My Take on Emmy Nominations: 2009

Emmy nominations will be announced next week, so I've compiled a list of actors, shows, and personalities that the Emmys would be remiss not to include.

(I have not broken them into categories because I'm often completely befuddled by who is deemed "supporting" and who is "lead" and what is a "comedy" and what is a "drama" and I'm trying to avoid that headache.)

Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad: Paul has been flawless at handling everything Breaking Bad has thrown at him. He's been brilliant at comic relief and gut-wrenching with dramatic material. In fact, there's no one I want to see on the Emmy nomination list more.

Adam Baldwin, Chuck: Baldwin is perfect as the gruff Major Casey, giving us little glimpses into the character's humanity but never becoming too much of a softy.

B.J. Novak, The Office: He's just so good at playing such a cocky little jerk (while never losing sight of Ryan's inherent patheticness).

Breaking Bad: I've documented my love for this show before, so should come as no surprise that I'm pegging it not only for a Best Drama nomination, but also for the freaking Emmy itself.

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad: There's a reason he won the Emmy last year, and Cranston continued to excel this season as Walter's morality became even more nuanced.

Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance: Deeley is easily the best reality competition show host around as anyone knows who has watched her interact with contestants, the judges and the audience. And she's a fashion icon to boot. It's insulting that she wasn't nominated last year.

Chi McBride, Pushing Daisies: If McBride's surly and sassy (but secretly sweet) private investigator isn't on the list of Emmy nominations, I'm going to pull an Emerson Cod and yell, "Oh, HELL no!"

Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?: Applegate was effortlessly charismatic and hilarious as the lovable amnesiac, and it's a bummer that ABC didn't give her more support.

Chuck: The top-notch quality of the show's sophomore season cannot be ignored. With the possible exception of those episodes with that annoying MI-6 spy who kept getting shot, Chuck was firing on all cylinders this season and capped it all off with a season finale that was easily one of the best hours of television all season.

Gabrielle Anwar, Burn Notice: I realize that Burn Notice is one of those quasi-comedy, quasi-drama type shows that people enjoy watching but the Emmys tend to completely ignore (while being all over stuff that nobody is enjoying anymore like Boston Legal), but nevertheless I think Anwar deserves a nod. You'd be hard pressed to fine anyone on TV who is cooler than Anwar's Fiona, and that's got to count for something.

James Roday, Psych: Roday's been overlooked in the past, but as Shawn, a fast-talking, pop culture-obsessed genius, he has proven time and again that he's got serious acting chops.

January Jones, Mad Men: Jones absolutely stole the show's second season with her depiction of cold-hearted Betty Draper. Jones was masterful at giving us glimpses of the fragile girl behind her character's ice queen facade.

Jennifer Esposito, Samantha Who?: Esposito's Andrea is horrendous, but she's also wickedly funny.

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory: Everyone on this show is funny, but Parsons is consistantly hilarious as Sheldon's scientific, antisocial temperament gets pushed to the limit by his friends and surroundings.

Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies: Pace's turn as the sweet and funny Piemaker ended far too soon, but it was beautiful to watch while it lasted.

Lost: Overall, I probably liked Lost's fourth season better than its fifth season, but this show was undeniable as it ratcheted up the suspense and the stakes ever-higher to lead into its final season.

Pushing Daisies: Sure, the second season was ridiculously abridged, but it was also ridiculously good.

Rose Byrne, Damages: Supporting/lead/whatever, Byrne really held her own during Damages' second season, as her Ellen Parsons went toe-to-toe with Glenn Close's Patty Hewes and didn't back down.

Steve Carell, The Office: I adored the high jinks of the Michael Scott Paper Company, and Carell shone throughout, especially in the conference room scene where he masterfully cut David Wallace down to size.

Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung and Jeremy Davies, Lost: Since so many supporting actors had very strong showings on Lost this season, the Emmy list could very well include any or all of them.

Zachary Levi, Chuck: Perfectly balanced Chuck's humor with his humanity, adding a lot of soul to a very fun show.

(photos: amctv.com, abc.com, usanetwork.com, cbs.com)

Pushing Daisies: Rent a Friend, Save a Show

Pushing Daisies: "Frescorts"

Although I'm very much not on board with the whole Lily-is-really-Chuck's-mother-and-Charles-is-
her-father-and-he-used-to-be-Vivian's-fiance-
so-they-are-just-pretending-to-be-her-aunts thing, I am still very, very much on board with Pushing Daisies in general.

The way I see it, PD's PD's second season has been composed of two very good episodes (Bzzzzz!" and "Bad Habits") and two fantastic episodes ("Circus, Circus" and "Frescorts"). Despite the show's continued exceptional quality, its ratings have been sup-par at best. So it looks like it's time to dust off the old save-our-show fan campaign skill set: send letters and e-mails to ABC, sign the online petition, tell people you know to watch, etc. If you care about this show (and you should, trust me), you can stay abreast of the fan campaign at pushingdaisies-tv.com and at savepushingdaisies.blogspot.com. Hopefully some sort of daisy-mailing will happen soon too.

As for "Frescorts," I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. I thought that Ned opening the door to reveal the (happy-looking) taxidermied Golden Retriever holding a guitar was hands down one of the funniest moments of this new TV season.

Also, it was nice to see Ned making more of an effort to get along on his own a bit--he's been acting awfully needy towards Chuck this season. And now he might even have a new (albeit creepy) friend, who at least didn't kill anyone (that we know of) and whom he doesn't have to pay to like him.

