News Flash: There Are Mean People on Twitter, Especially If You're a Celeb

Though I personally have only been called some version of an idiot and a moron a handful of times on Twitter (yes, I know I'm jinxing myself), if you're a celebrity who dares to wade into the social media pool, it's sage advice to don some protective gear because the water can get really choppy.

Jimmy Kimmel called on some big name celebs who've been directly trashed on Twitter and asked them to read some of the mean Tweets that they'd received aloud. Will Ferrell poetically opted to read them while sitting on the can.

The result is a funny video which reminded me of Tina Fey who, after winning a Golden Globe award for best comedic actress, called out some of the folks on the internet who'd been nasty to her. Loved that speech.

Notes on Pop Culture: Tina Fey Hosts 'SNL' & Jon Hamm's Adventure with a Weird Blue Puppet

The awesome Tina Fey, proudly showing off her baby bump, will be hosting this weekend's installment of Saturday Night Live. On this Mother's Day weekend (why is it now considered a weekend-long celebration?), I'm looking forward to Fey making all manner of inappropriate jokes about being in her "delicate" state, as she did in the promos above.

Herman Dune "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" from Jon Hamm

In the meantime, Fey's former 30 Rock fictional flame, Jon Hamm, has a weird video on the web site Funny or Die where he picks up a hitchhiking fuzzy blue dude and takes him on an adventure, where neither of them wear seatbelts in the white convertible, what a safety scandal (!!). Then the duo goes clubbing and Hamm puts the blue guy on his shoulders so he can see the band that was playing. All in all, a really weird video.

Notes on Pop Culture: '30 Rock' Cartoon, Bossypants, 'Parenthood' Finale

30 Rock/Jack Donaghy Cartoon

What do you get when you combine 30 Rock’s Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), when he's jonesing for a frozen yogurt, with Brian Williams who has taken the last of the frozen treat? Well if you give Donaghy Superman-like powers, you’d get the snarky video above.

I love the fact that Williams – who's the reason why I watch the NBC Nightly News, along with all the senior citizens who need the denture cream that’s always advertised during the broadcast – is willing to put himself out there to look like a buffoon so often, like on late night shows and on Saturday Night Live.

Bossypants

As soon as I got my hands on the award-winning and overall awesome Tina Fey’s new memoir, Bossypants, I whipped through that book in short order, adoring her just a wee bit more with each new self-deprecating comment. I particularly loved how she included delightfully awkward photos of herself as a child because I too have awkward elementary and middle school photos lurking in my past that come close to being as embarrassing as the ones Fey included in her book.

The result of my jaunt through all things Bossypants? This column on the seven things I learned while reading Fey's book.



Parenthood Finale

After a really strong, tear-jerker of a season, Parenthood capped its sophomore year with a so-so finale that seemed as though it was earnestly trying too hard to pull together loose ends in the off chance the show didn’t get renewed for a third season.

In my review of the finale, I said I wasn't fond of the apparent quick resolution to Amber’s downward spiral (just because Zeek offered her a tough love tale for about five minutes wouldn’t, in my opinion, just snap her out of her deeply troubled funk), nor did I buy how quickly Sarah went from having her play accepted to be read/acted to being performed on stage. It was what, less than 24 or 48 hours from the first read to the show?

But I did adore the Adam storyline and Peter Krause, who kicked some serious behind as Six Feet Under’s Nate, continued to be wonderful as the stressed out, good guy father of two who works really hard, tries to the do the right thing and yet oftentimes winds up getting kicked in the behind and reacting to situations with genuine human angst and anger. To watch Adam get fired on the same day he learned that his wife is pregnant with baby number three – on top of his 16-year-old daughter who he recently found out is having sex and his son with Asperger’s – was a perfect example of what this show does well. Despite all his flaws, which the writers bravely allow viewers to see, you still root for him.

My fingers are crossed for a Parenthood third season and given that the ratings were strong for the finale, I hope that means we’ll hear from the NBC suits soon.

Notes on Pop Culture: 'The Good Wife,' Sad About Miley, Fey & Motherhood, 'Mars Needs Moms' (But Hates Dads)

Image credit: CBS

 The Good Wife: Sleazy Male Pol Skates While Female Pol Gets Put Through the Wringer

During my blogging break, several pop culture subjects were still rattling around in my now under-caffeinated brain (it’s a long story) . . . including a storyline on one of my favorite shows, The Good Wife which has been, to my dismay, treating Peter Florrick like Eliot Spitzer.

My pop culture column criticized the show for its harsh treatment of a fictional female candidate while allowing the disgraced politicians to flourish:

"What I find particularly interesting is that the female candidate, [Wendy] Scott-Carr has been absolutely pummeled in this race throughout the season, while the other [male] candidates haven’t, at least not to the degree that she’s been attacked.


