[Televisionary]

You do not cut off Patty Hewes in the middle of an acceptance speech. Come to think of it, you probably shouldn't be cutting off Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, Tina Fey, Bryan Cranston, and the aforementioned Glenn Close, period. But that's just what they did on last night's tedious Emmy telecast, focusing instead on the inane chatter among the five nominated reality series hosts and a plethora of pointless and unfunny filler material. Sure, the 60th Annual Emmy Awards wasn't as big a fiasco as last year's circular stage debacle , though this year came close with the ridiculous time-waste that was the show's opening twelve minutes or so, cheap-looking on-screen graphics for each category, fruitless use of familiar sets, and awkward "repartee" between presenters and our so-called "hosts." The few high points for me? Ricky Gervais, for one, whose painfully funny (not to mention cringe-worthy) reminiscing of his in absentia win last year for

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I spent last night holding my sides from laughing so much during the season premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (more on that in a bit) and was on the edge of my seat watching the much anticipated season premiere of The Amazing Race (which kicks off on CBS on September 28th). Sci Fi has ordered 11 additional episodes of sci-fi dramedy Warehouse 13 , which already shot a two-hour backdoor pilot earlier this year. Series, about Secret Service agents tasked with protecting a top secret South Dakota storage facility that contains a seemingly endless supply of supernatural artifacts (hint: like the TARDIS, the place is bigger on the inside), stars Eddie McClintock ( Bones ), Joanne Kelly ( Vanished ), CCH Pounder ( The Shield ), and Saul Rubinek ( Blind Justice ). Look for Warehouse 13 --from writer/executive producer David Simkins, writers Brent Mote and Jane Espenson, and Universal Cable Prods.--to air in July 2009 as a c

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Steve Martin has allegedly signed on to appear in a guest role capacity on this season of 30 Rock , reuniting Martin with his former Baby Mama co-star Tina Fey (they also memorably appeared in February in an SNL opening monologue). I cannot bloody wait! ( New York Magazine ) Speaking of Tina Fey, NBC is staying mum about whether Fey will make another appearance on Saturday Night Live , but executive producer Lorne Michaels is said to have some backups in mind just in case Fey won't be returning to the sketch comedy series as Sarah Palin. I thought Fey was pitch-perfect as the vice presidential candidate and would love to see her return... so long as it doesn't detract from her work on 30 Rock , which launches its third season next month. ( Hollywood Reporter ) "In some other dimension are Ben and Charles Whitmore just two drinking buddies playing a video game?," wonders Lost 's Michael Emerson. Find out in thi

Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I hope that most of you decided to stay in last night and watch the premiere of FOX's new J.J. Abrams project Fringe ; I watched the second episode of 90210 and was decidedly less-than-impressed again. Sigh. If you did miss Fringe , fret not: FOX will be reairing last night's series premiere on Sunday evening at 8 pm... along with a sneak peek at the first four minutes of Episode Two, as well as an extended scene from feature The Day the Earth Stood Still (the Keanu Reeves version, natch) and a preview of the two-hour 24 movie 24: Redemption . ( Variety ) Regardless of how Fringe did in the ratings last night, it will have done significantly better than the launch for HBO's vampire drama True Blood from Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball. The pay cabler only drew 1.44 million viewers to the series premiere of True Blood , significantly less than the axed John from Cincinnati did in its initial outin

Good morning and welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I cannot believe that this week was in any way truncated as it felt so damn long. (Am I alone in thinking that?) I spent last night watching the pilot for Rob Thomas' new version of Cupid and caught up on some backlog on my TiVo and cannot wait for this weekend. (The wife and I are planning a movie marathon tomorrow night. On deck: Son of Rambow, Hamlet 2, Redbelt , and Amateur. ) ROTFLMAO! Gossip Girl 's Blake Lively and Leighton Meester have signed on to guest star in a November episode of NBC's 30 Rock , where they'll play high school classmates of Liz Lemon in a flashback sequence that reveals that Liz (Tina Fey) was a mean girl (how this squares with her D&D-playing days remains to be seen); the episode revolves around Liz's twenty-year high school reunion, so look for producers to cast adult versions of Lively and Meester's teen characters. Up for the part: Robyn Lively ( Savannah ),

Good morning and welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Zuleikha Robinson ( Rome, New Amsterdam ) has been cast as Ilana in Season Five of Lost ; she'll recur as "a European female who possesses great intelligence but who's also dangerous as all get out" and her contract contains an option for her to be bumped to series regular in Season Six. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Alice in Wonderland? Showtime has cast Leisha Hailey in the pilot presentation for its untitled The L Word spin-off, which is scheduled to shoot in December with Ilene Chaiken on board to write and executive produce. ( Variety ) Oprah Winfrey is said to be in final talks to guest star on 30 Rock 's second episode of the upcoming season (launching on NBC on September 30th). Winfrey is said to be playing herself (rather than Liz Lemon's BFF, which was Tina Fey's longtime wish) and will appear in scenes opposite Fey and will be involved in a storyline about a

NBC has once again altered its Thursday night comedy lineup, shifting freshman series Kath & Kim to an earlier hour. Kath & Kim will now air on Thursdays at 8:30 pm ET/PT, shifting 30 Rock from its berth following My Name is Earl . This is the second move for the Molly Shannon/Selma Blair comedy, which was originally scheduled to air on Tuesdays between a 90-minute format of The Biggest Loser and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit . The Peacock's decision to swap Kath & Kim with 30 Rock (which will now air on Thursdays, following The Office ) is allegedly due to the better compatibility between Kath & Kim and My Name is Earl (um, I could have told them that) than with the more subtle comedic charms of The Office . I think that the move is a smart one, especially as The Office and 30 Rock are a much stronger one-hour block when combined across the 9 pm hour, though I am concerned about what will happen to 30 Rock once NBC launches its non-spinoff of T

