Posted Nov 23rd 2009 10:04AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: American Idol, Video, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Alumni, Awards, Reality-Free
I had the
American Music Awards on last night in the background, and for the most part it looked like a pretty standard awards show: People wore pretty dresses, played pianos suspended by wires, wore more makeup than their wives (I'm looking at you,
Keith Urban), and simulated oral sex. Wait-- what?
Yeah, so for once,
Lady Gaga's performance, which involved smashing a plate-glass window and setting a piano on fire wasn't the most interesting performance of the night. Instead, everyone is talking about two people:
Jennifer Lopez and Adam Lambert. Lopez's unfortunate fall during her performance of "Louboutins" probably mortified her, but it wasn't the most awkward thing to happen during the ceremony. That distinction goes to
American Idol runner-up
Adam Lambert's decidedly non-family-friendly performance.
You can check out both videos after the jump.
Continue reading American Music Awards: J.Lo falls, Adam Lambert freaks out parents
Posted Nov 19th 2009 2:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
There's something a little unnerving about the fact that the
Primetime Emmys float. Not the award statuette itself. No, that would be like an anchor in the water. I'm talking about the date for the Emmys.
The 2010 Primetime Emmys will be on Sunday, August 29, on NBC. The 2009 Primetime Emmys, lest you forgot already, were September 20. The date of the Emmys floats around depending on which network is broadcasting the show.
NBC has a steady date with the NFL on Sunday nights during football season. NBC
Football Night in America in the network's top-rated show. The top. Number one. That means there's no way that the Peacock was going to give up a Sunday night game for the Primetime Emmy broadcast.
So, using their power, the network simply declared that the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards will be held in August. They pulled this same stunt in 2006, so the folks at NATAS (the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) weren't stunned.
Continue reading The Emmys are coming, the Emmys are coming ... in August
Posted Nov 10th 2009 6:38PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Music and Variety, Game Show, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Awards, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series
This might sound more overdue than
According to Jim's cancellation, but one of TV's greatest creators is getting the Hall of Fame treatment.
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry will join the ranks of the Television Academy's Hall of Fame next year at a special induction ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Other inductees include Candice Bergen, production and art director Charles Lisanby, announcer Don Pardo, Tom and Dick Smothers and game show producer Bob Stewart. Is there anyone that they left off the list?
Posted Nov 4th 2009 6:31PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
Allison told you yesterday that
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will host the Oscars in 2010. But you probably guessed that others were considered too, right? Three of the people below turned down the gig. Can you guess who they were?
- Tina Fey
- Robert Downey, Jr.
- Will Ferrell
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Jay Leno
- Ben Stiller
- Sean Combs
- Kristin Chenoweth
- Jerry Seinfeld
- me
Continue reading Here's who turned down the Oscars gig
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 10:17PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, 30 Rock, Awards, Reality-Free
The
Vegas oddsmakers were wrong about Billy Crystal. He isn't hosting the Oscars. Neither is Hugh Jackman. No, today it was announced that
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will serve as cohosts of the 82nd Academy Awards. Interestingly, Martin and Baldwin are costarring -- with Meryl Streep -- in the upcoming romantic comedy,
It's Complicated.
Choosing these two guys, however, is not complicated. It's actually pretty damn clever. Both men are very funny, very comfortable in the moment -- a necessity for a complicated show like the Oscars when anything can go wrong -- and they bring a lot of good will and star power to the proceedings.
Continue reading Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host the Oscars
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 11:29AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Awards, Reality-Free
Oscar roulette is usually played when it comes time to figure out the nominations. However, this year there seems to be a wheel of fortune spinning with the names of possible hosts for the show. Of course, the
folks running the show have intimated that they might want to have a few stars sharing the duties. Historically, that hasn't worked out too well.
The other day when
Hugh Jackman removed his name from the running, I asked you for your ideas and told you that I like Kathy Griffin. Jimmy liked George Clooney and Justin Timberlake. Sancty suggested
Neil Patrick Harris.
Continue reading Who'll host the Oscars? The oddsmakers like Billy Crystal
Posted Oct 30th 2009 6:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
So
Ricky Gervais has signed to host the Golden Globes, which means the pressure is on the Oscars to come up with a host or hosts equally as stellar. Or interesting. Or compelling.
One star who has removed himself from the running is last year's host,
Hugh Jackman. He will not return as Oscar host when the show airs on ABC, March 7.
He's currently on Broadway in a play -- with 007 Daniel Craig -- and he "quietly turned down the job" according to sources. It's not because he was a bomb emceeing the proceedings either. He didn't do the "Oprah, Uma, Uma, Oprah" joke nor did he trip on his shoelaces in the opening number. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Hugh Jackman was a perfectly fine host.
But he doesn't want to do it in 2010. Maybe he doesn't want to push his luck? Maybe he just doesn't want to work that hard.
Continue reading Hugh Jackman says 'no thanks' to Oscar repeat
Posted Oct 30th 2009 8:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Music and Variety, Awards, Reality-Free, Glee
If you have any doubt about the power of television in the selling of music and making stars, this story should convince you that there is a definite correlation. Fox's
Glee has produced a solid gold successful single.
The
Glee version of "Don't Stop Believin'" has been certified as Gold in digital sales of half-a-million downloads. That's 500,000 people who've heard the song on the TV show and wanted it on their iPod or cell phone or some music playing apparatus.