. . . For a show that holds up Alicia Florrick as its haloed hero -- as the betrayed wife and mother who’s risen from the humiliating ashes of her husband’s incarceration and scorchingly public marital infidelities after she’d paused her own career for her family, having Alicia play the loyal, responsible moral compass -- it’s been dispiriting to watch this fictional political campaign where Peter Florrick, a man who did his best Eliot Spitzer impersonation, seems to be neck-and-neck with someone whose biggest flaw was having hired a nanny whom she didn’t know was in the country illegally.


It’s as dispiriting as watching the real Eliot Spitzer -- who resigned his governor’s post in disgrace nearly three years ago after his own call girl scandal came to light – be rewarded with a CNN primetime talk show, Parker Spitzer, and then seeing CNN fire Kathleen Parker, his female, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist co-host, in what some called a move that smacked of sexism.”


Image credit: Marie Claire

 Sad About Miley

My daughter’s reaction to Miley Cyrus’ photos in the March issue of Marie Claire -- juxtaposed with Miley’s father Billy Ray’s interview in GQ (he said he feared for his daughter and that the Hannah Montana show destroyed his family) -- prompted this column on how sad I felt for my daughter, for Miley and her dad.

“[I feel badly] For the father who somehow lost the ear of his multi-millionaire daughter and who has to helplessly watch while she makes decisions which he thinks will harm her; for the teen star – who’s still a minor who can’t legally drink in those bars she’s been photographed in – and comes across as a kid who’s surrounded by a bunch of people giving her advice on how to sex-up her image at age 17 and who doesn’t have the wisdom or the courage to say, 'No;' and for my daughter, who looks at all of this and wonders what it means for when she’s 17 or 18 and whether the world will expect her to be like Miley."

When Miley hosted Saturday Night Live soon after she appeared on the Marie Claire cover, her opening monologue included a snarky song about how what she’s done (the infamous bong video, the pole dancing included) and suggested that what she’s been up to hasn’t been as bad as, say, the antics of Charlie Sheen or Lindsay Lohan so back the “bleep” off, like, okay?! I’m not, like, perfect, ya know!

Notes on Pop Culture: White Wows on SNL, Beer-Swilling Ferrell Takes the Mound

Betty White Wows on SNL

Saturday night was the first time in a long time that I stayed awake all the way until the end of Saturday Night Live without falling asleep a few times first. The reason? Betty White. White took the material she was given and just killed. Loved seeing an 88-year-old woman, a comic veteran, get her props, and not in a you're-such-a-cute-granny-we're-just-gonna-pat-you-on-the-head kind of way either.

That being said, she wasn't handed top-notch material for every sketch and the skits weren't uniformly funny. But White did the best she could with it and was an inspiration. And seeing all those female former SNL stars -- including Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Molly Shannon -- only added to an already enteraining episode. Here was one of the edgy skits in which I think White was an extremely good sport (second favorite was the census skit):



I also admired the snark that Poehler and Fey unleashed during the News Update, particularly when it came to the Greek debt.



Beer-Swilling Ferrell Takes the Mound

So there I was, Morning Joe on in the background, while I was making my kid a peanut butter and fluff sandwich for his school lunch this morning when I saw this video of Will Ferrell pulling an wacky stunt during a Texas minor league baseball game. Introduced as a fresh-from-jail pitched named Rojo Johnson, he popped open a beer can and took a long swig before tossing some warm-up pitches. As for the rest of the story . . . check out the insane video:

'SNL' Had Best Spoof on the Census Yet

I finally caught up with the latest episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Tina Fey and featuring the Teen-Boy-Who-Needs-a-Haircut-But-Doesn't-Shave-Yet.

Thought chocolate husband bit was stupid. Wasn't a fan of the Tiger Woods sketch. Thought the Sarah Palin TV network thing was mildly amusing. (Fey didn't look as much like a Palin Doppelganger this time. I couldn't put my finger on why. The hair, something just didn't look right.) The hot for teacher/Justin Bieber/Fey-wants-to-give-him-a-bath-thing got me to crack a smile amidst my discomfort. (If they did that kind of a sketch with a 15-year-old girl it would be just gross.

My favorite moment? The opening about the census and how it's not a conspiracy by the federal government to pry into your personal life. Priceless.

The Emmys: Who I Want to Win

I’m really bad at predicting Emmy winners, as I oftentimes allow my own personal preferences to cloud my judgment. Plus, it’s so very subjective this whole picking of winners thing. It’s really based on what you watch and what kinds of shows you like personally.

If you're not into sci-fi, for example, you won't give a hoot about Lost. Some people hate the slow-moving, subtle Mad Men and think it's overhyped. (I know, it's hard to believe, but the haters are out there.) You really don't know how many of those folks are Emmy voters. That’s why I think it’s difficult to prognosticate, with any degree of accuracy, for whom the folks in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will vote.


