Dream Emmy Ballot: Best Supporting Actress In A Comedy

With the announcement of Emmy nominations right around the corner, I think it is time to break down what I believe should be the Emmy nominations for the year.  As always, these are just my opinions and are based on the shows that I watch.

I had a lot of issues with the best supporting actress in a comedy category last year.  I thought a lot of deserving actresses got left out in the cold.  It seems a lock that Jane Lynch will win again, but i thought the character of Sue Sylvester on Glee was pretty awful this year.  Here are the six people that i believe are most deserving of a nomination.

Modern Family had another solid season in its 2nd season of airing.  A lot of the funniest parts had to do with Sofia Vergara.  This season, instead of having her just say things in a funny manner, the writers actually realized that they had a very funny actress on there hands.  Vergara only grew more confident with her timing and with physical comedy. She's earned her place back in the nomination field.

While Glee had a fairly poor season in my opinion, I do think there is a worthy nominee in the field, and it's not Jane Lynch.  Heather Morris really accomplished.  She took Brittany, a character who barely spoke in season 1, to the most developed, funniest character on the show.  So much so, that they even gave her her own stand out episode with the Brittany Spears episode.  Did i mention that i am in love with her?

Community is an ensemble comedy.  What started as a vehicle for Joel McHale has quickly turned into an exhibit of a lot of the funniest people on television.  While Pudi and Glover get to be silly funny, the best performance on the show is turned in by Allison Brie.  Check out episodes like "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" and "A Fistful of Paintballs" and even "Basic Rocket Science." When Brie is given enough to do, it benefits "Community."  Plus she had one of the funniest scenes of the season when she chloroformed everyone.

I'm convinced Aubrey Plaza should get nominated for this award for her funny looks alone.  Sure she has a ton of funny dialogue but she has the funniest facial expressions of anybody i have seen since maybe Jim Halpert in the first couple years of The Office.  She also has completely redefined the idea of deadpan comedy.  Her relationship with Andy equals comedic gold.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia has always been a funny show.  Kaitlin Olson has always been a funny actress.  However last year's pregnancy arc -- necessitated by Olson's real-life pregnancy, but wonderfully woven into the story in the "Sunny" universe-- may have been the best ongoing material Olson has had to work with since the first 2 seasons of the show.

Chuck has always been the show that is the hardest to classify.  Is it Comedy?  Is it Drama?  I think it fits more as a comedy.  And while Yvonne Stahovski may not be the funniest actress on this list, she is a fantastic actress and an integral part of what makes "Chuck" Chuck.  She also had what may be the best showcase episode of any supporting actor or actress this season in "Chuck Vs The Phase Three"

Please Help With Any Information on Lauren Spierer

Early in the morning on Friday June 3rd, Indiana University student Lauren Spierer went missing on her way home from a night out.  Since then, an intense search consisting of law enforcement, independent agencies and volunteers has spanned the Bloomington are and has moved into surrounding towns.  Lauren also has a rare heart condition that requires her to take medication, so finding her soon is absolutely imperative.  Please if you have any information on the disappearance of Lauren, contact the Bloomington Police department.  Below you will find a photo of Lauren and other websites you can visit for updates and ways to help.

Here are some links of interest:

Donations and Volunteer info

 http://www.iuhillel.org/

http://www.findlauren.com/

Facebook

 http://m.facebook.com/Lauren.Spierer.Family.Updates?_rdr#%21/a/profile.php?fan&id=225047564191647&gfid=AQDrW5zQMHL3BTOn&refid=0

Email if you have information

helpfindlauren@gmail.com

Bloomington Police

812-339-4477

Follow Lauren on twitter @NewsOnLaurenS

Dream Emmy Ballot: Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy

With the announcement of Emmy nominations right around the corner, I think it is time to break down what I believe should be the Emmy nominations for the year.  As always, these are just my opinions and are based on the shows that I watch.

The Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy is loaded every single year and this year is no different.  I could think of at least 20 people who could realistically deserve nominations, but I finally settled on these 6, which ironically only come from 3 different shows.

