Last night The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was at the top of its game when talking about Sarah Palin and Joe “the plumber” going rogue.
You can see the full Fox News segment between Shepard Smith and Joe “the plumber” here.
Meanwhile, rougeness seems to be contagious. Last night on The Colbert Report, prominent conservative pundit Stephen Colbert endorsed (but does not support) Barack Obama for President.
Hey! Remember when I used to mostly post about TV? Those were the days. I’ll be rolling out somewhat of a Fall TV Preview this week, but there aren’t many shows to be excited about….
In the meantime, the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards were held in Hollywood Sunday night.
I thought about watching the show then I realized I wouldn’t. I haven’t watched the Emmys in years. It’s not that I don’t care — even though I don’t — it’s just that I didn’t see a need to watch three plus hours of kudos and commercials. Perhaps if this year’s host was worth watching, but they were not. The five reality host nominees, Tom Bergeron (Dancing With the Stars), Heidi Klum (Project Runway), Howie Mandel (Deal or No Deal), Jeff Probst (Survivor), and last year’s solo host Ryan Seacrest (American Idol) had joint hosting duties. The first five minutes of the awards ceremony was more than enough awkwardness than even I could tolerate. Thank Gob for DVR.
Highlights
• 30 Rock swept the comedy categories, including outstanding comedy series. AMC’s Mad Men took home outstanding drama, making it the first basic cable program to do so.
• Michael Emerson, LOST’s deliciously maniacal Ben Linus, was robbed in the supporting actor in a drama series category. I call shenanigans. Shenanigans!
• Stephen Colbert and the brilliant writers of The Colbert Report were finally recognized. But Colbert is gonna be pissed on Monday night’s show that he lost out to Don “Mr. Warmth” Rickles in the performance in a variety, music, or comedy program category.
• Alec Baldwin 30-rocked best actor in a comedy series. Then left a voicemail for his daughter.
• Though they weren’t the best choice for hosti, the funniest moment of the awards show had to be when Jimmy Kimmel present the Emmy for outstanding reality competition host. Kimmel milked the unveiling of the winner, which was probably expected. Kimmel joked that the winner would be announced following a commercial break — and then they actually cut to a commercial. It was poetic genius.
• Ricky Gervais took his Emmy back from Steve Carell.
Now that the Writer’s Strike is over, the TV industry, can start picking up the pieces. According to The New York Times, some shows will resume production immediately, while others will sit out the rest of the season.
24, which already had the start of its seventh season delayed indefinitely, will now sit out the entire year and return next January. Heroes will not be back on the air till the fall. The best new show of the season, ABC’s Pushing Daisies, also won’t return until the fall. But at least it won’t have to deal with American Idol.
The worst news is that ABC will (probably) cut LOST’s season order from 16 to 13 segs. This is a step-up from the 8 episodes that were completed before the strike shutdown production. So, at least we’re getting a little more.
Saturday Night Live will probably be the first weekly scripted show back on the air and could return as soon as February 23. Daily shows, like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, should have their respective writers back this week.
According to Variety, powerhouse shows — like Desperate Housewives, The Office, CSI, and Two and a Half Men — will likely be back on the air by the end of March. They’ll probably produce four to eight episodes for broadcast this season.
Lastly, the San Francisco Gate has a piece that talks about how even the writers won the strike, they might still lose in the long run.
One thing’s for sure, the industry will be feeling the effects of the strike for some time to come.
