TV with MeeVee

"American Idol" Update: Seacrest, In. Ratings, down.

The television academy has decided to honor a new category of, well, can we really call it achievement? "American Idol's" Ryan Seacrest (right) and "Survivor's" Jeff Probst will surely be among the frontrunners this year when the Academy votes on its new Emmy category for...gulp...reality TV hosts. Now, it can't be easy being Ryan - ushering everyone one and off the stage in the right order, reading the prompter and mixing it up in  carefully scripted adlibbed banter with Simon and Paula and Randy. But seriously...he should get an Emmy for this? Not so much.

Meanwhile, Variety reports that "Idol" ratings are down for the second season in a row, offering "clear indications" that the show has peaked and is now at the top of a long downslope. Variety notes that we all expected the writers strike - which sidelined traditional dramas and sitcoms - to juice "Idol's" ratings and that hasn't happened. Instead the show is down 8 percent from a year ago.

All of which leads us to predictions for tonight. Obviously the Davids are safe, and after that "Jesus Christ Superstar," I'd say Carly is too. Andrew Lloyd Webber Week wasn't as kind to Jason or to Brooke, who forget her words. And Syesha seems to be in the bottom three almost every week. I'm going to say it's Jason's week to go.

Morning reads

• The evil get eviller. (AP)
• The Emmys show switches from the Shrine to the Nokia. Just so you can tell your limo driver where to go. (Reuters)
• Britney Spears has been hired to ruin guest star on "How I Met Your Mother." (GMMR, from whom we stole the awesome graphic)
• And her casting has already averted a guest appearance by Alicia Silverstone. (TV Guide)
• Big Thursday for "Lost," as we learn the final two members of the Oceanic Six. (Buddy TV)
• "Lost" is also the most time-shifted episode, with a DVR audience of 3.7 million!! (TV By The Numbers)
• Maybe it's time for us to get paroled from "Prison Break"? (Buddy TV)
• Tom Goodman went quality in drowning his sorrows over the end of "The Wire." (The Bastard Machine)
• Nikki Finke says you shouldn't be too happy about the launch of Skynet Hulu. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Morning Links Madness!

First, one more look at the only really funny moment during Sunday night's Oscarcast:

• Talkin' 'bout Fox bleeping the Emmys. (New York Times)
• "Match Game" wiseacre Brett Somers has died at 83. (Associated Press.)
• Tim Goodman has some last thoughts on the Emmycast: "All this controversy about Sally Field's stupid speech. The woman should be banned from accepting anything, except advice. Like this: Shut it. Take the trophy, go home." (SFGate.com)
• A sweet sentiment from The TV Addict: "This summer will be forever remembered as quite possibly the best summer of television ever." (TVAddict.com)
• Josh Schwartz talks about "Gossip Girl" (boo) and "Chuck" (yay): "It's really hard to do a show about people in their 20s. It becomes a lot of navel-gazing, people complaining about their lives. But if a guy in his 20s is complaining about his life because he was almost killed by a ninja the night before, now you've got something." (BuzzSugar)
• Pix of Neil Patrick Harris of "How I Met Your Mother" and his boyfriend at the Oscars. (Televisionista)
• Recapping "Prison Break" at GMMR: "I felt like I needed a shower after watching tonight’s episode just to get the stink and the grime off of me." (GMMR)
• Pictures of the "Smallville" action figures and pictures of the stars at Emmy afterparties - which is more lifelike? (Televisionista)

What Got Bleeped? Kathy Griffin, Sally Fields, And More

Last weeks Creative Emmys got the best bleeping story so far: Kathy Griffin telling Jesus to suck it. Want to hear the actual speech? Check LAist.

Last night's censored moments were decidedly milder. For example, here's Sally Field saying "goddamn:" (yes, they bleeped her for that... she's pretty annoyed, too)

AOL News says Ray Romano got bleeped on an f-bomb and that Katherine Heigl let something inaudible but inappropriate fly when she won her award.

I think it's good to hear celebrities swear like regular goddamn people, but I guess broadcasters don't exactly agree with me.

Emmy Followup

OK, phew, the coffee is kicking in now. That was a late night. So let's make this easy for you and me both and use the Letterman crutch: THE TOP 10 THINGS TO SAY ABOUT LAST NIGHT'S EMMY AWARDS:

10) America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty," OK, I can get behind that. 

9) Al Gore, love ya. Please go away. Ditto Jeremy Piven.

8) Turns out those asinine silences, when the telecast cut away to a lovely shot of the chandelier, weren't technical incompetence on Fox's part. That was the censor sparing us celebrity expletives. Still asinine.

7) They could only come up with three miniseries worth mentioning. And the miniseries categories are still on the telecast because...?

6) Am I the only one who liked the in-the-round format? Just about.

