Jon Hamm courtesy AMC
If you heard someone momentarily flatlining in the audience at the reading of the Emmy nominations Thursday morning, that was me. They were announcing the best drama series candidates and I was mostly on board as I checked my list in the back of the TV Academy theater. Damages. Yay! House. OK. Boston Legal. I don’t approve, but I’m no longer surprised. Lost. OMG! Dexter. OM-Freaking-G! Wait. That’s five. Surely they didn’t leave out . . . And they didn’t. AMC’s dazzling Mad Men, the last to be announced, not only made the cut, it made history. With 16, it’s the most nominated drama of the year, and with FX’s Damages (seven nominations total), represents basic cable’s first-ever breakthrough into the top tier of Emmy accolades for best series. Mad Men also has to be seen as the odds-on favorite for best drama at this point.While we’re on this category—and let’s face it, this is the golden age of TV drama, so this really is t...
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Question: I just had a dream where I ventured several months into the future. And the first thing I did? Run to the computer to see which dramas had been nominated by the Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series. I know, I'm a dork. To my surprise, here were the worthy five: Dexter, Friday Night Lights, House, Lost and The Wire. What a lineup! Also in my dream, I was excited by the Emmys' decision to finally get rid of all the forgettable TV movie and miniseries awards (moving them to the Creative Arts Awards). Too bad I woke up.
Answer: To be fair, ABC's beautiful remake of A Raisin in the Sun and HBO's spectacular John Adams miniseries (which begins this Sunday) are reason enough to keep the movie/miniseries awards in full view. I for one am beyond curious as to how the voting will go between Raisin's Phylicia Rashad and John Adams' Laura Linney, both remarkable performances. But yes, "dream on" where those best-drama candidates are concerned. Personally, I'd bump House in favor of Mad Men ...
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A Raisin in the Sun by Peter Stranks/ABC
Monday's numbers:8 pm/ETABC's presentation of A Raisin in the Sun averaged 12.7 million total viewers over its three-hour run and was No. 1 in the key demos from 9 to 11 pm. That said, in the 8 o'clock hour it was bested by Deal or No Deal (15.32 mil). A special airing of Moment of Truth delivered 8.55 mil for Fox.9 pmNBC's My Dad (7.8 mil) was down 20 percent from its premiere, but still emerged as better than Sarah Connor (7.12 mil, down a mil). The CW's Girlicious matched last week's 1.72 mil.10 pmTrailing Raisin and a CSI: Miami repeat, Medium (7.6 mil) slipped 850K.
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A Rasin In The Sun by Peter Stranks/ABC
You're really not going to find a cast much better than this for a TV movie. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Phylicia Rashad (the former Mrs. Huxtable), Audra McDonald (Private Practice) and John Stamos all star in tonight’s ABC TV-movie version of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. It may seem as though Diddy is out of his league acting in this classic alongside some of the other seasoned cast members (as well as serving as the executive producer), but the critics are raving that this is a must-see performance. Watch it now! | More online videos
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Sean Combs and Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun
"Hello, my wife," jokes Sean Combs, welcoming the beautiful Audra McDonald to the executive floor of his Sean John and Bad Boy headquarters in New York City. They haven't seen each other in about a year, since filming wrapped on A Raisin in the Sun, the ABC TV-movie version of Lorraine Hansberry's classic tale of domestic strife during the fledgling civil rights era (Feb. 25 at 8 pm/ET). The film reunites the cast of the hit 2004 Broadway revival — Combs, McDonald, Phylicia Rashad and Sanaa Lathan — as a family nearly torn apart over how to spend a $10,000 insurance check. Combs' Walter Lee Jr. wants to open a liquor store, while McDonald's Ruth and Rashad's Lena want a new home — that happens to be in a white neighborhood.
TV Guide: In today's
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The network TV-movie is only dead until the next group of dedicated artists comes along to breathe life into it. And life abounds — in all its frustrations and hopes, fears and joys — in ABC's intimate and powerfully moving remake of Lorraine Hansberry's stage classic A Raisin in the Sun, reuniting the main cast of the 2004 Broadway revival.
This means everyone will now get to witness Phylicia Rashad's magnificent Tony-winning performance as Lena Younger, the widowed matriarch and backbone of a family of conflicted dreamers, trapped in a cramped Chicago tenement that becomes a tinderbox of explosive emotions.
An instant front-runner for every major TV-acting prize, Rashad radiates warmth, but also the sort of proud fire that's necessary to keep her family in line as they impatiently await a $10,000 insurance check that could change their lives.
The superstar-marquee draw of the revival was Sean Combs as Lena's ambitious son, Walter Lee, and h
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