The Best Picture Candidates

         Here is the list of the 265 movies that are eligible for the Best Picture Academy Award nomination.  I have seen 48 so far and will continue to update it throughout the Oscar season.  My color chart means:
Possible Top 10 Candidate  (I haven't seen everything yet, so my list is not finalized)
Seen it
Must see ASAP
Will see eventually
Should see, but don't want to
Will never watch and I'm offended that they could be even remotely considered for Best Picture
         Some have no coloring which means they are not on my radar for at all.  I have nothing against low-budget films or kids movies or even bad movies.  I do have a problem with expensive Hollywood crap and unnecessary, agenda-forcing malarkey.

ABDUCTION                                                                   

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU - Terrible title, but it was watchable.                     

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN - Simon Pegg & Nick Frost are in it - I can't help myself.

AFRICAN CATS                                                                             

ALBERT NOBBS  - Glenn Close looks like she's wearing a mask.     

ALOIS NEBEL                                                                                     

ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED - I took my 4 year old nephew; Jason Lee has no excuse.

AMIGO  

ANONYMOUS                                                                      

ANOTHER EARTH 

ANOTHER HAPPY DAY

ANSWERS TO NOTHING

APOLLO 18

ARRUGAS (WRINKLES)

THE ART OF GETTING BY

ARTHUR - Don't remake movies I love, AKA The Bad News Bears 2005.

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS - I like Christmas movies.

THE ARTIST

@URFRENZ

ATLAS SHRUGGED PART 1

ATTACK THE BLOCK

BACK DOOR CHANNELS: THE PRICE OF PEACE

BAD TEACHER - It just wasn't funny.

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES

BEASTLY

BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

BEAUTIFUL BOY

THE BEAVER - Terrible Title #2.  I should see it just to be able to make fun of it properly.

BEGINNERS - Spoiler and Downer alert!  It was more about the Dad dying than him being gay.

A BETTER LIFE

THE BIG BANG

BIG MOMMAS: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON - Dozens of people should be fired for this.

THE BIG YEAR - Good cast, I guess.

BLACKTHORN

BLOODWORTH

THE BOY MIR - TEN YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN

BRIDESMAIDS - I liked it, but it's not as great as everyone thinks; it's too long, slow, and girly.

BRIGHTON ROCK

BUCKY LARSON BORN TO BE A STAR - Blech.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - Chris Evans cannot carry a movie.

CARANCHO

CARNAGE - It's getting panned by critics.

CARS 2 - Hopefully, Pixar has learned that less Larry the Cable Guy is for the best.

A CAT IN PARIS

CEDAR RAPIDS - not really funny at all.

CERTIFIED COPY

THE CHANGE-UP - You can't possibly still need money, Jason Bateman.

CHICO & RITA

CIRCUMSTANCE

COLOMBIANA

CONAN THE BARBARIAN - I don't care what you do with early Schwarzenegger films.

THE CONQUEST

THE CONSPIRATOR

CONTAGION - Good cast, good director - it should be good, right?

CORIOLANUS

COURAGEOUS

COWBOYS & ALIENS - Harrison Ford's in it, so I guess I'll watch it at some point.

CRACKS

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. - A little contrived, but entertaining.

DAM999

A DANGEROUS METHOD - Full frontal Fassbender.

THE DARKEST HOUR

DAYDREAM NATION

THE DEBT-Terrible casting; they should have switched the young actors - compare head sizes.

THE DESCENDANTS - George wears lame, old-man pants but I still heart him.

THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES

THE DILEMMA-HBO gives it 1 star yet calls it a 'gut-busting comedy.' Both are generous.

DIRTY GIRL

DOLPHIN TALE

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

DREAM HOUSE

DRIVE - I can't figure out Ryan Gosling or how I feel about him.  What's his real accent?

DRIVE ANGRY

THE EAGLE

ELEKTRA LUXX

EVERYTHING MUST GO

EXPORTING RAYMOND

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE - Downer and not getting great reviews.

FAST FIVE - I haven't seen any of them and I'm okay with it.

50/50 - Can cancer be funny?  I'll let you know.  Not really.

FINAL DESTINATION 5 -  I saw the first one and that was enough.

FINDING KIND

THE FIRST GRADER

THE FLOWERS OF WAR

FLY AWAY

FOOTLOOSE - I don't super-love the original but this is just annoying.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS - How is this similar to No Strings Attached?  They both suck.

