Tina Fey, Jim Parsons
An extra slot in this year's Primetime Emmy categories meant fresh, new nominees as Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, How I Met Your Mother, Jim Parsons, Simon Baker and more newcomers joined Emmy stalwarts like 30 Rock, House and The Office on the ballot.
NBC's 30 Rock was the most-nominated show with 22 nods, and HBO had the most nominations of any network with 99.
See the full list of Emmy nominees
Parsons, who announced the nominations for the 61st Primetime Emmys Thursday with Grey's Anatomy's Chandra Wilson, benefited ...
read more
Big Love
Desperate Housewives
9 pm/ET ABC
Edie's worst fears are coming true tonight, and knowing that Nicolette Sheridan will soon leave the cast makes the Dave-Mike-Katherine camping trip all the more portentous. Back in Fairview, meanwhile, we'll see how Lynette's new job is going. Hope for the best, but certainly don't expect it. Also look for Bree to take a drastic step in dealing with Orson's kleptomania problem. And old friend Karl Mayer (Richard Burgi) pays another visit to Susan.
Read on for previews of Big Love, Cold Case, Breaking Bad and Flight of the Conchords.
read more
The Middleman
New releases announced today, March 19:
Flight of the Conchords - The Complete 2nd Season will be coming out August 4
The Middleman - The Complete Series will be coming out July 28
Robot Chicken - Star Wars: Episode II will be coming out July 21
Secret Diary of a Call Girl - Season 2 will be coming out June 30
Visit TVShowsOnDVD.com for the complete stories on these and other news items.
read more
Art Garfunkel
Wait, was that really the Art Garfunkel on the March 1 episode of HBO's Flight of the Conchords (Sundays at 10 pm/ET)? Yes! Conchords' Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie wrote the episode, titled "Prime Minister," around him, and then prayed he'd say yes to a cameo. Garfunkel says he took "a leap a faith" and signed on without seeing a script.
In the episode, Jemaine and Bret book a gig as Simon and Garfunkel lookalikes, where they meet Karen (guest star Mary Lynn Rajskub, 24's Chloe), a woman who asks Jemaine on a date. The catch: He has to wear his Garfunkel costume, even when they have sex — she calls it "Garfunkling." We talked to its namesake about being immortalized by such weird comic geniuses, his recent reunion with Paul Simon and his quest for the perfect Simon and Garfunkel cover song.
read more
Hugh Jackman
Barbara Walters Special
7 pm/ET ABC
Red carpet? Barbara Walters don't need no stinkin' red carpet to snag A-listers for her Oscar preshow. Tonight's lineup includes two of the most talked-about nominees: first-timers Anne Hathaway and Mickey Rourke. Guest Hugh Jackman wasn't nominated, but he is tonight's Oscar host. Besides, he won an Emmy in 2005 — for hosting the Tonys. (Jackman also won a Tony in 2004.) Then there are the Jonas Brothers. They may not have any ties to the Oscars, but does that really matter?
Read on for previews of 81st Academy Awards, Flight of the Conchords, Eastbound & Down and United States of Tara.
read more
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords (aka your favorite Kiwis Bret and Jemaine) may not be back on HBO until Jan. 18, but Funnyordie.com is streaming the Season 2 premiere episode online. So what is "New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo a capella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo" up to this season? First up, they're working on a jingle for Femident, an organic toothpaste for women. Plus: Mel's back!
Watch the full episode after the jump.
read more
William Petersen (CSI), Terry O'Quinn (Lost) and Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory)
Starting with this week's column, Matt Webb Mitovich and Mickey O'Connor welcome fellow senior editor Tim Molloy to the Mega mix. Every Wednesday, our troika of scoop-hunters will answer your questions! (To that end, send all queries to mega_scoop@tvguide.com.)
I will be sad when William Petersen leaves CSI, because I don't think he will be able to be replaced. I will watch the first week he is gone, but I don't think I will watch it after that. — Fox
MATT: Normally I turn a blind eye to Mega Buzz questions not phrased as such, but this topic begs addressing. Having sneak-peeked this Thursday's (super-creepy!) episode, in which Gil first shares his decision to leave CSI, I concur that yes, it is going to be very hard to say goodbye come Jan. 15. But I must put this out there: Give change a chance. After getting a feel for Laurence Fishburne's criminology prof, I'm curious ...
read more
Flight of the Conchords by Nicole Rivelli/HBO
Flight of the Conchords' next season take-off may be its last.According to The New Zealand Herald, famous sons Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie shared with British magazine Q that they were seriously mulling ending the series after the second season due to the creative struggles they've encountered in making it."The second series seems to me like it would be a good end to the show," McKenzie said. "I feel like another 10 [episodes]... that will be enough."The duo, which used already written tunes in the show's first season, is still in the process of writing the new music narratives, which they've found "difficult.""We've got a lot of half-songs," Clement said. "We've got an album's worth of beginnings of songs." Season 2 of the HBO cult hit was scheduled for a 2008 bow, but has since been postponed until next year. The comedy is up for four Emmys this month, including two in the Original Music and Lyrics category. — Joyce Eng
read more
Question: I have a quick question for you regarding the 10 series finalists for this year's Emmys. It seems to me that HBO always manages to get acknowledged (even when I feel they shouldn't). The fact that Flight Of the Conchords made it over the other comedies you mentioned seems strange. I know this show has its fans (many of my friends love it, and personally I love the musical interludes but not the show), but it's a very quirky show, one that seems like it would be ignored if on a major network. Meanwhile, none of the CBS comedies you mentioned got a nod. Plus Desperate Housewives had a creatively revitalized season and gets ignored, but Entourage — for its weakest season — is a finalist. I also agree with you that those other CBS comedies (How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, The Big Bang Theory) are superior to Two and a Half Men. Anyway, it just seems like years after it was earned, HBO always gets by on their cachet from 10 years ago.
Answer: I agree that
...
read more
Lee Pace and Anna Friel in Pushing Daisies by Scott Garfield/ABC
At least now we know which shows don't have the proverbial snowball's chance in Hollywood of getting best-series nomination. Underdogs like Battlestar Galactica, Breaking Bad and The Shield (to name the top drama snubs from my own cheat sheet) and How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, The Big Bang Theory (three superior CBS comedies passed over for Two and a Half Men, again) as well as Desperate Housewives (whose creative comeback failed to sway the Emmy nominators) and the beyond-edgy Californication.All were shut out when the TV Academy released its list of top-10 contenders for best drama and comedy series, which now submit themselves for inspection this weekend by a blue-ribbon panel whose rankings will help narrow the cut to roughly five in each category. The lists are heavy on hip cable fare: four in comedy, and fully half of the 10 drama contenders. Critics' darlings that have survived so far include Friday Night Lights, The Wire, Dexter, Mad Men, Damage...
read more
