Sarah Silverman: best comedy actress?
As the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences tries to whittle the submissions down to actual nominees, it’s interesting to take a look at who has made it to the semifinals. It’s not a nomination, but it’s one step away. Today comes word of the finalists for best comedy actress and best supporting drama actor. There are some surprises.
Chief among those for me is Sarah Silverman. I honestly hadn’t even considered her in the running. I’m not much of a fan, but I do like that she is being considered for the simple fact that the base the nominees are drawn from can always use some expansion. And if she is the most surprising inclusion, the most surprising snub just might be Teri Hatcher. Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, and Felicity Huffman all made the cut, but not Hatcher. Ouch. The rest of the finalists, and the supporting actors from a drama, after the jump.
The complete list of finalists for comedy actress:
- Christina Applegate - Samantha Who?
- Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives
- America Ferrera - Ugly Betty
- Tina Fey - 30 Rock
- Anna Friel - Pushing Daisies
- Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives
- Eva Longoria - Desperate Housewives
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus - New Adventures Of Old Christine
- Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds
- Sarah Silverman - The Sarah Silverman Program
If I can only pick one, it would be Anna Friel. The list of supporting actors in a drama doesn’t look quite as controversial, but with so few spots somebody is going to get overlooked. Lost scores two of the coveted spots, and probably the most surprising name missing from the list. Naveen Andrews and Michael Emerson are great, but I’d take Terry O’Quinn over both of them every time. Not so with the academy. The biggest surprise for me here is Bruce Dern on Big Love. The finalists:
- Naveen Andrews - Lost
- Bruce Dern - Big Love
- Christian Clemenson - Boston Legal
- Ted Danson - Damages
- Michael Emerson - Lost
- Zeljko Ivanek - Damages
- T.R. Knight - Grey’s Anatomy
- William Shatner - Boston Legal
- John Slattery - Mad Men
- Blair Underwood - In Treatment
- Jake Weber - Medium
I could have gone for Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad, but I’ll take Christian Clemenson for the win, and consider it a long overdue nod to Briscoe County Jr. Members will now watch the submitted episodes for all of the finalists and rank them from 1 to 10 before the two groups are knocked down to a final list of nominees. What do you think? Who doesn’t belong on the list? Who was overlooked?
The cast of Boston Legal rides the Pony - VIDEO
The cast of Boston Legal is now moving to children’s toys. This only seems like a joke, but it’s not. William Shatner, James Spader and Candice Bergen are among the celebrities and artists who will be designing new versions of “My Little Pony”, the toy from the 1980’s which launched an animated television series and movie.
(UPDATE: Stacey Luchs, a spokeswoman for the show, said Thursday that Shatner and Spader were unaware of the venture and would not participate.)
The special ponies will be auctioned off by Hasbro as a charity fundraiser. Other pony-designing celebrities include LeAnn Rimes, Debbie Gibson and Danny Aiello. Artists designing ponies include illustrator Catalina Estrada from Spain, New York graffiti artist-turned-designer Claw Money and Japanese manga artist Junko Mizuno.
Still, it beats having to redesign Planet Unicorn.
I do wonder what Shatner’s pony will look like. Will it have a toupee and sing badly? Will in speak in short, staccato bursts? I! AM! SHATNER’S! PONY! What would you pay for the honor of playing with Shatner’s pony? Okay, I’ll stop now.
The following is the intro to the animated My Little Pony. Hopefully the artists will be able to use it as inspiration.
William Shatner says Captain Kirk was a good hero
To many people, William Shatner is a beloved TV icon. To others, he’s a shameless self-promoter, a commercial pitchman for everything from margarine to hotel rooms. Few feel neutral about Shatner, so this story may come as something of a surprise. William Shatner rarely watches himself on TV and film. Like a lot of actors, when he works, he’s in the moment and doesn’t go back and study what he did and why. It’s been working for him. As Denny Crane on Boston Legal, he’s won two Emmys in the last three years.
He’s also not watching his old TV shows. In fact, it wasn’t until recently that Shatner actually sat and watched Star Trek. “I haven’t seen myself playing Captain Kirk in a long, long time,” he said. So when he saw the episode called A Piece of the Action, in which the Enterprise has to interfere in a planet that’s built its society on the model of a Chicago 1920’s gangster movie and threaten to kill each other, he watched it. Kirk dons a Fedora and pinstripe suit to beam down to the planet and broker a peace between the warring factions. Oh, and the episode is a comedy! It wasn’t as campy as Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in Robin and the Seven Hoods, but they may have used the same costumer.
Anyway, Shatner didn’t reach for the remote. “I watched it now, from my perspective of 40 years later, and I thought, `You know, that’s rather good.’ It’s a starship captain trying to do the accent, the Noo Yawk accent, trying to play tough, trying to be one of the guys. It’s not quite right, but it’s what a starship captain would have done-a decent imitation, enough to fool those guys but not the audience.”
Reflecting on the character of Jim Kirk, Shatner said, “He was a good hero. He made decisions. He was forceful. He was compassionate. He was the instigator. He fought hard and long physically and emotionally. He carried the dilemma of whether to intrude or not to intrude. It was all the classic forms of good Greek play making: The hero has the dilemma and resolves the dilemma.”
Whether Shatner will feel that good about the upcoming (2009) Star Trek movie in which Kirk and Spock and McCoy and the entire Enterprise crew will return, but with new actors in the roles, remains to be seen. Chris Pine has been cast as James T. Kirk. All Bill is saying now is that he’s kind of sad that he’s not involved. True, this is sci-fi, but Kirk perished in the 1994 feature Star Trek Generations.
Meanwhile, don’t be stunned if Bill Shatner snags another Emmy nomination for Boston Legal. The nominations will be announced on July 17, 2008.
TV Land Awards Party Like It’s 1979
From the Beav to Gary Coleman to Justin Timberlake to The Golden Girls, the 6th annual TV Land Awards had all demographics covered.
The ceremony, taped Sunday night at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, honored the best and brightest in the world of entertainment, including movies and music, and made for some good TV.
Lionel Richie, who was on hand to receive an Icon Award from Samuel L. Jackson for 40 years in showbiz, performed some of his greatest hits and gave some tongue-in-cheek props to his one-time wild child daughter. “Just surviving 27 years of Nicole Richie…I stand here as a survivor,” he joked (we think).
The showstopper featured host Vanessa Williams warbling the Peter Pan tune “I’m Flying” while classic TV stars Barry Williams, Bernie Kopell, Gary Coleman, Jerry Mathers, Jimmie “J.J.” Walker, Dawn Wells, Alison Arngrim, Ron Palillo and William Katt flew above the crowd dressed as their iconic tube selves.
Other highlights of the evening include:
- Timberlake presented his Love Guru costar Mike Myers with the Legacy of Laughter Award after throwing a shout-out to an overeager male audience member who declared his love. “That’s OK, nothing wrong with a bit of bromance,” Timberlake said.
- Steve Carell gave The Golden Girls stars Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Betty White the Pop Culture Award.
- Ed Asner and William Shatner in turn presented Carell and the rest of the Office crew with the Future Classic Award.
- Teri Hatcher saluted the cast of Roseanne, including Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Michael Fishman, Martin Mull, Johnny Galecki and both BeckysAlicia Goranson and Sarah Chalkewith the Innovator Award.
- After whisking Vanessa Williams off into a waltz, Robin Williams honored his hero and Mork costar, Jonathan Winters, with the Pioneer Award.
- Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, Henry Winkler, Jack Klugman and Dick Van Dyke bestowed the Legend Award to Happy Days creator Garry Marshall.
The awards will air on the TV Land network June 15 at 9 p.m.