Friday, September 30, 2011

Tina Fey and Eva Longoria are Highest Paid TV Actresses

Forbes says Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria, 36, and 30 Rock honcho Tina Fey, 41, are at the top of its list of television's highest paid actresses.

Fey made $13 million last year (May 2010-2011) as producer and head writer for the NBC Emmy-winning sitcom in which she also has a starring role.  She is drawing additional income for the 30 Rock syndication deal and her book, "Bossypants."

Longoria's $13 million earnings last year came largely from her role in the ABC program and from endorsement deals with LG and L'Oreal.  The 36-year-old's three main co-stars Marcia Cross, 49, Terri Hatcher, 46, and Felicity Huffman, 48, also made the list.  Cross made $10 million while Hatcher and Huffman earned $9 mil a piece

Also bringing in $10 million was Mariska Hargitay, 47, of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Former Friends actress Courtney Cox, 47, now on Cougar Town, earned $7 million, with some change drawn from her role in "Scream 4."

Others on the top ten list were Marg Helgenberger, of CSI, $10 million; Ellen Pompeo of Grey's Anatomy, $7 million; and Julianna Margulies of The Good Wife, $6 million.  No doubt she'll be asking for a raise following her big Emmy win earlier this month.

You can view the whole list at www.forbes.com.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

X-Factor Tops Idol for Many Reasons

After weeks one and two of the X-Factor, I like it.

It's the same as American Idol, only better.

The extended age range of contestants makes it interesting as does the welcome addition of acts with multiple performers.  It's also a plus that there will be fewer "audition" episodes.

I'm especially delighted to see and hear from Simon Cowell whose commentary ranks highest of all TV judges.  He's critical, but fair and honest - and he makes me laugh.  In the initial episodes, he liked so many performers that you might have thought he'd changed, but I believe there are simply better singers on this program.

I also welcome the return of Paul Abdul.  She might be an eccentric, but she knows music and, though she is more complimentary than Cowell as a rule, she can be critical while remaining supportive of the artists.

I don't know if this will last through the performing episodes, but X-Factor seemed to have fewer music bumpers, those intros and outros with the annoying music that proliferate Idol, but have no use but to merely fill time.

The success of the X-Factor may be bad news for its main competitor, which returns in January, though the latter may be spared because the two are not in direct competition.  It's hard to know if audiences will be tired of singing competitions by then.  Huge numbers of viewers watched America's Got Talent over the summer.  Now they're watching X-Factor.  Enough might be enough by the start of the new year.

If I have to choose between A (American Idol), B (America's Got Talent) and C (X-Factor), I'll pick the X.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

FOX Orders More Episdodes of New Girl

FOX has ordered 11 additional episodes of New Girl, bringing the series to a 24-episode season order, the network announced today.

New Girl premiered as FOX’s highest-rated fall sitcom debut in 10 years. FOX claims it is the number one rated Tuesday series among adults 18-49 and the season's number one series among adults 18-34.  It is not, however, drawing the ratings that NCIS does on Tuesday nights overall.

After next Tuesday's episode (October 4th, 9 p.m.) two subsequent episodes of New Girl will air at special times, Wednesday, October 12th (9:30-10:00 p.m.) and Tuesday, October 18th, 9:30 p.m.

Among upcoming guest stars on the show is Justin Long (“Live Free & Die Hard,” “Going The Distance”), in the role of a music teacher who catches the eye of Jess (Zooey Deschanel).

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Andy Rooney to Step Down from 60 Minutes

Here is copy from today's news release from CBS announcing that Andy Rooney will step down this Sunday:

Andy Rooney will announce on this Sunday’s 60 MINUTES that it will be his last regular appearance on the broadcast.

Rooney, 92, has been featured on 60 MINUTES since 1978. He will make the announcement in his regular essay at the end of the program, his 1097th original essay for 60 MINUTES. It will be preceded by a segment in which Rooney looks back on his career in an interview with Morley Safer.

“There’s nobody like Andy and there never will be. He’ll hate hearing this, but he’s an American original,” said Jeff Fager, chairman CBS News and the executive producer of 60 MINUTES. “His contributions to 60 MINUTES are immeasurable; he’s also a great friend. It’s harder for him to do it every week, but he will always have the ability to speak his mind on 60 MINUTES when the urge hits him.”