FRIGHT NIGHT - Pretty good vampire movie and I think I like Colin Farrell now.

THE FUTURE - I heard about the cat; no thanks.

GAINSBOURG: A HEROIC LIFE

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO-Good, even with the sporadic Swedish accents.

GLEE THE 3D CONCERT MOVIE - Completely unnecessary and I like the show.

GNOMEO & JULIET

A GOOD OLD FASHIONED ORGY - Jason Sudeikis is dead to me.

THE GRACE CARD

THE GREATEST MIRACLE

THE GREEN HORNET - Movies released in January are supposed to suck.

GREEN LANTERN - Movies with Ryan Reynolds tend to suck too.

THE GUARD

HALL PASS - Another Bad Jason Sudeikis Movie Alert.

THE HANGOVER PART II - Absolutely horrible; please stop production on the third one.

HANNA - It was alright.

HAPPY FEET TWO

HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE

HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS #2 - I can't separate it from the book.

HELL AND BACK AGAIN

THE HELP - It would have been better if it followed the book more closely.  Damn you, reading!

HIGHER GROUND - A movie about religion that is longer than a mass.  I'm thinking no.

HITLER'S GRAVE

HOODWINKED TOO! HOOD VS. EVIL

HOP - I don't like Russell Brand in any form.

HORRIBLE BOSSES - An unfunny comedy with people I like or used to (yeah you Sudeikis).

HUGO

I AM NUMBER FOUR

I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT - Do you mean selling out to be in bad movies?

I MELT WITH YOU

THE IDES OF MARCH - George Clooney's the bad guy and that's about it.

IMMORTALS

IN DARKNESS

IN SEARCH OF GOD

IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY - Remember when Angelina Jolie wore Billy Bob's vial of blood and made out with her brother?  She's still apeshit and should be stopped.

IN TIME - It seemed kind of interesting, but no one liked it.

INSIDIOUS

THE IRON LADY

J. EDGAR

JACK AND JILL - Double blech.

JANE EYRE - One of my favorite books that I don't remember being quite this boring.

JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN-A second one, really? Emmy winner Gillian Anderson, really?

JOSE AND PILAR

JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER

JUMPING THE BROOM

JUST GO WITH IT - Nicole Kidman was in this?!?  Relinquish your Oscar immediately.

JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER - Really?!?

KILL THE IRISHMAN - It looks alright.

KUNG FU PANDA 2

THE LADY

LARRY CROWNE - Good actors don't necessarily make a good movie.

THE LAST RIDE

LE HAVRE

LIFE, ABOVE ALL

LIKE CRAZY

LIMITLESS - meh.

THE LINCOLN LAWYER - Terrible title #3.

MACHINE GUN PREACHER

MARGARET

MARGIN CALL

MARS NEEDS MOMS

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE

THE MECHANIC

MEEK'S CUTOFF

MEET MONICA VELOUR

MELANCHOLIA - Alexander Skarsgard being in this is just a bonus.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS - It's magical and makes me want to read books and be smarter.

THE MILL & THE CROSS

MIRAL

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL - I haven't seen any of them and don't want to start now.  Maybe I would if Nick Frost were in it.

MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS - So Jim Carrey is done.

MONEYBALL - As a Cubs fan, all baseball movies make me sad.

MONTE CARLO

MOZART'S SISTER

THE MUPPETS - I just wish the voices were better - Fozzie was way off.

THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN - Michelle Williams should have bulked up more.

MYSTERIES OF LISBON

THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER

THE NAMES OF LOVE

NEW YEAR'S EVE - I have no words.

NO STRINGS ATTACHED - See: Friends With Benefits

NORMAN

OF GODS AND MEN

OLIVE

ONE DAY

OUR IDIOT BROTHER

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3

PARIAH

PASSIONE

PAUL - I just really like Simon Pegg & Nick Frost - probably more than I should.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES - It'll be on USA someday.

POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD - Interesting.

POTICHE

PRIEST

THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER

PROJECT NIM

PROM

PUNCTURE

PUSS IN BOOTS - I do like saying "My name is Puss...in Boots" with the accent.

RAMPART - Woody Harrelson is supposed to be pretty good.

RANGO

REAL STEEL

REBIRTH

RED RIDING HOOD

RED STATE - Definitely not the normal Kevin Smith movie.  John Goodman is looking rough.

