Below, the week's most potent quotables -- from The Office, Bones, How I Met Your Mother, Survivor, and more! Anyone who's sick of having Twilight drilled into his or her consciousness Clockwork Orange style (we had no idea PopWatch could be so effective!) won't want to miss the Goth vs. Vamp South Park clip at the end. (You can watch the whole episode online, here. Trust me, you want to. Five words: Hot Topic store on fire.) Come on, don't be a douchebag vampire wannabe boner. Press play. "All of you."
Share your favorite quote from this week's TV, below!
Those of you who can't get enough of The Office, please take the world's smallest Bluetooth out of your ear for a moment and listen up: A new series of Office webisodes is on the way, starting Nov. 20. It all has to do with a mysterious outburst Oscar makes over the phone, in earshot of all his co-workers. Check out the sneak preview below, worth sitting all the way through just for a classic Creed moment at the end.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Office's Steve Carell is attached to The Beaver, "a script from
first-time writer Kyle Killen about a man who walks around with a
beaver puppet on his hand, treating it as something close to a
human creature with human feelings." The film is currently shopping for a director, and we'd like to suggest South Park's Trey Parker for three reasons: (1) Reading the movie's synopsis made us think of Mr. Hat, Mr. Garrison's hand puppet (pictured). (2) After Team America: World Police, we're confident Parker could make us feel for felt. (3) We think he would enjoy having "The Beaver" on his résumé.
Because we can't get enough of NBC's Thursday night comedies, here's a campaign ad for 30 Rock's Kenneth the Page. (Seen on last night's episode, but not mentioned here among his qualifications: he can do lots of push-ups!) That's change we can believe in.
After the jump, here's a deleted scene from last night's Office, in which Holly shares an awkward farewell with the Scranton staffers.
In episode 1 of her new Web series House Poor, The Office's Mindy Kaling budget-fakes her own pregnancy with a hoodie and a pillow in an attempt to con her friends into furnishing her new house. What the hell is she gonna do with a giant teddy bear?
House Poor is just one of 10 original series on Strike.TV, which launched this week but was devised during the Hollywood writers' strike. Global Warming, starring SNL's Kristen Wiig and The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi (with a cameo by Kaling), is also worth a look. Adventures in office microwaving!
If your lingering reaction to House Poor was, "Awww, I miss Busy Philipps" like mine was, don't miss EW.com's 'Freaks and Geeks': Then and Now photo gallery!
Last week, Media Life Magazine reported on a new study from Marketing Evaluations, The Q Scores Company, which measured and ranked viewers' emotional attachment to broadcast TV shows during the '07-'08 season. ("Emotional attachment" was defined as how committed you are to continuing to watch a show.) This list of the 20 series that garnered the greatest devotion (I've included it after the jump) definitely got EW's TV department talking.
And that conversation got me thinking: Let's do our own informal poll for the '08-'09 season: Name the five broadcast TV shows you are most committed to watching this fall. (I know we all love our cable, so this may hurt a little.)
My list:
1. Fox's Bones (for those of you wondering where the PopWatch love has been, Abby West will be bringing it back starting this week)
2. ABC's Brothers & Sisters (I would happily marry into the Walker clan, if only for the wine; pictured, David Annable and Emily VanCamp) (Also: Slezak is recapping later today in PopWatch, fear not)
3. ABC's Desperate Housewives (for as long as Gale Harold is on, anyway; bonus pic of him with Teri Hatcher, after the jump!)
4. The CW's Privileged (it's like an ABC Family Channel original movie, only well-written!)
5. I was gonna say CBS' Ghost Whisperer — I've got to see where they're headed with David Conrad's character — but really, it's ABC's Boston Legal. They know it's their last season, which should give them plenty of time to plot an appropriately insane, verbose, and (above all) affectionate exit for Denny Crane (William Shatner) and Alan Shore (James Spader). In the season premiere, Alan took on Big Tobacco and Denny thought his penis had Alzheimer's — very promising.
The results of EW.com's first annual EWwys, honoring the shows and actors that coulda/shoulda been nominated in Emmys 10 major categories but weren't, are in. You'll find their margins of victory in our gallery of winners (that Best Drama race was T-I-G-H-T). After the jump, the rundown of EWwy recipients, as voted by you, the readers...
Despite trying to appear serenely demure, Gillian Flynn and I are pretty psyched for the return of two of our fave (and Emmy-nominated) sitcoms, The Office and 30 Rock. But we'd also like to know: Which laff-shows are you most eagerly awaiting? (Side note: If the minute-long chat below doesn't fulfill your work-procrastination needs, click here and catch more of Gillian's and my discussions about the upcoming fall TV season.)
Today, EW.com launched its 2008 Emmys Prediction Game (pictured, with a shout-out to Monk's Tony Shalhoub, who celebrates his 100th episode tonight). Submit your picks in 13 major categories, and see how they stack up against those of EW TV expert Michael Ausiello. Come back after the Emmys (Sept. 21, ABC), and find out what position they earned you on the leaderboard. There are prizes — Amazon gift certificates — but we all know the real reward is bragging rights.
Tip: If, in a feeble attempt to speed up the game, you repeatedly click on a nominee and it somehow registers your selection for the next category as well, know you will have an opportunity to switch picks. (No one should have to bet on Dancing With the Stars, other than Annie.)
