Will Be Back Very Soon…

Apologies for my blog absenteeism! A summer cold got me down, but I’ll be back early next week to check in, as I’m wont to do, on all things pop culture.

The good thing about being sick was I got a chance to check out some new summer shows (obsessed with Broadchurch!) and catch up on some of the shows clogging my DVR. I’m also very much looking forward to fall movie season (Entertainment Weekly‘s fall movie preview issue is burning a whole in my mailbox as I type), and am eager to write about all of the theater I’ve seen and will be seeing in the next few weeks. (Finally saw Once — loved it!)

See you soon…

My Picks for July’s Best TV, Book, Movie, Theater and More

Where is the summer going??

As another warm weather month winds down, I have selected, as I did last month, my favorite pop culture experiences from the last 30 days. (See my picks for June here.) Here we go…

BEST NEW TELEVISION SHOW
I’m enjoying Showtime’s Ray Donovan, but I’ve got to give this one to the new Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Like, it seems, most of the internet, I have completely fallen under the spell of this funny, strange, dark, disturbing and brilliant dramedy from the creator of Weeds. I refuse to binge watch it because I don’t want it to ever end.

READ: Lock Me Up: I Love Orange is the New Black
READ: Will Pilots From HBO, Showtime, AMC and FX Get Picked Up?

BEST REALITY TELEVISION SHOW
I am embarrassingly behind on So You Think You Can Dance, and have been watching Big Brother through my hands because of the disgusting racism on display, so I’ve got to say (gulp) The Challenge on MTV has been my favorite reality show this month. Yes, yes, it takes trashy tactlessness to a whole new level, but it’s so damn fun to watch!

READ: The Devil is Blonde — Big Brother‘s Aaryn is Pure Evil
READ: Hollywood Game Night is Charming Fun

BEST MOVIE
Summer movie season is never really my cup of tea, but I’m so glad I hit BAM Rose Cinema to see The Way, Way Back, a charming, hysterical, heart-warming coming of age comedy. 

READ: The Way, Way Back is Way, Way Awesome
READ: Before Midnight is Everything I Hoped it Would Be…And More
READ: Catching Up With Old Friends in Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

BEST THEATER
As always, I spent a lot of time in the theater this month, but the best straight play I saw was actually on the very first day of July. A Kid Like Jake, produced by Lincoln Center Theater as part of its LCT3 program, was thought-provoking, moving and incredibly well-acted, particularly by a searing Carla Gugino. I loved it.

READ: A Kid Like Jake is an Excellent, Thought-Provoking Drama

BEST MUSICAL
Not only was Encore’s one-night concert production of Jeanine Tesori’s Violet the best musical I saw this month, it was also one of the Top 10 theatrical experiences I’ve had since living in New York. Sutton Foster and company were absolutely thrilling in this layered, soulful musical about a young woman seeking spiritual and physical salvation. Brilliant.

READ: Sutton Foster and Violet Are Transcendent
READ: Game, Set and Match: Volleygirls is a Charming Victory for NYMF

BEST BOOK
After years of staring at it sitting on my bookshelf, I finally picked up Richard Russo’s Pulitzer Prize-winner Empire Falls, and boy am I glad I did. A warm, funny, sad, far-reaching tale of a beaten up small town, I soaked up every single beautifully written word.

READ: My Complicated Relationship with Book Clubs
READ: Summertime, and the Reading is Easy — Or Is It?

What were your favorite TV show, movie, book and play in the month of July? Let me know!