Rooney began his run on 60 MINUTES in July 1978 with an essay about the reporting of automobile fatalities on the Independence Day weekend. He became a regular feature that fall, alternating weeks with the dueling James J. Kilpatrick and Shana Alexander before getting the end slot all to himself in the fall of 1979. In Rooney’s first full season as the 60 MINUTES commentator, the broadcast was the number one program for the first time.

He had been a contributor to 60 MINUTES since the program’s inception. During the first season of the broadcast in 1968 he appeared a few times in silhouette with Palmer Williams, 60 MINUTES’ senior producer, in a short-lived segment called “Ipso and Facto.” It was one of many experiments the program’s creator, Don Hewitt, tried as an end for the program. Hewitt settled with the Point/Counterpoint segment that Kilpatrick and Alexander appeared in for a few years before finding the perfect coda for 60 MINUTES in Andy Rooney.

Rooney also produced 60 MINUTES segments for Harry Reasoner during the broadcast’s first few seasons. He wrote his first television essay, a longer precursor of the type he does on 60 MINUTES, in 1964, “An Essay on Doors.” From 1962 to 1968, he collaborated with Reasoner, with Rooney writing and producing and Reasoner narrating, on such notable CBS News specials as “An Essay on Bridges” (1965), “An Essay on Hotels” (1966), “An Essay on Women” (1967), “An Essay on Chairs” (1968) and “The Strange Case of the English Language” (1968). That same year, he wrote two CBS News specials in the series “Of Black America.”

His script for “Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed” won him the first of four Emmy awards. “An Essay on War” (1971), done for PBS, was his first appearance on television as himself and won Rooney his third Writers Guild Award. Later, he wrote, produced and narrated a series of broadcasts for CBS News on various aspects of American life, including “Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington,” for which he won a Peabody Award, “Andy Rooney Takes Off,” “Mr. Rooney Goes to Work” and “Mr. Rooney Goes to Dinner.”

Beginning in 1979, he wrote a weekly syndicated newspaper column that was recognized by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists when he was presented with its Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2003. That September, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. The Overseas Press Club gave him its President’s Award in 2010 for his reporting in World War II for The Stars and Stripes. Rooney joined CBS in 1949 as a writer for “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” a Top 10 hit that was number one in 1952.

He also wrote for “The Garry Moore Show” (1959-65), helping it to achieve hit status as a Top 20 program. At the same time, he wrote for CBS News public-affairs broadcasts such as “The Twentieth Century,” “News of America,” “Adventure,” “Calendar” and “The Morning Show with Will Rogers, Jr.” In addition to magazine articles he wrote earlier in his career, Rooney is the author of 16 books, most recently Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit, was published by PublicAffairs in 2009.

Rooney’s other books are: Air Gunner; The Story of The Stars and Stripes; Conquerors’ Peace; The Fortunes of War; A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney; And More by Andy Rooney; Pieces of My Mind; Word for Word; Not That You Asked...; Sweet and Sour; My War; Sincerely, Andy Rooney; Common Nonsense, Years of Minutes and Out of My Mind. Rooney was born Jan. 14, 1919, in Albany, N.Y. He attended Colgate University until he was drafted into the Army in 1941. In February 1943, he was one of six correspondents who flew with the Eighth Air Force on the first American bombing raid over Germany. 

Rooney lives in New York. He has three daughters and a son.

Monday, September 26, 2011

The Good Wife: Take Two

The Good Wife is back on CBS and the writers have given the show a new lead character.

Alicia Florick, having slept with Will Gardner (Josh Charles), her boss and former Georgetown classmate, has shed her "good girl" image.

If she didn't look like Julianna Margulies, I'd have though they switched women completely.

The change is welcome.

The old character was overly serious, without humor, even severe.  It was frustrating to watch her show so little emotion while navigating the most maddening circumstances.

Along with the legal/political/intra-office intrigue that was always great, there's now the romance that in last night's episode was as graphic and climactic as it could have been with two completely clothed actors.  (Well played director Brooke Kennedy.)  The network censors must have blinked and missed it.

The set-up for the rest of the season was intriguing as well.

Alicia and Will embark on a campaign of subterfuge to throw others off their scent.  They're very convincing, except to Diane (Christine Baranski) who smells blood, per next week's teaser.