RESTLESS

RIO

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - I liked it and it did what a prequel should.

THE RITE

THE ROOMMATE

THE RUM DIARY

SALVATION BOULEVARD

SANCTUM

SARAH'S KEY

SCREAM 4 - Really good and funny, on par with the first Scream.

SEASON OF THE WITCH

SENNA

A SEPARATION

SHAME - Full Frontal Fassbender Part Deux. - Clooney was right - he should play golf with it.

SHARK NIGHT 3D

SHERLOCK HOLMES: GAME OF SHADOWS - Don't confuse it with Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. 

THE SITTER

THE SKIN I LIVE IN

THE SMELL OF SUCCESS

THE SMURFS -  Jonathan Winters is still alive, so that's good to know.

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN

SOMETHING BORROWED - Almost Famous should have been Kate Hudson's only film.

A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN

SOUL SURFER

SOURCE CODE - Not bad.

SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD IN 4D - Say it ain't so Joe(l McHale).

STRAW DOGS - Why, Alexander Skarsgard, why????

SUBMARINE

SUCKER PUNCH

SUPER - Just too weird.

SUPER 8 - It made me remember why I like movies and also how CGI can ruin them.

TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT - The Wedding Singer was enough.

TAKE SHELTER

TERRI

THE THING - I didn't see the original but it has Kurt Russell and I'm sure this can't compare.

30 MINUTES OR LESS

THOR - Chris Hemsworth was very charming and Natalie Portman was very miscast.

3

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

TOWER HEIST

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON - Just stop.

THE TREE OF LIFE - I heard it's like a Kubrick movie and I don't like Kubrick movies.

TRUST

TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN - PART 1 - It makes me weep for today's young women.

TYLER PERRY'S MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY - It just makes me weep.

TYRANNOSAUR

UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES

UNDEFEATED

UNKNOWN

A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS - Whatever.

VIVA RIVA!

W.E.

WAR HORSE - This can't end well for the horse, it just can't.

WARRIOR - Training Montage Alert!  It was a little long yet it needed more resolution.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS - I bet it doesn't end well for the elephants either.

THE WAY

WE BOUGHT A ZOO - And who knows how many animals die in this one!  

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN - Tilda Swinton is creeeepyyyyy.

WEEKEND

WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER?

THE WHISTLEBLOWER

WHITE IRISH DRINKERS - I have to see this one, right?

WIN WIN - Tom McCarthy is my new favorite writer/director. I love all 3 of his films.

WINNIE THE POOH - They better not kill any of these animals.

!WOMEN ART REVOLUTION

THE WOMEN ON THE 6TH FLOOR

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - Quite possibly the best X-Men movie.

YOUNG ADULT - I can't sympathize with a character who watches 'The Kardashians'.

YOUNG GOETHE IN LOVE

YOUR HIGHNESS - Maybe on cable when there is absolutely nothing on.  Couldn't get through 20 minutes.

ZOOKEEPER - Ugh.

Golden Globes - 2012

Ricky Gervais was fairly tame this year and quite absent most of the evening.   While he was generally behaved, the nominations were offensive.  How was Breaking Bad not a nominee for Best Drama?  No 30 Rock, Ty Burrell, Sean Bean?   The Hollywood Foreign Press may be non-profit, but they must be willing to take bribes.  How else could Boss, Enlightened and Episodes be nominated?  Those networks have cash to spare.  And the winners seemed to be people they wanted to suck up to:  Spielberg, Madonna, Scorsese, Streep.  I don’t think people want to suck up to Kelsey Grammer, but his win was absolute horseshit.  If you’re going to screw over Bryan Cranston, at least go with Damian Lewis.  The fact that Matt LeBlanc previously won for Joey illustrates how ridiculous this awards show is.  I'm starting to think the People's Choice Awards have more esteem.  Just kidding, anything a regular person could vote for is stupid - look at democracy.