Rainn Wilson (second from right) hopes you're sufficiently intrigued (read: freaked out) by his attempt to hold Jenna Fischer hostage in the trunk of his car -- enough to go out tonight and see his new movie, The Rocker (check out Owen Gleiberman's review, here). The Rocker's just the latest in a string of Wednesday releases (Pineapple Express, Traveling Pants 2, Tropic Thunder) in August. I've become vaguely aware of this trend, but never seem to actually pick up on it until the Friday after the film's early release. I suddenly feel more out of it than James Franco attempting to carry two giant slushies and a bevy of snacks -- something I believe I witnessed solo at a Monday-at-midnight showing at the Quarry 14 cinemas in Hodgkins, Illinois. (Let's hear it for flying home for a week-long vacation only to realize your friends won't do anything fun with you because they have in-state jobs!) Anyway, do you guys go to movies on Wednesdays now? Is Wednesday the new Friday? Is ash the new black? I have to know.
And who's excited for The Rocker? I'd personally rather marathon through all 22 of the classic rock 'n' roll movies featured in today's EW.com gallery, but that's just me. Is your jam pumped up? (Sorry.)
I'm already envisioning 30 Rock's Tina Fey and The Office's Steve Carell (pictured) "hosting" a night of programming on NBC — or "plugging their new film Date Night"— but they're both so likable, I'll forgive them.
According to Variety, Carell and Fey are set to shoot the big-screen comedy Date Night next year, and the story "follows a couple who find their routine date night becomes much more than just dinner and a movie." Director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) tells the trade he wants to do a "relatable, grounded character comedy about marriage and the lengths we go to preserve the spark."
On paper, I'm there opening night. What about you?
Sources confirm to me exclusively that I'm about to be fired. It's been real, P-Dubs! But this. Is the end. Of the road. For me. Tonight. (Press play to find out why.)
I'm all in favor of more Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) and Oscar (Oscar Nunez), but this first two-minute webisode in The Office's online-only summer series, in which Kevin defies Oscar's sound advice and applies for a small business loan to pay off his gambling debts, strikes me as all set-up and no punchline. I'm looking forward, however, to later in the series, when Darryl (Craig Robinson) tries to help Kevin by macking on the loan officer. Anyway, check out episode 1, which premiered online just moments ago, below. Then let us know what you think, where you'd like to see this plotline go, and what you're anticipating on the next televised season of The Office.
On July 19, Mindy Kaling will host The Office Games in Scranton, PA -- "a day of fun Dunder Mifflin style" that'll include a 2K Fun Run (hopefully more successful than the show's alfredo sauce-laden one, pictured) and a "red and messy" beet-eating contest in honor of Dwight. But if you could devise your own event, what would it be and which Office character would you want to beat? Your hilarious responses could appear on the Feedback Page of an upcoming issue of EW! Be sure to give us your ideas by Thursday, July 3, at noon EDT, and please include your e-mail address in case your submission is chosen for the magazine. I'll get the ball rolling -- make that, I'll hurl the football across the office at an unsuspecting Pam...
-- Create a more awkward dinner party atmosphere than Jan: singing AND dancing elements required -- Survive a Michael Scott windshield wipeout and/or host a solo drinking contest at one's desk, like Meredith -- Bare-handedly catch fish in a pond, like Creed (or, start a blog in a Word doc -- but who hasn't done that?)
Oscar nominee Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) will reprise her role from The Office season finale — new human resources rep, Holly, who, thanks to Dwight, believes Kevin is "slow" (below) — in at least five episodes next season. We couldn't be happier.
Are there other guest stars you'd love to see return to a show? (Marion Ross told us producers have asked her back to Brothers & Sisters — and that she told them she thinks her character, Nora's and Saul's mother, is a drinker. Well, duh!)
What do you hope is in store for Holly? After watching the web-only Office clip embedded after the jump, I'm hoping we'll get to see her and Meredith at a nail salon...
Am I the only one who thought that the commercial crefted by the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton team, for all its homemade amateurishness, was better than the on the pros made? (Don't know what I'm talking about? Watch the "Local Ad" episode of The Office, streaming in full below.) I thought it did a better job of telling the Dunder-Mifflin story, a better job revealing that, behind the outrageous behavior, confessional asides, devilish pranks, and cringeworthy social faux pas, was a group of ordinary men and women just trying to earn a living. That sense of heart, along with the wince-while-you-laugh tone, is what landed NBC's Britcom remake at No. 61 on our list of the Top 100 TV Series of the last 25 years in the current EW 1000 issue.
This is the ninth installment in EW.com's selection of 10 great episodes of programs on our top 100 list. We're streaming an episode from a different show every day, or you can watch the entire slate in one sitting at Hulu. The first half of the list is here; Part 2 is here.
Brace yourselves, TV addicts: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences have announced the top 10 finalists for Emmy nominations in the Best Comedy Series and Best Drama Series categories. And before we get into snubs territory, it should be noted that fans of PopWatch favorites such as The Wire (left), Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, Flight of the Conchords, and Pushing Daisies have reason to celebrate. No, none of the shows have landed nominations (yet), but they're still in the running for their initial Best Series nods.
The shorlists are as follows. Under consideration for Best Drama are: Boston Legal, Damages, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Lost, Mad Men, The Tudors, and The Wire. Still in the running for Best Comedy are: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, The Office, Pushing Daisies, 30 Rock, Two and a Half Men, Ugly Betty, and Weeds. (Click here to get the specific episodes for which each series is being considered.)
Good news aside, my first response to the lists was this: Where the frak is the nail-bitingly awesome Battlestar Galactica (right)? I call SciFiPhobia! And coming off a particularly strong season, shouldn't Desperate Housewives have won a spot over Two and a Half Men and Family Guy? (Maybe the Emmy overlords feel the residents of Wisteria Lane aren't done paying the price for the Applewhite Incident?)
Who else would make your list of snubs? And which finalists have you doing the happy dance? Holla!