READ: The Good, The Bad and The Surprising From the Emmy Nominations
READ: Martha Plimpton is the Coolest, Smartest Actor in the Business
READ: The Strange, Wonderful Career of Linda Cardellini

See You On Monday…

Sorry for the lack of posts…I’m currently relaxing on a beach! I will be back on Monday, so stay tuned…

Sutton Foster and VIOLET are Transcendent

It’s been a week of highs and lows for Sutton Foster. Yesterday ABC Family finally announced what we have all been expecting for some time — it has canceled Bunheads, the critically acclaimed show created by Gilmore Girls‘ Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Foster as a Las Vegas dancer-turned-ballet teacher. This came on the heels of a transcendent performance from the two-time Tony Award-winner in a one-night concert of Jeanine Tesori’s Violet as part of Encore’s Off Center, a new initiative at New York’s City Center to shine a light on Off-Broadway shows.

Highs and lows, indeed.

I’ve not always been Foster’s number one fan. It’s been hard to dispute her talent, of course — when I saw her deliver “Gimme, Gimme” during an early preview of Thoroughly Modern Millie, I leaned over to my mother, who I was seeing the show with, and whispered, “She just won herself the Tony.” She was undeniably great. But that show was not to my taste; neither was Little Women, even though Foster’s rendition of “Astonishing” was vocally just that. The Drowsy Chaperone was another showcase of her gifts, but another show I just didn’t connect with. And Shrek and Young Frankenstein I didn’t even bother to see.

But Violet. Oh Violet.

Violet was one of the most memorable nights I’ve ever had in the theater. I was only vaguely familiar with the music and the story before settling into City Center last week, but on July 17 I was blown by away by the music, the story, the performances, and those voices. Those voices! Foster, the ultimate triple threat, was stripped of one of her tools, but even without dancing a single step she was sheer perfection. She was tough, she was witty, she was guarded, but also luminous. And she has never sounded better. If this show has a future life, which I hope it finds, I can’t imagine Foster not picking up a third Tony Award for this performance. She’s shown in the past she does brassy well, but this damaged young woman is the part she was born to play.

Violet also forced me to realize — there is no one like Sutton Foster. No one. She is a singular talent — she’s an Audra McDonald, or a Barbra Streisand, or a Bette Midler. No one can do what she does. The fact that she can sign like she does (that voice!), act like she does (she really was brilliant in Violet) and dance like she does (that number from Anything Goes?) — forget about it. There’s no one like her.

Just a few more words about Violet while I’m on the subject — the rest of the cast was just incredible, but I’ve got to give biggest props to Joshua Henry as Flick. He brought down the house with a rousing “Let It Sing” — I was tempted to give him an Andrea Martin-style mid-show standing ovation! Van Hughes as Monty, Emerson Steele as a young Violet and Chris Sullivan as Violet’s father were also wonderful, and the big voices of Keala Settle, Anastacia McCleskey and Rema Webb were the definition of soul stirring. In fact, the entire evening was one of the best-sung performances I’ve ever witnessed.

Leigh Silverman’s direction was also extraordinary. Staged concerts can often feel somewhat stale — Off-Center’s Cradle Will Rock felt this way to me just a week earlier — but with Violet I felt like I was watching a full production. It was directed a simplicity that was perfect and perfectly evocative. I believed Violet had a facial disfigurement. I believed she was on a bus traveling to see a faith healer. I believed every minute that flashed back to her childhood. And when the actors closed their books at the end I had tears streaming down my face.

None of it would have worked, however, without Sutton Foster at the center of it. It took awhile, but I’m finally a believer. And though I’m sorry to all the Bunheads fans out there who are mourning the loss of that show, I’ve got my fingers crossed that program’s cancellation means she’ll be making it back to the Great White Way, so I can be wow’ed by her again in Violet. As the final song of that show declares, I’m ready for her to “Bring Me to Light.”

READ: The Way, Way Back is Way, Way Awesome
READ: The Good, Bad and Surprising From the Emmy Nominations
READ: Before Midnight Was Everything I Hoped It Would Be…And More
READ: Will Pilots From HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX and Bravo Get Picked Up?
READ: Lock Me Up: I Love the New Netflix Series Orange is the New Black
READ: Martha Plimpton is the Coolest, Smartest Actor in the Business
READ: The Strange, Wonderful Career of Linda Cardellini
READ: Looking Back at June’s Best TV, Movies, Books and Theater
READ: My Complicated Relationship with Book Clubs

THE WAY, WAY BACK is Way, Way Awesome

I don’t tend to spend much time at the movie theaters during the summer months, as I’m not a big fan of superheroes and comic books. I am interested, however, in sweet, heartfelt, hysterical movies like The Way, Way Back, which I saw this weekend, and absolutely loved.

