What would Sue Sylvester say?

TV Guide Canada had quoted Ed O'Neill supposedly saying:

“I love Jane, honestly I do. I’m dying to star in one of Christopher Guest’s movies alongside her, but I don’t think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part. [Sue Sylvester] is just a one-note character.... Sofia is just so, so funny. I don’t think people realize how hilarious she is. She’s so sharp with her wit, it’s amazing.”

Jane Lynch's representative did not have an immediate reaction, and when they finally did, all they said was: “[L]et it go, that’s what we’re doing.”

It's good that Jane Lynch did not resort to launching a disrespectful tirade of her own, what with O'Neill missing out on a nomination in the most recent Emmys when every one of Modern Family's major stars was nominated. Worse, he was never nominated for Married With Children.

Even better for me that I waited a day before weighing in on it.

Ed O'Neill has denied saying his Modern Family co-star Sofia Vergara deserved the Emmy over Jane Lynch. His statement reads:

“Last week I spoke to a group of journalists and one quoted me supposedly saying of Jane Lynch, ‘I don’t think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part.’ I never said those words and transcripts of the press conference attest to that fact. Of course I root for my dear friends Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen (and all of my colleagues on our show) at Emmy time, but I absolutely never said, nor do I believe that Jane — whom I think is an enormous talent — was undeserving of the award. I reached out to her yesterday to ensure she knew I’d been misquoted but I wanted to clear this up publicly as well.”

So far, TV Guide Canada has not released a statement.

Of course, following the fallout, the story can no longer be found on the website of TV Guide Canada.

But the story has been picked up by different sources, so there is no reason for you not to read the whole article.


Photo from http://www.zap2it.com/tv/fall-tv-preview/zap-modern-family-pictures,0,2702560,showall.photogallery

Kris Aquino strikes again

You know how politics has become the kingdom of entertainment personalities? From people endorsing candidates to people actually running for office?

Well, now even TV newscasts have become showbiz platforms.

Probably only Kris Aquino can turn TV Patrol into The Buzz.

Or at least, be the first to do so.

What annoys in this clip is Aquino saying (at the 1-minute mark) that it is James Yap's camp that "always talks when the cameras and the microphones are around." Has she declined any opportunity for an interview? That she has movies and shows to promote is not an excuse; it makes it worse.


Photo from http://joelguinto.wordpress.com/2007/05/04/kris-aquino-james-yap-couple-on-the-mend/

Awesome?

Have you ever wondered about changing your name to something real cool?

From the Associated Press comes this article about a Douglas Allen Smith Jr. who changed his name to Captain Awesome. Unfortunately, it's not about Barney Stinson, but somebody from Chuck.

The implications of such name change?

"Awesome says that judge also allowed him to sign his name as a right arrow, a smiley face and a left arrow.

He says his bank, however, has refused to accept the signature because it could be forged too easily."

Photo from http://dramas-blog.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-barney-stinson-is-awesome.html

Tainted

If you haven't noticed yet, the new plugs for the news and current affairs department of GMA-7 show snippets of the man in the street endorsing the station's newscasters, and they now include the line "Walang bahid-pulitika." They utter the line in their long-winded closing spiels ('Walang kinikilingan, walang pinoprotektahan, serbisyong totoo lang." What a mouthful.). Naturally, by this they do not mean they do not deal with politics- but that they are not tainted by politics. Such an aggressive push makes you wonder if they are hugely threatened by the return of Noli de Castro and Korina Sanchez to primetime television.

True, De Castro was the vice-president in the previous administration; Sanchez is married to a vice-presidential candidate in the May elections; and, Ted Failon is a former Leyte congressman. But to say they have been tainted by politics is to express an opinion- a cynical statement that needs to be challenged. Innocent until proven guilty, right? They have not been convicted of crimes and they are no longer in power: Why should they be stopped from going back to the industry they came from?

Even if we assume that they have been tainted, why should GMA have to point it out? No matter the subtlety with which they deliver it, it makes them no different from the kind of politicians they are distancing themselves from. They are not above the mud-slinging they supposedly abhor in defense of journalism as an industry with integrity. Why don't they just let the people come up with these observations themselves? Do they think the people are ill-equipped to determine which newscasters are credible?

GMA-7 should let their reporting- and not their marketing and advertising- speak highly of the kind of work they do.

Other than that....

Last night Lamplighter and I were watching Noah, a TV series in which Kristine Hermosa plays yet another fairy.

I noted that Piolo Pascual and Kristine Hermosa had worked in the late '90s in Sa Sandaling Kailangan Mo Ako.

