Tag: Ryan Murphy

2010 62nd Annual Primetime Emmys Post-Show Recap

As stated in a post regarding last year’s Emmys, me and awards show have a love/hate relationship – I love them and they seem to hate me, or rather me and the collective viewing audience. Uninspired would best describe  them of late, but Academy of Television you actually kept my rapt attention this year. It might be because I didn’t watch them live, but the pace overall for the Emmys telecast was brisk, peppered with many worthy laughs and filler moments that weren’t completely eyeroll-inducing. I credit a lot of this to the stellar hosting job executed by current Late Night helmer Jimmy Fallon. From the amazing Glee-ful opening with four of the hot show’s stars, Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, Joel McHale and more joining him in belting out a Springsteen classic, through his moments introducing the various genres with the help of nominees Amy Poehler, Stephen Colbert and Julianna Margulies in the audience and even the “Shows We Lost” montage he never failed to entertain.

Naysayers can say nay about his time on Saturday Night Live – his were never peek performances like Will Ferrell, usually breaking character first and unable to deliver most of his lines laugh-free – but I was always a fan and thought he had his best years behind the Weekend Update desk. It also didn’t hurt he pulled duty next to my Fey-vorite.

He’s also no slouch when it comes to the melding of music and comedy, which seems to be all the rage these days thanks to belle of the TV ball Glee. My first memory of Fallon was his dead-on impersonation of Adam Sandler, another SNL alum known for wacky comedic songs, and a couple of years into his stint on the seminal sketch show he released an album with a track I still frequently revisit, “Idiot Boyfriend.” Just try not to smile at the hilarious video below co-starring then-up-and-coming-now-It New Girl Zooey Deschanel.

Knowing Jimmy had the ability to MC as shown by the success of his talk show’s first year it wasn’t a surprise when he was tapped to take the reins of the Emmys hosting gig, but I had further confidence he would deftly lead the telecast by the sheer merit of his work back in 2002 at the MTV Video Music Awards. That opener still sticks out as one of the most memorable beginnings to an awards show of all time and had yet to be topped on my list of favorites until Fallon, Fey & the Glee gang’s “Born to Run” performance.

The buzz and ratings after Sunday both suggest that Neil Patrick Harris and Hugh Jackman aren’t the only song-and-dance men to call on if you want to have a successful live show telecast.

Not to forget about the awards part of the show, Glee took home a couple of high-profile wins with Jane Lynch nabbing Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy and Ryan Murphy getting Best Director for the top-notch pilot episode. Mad Men continued its drama domination with their third-straight year of trophies for both series and writing, and freshman favorite Modern Family went away a big winner with Best Comedy and Writing for its pilot as well as a pleasant surprise with Eric Stonestreet taking home a Supporting Actor in a Comedy trophy for his phenomenal work as Cam in the ensemble sitcom. An additional surprise win in an acting category went to Aaron Paul getting a much-deserved statue for his supporting role along-side fellow winner and co-star Bryan Cranston for AMC’s needs-to-get-more-recognition drama Breaking Bad.

Major category winners:

Comedy

OUTSTANDING COMEDY
Modern Family

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Jane Lynch (Glee)

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Betty White (SNL)

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Neil Patrick Harris (Glee)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION IN A COMEDY
Ryan Murphy (Glee)

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY
Christopher Lloyd and Stephen Levitan (Modern Family)

Drama

OUTSTANDING DRAMA
Mad Men

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)

OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A DRAMA
Erin Levy and Matthew Weiner (Mad Men – “Shut the Door, Have a Seat”)

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA
John Lithgow (Dexter)

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Ann Margaret (Law & Order: SVU)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION IN A DRAMA
Steve Shill (Dexter)

Variety, Music or Comedy

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION IN A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SPECIAL
Bucky Gunts (The Winter Olympics)

OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A VARIETY SHOW
Dave Boone and Paul Greenberg (The 2010 Tony Awards)

TV Movie, Miniseries or Dramatic Special

TV MOVIE
Temple Grandin (HBO)

MINISERIES
The Pacific (HBO)

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Al Pacino (You Don’t Know Jack)

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Claire Danes (Temple Gradin)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Mick Jackson (Temple Grandin)

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
David Strathairn (Temple Grandin)

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Julia Ormand (Temple Grandin)

OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Adam Mazer (You Don’t Know Jack)

OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW COMPETITION
Top Chef

Glee, Glee What Are You Doin’ to Me?

