Reuters:

“America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh, whose TV crime show has helped police capture 1,500 fugitives and find 50 missing children since 1988, is being given an honorary award from organizers of the Emmys.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said on Tuesday said it will give its Governors Award to Walsh for making an impact on society through the use of TV.

“John Walsh has dedicated his life to the betterment of society, and while doing so has used television in an inventive and extraordinary way,” academy chief executive John Shaffner said in a statement. “His contribution to society goes far beyond just hosting a hit TV show, but sets a prime example of how television can be used to convey an important message.”

Walsh became known around the world as a crime fighter and victims’ advocate after his 6 year-old son Adam was abducted from a mall near his home in Hollywood, Fla., on July 27, 1981 and found murdered two weeks later.

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The only thing worse than a Bitter, Liberal, Angry, Hollywood Screenwriter is an Unemployed, Bitter, Liberal, Angry, Hollywood Screenwriter (“U-BLAHS,” as I adoringly refer to them).  There are several thousand U-BLAHS hanging about, primarily in Los Angeles.  They haunt the revival cinemas.  Some dicker around, half-heartedly attempting new “careers,” like being a poker dealer in a market oversaturated with same (that’s Liberal thought for you — no understanding of a free market, much less a saturated free market).  Some U-BLAHS film clumsy internet videos from their computer, concocting a list consisting of the dozen most unintentionally bad jokes they can think of in a desperate attempt to deflect their self-hatred onto Conservatives.

You might find them at the Arclight during December and January, when their WGA memberships permit free admission for themselves and a “guest” (long-suffering spouse/partner? Homeless guy they promised a meal to?). Otherwise, they likely couldn’t afford the premium ticket prices there.  Poker dealing doesn’t pay what it used to.

Theirs is a lost generation, having witnessed their dreams of boarding the luxury cruise ship of the Hollywood Elite dashed — instead relegated to the ship of fools, a half-constructed government-funded behemoth inadvertently launched prior to completion, now residing limply on its side as seagulls crap on its hull.   Flailing madly in the bay, arms slapping the waves of excremental runoff from L.A.’s shores, the U-BLAHS emerge onto dry land, greeted by two herds eager to welcome them.  They recoil from the initial herd, despising it as they do, refusing to accept the herd’s membership card involuntarily thrust upon them: that of the Has-Been. Stumbling for escape, the U-BLAHS run into the arms of the only other herd awaiting new membership, the Never-Weres. (more…)

This one goes out to New Blacklist-denier Patrick Goldstein of the L.A. Times….

PopEater:

Known around left-leaning Hollywood for her conservative stances on weighty issues like abortion and stem cells, ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ star Patricia Heaton is happy to explain how important her Christian faith is to her and how it shapes her views and career choices. …

Telling me that she has many gay friends and doesn’t oppose gay marriage, Patricia gets frustrated being automatically lumped together with other conservatives, a characterization she says has cost her possible work.

“We know for a fact there are some people who have said they wouldn’t want to work with us because of our politics,” she said, with her husband David Hunt adding, “We get lumped in with lunatics.”

Who but the worst kind of ideological bigot wouldn’t want to work with Patricia Heaton, one of the most talented actresses to ever star in a sitcom? If an iconic Emmy winner is losing work over her perfectly reasonable right-of-center political positions, what’s life like for those just trying to break in or the 99.7% who live hand-to-mouth in this business of show.

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The 1950s had “Leave it to Beaver.” Today, it’s all about “Modern Family.”

Times – and cultural mores – change, and television responded last year with the Emmy Award-winning comedy from the minds behind “Just Shoot Me” and “Frasier.”

“Modern Family: The Complete First Season,” just released on DVD and Blu-ray, isn’t the laugh riot the press clippings declare. But it’s endlessly smart and satisfying with an ensemble cast that makes picking a standout dicey.

—–

The comedy, shot in that quasi-documentary mode employed by “The Office,” follows one colorfully extended family. Phil and Claire (Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen) have three squabbling kiddies (Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter). Claire’s father Jay (Ed O’Neill) is raising a child (Rico Rodriguez) with his new, curvaceous wife Gloria (Sofia Vergara). Claire’s gay brother, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), is raising an adopted daughter with his partner Cam (Eric Stonestreet).

Subdued hilarity ensues more often than not, and some of it is so expertly arranged it‘ll make you nod in sly appreciation.

“Family” episodes offer multiple plot strands that coalesce in the show’s waning moments. The overlapping plotlines evoke “Seinfeld,” although “Family” rarely reaches into the absurd for its humor. That will have to wait for seasons six, seven and eight. The jokes are typically clean and character based, making them more than just your standard sitcom gruel. (more…)

Several weeks ago, the Emmy nominations were announced and many media outlets celebrated some of the great new programs that were nominated. For instance, USA Today’s Robert Bianco wrote that, “After years of recycling nominees and ignoring new shows, the Emmy voters produced a list that actively celebrates the joy of  TV discovery.” However, along with highlighting some new worthy programs and bringing attention to some solid performances, the Emmy nominations did include some disappointments and also featured a few controversial choices. 