Me: Marvin Agustin was also in it, back when he could still act. 

Lamplighter: Was he ever able to?

Me: I liked it whenever he parodied Christopher de Leon ("Wala kang alam. Asawa lang kita.")

Lamplighter: Other than that....

Me: I think the lowest point was when he played the villain in Panday Kids. Truly awful.

Laughter ensued.

Frakking Stellar

The third season of Battlestar Galactica begins in New Caprica about four months after the Cylon occupation.

Of the principal characters, Gaius Baltar has become a puppet president. Colonel Tigh is incarcerated and is missing an eye. Galen Tyrol and Samuel Anders lead the rebellion against the Cylons. Starbuck is being held by the Cylon Leoben.

The fleet had escaped, and Admiral Adama is preparing the rescue of the human population in New Caprica. By the fourth episode, Galactica returns to New Caprica and successfully liberates the humans. By the fifth, a tribunal called The Circle secretly metes out sentences to Colonials who had collaborated with the Cylons by having them airlocked. Later, Baltar is tried for crimes against humanity.

The rest of the season shows how they continue their search for a new home planet, while dealing with food supply and health issues along the way.

The main theme of the series has been questions of identity, and in this season identity is expanded to include not just race (humans vs. Cylons), but also loyalties, faith, and social class. It asks, among other things, the question, How does one become a collaborator? In the case of Baltar, where do we draw the line between self-preservation and being a traitor?

In the continuing efforts of the insurgency, suicide bombing becomes an option. Where in the first season the suicide bombers were the Cylons, this time it is men who blow themselves up. In times of desperation, how can man allow self-destruction? How Macchiavellian can he get? How noble is it to belong to the human race? Where should our sympathies lie now? Especially when these people believe in the gods of Kobol, and the Cylons believe in one God, and one God only.

In techniques that borrow from the TV news, BSG effectively tackles the horrors of sleeper cells and America's War on Terror.

There are 12 Cylon models, and for most of the season, the identities of the seven are known. There is a lot of speculation on who comprise the Final Five, and when four of them are revealed, the results are heartbreaking, given the roles they have played in the series so far.

With a single pout, Mary McDonnell (as President Laura Roslin) reminds you of Meryl Streep. And with her steely resolve, special guest star Lucy Lawless (as Number Three/ D'Anna) suggests that she can be up for parts available to Jodie Foster.

Battlestar Galactica is absolutely riveting, and illuminates the human condition in ways you have never seen before. It is consistently excellent, and only three or four of the 20 episodes can be rated very good only.

More than any other TV series, Battlestar Galactica may have been the most relevant and the most resonant in this decade.

Wowza! That's Legen-

Wasn't he awesome?

Yesterday's Emmy ceremonies were amazing, and the tone was set wonderfully by Neil Patrick Harris singing "Put Down the Remote," composed by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman (Hairspray).

One of my favorite moments was when a team of three accountants walked to the stage to explain how the votes were tallied- only to be interrupted by Harris showing up as Dr. Horrible. 

Another one was a clip of Family Guy with re-recorded dialogue involving Brian the talking dog voting for How I Met Your Mother for best comedy series. Stewie the baby beats him up, only to say in the end, "Hey, suit up."

Just like the Oscars this year, the montages focused on genre highlights in the past year (e.g., the year in comedy, the year in drama, etc.), and the In Memoriam segment was set to a live musical performance. Sarah McLachlan sang- fittingly- "I Will Remember You."

The one segment I always tune in for is the presentation of the nominees for outstanding writing for variety, music, or comedy series. This year's standout was that of Conan O'Brien's, with him ignoring on Facebook friend requests from his writers.

In the drama category, the winners were:

series: Mad Men, AMC

lead actor: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), AMC

lead actress: Glenn Close (Damages), FX

supporting actor: Michael Emerson (Lost), ABC

supporting actress: Cherry Jones (24), Fox

For comedy, the trophies went to:

series: 30 Rock, NBC.

lead actor: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), NBC

lead actress: Toni Collette (United States of Tara), Showtime

supporting actor: Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), CBS

supporting actress: Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies), ABC

miniseries: Little Dorrit, PBS

made-for-TV movie: Grey Gardens, HBO


variety, music, or comedy series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central.

reality-competition program: The Amazing Race, CBS

How I Handicap the Emmys

In the drama categories, here's who should win:

best series- Mad Men (AMC)

directing- Battlestar Galactica (Syfy)

writing- Mad Men (AMC)

lead actor- Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), but Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment) has a good chance, and Hugh Laurie (House) is overdue.

