Early Emmys: Hathaway, NPH and a Mad Men Rant

I've neglected to mention that Our Miss Anne Hathaway is now an EMMY winner. (The Emmys have so many hundreds of categories, that they have to start weeks before the actual show in passing them out.) Next step: Oscar... or maybe Tony? (she did get bang up reviews for her theater gig in Twelfth Night, too) Yay! She won the prize for her Simpsons voicework in the episode "Once Upon a Time in Springfield."


Voicework for The Simpsons is always a good idea for actors.

1. You get paid.
2. It's probably fun.
3. It's a pop culture merit badge. Many celebrities have have had the honor -- everyone from La Pfeiffer through George Takei to Don Cheadle -- but you're still in a cool club.

But... you don't actually win Emmys for it. That can't be a reason to do it. While the principle Simpsons cast (Yeardley Smith, Julie Cavner, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellanata, Hank Azaria) has won several Emmy awards, Hathaway is only the third non-series regular to win or even be nominated. The first was Jackie Mason who guested on three episodes as Rabbi Krustofski. Kelsey Grammar, who has "appeared" in 13 episodes won later. Maybe they changed the rules and this won't be so unlikely in the future I don't know -- it's so hard to keep track of Emmy rules and there hundreds of categories.

<--- Red Carpet Break. To your left is Kristin Chenoweth & Kathy Griffin doing Charlie's Angels on the red carpet. They're such hams. I don't watch Life on the D List that often -- finding KG funny but quite wearying in repetition -- but the recent episode that Cheno appeared in was hilar', especially when they went all Singin' in the Rain moment with Kathy "singing" with Cheno's voice.

Some Early Prizes
Guest Actress Comedy Betty White SNL
We knew that was coming but she did not attend. Strange.
Guest Actress Drama Ann-Margret Law & Order: SVU
Was she a victim, a perp, a witness? Doesn't matter. She's Ann-Margret! (pictured further down the page)
Guest Actor Comedy Neil Patrick Harris, Glee
He finally has his Emmy, two of them actually since he also won as part of the Tony ceremony team. Congrats NPH. Now have those babies with Burtka and take that well deserved break. Just don't stay away too long.


Guest Actor Drama John Lithgow Dexter.
I haven't seen this particular season yet but it's about to arrive for my viewing. Lithgow is practically magnetized when it comes to awards statues so it's a little weird that he couldn't manage the Oscars. I think if he went back to movies full time, it'd be a done deal. He has 4 Emmys, 2 Golden Globes and 2 Tonys. No joke.
Host, Reality Series Jeff Probst, Survivor.
Are people still watching that. Sheesh. Expiration dates, people!
Casting Comedy Series Modern Family
Casting Drama Series Mad Men
Both casting awards are well deserved, don't you think... especially Modern Family in its first season. Mad Men only had to find key new players and guest stars.

A couple more notes...

Wendy?
Yes, Lisa.
Is the water ready?
Yes, Lisa.
Shall We Begin?
Yes, Lisa

Wendy and Lisa, pictured above to the right, won for scoring Nurse Jackie. They have a different type of career since those 80s Prince paisley rock days but it's still celebrated, so good on them. Nurse Jackie is such a strongly conceived show up to and including those opening credits and the music. I still think it's pilot episode is one of the most perfectly constructed pilots television has ever seen. It's fun to see Wendy holding a golden trophy. Now, can Wendy's wife Lisa Cholodenko (a different Lisa mind you) repeat that trick at the Oscars for The Kids Are All Right?

RANT! And finally because the Emmys always find some way to piss me off, it should be known that The Tudors bested Mad Men in the field of costume design. This means that Joan Bergin now has three Emmys for her four seasons of eligible work on The Tudors thus far and the absolute genius of Janie Bryant, Mad Men's costume designer, is still zero for three (though she won previously for Deadwood). Bryant goes home statueless each year of Mad Men despite delivering complex ultra-specific character costuming work with evolving period details that has also affected actual fashion trends in the outside world it's so smartly executed. Blasphemy!

See, Royalty Porn is the simplest statue-winning trick at the Emmys, too. It's not just the Oscars that will always give you a prize for dressing Queens.


