Now a few weeks ago I posted my predictions for the comedy side of this year's Emmys and it became my most viewed post, so now the winners have been revealed, let's see how it matches up.
Best Comedy Series went to Modern Family, this is a great show and I love watching it, but their last season wasn't their best, I actually found The Big Bang Theory much funnier, but still it's a deserved win.
Best Lead Actor went to Jon Cryer in Two & A Half Men, now I was surprised by this as TAAHM usually gets ignored in the Emmys, despite Cryer being nominated for Supporting Actor year after year, but now he's playing with the big boys, he wins. I'm happy for Cryer, because he really shone in this season despite all the nonsense with Charlie Sheen and working alongside Ashton Kutcher, who I'm still on the fence with despite the one whole season he was in. Personally, I believe Jim Parsons should've won this award once again, but Jon Cryer is a close second.
Best Lead Actress went to Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Veep, I can't really comment too much about this as I don't watch the show, but I do have to commend Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) for getting a nomination as her character (Jess Day) is one of my favourite characters at the moment.
Best Supporting Actor went to Eric Stonestreet in Modern Family, seeing as Modern Family dominate this category it's no shock that one of them has won, but I'm surprised Stonestreet was the one winning it. My money was on either Ty Burrell or Ed O'Neill or even Max Greenfield in New Girl. But a win is a win and any Modern Family actor winning an award is good news, but I would love to see either Jesse Tyler Ferguson or Ed O'Neill win one.
Best Supporting Actress went to Julie Bowen in Modern Family, this is the first one I truly agree with as in one of my previous blogs, I reviewed the episode "Go Bullfrogs!" and I said this should the episode than Bowen gets her Emmy nomination with and it did and she won, her performance as the mother gone wild in this episode was brilliant and deserved the support. Next year, I want the kids to get a look in, either Sarah Hyland or Ariel Winter should get a nomination for Supporting Actress and Nolan Gould should definitely get one for Supporting Actor.
Best Guest Actor went to Jimmy Fallon in Saturday Night Live, once again a short comment about it. I only said Greg Kinnear should win because his performance was the only one I saw in the line up, but I imagine Fallon deserved his Emmy.
Finally Best Guest Actress went to Kathy Bates in Two & A Half Men, another definite winner in my book. I watched that performance and thought it couldn't get any more awesome, Kathy Bates as Charlie Harper, but it was a treat for the fans to see both Jon Cryer and Kathy Bates take on the iconic role, personally Cryer should've got the Emmy for his Charlie Harper impersonation, but it's good to know Charlie Sheen's meltdown managed to get TAAHM some Emmy respect.
So a few shock choices, a couple to be expected and rest were the right choices, so what will next year hold? Sit back and find out as the 2012-13 US TV season begins now!
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Monday, 24 September 2012
TV: Community
Time to talk about yet another one of my favourite US sitcoms, this time one of the lesser known ones, it's the Community College set, Community!!
Simply, seven loveable misfits form a study group in a Community College (It's a bit like the Open University) and get into crazy adventures both in and out of College and sometimes reality. What I love about this show is the sheer uniqueness of the format, writing and style of it and of course the cultural references!
The characters are brilliantly created, written and acted, especially Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) who is a Film and TV nerd (like me!), Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) the unofficial leader of the group and Ben Chang (Ken Jeong) the college's former Spanish teacher now student. Abed basically lives his life as a TV show and doesn't understand real life, admit it, you'd want to live in a TV show (The Big Bang Theory would be mine!) Jeff is a character who has grown the most, he started the study group mainly to get with Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) and now after the third season is searching for his long-lost father, emotional stuff. Senor Chang is very weird, but you can't help but love him and hate him in separate measures, it does make me very Chang-ry though! Other characters are Troy Barnes (Donald Glover) a former high school Quarterback, Annie Edison (Alison Brie) the well-organised one, Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown) a religious housewife, Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) a businessman with old-world views and Craig Pelton (Jim Rash) the college's flamboyant Dean.