If it were up to me, Danny Pudi of Community would have won this award last year.  He followed up his season 1 performance with a very strong season 2.  Often times he didn’t even feel like a supporting player, but an equal to Joel McHale.  He is the one that allows Community to try so many different styles and tones.  Community is the gutsiest comedy on television and it is because of Pudi’s commitment to Abed that this is true

If I Could nominate Pudi and Donald Glover together for their work on Community as one person, I would do it and they would be a lock to win.  It is very hard to remember the last time 2 people had such great comedic chemistry together.  But in season 2, Glover came into his own as a comedic actor.  He no longer had to be on the screen with Pudi to be hilarious.   Whether he was being over the top in meeting Levar Burton, or playing it more straight on his 21^st birthday, Glover made Troy a standout in a very talented ensemble

If there is one person on TV that can make me laugh seriously just be making facial expressions, it is Nick Offerman of Parks and Recreations.  Obviously, Ron Effing Swanson is one of the best-written characters on television, but Offerman's absolute conviction, his willingness to do anything and his charisma make Ron not only incredibly funny, but somehow believable.

Parks and Recreation was so good this past season that I could honestly nominate 6 guys just from that show.  My next choice after Offerman would be Rob Lowe, but he has submitted himself in the lead actor category.  My next choice would be Adam Scott.  Adam Scott plays deadpan and straight so well that you could put him in a textbook. 

Last year modern family owned half this category.  In my ballot this year, that is lowered to one third.  Ty Burrell was nominated last year. He also had a better Season Two than Season One, as Phil Dunphy actually became a human being this season, rather than just the butt of easy (often quite funny) jokes.

Rounding out the list is grizzled veteran Ed Oneill. He should have been nominated last year and it was a mini upset that he was not.  That should be remedied this year.  O'Neill had several very fine showcase episodes this season, as a number of episodes seemed to revolve around milestones in his character's life.

My Thoughts On Falling Skies "Pilot"

"Retreat, Regroup, Return, Revenge"

Alien invasion has always beena topic of interest to me.  Be it in movies or in TV shows, it is just a topic that in theory is very interesting.  I say in theory because the last few attempts at alien invasion TV shows have failed spectacularly.  I’m looking at you “V” and “The Event”.  So when TNT announced they were going to make an attempt in the alien invasion drama, I was more than a bit skeptical.  Even with the “produced by Steven Speilberg” tag to back it up, I was not expecting much.  After all, the great film director has had more than a couple failed forays into the TV world.  Well call me pleasantly surprised because after viewing the pilot, I am completely sucked in to Falling Skies.

The show does something smart right from the beginning.  It bypasses they actual initial invasion and throws us into it after a few months.  We've seen too many of them - usually in movies with much higher budgets than even a Spielberg-backed cable drama has - for it to be of any interest. Instead, we see the invasion as depicted in a series of kids' crayon drawings, and the basic premise - that the aliens came, wiped out our cities and military, and started abducting teenagers to use as brainwashed slave labor, so that "Now moms and dads have to fight" - described by those kids. It's much more effective, and chilling, and nicely sets up the family dynamic that's at the heart of the show (just as it's often at the heart of Spielberg's sci-fi epics)

And this might be why Falling Skies seems so much better than the shows that have come before it.  The character development is at the heart of the show.  In just 2 hours, basically every character is more developed then any character was on “V” or “The Event”.  That’s not to mistake this as a sci-fi version of Mad Men, it still is a genre based show with action, but having your characters not be cardboard cut outs really helps the audience relate to a situation that they otherwise could not relate to.

Summer TV was for a long time known as a place for reruns and crappy reality TV shows.  Now however, cable networks have used it as a time to debut new ambitious shows and Falling Skies succeeds in providing a unique form of entertainment.  With its emphasis on relationships and story development over sci-fi aspects and special effects, it is definitely worth your time.

Rating:  8 out of 10

VOTE FOR MATT POSPESHIL IN THE CHICAGO RHYTHM PROJECT!

I don't often use this site for shameless promotion, but i think now is great time to start!  My good Friends Matt Pospeshil, Jeff Lessman and Zach Sandler recorded a video for the Chicago Rhythm Project.  Watch their video, "Battling The Beat" below, then click THIS LINK TO VOTE

My Thoughts On The Hangover 2

“I can’t believe this is happening again!”

When the Hangover made waves a couple years, it was as an underdog comedy that didn’t have any huge stars in it.  Flash forward to today and the sequel is one of the most anticipated movies in years.  The 3 main stars have all become huge, and even former bit player Ken Jeong has a role is seemingly every comedy that is released.  With all the added attention, it makes it that much more difficult for the movie to be the same kind of critical success story that it was the first time around.  Was it a worthy sequel?  In my opinion, it was not.

