My Big Bold 2011 Emmy Winner Predictions

This Sunday Sept 18th is television’s big night, the Emmy Awards honoring the best on the tube in the past year. Emmy winner Jane Lynch (Glee) is up for another award this year and is our fearless host for the show that airs live at 8pm on the East coast (5pm for ya’ll on my side of the country). It should be a great show and we could see a wide variety of winners. However, I think the two big races will look like repeats from last year with Modern Family and Mad Men repeating in the Comedy and Drama categories… So, who else do I think will and should win? Take a look at my big bold perhaps clueless Emmy winner predictions below and watch the big show on Sunday night on Fox.

My Big Bold 2011 Emmy Winner Predictions~

Drama Series:
Boardwalk Empire, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, Mad Men
Will win: Mad Men
Should win: The Good Wife
Spoiler: Boardwalk Empire

Comedy Series:
The Big Bang Theory, Glee, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock
Will & Should win: Modern Family
Spoiler: Parks and Recreation

Lead Actor Drama Series:
Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Hugh Laurie (House), Timothy Olyphant (Justified)
Will win: Jon Hamm
Should win: Michael C. Hall (hello, he’s never won, what???… yeah, it’s just my personal thing. However, apparently Jon Hamm really does deserve it for his submission episode “The Suitcase”)
Spoiler: Steve Buscemi

Lead Actress Drama Series:
Kathy Bates (Harry’s Law), Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), Mirielle Enos (The Killing), Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU), Juliana Marguiles (The Good Wife), Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men)
Will & Should win: Juliana Marguiles
Spoiler: Elizabeth Moss

Lead Actor Comedy Series:
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Steve Carrell (The Office), Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory), Louis C.K. (Louie), Matt LeBlanc (Episodes), Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Will & Should win: Steve Carrell
Spoiler: Jim Parsons

Lead Actress Comedy Series:
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Laura Linney (The Big C), Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly), Martha Plimpton (Raising Hope), Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)
Will & Should win: Amy Poehler (yes, I’m going out on a big limb here)
Spoiler (and a very deserving one): Laura Linney (she’s never lost an Emmy race mind you… but she already has 3 of em!)

Supporting Actor Drama Series:
Andre Braugher (Men of a Certain Age), Josh Charles (The Good Wife), Alan Cumming (The Good Wife), Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Walter Goggins (Justified), John Slattery (Mad Men)
Will win: Alan Cumming
Should win: Peter Dinklage
Spoiler: Walter Goggins
~this one is a serious horse race. Any of them could prevail

Supporting Actress Drama Series:
Christine Baranski (The Good Wife), Michelle Forbes (The Killing), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), Kelly MacDonald (Boardwalk Empiret), Margo Martindale (Justified), Archie Penjabi (The Good Wife)
Will & Should win: Margo Martindale
(I have a soft spot for Michelle Forbes though and would be thrilled if she pulled off an upset)
Spoiler: Archie Penjabi

Supporting Actor Comedy Series:
Ty Burrell (Modern Family), Chris Colfer (Glee), Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), Ed O’Neil (Modern Family), Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)
Will win: Ty Burrell
Should win: Chris Colfer
Spoiler: Eric Stonestreet (seriously, it could be anyone but Cryer and I’d be happy)

Supporting Actress Comedy Series:
Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Jane Lynch (Glee), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live), Betty White (Hot in Cleveland)
Will win: Betty White
Should win: Julie Bowen (even though White is still super awesome)
Spoiler: Jane Lynch (she has an amazing episode submission dealing with the softer side of Sue Sylvester and her sister’s death)

TV Movie/Miniseries:
Cinema Verite, Donwtown Abbey, The Kennedys, Mildred Pierce, The Pillars of the Earth, Too Big Too Fail
Will win: Downtown Abbey
Should win: Cinema Verite
Spoiler: Mildred Pierce (it was the most nominated program of the year by the way and that always helps)

Lead Actor TV Movie/Miniseries:
Idris Elba (Luther), Laurence Fishburne (Thurgood), William Hurt (Too Big To Fail),Greg Kinnear (The Kennedys), Barry Pepper (The Kennedys), Edgar Ramirez (Carlos),
Will win: William Hurt
Should win: Barry Pepper
Spoiler: Edgar Ramirez

Lead Actress TV Movie/Miniseries:
Taraji P. Henson (Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story), Diane Lane (Cinema Verite), Jean Marsh (Upstairs Downstairs), Elizabeth McGovern (Downtown Abbey), Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce)
Will win: Kate Winslet
Should win: Diane Lane

Supporting Actor TV Movie/Miniseries:
Bryan O’Byrne (Mildred Pierce), Paul Giamatti (Too Big to Fail), Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce), Tom Wilkinson (The Kennedys), James Woods (Too Big To Fail)
Will win: James Woods
Should win: Tom Wilkinson
Spoiler: Guy Pearce

Supporting Actress TV Movie/Miniseries:
Eileen Atkins (Upstairs Downstairs), Melissa Leo (Mildred Pierce), Maggie Smith (Downtown Abbey), Mare Winningham (Mildred Pierce), Evan Rachel Wood (Mildred Pierce)
Will & Should win: Maggie Smith
Spoiler: Evan Rachel Wood

Reality Competition Show:
American Idol, Amazing Race, Dancing With the Stars, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef
Will win: American Idol (they’ve never won and this feels like their best chance or they will probably never win)
Should win: Project Runway or So You Think You Can Dance
Spoiler: Top Chef

Modern Family and Mad Men Rule the TCA Awards… Again…

For the second year in a row, Mad Men and Modern Family took top honors at this weekend’s Television Critic’s Association Awards. Men won Best Drama and Individual Performance in a Drama for Jon Hamm while Family took the Best Comedy prize and Individual Performance in a Comedy for Ty Burrell who tied with the Awards show host, the awesome Nick Offerman from Parks and Recreation… There were a few surprises with Game of Thrones besting Boardwalk Empire and The Killing for New Program and Friday Night Lights grabbing the biggest prize, Program of the Year for its final season. For more on all the winners, head to the TCA website and check out the list of kudos below.