Written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the Oscar-winning writers of The Descendants, The Way, Way Back tells the story of 14-year old Duncan (Liam James), who, when forced to spend his summer vacation with his mother (Toni Collette), her obnoxious boyfriend Trent (Steve Carrell) and his daughter Steph (Zoe Levin), meets a wacky adult, Owen (Sam Rockwell), who gets him to open himself up to possible joy in the world. On the surface the film is a totally predictable coming-of-age flick — unhappy kid goes through an experience that changes his life. But in the sturdy hands of Faxon and Rash, and it’s more-than-capable cast, it becomes much, much more than that.

It all starts with James, who gives a central performance that is deeply moving, deeply sad, and, ultimately, deeply joyous. For much of the film this kid is truly, truly unhappy. He’s not just “in a funk,” or “sort of pissed off” — he’s troubled. He’s lonely. He feels abandoned and isolated. This doesn’t just last a few minutes before his new adventures at Water Wizz, the local water park, begin — it lasts the whole first half of the movie. His despair is evident in his face, in his body language, and in his voice. That James is so convincingly sad makes the rest of the movie soar. When he starts to open up, a real, visceral weight feels like it is being lifted. And when he smiles, and lets loose, it’s downright transcendent.

The rest of the cast is also fantastic. Rockwell brings tremendous soul to the role of Owen — this is a guy who is not one of life’s winners, but that doesn’t prevent his heart from being wide open. He gives a liberated performance that’s genius is in its unexpected rhythms. It totally works. Allison Janney steals every scene she’s in as the drunk neighbor, Carrell is just asshole-y enough to hate without being cartoonish, and Collette allows you to see where Duncan gets his sadness from. Faxon and Rash are also excellent in smaller roles, though the always-genius Maya Rudolph is wasted in a straight woman role.

So, see Superman and Pacific Rim if you must, but also make time for this low-key charmer. You won’t be sorry.

READ: The Good, Bad and Surprising From the Emmy Nominations
READ: Before Midnight Was Everything I Hoped It Would Be…And More
READ: Will Pilots From HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX and Bravo Get Picked Up?
READ: Lock Me Up: I Love the New Netflix Series Orange is the New Black
READ: Martha Plimpton is the Coolest, Smartest Actor in the Business
READ: The Strange, Wonderful Career of Linda Cardellini
READ: Looking Back at June’s Best TV, Movies, Books and Theater
READ: My Complicated Relationship with Book Clubs
READ: Wentworth Miller, Tom Welling and Adrian Grenier — Where Have You Gone?

The Good, The Bad and The Surprising From the Emmy Nominations

After spending weeks Predicting the Emmy Nominations, I woke up like a kid on Christmas morning — well — if I wasn’t Jewish that it is — to see who actually made the cut. (Check out a full list of all nominees here).

As always, the Academy made so excellent selections, some downright terrible ones, and some that made me scratch my head. Here the ones that stood out to me:

THE GOOD

Connie Britton – Lead Actress in a Drama
Though Nashville can be a bit uneven, I’m thrilled to see Britton pick up her fourth straight nomination for three very different projects (Friday Night Lights, American Horror Story and now Nashville). In my eyes she can do no wrong.

Vera Farmiga – Lead Actress in a Drama
The former Oscar nominee took her television debut by storm, ripping into the role of Norma on Bates Motel. Claire Danes, the presumed front runner in the Lead Actress category, better watch her back.

