SAG Cozies Up to Cable, Too
Okay, I think we get the message. Everyone loves cable this year.
The nominations for the 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced bright and early this morning in West Hollywood, and here’s what may be most surprising: AMC’s Mad Men and TNT’s The Closer beat out House, Lost and 24 to enter the Best Ensemble in a Drama for Television category. (Get all the deets in our news story.)
Pretty amazing, no? Just as we saw with the Golden Globe nominations one week ago, the SAG voters trended toward more pay-cable and basic-cable nods this year, especially in the drama categories.
Along with Mad Men (clearly the little awesome show that could) and The Closer’s ensemble nods, Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and Glenn Close (FX’s Damages) ousted previous SAG shoo-ins like Patricia Arquette, Mariska Hargitay and the Grey’s girls, while Jon Hamm (Mad Men) smacked down both the Lost lads and Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland).
Call it another thumbtack in the coffin of network TV…
On the comedy side, however, network shows fared better, with nods to newcomers like 30 Rock’s ensemble and Tina Fey (thank you, Jesus!), Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, which is so not getting canceled any time soon) and Vanessa Williams of Ugly Betty. And I gotta say, the ensemble nomination for The Office also saved me from having an early-morning meltdown—on camera. Thanks, SAG!
Anyway, I’m curious to know what you all think. Are the SAG and Globes voters right on the money that cable had a better year than network TV when it came to drama? Or is it just not right that shows like Lost, House and 24 are shut out?
Let us hear your thoughts in the Comments below—and weigh in on what other snubs irked you.
No Lost? No Office? No Betty? No Heroes? Have the Globes Gone Crazy?
Either I didn't slam enough espresso this morning for my very early morning call and was nodding off while the Golden Globe nominations were announced, or the following should-be shoo-ins were completely left out of the running this year:
• Lost
• Heroes
• Ugly Betty
• Desperate Housewives
• And even…the freaking Office!
Say it with me now: Whaaaaat?!
And what's more, save for acting nods to America Ferrera and Steve Carell, all the actors and actresses from these shows were completely shut out, too. (Get all the deets and the full list of noms in our news stories.)
So, if all of these fan-favorite heavyweights were left out in the cold, who actually managed to make it in?
Turns out, the normally mainstream-minded Hollywood Foreign Press decided to shift its attention to cable this time around, giving multiple nods to such stellar shows as Showtime's The Tudors, FX's Damages, AMC's Mad Men, Showtime's Californication and HBO's Extras.
If you ask me, this surprising cable sweep offers up a pretty poignant commentary on the current state of television and, specifically, the quality (or lack thereof) of freshman network series.
See, Globes voters are notorious for being all about hot new shows—preferably big-buzz and big-audience (read: network) new shows. But this season, the only network newbies voters deemed worthy of attention were Pushing Daisies (God bless that genius show and its three nods for Best Comedy Series and Best Actor and Actress Lee Pace and Anna Friel), Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?) and Donald Sutherland (Dirty Sexy Money).
Save for a possible nod for something or someone related to Private Practice (and really…meh), there simply aren't any first-season comedies or dramas that jump to mind as having been royally snubbed. Yes, I love Gossip Girl and Chuck as much as the next guy, but they just aren't the type of shows that normally get taken seriously by awards voters.
Perhaps it's time for the networks to up their A game and get more competitive with cable. And maybe give show runners and writers more creative control, like they have over on the now-lauded cable nets, who appear to be kicking their keisters.
Just a thought.
Now please take a minute to take our poll on this morning's nominations, and don't forget to sound off in our Comments section!
A royal decree for season 3 of The Tudors
The Tudors just got picked up for a third season slated to air in 2009. Production will begin June 16th in Dublin, Ireland and Jonathan Rhys Meyers will star once again as Henry VIII. Season three will follow Henry as he weds Jane Seymour and then Anne of Cleves.
This really doesn’t come as a surprise to me. The show, when it premiered in April 2006, garnered both a large audience and critical acclaim. In fact, the series and Rhys Meyers earned Golden Globe nominations. “The Tudors is now a fixture for us at Showtime and we’re on our way to completing the entire saga of all six wives of Henry VIII,” says President of Entertainment Robert Greenblatt. He goes on, “We are enormously proud of this show, the extraordinary cast, and the production team that recreates the grandeur of the Renaissance year in and year out. There is nothing like this anywhere on American television.”
I only have one question, Is season three the season they will make Rhys Meyers wear a fat suit? I love the JRM but come on, he doesn’t look one bit like the real-life portly king that changed the political and spiritual landscape of England.
AFI’s Top 10 Movies of 2007
On Saturday, the American Film Institute picked its Top Ten American Films of 2007. The list is available below in alphabetical order:
- Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Into the Wild
- Juno
- Knocked Up
- Michael Clayton
- No Country for Old Men
- Ratatouille
- The Savages
- There Will Be Blood
I tend to agree with this list more than I agreed with the Golden Globe nominations. I’m not sure if “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” deserves to be up there, and while The Savages is a great movie, I’m not sure if it deserves to be in the top 10. Fox Searchlight’s Once would have been my choice. errr I forgot the AFI list only includes American films. I’m glad to see that AFI included my favorite comedies of the year: Juno and Knocked Up. And why has everyone forgotten about David Fincher’s Zodiac?
Here are AFI’s Top 10 lists from the last six years:
- 2006: Babel, Borat, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Half Nelson, Happy Feet, Inside Man, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, United 93.
- 2005: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Good Night And Good Luck, A History of Violence, King Kong, Munich, The Squid and the Whale, Syriana.
- 2004: The Aviator, Collateral, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Friday Night Lights, The Incredibles, Kinsey, Maria Full of Grace, Million Dollar Baby, Sideways, Spider-Man 2
- 2003: American Splendor, Finding Nemo, The Human Stain, In America, The Last Samurai, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander, Monster, Mystic River
- 2002: About a Boy, About Schmidt, Adaptation, Antwone Fisher, Chicago, Frida, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Quiet American
- 2001: A Beautiful Mind, Black Hawk Down, In The Bedroom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Memento, Monster’s Ball, Moulin Rouge, Muholland Drive, Shrek
- 2000: Almost Famous, Before Night Falls, Best In Show, Erin Brockovich, Gladiator, High Fidelity, Requiem For A Dream, Traffic, Wonder Boys, You Can Count on Me.