NGTV Guide: Sunday, September 20

It’s Emmy day! Coverage starts at 6PM Eastern on E! and carries through until 11PM or midnight or next week. It’s the Emmys, no one knows how long it’ll go, and with Neil Patrick Harris emceeing the thing, who cares? Let him sing and dance (confirmed: Dr. Horrible will appear!) to his heart’s content.

While we won’t be liveblogging, we may be Tweeting, and we’ll certainly be keeping up with the Fug Girls’ live blog so we know which dresses are really high fashion and not just loony tunes. Bring it on!

Emmy Spotlight: The Presenters

The Emmys are coming! The Emmys are coming! This week the Nice Girls will preview some of the contenders for Emmys in a variety of categories, focusing on our faves.

You know who gets all of the love and attention leading up to the Emmys? The nominees. Just because they turned in some stellar performances or whatever. Please. The real heavy lifting on Emmy night is done by…well, the crew who produces the telecast and the publicists that orchestrate all of the interviews. Props to them. But let’s not forget the presenters who have to stand up in front of millions of people and try to insert some levity and/or gravity into their 2 minutes of screentime. Who are we looking forward to seeing on Sunday? Herewith, a list:

• Simon Baker – please wear those glasses with your three-piece-suit and use your native Australian accent. Thank you.
• Stephen Moyer – please crack an inappropriate joke in your British accent while wearing a tux. Thank you.
• Tina Fey – please wear those glasses with your…oh, wait. But seriously, if anyone is going to deliver the wit, it’s going to be Ms. Fey. Thank you.
• Kyra Sedgwick & Kevin Bacon – please present together and, if possible, give a shout out to your gorgeous and talented daughter Sosie who was such a wonderful surprise during the latter half of this season of The Closer. Thank you.
• David Boreanaz – please be hot, for Lisa’s sake. Thank you.
• Ricky Gervais – I have no requests of you. Nothing I can imagine will be even close to as hilarious as whatever you pull out of that crazy brain of yours.
• Neil Patrick Harris – please be awesome. As if you needed any urging. Thank you.

Who will have the most memorable moments during this year’s telecast? My bet’s on Gervais, but it’s anybody’s game. Bring it on, Emmy Sunday!

Emmy Spotlight: Comedic Timing

The Emmys are coming! The Emmys are coming! This week the Nice Girls will preview some of the contenders for Emmys in a variety of categories, focusing on our faves.

Outstanding Comedy Series:

30 Rock (NBC)

A cooky workplace comedy, 30 Rock is saved from being mundane by Tina Fey’s sharp wit and a cast of actors with incredible comic timing. Sometimes the show veers toward abject absurdity, and I could do with less of Tracy Morgan’s character, but somehow by the end of each episode there’s been at least one belly laugh and a couple of “sing it sister” yells from my couch. - Melissa

Weeds (Showtime)

Weeds‘ forth season found Mary and her family settling into life outside of Majestic, while continuing to work with Guillermo and his friends.  Setting up a front as a maternity store, Nancy constantly questioned the goods coming into the store before meeting someone higher up in the chain—Esteban Reyes, Mayor of Tijuana. - Louise

Also nominated: How I Met Your Mother (CBS), Entourage (HBO), The Office (NBC), Flight of Conchords (HBO), Family Guy (FOX)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series:

Nobody felt moved to write about this category for some reason.  Probably because the Academy recognized Charlie Sheen again, dampening any enthusiasm we could muster. Here’s hoping Jim Parsons pulls out the win. - Melissa

Also nominated: Charlie Sheen (Two And A Half Men), Tony Shaloub (Monk), Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Jermaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), Steve Carrell (The Office)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series:

Christina Applegate – Samantha Who? (ABC)

As title character Samantha, Christina Applegate had to play both evil, pre-amnesia Samantha and nice, trying-to-do-the-right-thing Samantha. It could have been a cloying performance. In fact, the premise itself had me rolling my eyes during the first season of the show, sure that it was awful. Then I watched a couple of reruns and realized that in the capable hands of Applegate, this woman was someone I wanted to follow as she navigated life without the benefit of past experience to draw upon. Too bad ABC didn’t agree and cancelled the show. - Melissa

Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds (Showtime)

Nancy Botwin’s life has gone to hell, numerous times, and each time she rises from the ashes (literally in the case of how season four started).  While Nancy’s life is constantly changing, Mary-Louise Parker grounds the role with a well-placed joke amidst all of the insanity.  Now facing life without a second husband and in a new city, the role of Nancy evolved with the changing conditions, just like she always done. – Louise

Also nominated: Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program), Toni Collette (The United States of Tara), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine), Tina Fey (30 Rock)

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series:

Kevin Dillon – Entourage (HBO)
Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother (CBS)

I think Johnny Drama and Barney would get along well if they were ever to meet. Drama, the older, but less respected brother to Vincent Chase on Entourage, has a hard time winning respect amongst his group, and Hollywood at large. On the other side, there’s Barney Stinson, the man who knows everything about dressing right, sleeping with all the right women, and still being “Awesome!”. -Louise

Also nominated: Jon Cryer (Two And A Half Men), Tracy Morgan (30 Rock), Rainn Wilson (The Office), Jack McBrayer (30 Rock)

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series:

Vanessa Williams – Ugly Betty (ABC)

Receiving her 3rd nomination for her portrayal as the vacillating villain Wilhelmina Slater, Vanessa Williams scored a nomination for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.”  As Wilhelmina, Williams glows with effervescent beauty and can whip out razor-sharp one-liners with comedic timing that few other actors can match.  She is an outstanding comedian that elevates the show by her presence.  Book-ending her nomination, the series also received a nomination for “Outstanding Costumes for a Series” — all of which were probably worn by Ms. Williams who always looked like the trend-setting fashion plate she gloriously portrayed. - Tiffany

Kristin Chenoweth – Pushing Daisies (ABC)

Oh Olive Snook, you adorable, pint-sized ball of sass, how I will miss you. Nominated for the cancelled gloriousness that was Pushing Daisies, Kristin Chenoweth was a force to be reckoned with on a show that demanded performances both larger-than-life and almost impossibly intimate. She put her famed vocal chords to good use with a few music numbers, worked through her unrequited feelings for the Pie Maker, became an apprentice detective with Emerson, found a good friend in Chuck, and true love with a taxidermist. With a reel like hers, I imagine the other nominees are attending the ceremony for the free food afterwards. -Melissa

Elizabeth Perkins – Weeds (Showtime)

No matter what, Celia is the one woman you know, who you really wish you didn’t. In the fourth season of Weeds, Celia found her way down to Del Mar, following her trip to jail after being accused of the last grow house. After arriving in Del Mar, Celia manages to work with Nancy later in the season, while still harboring resentment against her youngest daughter and husband. - Louise

Also nominated: Jane Krakowski (30 Rock), Amy Poehler (SNL), Kristin Wiig (SNL)

Emmy Spotlight: Oh, the Drama

The Emmys are coming! The Emmys are coming! This week the Nice Girls will preview some of the contenders for Emmys in a variety of categories, focusing on our faves.

Outstanding Drama Series:

Mad Men (AMC)

Though, I never find the time to talk about how this show moves me each week, it goes without saying that Mad Men has captured the attention of the critics. In the show’s sophomore season, the audience saw that while some things changed around Sterling Cooper (Peggy’s absence and later rise to more than a junior copywriter), most things stayed the same (Don’s philandering ways). In between all of that, more about the lives of the rest of the company came into focus—Pete and Trudy’s baby woes, Peggy’s family issues—all of which ended with the season looking at the Bay of Pigs confrontation. Only time will tell before we know how the critics really responded to the second season. -Louise

Also nominated: Big Love, Dexter, Breaking Bad, Lost, House, Damages

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series:

Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)

Don Draper—the man men want to emulate women want to sleep with—continues  captivate the  audience. Most of the second season found Don trying to find himself, and reconcile the man he is to everyone with the man he was (Dick Whitman). Throughout the season Hamm worked with Don’s flaws, allowing the audience to empathize with a man we should all detest. -Louise

Simon Baker – The Mentalist (CBS)