The competition between the law firm and the State's Attorney's office, now headed by Big, sorry, Peter Florick (Chris Noth), looks promising, especially as Cary (Matt Czuchry) pits Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) against Alicia.

Even the kids' storyline, which was woven into that of the adult action last year, looks cute.

And I haven't even mentioned the internecine dealings of Eli Gold, the wonderful Alan Cumming.

Bottom line: the new Good Wife is excellent.

Check Out this Ratings Story

Interesting story in today's Times by Bill Carter on TV ratings for last week, the first of the new season.
www.nytimes.com
The first week of the television season suggested that comedies are making a comeback and reality shows may be reaching the saturation point.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Will ABC's Pan Am Fly? A Review

Marketing ABC's Pan Am. This came with today's Times.
ABC's self-proclaimed, yet so far unrealized blockbuster, is certainly gorgeous to look at.  The planes, the blue sky, the blue uniforms, the Mad Men look and especially the people, are all beautiful.

But I'm not so sure it's going to stay in/on the air.

Of course, the first episode is just a set-up.  There was a lot groundwork to lay, which included flashbacks, so I'll try to be fair by saying it's hard to know exactly where the show is going.
  There are many characters who look alike, particularly the women in uniforms, so it's hard to distinguish, at first glance, who's who and what's what.

The essence seems to be that Pan Am is full of exciting people who "want to see the world" and we'll meet them.  We'll find out who's running away from something, who's sleeping with whom, who's a troublemaker and even who's working for the CIA.



Like Playboy Club, there's the requisite 60's misogyny.  The women have to weigh in.  They're not allowed to be married and they're required to wear girdles (Spanx for younger readers).  In essence, the female airline employees are treated like dancers at a men's club.  Frankly, I find that difficult to watch.


Equally sad is that many of the characters seem to be suffering from some past trauma and that the tone of the show is somewhat foreboding of further trouble.

What's more peculiar is that the producers don't seem to be springing for location shooting.  I expected shots of London, Paris and other exotic places, but the closest thing to Paris we saw was a snow globe with the Eiffel Tower inside.  Instead, there are cheesy indoor shots on sound sets, albeit those dressed up like Rome, and more than enough scenes inside the plane.

What this all adds up to is a sort of maudlin undertone for a show that was promised as something fresh and uplifting like the 60's era of freedom and new-found excitement.
 

On the other hand, the network clearly wants this show to succeed.  In addition to a couple of big stars like Christina Ricci and a high powered director/producer - Thomas Schlamme of the West Wing - the marketing campaign has been phenomenal. 

There can't be a person in the U.S. who isn't aware of Pan Am the TV show. Even within the program, there's advertising.  There are so many Pan Am logos about that if the actual airline wasn't extinct, you'd think it was product placement.

Given the amount of money ABC is pouring into this project, I'll reserve total judgement.  Someone at the highest level believes in this program and is betting on it.  It's too early to retract the flaps.  For now, it's wings up.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Station Breaks: AMC's Last Day on ABC & More

Don't forget to set your DVR, via your phone, if you have to.

Today's episode of All My Children is the finale on ABC and there will be some surprises, including the return of David Canary playing the dual roles of Adam and Stuart (back from the dead) Chandler.

The production company, Prospect Park, has promised to bring AMC back on the Web beginning Monday, January 16, 2012.  Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery) and Lindsay Hartley (Cara Castillo) have signed on for the new version.

The View today will also have Susan Lucci as co-host and is dedicating the whole episode to AMC with guests from the show.

On another note, if you watch tonight's season premiere of Blue Bloods you'll catch Cassidy Gifford, daughter of Kathie Lee and Frank, as an underage girl in a bar trying to come on to (or get a drink from) Jamie Reagan (Will Estes), the youngest son of Tom Selleck's character.  Cassidy is the one on the left who does most of the talking

The Big Bang Theory was the ratings winner last night in a big premiere night that included the GOP debate on Fox, the debut of Community and Parks & Recreation, the second installment of the X-Factor, and Charlie's Angels on ABC.  Believe me, Big Bang deserved the win.  It was funny.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Fox Orders 13 Episodes of new Kiefer Sutherland Show

Fox announced today that the new Kiefer Sutherland show, Touch, will debut in Spring 2012 with 13 initial episodes.