Some interesting moments:

• Johnny Depp’s accent – you’re from Kentucky but you sound like Bono.  You introduced Hugo; you didn’t win the Nobel.
• Busy Phillips – I guess she and Michelle Williams remained friends since Dawson’s Creek, but I prefer to think it was another way to sneak a Cougar Town actor onto TV.  Well played, Bill Lawrence.
• Gross man tans – Depp, Rob Lowe, Clooney, Hoffmann, Duchovny, Bradley Cooper, and Matt LeBlanc have all been browned to a crisp.
• Gross man arms – Madonna, Felicity Huffman and Angelina Jolie were all about the gun show.
• The Wire reunion – Idris Elba and Dominic West were both nominated for Best Actor in a Mini-Series and hugged it out when Idris won.  But then he used his British accent and ruined everything.
• Strangest Cutaway – Seth Rogen mentions his ‘massive erection’ and the next shot is Jodie Foster’s young sons.
• Silver Fox Alert - I knew about Matt LeBlanc's gray hair, but Tim Robbins has become the new Ted Danson.
• Best Aging – Madeline Stowe looked the hottest among her category’s nominees, but she couldn't have appreciated that 74 year old Dustin Hoffman said she was from ‘his generation.’ 
• 2^nd Best aging – Jane Fonda looked amazing.  She should give her doctor’s name to Dolly Parton.
• Most Inappropriate Touching – Ben’s Kingsley’s wife or well-paid escort sitting on his lap during Morgan Freeman’s acceptance speech. 
• Worst Dressed  – Thomas Jane.  Lamest cowboy ever.                        

TV at the Winter Break

Since so many shows have gone on winter break (February12th, Walking Dead, really?!?), here are some meditations on the first half of the season.

Best New Shows

• Homeland – I watched it in 2 days – I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to wait every week for a new episode.  It's fraught with twists, suspense and ‘Oh Shit’ moments.  Damian, Claire and Mandy Patinkin all deserve Emmy nominations.
• New Girl – She’s cute, awkward and quirky and so is the show.
• Surburgatory – Apparently, Jeremy Sisto grew up,  is playing a sane person and I like him a lot.  The girl is Emma Stone-ish and I like sarcasm and hating everyone, so she’s cool.  And who doesn’t like random appearances from a super-tan Alan Tudyk?  Dumb people.
• Ringer – It’s very soap opera-y, but it’s had some good twists.  Plus, they say Siobhan a lot.

Shows I Gave Up On

• Pan Am – I thought it would just be slutty broads in different countries, but one’s a spy???  And one’s French?   Is this a fairy tale?  One and done.
• Person of Interest – I liked Michael Emerson in Lost and I assume I’ve seen something with Jim Cavaziel (Frequency was a really long time ago), but I don’t like procedural crime dramas and there’s a new cast every week, blech.  2 was enough.
• Up All Night – I love Will Arnett, more specifically, I love GOB Bluth.  I’m not into babies or crying or lameness but I still gave it a try.  The deciding factor was Maya Rudolph’s Oprah-esque character.  A lot of people have a hard time managing jobs and babies, why do they have to be LA douchebags with a famous, way too over the top boss?  Bosses can suck when they’re regular people too.  3 and out – I really tried.

Shows I can’t believe I’m still watching

• 2 Broke Girls – No America, it’s not that good.  It’s rife with puns, wordplay and lame accents.  I like Kat Dennings, but her timing is off and she over-punctuates every joke.  Then there’s the laugh track.  Why CBS why??
• Once Upon a Time – I’ve watched every episode, so I’m kind of trapped now.  In my defense, I watch it while I do other things (obviously not cleaning), and it manages to hold 31% of my attention.
• Two and a Half Men – I don’t mind Ashton Kutcher.  What bugs me is that no one seems to remember that Judy Greer has already been on this show.  She played Ryan Stiles’ sister for a couple of episodes and dated Charlie in 2007.  I guess they fired the casting director with Charlie Sheen.

Things that TV needs to fix

• Community – So Whitney gets a new night and a full season, yet Community is in limbo?  Is there a radiation leak at NBC?  Why broadcast an original show with layered characters and 80 jokes per minute when you can air a canned laughter sitcom with a shrill, horse-faced hambone?  Stellar decision-making.

P.S.  I totally agree that Hearts of Darkness was better than Apocalypse Now.  (secret handshake)

• Cougar Town – It still has no time slot or date to return, but there are so many horrible shows on.  Have you seen the commercials for the guys that dress up like women to get jobs?  So this has more potential than Cougar Town, ABC?  A rehash of Bosom Buddies??   It only lasted 37 episodes in a time when people had more than a 2 second attention span.  Everyone who okayed this should be fired and then forced to watch all 3 episodes of Work It.  Vindication - Work It was canceled after 2 episodes and Cougar Town returns Feb. 14.

