You almost can't use the word "Emmy" without the word "debacle" in the same sentence.
But for the first time ever, the Emmy people are actually introducing a few rules that may - possibly - help out a few of the more deserving shows that get overlooked.
Last year, Emmy went to a so-called "blue-ribbon" committee that was supposedly a group of experts that were going to revolutionize the voting process and open things up. In a way, they did: These were the geniuses that gave Ellen Burstyn an Emmy for a 14-second appearance in a movie.
The new strategy is to let the entire academy vote, and the top 10 vote getters in each category are then submitted to the committee, which will watch every submission (something that hasn't been done in the past) and then vote. One wonders how nobody could figure out this system in the previous decades.
Also among the changes is the "Burstyn rule" - a performer must appear in at least 5 percent of the submitted movie or TV show to be considered. Hooray for common sense.
Finally, producers and the performers will be able to submit a 250-word essay to explain the context of their submission and why it is Emmy worthy. It's designed to help out the more complexly plotted shows like "Lost" or "Battlestar Galactica," where a voter is likely to be lost if he hasn't watched other installments of the series.
Does this mean that "Battlestar Galactica" and other fringe shows that don't have a lot of mainstream audiences will have a better shot at Emmy glory? In theory. Will it mean actual Emmys for those shows in categories other than technical ones? Probably not.
But at least the Emmy people realize that their system is fundamentally flawed, and hopefully it means that the same old shows don't keep getting nominated over and over and over.
BUFFY SEASON 8: The new Joss Whedon-scripted comic book, which he describes as what would have been Season 8 of "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer," hit the shelves last week.
I read a copy over the weekend, and if you are a Buffy fan, you should get one.
The series picks up in Scotland, where Buffy, Xander and Dawn have their base of operations with their own team of slayers. As usual, Buffy and Dawn are arguing, this time over Dawn's attempts to learn magic without supervision, with hilarious side effects.
Willow is completely absent (the team is searching for her), and Giles and Andrew are mentioned only in passing. The Scoobys, as well as the U.S. military, are investigating a cult of demons that are apparently being recruited into a common cause.
The writing is classic Whedon, with great humor mixed in with the action. The artwork is very solid as well. There's enough there, especially with the return of a popular recurring character from the TV series on the final page, to keep visiting this title, especially since Whedon and most of the other writers from the show are contributing to the comic book.
MONDAY'S BEST BET: ABC's answer to "American Idol" - "Dancing With the Stars" - marks its return tonight with a two-hour premiere at 8 p.m. Bookies have been taking action - I'm not making this up - as to whether Heather Mills' prosthetic leg flies off during a dance routine. It's followed by a new "What About Brian?"
Male firefighters sub for the hot models on a two-hour "Deal or No Deal" (NBC, 8 p.m.), getting rid of the 26 reasons I had to watch this show in the first place, as Howie Mandel & Co. put on Ladies Night.
It precedes a new episode of "The Black Donnellys," which I gave up on last week. Judging by the ratings, so have many others.
"Prison Break" (Fox, 8 p.m.) returns after a week off, no doubt to give the writers a shot at coming up with more preposterous plot points, followed by "24," in which former Pres. Logan tries to hang on for dear life after being stabbed in the shoulder by his ex-wife.
CBS gives us a full night of new episodes with its comedy lineup, beginning with the always-entertaining "How I Met Your Mother" at 8 p.m. A new "CSI: Miami" (CBS, 10 p.m.) follows.
Finally, a new episode of "The Riches" (FX, 10 p.m.) returns after boffo ratings with its debut last week. I found the pilot to be very uneven, and FX seems to be loving the whacked-out characters on its shows a little too much these days. But there are enough elements (especially Eddie Izzard in the lead role) to make me watch one more time.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Emmy Looks To Get It Right?
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3 comments:
Zod,
Item#1: Yes, the critics should pick the Emmys (so long as I qualify for a vote!)
Item#2: No need to diss comic books, arguably the greatest contribution America has made to the world of art. Joss has been writing comics for years, so his writing for comics and TV siumultaneously need not be mutually exclusive.
Years ago, a collection of stories became a graphic novel called "Tales of the Slayer." Written by the likes of Joss, Jane Espenson and other Buffy writers, as well as series star Amber Benson, it was stories of other slayers throughout history and was done very well.
Item#3: The show was very uneven because it couldn't seem to decide whether it was a comedy or a drama, which is why the Minnie Driver stuff seemed so out of whack with the rest of it. It's the second time FX has gone with a whacked-out main character (the other being Ian Hart of "Dirt") and both really brought down the shows they were in. Not the fault of the actors - both Driver and Hart are good - so much as the writers, who are trying to bunch together too much stuff rather than the stories flow organically.
Well, I disagree about Minnie Driver. It's not as if she really IS ON DRUGS and the producers are filming her flipping out, which then gets mixed into the show during the editing process.
Her character has been written as a junkie and a psycho, and her actions and dialogue reflect that. If you or Robert Bianco don't buy Driver as a junkie, fair enough, but it's the show's writers who have made her that way and are trying to work that into the main plot.
Izzard is terrific, and hopefully the WRITERS will tone down the junkie aspect and let the characters interact more naturally.
Comparing The Riches to Big Love is a matter of individual taste.
I have to agree about The Riches. I may stick with it, but only the stuff with Eddie Izzard has been done well.
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