Emmy Picks For 2010

Here is our list of Emmy Award nominations in major categories

Nominees in major categories for the 2010 Emmy Awards with our winning picks.

Our picks for the winners are marked by a (*).

Drama Series:

*Breaking Bad (AMC)

Dexter (Showtime)

The Good Wife (CBS)

Lost (ABC)

True Blood (HBO)

Mad Men (AMC)

Comedy Series:

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

Glee (Fox)

*Modern Family (ABC)

The Office (NBC)

Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

30 Rock (NBC)

Miniseries:

*The Pacific (HBO)

Return to Cranford (Masterpiece) (PBS)

Made-for-TV Movie:

Endgame (Masterpiece) (PBS)

Georgia O'Keeffe (Lifetime)

Moonshot (History)

The Special Relationship (HBO)

*Temple Grandin (HBO)

You Don't Know Jack (HBO)

Actor, Drama Series:

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)

Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)

Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)

Matthew Fox, Lost (ABC)

*Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)

Actress, Drama Series:

Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)

*Glenn Close, Damages (FX)

Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife (CBS)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)

 January Jones, Mad Men (AMC)

Supporting Actor, Drama Series:

Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad (AMC)

Martin Short, Damages (FX)
Terry O'Quinn, Lost (ABC)

Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
*John Slattery, Mad Men (AMC)

Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age (TNT)

Supporting Actress, Drama Series:

Sharon Gless, Burn Notice (USA)

Rose Byrne, Damages (FX)

Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife (CBS)
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife (CBS)

Christina Hendricks, Mad Men (AMC)

*Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men (AMC)

Actor, Comedy Series:

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

Matthew Morrison, Glee (Fox)

Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA)

*Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)

Actress, Comedy Series:

*Lea Michele, Glee (Fox)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie  (Showtime)

Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)

Toni Collette, United States of Tara (Showtime)

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series:

Chris Colfer, Glee (Fox)

Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family (ABC)

*Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family (ABC)

Ty Burrell, Modern Family (ABC)

Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series:

*Jane Lynch, Glee (Fox)

 Julie Bowen, Modern Family (ABC)

 Sofia Vergara, Modern Family (ABC)

Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock (NBC)

Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men (CBS)

Actor, Miniseries or Movie:

Jeff Bridges, A Dog Year (HBO)
Ian McKellen, The Prisoner (AMC)

Michael Sheen, The Special Relationship (HBO)

Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship (HBO)

*Al Pacino, You Don't Know Jack (HBO)

Actress, Miniseries or Movie:

Maggie Smith, Capturing Mary (HBO)

*Joan Allen, Georgia O'Keefe (Lifetime)

Judi Dench, Return to Cranford (Masterpiece) (PBS)

Hope Davis, The Special Relationship (HBO)
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin (HBO)

Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie:

Michael Gambon, Emma (Masterpiece) (PBS)

*Patrick Stewart, Hamlet (Great Performances) (PBS)

Jonathan Pryce, Return to Cranford (Masterpiece) (PBS)

David Straithairn, Temple Grandin (HBO)

John Goodman, You Don't Know Jack (HBO)

Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie:

Kathy Bates, Alice (Syfy)

Julia Ormond, Temple Grandin (HBO)

Catherine O'Hara, Temple Grandin (HBO)

*Brenda Vaccaro, You Don't Know Jack (HBO)

Susan Sarandon, You Don't Know Jack (HBO)

What You Want to See in Smallville But Don’t.

1. Fist through face.
2. Clark wins an argument.
3. A decent finale.
4. A good Justice League episode.
5. Batman.
6. Green Lantern.
7. Wonder Woman.
8. A Good Bazaaro Superman.
9. Lex Luther Returns As President of the U.S.A.
10. Cara shows up and tells Clark that they are not cousins this is good news for Clark because Cara is so much hotter than Lois and he has always had more chemistry with her than Lois or Lana. What actually is going on is Brainiac has been revived and has retaken the form of Clark’s cousin in order to seduce The Man of Steel with the promise of a future for the Kryptonians race but really only wants some super seed in order to create a super villain.
11. The Green Arrow is killed in a fishing accident and fittingly uninteresting end to a boring character.
12. Chloe is eaten by a gutter rat empowered by kryptonite which then takes her place at watch tower but no one notices.
13. Martian man hunter takes over watch tower after they find that Chloe is a gutter rat in disguise.
14. Vicky Vail arrives in town at the Daily Planet gets drunk and throws herself at Clark. This pisses off Bruce Wayne who is an angrier version of Oliver Quinn with ninja skills and does not fight crime but does beat up people while wearing a balaclava. Wayne looks into Clark and finds that he is an alien with a league of super powered humans at his command. 
15. Brainiac returns to eat Chloe’s gutter rat replacement to piss off Superman this after the man of steel placed the powerful gutter rat with the rest of his alien specimens in the Fortress of Solitude.

Louie | What’s The Deal With “Louie”?

