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: 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

TV Guide’s Sexiest TV Stars

Congratulations to Simon Baker, TV Guide’s Sexiest Male TV Star! We’ve got photos in our gallery from the celebration to honor the winners. Along with Simon, Robin Tunney and Amanda Righetti showed up to support their pal. Also on hand was Beth Riesgraf, Leverage’s ‘Parker’.

VIDEO: Simon Baker on The Ellen Show

Check out Simon Baker on The Ellen Show on Monday. He brought her a pair of glasses!

Part 1:

Watch Part 2 here.

Simon Baker and Debra Messing at Golden Globes

Did you watch? Did your favorites win? We congratulate all the winners of last night’s 2009 Golden Globe Awards. We especially congratulate Anna Paquin for winning her Globe for her outstanding performance in the HBO hit series, True Blood. We’ve got some photos from the event in our gallery here.

Simon Baker Featured in EW Magazine

Oh my Simon Baker-loving, little heart is doing the happy dance of joy right now! The Mentalist, Simon Baker, is featured in this week’s Entertainment Weekly magazine, and the photo they have with it is gorgeous. I don’t think that man can take a bad picture, though. The scan is in our gallery, as is the larger image of this lovely:

Videos: Simon Baker on Bonnie Hunt and Extra

Take a look at these clips of Simon Baker, who wins me over each time I see him. He’s so flippin’ sweet! Watch him with Bonnie Hunt on living in LA:

Then, Simon has some fun with Tanika on Extra:

Thank you Kate from Multipleverses.com for these clips.

When Shows Collide! Photos from Here & There

We’ve added photos from a few special events featuring stars from some of our favorite shows. First up, the gorgeous Simon Baker looking all squinty and adorable at a press conference for The Mentalist on Monday:

Next, a couple of our favorite shows collided when The Starter Wife’s Debra Messing and Chris Diamantopolous showed up at the Wonder Woman Collection event along with Ugly Betty’s Becki Newton (aren’t she and Chris about the cutest married couple you’ve ever seen?) and Lipstick Jungle’s Lindsay Price:

More photos from both events are in our Gallery.

Video Interviews: Simon Baker

Thanks to our friends at Multipleverses.com for these two video clips of Simon Baker talking about The Mentalist. Enjoy!

Simon Baker on “The Mentalist”

CBS Wants More Simon Baker (And So Do We!)

Do we know how to pick ‘em or what? CBS just issued a press release to let us all know how smart they are: they’ve picked up The Mentalist for a full season! It’s the highest rated new show this season, averaging 16.14 million viewers. Congrats to Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Owain Yeoman, Tim Kang, Amanda Righetti and the entire creative team behind the show. We can’t wait to see what great stories are coming up!

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