So this is not a list of predicted winners. It’s my list of who I think SHOULD win. Totally biased. Based on my preferences alone. An academy of one:

Best Comedy Series: The Office. I know, conventional wisdom says that 30 Rock’s a shoo-in, and I do love the Divine Ms Fey, but I thought that the Michael Scott Paper Company story arc, where Michael left Dunder Mifflin, was fantastic and rejuvenated a show that’s been around for a while.

Best Lead Actress, Comedy: Tina Fey, 30 Rock. The Academy loves Fey, as do I.

Best Lead Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock. Hands down. He’s wickedly funny in this role. Last season, his scenes with Salma Hayek ("El Generalissimo") were hilarious.

Best Drama Series: Mad Men. This is the toughest category of them all. Seriously, it’s loaded with so many stellar entries. My heart wants Lost, as last season re-oriented the series around a new premise (moving from "Let's get off this island" to "We gotta go back") and was wonderfully steeped in religious and literary references -- even the time travel thing grew on me, but given that the voters base their votes on only one or two episodes (I can’t remember if it’s one or two), I don’t think Lost fares well when viewed out of context and seen by people who don’t already understand what’s going on. A stand-alone episode of Mad Men, however, is much more relatable. Mad Men was indeed extremely strong and smart in its second season. Plus there's Jon Hamm and January Jones goodness to enjoy.

Best Lead Actress, Drama: Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men. This is a category for which I have no real clue as to who the Academy voters will chose. None. But I’m rooting for Moss who has played the complex Peggy Olson character so very earnestly and believably.

Best Lead Actor, Drama: Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment. I have my favorites – Hamm and Hugh Laurie from House – but based on what I saw, Byrne was exceptional in the second season, particularly in the episode where his father died. Byrne provided a raw performance for which he deserves to be rewarded.

The only other category in which I’m very interested is the Best Supporting Actor, Drama for which I’ll pulling for Michael Emerson from Lost who plays the exquisite personification of evil that is Benjamin Linus. Go Ben!

For what shows, actresses, actors are you rooting to win on Sunday night?

Image credit: ABC.

Emmy Nominations: Where's Friday Night Lights?

While many of my favorite TV shows received Emmy nominations this week -- Mad Men, Lost -- one particular program, Friday Night Lights, got snubbed in all the major categories and I'm pretty steamed. Connie Britton, who kicked some serious Texas butt as Tami Taylor, the new Dillon High School Principal, got no love. Ditto for Kyle Chandler, who played the restrained and pained Coach Eric Taylor who had to wear a phony let's-just-go-along-to-get-along smile when dealing with J.D. McCoy's crazy dad. The ensemble FNL cast deftly dramatized the gamut of authentic teen angst spanning various socio-economic strata and had one of the most uncomfortable yet realistic feeling mom-daughter sex talks I've ever seen. Shame on the Academy for blowing off this show.

Other things that got my undies in a bundle about this 2009 slate of Emmy nominations:

-- I was pleased as punch to see Gabriel Byrne from HBO's In Treatment among the nominees for lead actor in a drama. I likewise thought it appropriate to honor Hope Davis, who played an unstable New York lawyer who was a patient of Byrne's, but it was a criminal oversight that John Mahoney, who played a disgraced yet proud CEO in the grips of a nervous breakdown, was overlooked in the supporting actor in a drama category. Mahoney acts circles around William Shatner for goodness sake.

-- Big Love had a stellar season, complex and surprising and poignant. The intricately interwoven stories took viewers to fascinating places. Hence it was great to see the HBO drama receive a best drama nomination, but curiously, none of the individual actors or actresses received a nomination. Surely Sally Field could sit one year out from playing a terribly predictable character on Brothers & Sisters to make room for one of the Big Love wives. Maybe for Jeanne Tripplehorn who had a strong season where she faced the threat of a recurrence of cancer, embraced the notion of a fourth wife, was excommunicated from her faith (that Temple episode was something) and had communication problems with her teenaged daughter who got pregnant then lost the baby. (Tripplehorn's Barb should ask Britton's Tami for pointers on how to conduct a good teen sex chat.)

-- This season's Rescue Me on FX has been a revelation, a detailed, painful examination of the long-term impact of 9/11 on the FDNY. A journalist working on a book about 9/11 came into the firehouse and stirred up recollections of that day caused Denis Leary's Tommy Gavin to give up a year's worth of hard-earned sobriety, as Gavin coped with massive personal losses in his life, so overwhelming that he worried that he was losing his capacity to feel anything. And no one, other than Michael J. Fox who played Janet Gavin's boyfriend, gets any Emmy nom love? Not even Leary, especially after the blow-torch scene? That's just cold.