In its debut year, The Mentalist scored a major Emmy nomination for its lead, Simon Baker, who was nominated for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.” The Mentalist is a television series based on a fictional California Bureau of Investigations which enlists the aid of a former fraudulent psychic, Patrick Jane (played by Baker). Jane is a valuable asset to CBI as his keen intellect and powers of observation often allow him to pinpoint the culprit of crimes quicker than through conventional crime-fighting techniques. Jane also has a personal motivation, as in quid pro quo for his unique talents, he is given the aid of CBI in tracking down the serial killer, Red John, who killed his wife and daughter. As portrayed by Baker, Jane is playful, cocky and yet endearing all at once. Watching Baker so fully embody such a rich, diverse and fun character is riveting and he has full earned the Emmy nomination. -Tiffany

Also nominated: Hugh Laurie (House), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series:

Holly Hunter – Saving Grace (TNT)

Previously nominated in the “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series” in 2007 and 2008, this year marks the 3rd consecutive nomination for Holly Hunter, star of the TNT series Saving Grace. In Saving Grace, Hunter plays Grace Hanadarko, a police detective in Oklahoma City who balances the challenges of her grueling professional life against her hard-living and hard-loving lifestyle, while under the protection and guidance of her last chance angel, Earl. Hunter is riveting as she effortlessly slides between Grace’s free-wheeling personal life and tough-as-nails, no-holds barred professional life. One minute she is carefree and the next she has flipped the villain on his back. Hunter’s portrayal is fearless and makes her the perfect match for such a complex and intriguing character. -Tiffany

Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer (TNT)

One of the nominees in this category is Kyra Sedgwick, who stars as Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson in TNT’s acclaimed series The Closer.  As one of a handful of “older” actresses in a lead role in a prominent hit cable series, Kyra and her fellow nominees – which include Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters), Glenn Close (Damages) and (youngster) Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men) – will be in a tough “battle” for the golden statuette.  It is anyone’s guess who will receive the honor of this award, but I sure wouldn’t want to be an academy voter, as this category is simply too difficult to choose just one. -Rueben

Also nominated: Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters), Glenn Close (Damages), Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men)

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series:

John Slattery – Mad Men (AMC)

Roger Sterling is an ass, but one that somehow it’s impossible to look away from as he does something stupid. In the second season, we watched as Roger had one last boys’ night with a departing member of the company before ending his twenty-plus-year marriage and wanting to marry one of the girls from the secretarial pool. -Louise

Also nominated: William Shatner (Boston Legal), Christian Clemenson (Boston Legal), William Hurt (Damages), Michael Emerson (Lost), Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series:

We don’t watch any of these series, so by default our vote goes to the always wonderful Dianne Wiest (In Treatment). -Melissa

Also nominated: Cherry Jones (24), Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), Rose Byrne (Damages), Hope Davis (In Treatment)

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series:

Mad Men – “A Night To Remember” (AMC): Robin Veith, Matthew Weiner
Mad Men – “Six Month Leave” (AMC): Andre Jacquemetton, Maria
Jacquemetton, Matthew Weiner
Mad Men – “The Jet Set” (AMC): Matthew Weiner
Mad Men – “Meditations In An Emergency” (AMC): Kater Gordon, Matthew Weiner

The writing of Mad Men weaves a series of tapestries where some small string from early in the season will pay off into the larger piece through a collection of carefully dropped lines in each episode. With the help of the rest of the writers, Matthew Weiner has managed to work the myriad storylines into a season that takes all thirteen episodes to fully understand. -Louise

Emmy Spotlight: Legend of the Seeker, Battlestar Galactica Win Creative Arts Emmys

The Emmys are coming! The Emmys are coming! This week the Nice Girls will preview some of the contenders for Emmys in a variety of categories, focusing on our faves.

When Legend of the Seeker debuted in syndication last season, I’m sure the cast and crew would not have expected to be nominated for an Emmy, but that was exactly what happened. The show received a nomination in the category of Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) for Joe LoDuca’s beautifully melodic music that is featured in this new show based on the books by author Terry Goodkind.  On Saturday, September 12 the Creative Emmys were handed out and against musical competition like 24, Castle, Ghost Whisperer, The Simpsons and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, the little “syndicated show that could” – Legend of the Seeker – won its first Emmy.  Congratulations to Mr. LoDuca and to the cast and crew of the show.