The announcement that NBC is abruptly moving the great 30 Rock to 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, after The Office, with Scrubs moving to the 8:30 slot, is satisfying for a few reasons. 30 Rock can only be helped by being placed in a hammock (note use of TV-bizzer lingo) between ratings success The Office and people-actually-still-watch-it ER. For the rest of us, it means two hours of solid TV watching: The Office, 30 Rock, then switching to ABC for Lost in its new time period at 10. And the minimally-laugh-injected Scrubs is better paired with the 8 p.m. lead-in My Name Is Earl, which (and I speak as a fan of Earl) has never quite recovered from Earl’s time spent in jail. In short, for once, a network has made a smart time-period change. Agree?
I was so charmed by this clip of Jenna Fischer gabbing with pregnant Angela Kinsey (from her "Adventures with Angela" vlog series on the official website for The Office), I had to share. In this installment, the costars hang out in a hotel room as Fischer recalls her NYC runway debut in a charity fashion show, and they both try to figure out the Heidi Klum supermodel strut:
Not only does this footage remind me how painfully long it's been since The Office has been on the air (remember, it's back April 10!), but it's an entertaining glimpse into the friendship between two actresses who so convincingly portray nemeses (for non-Office fans, Fischer plays receptionist Pam and Kinsey plays accountant Angela). In fact, the video makes me miss one of my favorite shows and my favorite girlfriends. I'm planning a June vacation with a close group of friends right now, and I actually think these down-to-earth chicks would fit right in with us. Although we don't glam it up with lip gloss when we're just hanging out, and there are more bottles around. But you know what I mean.
In the past, we've asked which famous men or women you PopWatchers would genuinely like to date, and now that it's that Spring Break time of year, let's dish about this: Which TV stars do you think you'd have the most fun going on vacation with, and where?
Can't get enough Ricky Gervais? The Office and Extras guru is currently busy prepping his debut as a feature film co-writer/co-director (with Matt Robinson), a movie called This Side of the Truth. It's a comedy about a world where no one has ever told a falsehood, until Gervais' character discovers lying and uses this new tactic to woo Jennifer Garner's character. (Also in the film: comic all-stars Christopher Guest, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Hodgman.) Gervais is also blogging the production here, complete with video and audio clips. (Some of these have some NSFW language.) Worth checking out, just to see Gervais and Robinson attack their assistant with Nerf guns, or to hear a lengthy guest appearance from Karl Pilkington, the monkey-loving savant from Gervais' podcasts. Minutes of fun!
On Valentine's Day, PopWatch asked an appropriate question of its readers: Which TV character would you like to date? Y'all voted, and the overwhelming winner was The Office's Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski with winking charm). While the results weren't that shocking — my money wasn't exactly on Squiggy — I did wonder how Krasinski felt about this shiny accolade, so I called him up to ask. Okay, the call was actually about the return of The Office, which re-debuts on April 10, but here's what he had to say about your Halpert hunger: "First of all, the reaction is, 'No way!' That's sort of incredible. Wouldn't you much rather date one of the hunky five-o'clock-shadow dudes on Lost or McDreamy? I mean, it's literally in his name to date him, folks! I'm truly honored. [Your readers] overrode every single primal and emotional instinct to choose me, so I appreciate them doing that." But were these just hollow words falling out of the K-Man's mouth? Was he truly willing to follow through and court all PopWatchers? "It may be a virtual dating service that I start," he responded, "but I understand my responsibilities — and I will carry them through." And that is why we love John Krasinski/Jim Halpert.
There must be a little-known proviso in the Writers Guild rules that permits striking TV writers to pen scenarios for shows other than their own in snarky magazine articles. So it is with New York magazine, which cross-assigned teams of writers from various strike-afflicted shows to dream up season-ending arcs for other strike-afflicted shows. (Hat tip to TV Barn and TV Tattle for the link.) The results aren't as funny as I'd have hoped, though I did enjoy the Simpsons crew's apocalyptic take on The Office. I'd still like to see what, say, Tina Fey's 30 Rock-ers could do with House or Heroes. How about you, PopWatchers? What TV writer swaps would you like to see?
After turning in one of summer's best cameos as the bouncer in Knocked Up ("You old, she pregnant. Can't have a bunch of old pregnant bitches running around"), Craig Robinson, aka Darryl from the warehouse on The Office, is branching out of the paper business. His 2008 slate includes no fewer than four movies, including July's Step Brothers (from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay), August's Pineapple Express (written by and starring Seth Rogen), and the now-filming Zach and Miri Make a Porno (starring Rogen, written and directed by Kevin Smith).
I think two things about this: 1. It's always nice to see a little ethnic diversity in the white-dude comedy zeitgeist, and 2. This particular comedy zeitgeist is really starting to remind me of a very high-budget community theater project, where bit players resurface time and time again and are rewarded with ever-larger roles. I couldn't be happier that Robinson's taciturn stylings are going to be playing at my local cineplex with regularity. What about you? And what other supporting characters from the Apatow/Rogen/Office/FunnyorDie universes would you like to see break out?
I'm a just bit underwhelmed after watching last night's SAG Awards. From the collective "Who let those guys back in?" groan (re: The Sopranos winning everything), to the part in the middle where something meaningful was taking place but I fell asleep, to a Tom Cruise sighting during which he barely raised his voice, let alone sounded wacko... it all evoked a big "meh" from me. Better make that a big "blërg," in honor of SAG winner and lover of lunch Liz Lemon (and, of course, our own Dawnie Walton). The ceremony wasn't bad. It just wasn't awesome, aside from Daniel Day-Lewis' speech and Angelina's boob almost falling out on the red carpet. We're sorry to those (two) of you who wanted a live blog; instead, here are PopWatch's highly subjective Best and Worst moments of the evening...
BEST MOMENTS
• Jane Krakowski's dress (pictured). It looked like Dippin' Dots.
• Quote of the night, from Tina Fey: "You've just given an award to a hat rack."