-- Others who got the dramatic acting shaft: Terry O'Quinn from Lost, Patricia Arquette from Medium and January Jones from Mad Men.

Okay, now onto the positive. The rest of the major nominees can be summarized thusly: Mad Men, 30 Rock, cable channels, 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, Tina Fey, Matthew Weiner and the major networks need to take some cues from their cable breathren.

Dramas:

My two favorite shows -- Mad Men and Lost -- are both nominees in the most competitive category on the board. Every show on the expanded best drama category is top-notch. Plenty of super-quality shows didn't make the cut. It's worthwhile to note that among the seven shows nominated, only two are from broadcast networks. Here's the list: Big Love (HBO), Breaking Bad (AMC), Damages (FX), Dexter (Showtime), House (Fox), Lost (ABC) and Mad Men (AMC).

As for dramatic acting nominees, Mad Men's Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss got top nods, awards I hope they wind up receiving on September 20, although both of their leading dramatic categories contain tough challengers. In addition to Hamm, the other actors nominated include AMC pal Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad (AMC), Michael C. Hall from Dexter (Showtime), Hugh Laurie from House (Fox), Byrne from In Treatment (HBO) and Simon Baker from The Mentalist (CBS). On the actress side, Moss is competing against Holly Hunter from Saving Grace (TNT), Kyra Sedgwick from The Closer (TNT), Sally Field from Brothers & Sisters (ABC), Glenn Close from Damages (FX) and Mariska Hargitay from Law & Order SVU (NBC).

In the dramatic supporting acting nominations, I'm going to pick up the pom-poms and cheer for Michael Emerson as the delightfully fiendish Benjamin Linus on Lost. The episode, "The life and death of Jeremy Bentham" and "316" showcased Emerson's talents.

Comedies:

This category is all about Tina Fey, 30 Rock (got 22 nominations) and Saturday Night Live. In this category, the major networks fare better than they do with dramas, mostly thanks to 30 Rock. Ms Fey is having a year isn't she? She's nominated as best leading actress in a comedy, best guest actress in a comedy (her Sarah Palin bits on SNL), her show was nominated as best comedy and its writers snagged four out of the five nominations for best writing for a comedy series. Riding the Fey train are Alec Baldwin as lead actor, Tracy Morgan and Jack McBrayer as supporting comedic actors, Jane Krakowski as supporting comedic actress, three out of the five guest actor in a comedy nominees (Steve Martin, Alan Alda, Jon Hamm) and two guest actress nominees.

The other comedy nominees include: Entourage (HBO), Family Guy (Fox), Flight of the Conchords (HBO), How I Met Your Mother (CBS) and Weeds (Showtime).

In the leading comedic actor category, in addition to Baldwin there's my personal favorite, Steve Carell who was so good as Michael Scott this past year on The Office. After his work following Scott's departure from Dunder Mifflin and the starting the short-lived Michael Scott Paper Company, Carell added so much new life to an older comedic franchise that Carell definitely deserves this nomination and the award.

I'd be stunned if someone other than Fey walks away with the lead comedic actress honor, but I admired the inclusion of Toni Collette who plays a challenging role which could easily slide into camp, on Showtime's United States of Tara. Rounding out the rest of the lead comedic actress nominees are Mary-Louise Parker for Weeds, Sarah Silverman for Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central), Julia Louis-Dreyfus' The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) and Christina Applegate for Samantha Who (ABC)

Anyone or show about which you're thrilled received an Emmy nomination? Any snubs you're particularly upset about?

Image credit: AMC.

Liz Lemon's Chat-Line Ad

You saw excerpts of it during a recent episode of 30 Rock.

Liz Lemon.

In the persona of "Bijou" and wearing an awful wig and bad lipstick.

Shilling for a chat-line for "horny" Chicagoans.

Now, via Hulu, NBC has unleashed the inner Liz Lemon goddess . . . the one that made Jack Donaghy laugh so hard that he threw up.

Amid Economic Scandals and a Downer Dow, Bring on the Funny TV Gals

I don't know about you, but -- Lost and 24 aside -- I've really been in the mood for some comedic TV fare lately. With news outlets overflowing with stories about AIG bonus rage, back-tax-owing-federal-bailout-recipients and pass-the-buck-finger-pointing coming from the Obama administration and lawmakers, I certainly need to laugh at something other than 401K statements.

That's why I devoted this week's Pop Culture and Politics column on Mommy Track'd to TV's female comedians who are really delivering the funny these days. With the April issue of Marie Claire making the bold declaration that "funny women are having a moment," the timing couldn't be better.

Among the women I highlighted was 30 Rock's Tina Fey, whose kooky Liz Lemon's odd behavior consistently makes me smile . . . speaking of Lemon, tonight's new 30 Rock features the last installment of the Jon Hamm as Dr. Drew Baird story arc.

