Well, ok, it’s the “Funny or Die” version of a Visa commercial:
I had high expectations for this opening show of the awards season. I’ve wanted to see Ricky Gervais host one of these things for a long time. The Golden Globes feels like a party – a good fit for Ricky’s style of humor. Unfortunately it is also a show that normally operates without a host and that showed. There wasn’t really a place for Ricky. I wasn’t expecting a big musical number but he didn’t even really get a full monologue. That’s not to say that he didn’t get off some pretty good one-liners. His crack about being a man who loves a drink, but not as much as Mel Gibson, was a slap-your-hand-over-your-mouth classic. Kudos to Mel for reacting so well to it. The Salty Old Dog’s take on it was that Ricky took his “I don’t care” attitude a little too far and didn’t seem to particularly care how funny he was.
As for the show itself, it moved quite well and even ended on time. There were funny moments and even a couple of heartfelt ones. Here’s what stood out for me:
Fashions
Might as well start with what really matters – the gowns! For me the knock-out of the night was Jennifer Garner. It was a stunning dress that fit her body type perfectly:
I thought there were also some interesting (while still being attractive) dresses. I love the color and unique style of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s gown:
I also found Kate Hudson’s dress striking – while also being a little odd:
And, of course, my girl Jennifer Aniston was her usual, gorgeous self:
She and Gerard Butler certainly weren’t trying to stop the romance rumors on this particular night. 
As for the misses, I didn’t think there were any real disasters this year. Mariah Carey has been getting some grief for her super-plunging neckline:
I don’t really see what the problem is. She’s Mariah Carey. She’s supposed to dress this way. Nick Cannon certainly looks happy about it.
Winners & Speeches
My favorite winner of the night was Sandra Bullock for “The Blind Side”. As she has admitted, she’s not the kind of actress who gets nominated for awards so it was great to see her get her moment in the sun. I also loved the speech from Jason Reitman after winning for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture with Sheldon Turner for “Up in the Air”. He seemed so genuine in his praise of George Clooney and his words to his father (who was there along with his mother) were very touching. Salty was struck by the heartfelt speech from Mo’Nique who won for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for ”Precious”. Sometimes Mo’Nique can be a bit much but this speech was sincere and moving. My favorite speech of the night, though, belonged to Robert Downey, Jr. He was just plain funny:
Other notes: How adorably uncomfortable does George Clooney look when he’s being praised? It makes me love him even more (if that’s possible). Meryl Streep was also charmingly uncomfortable with her embarrassment of riches and her impromptu speech was outstanding. The Martin Scorsese tribute was quite good – especially the speech from Mr. Scorsese himself.
It was definitely an enjoyable evening full of beautiful people. In closing, I’d just like to take a moment to focus on two of the prettiest - Leonardo DiCaprio and Simon Baker:
Oh, and I should mention that the hot guy standing there with Simon is his brother. Here’s hoping he shows up on “The Mentalist” sometime soon.
Let me start by asking:
How dumb are you, NBC?
Apparently dumb enough to renew a series that clearly belongs at 10pm, have six episodes filmed and then cancel it before airing any of those episodes because you’ve come to the realization that it’s too “gritty” to air at 9pm.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, production has been shutdown on the second season of “Southland” because “the show’s content was deemed too dark and gritty for broadcast TV, especially for 9 p.m.” “Dateline” will continue filling the 9PM slot on Friday. NBC’s march towards cheaper and cheaper programming continues.
It will be the first time in 15 years that NBC will not have a John Wells production on its schedule. THR quoted Wells as saying, “I’m disappointed that NBC no longer has the time periods available to support the kind of critically-acclaimed series that was for so many years, a hallmark of their success. We remain extremely proud of ‘Southland’ and are actively looking for another home for the series.” The plan is to shop the show to other networks.
Personally, I think TNT should pick up “Southland” as a way of apologizing for cancelling “Saving Grace”.
Ah, Alex.
I have to admit that the premise of CBS’ new medical drama, “Three Rivers”, doesn’t really interest me. I’ll be watching on Sunday night only because they were smart enough to cast Alex O’Loughlin. According to CBS, “Three Rivers” is:
“A medical drama that goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons at the preeminent transplant hospital in the country, where every moment counts. However, dealing with donor families in their darkest hour and managing the fears and concerns of apprehensive recipients takes much more than just a sharp scalpel.”
I think I’m hesitant about the premise because it’s hard for me to picture the storylines not getting repetitive. Alfre Woodard is also in the cast so, hopefully, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Here is an interview with Alex from “Entertainment Tonight” that gives more info on the show:
This is a clip of Alex on “The Bonnie Hunt Show”. He talks a bit about “Rivers” but I’m posting it mainly because his story about throwing out the first pitch at a Dodgers’ game is adorable.
Additional preview clips of “Three Rivers” are available at CBS’ website here:
From now on, all award shows should be hosted by either Neil Patrick Harris or Hugh Jackman. NPH was fantastic last night. He was cool, confident, funny and unflappable. Plus, he’s a natural for the mandatory opening musical number:
Neil wasn’t the only fresh thing at the Emmys that worked. I thought John Hodgman added life to the announcements and hit a homerun when his own show won: “‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ is celebrating its 76th year on the air. It began on Comedy Central Radio as ‘Stewart-Brand Chicken-Fat All-Star Baked Beans Half Hour’. This is their 900th Emmy, and frankly, that’s too much.”
I also liked having the awards presented by category (comedy, variety, drama, etc) and I wish I’d been hired for the job of researching all the obscure roles that NPH used to introduce the presenters. AND, the show only ran over by a couple of minutes!