Not to rant about tonight’s Glee, at times it was highly entertaining, although bloated with messages (being left out at home, less-than at school and lost about ones self/body image – it’s the teenage trifecta!), I do feel the need to express my dissatisfaction to Murphy and his musical minions in two areas.

Issue #1 – While I’m always greatful to have fellow Okie Kristin Chenoweth guesting on a show that appreciates and shines a spotlight on her amazing singing prowess, how could you ever put that perky blonde pixie in a roller rink setting and not choose something for her to belt out from Xanadu? Was it too obvious? I know you didn’t avoid it for being too dated – I loved Kurt giving us “A House is Not a Home” but it ain’t gonna burn up the iTunes charts. KChen can kill an Olivia Newton-John number as she so deftly demonstrated in an early episode of the gone-too-soon series, and one of my personal favorites, Pushing Daisies.

Issue #2 – Would it have killed you to bring in Idina for even the briefest of scenes? A little Wicked Will sandwich action would not have gone unnoticed nor unappreciated.

These issues aside, you did give me a wonderful duet in your Bacharach medley with a revisit to “A House is Not a Home” mashed up with “One Less Bell to Answer.” Burt is bliss.

Glee Just Upped Its Awesome Quotient

Geeks and Gleeks, prick up your ears: before this 2009/2010 season ends TV mastermind, and personal hero, Joss Whedon will lay his genius on phenom frosh series Glee. Whedonites, be not afraid, this does not mean he’s jumping his current ship Dollhouse (even though there are rumblings of said ship to be on the verge of sinking) he will merely be moonlighting as director for one episode of his fellow FOX show.

Those in the know, including Glee helmer Ryan Murphy, have already seen the Buffy creator exquisitely execute a musical slant to the Slayer series’ with its season six (“All singing! All talking!”) episode “Once More With Feeling,” which he directed and wrote both music and lyrics. Murphy gushed, “Joss directed one of the great musical episodes in the history of television on Buffy, so this is a great, if unexpected, fit. I’m thrilled he’ll be loaning us his fantastic groundbreaking talent.” Most recently, the benevolent Whedon bestowed upon the world the online musical sensation Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which garnered him a win this year in the Emmy’s newest category, Short-Form Live-Action Entertainment Program.

Joss is also no stranger to guest-directing hit shows. He ably helmed The Office episode “Business School” in its third season and says the man himself, “A television director’s job is, on some level, to be anonymous; to find the most compelling way to present a story without calling attention to himself. I had a wonderful time doing just that on The Office, and hope to again. A guest director can bring a huge amount to the party (we’ve had CRAZY talent on Dollhouse), but the party isn’t his. I just want to work with good people on a show that I like enough to have watched every episode several times.”

Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff on stage in Spring AwakeningIn other Glee guest talent news, lead Lea Michele will soon be reunited with her “Spring Awakening” co-star Jonathan Groff. The Broadway star will reportedly be on the show for about five or six episodes as the lead male singer of rival show choir Vocal Adrenaline, the group seen in the pilot episode performing “Rehab,” and will serve as a potential love interest for Michele’s glee club queen Rachel Berry. Creator Murphy describes the character as, “A male diva…a miva.”

Murphy also revealed that the cast of Glee will be going on tour next summer, not surprising given that the series’ music has exploded on iTunes with a full soundtrack set to drop November 3rd (full track listing).

Bryan Fuller: Back from the Dead

Bryan Fuller, creator/producer of top-notch now-defunct series Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, will be teaming with Bryan Singer (director of X-Men and Usual Suspects, and exec producer of FOX series House) to adapt the Augusten Burroughs novel “Sellevision,” whose previous memoir “Running With Scissors” was turned into a feature helmed by Glee and Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy and starred Alec Baldwin.

The hourlong comedy-drama for NBC will revolve around the inner workings at a fictional home shopping channel. Being a world rich with great metaphors of consumerism, buying happiness and chasing material things, Fuller stresses the show won’t satirize the home-shopping genre itself but instead will be a more grounded take on that sphere through the eyes of one player in it.

Fuller also has a second script — his first stab at a half-hour comedy — in the works at the Peacock. No Kill is a workplace laffer set inside a no-kill animal shelter. Fuller, a self-described “animal lover,” believes that there is humor in people who identify more with animals than other humans, and that his show will be a comedy about “becoming human.”

In between these two scripts, Fuller is still working on a comicbook adaptation of his late ABC series Pushing Daisies, and remains hopeful that the 12 issues of the comicbook will eventually serve as a blueprint for a Pushing Daisies movie.