Random fact I learned after watching an excerpt of Fey's appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: That fabulous line, "I want to go to there" that Liz Lemon directed toward Jon Hamm's character was the genius of Fey's 3-year-old daughter Alice, uttered while Alice was looking at the Disney World web site.

Image credit: Jessica Miglio/NBC via TV Guide.

Failing Miserably with My Oscar Picks

Watched the 47-hour Oscar telecast last night. Why is it when it seems as though the show's producers are sincerely making attempts to trim the program's time, it seems even longer?

The good: Kate Winslet winning her first Oscar, Winslet's father loudly whistling so she could locate him in the crowd, Tina Fey & Steve Martin cracking up the place, Ben Stiller doing a spot-on Joaquin Phoenix and those cute-as-a-button Slumdog Millionaire kids who were collecting stars' autographs.

The so-so: Enough with the camera shots of Bragelina (particularly when Jennifer Aniston was on stage, steps away from them . . . just tacky), the too-long dance number (even though the HSM duo was very earnest) and, while I loved the individual speeches to the actor/actress nominees -- it was like giving each actor, most of whom would go home without a statue, a thoughtful, touching, individualized gift -- it tacked on too much time. The Academy Awards ended after midnight. My DVR stopped recording just when they were making the mini-speeches about the Best Actress nominees, so I was lucky to be able to switch over to live TV so as not to miss too much.

As for my own personal Oscar picks? Per usual, I stunk at predicting the winners, while my husband -- a casual pop culture observer who I force-march through countless films, particularly of the indie ilk -- thoroughly trounced me. I'd selected the top nine categories and out of those, I successfully identified four winners. The husband? He got seven of the winners.

Among those I accurately predicted: Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire; Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (though you'd have to have been a moron to bet against a Ledger win); Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Best Animated Feature, WALL-E.

I know what you're thinking . . . how could such a self-professed Winslet fan have bet against her to win for The Reader? Well, I thought that perhaps the Academy voters didn't want to go with the "sure thing." Plus Winslet's on the cover of this week's Time Magazine (printed BEFORE the Oscars were aired) under the headline, "Best Actress." I thought it seemed TOO predictable. I decided to be wild and pick Meryl Streep for Best Actress for Doubt. My bad.

I also thought that while Sean Penn collected raves for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, that voters would go for the feel-good comeback story that is Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Wrong-o. As for picking the WALL-E Original Screenplay and The Reader Adapted Screenplay, incorrect on both counts.

Oh well. So I'm not very good at prognosticating when it comes to contests like this, which is why I always fare so poorly with my brackets during the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I tend to overthink all my choices, then allow my own personal biases to seep in. Bet you want me in your basketball pool, don't ya?

Image credit: Time Magazine.

TV Week: 'Heroes,' '24,' 'Lost,' '30 Rock' & 'Grey's'

So many good shows were aired this week that I thought I'd weigh in on some of them:

*Warning, big spoilers from recently aired episodes*

Heroes

Back after a rather lackluster first half of the season, Heroes seems as though it might be able to successfully reboot itself. Here's to hoping.

The pre-Christmas episodes seemed too crowded, too erratic, too . . . I don't know, too not like the first stellar season. But Heroes is beginning a new chapter -- where those with powers are being rounded up at the order of the senator-hypocrite who himself has powers and, in earlier episodes, wanted to manufacture an army of superheroes to serve him --and many of the original characters are banding together. And that's a good thing.

I found it ironic that in the last episode, the heroes had to be saved by the cheerleader. Maybe the cheerleader can save Heroes.

24

The previous season of 24 was so disappointing. I was the designated 24 blogger for a TV web site during season six and was running out of ways to say that Jack Bauer & Co., as well as the second Palmer president, were completely unbelievable, almost laughable.

When this season started, my expectations were very low. I wasn't even sure if I'd be sticking around, given what happened during season six. During the past season, a nuclear bomb was detonated in hour four, and after that, nothing could really match that moment's intensity and it all seemed downhill, dramatically speaking, as the Bauer family of thugs storyline landed with an unimpressive thud. But I think the writers may have learned from that mistake and have made a strategically good move thus far in having the tension and major "wow" moments unfold gradually, as they ratchet up the intensity. Plus this season's president isn't a wimp, a weasel or succumbing to weird medical conditions. She just has a wacky spouse. But then again, we've been down that the wacky presidential spouse road before.

One completely unrelated observation: As an admirerer of the canceled Once & Again, I found it amusing to see the actors who played Jake and Tiffany reunited on this show, with both of them working for the FBI.

