Category Archives: Award Shows

September 16, 2007 · 11:00 am

Cultural Learnings’ 2007 Emmy Awards Preview

On September 16th (Which is, coincidentally, tonight), the stars of television will gather together in Los Angeles for three hours of self-congratulation and lavish ceremony in which winners will be crowned, losers will be mocked, and hopefully some history will be made. And, after a few months off the job so to speak, Cultural Learnings is back with all the Emmy coverage you could ever possibly want.

Over the past week, we’ve taken a look at some key stories to watch out for during this evening’s ceremony. These stories don’t cover everything, but they give everyone an idea of what to expect.

We can also expect to see some spectacle: a rap battle between Kanye West and Rainn Wilson (The Office), a Broadway tribute to The Sopranos, and an opening musical number (maybe) featuring Ryan Seacrest. Plus, rumors continue to fly about Dick in a Box making its Emmy debut after winning an award last weekend.

The bulk of Cultural Learnings’ coverage of the Emmys will come in the form of an extensive Live-Blogging experience covering all the glitz, all the glamour, and all of the indignant anger sure to come when my favourites don’t win their respective awards. So check back later tonight for that.
For now, here’s all of Cultural Learnings’ coverage over the past week. Enjoy, and hope to see you this evening. If not, enjoy the show!

Cultural Learnings’ 2007 Emmy Awards Preview

Day One: How ‘Battlestar Galactica’ Could Win a (Televised) Emmy

Day Two: Much Ado About Scene Stealers in Supporting Comedy

Day Three: Dynamic Duo: Lost’s Emerson & O’Quinn

Day Four: Comic Contenders – 30 Rock and The Office

Day Five: Why CBS Wishes it was the Home of the 2007 Emmys

Day Six: Cultural Learnings’ Final Emmy Awards Predictions

1 Comment

Filed under Award Shows, Emmy Awards, Television

Tagged as Emmys

September 15, 2007 · 10:33 am

Emmys 2007: Cultural Learnings’ Final Emmy Awards Predictions

[Months ago, Cultural Learnings put its neck out there to predict which shows and performers might get those coveted Emmy Nominations. Now, it’s time to put the prediction power to the test again, predicting who will win during tomorrow night’s ceremony. Some of them might be wishful thinking, others might be far too safe. Regardless, it’s our job to stand by them to the bitter end. We’ll see how things turn out during tomorrow night’s LiveBlogging Extravaganza!]

Cultural Learnings’ 2007 Emmy Predictions

Oustanding Drama Series

The Sopranos [WINNER]

Heroes

Boston Legal

Grey’s Anatomy

House

[It only won once, it had a critically acclaimed final season, and the rest of the competition was either too uneven or too green. Simply put, it is the class of this field, and will easily walk home with the Emmy]

Oustanding Comedy Series

The Office

Entourage

Two and a Half Men

30 Rock [WINNER]

Ugly Betty

[This is going with my gut on this one, but I think that 30 Rock combines the liberal-minded sentiment of Emmy voters and strong pedigree in Baldwin/Fey. The Office got their due last year, and Ugly Betty will get theirs eventually. This is 30 Rock’s year.]

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

James Spader (Boston Legal)

James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) [WINNER]

Kiefer Sutherland (24)

Denis Leary (Rescue Me)

Hugh Laurie (House)

[While Laurie is a potential spoiler, I’d say that Gandolfini should easily ride the Sopranos wave to victory within this category.]

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) [WINNER]

Ricky Gervais (Extras)

Steve Carell (The Office)

Tony Shahloub (Monk)

Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men)

[Picking between Carell and Baldwin is very tough, as Carell got robbed last year, but I think that Baldwin was the breakout star of the year in comedy, while Carell’s star just didn’t shine as brightly.]

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under 30 Rock, ABC, Award Shows, Emmy Awards, Entertainment, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, House, How I Met Your Mother, Lost, NBC, Reality TV, Television, The Amazing Race, The Office, The Sopranos, Ugly Betty

Tagged as Emmys, HBO

September 14, 2007 · 8:00 am

Why CBS Wishes it was the Home of the Emmys in 2007

Although it is officially Emmys week here at Cultural Learnings, Fridays always bring forth a certain level of Jericho consciousness. As a result, I started to think about ways in which Jericho’s plight could have been improved by the Emmy Awards. Fans already let the world know that Jericho deserved Emmy nominations here at Cultural Learnings, but the show unfortunately didn’t get a nomination.