5) Sally Field's acceptance speech - once again, a pale echo of "You like me, you really like me." Bringing up the war, weak. Saying she did it so the mothers of the world would be validated, asinine. It's all about her. Shut up already.

4) Seacrest, lame but not awful. So, better than expected.

3) Funniest moment: Colbert and Stewart giving the absent Ricky Gervais' Emmy to a jubilant Steve Carell. Give Me My Remote has the video.

2) I got no problem with "30 Rock" winning best comedy. But, do people in Hollywood really not like "The Office?" Or are they just jealous?

1) How in the LIVING HELL can they call "The Sopranos" the best drama and then pass over James Gandolfini for best actor in favor of, gulp, James Spader on "Boston Legal?" HOW? Morons.

MeeVee Video Top 5: Emmy Awards

The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards have come and gone. Now that all the congratulation speeches are over and all the pseudo tears have dried up, it's time for our pampered stars to get back to work. For those of you out there aching for their favorite shows to return, now is the best time of year for television. The dog days of summer television are over and both new and old shows are beginning to premiere.

This week Video Top 5 is highlighting five shows that received a serious surplus of nominations at this years Emmy's. We have clips from Grey's Anatomy, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and The Sopranos. Also featured this week are full episodes of 30 Rock and video interviews with the successful series The Starter Wife. Finally, we have a bizarre montage of doctored clips for our YouTube Clip of the Week.

***Emmy Liveblog****

(Editor's note: Our senior editor Joel Brown attempted the channel-flippingest feat of liveblogging ever on Sunday night, following the 59th annual Emmy Awards simultaneously with a Red Sox-Yankees game and the Patriots' season opener. He appears to have lost his inner censor somewhere along the way, but we hope he will recover himself and return to action later today for a more cogent commentary on the Emmy winners. The following is unedited. You've been warned...)

And away we go! Enough of the sycophantic crap! Enough of the pointless interview with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Richardson, who aren't nominees but are on Fox! We're in the round! The show is starting! And here come Brian and Stewie! "Seems to be that nearly all television these days is complete trash," says Brian. And now they're into a musical number! They're croaking "Scrubs!"  They talking about "Prime-time swill!" They're dissing "Cavemen!" We love this! ... They're dissing NBC: "I hear they're bring Seinfeld back to save a little face! I hear Isaiah Washington is taking Kramer's place!" ... And a "Sopranos" cut to black! ... Fabulous.

No pictures - Typepad won't let me post!! The laptop power cord isn't working, so I have to use the PC in the room where the TV remote is missing!!! Why is everyone against me???!!?? (Update, 9:14 I can post a pic. Big whoop.)

Now it's host Ryan Seacrest. Has he got leather lapels? What's up with that? At least he's making fun of himself for being loser enough to host the pre-show too. Oh crap, he mentions Shatner and Shatner stands up and starts talking...

Seacrest: "Congratulations on turning 18, Hayden! My gift is sweating you as far from Jeremy Piven as possible." This might be worth watching after all...

Emmys: Predictions and Liveblog Plans

First, a reminder that I will be taking on the most awesome feat of channel-flippin'-bloggin' in the history of mankind on Sunday night, when the Emmys hit Fox at 8 p.m.

Secondly, a recap of my Emmy picks, the better for you to mock and revile me in the comments on Sunday night...

Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy: This should be a race between Neil Patrick Harris as the sparkplug of "How I Met Your Mother" or Rainn Wilson's insane Dwight on "The Office." If "The Office" rocks, it could be Wilson. But something tells me this is Harris' year.

Best Supporting Actress In A Comedy: I think the real competition here is between Elizabeth Perkins as the imperious, often soused suburban queen Celia on "Weeds" and Jenna Fischer's fantastic but quite subtle performance as Pam on "The Office." Fischer and John Krasinski as Jim are the sane heart of the "Office" madhouse, and he wasn't even nominated, so maybe this is Perkins' year. But I'm hoping Fischer wins. Call it a vote for romance.

Morning update: Sunday Emmys Liveblog!

Busy moving everything to my new computer this morning - I'll be back posting shortly - but an early heads-up. This Sunday night you can witness the most awesome feat of channel-flippin'-bloggin' in the history of mankind (and I do mean mankind). I'll be live-blogging the primetime Emmy Awards right here, and at the same time trying to keep up with the possibly crucial final game of the three-game Fenway Park series between my Boston Red Sox and the Evil Empire, aka the New York Yankees. And if that's not enough, the New England Patriots (Champions! Cheaters!) will be playing their season opener at the same time. My remote finger hurts just thinking about it. This is going to be one of the all-time highwire acts when it comes to total couch-potato self-indulgence. So mark your calendars, refill your glasses and come join me. I'll be looking for lots of comments too.