Lost

Finally! Ben Linus has returned to his evil manipulative form in trying to engineer the circumstances that would inevitable lead to the reunion of the Oceanic 6 and, he's planning, a return to the island. (That return part remains to be seen.) The most recent episode was much more to my liking than the last one as it focused more on the original Lost castaways, plus Ben & Juliet. There was emotionally poignancy (Sawyer seeing Kate and Claire when the island time traveled to Aaron's birth) and we learned that Jin did indeed survive.

While reading up on the last episode, I found this funny, sarcastic video , featuring the Lost crew in the form of action figures and cardboard cut-outs, plus a box of chocolates, which attempts to "untangle" some of the confusing aspects of the show:



30 Rock

Are you a Generalissimo? If you are, then you too stand of chance of dating Jon Hamm, that is if you're Liz Lemon's brand of Generalissimo. While I'm a huge Tina Fey and Hamm fan (that phrase just sounds funny doesn't it, "Hamm fan?"), Alec Baldwin absolutely stole this 30 Rock episode with his obsession with a Telemundo soap. Played to perfection. Made Hamm almost an afterthought. ALMOST.

Grey's Anatomy

Attention Grey's writers: I, a fan from day one, am sick of seeing dead and deathly ill children and their parents in nearly every episode recently. (This applies to Private Practice as well.) I want to be dazzled by characters' wordplay, sarcasm, crazy antics and Meredith's introspective darkness (I'm one of the approximately three Grey's fans who find her tendency to overanalyze charming). No mas with the dead or nearly dead kids. Okay? Or do I have to sick the Generalissimo on Seattle Grace?

By the way, anyone notice that Hamm's longtime girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt, was also featured on a guest spot on a show airing Thursday night at the same time as 30 Rock? She was the pregnant woman on Grey's, which was also ironic because she was the lead for the sitcom Notes from the Underbelly, about a woman pregnant for the first time, and, as far as I know, Westfeldt doesn't have kids. Nothing like a little friendly competition between guest stars.

'I Want to Go to There:' Jon Hamm on '30 Rock'

Several web sites, including TV Addict, have gotten hold of a tantalizing 40-second video snippet from Mad Men's Jon Hamm's upcoming three-episode guest appearance on 30 Rock. (You can also see it on YouTube, but they've disabled the embedding process.)

In the scene, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) brings some of Dr. Drew's (Hamm's) mail that she received by mistake. After meeting a scary handyman, Liz sees Drew, who has a kitchen casually draped over his shoulder (a la former Georgetown hoop coach John Thompson) and who apologizes for smelling like frosting because he likes to bake. *melting*

I want to go to there too Liz . . . but we'll have to wait until next Thursday. In the meantime, be sure to check out Entertainment Weekly's Q&A with Fey and Hamm. 'Twas amusing.

Image credit: NBC/New York Post.

SAG Awards, A Lot Like the Golden Globes

If you wanted to predict who'd win the Screen Actors Guild Awards last night, all you needed to do was to look at the list of winners from the Golden Globes and put the bulk of your money on the Globe winners, the glaring exceptions being for the leading actor/actress categories.

In the film category, Slumdog Millionaire was again crowned king. (Still haven't seen it yet, but the incessant drum beat of critical and awards acclaim is going to prompt me to do so. Only hope that the massive hype doesn't lead to disappointment.) Kate Winslet and Heath Ledger each won awards for their supporting work in the films The Reader and The Dark Knight, respectively.

In TV land, 30 Rock won for best comedy, while my beloved Mad Men won again for best drama. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin collected more statues as the best comedic actors on TV. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, who played John and Abigail Adams in HBO's fabulous miniseries John Adams, won for best actors in the TV movie/miniseries categories.

However it was in the lead actor/actress categories where the actors' votes differed from those of the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Meryl Streep won a SAG award for playing a nun in Doubt, while Sean Penn was victorious for playing gay activist Harvey Milk in Milk. (Golden Globes for actors in a dramatic film went to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler and Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road.)

The awards for best actors in TV dramas went to two network actors Hugh Laurie, who's a great curmudgeon as Dr. Gregory House on House, and Sally Field, who plays the matriarch on Brothers & Sisters. (The Golden Globes went to two HBO shows, Gabriel Byrne for In Treatment and Anna Paquin for True Blood.)

Fans Rallying to Save 'Lipstick,' 'Mad Men's' Hamm to Guest on '30 Rock'

NBC has renewed the comedies The Office and 30 Rock, but still hasn't decided what to do with Lipstick Jungle, the embattled Brooke Shields drama about three fortysomething, successful gal pals in NYC, a show for which I've been cheerleading for a few weeks.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, an NBC honcho said of Lipstick, "We have to wait and see what our pilots are and what the mix of shows are." Whatever that means.