Kerry Washington – Lead Actress in a Drama
Scandal is one of the most deliciously entertaining shows on television, and it would be nothing without Washington’s high wire act of a central performance. It’s great to see the academy recognize that.

Adam Driver – Supporting Actor in a Comedy
I had my fingers crossed on this one, but wasn’t holding my breath after he was passed over for Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations. His brilliant blend of off kilter comedy and sometimes scary drama is, to me, as much the heart of Girls as any of the titular ladies themselves.

THE BAD

Monica Potter – Snubbed for Supporting Actress in a Drama
If a universally critically acclaimed performance during a cancer storyline is not going to get this severely underrated Parenthood actress nominated, it looks like nothing well. Definitely the most egregious snub of the season.

Juliana Margulies – Snubbed for Lead Actress in a Drama
It’s hard to complain about this category when I just said how happy I was to see three women included, but to leave off The Good Wife‘s divine Margulies here is a travesty.

Rupaul – Snubbed for Reality Competition Show Host
Betty White again? Really? And Anthony Bourdain for The Taste? These are reality show hosts that are better at what they do than Rupaul on the fabulously entertaining Rupaul’s Drag Race? I don’t buy that for a minute.

THE SURPRISING

All the love for Veep
Who knew there would be so much love for Veep? With nominations for Best Comedy, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (Anna Chlumsky) and Best Supporting Actor (Tony Hale), the HBO comedy got even more love in the top categories than critical darling Girls.

No love for The Americans
It looks like Netflix’ House of Cards took spots that could have gone to The Americans in the Best Drama Series, Best Actor (Kevin Spacey over Matthew Rhys) and Best Actress (Robin Wright over Keri Russell) categories. At least Margo Martindale snagged a nod for Best Guest Actress and the show was nominated for best title theme. That’s something, right?

Where’s Corey Stoll?
Though the Academy clearly wasn’t shy about honoring Netflix’ first original series, one of its most acclaimed actors missed the cut — Corey Stoll in the Supporting Actor category. Did they really need to nominate Downton Abbey‘s Jim Carter again?

Emilia Clarke – Nominated for Supporting Actress in a Drama
Many people thought the second Game of Thrones actor to score a nomination after Peter Dinklage would be Nikolaji Coster-Waldau, but instead it was Daenerys herself, Emilia Clarke. I didn’t see that one coming.

Eric Stonestreet — No nomination for Supporting Actor in a Comedy
I predicted that one or two of the Modern Family actors would be left on the sidelines, but I didn’t imagine it would be two-time winner Stonestreet. Did no Fizbo episode this season did him in?

No New Big Bang Theory Actors
Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik returned to the fold, but unlike many folks predicted, they were not joined by any of their costars. Maybe next year Simon Helberg, Kaley Cuoco, Melissa Rauch and Johnny Galecki.

What surprised you from today’s nominations? Let me know!

READ: Will Pilots From HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX and Bravo Get Picked Up?
READ: Lock Me Up: I Love the New Netflix Series Orange is the New Black
READ: Martha Plimpton is the Coolest, Smartest Actor in the Business
READ: The Strange, Wonderful Career of Linda Cardellini
READ: Looking Back at June’s Best TV, Movies, Books and Theater
READ: Summer TV Report Card — Grading the Top Ten June Premieres
READ: Revisiting the Grey’s Anatomy Pilot Episode
READ: Scott Speedman Joins New HBO Drama; Julianne Moore in for Hunger Games
READ: Where Have All the Medical Dramas Gone?
READ: My Complicated Relationship with Book Clubs
READ: Wentworth Miller, Tom Welling and Adrian Grenier — Where Have You Gone?
READ: Fully Emmy Ballot Revealed — The Submissions That Make Me Go “Huh?”
READ: Where Did My Love for Glee‘s Lea Michele Go?
READ: Predicting the Emmy Nominations

Martha Plimpton is the Coolest, Smartest Actor in the Business

My partner and I were catching up on old episodes of The Good Wife last night — we are embarrassingly behind, having just completed Season 3 — and were delighted to discover the wonderful Martha Plimpton make a return appearance to the show as Patti Nyholm. With a sparkle in her eye and a bite in her voice, she brilliantly demonstrated why she deserved the Emmy Award she won last year for this performance.

