The Holy Trinity

Jason's increasingly creepy relationship with the Newlins on True Blood (only one of the many, many excellent things about this new season) reminded me of this:

The Wide Wide World of Web

I caved to technology's ever-wailing siren song and started a Twitter. I'd like to say that I won't really use it that much, but I frequently find myself wanting to comment in real time about, say, how awesomely crazy True Blood is, and I can't really argue with a medium designed more or less for that kind of communication.

Mood Music XVIII

Fleet Foxes (usually with some Iron & Wine mixed in) have become my hipstery soundtrack for Sundays when I unintentionally wake up too late to watch Meet the Press and feel too lethargic for academic reading.

Obviously, I need someone who knows more about these things than I do to tell me how to widen this template.

Dream Emmy Ballot: Drama

Lead Actor, Drama

Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment

Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights

Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Ian McShane, Kings

Edward James Olmos, Battlestar Galactica

Bill Paxton, Big Love

The patients can end up being the bigger standouts on In Treatment, but Byrne is the excellent still point around which the show turns – I’ve almost entirely worked through my lingering Little Women-based irrational dislike of him; three seasons in, Coach Taylor remains the best father figure on television today; this season was largely a showcase for Mad Men’s women, but Hamm still did great work, particularly in Don’s California-based trip off the Sterling Cooper radar; Kings was unfortunately short-lived, but what shows did air showcased McShane as a gloriously flawed monarch; as BSG entered its final episodes, Olmos frequently served as the show’s emotional center as Adama contended with losing both the ship and the president; Paxton constantly walks a tightrope on Big Love as Bill contends with competing interests and questions his faith – he is often unlikeable, but always human.

Honorable Mention: Damian Lewis, Life; Ed Westwick, Gossip Girl

Probably also some from shows I like, but didn’t watch much of this season, like Hugh Laurie in House or Michael C. Hall in Dexter; it’s too bad that NBC couldn’t find a way to keep Life around – Lewis, along with his castmates, elevated the show beyond the generic crime procedural it could have been; a lot of people seem to write Gossip Girl off, but Westwick was fantastic this season, particularly as Chuck dealt with the death of his father.

Supporting Actor, Drama

Jeremy Davies, Lost

Nelsan Ellis, True Blood

Michael Hogan, Battlestar Galactica

Vincent Kartheiser, Mad Men

Kevin McKidd, Grey's Anatomy

John Noble, Fringe

Davies proved himself the best of the freighter folk introduced last season, particularly as Faraday attempted to reconcile the scientific practicalities of time travel with the aftermath of Charlotte’s death; Ellis elevated what could have been a flat stereotype and imbued his character with warmth – this is one thing that I felt was much better executed in True Blood than it was in its source material: if, as it appears, Lafayette is dead, then the life Ellis brought to the character will make fans emotionally invested in the ensuing second season mystery; Hogan is one of the actors who makes rewatching BSG from the beginning seriously rewarding – as the series went on, he wore Saul Tigh’s increasing fatigue on his face, particularly as he consciously clung to his humanity; Pete Campbell has become television’s best-executed man-child – Elisabeth Moss deserves props for her season-ending monologue, but Kartheiser merits recognition too for showing the audience the floor dropping out from under Pete; I’m frequently bothered by the fact that the doctors on Grey’s only date other doctors, but McKidd made me temporarily suspend my complaining as the former Army surgeon Owen Hunt; Noble is easily the best part of Fringe, injecting each episode with a loopiness that manages to remain endearing without grating.

Honorable Mention: Justin Chambers, Grey's Anatomy; Michael Emerson, Lost; Zach Gilford, Friday Night Lights; Aaron Shaw, In Treatment; Sebastian Stan, Kings

The first three are continuing characters, Chambers bringing new nuance to Karev as he dealt with Izzie’s illness and Emerson and Gilford just being excellent at what they do (villainy and quiet striving, respectively); the other two were new: Shaw was heartbreaking as the downtrodden Oliver; Stan could have been a great primetime-soap-type anti-hero as Kings’ conflicted prince. I’ll also mention two actors who apparently neglected to submit their names for consideration – Bryan Batt from Mad Men – across all media, I think Salvatore is the one fictional character who, more than any other, I truly want to be happy; Batt seemed to make about ten different emotions play out across his face in the scene where Euro-Smith comes out at the office and I thought it was one of the best-acted moments of the past television season – and Alessandro Juliani from BSG – like Michael Hogan, Juliani wore the weariness of the series beautifully, and Gaeta’s tragic demise was one of the highlights of the final season.