Fall TV Night-By-Night: Thursday

Only one new show tonight but a considerable amount of new attitude scattered around the schedule, and Sunday night's Emmys could add some more for "Ugly Betty," "Grey's Anatomy," "The Office" and others.

The new show is ABC's "Big Shots," at 10, which delivered a very funny press conference from stars Michael Vartan, Dylan McDermott, Joshua Malina and Christopher Titus, and could be a ratings winner. They're four reasonably powerful and successful guys, but the show follows mainly their romantic and domestic difficulties. It was at least unofficially called "Big Dicks" in the beginning, and seems intended to take a male-centric view of the world. But as it follows the guest-star-laden "Ugly Betty" at 8 and "Grey's Anatomy" at 9, I think ABC is counting on a large number of women sticking with the network to eyeball Vartan and McDermott. Not a bad bet, actually, though I didn't much like the show. All three debut Sept. 27.

CBS stands pat on the night with three dependables: "Survivor" (Sept. 20), "CSI" and "Without a Trace" (both Sept. 27). Not much to report here except A) one has to wonder when the "CSI" juggernaut will cool, and B) "Survivor" is going to China this fall for an inland episode, as seen at left.

2007 Emmy Predictions Part 4: Drama Series

Four of the five nominees in this category have a chance to win this year, and I'm not sure I can make any meaningful prediction about which one it will be. But dammit, that's not going to stop me from trying! And frankly, most people who make these predictions, about the Emmys in particular, are talking out of  their ass. Sheer merit is only one of many factors that go into deciding who takes home the little statuettes, with other and perhaps more important ones including changes in the judging process, Hollywood politics, high-school style popularity issues and perceived momentum. So let's roll the dice! Here are the nominees...

ABC's "Boston Legal" could be renamed "No Chance" for the
purposes of this post. Audiences are moving away from the David E. Kelley school of high-stakes wackiness. There are some fine moments here, especially when James Spader and William Shatner are sitting out on the deck, philosophising over drinks and cigars. But you're not going to see them on the podium at the end of the night. And there are better shows that weren't even nominated - "Rescue Me" is just one that comes to mind, so don't cry for Kelley and company.

2007 Emmy Predictions Part 3: Acting In A Drama

This is where things get heavy. Out with the laughs. In with the exotic diseases, desperate affairs, the blackmailing and the killing and the dying, the existential doubts. They don't call it dramatic acting for nothing, baby. And the nominees are...

Best Supporting Actor In A Drama nominees: William Shatner as Denny Crane in ABC's "Boston Legal"; T.R. Knight as George on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy"; Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura on NBC's "Heroes"; Michael Emerson as Ben and Terry O'Quinn as John Locke on ABC's "Lost"; and Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti on HBO's "The Sopranos."

MeeVee's take: You can probably never give too many awards to "The Sopranos," and Imperioli is one person on the show who can argue they had a better year this year than last. Frankly his work seems of a different order than anyone else on the list - just as "The Sopranos" is a different order of show - but he's already got a statuette, and unless Hollywood decides to give that show one last trunkload of honors, I don't see it happening. In fact, everyone in this category has a good reason to win and a good reason not to. Shatner's scenes with James Spader are a highlight of "Boston Legal," but does anybody still think that's a really good show? T.R. Knight could win because of politically correct Hollywood support after the Isaiah Washington/"faggot" controversy on the set of "Grey's" - but does anyone think he would have been nominated without it? Oka is great fun on "Heroes," but it's a comic book adventure, and they don't give Emmys to sci fi, usually. Emerson and O'Quinn give the best performances on "Lost," but that show has lost a lot of viewers and momentum after a weak season and a half before a run of good episodes this spring.

So I guess it is Imperioli. Unless it's Knight. Or Oka. Or...

2007 Emmy Predictions Part 2: Best Comedy Series

Welcome back for the second installment of our Emmy predictions, where we do our damndest to sound like we know what we're talking about, when of course the Emmy voters offer appear to be blindfolded, drunk, pantless and sobbing about their gambling debts when they vote, so odd are their choices. Not always, though, not always. Last year they named "The Office" best comedy series, which was great. Of course, none of the show's cast won their categories, which seems a little, well, blindfolded and drunk. But as we said yesterday, some of them have a good chance this year, and the show could easily repeat. So. The nominees are...

NBC's "The Office" is pretty much the funniest show on television the last couple of years, although some people still have trouble sitting through some of its more squirm-inducing moments of Michael Scott idiocy. Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson, as Michael and his stormtrooper Dwight Schrute, have set some sort of new standard for sitcom insanity, with many of the employees of Dunder-Mifflin's Scranton office following closely on their heels. They're balanced out by the exquisitely normal John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer as star-crossed-not-yet-lovers Jim and Pam, who sweetly scheme against Michael and Dwight with an often unspoken teamwork that is delightful to watch. You can tell who gets my vote in this category, I guess. I also think it is the likeliest winner.