"Don't Stop Believin'" was the first big song from the
pilot, but it's not the only song that has been popular. Seven songs from
Glee now occupy spots in the top 200 of iTunes' Top Songs chart. On November 3, there will be a compilation CD of the best numbers from the show, called
Glee: The Music, Volume 1.
Continue reading Glee's "Don't Stop Believin'" goes gold
Posted Oct 27th 2009 9:03AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
One of America's greatest TV icons has been officially recognized as one of its greatest humorists. Yes, he's still one of the greatest TV icons, but giving him another honor for his work in TV is like giving Jay Leno a free car.
Bill Cosby received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Monday at the Kennedy Center.
The event, set for broadcast on PBS on Nov. 4., featured presentations and words from comedy notables such as Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld. It also featured a
Cosby Show reunion of sorts with Phylicia Rashad and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. It's a good thing Dr. Huxtable didn't take his boy out of the world after all.
Posted Oct 26th 2009 6:36PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, The Office, Celebrities, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
During the recent broadcast of the
Primetime Emmys, one of the funniest presenters was
Ricky Gervais. It's not surprising that Ricky was funny that night. He's a brilliant comic actor, writer and director. I say this even after suffering through
The Invention of Lying, a film that had a wonderful premise but was a crappy movie. Nevertheless, I still think he's fantastic. And I will watch the
67th Annual Golden Globes with Ricky Gervais as host.
The NBC censor's finger will surely be on the button January 17, the night of the broadcast, because you could imagine Ricky getting a wee bit close to the line of what you can and cannot say on TV. Although he's probably clever enough to say or do something that the censors wouldn't get till after it airs.
Continue reading Brilliant! Ricky Gervais to host the Golden Globes
Posted Oct 21st 2009 5:33PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Awards, Reality-Free
In this age where there seems to be an awards show every three weeks, is the
People's Choice Awards relevant anymore (if it ever was)? More than anything else, it seems like an award based only on popularity, which is why you get some really lame nominations and winners every year.
In the
Favorite TV Comedy category,
Gary Unmarried is nominated along with shows like
30 Rock,
The Office,
Chuck, and
How I Met Your Mother. In the
Favorite TV Comedy Actor category, David Spade is nominated.
Continue reading It's People's Choice Awards time again
Posted Oct 21st 2009 11:29AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free, So You Think You Can Dance
Maybe they'll change the name of this year's
Academy Awards to
So You Think You Can Win An Oscar? Or maybe it'll be
Oscar, You Should Be Dancing. What else can we expect now that
Adam Shankman has been assigned to produce the Oscar broadcast... with Bill Mechanic. The Bill Mechanic part is almost like fine print. (Or that cute kid Brick on
The Middle who whispers under his breathe in a funny, creepy way. "Mechanic...")
The story here is
Adam Shankman. He's a director/choreographer and dancer. He's a judge on the current season of
So You Think You Can Dance. His biggest credit is
Hairspray, one of the few movie musicals that has made it to the big screen and was a bit hit in the last decade. Shankman should bring movement, energy and -- perhaps -- dance to the
Academy Awards?
Continue reading Adam Shankman, the dancing Oscar producer
Posted Oct 13th 2009 7:26AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
Before
Dallas and
Dynasty and
Falcon Crest and
Knots Landings captured the imaginations of American viewers, there was a British soap import that was even more compelling.
From 1971-75, PBS aired the British upper crust soap Upstairs Downstairs. And now
Upstairs Downstairs is going to be remade. It'll be filmed and shown in England first before coming to America in 2011.
What made
Upstairs Downstairs classic television – it won Emmys, BAFTAs and Golden Globes – was the way it depicted of the British class system. Upstairs you had the rich, privileged Bellamy family. Downstairs there were the servants who worked for them. The lives of all these characters intertwined in a well-written, brilliantly acted drama series.
Continue reading They're remaking Upstairs Downstairs
Posted Oct 12th 2009 1:38PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free, Mad Men
Last month,
Mad Men was celebrating winning a slew of Emmys. One of them was for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, the episode entitled
"Meditations In An Emergency." When
creator Matthew Weiner went onto the stage to grab the Emmy, with him was Kater Gordon, the co-writer of that episode. Today,
Kater Gordon was let go from Mad Men.
Are you shocked? Apparently, the industry press is. Gordon had risen from personal assistant to writer's assistant to member of the writing staff. After the Emmy, you would think that she was in like Flynn.
However, something must have gone awry or why has she been given her walking papers? And if you think it's not a dismissal, listen to this announcement from the show:
Continue reading Emmy-winning writer let go from Mad Men
Posted Oct 5th 2009 7:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: The Simpsons, Awards, Reality-Free
The Simpsons have been around for so long that one must wonder if there is an award they haven't been given yet. I mean other than that stupid, meaningless paperweight the industry calls
the Emmy.
The Paley Center for Media will pay a special tribute to
The Simpsons at this year's annual fundraising gala. The Center's president Pat Mitchell said they chose to honor the show because of its "tremendous impact on the television sitcom over the last 20 years and continues to influence and redefine the medium."
So I guess now when the nominating committee for the Paley Center has their annual honor candidate hoedown and someone suggests
The Simpsons, the
South Park delegate can yell "
Simpsons did it!"
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