Neil Patrick Harris hosting, great presenters like Michael J. Fox, Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, Justin Timberlake, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick (presenting together), Ricky Gervais and Kiefer Sutherland … this year’s Emmy telecast (Sunday, 8PM ET, CBS) has the potential to be the best one in recent years. Too bad networks like AMC and HBO decided to go ahead and roll out new episodes of Mad Men and Curb Your Enthusiasm on the same night. Program those DVRs now …

In the meantime, here are my picks for who should and will – not always the same, certainly – take home Emmy statues Sunday night:

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
Nominees:
30 Rock
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
How I Met Your Mother
The Office
Weeds

Should win: Of those nominees? 30 Rock, for sure. Would have been nice to see Chuck and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia get well-deserved nods, but alas …
Will win: 30 Rock.

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Nominees:
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Jemaine Clement, The Flight of the Conchords
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Tony Shaloub, Monk
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

Should win: Who doesn’t love Jim Parsons, a first-time nominee for Big Bang Theory? Still, Alec Baldwin’s 30 Rock role is the role he’s always been meant to play, and he’s just so fantastic in it, that I have to give it to him.
Will win: Baldwin. Clement and Parsons would also be cool, but if any of the other three win – Shaloub, again(?!?!) … Sheen: He’s just playing himself … Carell: It was not the best season for The Office – it’s really just more proof that a big number of Emmy voters don’t actually watch much TV.

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Nominees:
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program

Should win: Tina Fey. She’s the funniest chick on TV, hands down.
Will win: Fey. Because I’m certainly not the only one who thinks so.

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Nominees:
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock
Rainn Wilson, The Office

Should win: Jack McBrayer! The biggest, most welcome surprise of the nominations announcements was his nod, and after Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, his performance as naïve, TV-lovin’ Kenneth the Page is the best part of 30 Rock. Tracy Morgan, as well, would be a deserving winner, and, of course, you can never go wrong with NPH for anything.
Will win: Harris. And as much as I’d like to see McBrayer win, there would be something extra cool about seeing NPH accept the award while he’s also hosting the show. As for the others … Cryer: meh. Dillon: Has deserved it in the past. Wilson: He’s not even the best supporting actor on The Office anymore; Ed Helms should have gotten that spot.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Nominees:
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty

Should win: Perkins. She’s been hilarious since About Last Night, and she continues to steal every scene she’s in as the deliciously bee-otchy, plotting, sometimes deranged Celia on Weeds.
Will win: Wiig. It felt like she was the only performer on SNL in some episodes last season.

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Nominees:
Big Love
Breaking Bad
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men

Should win: Sons of Anarchy should have gotten a nomination (as should 24), and I would have put In Treatment on the list above House, at the least. Those oversights aside, Breaking Bad and Mad Men would both be fine winners, though a true surprise, albeit completely deserving one, would be Big Love, whose third season was far and away the show’s best.
Will win: Mad Men. Don’t think the Emmy folks are looking to go out on a limb, and a repeat win by Mad Men is the safest bet.

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Nominees:
Simon Baker, The Mentalist
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House

Should win: No nod for Kiefer Sutherland? Pffft. So okay, it should be Bryan Cranston. His is a tough role, and it’s still a great surprise to see the man who was Tim Whatley and Malcolm’s dad Hal pull off such an amazing performance in such an intense drama.
Will win: Hamm. Not that he doesn’t deserve it – he does – but it just feels like this is the year that Emmy wants to reward Mad Men across the board.

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Nominees:
Glenn Close, Damages
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Kyra Segdwick, The Closer

Should win: Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy‘s motorcycle mama, who isn’t even nominated, in one of the biggest oversights amongst this year’s nominations.
Will win: Moss. Mad Men is a great show, hers was a great performance (the scene where she finally tells Pete about the baby, alone, earned her a nod), and again, I think the Emmy folks will take any excuse they can get to give the series another award.

