Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul talks to Vanity Fair about Jesse and the show ending:
Jimmy Fallon's Breaking Bad Spoof
From Late Night:
Laura Prepon and Orange is the New Black
I should probably warn people that if you consider cast changes a spoiler then you shouldn't read this. But it has officially been reported now that, following the rumors (and soft denials) that Laura Prepon wouldn't be coming back as a regular for Season 2, she will in fact, be back for just one episode next year to wrap up her storyline.
Now, if you watch the show you know that this is a pretty major shakeup. Prepon was essentially the second lead (she even got second billing after Taylor Schilling) and this would seem to change the storyline in a huge way, because her relationship with Schilling's character, Piper, was crucial and developed throughout the whole season (and appeared to have a lot more territory to explore in the coming seasons). Plus, she was actually really good on the show, much to my surprise, having never thought much of her on That 70's Show all those years. I don't know...this seems like a pretty stupid move on her part, very David Caruso-esque, to abruptly leave after just one season of a breakout show (arguably Netflix's best original series so far).
The big rumor going around is that this has something to do with her religion (she's a Scientologist) and the discomfort with all the lesbian activity she engages in on the show, but I don't get it. If that was the issue, how could she even do one season? That was practically the first thing we learned about her character Alex, in the first episode. I guess the assumption is that there's been some pushback on her now that the show has aired, but she couldn't possibly not know what she was getting into when she signed on for the part. The whole thing's very weird and I think it's a big mistake, but luckily, OITNB is an ensemble show, and I assume with Alex gone, the focus on Piper will have to decrease further as the show adjusts by becoming even more of one now. But it really is too bad, because I liked her (to me she was the only thing that made Piper interesting), and I wanted to see where that story was going to go, especially with all the set-up and back story they gave it.
Kennedy Center Honors
This year's Kennedy Center honorees have been announced and they include:
- Opera Singer Martina Arroyo
- Pianist and Composer Herbie Hancock
- Rock Star Billy Joel
- Actress Shirley MacLaine
- Guitarist Carlos Santana
So, a big music theme this year. The honors will be presented on Dec 7th, at a dinner hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry, and the annual celebration will be taped on Dec 8th, attended by President Obama. The special will then air on Dec. 29th on CBS.
EMMY WATCH: Predictions- Lead Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:
- Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
- Jason Bateman (Arrested Development)
- Matt LeBlanc (Episodes)
- Don Cheadle (House of Lies)
- Louis C.K. (Louie)
- Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
You know, this field of nominees might even be weaker than those supporting categories. I'm going to have to go with two-time winner Jim Parsons as kind of a default choice. His episode was the funniest of the group, so he's not undeserving of this again, but the rest of them are just so mediocre. I do have affection for Jason Bateman and he'd be my choice, but given the lack of love for the show this season, I just don't see them voting for him. The only thing that may help him is the fact that he's in the entire 30 minutes or so of his episode. Louie got an exceptional number of nominations this year so you can't rule C.K. out, but I don't think voters look at him as doing anything other than playing himself (as he has even said). It's actually a tough call, because everyone is more or less on the same level, but I'd say Parsons for the win.
Will Win: Jim Parsons
Should Win: Jason Bateman
Dark Horse: Louis C.K.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:
- Tina Fey (30 Rock)
- Laura Dern (Enlightened)
- Lena Dunham (Girls)
- Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
- Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep)
Finally! A category infused with some competition (and due to quality, not who's the least mediocre). Frankly, either Tina Fey, Amy Poehler or Julia Louis-Dreyfus could win here and I'd be happy with it, but based on the episodes themselves, I think JLD takes it for the second year running. It's a slam dunk episode that sees her walk through a glass door, berate her staff while high on pain meds, and nearly wipe out in a race before getting one final, even dramatic monologue at the end. I don't see how anyone beats her and there doesn't seem to be any awards fatigue over her yet. She's beloved and would be the highly deserving winner, but I'd say there's an outside chance Tina Fey can win again with her episode, which was the 30 Rock finale, and sentiment for that could maybe catapult her to the top (she was also really great in that episode). The other women I don't think have much of a shot here, unless there's some random faction in the viewing panel that thinks of themselves as edgy and wants to give it to Lena Dunham (which better not happen because I think she's terrible in her coke-fueled episode and really, pathetically unfunny). Otherwise, it's probably Dreyfus or Fey.
Will Win: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Should Win: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Dark Horse: Tina Fey
Well, that's it! Be back on Saturday with my predictions for Comedy Series.
"Better Call Saul" Greenlit by AMC
Well, that didn't take too long. In an unsurprising move, in light of the ratings explosion for Breaking Bad this season, AMC has officially given a series order for Better Call Saul, the Saul Goodman spinoff for Breaking Bad, set to be a prequel show about Saul (Bob Odenkirk), before he became Walter White's attorney. That certainly still leaves Saul's fate up in the air for the last few episodes of the season, but I bet what AMC wishes more than anything is that they hadn't agreed to have Breaking Bad end like this two years ago, before they knew what a cultural phenomenon it would become in its later seasons.
EMMY WATCH: Predictions- Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series
So with the Emmys coming up on Sept 22nd, it's time to make my own predictions for who's going to win. I'll be handicapping the major categories over the next couple of weeks, starting here, with the one that happens to be the weakest. Now, these aren't going to be wishful thinking on my part, just a flat out prediction about who's going to take home the trophy.
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series:
- Jane Krakowski (30 Rock)
- Jane Lynch (Glee)
- Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)
- Julie Bowen (Modern Family)
- Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie)
- Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory)
- Anna Chlumsky (Veep)
Ok, so despite the seven nominees who made it in, this is a very weak category based on the submitted episodes, with only two likely contenders for the win, and that's Jane Krakowski and Julie Bowen. Out of the two of them, I'm going to go ahead and say Bowen takes it for the third year running. Lame I know, but this is certainly not unprecedented for the Emmys, especially in this category, which has seen multiple repeat winners over the years, from Rhea Perlman (Cheers) to Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) and Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond), all of whom won several years in a row for their roles. Julie Bowen's going to join the club, simply because Krakowski's screen time in her episode is limited and no one else has any real stand out scenes. If Krakowski pulls it off it'll be because this was 30 Rock's final season and it's the last chance to give it her, which would be great, but I'm not convinced that the love for 30 Rock is all that overwhelming (the show hasn't won a single Emmy since its third season).
Will Win: Julie Bowen
Should Win: Jane Krakowski
Dark Horse: Jane Lynch (this would be nuts, but her character is nutty and she's won it before; they may go back to her as an alternative to Modern Family fatigue and lack of enthusiasm for 30 Rock)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:
- Adam Driver (Girls)
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
- Ed O'Neill (Modern Family)
- Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
- Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live)
- Tony Hale (Veep)
Another weak lineup, from which I'm going to have to go back to a default Modern Family guy and past winner, Ty Burrell. See, everything would be different if any of the Arrested Development guys had the made the cut here (if the voters had actually watched past the first or second episode, which I'm convinced they didn't.) Will Arnettt would have wiped the floor with all of these guys based on screen time alone. Sigh. But back to the winner- Burrell has the funniest episode and it's that simple for me. Adam Driver I think is great on Girls, but that's appreciated more as a performance over the whole season rather than in a singular episode, and Tony Hale just isn't focused on enough (he is funny, but we get him in small bits only). I would really love to see Bill Hader win, and the Seth MacFarlane hosted episode he submitted was a good one, but his funniest sketch is the one where he's a puppet, which kinda hampers his screen time as well. It's probably Burrell or Ed O'Neill, who hasn't yet won for Modern Family, so he may have some of the sympathy factor going on (being a veteran TV comedy actor who's never won and all).
Will Win: Ty Burrell
Should Win: Bill Hader
Dark Horse: Ed O'Neill
TRAILER: "True Detective"
This upcoming HBO series is an 8-part thriller that tracks the hunt for a Louisiana serial killer over the course of 17 years and reunites EDtv co-stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Count me in. Premieres in Jan 2014.
SNL Hosts Announced
Saturday Night Live's 39th season kicks off soon and the hosts for the first few episodes have just been announced:
Season Premiere, Sept. 28th- Host Tina Fey; Musical Guest Arcade Fire
Oct. 5th- Music and Guest Host Miley Cyrus
Oct 12th- Host Bruce Willis; Musical Guest Katy Perry
RECAP: The Newsroom 2x08 "Election Night, Part I"
So we're back after a two week break, and it's Part 1 of Election Night 2012 (as the title so aptly describes). As you'll remember, Leona has refused to accept the resignations of our heroes, Will, Charlie and Mac, which has caused wariness and anxiety among the staff, as we see Charlie raving about in Will's office to Will and MGH, who is apparently their lawyer in this whole thing- and boy do I feel stupid, but I must have completely missed that while I've been watching this season. For the life of me, I was under the impression that lawyer lady MGH was working on behalf of disgraced producer Jerry Dantana this whole time. I guess I was put off by how much everyone constantly belittles her and assumed she was the villain. Not that she can't take it, as she continues to do in this episode, seemingly getting quite a kick out of it, actually.
Anyway, MGH agrees no one should resign, but Charlie is especially disturbed by this and doesn't see how they can stay on- Will apparently is doing fine though, appointing himself in charge of "morale" for election night coverage and doing his best the whole episode to be friendly and encouraging for once, which is kind of amusing. Mac doesn't buy it however, and spends the hour asking him to tell her how he really feels about the whole Genoa thing and her responsibility for it, saying he's just a time bomb waiting to explode. Will disagrees and tells her they ought to put if off until the next day at least, refusing to tell her what she wants to hear, and somehow this all comes back to their continuing relationship problems stemming from Will's inability to forgive her for her affair, which was now 6 years ago. Will feels he shouldn't have to get over it on anyone else's timeline, and we see once again, how deeply the hurt he felt from that incident has affected his interactions with Mac ever since. But I don't know, for me all this was kinda redundant and at the same time, sprung out of nowhere, because they haven't focused much at all on Will and Mac's relationship this season (to my ongoing appreciation actually- I like seeing them work together, but there's really no need to get them together romantically, in my opinion).