Coincidentally, on the same day we watched her work her magic on The Good Wife, Martha was in the middle of a three-day stint guest hosting Leonard Lopate’s radio show on WNYC, talking about a variety of subjects, including Prop 8, author David Rakoff, and Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory.

Throughout the same day, as she does every day, she was active on social media, promoting the work of A is For, a non-profit she co-founded, whose mission is to “serve as an ally and advocate for organizations working to protect reproductive rights.” It’s a pretty incredible organization, and Martha is a tireless ambassador. Check out their website here.

Did I mention she has a day job? Yep, she’s been nominated for an Emmy Award for hysterically playing Virginia Chance on Fox’s Raising Hope, which was renewed for a fourth season this fall. Oh, and one more thing — when she’s not gracing television screens, she makes frequent appearances on the New York stage, including garnering three Tony Award nominations for performances in the shows The Coast of Utopia, Top Girls and Pal Joey.

Is there anything this woman can’t do?

How did the girl from The Goonies and Running on Empty and Parenthood become the coolest, and smartest, chick in show business?

It seems she got there both by not giving a fuck and by deeply giving a fuck. She educates herself. She cares. She puts herself out there. She is who she is. She’s outspoken. She makes bold choices.

And I love her for it.

Keep on keeping on, Martha. Can’t wait to see what you’ll do next.

READ: The Strange, Wonderful Career of Linda Cardellini
READ: Looking Back at June’s Best TV, Movies, Books and Theater
READ: Summer TV Report Card — Grading the Top Ten June Premieres
READ: Revisiting the Grey’s Anatomy Pilot Episode
READ: Scott Speedman Joins New HBO Drama; Julianne Moore in for Hunger Games
READ: Where Have All the Medical Dramas Gone?
READ: My Complicated Relationship with Book Clubs
READ: Wentworth Miller, Tom Welling and Adrian Grenier — Where Have You Gone?
READ: Fully Emmy Ballot Revealed — The Submissions That Make Me Go “Huh?”
READ: Where Did My Love for Glee‘s Lea Michele Go?
READ: Predicting the Emmy Nominations

Will Pilots From HBO, AMC, FX, Bravo and Showtime Get Picked Up?

Every month cable networks announce that they have put shows into development or ordered pilots. That’s usually followed by little bits of casting news.

And then — radio silence. Devoted TV nerds like myself are left wondering whether these sounds-good-on-paper shows will ever make it to the light of day.

Though cable networks are usually pickier in what actually makes it to the pilot phase, and therefore more likely to move these pilots to series, you can never be certain. Sometimes sure-things, like HBO’s The Corrections with Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhaal, never move forward.

Here are a few of the pilots that have been announced in the last year that I’ve been wondering about. Bookmark this post, as I’ll be updating it when news comes out about their future life.

The Affair (Showtime)
Showtime says this show “dissects an affair and its effect on the two marriages it disrupts, with the story told separately from the male and female perspective.”Last month it was announced that The Wire star Dominic West would play Noah, a married father of four; no word yet on who will play Allison, the married woman he hooks up with.

Halt and Catch Fire (AMC)
Taking place during the 1980’s personal computing boom, this show is “seen through the eyes of a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy whose innovations directly confront the corporate behemoths of the time.” Starring Pushing Daisies‘ Lee Pace. Is this a 80’s version of The Social Network?

The Leftovers (HBO) 
Based on the novel by Tom Perotta, The Leftovers is the story of the people who didn’t make the cut after the Rapture happens, and a world that will never be the same. Justin Thereaux and Amy Brenneman (love her!) are said to be starring in this series from Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof. I would be shocked if this one didn’t make it to series — but hey, I said the same thing about The Corrections.