Kiefer will play a character very different from his Jack Bauer on 24.

In Touch, Sutherland is Martin Bohm, a widowed single father who is unable to connect with his mute 11-year-old son, Jake.  When a social worker comes to help, Martin discovers that Jake is a staggering genius who can see things no else can, and he can determine the patterns that connect seemingly unrelated events.

"Every once in a while, you encounter a piece of material that you just cannot say no to,” said Sutherland, an Emmy and Golden Globe winner, in a news release.
 
Jake ends up using numbers to communicate with Martin after the father meets Arthur Dewitt (Danny Glover), a professor and expert on children who's also a numbers genius.   The show will focus on how Martin and Jake exchange information and how Martin begins to decipher meanings and connect the numbers to the cast of characters the two encounter.

Video Previews of Fox's Terra Nova

If you're into Sci-Fi and you liked ABC's Lost, you might be interested in the new Fox show Terra Nova.  It follows a family as it time travels back to prehistoric Earth.  They're part of an experiment to save the human race which, in the year 2149, is dying.  The planet, it seems, is overdeveloped and overcrowded with little to eat since everything is extinct - plants and animals.  To save mankind, a number of people are chosen to go back to the past to resettle humanity and start over.  Fox calls it " a second chance to rebuild civilization and get it right this time."

From what I've seen, and I've only seen bits and pieces, the show is dark and hazy with the kind of cloud that hangs over a program that's overproduced with an obfuscated story.  You can watch for yourself beginning Monday at 8.  In the meantime, here's some video Fox is showing.




Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Another Gordon Ramsey Show Planned: Hotel Hell

FOX announced today that Chef Gordon Ramsay, who is already behind the programs MasterChef, Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen, will launch a new show with the working title, Hotel Hell.  Start date was not announced.

Ramsey, recipient of 12 Michelin stars, has run restaurants in some of the top hotels around the world and operates a boutique hotel in London. 

In the new series, he and a team of "hospitality experts" will travel the U.S. to fix struggling hotels and those that are not up to par, in his opinion.

From Fox, "From dirty bedrooms and mold-ridden bathrooms to incompetent staff or customer service that’s not up to par, Ramsay and his team will work with the hotel employees to turn these hapless establishments around.  As he tries to turn these 'No'-tels into successful hotels, Ramsay – in his own inimitable style – will go head-to-head with the owners and staff, raising the tension to maximum capacity." 

Review: Fox's New Girl

As you already know now from all the Fox hype, New Girl stars Zooey Decshanel as Jess, a woman who moves in with three guys because her old apartment is inhabited by the boyfriend she found with another woman.

To say the boys are immature would be a gross understatement, but then again so is Deschanel who tortures them by sobbing while watching “Dirty Dancing” again and again and again. 

Jess is a mess and she’s annoying.  The boys are pretty much complete jerks.  There’s insensitive Coach (Damon Wayans, Jr.), the tough guy, social climber Schmidt (Max Greenfield) who tries to go to all the hot parties, and Nick (Jake Johnson) who’s crushed after being dumped by a girl.  The fifth character is Jess's friend, a model who makes Jess all the more attractive to the guys.

I guess the idea is that she’s going to tame them while they fix her.   No doubt, one will end up being her boyfriend (probably Nick who seems the most human) – if the show lasts that long.

The resolution of the pilot episode did offer some hope.  The guys show their sensitive side by giving up the evenings they had planned to be with her.  By the close, they do seem pretty endearing.

I was prepared to say I hope someone out there will let me know what happens, because after the first few minutes I didn’t plan to try again to find out.  But now, I might be hooked.  New Girl may be worth getting to know.

Bloomberg Reports Paid TV Viewership Will Decline

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reporter Andy Fixmer has an interesting story about the decline in paid cable viewership as more young people just watch their favorite shows online and bypass the cable companies.

New TV Season, and Fewer Viewers: Pay-TV Subscriber losses, and younger viewers wathcing online spell trouble

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Review: Castle Season Premiere

It was a very dramatic and gory beginning to the new season of Castle last night on ABC.

Rick tells Kate he loves her after she's shot at Captain Montgomery's funeral.  His death was part of the web shrouding her mother's death a number of years ago.