The Hangover part 2 is not so much a sequel to the first movie as it was a remake in a different location.  The format is the same, and in a lot of scenes, even the jokes are the same.  This time it is Stu (Ed Helms) getting married, and because of his wife’s heritage, the wedding is in Thailand.  Due to the events that occurred in the first movie, Stu is adamant about not having a bachelor party.  He was also adamant about not inviting Alan (Zach Galafanakis), but after some convincing by Doug (Justin Bartha) and Phil (Bradley Cooper)  he ends up inviting him.  Even though there is no bachelor party, the guys, along with Chow (Ken Jeong) and Stu’s soon to be brother in law Teddy (Mason Lee) have another crazy night that they cannot remember.  Like the first installment, the next 2 days are spent trying to locate a missing member of their part and to get everyone back in time for the wedding.

Before I get into my issues with the movie, I do want to say I laughed at it a fairly decent amount.  Not anything close to the amount I laughed at the original, but it had enough laughs in it to make it a decent way to kill a hot, muggy evening.  It would be very difficult to make a completely unfunny movie with this group of performers.   The issue is with the sheer laziness in the writing and directing.  The format of the movie is exactly the same, right down to an Ed Helms musical number when things seem there most dire.  Now many people think that a sequel has to be better than the original to be deemed a success.  I don’t believe that.    However if you are going to make an exact copy of your original movie, that is going to invite people to compare the two, and there is just no comparison here.

This summer seems to have a lot of great R rated comedies set to come out.  The Hangover part 2 could have started the summer out with a bang.  Instead, it starts it off with a slightly funny whimper.  I am sure with the financial success of the movie, a third one will soon follow.  I urge Todd Phillips to take his time on the next one because if it follows the pattern of decrease that this one has established, we are going to be in for one bad movie.

RATING 5 OUT OF 10

Rewatch Review : LOST "Pilot Part 1"

 Sayid: You'd think they would've come by now.
Charlie: What? Who?
Sayid: Anyone

If there ever was a show that warranted a Rewatch Review it is LOST.  It is really going to be interesting to review because of how much we now know, one year after the show has ended.  There are going to be spoilers in my review.  There is just no way around it.  So if you are watching LOST for the first time, I would suggest not reading these reviews until you have finished the show.  Otherwise, sit back and enjoy another ride on the greatest show in TV history.

From the very first minutes of the first part of the Pilot for LOST, It let you know that this was not going to be just a TV show, it was going to be an event.  Not to be confused with The Event, because after a whole season we still don’t know what THAT was.  LOST was not going to be a show that you just DVR’d and watched when you had time.  You were going to sit down in front of you television and be along for every second of the ride.  Nothing made this clearer than the absolutely stunning first half of the episode, when we see all of the survivors mere seconds after the crash.    The whole scene is the reason that the pilot for LOST was one of the most expensive of all time.  It is also the reason why it is the greatest pilot of all time.  Having an actual plane on set on an actual island really allowed the audience to feel like we were in the scene.  We feel the desperation of people trying to locate their loved ones.  We fell the sadness of the people around dying.  We also feel the obligation that our main character, Jack, feels to try and be a hero.  Never has a show sucked me in so quickly into their pilot.

Just when you think that the action has settled down and we get a peaceful moment, we get the introduction to what turned out to be one of the biggest mysteries in television history:  What is the smoke monster that haunts the island?  Its first "appearance" was burned into my brain from the initial viewing and I even recall some stills floating around the Internet suggesting that you could see the monster if you looked really closely.  A ferocious creature that had the ability to uproot large trees and announced itself by bellowing nightmarish noises was the perfect way to announce that this series would be anything but normal.

The rest of the episode focuses on the search for the planes transceiver and the survivors taking steps to getting rescued.  We see the intro to 2 important recurring themes.  The first one being Charlie’s addiction to heroin.  The other being Kate’s need to always put herself into dangerous situations, despite the protests from Jack.  While many back on the beach expect a quick rescue, Jack and Kate learn from the pilot that the plane had veered off course and lost contact with the outside world before crashing. Any search party would be looking in the wrong place, destroying any hope of immediate rescue that Jack and Kate may have had.  They can’t spend too much time bummed about this because the pilot gets ripped out of the cock pit and is the first victim we actually see succumb to the monster.

The opening hour of LOST two-part pilot is an action-packed introduction to a mysterious new universe that would keep many of us captivated until the end. While it isn't necessarily indicative of most LOST episodes, featuring far more action than the norm, it does represent what the show does best  which is suspense and mystery. From the moment Jack opens his eye until the very end, the episode maintains a steady, frenetic pace and begins to weave together the core mystery of the series

RATING: 10 OUT 10