Guest Actor, Drama

Richard Hatch, Battlestar Galactica

D.W. Moffet, Friday Night Lights

Mark Moses, Mad Men

Gaius Charles/Scott Porter, Friday Night Lights

Stephen Root, True Blood

Noah Wyle, ER

Hatch, as a cast member from the original show, could easily have decided to be uncool about the BSG remake; however, his turn as Tom Zarek became one of the series’ most compelling recurring characters – the coup storyline from this past season was thrilling TV; Moffet’s uber-controlling football dad was the best addition of this season of FNL; I have a lot of residual love for Mark Moses from his time on Desperate Housewives (and probably would have put him in the “supporting” category, but that’s between him and his agents), but even if I didn’t like him I couldn’t deny that the alcoholic downspiral of Duck Phillips was unbelievably well acted; Charles and Porter (ultimately I couldn’t choose) both turned in heartrending farewell arcs; Root was Alan Ball’s best-executed addition to the Dead Until Dark outline of True Blood’s first season as a decidedly unsexy vampire; Wyle served as a sort of institutional history for the final season of ER, grounding the flashbacks and reappearances of old characters.

Honorable Mention: Ted Danson, Damages; Bruce Dern, Big Love; Patrick Fischler, Mad Men; Colin Hanks, Mad Men; Eriq La Salle, ER; Joel Murray, Mad Men; Dean Stockwell, Battlestar Galactica; Eric Stoltz, Grey's Anatomy; Jeremy Sumpter, Friday Night Lights

Too numerous to parse, or this would end up being about 5000 words.

Lead Actress, Drama

Glenn Close, Damages

January Jones, Mad Men

Mary McDonnell, Battlestar Galactica

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men

Anna Paquin, True Blood

Jeanne Tripplehorn, Big Love

Close makes me, in the viewing audience, fear the awesome power of Patty Hewes even through the fourth wall; Jones and Moss presented portraits of women starting to challenge the old boys’ club and the boxes in which they’ve been placed; McDonnell, now more than ever, deserves a nomination for her uniformly stellar work as Laura Roslin – her tear-jerking death is only one of many exceptional scenes; Paquin provides the human heart to a supernatural world that spins wildly around her; Tripplehorn upped her game as Barb was forced to formally turn her back on LDS and place her faith in Bill and their family.

Honorable Mention: Angela Bassett, ER; Emily Deschanel, Bones; Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters; Mary McCormack, In Plain Sight; Leighton Meester, Gossip Girl; Molly Parker, Swingtown

Supporting Actress, Drama

Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights

Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy

Christina Hendricks, Mad Men

Alison Pill, In Treatment

Katee Sackhoff, Battlestar Galactica

Amanda Seyfried, Big Love

Britton remains TV’s best mom; as much as I whined about dissatisfaction with Grey’s this season, Heigl knocked it out of the park with Izzie’s cancer storyline; the world of Mad Men seems to simultaneously resist Joan’s independence and shift into an era passing her by; Hendricks makes the pain of that contradiction ever-present; if Pill doesn’t get nominated for an Emmy as self-destructive therapy patient April, it will be a grave miscarriage of television academy justice; Sackhoff brought back the ballsy Starbuck as Kara embraced life while questioning whether or not she was truly alive; Sarah has long been my favorite character on Big Love and Seyfried was excellent through her pregnancy storyline this past season.

Honorable Mention: Mireille Enos, Big Love; Ginnifer Goodwin, Big Love; Chloe Sevigny, Big Love; Miriam Shor, Swingtown; Rutina Wesley, True Blood

Big Love displayed a wealth of actress talent this past season – it’s beyond me why Goodwin and Sevigny are in this category rather than lead actress, but that doesn’t mean they did less than their normal stellar work this season; either one merits a nomination; if this were the Daytime Emmys, Enos would be a shoo-in – playing twins is like a guaranteed award in the soaps – here she should be recognized not only for playing two women, but for poignantly illustrating the emotional destruction wrought by life at Juniper Creek; Shor was the bright spot in the sadly under-watched Swingtown as a woman unprepared for the world changing around her; Wesley’s accent gets maligned, but she makes Tara such a fully realized open book that it doesn’t matter – she’s officially got a spot on the totally hypothetical list of “People Who I’d Want to Play Me In a Movie.”