• Lifetime-achievement-award recipient Charles Durning redeeming himself (and Burt Reynolds' pushiness) by greeting his microphone: "Hello, mic!" Then, during his standing O, Durning's wheelchair-bound wife apologetically mouthing, "I can't get up!" It was pretty sweet.
• Daniel Day-Lewis' speech was just perfect. He talked about daring to "go back into the arena one more time, with longing and self-doubt jostling in the balance," and then somehow easily segued his way into a tribute to Heath Ledger, citing him as one actor whose work inspired a sense of regeneration in him. "In Monster's Ball, that character that he created seemed to be almost like an unformed being, retreating from himself, his father, this life — even us, and yet we wanted to follow him." Powerful stuff, and so classy.
• Tina Fey, Jenna Fischer, and Julie Christie all alluded to the WGA strike in support of writers and out-of-work production crews during their acceptance speeches.
• Javier Bardem looked -- and sounded -- so hot.
Honorable Mention: Ruby Dee's glasses
Check out the evening's worst moments after the jump.
Yes, product placements are annoying, but the research on how effective they are is fascinating and surprising. Get this: According to IAG Research, the most effective placements on TV in 2007 — meaning viewer opinion of the company was dramatically enhanced because of the tie-in — were Tyson Foods (for donating a massive amount of meat in an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition) and Sue Bee Honey and Soft Scrub (both for The Apprentice: Los Angeles). Also making the Top 10: Kraft (No. 4) and Kenmore (No. 10) for Top Chef, Visa (No. 9) for What Not to Wear, and Second Life (No. 8) for The Office.
IAG also researched how well viewers recalled brand names within 24 hours of seeing them in a placement and a commercial together during an episode. Bluefly.com was the most memorable with its Project Runway tie-in, followed by Jeep on Gilmore Girls(!), and Ford on Survivor: Fiji.
Do you have fond feelings for a company because it was tied-in to a certain TV show? And what product placement did advertisers miss? I don't know that I'd buy a Jeep because Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham, pictured) drove one, but I would certainly buy whatever coffee she drank at Luke's...
The full, two-minute trailer for season 4 of Lost seems to confirm Doc Jensen's speculations based on the 30-second teaser released last week. There's Jeremy Davies, as one of the new characters from the freighter, telling the Lost-ies that rescuing them wasn't exactly his first priority. There's Locke and Ben and the drowning Charlie, repeating their warnings from last season's finale about the newcomers. And there's the title cards, telling us that some of our heroes aren't going to leave the island. (Does that mean some will choose to stay behind, or be abandoned, or die? Or does that refer to Jack, who we know will leave but who will remain mentally and emotionally trapped there?) Say, was that a glimpse of Naomi, the parachutist apparently slain by Locke, still alive? Lots of tantalizing questions; really can't wait to see how they play out, can you?
On a lighter note, the trailer for Leatherheads, George Clooney's period comedy about the transformation of the 1920s-era National Football League from a barnstorming group of anarchic roughnecks into a professional but much less fun organization, leaves me with mixed feelings. With John Krasinski along for the ride as the strong-but-naive rookie mentored by Clooney's sly veteran, and Renee Zellweger (pictured, with Clooney) as the skeptical reporter who comes between them, it's clear that the movie wants to be another Bull Durham, with a little Seabiscuit/Cinderella Man historical interest thrown in. But it all looks so rote and by-the-playbook. (Also, Office-boy Krasinski seems overmatched by his glamorous old-pro co-stars.) The actual movie is going to have to try a little harder than the familiar tactics suggested by the trailer in order not to fumble at the box office this spring.
Last week, Yahoo announced that Britney Spears topped the portal's 2007 list of its users' top 10 search queries. Other individuals in the top 10: Paris Hilton (No. 3), Beyoncé (No. 5), Lindsay Lohan (No. 6), Fergie (No. 9), and Jessica Alba (No. 10). Which made me wonder: what would the list look like for EW.com's search engine this year? According to our internal tracking, these were the 10 most popular searches this year on EW.com:
1.Lost (pictured) 2.
Heroes 3.
The Office
4. Stephen King 5.
Sopranos
6. "Doc Jensen" 7.
24
8. Harry Potter 9.
American Idol 10.
The Hills
Britney doesn't appear until No. 49.
What does this mean? First, that you guys really, really like Lost. (No. 6, of course, refers to EW.com essayist Jeff Jensen's Lost-centric "Doc Jensen" columns.) Second, you really like TV, more than movies (only Harry Potter — and maybe, Stephen King — count in that direction) and more than music (only Idol qualifies there). Third, you're much more interested in projects than in celebrities; the only real-life individuals in the top 10 are both EW columnists. Finally, you're not much interested in gossip.
Tell us, who or what have you searched for this year on EW.com? What pop culture searches do you find yourself conducting most often, here or elsewhere?
Our corporate siblings at People have declared Matt Damon the Sexiest Man Alive, which I'm sure will come as a surprise to all you EW.com readers who think that Wentworth Miller deserves the title. Heck, according to y'all, Damon wasn't even in the running. Neither were some others who made People's list of hot dudes, since the magazine really went geeky with this year's list, which also features such nerdy TV icons as Masi Oka (Heroes), Zachary Levi (Chuck), Christopher Gorham (Ugly Betty), and most notably, Rainn Wilson. I was pretty skeptical about the Office star's inclusion, but after watching his video (see screengrab, left) at People.com, I have to admit, ol' Dwight thoroughly redefines sexy. Besides, does Damon have his own bobblehead doll? On that score, at least, it's Schrute 1, Bourne 0.