...or undressing them in the case of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.
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A Picture's Worth A Thousand Yesses

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JA from MNPP here. Have you guys seen the cast list for You Again? I mean sure it's made by the guy who made Race to Witch Mountain, but it co-stars those two firecrackers above along with Betty White, Kristen Bell, Cloris Leachman, Victor Garber, and Kristen Chenoweth! Will it be too much of a good thing? Will they all just stand around with nothing to do? I don't care, I could watch these people stand around with nothing to do. They'd do even that delightfully, I wager. More on the movie here. More pictures from it here. And here's the trailer:

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It's out on September 24th.

Sigourney Weaver Jamie Lee Curtis

The Golden Girls. Rue McClanahan (1934-2010)

And then there was one. Rue McClanahan, best known as "Blanche" on the eternal sitcom The Golden Girls has passed away at 76 after years of health problems. That leaves only the increasingly popular Betty White as the last Golden Girl standing, there to receive all the love we have left for these awesome women.


Rose (White) was my favorite but Blanche (McClanahan) the runner up in the laugh-generation department for me (I've always loved the saucy dames). I was just thinking about The Golden Girls yesterday because my mind was drifting to the upcoming Emmy nominations. The Emmys are often quite terrible about divvying up the goods, giving way too many prizes to the same shows and performers over the years. But in the case of The Golden Girls, the Emmy voters seem to have a very welcome and secret conspiracy to spread the wealth; All four of the women won one statue for their famous characters. Betty won it in '86, Rue in '87 and Bea & Estelle both took it home in '88. Other famously strong ensembles (like Friends and Sex & the City) didn't have any such "you're all winners!" awards luck. Only Cheers comes to mind immediately as a similarly lucky recipient of "spread the wealth" mentality: Woody Harrelson, Shelley Long, Bebe Neuwirth, Kirstie Alley, Ted Danson, Rhea Pearlman all won that golden winged woman for their efforts.

<--- Rue co-starred with Dustin Hoffman in Broadway's "Jimmy Shine" in 1969 (photo src)

"Blanche" as a character seemed to fit Rue like a glove (though she was originally intended for Betty) and will easily dominate memories of her acting work. Maybe it was all those husbands (she married six times) that gave her such facility with that man-crazy character?

But Blanche is not the whole story. Rue had been a working actress since the 1950s when she first hit the stage. In fact, she returned to Broadway for a stint as "Madame Morrible" in Wicked just five years ago. She also appeared in 21 movies over the years including They Might Be Giants (1971), the early gay film Some of My Best Friends Are... (1971) and post-Blanche comedies like Out to Sea (1997) and, inexplicably, Starship Troopers (1997).

Blanche seemed to prize her body above all but Rue showed real heart. She fought actively for both the ethical treatment of animals and gay rights. Thank her for being a friend.
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i said your link your link your link is my drug

Variety finds the new Robin Hood too self serious. [gladiator voice] Are you not entertained unsurprised?
Movie|Line "The Summer of Discontent" why is this summer so empty and 2011 so packed?
USA Today the latest info on Julie Taymor's The Tempest starring Helen Mirren
Boing Boing Star Wars in 2 minutes with Legos
Dear Old Hollywood a Goonies 25th anniversary celebration coming up in June


Marie Claire Fatal Attraction going on stage by Christmas. Happy uh Christmas bunny haters
Just Jared Awwww, the Supermen together. Makes one miss Christopher Reeve though (sigh)
In Contention poster and images from Biutiful starring Javier Bardem
After Elton Neil Patrick Harris ranks Hollywood men. I can't believe he went there
Queerty why can't Cam & Mitch kiss on Modern Family? This is a weird topic since same sex kissing happens literally every week on Brothers & Sisters. That particular TV taboo has long since been broken

Finally, have you seen the Betty White SNL yet?



This compilation is helpful for those of us who get around to these things later. I tried to watch yesterday on Hulu -- I can't be bound by air times! -- and then reading opinion pieces from around the web I realized that I'd somehow missed some of the skits. So I'm hoping this video has them all. Which was your favorite? I lol'ed about the census taker (the 'kitten' in Betty's lap... priceless) and "just let her stay home and lez". Teehee