Of course it wouldn’t be an awards show wrap up without some fashion comments (and pictures). By and large, the fashion choices were very safe and a bit boring. As always, though, there were a few exceptional choices. The va-va-va-voom moment of the night was Blake Lively and her red dress. You have to be young and….perky….to wear this dress and Blake definitely is:
January Jones was stunning in an architectural dress with some flash:
I still can’t believe that Cojo (Steven Cojocaru) announced on “Entertainment Tonight” that January was one of the worst dressed. She was nothing less than dazzling.
I also loved Holly Hunter’s dress. It managed to be both simple and flashy:
Of course, I pretty much adore everything about Holly which leads me to the things I wasn’t quite so happy about. Holly didn’t win Best Actress in a Drama. Nothing against Glenn Close, or any of the other women nominated in the category, but Holly has been a raw powerhouse in the recently cancelled “Saving Grace”. Oh well. At least Kristin Chenoweth won for the dearly departed “Pushing Daisies”.
I also could have lived without “The Amazing Race” winning its seventh straight Emmy in the reality show category. I believe it is the only show ever to have won that award. I love my TAR but surely “Dancing with the Stars” deserves a win too. Oh, and Tom Bergeron was robbed again!
Mostly, though, I enjoyed the show. I love that Ellen Burstyn won for her role in “Law & Order: SVU” just as I predicted she would. You can check out her outstanding performance here: http://www.popculturekitty.com/?p=646
Ricky Gervais, as always, was hilarious. If Neil or Hugh must have a break from award show hosting then I’m fine with Ricky giving it a shot.
Finally, Neil had another outstanding moment with his ”Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” Emmy crashing moment – with an able assist from Nathan Fillion:
I’d say it was the best Emmy show we’ve had in quite a while. Even though they were facing a huge football game (which, I admit, I switched to a couple of times to get the score) they managed to increase the ratings by about 10% over last year. My guess is that if Neil comes back next year, they’ll do even better in 2010.
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=emmys09&articleid=VR1118008909&cs=1
The 36th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards aired last night on the CW. There was a question of whether it would even air this year after CBS bailed on it but, thankfully, the show did go on. This was a big one because it marked the last hurrah for 72 year old “The Guiding Light” which will air its last episode on September 18th. In a very nice gesture, the glorious Betty White introduced a retrospective clip of the show and the entire current cast, several of whom were crying, took the stage. Yep, I had tears streaming down my face too. I was never an avid watcher of GL but I certainly grew up with memories of Charita “Bert” Bauer. Oh, and Kevin Bacon, I remember you too.
On a happier note, my girls Rachael Ray and “General Hospital’s” Julie Berman took home awards and the ladies of “The View” can finally stop whining about never winning because they shared the award for Best Talk Show Host.
It’s now mandatory that there be a big production number to open an award show and I thought host Vanessa Williams and company did a particularly good job with their tribute to the world of daytime. Check it out below:
In h
I’m so sad. 
TNT has announced that season 3 will be the last for “Saving Grace”. The show finished its run of the first 9 episodes of the season last Tuesday and will not be airing any new episodes this winter. Instead, it will return with a final 9 episodes next summer. That’s 3 more than were originally scheduled and the addition was made so the show’s creator, Nancy Miller, could construct a proper finale.
In an odd twist, “Grace” wasn’t cancelled by TNT. They wanted to renew the show but the production company, Fox Television Studios, pulled the plug because they weren’t making enough ancillary income off of DVD sales and foreign distribution. Plus, with 15 episode seasons, there would probably never be enough episodes to successfully syndicate it.
I adore Grace – the show and the woman. Holly Hunter has been nothing short of amazing in the role. In many ways her life is a complete mess but she’s surrounded by people who love her and who she fiercely loves back – none more than her lifelong friend, Rhetta, played by Laura San Giacomo. For my money, Grace and Rhetta have the sweetest and purest friendship on television right now.
I can’t even begin to guess how Miller will opt to end her creation but I have faith that she’ll do it brilliantly.
Oh, and one final thing, Holly Hunter had better win that Emmy this year. The other nominees are great (lord knows I adore my Kyra Sedgwick) but Hunter has been so fearless in this role that she needs to be recognized.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118007312.html?categoryid=3284&cs=1&query=saving+grace
This one is for the Salty Old Dog who recently rediscovered old fashioned split screens while watching reruns of “The Patty Duke Show”. While he is still perplexed by the shows overarching theme that cousins can, in fact, be “two of a kind” while still being “different as night and day”, he has nevertheless found himself charmed by Ms. Duke herself.
Here is Patty (and Cathy) doing a little PSA for Social Security Online. I think it’s a pretty good way to target that baby boomer audience:
“Entertainment Tonight” has a collection of interviews with the cast and executive producers of “Ghost Whisperer” at the San Diego Comic-Con. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jaime Kennedy, Camryn Manheim and Christoph Sanders give scoop about the birth of Melinda and Jim’s baby and the 5 year time jump the show will make so that the kid will be interesting.
J Love also discusses her new comic book series, “Jennifer Love Hewitt’s The Music Box”. The premiere issue is set for November, 2009.
The cast of the (thankfully) renewed “Chuck” made an appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con and they opened in perfect “Chuck” fashion – with Jeffster! Buy More’s own Jeff and Lester rocked the house with “Fat Bottom Girls” and, thanks to YouTube, we can witness the fun.
The show’s creators also announced a new website for the show: http://chuckmeout.com/
There are several cute videos posted already but you do have to sit through some commercials to watch them.
Check out Jeffster below: