Tina Fey by Michael Caulfield/ WireImage.com, Julie Christie by Michael Caulfield/ WireImage.com
If this year’s SAG Awards (simulcast Sunday on TNT and TBS) will be remembered for anything, it won’t be for who won or lost—there was little surprise and virtually no suspense in the no-frills ceremony—but for its symbolic timing in the middle of a painful, industry-crippling labor strike.Airing two weeks after the pathetic teleconference-style Golden Globes braadcast, hobbled together after the threat of pickets shut down that night’s gala, the SAGs (marking the union's 75th anniversary) attracted a glittery gathering of movie and TV stars—although there were still some curious no-shows, including TV winners Alec Baldwin, Kevin Kline and this year’s People’s Choice host Queen Latifah as well as film nominee George Clooney. More than a few voiced their support on stage for their striking brethren in the WGA Guild, including Tina Fey (herself a WGA member) and Julie Christie, who noted, “It’s lovely to receive an award from your own ...
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Cast of "The Sopranos" courtesy Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com
Cheers to the Screen Actors Guild Awards for paying proper respect to The Sopranos. True, it would've been exciting if SAG had chosen up-and-comers like Mad Men or Damages, but those shows will have many more years to win prizes. (Fresh blood was rewarded with Tina Fey's and Alec Baldwin's well-deserved comedy wins for 30 Rock.) By honoring James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and the entire mob ensemble, it acknowledged the importance of HBO's landmark drama for one last time. Even after The Sopranos' swan song, SAG didn't fuhgeddaboudit.Check out TVGuide.com's Screen Actors Guild Awards coverage:• Winners & Nominees• Live Blog: Show Recap, Backstage with the Winners and More• Photos of the red carpet's hottest fashions• Exclusive red-carpet videos
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Arrested Development courtesy 20th Century Fox
As part of TVGuide.com's Strike Survival Guide, we've asked our staff of... staffers to tell you how they are biding their time in these TV-anemic times. Hi, my name is Erin, and I'm a TV addict. (This is where you say, "Hi Erin," as you nervously look around at the other TV addicts.) The WGA strike isn't freaking me out at all, because now I have time to watch all of the shows on DVD that I've been missing for one reason or another. I'm not into reality programming at all, except for American Idol, Ace of Cakes and So You Think You Can Dance. But these days, only Idol is around to console me during this long and sad strike. So, it's back to my DVD sets, to enjoy The Sopranos all the way through, Arrested Development for laughs, Moonlight (so the vampire fans don't stalk me), South Park (to get through gym workouts with a smile on my face and less fat on my ass. Don't you dare call me Cartman), and Twin Peaks, to expand my TV history knowledge. (Plus, David Duchovny in drag? Gotta l...
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Lost by Art Streiber, 30 Rock by Anne Joyce/NBC Photo, The Sopranos by Craig Blankenhorn/HBO
Scoring a pair of nominations each, Lost (for the episodes "Through the Looking Glass" and "The Brig"), The Sopranos ("Made in America," "Sopranos Home Movies") and 30 Rock ("Rosemary's Baby," "Somebody to Love") lead the pack going into the 60th annual Directors Guild of America Awards, to be handed out Jan. 26.Rounding out the best-drama race is AMC's Mad Men, which nabbed a nod for its pilot. Up against the Rock for best-comedy direction honors are Desperate Housewives, Entourage (really?) and Pushing Daisies. Nominations in the TV-movie category went to The Starter Wife, The Bronx Is Burning, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, The Company and Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's One More Day.
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The Sopranos - Season 6 Part 2 [Blu-ray] courtesy HBO Home Video
HBO has joined the parade to Blu-ray after Warner Bros, its distributor, announced on Friday that they were dropping HD-DVD in May 2008. The Warner Bros announcement could be the event that ends the war between high-definition formats. HD-DVD has the exclusive support of Universal and Paramount/DreamWorks, while Blu-ray has Fox/MGM, Warner Bros, Disney, Sony and Lionsgate. Warner Bros, which holds about 20 percent of the market, was a huge win for the Blu-ray group, and leaves Blu-ray with roughly 75 percent of the HD market. The Warner Bros decision has influenced New Line, along with HBO, to make the switch to Blu-ray, but BBC Home Video is bucking the trend and "will evaluate the marketplace before committing to one format" (according to the studio); the studio has four high-definition releases planned for 2008, available on both formats, and has sold more copies of Planet Earth on HD-DVD. Recent notable Blu-ray releases include The Simpsons (Fox), Pirates of the Caribbean: At Wo...
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Omarosa by Tommy Baynard/NBC Photo
Well, that didn't take long. Three days into the new year and I already have a strong candidate for my 2008 worst-of-the-year list: Celebrity Apprentice, which we have to hope is the last gasp for this out-of-gas reality franchise.Enlisting C-listers (which in most cases is a generous label) is the final desperate refuge for most shows in this oversaturated genre, but even by that standard, Celebrity Apprentice is pathetic. As is its attempt to turn the overexposed Omarosa into this season's ice-queen bitch villainess and the instantly tiresome Piers Morgan (the cut-rate Simon Cowell wannabe from summer time-waster America's Got Talent) into her "arrogant English bastard" nemesis (that phrase coined in a teaser by Vincent Pastore, who should have taken his early rubbing-out on The Sopranos as a sign to fade away gracefully).At least Rob and Amber were nowhere to be seen. That's the best thing I can say about this new cycle of Trump-fueled pomposity, which appears to have permanently...
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The Sopranos Hit Up Sesame StreetLeave it to Bert and Ernie to get all Hollywood on us. Our favorite puppet duo has moved behind the camera to direct their own sketches, and guess who they managed to get to play their parts? The Sopranos' Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa. How can you resist seeing Paulie Walnuts with a bushy unibrow and Bobby Bacala with a tri-colored, striped sweater? We can just hear it now: “Ey, Ernie, you talkin’ to me?” Hmm...wonder what their rendition of “Rubber Duckie” would be like. Watch it now! | More online videosFor more great videos, check out our Online Video Guide now!
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30 Rock's Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin by Mary Ellen Mathews/NBC Photo
I suppose I could dwell on the fact that a major Hollywood guild has once again ignored the very existence of TV's finest acting ensemble, Friday Night Lights — in favor of the mugging and posturing on Boston Legal. As they'd say on another SAG favorite, Grey's Anatomy: Seriously? Is it wrong to want to form our own picket line?Also: What's up with snubbing Pushing Daisies and its fantastical cast?And yet the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, announced Thursday morning, did shower love on my favorite new show of 2007, AMC's Mad Men, and its terrific star, Jon Hamm (who has just joined the cast of the remake of the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, which sounds appropriately robotic). So while not all may be forgiven, the wound stings a little less.My favorite part of the SAG Awards is the ensemble-cast category. Because let's face it, most great TV shows rely on cast chemistry. Even The Closer, which on face value looks like a vehi...
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Christina Applegate by Bob D'Amico/ABC, Jon Hamm courtesy AMC
Nominations for the 14th-annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, to (hopefully!) be held Jan. 27, are out, and the big story is on the cinematic side, where Into the Wild topped the pack with four nods, Golden Globes fave Atonement got shut out, and Cate Blanchett is entered in two races. TV-wise, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty and The Sopranos netted three nods each. The details:Male Actor in a Drama SeriesJames Gandolfini, The SopranosMichael C. Hall, DexterJon Hamm, Mad MenHugh Laurie, HouseJames Spader, Boston LegalFemale Actor in a Drama SeriesGlenn Close, DamagesEdie Falco, The SopranosSally Field, Brothers & SistersHolly Hunter, Saving GraceKyra Sedgwick, The CloserMale Actor in a Comedy SeriesAlec Baldwin, 30 RockSteve Carell, The OfficeRicky Gervais, ExtrasJeremy Piven, EntourageTony Shalhoub, MonkFemale Actor in a Comedy SeriesChristina Applegate, Samantha Who?America Ferrera, Ugly BettyTina Fey, 30 RockMary-Louise Parker, Weeds Vanessa Williams, Ugly BettyMale Actor in a TV-movie or ...
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If the barometer of an interesting TV awards show is the number of fresh faces invited to the party, then the Golden Globe nominations (announced Thursday morning) passes the test. Not with a perfect score, mind you. Any institution that so completely ignores NBC's wonderful Friday Night Lights deserves some spirited jeering.And the Globes' addiction to sexy sizzle and hype can lead to some puzzling choices: Big Love, fun as it is, over The Sopranos' final season? Bill Paxton over James Gandolfini? (And if the Globes is going to shower love on Big Love, how could the women who play Bill's wives go unheralded, especially Ginnifer Goodwin?) Californication over Weeds?But let's look at the bright side. The Hollywood Foreign Press clearly spent some time checking out the TV landscape during last summer's remarkable season of cable breakthroughs. My own pick for No. 1 show of the year, AMC's Mad Men, is nominated for best drama, along with its dashing leading man, Jon Hamm. FX's Damages,...
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