[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 Monday morning television briefing. I had a wonderful if busy weekend which--not atypically--revolved around television. The wife and I attended Saturday's BAFTA/LA TV Tea Party and shared more than a few Pimm's Cups with Flight of the Conchords, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, 90210 executive producer Gabe Sachs, The Office 's Kate Flannery, Leslie David Baker, and Creed Bratton, Mad Men 's Rich Sommer, Aaron Staton, and Michael Gladis, The Riches ' Noel Fisher, 30 Rock 's Scott Adsit, Battlestar Galactica babe Tricia Helfer, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ' Thomas Dekker, Jeff Garlin, and many, many others. (Fun, to say the least.) Reaction to this year's Emmy Awards--the 60th installment--wasn't quite what producers likely intended, with many critics --myself included--lashing out at the format, the hosts, and the distinct lack of scripted funnies. ( Televisionary ) FOX has given a script order to workplace comedy Th...

LONDON/NEW YORK, Monday, September 22, 2008 – BBC Worldwide today confirmed that Jane Tranter will join the company next year as EVP Programming and Production, driving forward its U.S. scripted and reality business from its Los Angeles base. As Controller, BBC Fiction, for BBC public service in the UK, Jane Tranter has been responsible for drama commissioning, as well as overseeing comedy commissioning, program acquisitions and BBC Films departments. She has lead a stable of diverse productions, many successful and award-winning in the U.S. including Doctor Who, Life on Mars, Gavin and Stacey, Rome, State of Play, Bleak House and Cranford . Tranter will take joint responsibility for BBC Worldwide’s North American production business in LA and New York with Paul Telegdy, EVP Content & Production. She will report to both Garth Ancier, President BBC Worldwide America and Wayne Garvie, Managing Director Content & Production, BBC Worldwide. Commenting on the appointment, Garth A...

Televisionary is proud to be a member of the TV Blog Coalition. At the end of each week, we'll feature a roundup of content from our sister sites for your delectation. This week, I took an advance look at the first three episodes of Season Two of NBC's action comedy Chuck and loved every single second of it . I also recounted my shock at this week's episode of Skins (with its oh-no-they-didn't twist involving Tony) , shared my distinct lack of interest in 90210 (even with the reveal of Kelly's baby daddy) , my fixation on all things Fringe , my surprise over HBO renewing True Blood for a second season , and my glee at the return of FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia . Elsewhere in the sophisticated TV-obsessed section of the blogosphere, members of the TV Blog Coalition were discussing the following items... Buzz wondered which TV shows made you feel the most emotionally attached. ( BuzzSugar ) Marcia was thrilled to introduce a Pop Vultures spin-off...

I don't know about you, but I haven't laughed as hard as I did last night a long time. I'm talking of course about the fourth season premiere of FX's deliriously zany comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia , which aired two gleefully inappropriate back-to-back episodes last night ("Mac & Dennis: Manhunters" and "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis"), the latter of which was written by new writing staff additions Sonny Lee and Patrick Walsh , who also write the series' equally hilarious Paddy's Pub blog . (If you haven't yet checked out Paddy's Pub, please do ASAP. It currently features excerpts from Dennis' erotic memoirs, behind-the-scenes videos, and Ask Dirty Frank.) Last night's painfully funny installments didn't feature the gang learning any valuable life lessons, maturing in any fashion, or throwing off their outmoded ideas about energy consumption, cannibalism, or, well, hunting a man on the streets of...

Just a reminder to those of you obsessed with AMC's phenomenal period drama series Mad Men : there will be no new episode of Mad Men this Sunday, due to the Emmy awards. But be sure to tune in to AMC the following weekend (September 28th, to be precise) for "Six Month Leave," in which Freddy Rumsen gives a pitch that extremely disappoints his team, Pete takes advantage of an opportunity at the office, Don proves his loyalty to an old friend, and Betty finds a distraction from her marital problems in Sara Beth. In the meantime, let's hope that Mad Men takes home some much deserved statuettes. But rather than just leave you hanging, here's a quick look at Mad Men 's next original episode, "Six Month Leave": Stay tuned.

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...