Glee: The People's Choice

I typically don't miss many awards shows, even though I tend to fast forward past a lot of stuff that doesn't interest me. One ceremony that I haven't watched in years, though, is The People's Choice Awards.

It's not that I have something against awards chosen by the public, rather than by the industry itself (although, seeing that the night's biggest honors went to Miley Cyrus, Taylor Lautner, and the Twilight movies makes me think that I'm decidedly out of step with 'the public' anyway, since the voters must have all been 15 or under), but because I don't like shows where the winners know who they are in advance and are the only nominees who show up! It takes all the drama and excitement out of the whole thing.

Of course, I haven't watched in about ten years, so maybe they don't do it that way anymore.

I do wish I'd set my Tivo for this year's People's Choice Awards, though. I didn't even know it was on until after it was over, when I read that Glee had won for Favorite New TV Comedy. Looking at the list of winners, I see a few other favorites as well, like Supernatural, which won Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show, and Alyson Hannigan, who won for Favorite TV Comedy Actress for her work on How I Met Your Mother.

I'm glad that Glee is winning the popular vote! I'm hoping that they'll also be getting critical recognition at the Golden Globes and then at the Emmys.

Thoughts on the Primetime Emmy Awards

The 61st annual Primetime Emmy Awards were on tonight and since I love awards shows, I thought I'd share my thought about the proceedings with you. If it turns into a love letter to Neil Patrick Harris in blog form... well, can you really blame me?

I liked his opening number, although it wasn't nearly as good as his closing number from this year's Tony Awards. Still, he looked fantastic and sounded great. He's pretty much the perfect award show host, and probably the world's most perfect gay man. He should be cloned so that in the future, we can all have our own NPH.

The way they divided up the awards by genre this year was an interesting touch. I thought that worked out pretty well, especially since it allowed me to just skip right past all the reality show awards in just a few seconds.

The very first award was for Supporting Actress in a comedy and I really, really wanted Kristin Chenoweth to win, not only because I completely adore her and thought she was amazing as Olive Snook, but because Pushing Daisies was such a fantastic show and it really deserved at least one major award.

When they called her name as the winner, I'm sure my neighbors must have thought I was either losing my mind or having really great sex. I mean, why else would I be shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!" so loudly?

Her tearful and hilarious acceptance speech just summed up why I love her so much. Someone give the woman a lead part in her own show, please!

The next award was Best Supporting actor in a comedy and of course I wanted Neil Patrick Harris to win for his great work on How I Met Your Mother. Plus, he and his partner, David, looked so great together sitting in the audience and I really wanted to see a kiss between them when Neil's name was called.

Alas, it was not to be. It especially sucks that he lost to someone from Two and a Half Men. Ugh! At least it lead to some good comedic moments from NPH about being a sore loser.

I am glad that the Award for Best Actress in a Comedy went to Toni Collette (whose Australian accent always surprises me) for United States of Tara. I loved her performance and am still counting down the days until the show comes back for a second season. Like I said when the nominations were first announced, though, as comedic as the show is at times I'm still on the fence as to it being a comedy and not a drama.

After that award, there wasn't much I cared about in particular until Neil Patrick and Nathan Fillion's cameos as Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which was great. I loved the bit they did for the show tonight and the original source material.

I really like Jessica Lange, who won Best Actress in a Movie or Mini-Series. I think she's one of the most talented actresses in the business. That said, I wanted Sigourney Weaver to win for her fantastic work in Prayers For Bobby. Still, if someone else had to win, I'm glad it was Lange.

I like the recent trend of doing a live performance during the In Memoriam segments, and they got it right this time by not trying to show the singer and the clips of those who'd passed away all at the same time, which in past attempts meant not being able to see all the people they were honoring.

Honestly, most of the rest of the awards weren't really ones that I had any favorites for, so I don't have all that much to say about any of them.

It was disappointing to see 30 Rock win yet again for Best Comedy, though, especially against How I Met Your Mother in its first nomination. I like 30 Rock a lot, but the Emmys always seem to get in these ruts where they just honor one show over and over for several years and it just isn't fair. I also didn't think 30 Rock was quite as good this year, since they've started relying so heavily on guest stars.