After weeks of leaked semi-finalist nominee lists, it's good to finally get a glimpse of which series and actors actually made it onto the ballots, instead of seeing yet another list that showed who could make it to the nomination stage. The Emmy nominees were announced this morning and I have to commend them for showering such love onto diverse and unique series such as Mad Men, 30 Rock (17 nominations, no less!), and Damages ... while also locking some repeat offenders--like Ugly Betty in the comedy category--out in the cold. (Yes, I watch Ugly Betty but should it be competing with such comedy series as 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, or The Office ? Hells no, especially when HBO's hysterical Flight of the Conchords didn't even get a mention.) So which series and actors did land Emmy noms? Let's talk about the major categories. Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men (AMC) Boston Legal (ABC) House (FOX) Lost (ABC) Damages (FX) Dexter (Showtime) I'm actually qui

It's that time of year again as the Television Critics Association has announced their nominations for the TCA Awards, which will be handed out on July 19th in Beverly Hills. Making headlines: AMC's Mad Men has tied HBO's The Wire with the top number of nominations. (For those of you looking for a sign that critics are clearly behind the itty-bitty cabler and the recent Golden Globe winner for Best Drama, there you go.) This year's group of nominees are quite exciting choices (as seen from the full list below), with some of Televisionary's favorite programs represented, including multiple nominations for Damages, 30 Rock, Lost, Pushing Daisies, and Flight of the Conchords , to name but a few. The full list of nominees for the TCA Awards is as follows: Program of the Year: John Adams Lost Mad Men Ken Burns' The War The Wire Comedy: 30 Rock The Colbert Report The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Flight of the Conchords The Office Drama: Damages Friday Nigh

I can't believe that the second season of 30 Rock is already over, just when we finally got the series back on the air after the end of the writers strike. While I found last night's episode ("Cooter") to be pretty damn funny, it didn't quite coalesce at the end in the streamlined fashioned I had hoped for. After all, this was a hugely ambitious episode, cramming in no less than four separate storylines that didn't intersect at all. Would it be possible to juggle the demands of so many competing stories in the space of approximately 21 minutes? Sadly, not quite though it gave it the old college try. Liz. I really enjoyed the A-storyline in which Liz thinks she's pregnant due to a false-positive on a series of home pregnancy tests (including one swiped from Jenna's dressing room drawer) due to the "evaporated bull semen" that gives Liz's favorite off-brand Mexican snack, Sabor de Soledad, its distinctive flavor. While everyone (including

There are few things in life that you can count on. Death, taxes, and laughing your butt off while watching 30 Rock usually top the list. Last night's episode of 30 Rock ("Sandwich Day") was no exception to this rule, with multiple plotlines that took the characters into unexpected directions... and hilarity. Ostensibly about the first encounter between Liz and Floyd (Jason Sudeikis) since their breakup--and his moving to Cleveland--the episode also involved Jack's fall from grace to the 12th floor of 30 Rock, a drinking contest between the TGS staffers and the transpo guys over a special sandwich from a secret location. Oh, and a fantastic guest turn from Brian Dennehy! What more could you ask for? I'm thrilled to bits that Floyd is back in Liz's life, even if it is just temporarily. I've missed their goofy rapport and UNO sessions and I absolutely loved the scene in which Pete choreographed Liz's entire scene on the TGS set with Floyd, from the lig

How utterly fantastic was last night's episode of 30 Rock ("Succession")? Increasingly, 30 Rock is becoming the brightest, shiniest spot in my television-viewing week, offering more belly laughs, throwaway lines, and blink and you miss it jokes than most typical seasons of other network comedies. Last night's brilliant episode, focusing on Don Geiss choosing his successor and Liz becoming a high-powered executive, was no exception; it was taut, elegantly crafted comedy that fused together wit and absurdity into one brilliant package. After all, what other comedy series would reference Amadeus in a plot thread about Tracy Jordan fusing together video games and porn into one single package to bear his immortal legacy? I loved that a jealous Frank (who had devoted his life to porn) played Salieri to Tracy's Mozart and beautiful slow-mo montage of Dr. Spaceman rushing down the halls of 30 Rock, cloak billowing in his wake, as he then pauses at the vending machine f

There might only be three all-new installments of 30 Rock left this season (the truncated season is, of course, due to the strike), but that doesn't mean I can't get behind NBC's decision to shift the hilarious and subversive comedy series to a later timeslot. Beginning this week, 30 Rock will move from its 8:30 pm home to a 9:30 pm berth, directly behind The Office . I am sure NBC is hoping that the ratings of the (lately) inferior Office will create a halo effect for 30 Rock and viewers will stick around for the travails of Liz Lemon and the TGS staffers. I am also sure that NBC was a little concerned that the return of original episodes of Ugly Betty over on ABC might, er, unduly influence the ratings and put 30 Rock in a precipitous position. Sure, the timeslot change puts them opposite ratings powerhouse Grey's Anatomy , but I feel like that series' audience is different than that for 30 Rock . Personally, I think it's great news. I've been saving