Mac wants to be fired by Will personally in this episode, since he's the only person who can do it without needing Leona's permission, and by the end she wears Will down to the point where he agrees to fire her the next day (but something tells me that won't actually happen). Elsewhere on Election Night, Jim spends his time skyping with Hallie to update her on the situation at ACN, and I'm sorry but these skyping scenes are so silly to me- he's always doing it right in the middle of the whole room, and just to update her on the latest gossip within the office? He also mistakes a call for a congressional race in South Carolina, which freaks him and Maggie out because if they're seen retracting a called race Charlie will send them to work in the Department of Sanitation (Charlie's pretty funny tonight actually, running around threatening people and pleading to be fired), so they decide to leave it and hope the race holds on as it should. Maggie in this episode declares that she hates Jim (???) and in her quest to scoop him on breaking news, she works with Don to squeeze a story out of a source in exchange for holding off information about the source's congressional candidate making similar comments to those of the infamous Todd Akin ones about rape. The mystery of Maggie's ridiculous haircut continues and deepens this week, and of all the compelling storylines that I've wanted to see resolved, the questions about Maggie's hair were definitely NOT the most pressing on my mind. But if that was the engine pulling you along all season, it does promise to resolve itself in the season finale, so there you go, one more reason to tune in. I'm sorry, I know I say this every week, but I really can't stand this character and I think Alison Pill needs to make a swift exit off this show. She's the only weak link in the cast at this point.
Meanwhile, Sloan, who was already my favorite and just becomes more and more so every week, has had a book of hers sold at an auction for $1000, but the problem is she didn't sign it herself, which makes her feel bad and she begs Neal to find out who bought the book so she can correct this error. She's adorably funny, guilty and witty about this throughout the whole episode, and it's not revealed yet, but since they didn't have a scene together tonight, I'm willing to bet a million bucks it was Don who bought the book, which will lead them to their long awaited hook-up (I hope) next week. Don tonight is also funny in the bit parts he's in, as he has an encounter with MGH because Jerry Dantana is now suing him in a separate suit from the one he's filed against ACN, claiming Don labeled him a sociopath when he was called as a reference when Jerry applied for a new job at Kickstarter. Don did of course, but he's amusingly defensive and self-righteous about it.
If you can't tell, this was another bounce-around-the-newsroom episode, because it all takes place on Election Night with everyone in the same place, and some characters are relegated to even smaller parts, like Neal, saddled with Sloan's task and Mac's, who forces him to change her Wikipedia page because it claims she went to Oxford and not Cambridge, an egregious error to which she takes great offense- but really it's all because of her desperation to get even minor things right in the wake of the massive failure that was Genoa. We see Will at the news desk, having to spend the night doing the rambling that all cable news guys do on nights like this, where results come in slowly, leaving them with lots of air time they have to fill with mindless chatter and bickering, mostly with Taylor, who's come back to be the on-air Republican strategist they can fight with over the 47% tape (was wondering when that would get brought up). There's also Elliott in a spoof of Fox News and CNN's constant wandering into the "data rooms" to harass the people at the computers who have no new information to share with them at any moment- and that's all pretty accurate as I remember it from watching election night coverage on the various cable channels.
No Jane Fonda this week, but we do get Reese, in a really funny scene where Charlie drags him away from his upper floor viewing party to again beg to be fired, and Reese actually agrees and wants them all gone, but confesses in a hilarious rant that he has no power and his mom doesn't let him do anything. Charlie leaves defeated as MGH smirks in the background, and Chris Messina was so good in that scene that it kinda makes me wish we got Reese more often.
The episode ends with Don and Maggie getting the hot story that his source (or "shower buddy" as Maggie calls him) promised, and the two of them telling Mac, Will and Charlie that General Petraeus is about to resign over his affair and the ensuing soap opera that was the nutty scandal engulfing the military generals last year. The three are of course, stunned that it happens to be a story involving armed forces shenanigans after the fake scandal they just had to retract, and Charlie throws a tantrum in the middle of the newsroom as Will gets back on the air, telling to Taylor to have at him over his personal politics. I can't remember exactly when that Petraeus story broke last year (it was close to the election, but was it that close?), but I suppose them having a source that knew about that is at least more plausible than the guy they had last season who knew literally everything about the BP oil spill on day one (actually it was minute one) of that story. And that's it, folks- come back next week for Part 2 and our season finale! The show's just been officially renewed for Season 3, so we'll have a lot more Newsroom to look forward to for quite a while.