The show's format is very odd, some episodes are very normal, but at least a third of them are completely different styles, they have had war-style episodes with paintball, an episode entirely in clay-mation, a episode where they play Dungeons & Dragons and a few set as a documentary. Most of these are the best episodes, the paintball episode is one of my favourites. It's a very unusual way of telling stories, but at least they know that, Jeff usually points out the silliness of these stories and that makes them okay.
The first season is on DVD and the second season will be out soon in the UK, anyone reading this is the US will know season 4 is on TV soon, so watch out for this quirky, yet enjoyable show!
Simply, seven loveable misfits form a study group in a Community College (It's a bit like the Open University) and get into crazy adventures both in and out of College and sometimes reality. What I love about this show is the sheer uniqueness of the format, writing and style of it and of course the cultural references!
The characters are brilliantly created, written and acted, especially Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) who is a Film and TV nerd (like me!), Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) the unofficial leader of the group and Ben Chang (Ken Jeong) the college's former Spanish teacher now student. Abed basically lives his life as a TV show and doesn't understand real life, admit it, you'd want to live in a TV show (The Big Bang Theory would be mine!) Jeff is a character who has grown the most, he started the study group mainly to get with Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) and now after the third season is searching for his long-lost father, emotional stuff. Senor Chang is very weird, but you can't help but love him and hate him in separate measures, it does make me very Chang-ry though! Other characters are Troy Barnes (Donald Glover) a former high school Quarterback, Annie Edison (Alison Brie) the well-organised one, Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown) a religious housewife, Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) a businessman with old-world views and Craig Pelton (Jim Rash) the college's flamboyant Dean.
The show's format is very odd, some episodes are very normal, but at least a third of them are completely different styles, they have had war-style episodes with paintball, an episode entirely in clay-mation, a episode where they play Dungeons & Dragons and a few set as a documentary. Most of these are the best episodes, the paintball episode is one of my favourites. It's a very unusual way of telling stories, but at least they know that, Jeff usually points out the silliness of these stories and that makes them okay.
The first season is on DVD and the second season will be out soon in the UK, anyone reading this is the US will know season 4 is on TV soon, so watch out for this quirky, yet enjoyable show!
Saturday, 22 September 2012
TV: Total Wipeout
Now for a spot of game shows, namely Total Wipeout, the show which sees grown men and women act like idiots and fall off stuff.
It's amazing now I can describe an entire show in one sentence and it's simply that and that's why I love this show, actually I love the US version more, but this is still good. It's just simple TV, nothing too complicated, too clever or too serious and sometimes it's what we need, especially on a Saturday night, we want fun and this is good clean fun!
My main concern is the BBC's treatment of this show, stick it on any other channel and get the same ratings as they get on BBC One and they'd move heaven and earth to add more to the budget, but the BBC give it very little budget and advertising and it looks very cheap and tacky, they won't even let be in HD! Plus, I don't think the presenters are right for the show either, Richard Hammond does a good job, but seeing him on Top Gear as well just doesn't match and I just think he does this for the money, though I don't think he gets much! I personally think Blue Peter presenter Barney Harwood would be brilliant on the show. I'm a bit on the fence with Amanda Byram, the way she acts silly on the show is a bit cringy, you need someone whose known for being a bit on the crazy side, maybe The One Show's Alex Jones?
But enough tweaking, I love this show and I would love to see the BBC give this show a bit more effort or put it on another channel, maybe Channel 4 or Sky 1.
It's amazing now I can describe an entire show in one sentence and it's simply that and that's why I love this show, actually I love the US version more, but this is still good. It's just simple TV, nothing too complicated, too clever or too serious and sometimes it's what we need, especially on a Saturday night, we want fun and this is good clean fun!