Random Lists about TV

5 shows that save the summer

•  Breaking Bad – You don’t mess with Heisenberg.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm – I would love to have the balls to social assassin everyone I know.
• True Blood – Eric Northman.
• Louie -  Funny in the awkward, horrifying way.
•  Rescue Me –  It's ready to be over.  The women are awful caricatures of real people.

5 shows that have jumped the shark and need to end:

•  Desperate Housewives – Thankfully, it’s ending in 2012.
•  Entourage - I gave up 2 years ago.  I was going to watch this season until I found out Andrew Dice Clay was on it.
•  Grey’s Anatomy - Even though I’ve never seen an episode, I know it’s time for it to go.
•  House – FOX wouldn’t sign Cuddy to a new contract, so let’s wrap it up.
• Two & a Half Men - Ashton Kutcher should just take over the role of Charlie Harper like they do in soaps and on Bewitched.

5 shows I should have been watching from the beginning:

•  Friday Night Lights – I love it and I’m starting season 4 tonight
• The Good Wife – I got through a couple of season 1 discs – it’s pretty good.
• The Mentalist - Tina Fey mentioned it on 30 Rock, so that’s good enough for me.
• Sons of Anarchy – This will be the next show I stream on Netflix.
• Fringe - I watch every other sci-fi show, but have never made an effort with this one.

5 shows that hardly anyone (I know) is watching, so I have no one to talk to them about:

• Nurse Jackie - just my Aunt Judy – awesome show and your life is worse without it.
• Nikita - only Loretta and Jason – I think it’s badass.
• Bored to Death – no one at all, someone check it out on OnDemand.
• V – Karen and Mark, but now it’s canceled which makes this moot.
• Hung – again no one.  I like Thomas Jane, and the show is alright.

5 shows I watch but don’t really tell people:

• Drop Dead Diva – It’s not so bad.
• Mike & Molly – I worked with Billy Gardell once and I really liked Melissa McCarthy on Gilmore Girls, but the laugh track is painful.
•  The Biggest Loser - I fast forward through everything but the challenges and the weigh-ins.  Go cry to your mama because I don’t want to hear it!  I gave up when they brought in Anna Kournikova!
• Memphis Beat – I really like Jason Lee even though he lip-synchs and is a Scientologist.
• Reruns of The New Adventures of Old Christine – It’s on constantly and I watch them all.  I've switched to 30 Rock and The Big Bang Theory.

The 5 Worst Emmy Snubs:

• Merrit Wever, Nurse Jackie – I don’t know if she is that dorky and strange in real life, but she is absolutely brilliant.
• Garret Dillahunt, Raising Hope – He’s the best part of the show.
• Nick Offerman, Parks & Recreation – He’s great in an amazing ensemble cast,  but none of them get any love because Modern Family hogged all the nominations.  And Jon Cryer again, really Emmy people, really?!?
• Cougar Town – It’s so much better than The Office, Glee and The Big Bang Theory.  Move past the title; it’s really just a bunch of friends drinking and ripping on each other.
• Joel Kinnaman, The Killing – He was so squirrely and untrustworthy and he’s from Sweden!

If TV had Razzie Awards, the 5 nominees would be:

• Evan Rachel Wood, True Blood – Her character is dead now because she was a giant hambone.
• Rutina Wesley (Tara), True Blood – I hate this character and actress.  Please be violently killed soon.
• Gwyneth Paltrow, Glee – She’s so hacky and showy, and stop annihilating Prince songs.
• Matthew Perry, Mr. Sunshine – He must have gotten a headache from raising his eyebrows so much.  Plus, he is one of the few men that is aging poorly; he looks like a bloated owl.
• The guy that plays Vince Maranto on Mike & Molly – I apologize to the character’s namesake who is a good comic, but he is too cheeseball to ignore.

5 questions that need to be answered as soon as possible in the upcoming television season:

• Who killed Rosie Larsen?  We should have found out in June.
• Why is Mac fat?  I'm so intrigued by the commercials.
• Will Jules get pregnant?  Please no, we all know that babies ruin everything, especially TV shows.  And Courteney Cox is 47.
• Will anyone remember what happened on Mad Men when they finally air a new episode?
•  I have a thousand questions about what will happen in Game of Thrones, but my main concern is will the wolves survive?