The mystery continues as does the unrealized romance.  Though Kate and her surgeon boyfriend are no longer, she claims she must resolve her mother's murder before moving forward with her life.

That prospect is dim since the precinct's new female captain is the stereotypical hard-nosed management type without a brain, who even insists on being called sir, and seeks to thwart the Castle/Kate detective team.

The bottom line is that last year's season-ending cliffhanger remains unresolved. And the chase for Beckett's mom's killer is on hold because Castle received a threat that convinces him to convince Kate to take a break.

Maybe next year.  In the meantime we get to enjoy a good show as we await the consummation of the romance that would probably be a show killer anyway.

Review: 2 Broke Girls


Produced by Whitney Cummings, who’s also producing and starring in the trite Whitney on NBC, and directed by the stellar James Burrows, 2 Broke Girls should be great, but does not deliver.

The set-up is that two 20-something women, Caroline (Beth Behrs) and Max (Kat Dennings), end up as diner waitresses, Caroline because her family lost all its money and Max because she never had any to begin with. 

The show is full of diner clichĂ©s.  Their boss is a short Asian man whose name is Bryce Lee (get it, close to Bruce Lee?).  Another character is a slovenly, lecherous chef named Oleg whose nationality is yet another example.  Max’s boyfriend is a jerk who cheats on her, so she throws him out.  Garrett Morris is the diner cashier who tries, but fails to be funny.

The gags in this show don’t work and the fish out of water story line is old, tired and lifeless.  So is Max, the down and out character who acts like a bitter shrew.  The girlfriends/besties story might work and there may be improvement as the two women work towards their goal of opening a cupcake shop, but I’m not betting on it.

Whitney Cummings must have thought she was having a really good year with both shows going on the air at once, but somehow I don’t think so.  I’m pretty sure the 2011/12 TV season will end in disappointment for her.

Review: The New Two and a Half Men

Ashton Kutcher makes a late entrance into the new incarnation of Two and a Half Men, in the wake of Charlie’s (Charlie Sheen) funeral.

His entrance, though somewhat comical, is trumped by the eulogies and appearances by the angry women in Charlie’s life, all of whom say they are there to spit into his coffin.  The funniest moment comes when Rose (Melanie Lynskey), his stalker of many years, relives the couple’s supposed trip to Paris, her finding Charlie with another woman and his subsequent “accidental” fall onto the metro tracks.  Berta, the family maid played by the talented Conchata Ferrell, deadpans, “Never cross a crazy woman.”

With the exception of Jon Cryer (Alan), Charlie’s family members don’t seem too upset either.  They rush to sell his home for the cash, but find it’s mortgaged to the hilt and there’s no cash to be had.

And so begins a parade of potential buyers that makes way for cameos by John Stamos and Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as their old ABC Darma and Greg characters.  Huh?  They’re all friends of producer Chuck Lorre.

Following the second instance I’ve seen of a dead person’s ashes ending up all over a character (Rescue Me), Ashton Kutcher enters.  He’s Walden Schmidt, a pathetic billionaire, if there can be such a thing.  Tossed out by his wife, he makes a deal with Cryer to buy the house.  The episode is “to be continued,” but I’m guessing Walden lets Cryer and Angus T. Jones (Jake) stay.

In the episode's final minutes we learn that, like Charlie, Walden is a “chick magnet” who brings home numerous women at a time, though he's a naive womanizer.  Subsequent episodes, therefore, promise the same old show with the same old gags.  On the plus side, Kutcher looks great as the crazy rich guy with a beard and long hair.

Terra Nova Video Preview/Interview

Terra Nova premieres with a two-hour episode on Fox Monday, September 26th at 8 p.m. Here's an interview with one of its stars, Jason O'Mara, who plays Jim Shannon, a father whose family is taken from world to another.

Exclusive New Girl Video from Fox

Here is new video from Fox featuring interviews with characters from New Girl with Zooey Deschanel. Premiere is tonight at 9 p.m.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Modern Family Dominates the Emmy Broadcast


Modern Family cleaned up at the Emmys, as it should have.  It won for best comedy series for the second year.  Modern Family is an amazingly well acted and well written show that captures family life in an outrageously comedic way.  Good for them and for the performers, including Julie Bowen (Claire) and Ty Burrell (Phil) who took home acting awards in the supporting category.  (All of the show’s actors were nominated in supporting roles, a generous move by all.)  The show also won for directing and writing.  Producer Steve Levitan, in fact, was one of the funniest award recipients.