The halls of most major retail operations have been decked with holly, cardboard snowflakes, and cartoon turkeys, which can mean only one thing: The Academy Awards are coming! In the spirit of the season, EW's own Oscar prognosticator Dave Karger posted a gallery last week of early front-runners, but I was bummed to see that Steve Carell isn't getting much buzz for his work in Dan in Real Life.
I know some of you probably think that's an insane idea. Best Actor Oscar nods, after all, are supposed to be reserved for guys who play tortured heroes, morally ambiguous villains, and outsize real-life characters (bonus points if they've got well-documented quirks or accents). They don't go to romantic comedy leads, right?
But as Dan, a widowed father of three who finds an unexpected (and unexpectedly complicated) chance at love, Carell is magnificent. His character's repeated attempts to derail his teenage daughter's love affair are hilarious without ever feeling forced, and yet his warbled last verse of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door" during a family talent show reduced me to tears. (Yeah, I'm an easy crier, but still...) As Owen Gleiberman points out in his A- review of Dan in Real Life, "the whole movie spins around Carell's inspired performance as a man who is going quietly nuts because the universe has decided to toy with him." If that's not worthy of a little Oscar love, then what the heck is?
What say you, PopWatchers? Do you think Carell deserves to at least be considered alongside Clooney, Hanks and Mortensen this awards season? And while we're on the topic, what other loopy, longshot Oscar nominees are on your wish list?
Normally, this kind of WGA strike tidbit would go on our Hollywood Insider blog (which you should totally be checking, like, twice an hour to see which of your favorite TV shows will never recover from the work stoppage)... but it's just funny enough to make it here.
And, in the immortal words of Homer Simpson, it's funny because it's true.
8:00 p.m. Slow clap: L-Yeah! L-Yeah! Oh wait, sorry, gonna try to be neutral here for at least five minutes. Em-my! Em-my! Em-my!
8:01 p.m. Seeing that this Family Guy medley isn't actually live, you think they could've come up with funnier stuff than a Charlie Sheen pedophilia joke and a bit about the age of the Desperate Housewives ladies. That said, rhyming Zach Braff with "doesn't have to make you laugh" made me chuckle. A little.
8:02 p.m. Oh Fox, so classy with that closeup of T.R. Knight during the Isaiah Washington Joke.
8:05 p.m. Uh-oh. Ryan's trying to be funny. And the audience is trying to be nice and pretending to laugh. But seriously, my dream of a shtick-free Emmys -- where every acting nominee gets a 30-second pre-awards highlight clip is about six minutes away from flatlining.
8:07 p.m. Tell me I did not just hear a Hayden Panettiere age-of-consent joke in the first 10 minutes of the telecast.
8:10 p.m. Maybe Ray Romano said something funny during that technical glitch where they cut to the ceiling? 'Cause I'm not really laughing at any of this mess.
8:11 p.m. Okay, that bit about Romano's sexual encounters ending the
same way as The Sopranos' final episode…that was kinda priceless.
8:13 p.m. I liked Jeremy Piven better when he was on Cupid. And I'm not just saying that because he beat Rainn Wilson.
So the self-appointed media watchdogs of the Parents Television Council released the results of their latest study today. Like most of their output, this one comes with an alarmist title (literally: "The Alarming Family Hour...No Place for Children") and some authoritative-sounding pronouncements: After reviewing 180 hours of recent network programming during the so-called "Family Hour" (8 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday), the PTC's crack analysts recorded "2246 instances of violent, profane, and sexual content... or 12.48 instances per television hour." Terrifying! Hide the kids! But as usual, a closer look at the PTC's data (link leads to a pdf document) reveals that they're riddled with statistical tricks and misleading labels.
The PTC's shameless manipulation is most obvious in the "foul language" section of the report. It cites a whopping 815 instances of supposedly inappropriate dialogue; that includes 195 uses of the word "hell" alone, plus uses of other relatively tame or double-entendre-ready terms like "suck" and "screw," which the PTC helpfully identifies as a "euphemism for f---." (Because if Hugh Laurie blurts "Screw this!" on House, he's obviously talking about raunchy sex.) But that total of 815 instances also includes lots of network-censored swear words ("bleeped f---," "bleeped goddamn"), where audiences were of course unable to hear the offending syllables. Unbelievably, they boosted their numbers still further by citing 54 instances of what they call "bleep (unknown)" and 9 of "pixelated/obscured mouth." If even the PTC's experienced smut-spotters admit they couldn't decipher these words "by context or lip-reading," how exactly are they supposed to be harming young viewers? Best of all: Even with their absurdly broad definition of "foul language," the PTC's total actually dropped by 25.4 percent since the last time they unloaded one of these studies, in 2001.
Wondering what your favorite Office characters did over the summer? Now you can find out, via this extended promo clip for the upcoming season (which starts Sept. 27). Mild spoiler alert: Pam let her hair down, literally, and became "30 percent more unpredictable," and Kelly, surprisingly, is soooooo over Ryan. Plus, a typically horrifying revelation from Creed and a priceless remark by Stanley. Watch this, and, at the very least, you won't feel so bad that you spent your summer behind a desk.