The Good: Two of the best things about this year’s nominations were Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, who were nominated for outstanding lead actor and outstanding lead actress in a drama series for their work on “Friday Night Lights.” These actors have been in their respective roles for four years but have never received the recognition they deserved for their strong performances. “FNL” was also recognized in several other categories with nominations for  “Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series” and “Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.” That latter nomination was specifically for a heartbreaking episode about a former quarterback coming to grips with his father’s death in Iraq.

In addition to recognizing the strong talent of often neglected shows, the nominations also brought more attention to some critically-acclaimed new programs. I still haven’t watched ABC’s new comedy hit “Modern Family” but in its first season, the show has received numerous Emmy nominations to go along with the rave reviews it received when it premiered. In fact, out of the twelve nominations for outstanding supporting actor and outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, “Modern Family” captured five of them in addition to other major nominations, including a best comedy nod. I am looking forward to checking this show out when it comes to DVD.  (more…)

What the heck is it with Betty White?  Her agent is logging a lot of overtime lately (all while shrieking ‘Honey, I Blew Up the Commission Check’).  But who is writing her material – Andrew Dice Clay?  Many parts of White’s recent hosting gig on Saturday Night Live could only be described as demeaning and vulgar.  Sure, there were a few moments… but do we really need to hear 88-year-old Betty White joking about “muffins,” prison sex and lesbians?  NBC’s own PR machine labeled the content ‘raunchy…’ but in a good way of course!  SNL’s Seth and Amy might say, “Betty White in prison garb cracking jokes about rear ends — Really?! No, Really?!”

Betty White is a TV trailblazer and icon – popular actress on the groundbreaking Mary Tyler Moore Show and an hysterical off-beat widow on The Golden Girls.  Her work earned numerous Emmy Awards, the first coming in 1952 for a comedy White starred at her local TV station — a long an admirable career to say the least!

Now, this Golden Girl has entered the Twilight Zone.

Late, late night host Craig Ferguson apparently started making White a regular in recent years (it is not known whether anyone actually watches Ferguson’s show, but studies on YouTube has proven it exists).  The Betty White bit was simple:  sweet, half-cocked old lady says something shocking or offensive – like when she called Sarah Palin ‘one crazy bitch’ during the 2008 Presidential campaign.  Typical, sophomoric and forgettable late-night shenanigans. (more…)

A onetime global but now aging action hero once told me in private how he took pity on an ugly woman pining for an autograph by taking her to bed, only to find that he couldn’t reach climax until he stood up, gazed upon his own image in a full length mirror and finished himself off. Hollywood’s award season is upon us and we are that ugly woman.

The first few months of every New Year, Hollywood accessorizes itself by folding back the sidewalks of Los Angeles and New York and laying down a bed of red carpet. They dress the night up with flashing bulbs, free booze and silicone injected starlets wrapped in ten-thousand dollar Vera Wang sequined napkins. They walk the carpet, upright men in monkey suits, holding fifty thousand dollar gift bags and smiling for the cameras. The cameras suck them in as they sashay and pose, they tell funny little antidotes about how life should be for everyone, while adding how normal they are because they’ve started taking the latest mystical potion. (more…)

I was in grade school when The Gathering first aired in 1977 — right in the middle of that second Golden Era of television that within a few years produced Rich Man Poor Man, Roots, The Night Stalker, Holocaust, Jesus of Nazareth, and Salem’s Lot. And while I missed the Emmy winner for Best Drama back then, twenty years later my intense dislike for Ed Asner’s obnoxious politics almost caused me to miss it again during a rare broadcast late one evening right around the holidays when I couldn’t sleep. 

What a mistake that would’ve been (and after “Up” Asner can now do no wrong). The Gathering kept my full attention until almost dawn and made such an impact that I made sure to grab the first opportunity to catch it on VHS a couple years later. Which is a good thing because for some inexplicable reason one of the best television films ever, and most certainly the best Christmas television film ever, hasn’t been available on home video for years, was never has finally been released on DVD, and only rarely broadcasts on cable anymore.

That’s the long way of saying, keep your eye out because this one’s special and hard to find… (more…)

“Family Guy’s” Stewie

Source:

“Family Guy” on Thursday became the first animated show in nearly 50 years to score an Emmy nomination for best comedy series.

The show’s creator, Seth MacFarlane, says his nomination marks the end of Emmy discrimination against animated TV[.] …

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: WHICH EPISODES DID YOU SUBMIT?

MacFarlane: We submitted three episodes. We submitted “Road to Germany,” we submitted “Family Gay,” we submitted “I Dream of Jesus.” We picked three of our edgier shows as a choice. Ya know, we figured if we are going to be damned, let’s be damned for what we really are.

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The crime is complete. Judgment has been passed. The killing stones are in hand. As per the harsh stoning penal code of Iran’s Islamist thugocracy (for however long that lasts) where the crime took place, my stones are not so big as to kill right away, not so small you can’t call them stones. And I’m winding up like Nolan Ryan. Feel free to pick up a stone of your own. But wait for it!

And let me make this perfectly clear, even if they do say Jehovah!

Sentence must be read before being carried out. And unlike Soraya M., the board members of the Asylum of Motion Picture Airheads and Stooges will deserve every rock that’s thrown their way. I also believe that, in light of events in Iran today, the following commentary will stand out in much starker prominence than it did when I first started reporting on them in early March, when Team Oscar first set off for the Unfriendly Skies of Islamist Iran. (more…)