My main concern is the BBC's treatment of this show, stick it on any other channel and get the same ratings as they get on BBC One and they'd move heaven and earth to add more to the budget, but the BBC give it very little budget and advertising and it looks very cheap and tacky, they won't even let be in HD! Plus, I don't think the presenters are right for the show either, Richard Hammond does a good job, but seeing him on Top Gear as well just doesn't match and I just think he does this for the money, though I don't think he gets much! I personally think Blue Peter presenter Barney Harwood would be brilliant on the show. I'm a bit on the fence with Amanda Byram, the way she acts silly on the show is a bit cringy, you need someone whose known for being a bit on the crazy side, maybe The One Show's Alex Jones?
But enough tweaking, I love this show and I would love to see the BBC give this show a bit more effort or put it on another channel, maybe Channel 4 or Sky 1.
TV: The X Factor UK
From sitcoms to talent shows in this month of TV. And we start the talent show portion with the king of talent shows, The X Factor!
Now I may be the only straight male watching this for the singing, but I can say I love watching this show every Saturday night for three reasons.
One: The show is entertaining. Now there maybe a few actual talents each year but what a lot of people love to see is the nutters or people who can't sing and they make the auditions much more fun than just seeing people who can actually sing as sometimes that can get boring. Every now and again you'll find someone who'll make you go "wow" and those moments I love and hence why I think this show has it probably once every episode.
Two: The judges. I don't think there's ever been a bad X Factor judge, usually each one gets the hang of it around their second series, but each one has their own style. Whether you love or hate Simon Cowell, he knows what he's talking about and not only does he commend those who can sing, he also looks as their branding, image and potential, because it's all well and good having the chops, but you won't last in the music biz if you don't make music that's good or act too cocky or boring and that's why no one from The Voice has made it big yet, most of them are very good singers, but are quite dull!
Three: The success stories. The first four series of the show had no one who could make it big (apart from Leona Lewis) but once Cheryl Cole was brought in, the show not only changed in style, but it changed in the way they brand and promote the acts, the fifth series has seen Alexandra Burke do well and JLS go on to be the biggest boy band in the country right now, but also Olly Murs, Cher Lloyd, Rebecca Ferguson, One Direction, Little Mix and Amelia Lily have been doing well too, expecially Cher Lloyd and One Direction, who are big stuff in America!
So like it or lump it, X Factor has made stars and judging by this year's bunch, a few more have got potential to join the big leagues, so it's four yeses and we'll see you at bootcamp!!
Now I may be the only straight male watching this for the singing, but I can say I love watching this show every Saturday night for three reasons.
One: The show is entertaining. Now there maybe a few actual talents each year but what a lot of people love to see is the nutters or people who can't sing and they make the auditions much more fun than just seeing people who can actually sing as sometimes that can get boring. Every now and again you'll find someone who'll make you go "wow" and those moments I love and hence why I think this show has it probably once every episode.
Two: The judges. I don't think there's ever been a bad X Factor judge, usually each one gets the hang of it around their second series, but each one has their own style. Whether you love or hate Simon Cowell, he knows what he's talking about and not only does he commend those who can sing, he also looks as their branding, image and potential, because it's all well and good having the chops, but you won't last in the music biz if you don't make music that's good or act too cocky or boring and that's why no one from The Voice has made it big yet, most of them are very good singers, but are quite dull!
Three: The success stories. The first four series of the show had no one who could make it big (apart from Leona Lewis) but once Cheryl Cole was brought in, the show not only changed in style, but it changed in the way they brand and promote the acts, the fifth series has seen Alexandra Burke do well and JLS go on to be the biggest boy band in the country right now, but also Olly Murs, Cher Lloyd, Rebecca Ferguson, One Direction, Little Mix and Amelia Lily have been doing well too, expecially Cher Lloyd and One Direction, who are big stuff in America!
So like it or lump it, X Factor has made stars and judging by this year's bunch, a few more have got potential to join the big leagues, so it's four yeses and we'll see you at bootcamp!!