Guest Actress, Drama

Lizzy Caplan, True Blood

Lucy Lawless, Battlestar Galactica

Mary Kay Place, Big Love

Adina Porter, True Blood

Kate Vernon, Battlestar Galactica

This is the one category where I actively wished some people who didn't appear on the list had submitted their names. Mad Men had fantastic turns by Melinda Page Hamilton as the wife of the man whose identity Don stole and Audrey Wasilewski as Peggy's judgement-heavy sister. Anne Dudek is pretty uniformly excellent wherever she appears, and submitted her name for House, but I also think she's made her turn on Big Love as Alby's most ambitious wife a standout on a show that already features a wealth of amazing performances by different actresses. Otherwise, we’ve got two addicts, two robots risen from the dead, and one woman who would be running the world if she wasn’t subject to a soul-crushing patriarchy.

Dream Emmy Ballot: Comedy

On his delightful TV blog, Alan Sepinwall posted an Emmy nominee ballot based on the just-released list of eligible performances from the season that just concluded.  It seemed like a fun, speculative diversion, so: six picks each for lead, supporting and guest actors and actresses in Drama and Comedy (I really didn't watch that many miniseries or movies, but of those I did watch I can't imagine many people doing better work than Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange in Grey Gardens or Alexander Skarsgard, James Ransone and Lee Tergesen in Generation Kill). The categorical designations are based on the Emmy list. The crazy length seemed to demand two posts; first, comedy:

Lead Actor, Comedy

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Steve Carell, The Office

Zachary Levi, Chuck

Ken Marino, Party Down

Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies

Adam Scott, Party Down

Reading down the options for comedy performances, I started to sort my television-watching into different categories.  All of these come from Shows I Watch; however, there are also Shows I Intend to Watch, Eventually (The Big Bang Theory, Flight of the Conchords, United States of Tara), Shows I've Watched Before and Gave Up On (Cupid, Entourage, Eastbound and Down (I like Danny McBride as an actor, I'm just not so sure I can get behind his and Jody Hill's kind of humor), My Name is Earl) and Shows I Do Not Intend to Watch (Two and a Half Men, anything from Tyler Perry). I was left with these: Baldwin remains probably the most consistent performer on 30 Rock, even when the show isn't as good as it can be; Carell demonstrated new shades of Michael Scott with his relationship with Holly and the rise and fall of the Michael Scott Paper Company; Levi imbued what could be a stock geek character with charm and a drive to change his circumstances that helped to take the show to another level; Marino and Scott formed the hapless boss/straight-man employee backbone of what was ultimately a very good, funny show (however, I would be shocked if Party Down garnered any nominations) and finally Pace as the heart and soul of the tragically cancelled Daisies.

Supporting Actor, Comedy

Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother

Ed Helms, The Office

Scott Krinsky, Chuck

Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock

Chi McBride, Pushing Daisies

Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock

That Neil Patrick Harris remains Emmy-free for playing Barney Stinson is both baffling and enraging; Helms has moved past an annoying introduction to make Andy weirdly endearing in his own right; Krinsky sells Jeff's unsettling creepiness with unbelievable commitment; 30 Rock wouldn't be the show it is without McBrayer and Morgan; I pray that wherever McBride ends up next, he will have the opportunity to continue delivering "Oh, hell no!" in his own unmistakable way - Emerson's cynicism is an integral part of Daisies.

Honorable Mention: Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live; Ryan Hansen, Party Down; John Krasinski, The Office; Vik Sahay, Chuck; Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live

Hader and Samberg are some of the most consistent members of the current SNL cast, but remain criminally underused; Hansen is practically unbeatable at playing charismatic assholes; Krasinski not only knocked the finale out of the park, the antagonistic relationship between Jim and Idris Elba's Charles gave the salesman new shading; Sahay has made Lester a likably weird part of the Buy More contingent on Chuck.

