2014 WGA TV Nominations

The Writer's Guild follows suit with the producer's guild in announcing their nominees for TV writing this past year. I'm excited to see several of my new favorite shows (Transparent, Last Week Tonight, The Knick, Rectify) make it in here, along with a couple of nominations for Boardwalk Empire's excellent final season:

DRAMA SERIES:

Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
House of Cards
Mad Men
True Detective

EPISODIC DRAMA:

"A Day's Work" - Mad Men
"Devil You Know" - Boardwalk Empire
"Donald the Normal" - Rectify
"Friendless Child" - Boardwalk Empire
"The Last Call" - The Good Wife
"The Lion and the Rose" - Game of Thrones

COMEDY SERIES:

Louie
Orange Is the New Black
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Veep

EPISODIC COMEDY:

"The Cold" - Modern Family
"Landline" - New Girl
"Low Self Esteem City" - Orange Is the New Black
"So Did the Fat Lady" - Louie
"Three Dinners" - Modern Family
"The Wilderness" - Transparent

NEW SERIES:

The Affair
The Knick
Silicon Valley
Transparent
True Detective

COMEDY/VARIETY SERIES:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Inside Amy Schumer
The Colbert Report
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Saturday Night Live
Real Time with Bill Maher

REVIEW: "Boardwalk Empire" Season 5

Fans of Boardwalk Empire who were committed enough to stick with it until the end should be happy that their devotion paid off in spades. The show always had a knack for wrapping things up in satisfying fashion during each individual year- it only makes sense that this would be a handy talent for a final, truncated season of just eight episodes that took its time to give meaningful ends for almost every one of the characters that viewers have followed for five years now.

The approach in this final year was to go at it Godfather II-style, meaning of course that the present day storylines were intercut with the rise of young Nucky in the late 1800's, from poverty to power, wealth and control. It played out a bit slow at first, but as with all Boardwalk seasons, the setup led to an inevitable and dramatic payoff, where after it's over you can think back to and recognize all the pieces that were so carefully put in place for the final showdown. The casting was especially brilliant for this particular part of the story- in flashbacks, Nolan Lyons plays adolescent Nucky with appropriate wide eyed ambition, but then Marc Pickering as young man Nucky is so spot on mimicking Steve Buscemi's voice and mannerisms (no easy feat) that I became entirely involved in the backstory and completely believed that he simply was the Nucky Thompson I've grown so used to all these years. Young versions of Dabney Coleman's Commodore and Gretchen Mol's Gillian were also inspired and utterly believable characters, which fueled the drama of Thompson's early life, as it informed the present.

In the present, eight years had passed since the last season, which unfortunately necessitated some early and offscreen deaths of fan favorite historical characters (we hardly knew ye, Arnold Rothstein), but Terence Winter made sure that certain others, like Michael Shannon's crazed Nelson Van Alden and Michael Kenneth Williams' doomed Chalky White, received satisfying and very final sendoffs. Van Alden's run as a hired goon for Al Capone could only have ended badly for him, as you'd expect, but the show finally made the most use they ever have out of Michael Shannon's particularly nutty sense of humor and cynicism, which actually led to this being one of the funniest and most entertaining arcs Boardwalk has ever done.

Capone himself also played out his date with history, leading the excellent Stephen Graham (who seriously could have starred in his own spinoff show all about Capone) to revel in the alternately horrifying, comedic, violent and drug fueled nature of one of America's most famous gangsters as we meet up with him at the height of his powers, before he's brought down by the feds for tax evasion. Other storylines followed Lucky Luciano as he fulfilled his own rise to power with associate Meyer Lansky, and the sturdy Kelly MacDonald's Margaret finally came into her own as a scheming and cheating Wall Street broker who shares a final farewell with her husband to put closure on a relationship left lingering in a kind of limbo for the past couple of years.

Performances were excellent as always, but the way Boardwalk Empire played itself out in such style and commitment to the truth of the characters made me sad that it had to end here, as there was clearly story enough for at least two more seasons (what I wouldn't give to see more shenanigans with Van Alden and Eli as the bumbling Capone cronies, or Margaret's dealings with the late Rothstein that apparently turned her into such a high class crook). But they did the best they could with what they were given, and their best was good enough to place the show in the pantheon of HBO series that will hopefully live on for years, because as underrated as it was for most of its run, Boardwalk Empire remained a damn good show until the very end. I'm just glad I got to be one of the few who stuck with it.

Grade: A

PROMO: Golden Globes 2015 with Tina and Amy

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are back for the third (and supposedly final) time to host the Globes this year, and I have to admit I'm getting a little sick of them and I'm glad this is it. Like Ricky Gervais, they started out fresh and unexpected the first time, were kinda getting old by the second time, and probably will now just be totally stale. And I'm going to keep saying this, the Globes do NOT NEED A HOST. They went without one just fine for what, 50 years or so? Not every one of these shows needs an emcee. The Golden Globes are airing Sunday, Jan 11th on NBC.