I also liked seeing Olive and Chuck try to be friends, only to discover that their baggage proved impossible to ignore when they were forced to confront it when they were both stuffed in the same locker. It was convenient that they're both so skinny that the two of them could fit in the same locker. But they both decided that they're relationship is worth working on, which was nice.

And Emerson got to have some fun with his entertaining PI mother. (Boy, was Emerson one cute baby!)

Also, this episode featured a star turn by Dana Davis, who--like Chi McBride--was eons more likable in Pushing Daisies than she was in The Nine (and also much better than she was in Heroes, but that's an entirely different story).

Exchange of the Episode:
Ned: "It's tough. You share your life with someone and suddenly there's an abyss where a person always was before."
Randy: "You lost a roommate too?"
Ned: "And girlfriend. Same person."
Randy: "Your roommate slash girlfriend died?!"
Ned: "Yeah. I mean no. She moved out. Sorry, doesn't compare. Not even remotely."
Randy: "You're not completely alone though. Golden Retriever, right?"
Ned: "Yeah! Digby...would be a source of comfort if he didn't prefer living with my girlfriend, her new bestie, and their pig!"

Runner-up:
Olive: "Here comes the center of the universe, pulling us all into her gravitational orbit of blame."
Chuck: "Oh, well, FYI, um, there is no center of the universe because our universe is forever expanding."
Olive: "Like your neediness."

Sorry, I can't end the post without reasserting my annoyance with the Lily-is-Chuck's-mom story line. I don't mind it on principle, but when you think about it, it doesn't make sense. Supposedly, Vivian was the fiancee of Charles Charles (we'll call him CC) until he told her he'd knocked up someone else (Lily, but Viv doesn't know that). So Viv and CC break up, and CC raises Chuck by himself after Lily gives birth to her in the convent. So then, why when CC died would Viv (the jilted fiancee) and Lily (the jilted fiancee's sister who "has nothing to do with any of this") rush to Chuck and adopt her, becoming her surrogate "aunts"? It doesn't make any sense. Why would you go raise the child that your cheating fiance fathered with someone else while engaged to you? Why would your sister go along with it?

Anyway, the rest of the show is still awesome. Help to save Pushing Daisies!!!

(photo: abc.com)

Pilot Watch '07: Pushing Daisies

Basically everyone in the world who has seen an advanced screener of Pushing Daisies has been extolling its virtues as loudly as they can for months. Thus, my expectations for this pilot probably couldn't have been any higher. Fortunately, "Pie Lette" (how cute is that name?) every bit lived up to the hype.

Pushing Daisies was charming almost beyond belief. The storybook feel seemed very unique. The characters were quirky and likable (not just quirky). The story and plot devices were inventive. The dialogue was snappy and wittier than I was expecting. The cinematic value was top-notch, with gorgeous, vibrant colors and a dream-like quality. The whole thing was as sweet as the pies they sell at the Pie Hole.

Pushing Daisies reminded me a lot of a Tim Burton film. It seemed very much along the lines of Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: strange but unexpectedly touching. It's a formula that I warmly welcome to television.

If I had to make one complaint, it would be that the narrated back story seemed to last a while and it might have taken them just a bit too long to get Lee Pace on the screen. But once he appeared, the show was good to go.

Something about Ned and Chuck reminded me of Ed and Carol from Ed. I guess the actors look vaguely similar (in their faces), but I think it was more the purity of the love story. Ned remembering his time with young Chuck was a lot like Ed remembering the time he first saw Carol and she took his breath away.

I also really enjoyed Chi McBride in this episode. The Emerson/Ned banter reminded me of Shawn and Gus from Psych. Emerson and Ned made Pushing Daisies much funnier that I was anticipating.

Other thoughts:

• The dog looked pretty good for having been run over by a tractor trailer. And I do find it unrealistic that Ned managed to keep his dog for 20 years without ever touching it, even by accident.
• Gotta love a show that uses pretty language like, "Chuck came ready-made from the Play Doh Fun Factory of life."
• Ned's accidental responsibility for Chuck's dad's death is reminiscent of Lana Lang's parents being killed in the meteor shower that brought Clark Kent to earth on Smallville.
• What did people make of two seemingly healthy neighbors just keeling over and dying on the exact same day?
• I really, really want Cantaloupe the Chow! Cantaloupe is an adorable name for a dog. It's right up there with Saffron from Damages.
• Logistical questions: Does just one person die for everyone who stays alive or do more people keep dying? And assuming Ned brings them back to life and never touches them again, do the "alive again" people live indefinitely or could they die again?
• For some reason, I really love the name "Boutique Travel Travel Boutique."
• Ned: "I hate to be a bad host, but I'm kind of exhausted from chasing your coffin..."
• Chuck's last name is Charles! Perhaps we're related :-)
• Ned: "It was most definitely on the menu; it was the Special of the Day--can we drop this metaphor?"
• Emerson: "We all have childhood issues--I've got the full subscription."
• Emerson: "Bitch! I was in proximity!" (I was also afraid that keeping Chuck alive would have caused Emerson to die, so thankfully that was not the case.)
• I haven't heard "petard" used since Ed.
• This pilot was showed in the opposite manner of "limited commercial interruptions." It seemed like there was a commercial break every 4 minutes.
• Chuck's aunt: "I can hold my breath for a long time." He he, she was a synchronized swimmer after all.
• Morgue guy: "Aren't you the dog expert?"

Basically flawless.

Premiere Rating: 9.5 / 10
(I deducted 0.5 just because I'm sure there could have been something that would have made me love the episode even more...like a guest appearance by James McAvoy or something.)