As most TV viewers know, Battlestar Galactica just completed its four year run as one of the most innovative series on television, garnering a Peabody Award, countless positive reviews by critics and fans alike and has been nominated for at least several awards over that time.  This year is no different as BSG received 6 Emmy nominations. As mentioned before, the Creative Emmys were given out on Saturday, September 12 with BSG winning one of the six nominations for which it received; that of Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.

Why Don’t the Emmys Recognize Acting Ensembles?

Emmy nominations were announced last week, and several Nice Girls faves got the nod (holla Simon Baker!) in the midst of the same ol’ same ol’. While I groused about the lack of Emmy love for True Blood (3 technical noms) and Chuck (stunt nom), I started to wonder if we’d see more new faces at the Emmys if they took a page from the SAG Awards and added an ensemble cast category. This is sort of served by the Outstanding Casting categories, but that’s a very roundabout way of saying a show has a good cast. I think it’s time to acknowledge those shows that may not have an individual actor who stands out for recognition but works beautifully as a unit. To that end, I present my nominees for the fictional categories of Outstanding Ensemble Cast Comedy/Drama:

Outstanding Ensemble Cast – Comedy

• 30 Rock – Yes, the Emmys recognized Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Jack McBrayer and Jane Krakowski this year, but that in and of itself shows that we need an ensemble category. When have your cast is nominated, you know the other half deserves some love as well.
• 

  Chuck on NBC

  Chuck – Zachary Levi knocks it out of the park as Everyman-turned-spy Chuck, so it’s a shame he didn’t get a lead actor nod this year. And yet, as good as Levi is, he’s backed up by a stellar supporting cast in Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence, and even the oftentimes cringeworthy JEFFSTER! duo of Scott Krinsky and Vik Sahay.

• Psych – This is the Shawn and Gus show for the most part, and the comic timing between James Roday and Dule Hill is a thing of beauty, but I humbly submit that Corbin Bernson, Maggie Lawson, Timothy Omundson, and Kirsten Nelson add just the right balance to the duo’s shenanigans.

Outstanding Ensemble Cast – Drama

• Bones – Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz are a delight to watch as our leads and should have received individual nominations. Add in a quirky, interesting supporting cast of TJ Thyne, Eric Millegan, Michaela Conlin, Tamara Taylor, Ryan O’Neal, Stephen Fry and a rotating cast of interns and you have one of the most entertaining and three-dimensional casts on TV.
• 

  Leverage on TNT

  Leverage – This series would have been just another procedural fronted by a takes-himself-too-seriously thespian, except Timothy Hutton doesn’t take himself too seriously and neither does the rest of the outstanding cast. With a sly wink and nod, Hutton, Christian Kane, Aldis Hodge, Gina Bellman and Beth Riesgraf gleefully enact their elaborate schemes to take from the rich and give to the poor.

• True Blood – Sure, it’s all about Sookie, and Anna Paquin has risen to the challenge of playing the telepathic waitress surrounded by vampires, weres and seriel killers, but this show has become a true ensemble as it follows the lives of an extensive cast of characters. Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Deborah Ann Woll, Sam Trammell and the remarkable Nelsan Ellis would take over the Emmys if genre shows were given half a chance.

Which ensembles would you add to round out the list? Although I haven’t watched it yet (I know, I know, it’s on my list!), Battlestar Galactica should probably be included. Who else?

Pick Your Emmy Nominees

Head on over to TV.com and vote on Best Drama, Best Comedy and Best Animated Show. Some Nice Girl’s faves:

Outstanding Drama Series

The Mentalist
Fringe
True Blood
Supernatural
Gossip Girl
Bones

Outstanding Comedy Series

30 Rock
Weeds
Chuck
Psych

Nice Girls on the Radio Today!

It’s Thursday and time for our weekly radio show! This week we have our regular news round up for our favorite shows plus we’ll be talking about Sunday’s Emmys and who we think will win in the major categories. Listen live at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Nice-Girls-TV or listen to our archived shows using the widget on our main page.