2014 Producer's Guild TV Nominations

For some reason, the PGA TV nominations are announced way ahead of the film nominees, which aren't revealed until Jan 5th. Their choices for television this year aren't all that interesting- it's a bunch of the same old, same old (I don't get how Breaking Bad is on this list- I could have sworn the last season was over months before last year's PGA awards), so the coolest nomination for me is to see John Oliver make it in for the first season of Last Week Tonight, which was truly one of the best shows of the year. The PGA awards ceremony (for film and TV) will be held in late January.

Drama

Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
House of Cards
True Detective

Comedy

The Big Bang Theory
Louie
Modern Family
Orange is the New Black
Veep

Non-Fiction Television

30 For 30
American Masters
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Shark Tank

Live Entertainment & Talk

The Colbert Report
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Real Time with Bill Maher
The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon

Sports Program

24/7
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Atlanta Falcons
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Cincinnati Bengals
Inside: U.S. Soccer's March to Brazil
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

Children's Program

Dora the Explorer
Sesame Street
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Toy Story of TERROR!
Wynton Marsalis: A Young Arts Masterclass

Digital Series

30 For 30 Shorts
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Cosmos: A National Geographic Deeper Dive
Epic Rap Battles of History
Video Game High School Season 3

SNEAK PEEK: "Better Call Saul"

Here's a look at a scene from Better Call Saul, which is premiering on AMC Feb 8th, in the hopes that the network can recapture some of the Breaking Bad buzz before it has no other shows on the air that anyone watches (besides The Walking Dead). Looks like they're bringing Jonathan Banks back too, as this looks to be the first time Saul met Mike. Will you be checking this out in February?

FIRST LOOK: "Sherlock" Special

The first set pic has been released for the Sherlock Christmas special, which is apparently being filmed in January and set to air next Christmas. Kind of a long wait, huh? After that comes Season 4, which will air in 2016, so to hold us over we have to get excited for pictures like this, I guess. Still kinda works, though.

RECAP: SNL 11/22 "Cameron Diaz"

So, the Thanksgiving show of SNL tonight was pretty mild, although that makes it easier to sit through than a bunch of sketches that are aggressively painful. Still, there was nothing that got above C-level material for me with this one.

COLD OPEN: A Schoolhouse Rock spoof that shows Obama kicking the bill down the steps in favor of the immigration executive order. They seem to want to take the right wing point of view that executive orders are bad, but of course you have to leave out crucial facts in order to make that point- you know, like the fact that the order would be immediately superceded by a congressional bill if Congress EVER wanted to pass one, which they can do at literally any time. That seems like a pretty important detail they left out. Don't you think?

MONOLOGUE: Cameron comes out and takes lame questions from the audience about what it's like to work in movies. Some very lazy stuff here- obviously they couldn't think of anything to have her do in a monologue this week.

BALLER GIRLS: I never really liked this one when they did it last year, but I guess a lot of people did. All the female cast members rap about being home for Thanksgiving, but for me it's just as meh as it was before.

ANNIE: A spoof of Annie, which happens to be Cameron's movie coming out in December. Leslie plays a grown woman version of Annie, but the whole thing isn't funny at all.

NEST-SPRESSO: A weird ad for incubating farm eggs to get real little chicks. I don't honestly know what the joke is here. Forgettable.

THEATER SHOWCASE: A high school theater troupe puts on a performance art play called 'Whispers of America'- more lameness. Every sketch tonight is just making me shrug my shoulders before forgetting it entirely.

UPDATE: More lame immigration jokes that conveniently forget to tell you the KEY details of the order. Do your research, SNL. Michael jokes about Cosby but very reluctantly, because he obviously loved him. Personally, I think comedians that don't go after him for this awful scandal are being cowards. Just because you liked him doesn't mean you knew the guy. Kate comes on as Angela Merkel and is funny, because her Merkel always is, and then Taran and Cecily show up as Charles Manson and his new fiance, but that bit could have been much funnier.

BABY BOSS: You know I've always hated this sketch, but this time I tried to pay really close attention to see what is I might be missing. It's just Beck acting out baby movements, that's all it is. I don't get it.

ANIMAL HOUR: Kenan is the host of an animal show, but the monkey he has on yanked his balls off last time- yeah that's it. Kenan's actually kinda funny here, but it's not that special.

ANDY RYDELL: Kyle's pre-taped high schooler attacks Beck's popular kid- never liked any of Kyle's taped bits, as you know. This one's no different, although at least it's short.

POETRY TEACHER: Vanessa's hippie poetry teacher makes an appearance again, but honestly, this sketch has never figured out what to do with this character. Other people come up and read poems, but it's not funny. Vanessa is, but her teacher doesn't seem to be the actual joke of this skit and she should be. Ugh, the writers SUCK.

PHONE SEX: Cecily, Kate and Cameron want you to call them for phone sex and other favors. They're all going for it, but once again, their jokes aren't funny. Whatever. Thank god we're at the end.

