[Televisionary]

Can you believe it's that time again? I can. But then again, I got up at the ungodly hour of 5:35 am to see Jon Cryer and Kyra Sedgwick unveil the nominees for the 2007 Emmy Awards this morning. So who made the cut in some of the top categories? Let's grab a cup of coffee and find out. Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series Extras • HBO • BBC and HBO Entertainment Ricky Gervais as Andy Millman Monk • USA • NBC Universal Television Studio in association with Mandeville Films and Touchstone Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk The Office • NBC • Deedle-Dee Productions, Reveille, LLC, in association with NBC Universal Television Studio Steve Carell as Michael Scott 30 Rock • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, in association with NBC Universal Television Studio Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with Warner Bros. Television Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper This is a seriously tough category

A few things off the top of my head about last night's episode of Top Chef ("Latin Lunch"): I was actually pretty impressed with the chefs during the Quickfire Challenge and not so much during the elimination challenge, Howie and Joey seem to have buried the hatchet, and I'm not quite sure who drilled that arrogance into Hung's skill but it appears to be completely unwarranted. The Quickfire Challenge was to take a frozen pie crust and transform it into something delicious. That's it. No other rules or guidelines; it was up to the chefs to determine whether they were going to make something sweet or savory. I loved that Dale was immediately irritated by the challenge, coming as it did on the heels of last week's pastry disaster; these are not trained pastry chefs by any stretch of the imagination, so I was rather impressed with what some of them managed to pull off with just frozen pie crust. Joey really did step it up in this challenge, creating a trio o

Starbuck fans, take note. Jamie Sommers shouldn't get too comfortable; her nemesis Sarah Corvus will be returning... more often that we originally thought. Battlestar Galactica 's Katee Sackhoff has signed a deal to return to sci fi drama Bionic Woman as a recurring player. The Hollywood Reporter has indicated that the deal nearly didn't come together and was only signed in the eleventh hour. While Sackhoff has appeared prominently in NBC's promos for Bionic Woman , there was no deal in place to keep Sackhoff with the series, except for a handful of episodes, and she and studio Universal Media Studios (nee NBC Universal Television Studio) were said to be "far apart on terms." Whatever the differences of those terms, a deal was signed yesterday that will return the scene-stealing Sackhoff to the series. Sackhoff, who was due to appear at NBC's Bionic Woman panel of the TCA yesterday, failed to turn up due to a "scheduling conflict." Speculatio

So I finally got around to watching NBC's backdoor pilot/one-hour special, V ictoria Beckham: Coming to America last night. (For those of you who missed it, it repeats this Thursday or can be watched--in its entirety-- online .) I have to say, off the bat, that I am surprised that the former Posh Spice isn't a train wreck, but a rather funny, somewhat polished personality who came across at times as refreshingly down to earth. I had expected to tune in to find her having a Paula Abdul-sized breakdown after being forced to shop at Kitson in full view of the papparazzi or crying her eyes out for the mean things that Perez Hilton said about her. Instead, she handled the above, along with taking her drivers license test, getting pulled over by police, and house-hunting, with an aura of calm. And that's perhaps the crux of the problem with Victoria Beckham: Coming to America . She comes across as, well, a little too nice. Part of the reason people tune into these shows is for t

The guessing game to see who would replace poor Mae Whitman in Bionic Woman is over. Lucy Hale ( The Apostles ) has been cast in Bionic Woman , where she'll play Jamie's troubled younger sister, a role originated by Mae Whitman ( Arrested Development ). It was widely known that Whitman would be replaced but many thought the role would be rewritten to make Jamie's sister a hearing role. Not so, according to the Hollywood Reporter , who reports that the role will still be that of "Sommers' deaf younger sister." Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, especially as I don't believe the producers would cast another hearing actress in a deaf role. UPDATE: Hale's character, Becca, will not be hearing impaired and the character will now have a proficiency for computer hacking. (Hmm, Veronica Mars ' Mac was too busy?) Hale, who will be a regular on the series, joins fired Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington, who will board Bionic Woman

Am I alone in thinking that runaway Rhonda is perhaps the single most evil character on television right now? This week's episode of Big Love ("Dating Game") reaffirmed my belief that Rhonda ( The Ring 's Daveigh Chase)--now living out with the Tuttles after escaping the Juniper Creek compound and her betrothal to Old Roman--is in fact some sort of demon seed. That would explain why this girl can't help herself but intentionally injure everyone around her, including poor Barb and Sarah. I could not believe that she would stoop so low as to imply that the Henricksons were involved in the sexual abuse of their children. That said, my jaw hit the floor when she hugged Barb, only to whisper, "Kiss off" to her former savior. I'm not sure what Rhonda hopes to get out of having her story told--other than celebrity, perhaps--but I cannot believe that Nicki would try to kidnap her from the Tuttles and, with her involvement, made the situation a hell of a lot

I can't say that I'm surprised that NBC has reconfigured its fall lineup, in the wake of Ben Silverman's appointment at the network but I am pleasantly surprised to see that the Peacock has taken Chuck , one of my new favorite fall dramas, slightly out of the line of fire and moved it to another night. Chuck , from Warner Bros. Television and creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, will now kick off Monday nights at 8 pm, joining returning drama Heroes at 9 pm, which leads into new fall drama Journeyman at 10 pm. Hmmm, Chuck , Heroes , and Journeyman in a row? Could NBC have cracked a way to keep audience tune-in on Mondays? Only time will tell but I think it's a wonderful combination that should have been devised from the get-go. Meanwhile, Deal or No Deal , which had occupied that Monday night timeslot, will relocate to Fridays, which also gets a makeover, as well. Deal or No Deal kicks off the night at 8 pm, followed by a relocated Friday Night Lights at 9 pm a