If you want to try to save the show, you could always join the rabid fans who, in addition to mailing tubes of lipstick to NBC, have started:

-- An online petition which says in part, "We are loyal fans that feel that Lipstick Jungle deserves a chance to stay on the air. It is a show based upon friendship, fashion, relationships and successful career driven women and it is what television needs nowadays. There are too many reality shows that people cannot relate to. Women can relate to Lipstick Jungle and relate to aspects of their lives. If you cancel the show you cancel a truly amazing show that deserves time to develop and progress the storylines."

-- Another petition says, "We, the undersigned, have greatly enjoyed NBC's Lipstick Jungle TV show. We are extremely disappointed that the series has been cancelled. We ask that you continue to produce more episodes so that it will have a chance at growing a larger audience."

-- A Facebook page which also attempts to rally supporters.

Meanwhile, images from Jon Hamm's (aka Don Draper) upcoming three-episode stint on 30 Rock as Tina Fey/Liz Lemon's love interest are cropping up on the internet. The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan reports that Hamm will play a doctor who lives in Lemon's building and that his first episode will air on Feb. 5.

Image credit: Contactmusic.com.

Two Great Golden Globe Moments: Gervais and Fey

As promised, I've dug up the Ricky Gervais bit from the Golden Globes. Loved his snark. And the fact that he brought a glass of beer up there with him.



Then, there was the Divine Ms Fey givin' it back to the internet haters in her acceptance speech who, as is their wont, gave it right back to her on the Los Angeles Times web site where they've been hasslin' Fey. Ah, gotta love the internet (the trolls, notsomuch).

Golden Globe TV Nominations: Mad Men!

Finally! January Jones, who regularly knocks it out of the park as the betrayed suburban housewife and mother Betty Draper on Mad Men, finally got some props from the people in the business of doling out awards.

When the Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning, Jones, along with the delicious Jon Hamm who plays her cad of a husband Don Draper, were officially placed on the shortlist to receive awards, as was their AMC show in the drama category. (Hamm won for best actor the last time around, as did Mad Men for best show, but because of the writers' strike and the canceled awards ceremony, Hamm was robbed of his chance to make a speech.)

Other TV standout nominations: HBO's intense therapy drama, In Treatment, received the most award nominations of any show at five, including one for the therapist in chief, Gabriel Byrne and one for best drama.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and 30 Rock are up for awards in the comedy arena, up against fellow NBC show The Office.

Brothers & Sisters' matriarch, Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths, who plays Fields' daughter, were nominated in the drama category.

House, as well as its star, Hugh Laurie also received drama nominations.

Shut out of the award nominations: Anyone from Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and, one of my favorites, Big Love.

Anyone left off the list who you think was robbed this season?

Image credit: AMC.

The Many Sides of Tina Fey

Quick, think about Tina Fey.

What comes to mind? Her trademark specs? Her humor? 30 Rock? SNL? Her sexy librarian image? Her wit? Her Sarah Palin impersonation?

The divine Tina Fey is one of those women whose images depends on who's doing the looking. To me, she's a witty and smart woman who's unafraid to showcase those traits first and foremost, dramatized by the fact that she wears glasses and not contact lens most of the time. To someone else, the mention of her name might remind him of comedy, or of his librarian fantasies he hasn't shared with anyone, save his therapist.

And when Tina Fey (it seems wrong to refer to her by just her last name) appears in pop culture confections all dolled up and vampy, her overt sexiness messes with some people's impression of her. "Wait a sec, she's the smart, sassy one, right?" some folks might think. "Why the hell is she doing cleavage shots like Pamela Anderson?"

Which brings us to Tina Fey in the January issue of Vanity Fair, where, alongside a lengthy feature story by Maureen Dowd, are many sexy photographs. Salon's Broadsheet blog reacted to the images with a post entitled, "The sexing up of Tina Fey," in which blogger Sarah Hepola wrote:

". . . [D]espite her disdain for hedonism, she has gone from a 'mousy,' 'goofy-looking' comedy writer who never seemed to put much of a premium on her looks into television's most unexpected bombshell. (Pictures accompanying the article show Fey in five-alarm sexy librarian mode, seductively biting the frame of her glasses and wearing red stilettos.) Fey seems conflicted about her sexuality in a way that might feel familiar to any woman who has found herself choosing between muumuus and fishnets.

. . . Maybe you find this depressing (a brilliant comic mind inevitably reduced to shaking her cleavage). Maybe you find this empowering (a brilliant comic mind finally shaking her cleavage!). Either way, it only confirms what many of us have known for a long time: Tina Fey is one of the most fascinating celebrities out there right now."

The Vanity Fair story does a good job of detailing how Tina Fey is simultaneously nerdy and shy, as well as funny and sexy. I happen to love it that Tina Fey embodies the fact that women have many different, sometimes contradictory sides. She can be witty AND smart AND sexy AND classy AND silly. This reminded me of the fake ad pitch on Mad Men earlier this season when the advertising gurus were trying to land a Playtex account. Their proposed campaign (see art above) suggested that there were two sides of a woman: a siren like Marilyn Monroe or a dutiful wife like Jackie Kennedy, as if those were the only choices.