2007 Emmy Predictions, Part 1: Comedy Acting

The 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards will be handed out Sept. 16 in Los Angeles, live on Fox, in a ceremony hosted by Ryan Seacrest. And it seems like now is a good time to get our predictions in the major categories on the record, before fall premieres clog our bandwidth next week. Four days, 10 categories, and absolutely nothing at stake except our honor: Write your own joke. Today, we consider the four comedy-acting categories.

Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy nominees: Kevin Dillon as Johnny Drama and Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold on HBO's "Entourage"; Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson on CBS' "How I Met Your Mother"; Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute on NBC's "The Office"; Jon Cryer as Alan Harper on CBS' "Two And A Half Men."

MeeVee's take: Dillon's nod is frankly a surprise. Piven won last year and could repeat, but "Entourage" has slipped a bit. "Two And A Half Men" is TV's highest-rated comedy and Emmy loves hits, but this should come down to a race between Harris as the sparkplug of "Mother" or Wilson's insane Dwight. If "The Office" rocks, it could be  Wilson. But something tells me this is Harris'  year.

Ryan Seacrest To Host Emmy Awards, Super Bowl, Etc.

What isn't Ryan Seacrest hosting? We know him best as the host for American Idol, but then he stood in for Dick Clark on New Year's Eve. Last week, we found out he was going to host the Super Bowl. Today we hear that he'll also be hosting the Emmy awards.

Of course, if you take one look at his resume it's apparent that he's been doing this all along. He's worked his way up from one show to the next as the genial host with infectious enthusiasm.

Today he's the obvious host with the most when anyone has a televised celebration, contest, or star-studded red-carpet extravaganza. Could a late-night talk show be next? How about the Oscars? Maybe the next presidential inauguration? Why not?

Totally Frakked: The (SciFi) Nominations Are In

Every year when the Emmy nominations are announced there's a great hue and cry from the SciFi community (and just about every other community), about the good stuff that was missed.  This year is no exception, of course.  There are genre shows among the nominees, and it's clear that the Emmy's new sci fi darling is "Heroes", which picked up 8 nominations, but some fine work in television is still overlooked.

Genre shows haven't cornered the market on being overlooked by the Emmys, lots of other fine television got the cold shoulder. Still, if the Emmys insist on remaining borderline irrelevant, we will continue to focus on their oversights instead of their triumphs. You can take a look at which SciFi shows got the nod and which got the finger, after the jump.

Emmys: We're Just Happy To Be Nominated

Jon Cryer and Kyra Sedgwick are  unveiling the nominees for the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. "The Starter Wife" is nominated for best miniseries. Really? But if I heard that right, both Neil Patrick Harris of "How I Met Your Mother" and Rainn Wilson of "The Office" got nominations for best supporting actor in a comedy, which is happy news. Dennis Leary was nominated for best actor in a drama for "Rescue Me," but the show itself wasn't nominated for best drama. Cryer and Sedwick both got nominations, although he was in the supporting actor category, while Charlie Sheen, his "Two And A Half Men" costar, was nominated for best actor. Innnnnteresting.

Most nominated series: "The Sopranos" with 15. HBO's "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" movie led all nominees with 17.The awards show airs Sept. 16 on Fox.

Nominees for Best Drama: "Boston Legal" ABC; "Grey's Anatomy" ABC; "Heroes" NBC; "House" Fox; and "The Sopranos" HBO.

Forget "Boston Legal." After the Isaiah Washington flap, we're all sick of "Grey's," although Hollywood's penchant for rewarding political correctness means anything's possible. We love "House," but that's at least 90 percent Hugh Laurie. So it's down to "Heroes," which seems to have given primetime a revivifying jolt, and "Sopranos," with the cut-to-black finale people here are still arguing about. Hollywood likes to reward career achievement, so I say, Don't Stop Believin'!

Who got screwed? FX, with "Rescue Me" and "The Shield." "Friday Night Lights," which could use the help. Maybe "Lost." What else? Tell me. I want to hear your thoughts. I need help here. I need more coffee.

Emmy Noms Short List Leaked

Apparently some Emmy judges leaked the semifinalists to a site called TheEnvelope.com. If you just want to check out the lists, visit Give Me My Remote, where you'll find a few choice words on the finalists. If you want all the sturm und drang about the leak, click here.

Mentos And Diet Coke All Around! Daytime Emmys Nod To Internet Content

Web content is a huge issue in TV today, from shows making broadband-only spinoff mini-episodes to writers and actors trying to get a bigger share of online revenue. So perhaps it's only appropriate that the Daytime Emmys will honor Internet content this year. With help from MySpace users, the Emmys nominated content for computers, cellphones and handheld devices in several categories.