So, Cameron was alright (you might have noticed I barely mentioned her contribution in this one), but not given anything to work with, etc, same old, same old. It's getting hard to come up with new complaints about this show, because it always suffers from the same thing. This episode gets a C-, not because there was anything decent, but mostly because every sketch was at that level, so it averages out. Here's one new thing I can say- if you're going to write political sketches, do your fucking research and at least get the premise of your bad jokes right. I think that's literally the least they can do. I'll be back on Dec 6th with James Franco- until then Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your one week break from SNL's awful season!

TRAILER: "Peter Pan Live"

Here's an actual trailer for the upcoming NBC production of Peter Pan, and we get to see real footage (presumably from rehearsals) of the actors playing their parts. Christopher Walken looks to be totally sleepwalking through this, although I don't know exactly what I was expecting. I also have to say that Alison Williams doesn't look all that impressive, but it is just rehearsal footage, so we'll see. Let's just say she's certainly no Mary Martin, although few people who watch this will even know who that was. Shame. Look her up, people.

RECAP: SNL 11/15 "Woody Harrelson"

Well, it wouldn't be Saturday night without another dreadfully dull, painfully subpar SNL episode, this one seeming to get worse and worse until the very last sketch of the night, where Kate (of course) comes in to rescue the last two minutes, but until then...ugh.

COLD OPEN: Jay's Obama gets drunk with Taran's Mitch McConnell after the midterms, getting sillier as the night goes on and prank calling Hillary Clinton. It's slightly better than the other political skits they've done this year, but it's still a pretty mediocre bit.

MONOLOGUE: Woody Harrelson comes out in his usual goofy, spaced out self, joking about having smoked weed backstage, which I seriously do not doubt based on his performance tonight. He sings about the last year he hosted, which was 1989, and then the Hunger Games guys (including JLaw) come out and make him feel old, because they're all under 24. Actually they manage to screw up a lot of the dialogue and everybody collapses into giggles, which is kinda funny, but not planned or anything. It's a bit of a mess.

DUDLEYS: An ad for a family sitcom that takes aim at the political correctness whining on Twitter, forcing the show to make changes to have a gay couple, an interracial one, etc. It's on point with the complaints, but it's not exactly hilarious. Better than a lot of the night though.

MATCH'D: A dating show with three sleazy guys (Beck, Kyle and Taran) hitting on the girl choosing between them, but they change their tune when Woody, the host of the show, turns out to be her father. Lame.

A NEW DAY: This seems to be a Pete centered bit, but he doesn't get any lines or anything. He and a bunch of other New York stoners finally see the light of day after the new law that makes carrying a small amount of weed legal in the city. It's one joke pounded into the ground, really. They needed something to happen in this sketch.

HALFTIME: Woody's football coach teaches his college players the new tackling rules to prevent concussions. Kenan appears as a brain damaged retired player. This one is kind of like the family sitcom bit- making an obvious point but not hitting any punchlines.

YOUNG TARTS AND OLD FARTS: An ad for duets with old singers and newer ones that lets everybody's celebrity impressions show up. Typical SNL fare, but few laughs.

UPDATE: Colin and Michael mostly make a bunch of Kim Kardashian ass jokes, then Leslie comes on as the relationship expert, but I really just don't find her all that funny. Finally, Woody comes out with Taran as Matthew McConaughey for a True Detective reunion, but I don't think Taran's rambling McConaughey is nearly as great as say, Andy Samberg's Nic Cage was. Another bad Update, which has quickly gone from being a highlight to a consistent lowlight of each episode now. Replace Colin and Michael with Beck Bennett. I'm telling you, at least try him out here. I have a feeling he'd work it solo, even.

GUYS AT A BAR: Bobby, Taran and Kenan reminisce about New York City in the old days, while Woody is an undercover cop trying to get them to admit to smoking crack. It's okay, pretty mild.

CAMPFIRE SONG: Wow, this was AWFUL. Seriously, who the hell wrote this sketch and what on earth was the joke? Woody has the misfortune of being the center of it, as a guy who wants to sing a made up song by the campfire that nobody else knows, but then they do and someone gets splashed, and....WTF? I have no explanation for this total misfire, but I would like to know who came up with it. Was it Kyle?

DONNELLY'S: Ah, so as usual, Kate comes in with her reliably funny, gross drunk lady hooking up with an equally gross random at the local bar. Woody does okay, but the best of these was the first one with Louis C.K. Still, Kate gives me the one good laugh of the night. Why don't they use her more? Again, I ask because she's clearly the biggest talent of this group.

So there you go. Woody was alright as host, and the first half of the show was mostly meh compared the second half, which turned aggressively painful until the last minute or so. But all in all, I have to give this one a D-. Cameron Diaz is up next week, becoming the latest repeat host to try and bring some life to this abysmal 40th season. If I were on the writing staff, I think they ought to be celebrating this anniversary year by showing at least one classic sketch per week during the show- at least that would guarantee one funny bit every time out, which is a goal only occasionally reached with the original material. See you guys next time!

TEASER #2: "Justified" Season 6

Ava joins the fun in this second teaser for the last season of Justified, implying that she's going to abandon both Boyd and Raylan to their final showdown with each other. No premiere date yet, but I still can't wait!