When it comes to Emmy winning actress/writer/working mother Tina Fey, you see many different sides in the same person. And that's all right with me.

Image credits: AMC and Vanity Fair.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: 'Mom Vote,' Political DNA and McCain/Fey on SNL

I find it grating when pollsters, in trying to predict what will happen on election day, categorize the "mom vote" as if it's one big monolithic vote. You know, you get pregnant, give birth or adopt a kid and then all them dames vote the same way, right? I find it a tad bit patronizing. I rarely hear folks trying to assess how dads are going to vote . . . because dads don't all vote the same way, just like moms don't all vote in the same way.

It was this snarky position that prompted a reporter from the BBC to seek me out and interview me about the "mom vote" for a radio interview that aired today. My interview is part of a larger BBC report on the U.S. women's vote. You can listen to the interview here.

Meanwhile, this weekend's Boston Globe ran a piece suggesting that at least half of your political inclinations hail from your DNA, saying that liberals and conservatives tend to have different reactions to various situations:

"Our place on the political spectrum -- liberal, conservative, or in between -- is powerfully influenced by genetics, new studies show. In the past year, researchers have demonstrated that the brains of liberals and conservatives are physically and functionally distinctive, suggesting that people on either side of the ideological divide are actually wired differently."

I must say, I'm not buyin' it. My family's all over the map when it comes to parties and candidates.

And, in these waning days of this presidential election, Senator John McCain pulled out all the stops and was very funny when he appeared on SNL this weekend alongside Tina Fey, who was playing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The premise of one of the sketches was that while Senator Barack Obama's campaign had enough money to buy primetime spots on a half-dozen networks this weekend, McCain's campaign could only afford a spot on QVC, but with the condition that he and Palin hawk items. (Link to video is here.)

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: No Bailout Deal, Post-Debate Analysis, SNL Skits

No Bailout Deal

I, along with the rest of the world, thought for sure that there'd be a bailout deal approved by the House of Representatives today. Certainly John McCain and Barack Obama thought there'd be one. McCain -- who "suspended" (only not so much suspended) his presidential campaign and said he wouldn't attend last Friday's presidential debate until there was a deal in place to avert an economic catastrophe -- must be in need of a cloth to wipe that egg off his face right now in the face of the House shooting down a bailout package today in dramatic fashion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi certainly didn't help advance the delicate negotiations by wielding a stick in the form of some highly partisan remarks on the House floor for what was supposed to be a bipartisan, castor oil-like proposal. (See an NBC video about the House talks, including an excerpt of Pelosi's actual speech -- versus the text of her remarks -- here.)

An NBC analyst said that those who voted against the measure -- which they said their constituents opposed -- are in tough re-election fights. If there's anyway to come up with a temporary stop-gap measure until after the election (if that's even possible), that might be the only way something's going to get the green light in the face of such fierce public backlash.

So the Dow plunged and Capitol Hill is in an uproar. What will this mean politics-wise? A big, fat mess, although the folks in the cable news business will likely score better ratings. Well, one thing's for sure . . . Hank Paulson is rapidly becoming a household name.

Post-Debate Analysis

I think McCain and Obama fared about even on Friday night. There were no knock-out blows. No memorable lines. No awful gaffes. But I must say, I'm already sick of hearing the words "naive" and "he doesn't understand" being worked into numerous McCain responses to questions. I kept waiting for both candidates to get all fired up or do something we'd all remember, like sigh, glance at a wristwatch, walk menacingly toward one other, or quip, "There you go again." Alas, I was disappointed, though, substantively, I felt I gained insight into the specific foreign policy positions of both candidates.

As the pundits tended to agree that the candidates fared equally well, a USA Today/Gallup poll found that 46 percent of debate-watchers thought Obama emerged the winner, while 34 percent thought McCain got the better of his Democratic counterpart. A CNN poll had similar results, with 51 percent saying Obama was the winner, 38 percent saying McCain was the winner.

SNL Skits

No ill-advised, offensive incest jokes were featured during this past weekend's Saturday Night Live, but there were several political skits that accurately hit their targets, including Tina Fey reprising her role as Sarah Palin. The News Update nailed Bill Clinton's ambivalence toward Obama's campaign, as Fey captured the wretched awkwardness of the real Palin-Katie Couric interview from last week that was, I'm sorry to say, painful to watch. Fey's finger-in-the-air bit: Priceless. (Watch the three political SNL skits here.)

Question: Do you think SNL has gone too far in parodying Palin? Think such satire will create backlash and sympathy for Palin?