Guest Actor, Comedy

Scott Bakula, Chuck

Idris Elba, The Office

Stephen Root, Pushing Daisies

Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live

Chris Parnell, 30 Rock

Steven Weber, Party Down

Bakula was perfectly cast as Chuck's long-lost father, projecting a perfect mix of techie know-how and paranoia; Elba's Charles was the ultimate straight man, demonstrating definitively why insanity actually works for the Scranton branch; I fear the storyline that introduced Root's Dwight Dixon to Pushing Daisies may not be resolved in the show's finale, but he was a perfect sinister foil for the show's earnest protagonists while it lasted; Timberlake continued to demonstrate the lasting effects of Disney training as he proved once again to be a great SNL host (only reinforcing my desire to see his former MMC costar Ryan Gosling host); Parnell's Dr. Spaceman is consistently like a master class in line delivery; and, really, any Party Down guest could have gone here, but Weber's recently-acquitted-for-murder creepy Eastern European mobster was laugh-out-loud funny. 

Lead Actress, Comedy

Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies

Yvonne Strahovski, Chuck

This one was rough.  Based on past seasons, I assume that Marcia Cross, Mary-Louise Parker and America Ferrera did respectable jobs on their respective shows (Desperate Housewives, Weeds and Ugly Betty) but I can't say for sure.  If this was "Who I Think Will Be Nominated" I'd probably include Christina Applegate, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and possibly Toni Collette, all women whose work I enjoy but whose shows I do not watch.  Amy Poehler was okay on Parks and Recreation, but the show hasn't really settled into itself yet.  That left me with the incomparable Liz Lemon; Friel, who always grounds her performance in a sense of Chuck being very aware of what she's missing in being "alive again"; and Strahovski, who used the appearance of Sarah's dad and the increasing tension between Sarah and Chuck to introduce new shades to the CIA agent.

Supporting Actress, Comedy

Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies

Jenna Fischer, The Office

Jane Lynch, Party Down

Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live

Cobie Smulders, How I Met Your Mother

Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live

I could probably switch out one of these for Vanessa Williams from Ugly Betty, as she is pretty consistently awesome on that show. I wish Chenoweth hadn't had the sitcom that failed way back whenever that was (IMDB says 2001) because her work as Olive on Daisies makes me want her to get another show of her very own; Fischer is underappreciated as a member of the Office ensemble - she completely sold Pam's decision to join Michael in leaving Dunder Mifflin; Lynch was hilarious as a deluded actress/caterer; Poehler's departure made it clear how much of SNL's quality (especially "Weekend Update" - I like Seth Meyers a lot, but he does not have the comic timing to carry that segment on his own) was dependent on her presence; Robin's wayward search for work (and eventual landing at an early-morning news/talk show) this season was some of Smulders' best work; Wiig's characters can be annoying, but she always commits 100% to them and delivers where some of her male colleagues falter.

Guest Actress, Comedy

Kristen Bell, Party Down

Sarah Chalke, How I Met Your Mother

Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live

Amy Ryan, The Office

Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock

Oprah Winfrey, 30 Rock

I don't actually have much to say about these; if Tina Fey (who is specifically nominated for her turn as Sarah Palin) isn't holding this Emmy at the end of the ceremony come September, I'll be shocked.  Otherwise, I'll observe that Ryan's Holly Flax was one of the best guest characters The Office has ever had, and that it fills me with glee every time Stritch appears on 30 Rock. I'd join in the complaining about that show's preponderance of guest stars if they weren't mostly seriously well-executed. 

Musicalfest: Adorableosity

To supplement last night's post, I submit the endearingly awkward acceptance speech of the three Billy Elliotts:

Musicalfest: 2009 Tony Awards

Watching the Tonys, I find the dominance of jukebox musicals and shows based on movies kind of disheartening - musicals, it seems, are a medium about which I feel pretty unequivocally snobbish in a preference for original work created specifically for the stage. I will say, however, that this year's opening number, which somehow managed to include Elton John, Dolly Parton, Bret Michaels and Liza Minnelli, as well as a "tonight"-riffing mashup of "Quintet" from West Side Story and "Luck Be a Lady" from Guys and Dolls and culminated in about five casts worth of performers singing "Let the Sunshine In," was everything that Baz Luhrmann's tragic musical medley from this year's Oscars wanted to be.

I'll end with a selection from one of my favorite musicals - this is from the documentary special about the recording of the Company original cast album (a film worth watching if you're into musicals).