The last full day of Comic-Con (Sunday is "Family Day," which apparently means "Hollywood Leaves the Town in Its Dust Day") was abundant with panels, clips and general geekery goodness, so let's just get to (but some) of the highlights, courtesy yours truly and my fellow reporter extraordinaire Nicole Sperling:
Fresh from the $30 million opening-day gross of The Simpsons Movie, several MVPs from both the movie and the show — including creator Matt Groening, current showrunner Al Jean, and voice-of-Lisa Yeardley Smith — stepped into the cavernous Hall H for the day's first panel, and, it turned out, the first time The Simpsons had ever commanded the Big Room. What was perhaps most remarkable, however, was that even though a good half the room had already seen the feature film — and the producers screened a brief deleted scene from it (a sausage truck driver discovering his passenger, Homer, had decimated his entire stock) — almost all of the questions were focused on the show. And we did learn a great deal about the upcoming season (number 19!): Jon Stewart and Dan Rather will guest voice in an episode about how Ralph Wiggum manages to become the front-runner in the 2008 presidential election (thanks, of course, to Homer); Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer) and his brother Cecil (David Hyde Pierce) will return in an episode featuring fellow Frasier vet John Mahoney as their father; and country artist Lurleen Lumpkin (Beverly D'Angelo) will pop back into her former manager's life (that would also be Homer). The panel concluded with a clip from the upcoming annual "Treehouse of Horror" episode, featuring Marge taking her revenge on Fox's highly obnoxious on-screen promos for its shows by pinning Jack Bauer to her fridge, microwaving Dr. House, and pureeing Peter Griffin into a gelatinous (non-human) blob. That, and a singalong of the "Spider-Pig" song from the movie. But of course.
The Television Critics Awards, bestowed Saturday night in Los Angeles, is an odd event: Praise and prizes handed out to stars and producers, some of whom have been savaged for their earlier shows by newspaper, magazine, and online scriveners. There's an air of false bonhomie — not so much over who'll win, but whether some producer will take a punch at some critic who panned his or her previous creative effort. Even the winners seemed ambivalent. Producer Jason Katims, overseer of Friday Night Lights, winner of "Outstanding New Program," said in his acceptance speech that, in the wake of Lights' shutout in the Emmys nominations (to many critics' and fans' published dismay), "Thank you for the experience of being so publicly snubbed."
David Chase, making a rare public appearance since the conclusion of The Sopranos, accepted "Outstanding Achievement in Drama" prize by invoking the Beatles' White Album: "Here's another clue for you all — the walrus was Paulie Walnuts." He also offered, for anyone baffled by his gangland show's oblique ending, this nicely self-deprecating explanation of his thought process. Recalling that while he was a student at Stanford University, he saw Planet of the Apes, and upon its conclusion, said he turned to his companion and said, "Wow, so [the apes] have a Statue of Liberty, too!" "So that's what you’re up against," he said with perfect dryness. Chase, clearly feeling a little defensive about criticism of The Sopranos' ending, turning to the TV critic from the Newark Star-Ledger, Alan Sepinwall, and said, "I'm from New Jersey; you're from New Jersey... explain to the people that it is entirely possible to be sitting in a restaurant in New Jersey and everybody just stops."
The Office producer Greg Daniels noted that as of this Saturday night he was on page 450 of the final Harry Potter. Awards ceremony host John Oliver (pictured), the Brit-born correspondent for The Daily Show, observed that over the weekend, while President Bush endured a colonoscopy, for three hours, Dick Cheney was the president, and therefore, "we should be thankful we are all still alive," that "colors should be more vivid," and we should appreciate our existence. That, and the fact that Friday Night Lights lives to risk both excellence and being snubbed for another season.
I'm actually relatively happy at the moment. Perhaps because I don't watch 24, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, or Friday Night Lights — all of which failed to receive Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nods this morning. (Check out the full list of nominees here.) I personally would've put Brothers & Sisters in Grey's Anatomy's slot. However, I humbly accept that surprise and well-deserved Boston Legal love in the category (its first time!) and say thank you, TV Academy.
PopWatch — and EW's Nicholas Fonseca, especially— would like to express our condolences to Ugly Betty's Becki Newton (pictured), whose fine work as receptionist Amanda went unrecognized in the comedy supporting actress category. We were hoping she'd inherit Megan Mullally's funniest-hag-on-TV slot. Maybe next year. PopWatch's Mike Slezak also notes the absence of love for Newton and wonders why there was no recognition for The Office's John Krasinski or any nominations at all for the CW, save for a sound editing nod for Smallville.
While you're waiting for EW's TV critic Gillian Flynn to weigh in on the good and bad of this morning's list, tell us the omissions that have you fuming.
Who knew Ricky Gervais was a Heroes fan? Or that he could paint? (Well, okay, as a painter of doomy Manhattan cityscapes, he's no Isaac Mendez.) Thanks to Men.Style.com for this very dry, very tongue-in-cheek (we hope) clip.
Only 10 days left till this year's Emmy nominations are announced — which means two things: My left kidney will soon be deposited on a shrine dedicated to Vanessa L. Williams' very necessary nod, and the good folks at Gold Derby are getting their leak on. Last week, while I was on vacation, the site reported the rumored list of 10 finalists still in the running in the Best Drama and Best Comedy Series categories, and on Friday, a pair of judges who'd attended screenings of various nominated episodes spilled the beans about which series are most likely to hear their names called when nominations are announced July 19. (Click here to read the full scoop.) According to that duo, Best Drama Series nominees are likely to include The Sopranos, House, Grey's Anatomy (pictured), 24, and Heroes, while the Best Comedy Series race could come down to Two and a Half Men, Entourage, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, and The Office. If Gold Derby's sources predicted correctly, that would mean snubs for the remaining five drama (Boston Legal, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Lost, and Rome) and comedy finalists (Desperate Housewives, Extras, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, and Weeds).
Considering how many Grey's Anatomy and 24 fans feel those respective series are coming off weak seasons, their inclusion among TV's five best drama series seems a little surprising. And if a sci-fi show is destined for Emmy recognition, shouldn't Lost (or Battlestar Galactica, which apparently didn't even crack the top 10) get Heroes' slot? On the flip side, if 30 Rock, The Office, and Ugly Betty score Best Comedy nominations (as predicted), I'll be hard-pressed to feel my usual brand of post-nominations outrage. Unless, of course, L. Yeah doesn't get her due. Then I'll be hellaciously upset.
