for its polarizing finale season)? And did we really need to see Silvio whacking Adriana to the tune of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You"?
• Ellen and Portia looked great on the red carpet together, but I missed Neil Patrick Harris with beau David Burtka. And T.R. Knight looked very dapper, except when they cut to him after an Isaiah Washington joke; then he looked pissed.
• And finally: What was up with that creepy guy staring at Queen Latifah during the Roots tribute?

Click here for a complete list of this year's Emmy winners.

UPDATE: If you missed them too, here's a pic of Neil and David on the Emmy red carpet.

Links via YouTube.com, TheEnvelope.LATimes.com and AfterElton.com.

Challenge of the Super Friends

With the supposed end of X-Men, Watchmen well on its way to reality, and rumblings of an Avengers movie, what about the big screen adaptation of the big daddy of all super-groups, the Justice League of America?

Warner is rumored to be all hot over the script and wants to start filming as soon as January with Road Warrior's George Miller at the helm. The problem lies with the future solo projects of the two superstar heroes who lead the group. If the JLA film is fast-tracked, it could push back Bryan Singer's Superman: The Man of Steel and the third Christopher Nolan Batman movie.

Then there is the question of the involvement of Brandon Routh and Christian Bale. Both are contracted for three films total, one of which could be an ensemble picture. Routh should be no problem, but Bale has publicly nixed the whole idea. Could the Caped Crusader be recast?

On the other hand, Ryan Reynolds has come out and said that he would love to don the red tights and yellow boots of super-speedster The Flash. He certainly has the look and cocky attitude the role calls for (for further proof, see this video of the above linked interview).

As for other "Armchair Casting" ideas, I'm still all over the idea of Evangeline Lilly as Wonder Woman, and her Lost co-star Josh Holloway is perfect for Green Arrow. Supposedly, Green Lantern will be the John Stewart incarnation, and who better then Taye Diggs? Paul Walker would look good all wet as Aquaman. Not sure if Hawkman is in the mix, but how about Jason Statham, who (if they stick to the original costume) would be pretty much bare-chested for the entire movie. I could handle that.

Let's hope Warner is able to work out all the kinks of this deal so we can see what is sure to be the ultimate superhero flick.

Links via IESB.net, Imdb.com, ObsessedWithFilm.com, MoviesBlog.MTV.com and Wikipedia.org.

Awards Watch: Ugly Emmy

While I don't necessarily cover a lot of television here, I did want to give a shout out to some of my personal favorites that made the cut for this year's Emmy Awards, announced this morning. If anything, it gives you an idea of the TV shows I like. And the nominees are:

• Brothers & Sisters: The crappy Boston Legal was nominated instead of this? At least Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths were.
• Dancing With the Stars and Top Chef (come on, admit it, you watch them) are both up for the "reality competion" award.
• Desperate Housewives: Three of them made the grade - Felicity Huffman, Dixie Carter and Laurie Metcalf.
• Dirty Jobs: Mike Rowe is a stud. That's all I'm going to say.
• Grey's Anatomy: A Best Drama nominee even with their rough third year, and boy, they sure racked 'em up in the acting races: T.R. Knight, Katherine Heigl, Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh, Kate Burton and Elizabeth Reaser.
• Heroes: A surprise nominee for Best Drama Series, Masi Oka was the sole hero singled out.
• Lost: Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn were mentioned ... but no Elizabeth Mitchell!
• Smallville: I love my Superman wherever I can get him.
• The Sopranos: The controversial final season netted 16 nods, more then any other series, including ones for Best Drama, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Aida Turturro, Lorraine Bracco and Tim Daly.
• Ugly Betty: The most nominated comedy series with 11 nominations, including nods for Best Comedy and actors America Ferrera (yeah!), Vanessa Williams (woo-hoo!), Judith Light and Salma Hayek.

In addition to Knight, out-and-proud actors Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and Ian McKellen (for his guest stint on Extras) were also nominated.

And there was some movie-related specials in the mix: AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies, Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed, TCM's Brando, and of course The 79th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by our gal Ellen DeGeneres, who received a nomination herself. The Golden Globes and Tony Awards were also singled out.

And by far the oddest nominee? How about Justin Timberlake and his five (!) co-composers for the song "Dick in a Box" from Saturday Night Live. Too bad they don't perform the nominated songs on the show like at the Oscars. (And no, the song title was not censored on the official nominees list, available here.)

Links via DSC.Discovery.com and Emmys.com.