Well, that's about it. I'm so thrilled for Kirstin Chenoweth! That was the best part of the night, other than NPH just being generally awesome. I hope he hosts the 62nd annual Emmy Awards and that Glee dominates the night next year!

Emmy Nominations

The nominations for the 61st Annual Emmy Awards were announced today and though a lot of the nominees seem to be the same old shows and people (Charlie Sheen again, really?), I was very happy with a few of the nominations.

At the top of that list is Kristin Chenoweth, nominated for the second year in a row as Oustanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy for the role of Olive Snook on the late, great show Pushing Daisies. You probably know by now that I completely adore Kristin and I'd love to see her win an Emmy, not only for herself but for the show, which won a couple of technical Emmys and an Emmy for directing last year but really deserved more.

Kristin's competition: SNL's Amy Poehler and Ugly Betty's Vanessa Williams, who were both nominated against her last year as well, SNL's Kristin Wiig, 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski, and Weed's Elizabeth Perkins. I think Chenoweth has a real shot at winning this year.

Another nomination that made me really happy was How I Met Your Mother, which finally, after four seasons, is nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series! I've always been a huge fan of this show and have said before that I think it's the best ensemble comedy on TV right now. (Every time I say that, someone brings up The Office, which I must confess I've never really watched, or 30 Rock, which I like a lot, but I still think How I Met Your Mother is better)

Neil Patrick Harris, meanwhile, got his third consecutive nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy for playing Barney Stinson and I really hope that he wins this year. He more than deserves it.

The show itself really deserved the nomination and I hope it takes home the Emmy. Like I said, I'm a 30 Rock fan as well but they've already won enough.

For Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, I'm pulling for Toni Collette, who was incredible in The United States of Tara, though honestly I would have thought it more of a drama than a comedy, as funny as it can be at times. Still, it can be hard to draw that line between the two these days.

The other nominees I was glad to see were the Lifetime movie Prayers For Bobby and its star, Sigourney Weaver. The movie had a real impact on me and I thought Weaver was really incredible in it.

The final bit of great news is that Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting! After watching him host the Tonys last month, I think he should just host every awards show from now on. Hopefully he'll sing again, since I thought his closing number at the Tonys was one of the highlights of the night.

Television and a Movie Recommendation

Since I discussed television a bit yesterday while mourning the loss of Pushing Daisies, I thought I'd write about the other shows I watch on a regular basis.

Once upon a time, I was a television addict. I had tons of shows that I followed and I'd buy the fall preview issues of Entertainment Weekly and plan out my viewing habits for each new TV season. This was before I had TiVo, too, so I watched most stuff live or had to record it on VHS. Oh, the horrors of the past!

Then I went through a phase that last about four years or so where I didn't start watching any new shows and dropped many of the ones that I'd been following. Eventually, all the old shows I was still watching came to an end, too, so there wasn't much of anything I actually made an effort to watch in primetime.

Then, about two and a half years ago, I got sucked back in. Not through actually turning on the TV again, at least not at first. What got me was TV box sets that were available to rent through Netflix. Someone would tell me how good a show was and I'd think to myself "Well, I'm not going to start watching it when it's already in its third season." But thanks to Netflix, I could rent the earlier seasons, and so I relapsed.

It started with Supernatural. I'd heard it was good and I loved Jensen Ackles when he was on Days of Our Lives but I hadn't tuned in for the first season. I'm not someone who can just jump into a show part-way through the series. That's like starting a book on chapter five! So, disc by disc, I watched the first season through Netflix and instantly became hooked.

Jensen and Jared Padalecki are both incredibly hot and their chemistry together is off the charts (they play brothers, but have been mistaken for a gay couple more than once on the show). The mythology that drives the show has become stronger and stronger with each season, and right now, in the shows fourth season, I can easily say it's the best its ever been. The funny thing is that this isn't really a show about demons and dark forces, as much as those things drive all of the action. It's about the relationship between these two brothers who are pretty much everything to each other.

Supernatural can break your heart (as Jensen Ackles broke mine in the closing scene of the most recent episode) and it never fails to make you laugh and to freak you out, too.