It’s too bad the producers of the Emmy broadcast and Fox couldn’t learn a thing or two from the Modern Family team because the broadcast itself was just so-so.


Jane Lynch’s opening number was creative, but only mildly funny and borrowed too much from Billy Crystal’s stellar Oscar openings.  Lynch walked through the sets of a number of shows and interacted with the characters, which had a couple of entertaining moments, but her monologue and the rest of her shtick were unmemorable. 

Lynch was also a loser in the “What were they wearing?” category with her ill-fitting spacesuit-silver lamÄ— gown, which didn’t fit her personality.  She was joined by Julianna Margulies, who’s usually stunning, but had a weird, futuristic-looking dress that looked like white, molded plastic with huge fake jewels attached.  I guess it’s okay since Margulies won as best lead actress in a drama (The Good Wife) and gave a nice thank you to her castmates, writers and producers.  The series was robbed, however, when Mad Men won for best drama - again.

In the “What were they thinking?” category, Michael Bolton’s (in a Pirate costume) musical number was as cheesy as Rob Lowe’s Snow White musical number on the Oscars back in 1989.  A later number from LL Cool J was only slightly better.

And, I don’t know why the presenters were denied the opportunity to read the lists of nominees; instead there was a narrator who performed those honors.  Where is the fun when you can’t watch the presenters flub someone’s name?

Highlights of the show were a few of the produced film numbers, including a remote appearance by Ricky Gervais, who said he was not permitted to be in the studio after his maligned turn as Golden Globe host last year.  In fact, he said he’s no longer allowed on American soil during an awards show.  Even funnier was the way the piece was edited to make it seem like he was swearing and making obscene gestures throughout the whole thing.

Another good clip had actors from other shows being interviewed on the set of The Office, as in the device used on that show.  There was good comedy in the notion of having Ashton Kutcher show up on that set thinking he’s taking over for The Office’s Steve Carell; he is then told he belongs on the Warner Set for Two and a Half Men.

It was cute that all the nominees in the best lead actress in a comedy category bolted onto the stage and that the awards presentation was turned into a beauty contest with winner Melissa McCarthy receiving a tiara and roses along with her Emmy.  Afterwards, McCarthy, of Mike and Molly, gave Amy Poehler credit for the routine.

Jim Parsons received his second Emmy in a row for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, besting Steve Carell who was a favorite for his final year as Michael Scott.  Parsons gave a gracious nod to his co-star, Johnny Galecki, also nominated, but didn’t mention Carell.

For his last season, Kyle Chandler won as best actor in a drama series for Friday Night Lights.

Kudos to Charlie Sheen who wished the best to his former colleagues at Two and a Half Men.  He was lucky to be there since many had called for him to be banned from the Emmy show.

All in all not a bad year for the Emmys, but not a great one either.

Here is a complete list of 2011 Emmy winners:

Comedy Series: Modern Family (ABC)
Drama Series: Mad Men (AMC)
Mini-Series or Movie: Downton Abbey (PBS)
Reality-Competition Program: The Amazing Race (CBS)
Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
Actress in a Comedy Series: Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly (CBS)
Actress in a Drama Series: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife (CBS)
Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie: Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce (HBO)
Actor in a Comedy Series: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Actor in a Drama Series: Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)
Actor in a Mini-Series or Movie: Barry Pepper, The Kennedys (ReelzChannel)
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Julie Bowen, Modern Family (ABC)
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Margo Martindale, Justified (FX)
Supporting Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie: Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Ty Burrell, Modern Family (ABC)
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones(HBO)
Supporting Actor in a Mini-Series or Movie: Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce (HBO)
Writing for a Comedy Series: Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman, Modern Family (ABC)
Writing for a Drama Series: Jason Katims, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)
Writing for a Mini-Series, Movie or Dramatic Special: Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey, (PBS)
Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
Directing for a Comedy Series: Michael Alan Spiller, Modern Family (ABC)
Directing for a Drama Series: Martin Scorsese, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)