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Nominees:
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal
Michael Emerson, Lost
William Hurt, Damages
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
William Shatner, Boston Legal
John Slattery, Mad Men

Should win: Aaron Paul. It’s no small feat to stand out alongside Bryan Cranston’s incredible Breaking Bad act, but Paul, who does double duty in cable dramas with his role on Big Love, hangs with Cranston scene-for-scene. Oh, but, by the way: Carlos Bernard totally should have gotten a nod for bringing Tony Almeda back from the dead on 24.
Will win: I think Paul has a good shot. If not him, it’ll be Slattery, who also is fantastic in the role of his career. Just please, please, please, Emmy folk, no more Emmys for the Boston Legal gang. It’s good that Shatner finally got a statue (two, actually, for playing Denny Crane on BL and The Practice), but that show was over-the-top unwatchable well before ABC booted it, so let’s just allow it to ride off into the TV land sunset, hmmm?

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Nominees:
Rose Byrne, Damages
Hope Davis, In Treatment
Cherry Jones, 24
Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy

Should win: Elizabeth Mitchell, who wasn’t even nominated as Lost‘s Juliet, unfortunately. Of those who were nominated, Jones was terrific as the first female POTUS on 24.
Will win: Oh or Wilson, as the Emmy voters apparently have not yet recognized that the entire GA line-up is packed with TV’s most self-involved, whiny, annoying characters.

Now let’s hear hear your predictions … anybody think, for example, that there’s any way 30 Rock won’t take home another Outstanding Comedy Series statue?

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• Filed in Award shows
• Tags: 30 Rock, Emmy predictions, Emmys, Mad Men, Neil Patrick Harris

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Guiding Light is a lame duck, and now a CBS honcho says As the World Turns may be next on the network’s daytime hit list.

– Gotta love that Joan Rivers, whose new show How’d You Get So Rich?, premieres on TV Land tomorrow, still doesn’t censor herself. And I agree with her; Chelsea Handler is not funny.

– Who’s the Boss and Charmed star Alyssa Milano is headed back to TV in the ABC midseason series Romantically Challenged. The comedy stars Milano as a woman who has to compete with her boyfriend’s best friend for his attention.

– Turns out Screech, a.k.a. Dustin Diamond, didn’t decide to bail on People magazine’s Saved by the Bell cover shoot; he was banned.

– One of the many signs that the reality TV genre needs some freshening up: E!’s latest reality show is a fake reality show called Reality Hell.

– Another sign: No one is watching The T.O. Show on VH1. Okay, correction: The number of people watching The T.O. Show is roughly the same number of people watching a 5AM airing of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Nick at Nite.

– Emmy Awards producer Don Mischer ‘fessed up that the annual TV award show is in danger of becoming irrelevant, as viewers are turned off by the fact that the shows most of them watch aren’t generally represented among Emmy winners. Good thing they have fan fave Neil Patrick Harris hosting this year.

– Bethenny Frankel confirms she’s returning for the next season of Real Housewives of New York City. Meanwhile, the Real Housewives franchise’s Atlanta season two premiere was the highest-rated in the show’s history.

– Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath says Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson inspired him to write a song called “She’s Got the (Woo-Hoo!).”.

– And tonight in primetime:

– Tom Green and J. Peterman (John O’Hurley) are dinner guests on Hell’s Kitchen (8PM ET, Fox)
– Kat joins shop class on 10 Things I Hate About You (8PM, ABC Family)
– A green record label is among the topics discussed on the third season premiere of Big Ideas for a Small Planet (8PM, Sundance)
– It’s the season finale of The Superstars on ABC (8PM)
– Ruby has car problems on Ruby and the Rockits (8:30PM, ABC Family)
– The Power of Veto competition unfolds on Big Brother (9PM, CBS)
– Luke takes one of his bachelorettes to Vegas on More to Love (9PM, Fox)
– Chuck sister Sarah Lancaster guest stars on Hawthorne (9PM, TNT)
– Former NBA-er Brandon Williams gets a garage makeover on Man Caves (9PM, DIY Network)
– Shark Week continues on the Discovery Channel with Sharkbite Summer (9PM)
– Stargate: Atlantis‘ Joe Flanigan guests on Warehouse 13 (9PM, SyFy)
– Jessie and PC have (another) fight on NYC Prep (9PM, Bravo)
– Paris chooses her new sidekick on the season finale of Paris Hilton’s My BFF (10PM, MTV)
– New Saving Grace on TNT (10PM)
– William tries to help a surgeon who insists he performs better under the influence on The Cleaner (10PM, A&E)
– Work comes between Maria and Ariel on Miami Social (10PM, Bravo)
– Maura Tierney begins a guest stint as Tommy’s new fling on Rescue Me (10PM, FX)
– Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood ends season four (10PM, Oxygen) with Stella’s birthday party and the hope that Granny Spelling will show up
– Oxygen also has the just-after-primetime premiere of Addicted to Beauty (11PM), which follows the shenanigans of an L.A. spa