If you haven't started watching the show yet, Netflix is your friend! I don't think you'll regret it. Come for the man candy, stay for the quality writing and acting.

Since I'd decided to tune in to Supernatural's second season in real time, I thought I'd see what else was on that season, and I sort of hit the jackpot. It happened to be the season that Heroes and Brothers & Sisters both started, so I've been following them since the beginning.

Heroes has had a really hit or miss quality about it for the last two seasons, but I've stuck with it because I think it's still better than a lot of stuff that's on TV and because I loved the first season so much and I know that they can find that magic again. Plus, they do bring the hot guys to the table, don't they? Milo Ventimiglia, Adrian Pasdar, Zachary Quinto, Sendhil Ramamurthy, I could go on and on, but you get the picture. They're a very sexy bunch.

Brothers & Sisters is now in its third season and with the exception of last Sunday's episode I've really not cared much for it this year. The first two seasons were really good, even though I can only take Calista Flockhart's Kitty in doses much smaller than we're ever given and I can't stand Rob Lowe's character at all.

But Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths, both incredible actresses, more than make up for this, especially when you throw in hunks like Matthew Rhys, Dave Annable and Balthazar Getty as well.

Best of all, though, is the relationship between Kevin & Scotty (played by Luke MacFarlane, who manages to be both adorable and very sexy all at the same time, and who is out in real life). They're the reason why the most recent episode was better than anything else so far this season and they're a huge part of why I loved the first two seasons.

Kevin, like all of his siblings, is flawed and can be a frustrating character to say the least. But what I love is that his romantic life has never been treated any differently than that of any of the straight characters. I was looking forward to season three in particular because Kevin & Scotty ended last season with a commitment ceremony and I thought we'd see even more of a focus on their relationship. I forgot, though, that the only In-Law ever made a focus on this show is Robert, Rob Lowe's character. The rest of the husbands and wives tend to fade into the background.

Overall, the show is really boring this year. They don't seem to know what they're doing with Rachel Griffiths' character at all, and Uncle Saul, who came out last year, hasn't had any storyline of his own yet. I'm not even going to mention Kevin going to work for his Republican Senator brother-in-law, which is completely out of character no matter how they're trying to spin it!

It feels more and more like the Kitty & Robert show, and that's not a good thing.

I also watch Greek & Kyle XY on ABC Family. Greek is a lot of fun, but Kyle XY is downright amazing. This is another show you should get on Netflix if you haven't seen it yet. I never thought I'd like anything on ABC Family, but they take their slogan "A New Kind of Family" seriously. I only wish we didn't have to wait so long between seasons for Kyle XY!

I also just finished watching the first season of Chuck on DVD and I loved it!

I'll just mention the sitcoms briefly, since I feel like I've been going on forever already: How I Met Your Mother is the funniest show on TV. I don't know why everyone isn't watching this show! I love it so much. I have the first two seasons on DVD and I watch them all the time. I think this is the best ensemble cast in a sitcom since Friends. Plus, it stars Neil Patrick Harris! Enough said.

I also watch The New Adventures of Old Christine which is really enjoyable and 30 Rock, which had two incredible seasons but is making me mad this season because they're relying so heavily on guest stars. It's totally becoming Will & Grace, with the Big Guest Star each week, and it really doesn't need that. I get that they're trying to attract new viewers to pull in ratings, but I think it's mostly just alienating the viewers they already had. It's still funny, don't get me wrong, I think they just need to lay off the guest stars already. Tina Fey & co are funny enough on their own, as the first two seasons demonstrated.

I've heard from several of my co-workers that I have got to watch The Office but I haven't yet. Is it as amazing as everyone says?

On a final, non-Television related note, I saw the film Rachel Getting Married last night and I highly recommend it. It's got some really heart wrenching emotional scenes and it also makes you laugh out loud more than once. Anne Hathaway really surprised and impressed me in the lead role. I tend to think of her as being a less than serious actress, but she was excellent. I think Debra Winger, whom we do not see nearly enough of onscreen these days, was also incredible as the emotionally distant mother. She did so much with body language alone, her character is so tightly self controlled that the one scene where she does lose control is very powerful.

So, there you go, some DVD recommendations if you have Netflix and a film you should go see if it's playing near you.