Question: Well, it's that time again — time to rejoice and weep about the Emmy nominations. I was actually pleasantly surprised this year. After last year's debacle (it can't be called anything else), I wasn't expecting much. But this year, probably 75 to 80 percent of my wish list was granted, which, when it comes to Emmy nominations, is pretty good. Nothing's perfect, of course: In particular, I was disappointed that Lost wasn't nominated for best drama (but Boston Legal was? What?) and that Matthew Fox and Elizabeth Mitchell weren't recognized for their riveting performances. As a new convert to Friday Night Lights, I was also disappointed (but hardly surprised) to see that the show received no nominations at all. But there was good news to balance things out: I was particularly thrilled to see nominations for Ugly Betty, and for America Ferrera and Vanessa L. Williams. I also think they got it right in nominating Sally Field, Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn for their great weekly ...
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Remember how Charlie Brown used to end up on his back every time he went to kick the football after Lucy pulled it away? Well, that was me, in the pre-dawn of Thursday morning at the TV Academy building in North Hollywood, as the first Emmy category (for best drama series) was read aloud. Amid a gaggle of impatient media crews and anxious publicists, I once again felt sucker-punched by the cluelessly inexplicable whims of the Emmy nomination process. (Go here for a list of nominees.)The football analogy applies because, once again, the Emmy system dropped the ball, failing to acknowledge NBC’s critically worshiped freshman underdog Friday Night Lights, instead finding room for ABC’s cartoonishly lurid freak show Boston Legal (on the basis, so I hear, of a rare detour into quality with a post-Katrina episode). A chagrined Academy source tells me that Friday Night Lights came close, but speculated that it may have flown too far under the radar in a way overcrowded field. Hea...
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Those promos at the end of last week's episode were right. We finally got answers to so many questions involving Orson's past:— He was in a psychiatric ward in 1976 after the supposed suicide of his adulterous but religious father. (But now we know Gloria staged the suicide the same way she was trying to stage Bree's.)— Gloria had blamed Orson for her husband's death, saying Orson was supposed to watch out for him, but chose to go out with friends.— It was Gloria who killed Monique with Mike's wrench.— Orson buried Monique in the dirt while Gloria removed Monique's teeth (ouch).Ahh... closure, at last. I knew it would be good tonight since it was written by Marc Cherry and Joe Keenan. As discussed here before, Marc had to finish up Bree's story line earlier than originally planned due to Marcia Cross' pregnancy. I was very happy that Gloria ended up alive at the end. When Ida Greenberg found the bodies of Alma and Gloria lying on the lawn, I figured they were bot...
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Three weeks ago (when the last new episode aired), I briefly whined: "When oh, when will we get to see Monique in flashbacks again?" So you know I was screaming with joy when I got my wish tonight! Not only did Monique (Kathleen York) reappear in a flashback, but we also got so many answers, as did Mike Delfino, all thanks to his hypnotherapist (Miriam Flynn). So Mike didn't kill Monique — Orson framed Mike by giving Mike his wrench back — the wrench that had Monique’s blood on it. Now we know why Mike's phone number was written on Monique's hand. We also know that Mike never dated Monique: "I'm flattered, but I'm seeing somebody." Monique: "Me, too, but he's married and I'm drunk." I do wonder what Orson told Bree when he "confessed" and told her "the truth." He said she was upset, but apparently not too upset, since she was still living with him before the ladder accident. As usual, we got some answers but were still left with further questions. Like, why would Glor...
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After last week's laugh-filled hour, tonight was a bit of a letdown as far as the humor level goes. This doesn't mean I didn't like this episode — I just enjoyed it less, and I am in agreement with those of you who are starting to get a bit tired of the Alma story line. When, oh, when will we get to see Monique in flashbacks again? At least we know that those teeth are actually Monique's, as expected, and we found out what Alma was injecting herself with — hormones, so she'd get pregnant more easily. Speaking of which, how about Alma giving Orson both sleeping pills and Viagra so that she could rape him while he was passed out? I do give the writers (Valerie Ahern and Christian McLaughlin) credit for making references to Viagra without actually mentioning it, like Alma saying she gave Orson something "to keep the part of you I need nice and perky." That was pretty creepy when Gloria mentioned how much she wanted a grandchild while Alma got ready for her night with Orson by...
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