However, that doesn’t mean that the Emmys couldn’t have been a boost to Jericho and the rest of CBS’ 2007-2008 lineup. Each year, the host network of the Emmys (It rotates each year) is in the position of being able to use an audience of tens of millions of potential viewers to promote its new fall shows as well as returning programs. And what better stage for promoting Jericho could CBS have than TV’s biggest night?

Unfortunately, of course, FOX is hosting the Emmys. But it’s impossible to ignore how much CBS needs this right now.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under Award Shows, Emmy Awards, Jericho, Kid Nation, Television

Tagged as CBS, Emmys, Jericho Fridays

September 13, 2007 · 11:59 am

Emmys 2007: Why ’30 Rock’ and ‘The Office’ are the Future of Comedy

If I wasn’t knee deep in Emmy coverage, I would likely be commenting on the poll results released today which reveal that people think television is getting worse. And, to an extent, I believe that I am commenting on them within today’s post. Because while the disillusionment of the masses is a definite concern for major networks, I think that people really need to stop and realize that there are gems they might be missing.

And while the evangelical Christians and the rural Midwestern viewers who are most likely to view television as a fading medium might not necessarily be convinced, I would argue that 30 Rock and The Office represent a new age of comedy that people should be taking notice of. Between the Comedy Actor and Comedy Series categories, these two shows represent a heated showdown, and a broad step forward for the half-hour comedy against hour-long fair like Desperate Housewives or nominated Ugly Betty. And both of them are deserving of walking away with either award…although I believe that one deserves it more than the other.

Continue reading →

Emmys 2007: The Dynamic Duo – Lost’s Emerson and O’Quinn in Supporting Actor

When a category at an awards show features two actors or actresses from the same show, sometimes logic points towards the two individuals canceling one another out. This would allow another competitor, not competing against someone from their own show, to waltz away with the trophy.

What is unique about this year’s race for Supporting Actor in a Drama is that despite the fact that Michael Emerson (Ben) and Terry O’Quinn (Locke) are both on Lost, they remain serious contenders for the Emmy. These two actors spent much of the show’s third season together, locked into a relationship filled with philosophical discussions and tense drama. Their fates are intertwined in the show’s storyline, but their Emmy chances are also directly connected to one another.

And although their category has spoilers waiting in the wings, this Dynamic Duo still stands out from the crowd when it comes to picking an Emmy victor. Why? Because they’re just that damn good.

Continue reading →

Emmys 2007: Much Ado About Scene-Stealers in Supporting Actor (Comedy)

One is a multi-camera comedy series that has a laugh track on CBS. The other is a single-camera comedy series airing on HBO. And yet, both How I Met Your Mother and Entourage share one key factor: outside of their core drama, but related to it, there is a character who becomes the real reason to watch the series. In reality, Jeremy Piven (Entourage) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) are lead actors in the eyes of many viewers, and in the episodes submitted for Emmy consideration they claim ownership to their respective series. And this makes them, in the end, the front-runner and the dark horse in this Emmy race.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Award Shows, Emmy Awards, Entourage, How I Met Your Mother, Television, The Office

Tagged as CBS, Emmys, HBO

September 8, 2007 · 10:12 pm

Emmys 2007: The Creative Arts Winners Announced

Each year, a number of the awards in “lesser” categories are decided in an awards ceremony a week previous: it’s when those little boxes come up on the screen so that we can see names fly by that you’ve never heard before.

Complete List of Creative Arts Winners [Emmys.org]

For the Emmys, however, there are always a few stories that justify the existence of these awards if only to recognize shows that got screwed over otherwise. Here’s the big story from the evening’s events:

Emmy-Award Winning ‘Battlestar Galactica’: For realz!

Perhaps I provided good fortune to the series with my blog post just yesterday, but the reality is that after consecutive nominations Battlestar Galactica finally picked up the Emmy for Visual Effects in a series. It’s deserved, as there was some great visual effects work in that episode, and the series has high-production values most of the time. Congrats, Battlestar!

Casting Gold: ‘Friday Night Lights‘ is Vindicated

None of their fantastic, awesome, stunning cast were nominated for an Emmy for their performances, but the show’s casting team was recognized with an award for Best Casting for a Drama Series. How, exactly, none of the brilliant casting led to a nomination remains beyond me, but at least they won’t be going home empty handed.

Guest Actress Trophies Go to Usual Suspects

Elaine Stritch’s performance as Jack’s mother on 30 Rock was fantastic, but her victory in the Guest Actress in a Comedy category isn’t exactly surprising: she’s won before, for Variety performer. And Leslie Caron defeated some stiff competition on the drama side of things, but she was on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a perennial favourite amongst Emmy voters in this category.