Monday, 3 September 2012
TV: The Big Bang Theory
Now I did say September would be the month of television, mainly because a lot of my favourite shows begin around this time and I will begin with my favourite comedy, The Big Bang Theory! For those out of this nerdy loop I will briefly explain.
Basically, the show follows 4 very nerdy guys when 2 of them get a attractive new neighbour called Penny and things go on from there, such as Physics Bowls, Arctic expeditions, Bowling, 21 seconds of Indiana Jones and Fruit Loops. I have loved this show since episode one, why I love it is because I myself am a bit of a geek, even more so after 5 years of this show, and it speaks to me more than other sitcoms, there are many great sitcoms, which I will talk about over this month, but this is my sitcom.
The show has changed a lot since take-out on the couch, there have been new characters, Amy Ferrah Fowler comes to mind as she's probably the new one most people like, she's been nominated for an Emmy and only Jim Parsons gets nominated for Emmys. The Penny-Leonard Relationship has also evolved too, they are now in a Beta-test stage, which I think all relationships should have by the way! When the show started I thought it'd be great if Leonard and Penny got together, but now I'm not sure. Being a sitcom nerd, I know it'll happen, but if it were me, I'd bring another female into the mix and let Leonard really decide between her and Penny and maybe Penny would try harder to be with Leonard, not that I've given it much thought! One character whose changed the most is Howard Wolowitz, the sex-crazed bright shirt wearing Jewish guy who lives with his mother is, at times, my second favourite character. He has now changed into Mr. Committed now he's married to Bernadette, one of my favourite episodes is where she learns about his seedy past and the speech he gives to Penny is one of the sweetest things ever heard on television.
Finally I must dedicate this part of the post to Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper. Possibly the best comedy character ever created. What I think people love about him is his uniqueness, there is no one like him on a sitcom today, you have your Charlie Harpers and your Barney Stinsons, but Sheldon is a very rare thing and he intrigues people in a way you want to see how he sees the world. Jim Parsons has played Sheldon for 5 years and has gained a loyal fanbase, critical acclaim and a number of awards and may it forever continue!
Thus begin-eth the month of TV!!
Basically, the show follows 4 very nerdy guys when 2 of them get a attractive new neighbour called Penny and things go on from there, such as Physics Bowls, Arctic expeditions, Bowling, 21 seconds of Indiana Jones and Fruit Loops. I have loved this show since episode one, why I love it is because I myself am a bit of a geek, even more so after 5 years of this show, and it speaks to me more than other sitcoms, there are many great sitcoms, which I will talk about over this month, but this is my sitcom.
The show has changed a lot since take-out on the couch, there have been new characters, Amy Ferrah Fowler comes to mind as she's probably the new one most people like, she's been nominated for an Emmy and only Jim Parsons gets nominated for Emmys. The Penny-Leonard Relationship has also evolved too, they are now in a Beta-test stage, which I think all relationships should have by the way! When the show started I thought it'd be great if Leonard and Penny got together, but now I'm not sure. Being a sitcom nerd, I know it'll happen, but if it were me, I'd bring another female into the mix and let Leonard really decide between her and Penny and maybe Penny would try harder to be with Leonard, not that I've given it much thought! One character whose changed the most is Howard Wolowitz, the sex-crazed bright shirt wearing Jewish guy who lives with his mother is, at times, my second favourite character. He has now changed into Mr. Committed now he's married to Bernadette, one of my favourite episodes is where she learns about his seedy past and the speech he gives to Penny is one of the sweetest things ever heard on television.
Finally I must dedicate this part of the post to Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper. Possibly the best comedy character ever created. What I think people love about him is his uniqueness, there is no one like him on a sitcom today, you have your Charlie Harpers and your Barney Stinsons, but Sheldon is a very rare thing and he intrigues people in a way you want to see how he sees the world. Jim Parsons has played Sheldon for 5 years and has gained a loyal fanbase, critical acclaim and a number of awards and may it forever continue!
Thus begin-eth the month of TV!!
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