2011 TCA Award recipients are as follows:

■Individual Achievement in Drama: Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” AMC)
■Individual Achievement in Comedy: Ty Burrell (“Modern Family,” ABC) and Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation,” NBC)
■Outstanding Achievement in News and Information: “Restrepo” (National Geographic Channel)
■Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming: “Amazing Race” (CBS)
■Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming: “Sesame Street” (PBS)
■Outstanding New Program: “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
■Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials: “Masterpiece: Sherlock” (PBS)
■Outstanding Achievement in Drama: “Mad Men” (AMC)
■Outstanding Achievement in Comedy: “Modern Family” (ABC)
■Career Achievement Award: Oprah Winfrey
■Heritage Award: “The Dick Van Dyke Show”
■Program of the Year: “Friday Night Lights” (DirecTV/NBC)

Bridesmaids movie Outtakes~ Hilarious!

Need a pick me up after this long week? Well, look no further than the hilarious clip below of outtakes from the hysterical hit movie Bridesmaids. Get ready to bust a gut. Jon Hamm and Melissa McCarthy are priceless!!! … And see the funniest movie of the summer, Bridesmaids, in theatres now.

Bridesmaids movie Outtakes

Movie Review~ Take a trip to Ben Affleck’s “Town”

If you saw Gone Baby Gone, you know Ben Affleck can make a decent movie. Not only was it pretty good, it yielded an Oscar nomination for Amy Ryan’s brilliant performance. Now, with his second feature,The Town, Affleck has arrived as a true filmmaker to watch. Here he’s crafted a tight suspenseful crime thriller filled with great performances from a dynamic cast. It moves along briskly, leaves you torn between your feelings for the bad guy protagonists and is shot really well. Affleck even directs himself in the lead role as a Charleston, MA native (ie near Boston) who robs banks with a motley crew from his neighborhood including the hot-headed and impulsive con played by Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker). Setting things in motion is the group’s first bank heist where they kidnap bank manager Rebecca Hall (Frost/Nixon) to ensure their escape. Affleck’s character soon develops a romantic relationship with her, at first to make sure she can’t ID them (they were in masks), but soon it turns serious. Also serious are the FBI men on their trail played by Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Titus Welliver (Lost). Affleck garners wonderful and authentic performances from all of his cast most notably Renner, Oscar nominees Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father) and Chris Cooper (Adaptation), and surprisingly Blake Lively of television’s Gossip Girl as Renner’s wayward boozy sister. (By the way, if you saw Lively in last year’s indie The Private Lives of Pippa Lee starring the amazing Robin Wright, you’d have seen that this girl has some serious chops and big screen potential.)  They’re all tangled in an intense and smart crime thriller filled with action that stands as one of the year’s best films. My one quibble is that I saw a couple of things coming too easily, but I watch a lot of movies. That said, take a trip to this Town. Grade: A-

The Awesome Jimmy Fallon/GLEE Emmy opening!

Check out the hilarious and awesome opening number from tonight’s Emmy Awards. It’s a tribute to the multiple Emmy nominated Glee with host Jimmy Fallon joined by a host of stars who perform Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” glee club style. Also featured are Glee stars Chris Colfer, Lea Michelle, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Emmy winner Jane Lynch, the iconic Betty White (also an Emmy winner this year for SNL), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Joel McHale(Community), Jorge Garcia (Lost), Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries) and Tina Fey (30 Rock).

Emmy Glee Opening number “Born to Run”

James Franco~ A double Oscar contender?

James Franco is one of the most fascinating actors working in the biz today. He’s an actor, filmmaker, novelist and soap star (did you see his recent stint as a loony tunes killer on General Hospital?) He’s extremely talented, wildly unpredictable, massively intelligent and, let’s face it, kinda weird. He’s been nominated for SAG and Emmy Awards and won a Golden Globe for playing James Dean. Now, he might even find himself in the Oscar race for two upcoming roles. The actor, who was sadly snubbed by the Academy for his brilliant work in Milk, stars first in the upcoming introspective biopic docudrama Howl about beat poet Allen Ginsberg and the obscenity case surrounding his poem “Howl”. The film co starring Jon Hamm, Mary Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Treat Williams and Broadway stud Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal) played to raves at Sundance and Outfest and having seen it, I can tell you Franco is brilliant. However, he may top himself with his performance in director Danny Boyle’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, the drama 127 Hours. Here, Franco plays a real life mountain climber, Aron Ralston, who became trapped under a boulder and went to extreme measures to save himself after being trapped for 127 hours. (Email me if you want to know just what those extreme measures are. Let me tell ya it’s a bloody good story!). With this performance Franco will explore the depths of fear, despair and the sheer force of will to survive and I’m betting under Boyle’s expert tutelage it will be an amazing portrayal in a great film. Check out a taste of the film which also features Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) and Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain) below. And for more on Howl, click here.

127 Hours trailer

Ben Affleck goes to “Town”

Oscar winner Ben Affleck is readying his second film as a director, The Town. Due Sept 17, Affleck also stars in the Boston set bank heist thriller with Oscar nominees Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper, and Pete Postlethwaite, plus Rebecca Hall and TV stars Jon Hamm and Blake Lively. The film looks to have a lot of action, drama and double crosses and we’ll see if he can deliver again after his strong directorial debut Gone Baby Gone which yielded a Best Supporting Oscar nomination for Amy Ryan. For more on The Town, click here and check out the trailer below.

The Town