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• Filed in Reality, TV News
• Tags: Alyssa Milano, As the World Turns cancellation, Bethenny Frankel, Dustin Diamond, E! Reality Hell, Emmys, Guiding Light, How'd You Get So Rich?, Joan Rivers, Neil Patrick Harris Emmys, Real Housewives of New York City, Saved by the Bell reunion, The T.O. Show, Vicki Gunvalson

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Neil Patrick Harris hosting the Emmys … that should definitely happen.

– Let no angle in the Michael Jackson story go uncovered: Anderson Cooper got the scoop on Bubbles the chimp last night on CNN.

– Speaking of celeb deaths, the sad trend continues for TV stars. Streets of San Francisco star (and Oscar winner) Karl Malden got all the press yesterday, but Broadway, big screen and tube star Harve Presnell – he was Dawson’s cantankerous friend/mentor Mr. Brooks on Dawson’s Creek – died on Tuesday at age 75.

– Bravo’s premiering a second season of The Rachel Zoe Project on Aug. 25.

– Christian Slater‘s My Own Worst Enemy flopped, but the Heathers star may be headed back to the tube in ABC’s fall drama The Forgotten. Slater would play a cop-turned-private detective whose daughter was kidnapped.

– Coyote Ugly star Piper Perabo (a fellow Ohio University alum – Go Bobcats!) has signed on to star in the USA drama pilot Covert Affairs, which sounds an awful lot like Alias. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

– Prison Break star Wentworth Miller will be on the other side of the law – playing an NYPD officer – on the season premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Sept. 23, NBC).

– Lost star Michael Emerson predicts a sad ending for the show, with (more) major character deaths and what he describes as a “series finale for grown-ups.”

– Kiefer Sutherland confirms that 24 will shoot some season eight scenes at the real United Nations. Jack Bauer’s next really long day will unfold in New York City (Jan. 17, 2010).

– This certainly trumps the Flintstone vitamin in TV-related pharmacology: Homer Simpson ecstasy.

– Billy Mays‘ infomercials will continue to air, and Discovery Channel has planned a tribute to the late pitchmen for July 9. Meanwhile, the New York Times has a rundown of five memorable moments from last night’s Pitchmen season (series?) finale.

– There’s official So You Think You Can Dance confirmation that Katie Holmes will be tapping her toes – for a new dance education charity she co-founded – on the show’s 100th episode, July 23.

– And tonight in primetime:

– William Shatner stops by G4’s Attack of the Show (7PM ET) to chat about his new Tek War comic
– A military couple who has spent a lot of time apart is shipped home and given a dream wedding on TNT’s Wedding Day (8PM)
– ABC has back-to-back new eps of the sadly canceled Samantha Who? (8PM)
– Kelly Clarkson sings “I Do Not Hook Up” as the top 14 becomes the top 12 on So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, 9PM)
– A teen who wants to join the Air Force may have her dreams dashed when she becomes preggers on the latest ep of 16 & Pregnant on MTV (10PM)
– Shea becomes a full-on bridezilla on Southern Belles: Louisville on SoapNet (10PM)
– TV Land has a new installment of She’s Got the Look (10PM)
– Science Channel’s Science of the Movies examines 3-D animation (10PM)

• 2 Comments
• Filed in Award shows, Lost, Reality, TV News
• Tags: 24 season 8, 24 United Nations, Anderson Cooper, Billy Mays, Billy Mays Pitchmen, Billy Mays tribute, Bubbles the chimp, Christian Slater The Forgotten, Emmys, Harve Presnell, Homer Simpson ecstasy, Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Emerson Lost, Michael Jackson, Neil Patrick Harris, Piper Perabo Covert Affairs, So You Think You Can Dance Katie Holmes, The Rachel Zoe Project, Wentworth Miller, William Shatner

Starbuck is coming to CTU! EW.com’s Michael Ausiello broke the news that Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff is joining 24 for season eight, where she’ll play a new member of the revamped CTU. And Fox just issued an official press release about season eight, with casting news and a few details on storyline. Put it all together, and here’s a round-up of 10 things we know about next season, which premieres on Jan. 17, 2010, so far …

1 – Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) lives! How do we know Jack survives that deadly bioweapon from season seven? Because, duh, he’s Jack Bauer. And because the Fox press release confirms Kiefer’s return. And because The Insider has these photos of Kiefer filming.