What do you think of Gold Derby's list of predicted nominees? Should the Emmy judges have read the PopWatch Fantasy Emmy Nominees Gallery before going to work? Holla back!
It's about time we started hearing about TV characters' fictional, at times pathetic salaries instead of how much the actors behind them get paid per episode in real life. (Honestly, it seems like I'm constantly reading about this. Do I actively seek it out — or does the media cram it down my throat? Was I even hungry? And who is this "media"?)
Turns out The Office's Pam (Jenna Fischer, pictured), only rakes in $23K a year. That seems pretty low (even taking into account the cost-of-living in Scranton, Pa), but unlike other TV shows and nearly every movie, Pam's material life seems fairly reflective of her income. I just realized that's probably because we never see the insides of the characters' houses. Jim's, that one time, but all he had to show off was booze and a yearbook. So The Office pulls off the income facade well. Ugly Betty probably does, although it appears to have taken a few hundred thousands of dollars' worth of patterned fabric to upholster every inch of the Suarez house (which I love, by the way). And Boston Legal always takes great pains to remind us just how well-off and Boston-y the attorneys are. Cheers to good wealth, guys.
Some of the figures do seem to have a margin of error of plus-or-minus...infinity. I would have guessed that Lorelai Gilmore made, like, a grand per annum as an innkeeper. And how about all the hilariously unspecified businesses on some of our sillier shows? The ones so ridiculous they couldn't possibly turn a profit but that we still love enough to ignore that glaring problem? Bluth Company? Uncles Jesse and Joey? Kirsten Cohen and Julie Cooper, "Co-owners of NewMatch?" Hi!
This is fun. Who else on TV had the weirdest, seemingly profitable job that in reality never would have made a dime?
As a professional TV pundit, I guess I'm supposed to join my colleagues in wringing my hands over the turmoil in NBC's executive suite and to profess shock that entertainment chief Kevin Reilly was fired so soon after presenting his handcrafted fall schedule. Yet I think would have been a shock if the network hadn't fired him, given NBC's basement-dwelling ratings over the last couple of years.
Similarly, I can't get agitated over his replacement by hotshot producer Ben Silverman; in terms of taste, they're really not that different. Reilly is known for greenlighting quality scripted shows (such as The Office, Heroes, and My Name Is Earl) and lowbrow unscripted fare (Deal or No Deal), while Silverman's company Reveille is known for producing quality scripted shows (The Office, Ugly Betty, The Tudors) and lowbrow unscripted fare (The Biggest Loser). Plus, things won't be changing much under Silverman, at least not at first; before his ouster, Reilly committed NBC to second seasons of such struggling shows as 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights (shown), so Silverman won't have a lot of room to make radical shifts in direction.
On Saturday night, Ricky Gervais was serenaded by David
Bowie as he stepped onstage to perform his first full-length standup in America at Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater. Not many
comedians can make their debut performance at the biggest venue in the country
with a bona fide pop icon as a warm-up act, but it's a testament to the enormous
success of The Office and
its American offspring that Gervais could pull it off. Still, in spite of the
superstar aura, he walked out in a casual T-shirt-and-jeans combo and immediately
settled into a relaxed conversation with the capacity crowd — insofar as it is
''relaxing'' to joke about autism and AIDS.
A Cliff's Notes version of Gervais' routine might read
like a primer on 20th-century taboos. Anyone who's a fan of The Office and HBO's Extras knows that his comedy often gravitates towards the darkest corners of human condition. As
David Brent, he ventures into the territory of a sad, embittered man driven by
vainglory, self-delusion, and puerile humor. In his standup, the targets were a
bit more obvious and potentially more volatile: cancer, the Holocaust,
bestiality, Pol Pot, and war (''Vietnam: best soundtrack... WWII: best ending''), to name a few. At one point, his discussion
of watching too much of the History and Discovery channels led to an unlikely
comparison: sharks vs. Nazis (warning: routine is NSFW). ''Sharks? Brilliant. Nazis? Rubbish... [A shark]
can smell the tiniest secretion of blood or sweat from a human — one part in a
billion — from a mile away. A shark would have found Anne Frank like that!'' After
attributing the abrupt ending of Anne Frank's diary to laziness, Gervais went
on to imagine a conversation between Nietzsche and Hitler in which Hitler
casually reveals that he may have ''read between the lines'' a bit when he
decided to ''kill all the Jews.''
I don't know if I'm quite ready for this Office season to end. This kind of snuck up on us, no? Maybe The Office is a lot less obnoxious about hyper-promoting its THIRD TO LAST, SECOND TO LAST, and LAST episodes a la Lost... or maybe I'm just watching the wrong channel... duh, Annie.
Last week, America's favorite cooking spray/downtrodden secretary Pam (pictured) had me bawling. Tears! At The Office! In the words of Top Model contestant Dionne, What the hell? What about Pam sets me off so? It happened at her art show, too. I shed nearly a shot glass' worth during that one. Is it Jenna Fischer's delivery? Her tragic character? Predilection for magenta terrycloth? Everyone's been flipping out about how Pam suddenly became honest last week. I think she's always been honest -- she just barely ever opens her mouth, and when she does, it's almost always in reaction to someone else's problem (or prank). Anyway, I wasn't feelin' the love for a long time. Now I'm back. It may have been the Modest Brown Bikini Top Tease '07.
What do you think will happen on tonight's hour-long wrap-up? The most obvious solution is to somehow get rid of Karen. There's no K in Jam (but if you look in the middle of that word, there's an A); plus, Rashida Jones is in Fox's new cop show The Rules for Starting Over this fall. I'm just trying to figure out how they'll swing this. Having Karen win the NYC job over Michael seems too easy. So I'll rephrase: Which compromising position will Karen find Jim and Pam in to make her run away? My guess: their 6,593rd shared flirtatious eye-dart. It's always the 6,593rd that sets you off.