If you were unaware the standup comedian Louis C.K. has a new show on FX entitled Louie. I premièred this summer and as far as summer shows go it is quite good. However, it does take some getting use to. The show is directed and written by Louis C.K. and the first couple of episodes did not follow any kind of traditional sitcomy sort of formula. In fact they were rather odd, hopping from stand up routines to serious conversations ranging from the topic of being gay to the unnecessary ridicule for not liking President Obama.  These moments were strange, not particularly funny and felt out of place in the show. That is until you begin to realize what Louis C.K. is up to. Whether intentional or not Louie’s first episodes were a reflection of his creative process as a comedian and not as a show runner. Louie’s interactions with people are the basis for the stand up and that’s how the show goes. Louie is out with friends shooting the shit then some question is brought up, discussed and from that discussion Louie’s comes up with his stand up routine and the same is true for the show. So instead of being just told jokes the whole time you are seeing what leads to the jokes at least in so far as the fictional version of Louis C.K. goes.

It took until the 8^th episode of the season called Dogpound for the show to really be focused all the way through. In this episode Louie after sending his two daughters to their mother’s house for the weekend promises himself that he is not going to be a depressed piece of shit while they are gone. This is something Louie does every time his kids leave for an extended period of time. After this solemn vow there is a great moment where Louie goes to pay for a bottle of water at a convenience story and looks down to see that the counter for the cash is also the ice cream freezer. And when the cashier asks if the water is all, Louie gets this look on his face. Cut to the next scene and Louie is pounding down that Hagen-Daz like a drunk with a bottle of booze in the background a cacophony jazz is playing like something out of a David Lynch film. But that was only the beginning of Louie’s self-loathing spiral while his children were away. Just as he begins to take on a jump rope for some much needed exercise he is distracted by the faint sent of weed coming from next door. This leads to one of the funnies moments in the show’s short history where Louie gets to know his pot smoking neighbor better by doing a few bong hits with him and destroying a parked car with a large jug of water from the neighbor’s window. At the height of Louie’s attempt at getting right while his kids are gone is when he heads to an animal pound to find himself a furry companion to take his mind off of ice cream and pizza while his kids are out of hugging reach. This too ends badly after he is talked into taking one of the older dogs by a sexually suggestive dog lover because the problem with taking in an older dog is that they might have health issues or worst case scenario will die right as you bring them home. After the dog disposal unit took the dead pet away Louie’s children arrive thus ending his self-loathing shit spiraling into a uncontrollable orgy of extra creamy ice cream accompanied by copious amounts of take out pizza just to sate the empty void left by the absence of his children. Now that is how you make an episode that’s interesting, funny and coherent.    

Mad Men | “The Good News” Was Damn Good

Season 4 of Mad Men has been some what of a lumbering giant. The first two episodes of the season established the shows new dynamic but lacked much of the qualities that have made this show so beloved by so many; until “The Good News”. This episode featured three of the show’s main characters Lane, Joan and of course Don Draper.  The episode begins with Don on a layover in L.A. on his way to Acapulco for vacation, while there he visits Mrs. Anna Draper the wife of the long dead Don Draper whose name and identity was taken over by Dick Whitman (Don’s original name). Anna has known for quite some time that Dick/Don has taken her dead husband’s name and become a success in New York and is the only person in the world that truly knows Don. While visiting her Don finds out from Anna’s niece that Anna has advanced cancer and will not live long, and to top it off she hasn’t been told. Don’s reaction to the reality that his long time confidant will soon be gone is classic Mad Men, instead of Don doing the expected thing that you might see in a Network TV show, where he “does the right thing” and tells Anna that she is going to die soon, he tells her nothing and says his final goodbyes and heads back to New York to do some Draper style coping.

Meanwhile Joan and Lane are having a bit of a conflict in the office over holiday time which leads to a misunderstanding that puts a final nail in the coffin of Lane’s marriage. You see after a bit of a verbal scuffle over New Year’s holidays Lane has some flowers sent to Joan expressing his regret over their head butting, but due to Lane’s incompetent secretary the flowers are mistakenly sent to his wife with the note to Joan attached to it. There is nothing like finding a note to another woman in a bunch of roses to tip a rocking marriage over a cliff.

This isn’t the only thing on the voluptuous Joan’s mind, her husband has recently joined the military and will most likely be going to Vietnam as well she has been checking in with her doctor about her fertility and whether or not the “procedures” she undertook in the past will affect her ability to conceive a child.  The subtlety of Joan’s struggles in this episode are a testament to Mad Men’s ability for subtle expression which peaks after Joan cuts her hand while preparing food  begins to cry while her husband charmingly tends to her wound; revealing the more fragile side of her character usually not seen on the show.

Things are bleak up until the second half of this episode. Once Don makes it back to New York he and the martially challenged Lane go on a gentlemen’s night out. Fueled by smooth drinking spirits and a sense of loss both men begin a rather lighthearted evening with a getting to know you kind of feel. These two characters haven’t had much of a rapport in the show and there is a real sense of solidarity between the two while Don makes lewd comments in a late night cinema showing of Godzilla about handjobs and then later Don hooking Lane up with a prostitute to console his newly single heart.  It is interesting as always how Mad Men illustrates how Don and company cope with personal issues, drinking, laughing and of most important whoring. A bleak if not entertaining look at a bygone era.