2 – Grandpa Bauer? Take a look at those Insider pics again. Kiefer’s carrying a little girl – an adorable little girl, who looks a lot like Jack and his daughter Kim, who we know has a kid. Add it all up, and methinks you can go ahead and buy that “World’s Greatest Grampy” mug for Mr. Bauer.

3 – Kim’s (Elisha Cuthbert) back, as are Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching), President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), Paul Wesley as Kim’s hubby Stephen and geek goddess Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub, who’s been posting on Twitter about the new season).

4 – Freddie Prinze Jr. has been tapped to play Davis Cole, the new head of field ops for CTU and a character described as a wannabe Jack Bauer.

5 – Oh yeah, CTU lives! A new “upgraded” CTU, according to Fox, will be run by Brian Hastings (Forrest Gump star Mykelti Williamson), an “MBA-schooled and razor-sharp head honcho.”
…Read more

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• Filed in 24
• Tags: 24, 24 season eight, 24 season eight preview, 24: Redemption, Anil Kapoor, Annie Wersching, Battlestar Galactica, Becki Newton, Carlos Bernard, Cherry Jones, Chris Diamantopoulos, Colm Feore, CTU, Elisha Cuthbert, Emmys, Freddie Prinze Jr., Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Jack Bauer, James Morrison, Jennifer Westfeldt, John Boyd, Jon Hamm, Jon Voight, Katee Sackhoff, Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Bauer, Kurtwood Smith, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Mykelti Williamson, Paul Wesley, Rory Cochrane, Sprague Grayden, Starbuck

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Beverly Hills 90210 alum, and recent Sarah Connor Chronicles comeback kid, Brian Austin Green may become the newest One Tree Hill resident, now that Hilarie Burton and Chad Michael Murray are hitting the bricks. An aside: Is it a prereq to have three names to be the lead dude on that show?

– Eminem, Bruno, staged, yes.

– The New York Post has a photo of Adam Lambert and his rumored boyfriend. Doesn’t the BF sorta look like Shia LaBeouf?

– Whatever happens in Vegas will show up on TV when Top Chef heads to Sin City for season six.

– Here’s one of TVGuide.com’s funnier lists: “TV Fat Guys with Hot Wives.” They forgot Mark Addy and Jami Gertz from Still Standing, though. Anyone else they forgot?

– Yes, in between fake apologizing on The Hills and ticking off his fellow D-listers on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, Spencer Pratt is indeed trying to become the next Vanilla Ice.

– And I have to agree with Time mag’s James Poniewozik, who gives Spencer the award for “The Greatest TV Line of 2009” when he told NBC honcho Ben Silverman about the rest of the has-been/never-were cast, “This cast is devaluing our fame!” The truly sad thing is, Spencer probably has a point. I doubt Frangela or Sanjaya are pulling down the kind of bank Speidi is pulling down with their club appearances and … whatever else it is they do to make cash.

– One more Speidi item: TMZ claims that, after quitting the show twice during last night’s premiere, the Pratts quit – for reals – after the live portion of the show.

– Ex-lovers Heidi Fleiss and Tom Sizemore, whose relationship was tempestuous, to put it mildly, will reunite as co-stars on the new season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. That cannot possibly be something that would ever be allowed to happen in real-life rehab, could it?

– And the Emmys will air a week earlier than planned this year. Because of a football game.

• No Comments
• Filed in American Idol, Celebreality, Reality, TV News
• Tags: Adam Lambert, Beverly Hills 90210, Brian Austin Green, Bruno, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, Chad Michael Murray, Eminem, Emmys, Frangela, Heidi Fleiss, Hilarie Burton, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, One Tree Hill, Sanjaya, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Speidi, Spencer Pratt, terminator, The Hills, Tom Sizemore, Top Chef, TV Fat Guys with Hot Wives