My Ideal Emmy Nominations

The Emmy nominations are announced tomorrow, so here are my ideal scenarios.  I don’t watch every show on TV, but I certainly try.  Some shows that I have yet to get into and will not be represented in my picks are:  The Good Wife, Friday Night Lights, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Fringe, Treme, Men of a Certain Age, Blue Bloods, and Parenthood.  And I don’t watch any of those cop shows that have spin-offs.

Best Comedy:

30 Rock

Community

Cougar Town

Modern Family

Nurse Jackie

Parks and Recreation

Raising Hope

I can’t decide between them, so there are 7.

Best Lead Actress in a Comedy:

Toni Collette  - United States of Tara
Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie

Tina Fey - 30 Rock

Laura Linney - The Big C

Martha Plimpton - Raising Hope

Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation

I have trouble calling The Big C a comedy because some of the scenes have been so sad – Marlene’s death and when her son found the storage locker (absolutely brutal).

Best Lead Actor in a Comedy:

Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock

Steve Carell – The Office

Matt LeBlanc – Episodes

Joel McHale – Community

Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory

Bradley Whitford – The Good Guys

I’m kind of sick of The Big Bang Theory and Sheldon but there were not a lot of choices.  Bradley Whitford was awesome, and chances are, you never even watched that show, so shut it!

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy:

Tamsin Grieg – Episodes

Jane Krakowski – 30 Rock

Christa Miller – Cougar Town

Anna Deveare Smith – Nurse Jackie

Phyllis Somerville – The Big C

Merritt Wever – Nurse Jackie

I had to leave off a ton of people – all the broads from Modern Family, Jane Lynch (I’m kind of over Sue Sylvester anyway), and everyone on Community.  Plus, I think Busy Phillips is good on Cougar Town, but that’s the character she always is.  Christa Miller is the female highlight of that show, right Dime-Eyes?

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy:

Ty Burrell – Modern Family

Garret Dillahunt – Raising Hope

John Benjamin Hickey – The Big C

Justin Kirk – Weeds

Mike O’Malley – Glee

Nick Offerman – Parks and Recreation

I can't believe how many people I had to exclude - the rest of the casts from Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Community, Oliver Platt,  Charlie Day, Simon Hedberg, John Pankow, Jack McBrayer and Ian Gomez.  Impossible choices. 

Best Drama:

Boardwalk Empire

Dexter

Game of Thrones

The Killing

Mad Men

The Walking Dead

Best Lead Actress in a Drama:

Mireille Enos – The Killing

Lauren Graham – Parenthood

Lena Headey – Game of Thrones

Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men

Anna Paquin – True Blood

Sarah Wayne Callies – The Walking Dead

This was one of the weakest categories for me because I don’t watch a lot of female-based dramas.  I was almost tempted to bump up some supporting actresses into this category, but I heeded the Academy's guidelines.  I know I don’t watch Parenthood, but Lauren Graham was never nominated for The Gilmore Girls, so I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt.

Best Actor in a Drama:

Sean Bean – Game of Thrones

Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire

Michael C. Hall – Dexter

Jon Hamm – Mad Men

Hugh Laurie - House

Andrew Lincoln – The Walking Dead

No big surprises – I’m sick of House though, but couldn’t find anyone better to take his place, even though Jim Belushi was eligible for this category.  

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama:

Jennifer Carpenter – Dexter

Emilia Clarke – Game of Thrones

Michelle Forbes – The Killing

Christina Hendricks – Mad Men

Kelley Macdonald – Boardwalk Empire

Callie Thorne – Rescue Me

So Julia Stiles doesn’t count for Dexter in this category – Boo!  Callie Thorne deserves an Emmy from the 2009 episode where she talked about the towers falling and when she knew Jimmy had died.

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama:

Billy Campbell – The Killing

Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones

Jared Harris – Mad Men

Vincent Kartheiser – Mad Men

Joel Kinnaman – The Killing

Denis O’Hare – True Blood

I do love me some Eric on True Blood, but Russell Edgington was one crazy badass.  Jonny Lee Miller is considered a ‘special guest actor’ on Dexter, so I had to exclude him.

Everything will be decided in a couple of hours.