lead actress- Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), but Glenn Close (Damages) is going to take it.

supporting actor- John Slattery (Mad Men), but Michael Emerson (Lost) should have won it two years ago.

supporting actress- Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy)


In the comedy categories, here's who will win:

best series- 30 Rock (NBC), but I'd like to see Entourage (HBO) take it this time.

directing- 30 Rock (NBC)

writing- 30 Rock (NBC) is the prohibitive favorite.

lead actor- Steve Carell (The Office), but I'd like Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) get the trophy.

lead actress- Tina Fey (30 Rock), but I'd like to see Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) this time.

supporting actor- Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), but it should be Rainn Wilson (The Office). Or Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother).

supporting actress- Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live). Vanessa Williams should have won last year, but how about Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds) this year?

Top Two

Here is a meeting of two of my favorite TV shows.

What the Frak!!!

Men created androids to do labor. The robots rebelled, they lost, and fled away into space.

Forty years later, the Cylons returned in a surprise series of separate, coordinated attacks, managing to annihilate the 12 colonies that included Aerilon, Picon, Geminon, and Caprica.

The military spaceship Battlestar Galactica is being retired, but fortunately it is still operational at the time of the attack. It is up to Commander William Adama (played by Edward James Olmos) and his men to protect the survivors against the enemy.

Whatever you may have heard about the TV series, you have been misinformed: Battlestar Galactica is more than amazing- it is brilliant. The reviews are grossly unfair: it is not simply wonderful- it's nothing short of excellent.

I have only seen the first season, and I'm hooked. It was one of my best discoveries of 2008. I know this makes me a late convert, so I'm making it my mission to convert you.

Galactica deals with scarred relationships, repressed feelings, bouts of insanity, and questions of identity.

Cylons now look human, with sweat and all. In a post-9/11 world, Galactica has particular resonance. Terrorists now look like us; they are one of us. So far we have met four models, and they have many copies and they can regenerate. Pilot Sharon Valerii (Grace Park) is one of them. She does not know that she is a sleeper agent, and she wrestles with mounting evidence that she is. A game is introduced then: Is there a Cylon among these agents that we don't know of?

Survivors numbering 50,298 board cruisers, and their fleet is constantly hounded. Death toll rises, but there is hope.

Comm. Adama tells the public they are going to the 13th tribe that established a colony outside of their own star system. President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) is skeptical; when she confronts Adama privately, he admits they do not have the coordinates of this mythical colony called Earth, simply because it does not exist. He says, "It is not enough that we live; we have to have something to live for."

Survival is not merely a matter of tactical strategies- it is also an existential crisis.

Roslin was 42nd down in succession. The whole cabinet, including President Adar, has been obliterated in Caprica, and she only gets to be president because she is onboard Galactica as secretary of education. Adama initially refuses to cooperate with her, not because she is a woman, but because she is simply a former schoolteacher.

Her rise to power has a sly subtext: The only time a woman will get to be president is at the end of the world, and it is not by election. And after the Obama-Clinton fight for the Democratic nomination, it takes on further credence. Maybe that's why Maya Angelou picked Hillary over Barack for the primary?

Gaius Baltar (James Callis) is a scientist who has had an affair with the model named Number Six (Tricia Helfer), who appears only to him. Does he have a chip in his brain, or is he going mad? In one episode, she surpises us by showing up in the ship and introducing herself to the officers. By episode's end, she convinces him that there is a God, and he is His instrument. A human scientist who does not believe, and Cylons -androids- who do? What- !

Baltar was instrumental in the obliteration of the human race, and as if to appeal to geeks, he gets the towering hot blonde who looks like a runway model. Her skimpy outfits are implicitly excused because we think it's all in his head.

Tricia Helfer is the show's most astounding special effect. She triggers so many discussions about faith, the nature of love, the allure of being human, and others. Never has a blonde bombshell been used more creatively.

Richard Hatch, one of the stars of the original 1978 TV series, has a recurring role as a dissident with considerable following. He is elected into the Council of 12 and runs for vice president, and we are treated to the turns of the political wheels and deals. It shows us how our thinking that we are choosing the lesser of two evils- the devil you know- leads to more dire consequences. How well do you know the devil you know (or thought you knew)?

You may think that now you don't have to watch the series, but you have no idea what riches await you.

The show is science fiction, but do not let words like jump and FTL deter you from watching. These terms are not prohibitive, and the program is positively addictive. Like many outstanding genre shows, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica explores and exploits its limitations, and transcends its form to achieve greatness.

Battlestar Galactica is compelling television at its frakking finest- tense, thrilling, exciting. Nail-biting.