Dick in a Box wins Emmy; Hell freezes Over

Although it won’t be performed during the ceremony thanks to some issues over censorship, as expected Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg’s Saturday Night Live collaboration netted them an Emmy Award. This just goes to show you the sway YouTube has over some Awards: after OK GO won a Grammy for Best Video, and now this, the internet has basically made some integral decisions. If only that extended to the other major awards.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under 30 Rock, American Idol, Award Shows, Battlestar Galactica, Emmy Awards, Friday Night Lights, Television

Tagged as Emmys

September 8, 2007 · 9:10 am

Emmys 2007: How ‘Battlestar Galactica’ Could Win a Televised Emmy

How Battlestar Galactica Could Win a Televised Emmy

If one of the benefits of the Emmy Awards is the recognition of shows that deserve a larger audience, the ceremony has failed in recent years to live up to that purpose. While one could easily blame the nominations system for excluding some high-class programming in favour of highly successful tripe, let’s stick to the facts: a show like ‘Battlestar Galactica’ doesn’t win Emmys.

They have, however, been nominated for Emmys: unfortunately, all of them have been in categories such as sound and visual effects, and not a single one of the awards have been presented live on television. At no point in time has a big-name presenter had to say “Battlestar Galactica” on that shiny stage throughout its first two seasons, and that’s really a sin.

And, it’s about to change. And, who knows: maybe they might be able to win one of them too.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under Award Shows, Battlestar Galactica, Emmy Awards, Television

Tagged as Emmys

August 20, 2007 · 2:07 pm

Why Ryan Seacrest is hosting the Emmy Awards

Today, it was announced that Ryan Seacrest would be hosting the 59th Annual Emmy Awards to air in September on FOX. There are a variety of reasons why this is happening:

Corporate Synergy (The Emmys are airing on FOX, why give time to a non-FOX performer?), Idol Pity (American Idol may well become the most nominated show never to win an Emmy this year: FOX is making sure the show isn’t completely forgotten), plus It’s the Cool Thing to Do (Seacrest just got announced as FOX’s host for the Super Bowl red carpet, so he is clearly the go-to guy on FOX’s call list.)

However, I’d say that the real reason that Seacrest is hosting the Emmys is that, well, FOX is just that darn uninspired in their choices to host the show. They’ve got an entire lineup full of options, and yet they turn to the most predictable one in the bunch. Let’s take a look at some of this options.

…ummm…well, you know there’s…uhhh…

See, there really isn’t another viable option from FOX’s perspective. They don’t have late night personalities to speak of, at least not ones important enough to run an Awards show, and they lack any sort of star power outside of their Idol juggernaut.

Because Seacrest wasn’t picked because he’s funny (he’s not) or particularly knowledgeable about television (Don’t really think he is). This is literally an example of a red carpet reporter moving into a position where he needs to carry a show. There won’t be Simon, Paula and Randy there to bail him out, and while he does a good job with Idol I think this is a slightly different beast altogether.

Regardless, we’ll see how he performs in just under a month’s time. In the meantime, stay tuned to Cultural Learnings for major Emmy coverage in the coming weeks.

The 2007 Emmy Awards: The 12 Biggest Snubs

The good people at AOL Television have put together a photo gallery featuring various thoughts on who got snubbed for the 2007 Emmy Nominations, and I was lucky enough to be one of their featured commentators.

Emmys Blog Reactions – AOL Television

However, their list has admittedly got me thinking about some of the most frustrating snubs that could possibly have arisen out of the various Emmy nominations (Even the obscure ones). And so, I’ve created a list of what are my ten largest snubs of the nominations, individuals who deserved a chance to be recognized by their peers.

‘Lost’ for Best Drama Series

There is no question that Lost reached creative highs in its third season, it’s a pity that an arguable lowpoint in its opening episodes kept it from gaining enough traction to overcome lesser shows like Heroes or Boston Legal which skated by with newness and familiarity respectively. It’s hard to know what got it snubbed: a lack of voter interest, a poorly submitted episode, or the spread of the opinion that the show was past its prime. I don’t understand any of those options, but Lost will sit out another year regardless.

Michael C. Hall (Dexter) for Lead Actor in a Drama Series

It was the single worst snub of the Emmy season, greater than any of the other missing individuals. While James Spader and Kiefer Sutherland went through the pace, Michael C. Hall crafted a serial killer that we not only grew to empathize with but actually kind of liked in the end. His performance made the entire concept work; without some level of empathy, the show would collapse under an unlikable hero incapable of emotional contact with others. After the Hollywood Foreign Press and his Screen Actors Guild peers recognized him, it is unfortunate that the Academy members could not do the same. The fact that he won’t have a chance to challenge for this award is the season’s greatest travesty.