Glee

This season of Glee has been really erratic with way too many scattered plotlines.  Santana’s a lesbian?  Puck’s dating Lauren?  Gwyneth Paltrow ruins a Prince song?  Rachel wants a nosejob?  Kurt returns to McKinley?  Sam is poor?  Gwyneth is back again?   Boo-urns.  And let’s not forget that they covered Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and did not sing ‘Second Hand News’ or ‘Gold Dust Woman’.  Double Boo-urns.  However, with the latest episodes ‘Prom Queen’ and ‘Funeral’, the show is good again just in time for Nationals.  Plus, and I am not really embarrassed to say, I love Jesse St. James.  I can’t explain it, but I totally heart him.  I know Jonathan Groff was mentioned in that Newsweek article about gay actors not being able to play straight.  I can get beyond the fact that he’s gay but I don’t think that Glee’s costume department is helping.  That skinny scarf he wore in his first scene back did not exactly scream straight man.  I know he’s into show choir and theatricality but even Kurt would have been like “Really, Jesse, really?!?”  So Jesse’s back (YAY), but now he’s super dumb.  “I was majoring in show choir.  I assumed they would have as Asian guy take math and English and scientific for me.”  We already have a Brittany (“How many M’s are there in the letter R?”), Jesse just needs to be judgmental and snarky.  Bring on Nationals!  

Killer scarflet, dude!

Thursday shows – 3/17/2011

Strangely, the theme for tonight’s shows was genocide.  And I know I'm late - stupid work.

Community – “Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy”

Recap:  Shirley wants Chang to sign away any parental rights while Troy and Abed try to keep Britta from banging their new friend.  This was one of my least favorite episodes ever – no big laughs and too much Chang.  A major detraction/distraction was Joel McHale’s horrible Bieber-esque, faux bedhead, douchebaggy hairstyle.  It ruined the whole show.  After Jeff “Nipple-play” Winger came back from jogging, his hair still hadn’t moved.  I am seriously disappointed in a fictional character.  It’s not as bad as when Spike tried to rape Buffy, but it’s in the top 10.  Please return to the regular, smarmy spikiness that he had on The Soup on Friday.  As always, Troy and Abed’s interactions were the highlight of this sub-par episode.  They groaned and complained in unison as Britta awkwardly tried to interact with Luka (Victor from Dollhouse!), their new video game friend and former wearer of hats made out of babies.  She acted way more socially retarded than Abed ever has.  Let’s hope the Pulp Fiction episode next week can live up to the minimal amount of hype it has received.

• Best Line:  “If they’re left-handed, I want to know about that.  I’m making a chart.” – Abed telling Britta the details she can give about their mutual friends
• Runner-Up:  “I really got Jewish personed out of that one.” – Pierce being politically correct
• Genocide Connection:  Luka misses ethnic cleansing in the Balkans - setting villages on fire and seeing the rivers turn red with their blood.

Parks and Recreation – “Harvest Festival”

Recap:  The Harvest Festival has arrived as well as a curse from the local Native American tribe. Love and deep-fried food is in the air in Pawnee:  Leslie and Ben flirt by pretending to shoot one another, Ann makes out with a carny and April drops the L-bomb on Andy.  Apparently, everyone gets a little excited whenever Lil Sebastian  (and his shockingly huge mini-horse erection) is around.  Episode highlight – the look of pure joy on Ron’s face whenever Lil Sebastian was around.  PS – I agree with Ben and don’t get it – “He whinnied!”

• Best Line:  “No, we all behave rationally and believe we are in charge of our own destinies.”  Leslie describing Pawnee’s belief in curses
• Runner-Up:  “There are a lot of people who don’t consider salad food.”  Leslie on why the salad stand shouldn’t be placed on Deep Fried Alley
• Genocide Connection:  The Wamapoke tribe was slaughtered on the place where Leslie wants to place the shooting gallery.  They didn’t have any weapons.

30 Rock – “Queen of Jordan”

Recap:  Angie’s reality show takes over and makes everyone look stupid (usually more stupid).  God, I hate reality shows.  I know this is a fake one, but it seems like it could be real and it makes me angry that people would actually watch something like this.  I did love some of Sherri Shepherd’s comments –“Who the %^$# are the Beatles? – Haaaammm – That’s just white people nonsense.”   But it’s definitely time to get Tracy back from whatever he’s doing in Africa and get this reality-show nonsense behind us.  I hate when my fake boyfriends look bad – stay strong, Jack!

• Best line:  In the opening credits, it read “Written” by Tracy Wigfield.
• Runner-Up:  “If this show insists on portraying me as a clumsy, gay flatulent, that’s fine because I am extremely secure in my athleticism, masculinity and anal integrity.” – Jack on why reality shows suck
• Genocide Connection:  Jenna sees no problem with her new website - Jenna’s side.com.