According to 
Last week, 
The results of EW.com's first annual EWwys, honoring the shows and actors that coulda/shoulda been nominated in Emmys 10 major categories but weren't, are in. 
Today, EW.com launched its 
Rainn Wilson (second from right) hopes you're sufficiently intrigued (read: freaked out) by his attempt to 
I'm already envisioning 30 Rock's 
On July 19, Mindy Kaling will host The Office Games in Scranton, PA -- "a day of fun Dunder Mifflin style" that'll include a 2K Fun Run (hopefully more successful than the show's alfredo sauce-laden one, pictured) and a "red and messy" beet-eating contest in honor of Dwight. But if you could devise your own event, what would it be and which Office character would you want to beat? Your hilarious responses could appear on the Feedback Page of an upcoming issue of EW! Be sure to give us your ideas by Thursday, July 3, at noon EDT, and please include your e-mail address in case your submission is chosen for the magazine. I'll get the ball rolling -- make that, I'll hurl the football across the office at an unsuspecting Pam...
Brace yourselves, TV addicts: 
The announcement that NBC is abruptly moving the great 30 Rock to 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, after The Office, with Scrubs moving to the 8:30 slot, is satisfying for a few reasons. 30 Rock can only be helped by being placed in a hammock (note use of TV-bizzer lingo) between ratings success The Office and people-actually-still-watch-it ER. For the rest of us, it means two hours of solid TV watching: The Office, 30 Rock, then switching to ABC for Lost in its new time period at 10. And the minimally-laugh-injected Scrubs is better paired with the 8 p.m. lead-in My Name Is Earl, which (and I speak as a fan of Earl) has never quite recovered from Earl’s time spent in jail. In short, for once, a network has made a smart time-period change. Agree?
Can't get enough Ricky Gervais? The Office and Extras guru is currently busy prepping his debut as a feature film co-writer/co-director (with Matt Robinson), a movie called This Side of the Truth. It's a comedy about a world where no one has ever told a falsehood, until Gervais' character discovers lying and uses this new tactic to woo Jennifer Garner's character. (Also in the film: comic all-stars Christopher Guest, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Hodgman.) Gervais is also blogging the production 
On Valentine's Day, PopWatch asked an appropriate question of its readers: 
There must be a little-known proviso in the Writers Guild rules that permits striking TV writers to pen scenarios for shows other than their own in snarky magazine articles. So it is with 
After turning in one of summer's best cameos as the bouncer in Knocked Up ("You old, she pregnant. Can't have a bunch of old pregnant bitches running around"), Craig Robinson, aka Darryl from the warehouse on The Office, is branching out of the paper business. His 2008 slate includes no fewer than four movies, including July's Step Brothers (from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay), August's Pineapple Express (written by and starring Seth Rogen), and the now-filming Zach and Miri Make a Porno (starring Rogen, written and directed by Kevin Smith). 
I'm a just bit underwhelmed after watching last night's 
Yes, product placements are annoying, but 
The 
Last week, 
Our corporate siblings at People have declared Matt Damon the 
The halls of most major retail operations have been decked with holly, cardboard snowflakes, and cartoon turkeys, which can mean only one thing: The Academy Awards are coming! In the spirit of the season, EW's own Oscar prognosticator 
8:00 p.m. Slow clap: L-Yeah! L-Yeah! Oh wait, sorry, gonna try to be neutral here for at least five minutes. Em-my! Em-my! Em-my!
So the self-appointed media watchdogs of the Parents Television Council released the results of 
The last full day of Comic-Con (Sunday is "Family Day," which apparently means "Hollywood Leaves the Town in Its Dust Day") was abundant with panels, clips and general geekery goodness, so let's just get to (but some) of the highlights, courtesy yours truly and my fellow reporter extraordinaire Nicole Sperling:
The Television Critics Awards, bestowed Saturday night in Los Angeles, is an odd event: Praise and prizes handed out to stars and producers, some of whom have been savaged for their earlier shows by newspaper, magazine, and online scriveners. There's an air of false bonhomie — not so much over who'll win, but whether some producer will take a punch at some critic who panned his or her previous creative effort. Even the winners seemed ambivalent. Producer Jason Katims, overseer of Friday Night Lights, winner of "Outstanding New Program," said in his acceptance speech that, in the wake of Lights' shutout in the Emmys nominations (to many 
I'm actually relatively happy at the moment. Perhaps because I don't watch 24, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, or Friday Night Lights — all of which failed to receive Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nods 
It's about time we started hearing about 
As a professional TV pundit, I guess I'm supposed to join my colleagues in wringing my hands over the turmoil in NBC's executive suite and to profess shock that entertainment chief Kevin Reilly was fired so soon after presenting his handcrafted fall schedule. Yet I think would have been a shock if the network hadn't fired him, given NBC's 
On Saturday night, Ricky Gervais was serenaded by David
Bowie as he stepped onstage to perform his first full-length standup in America at Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater. Not many
comedians can make their debut performance at the biggest venue in the country
with a bona fide pop icon as a warm-up act, but it's a testament to the enormous
success of The Office and
its American offspring that Gervais could pull it off. Still, in spite of the
superstar aura, he walked out in a casual T-shirt-and-jeans combo and immediately
settled into a relaxed conversation with the capacity crowd — insofar as it is
''relaxing'' to joke about autism and AIDS.
I don't know if I'm quite ready for this Office season to end. This kind of snuck up on us, no? Maybe The Office is a lot less obnoxious about hyper-promoting its THIRD TO LAST, SECOND TO LAST, and LAST episodes a la Lost... or maybe I'm just watching the wrong channel... duh, Annie.