The Missionary (HBO)
Benjamin Walker (Broadway’s Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson) plays a young American missionary in 1960s Berlin becomes involved with the CIA. This one has been in the pipeline for what feels like forever — will we ever find out if it will make it to air?

Open (HBO)
Everything Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story) turns to gold — at least for one season, right? Will HBO take a chance on this “modern, provocative exploration of human sexuality and relationships” starring Scott Speedman (yum!) and Wes Bentley? I sure hope so, as I think HBO could use a few more human dramas, and a few less fantasy shows.

Rita (Bravo) 
Bravo was looking to make its first foray into scripted television with this series about “an acerbic, outspoken private-school teacher struggling to raise her three teenage children while dealing with the inane bureaucracy and overprotective parents at her school.” I’m not sure how this show, starring Breaking Bad‘s Anna Gunn, would fit on a network better know for table-flipping housewives, but I’m intrigued.

The Strain (FX)
House of Cards‘ Corey Stoll and Alias‘ Mia Maestro star in this series from Guillermo del Toro, about a man who investigates biological threats for the CDC and “represents mankind’s only hope when a swarm of vampires quickly turn civilization into a buffet spread.” Given its pedigree, and considering the success of The Walking Dead, hard to imagine this one not getting picked up.

Turn (AMC) 
Featuring Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell in his series debut, Turn is set in 1778 and follows a New York farmer who bands together with a group of childhood friends to form an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America’s fight for independence. I’ve never warmed to Hell on Wheels, but the spy angle here sounds interesting.

Tyrant (FX) 
When Oscar-winner Ang Lee signed on to direct earlier this year it seemed like an instant green-light for this thriller from the producers of Homeland about an unassuming American family that is drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Now that Lee has pulled out things are up in the air — will another A-list director come in and save the day?

Untitled Lagravenese/Goldwyn Project (AMC and WE?)
Originally developed at AMC but now possibly being eyed by WE as their first scripted project, this show, from Behind the Candelabra screenwriter Richard Lagravanese and Scandal star Tony Goldwyn follows a “sensational murder trial.” Kind of sounds like the courtroom version of The Killing.
UPDATE 7/23: This project, now called The Divide, has been picked to up to series by WE.

The Vatican (Showtime)
Two words: Kyle Chandler. Yes, Friday Night Lights‘ Coach Taylor could be returning to series television in contemporary genre thriller about spirituality, power and politics set against the modern-day political machinations within the Catholic church. Clear eyes, full hearts, Catholic church, can’t lose!

READ: Lock Me Up: I Love the New Netflix Series Orange is the New Black
READ: Martha Plimpton is the Coolest, Smartest Actor in the Business
READ: The Strange, Wonderful Career of Linda Cardellini
READ: Looking Back at June’s Best TV, Movies, Books and Theater
READ: Summer TV Report Card — Grading the Top Ten June Premieres
READ: Revisiting the Grey’s Anatomy Pilot Episode
READ: Scott Speedman Joins New HBO Drama; Julianne Moore in for Hunger Games
READ: Where Have All the Medical Dramas Gone?
READ: My Complicated Relationship with Book Clubs
READ: Wentworth Miller, Tom Welling and Adrian Grenier — Where Have You Gone?
READ: Fully Emmy Ballot Revealed — The Submissions That Make Me Go “Huh?”
READ: Where Did My Love for Glee‘s Lea Michele Go?
READ: Predicting the Emmy Nominations

Checking My Work: How Did I Fare With My Emmy Nomination Predictions?

I’ve already spelled out The Good, The Bad and The Surprising From the Emmy Nominations, but after spending the past month Predicting the Emmy Nominations, I had to close the loop by going back and seeing how I fared. Turns out I got 53 out of 74 of my predictions correct — 72%. Not too shabby! Here’s a summary of where I went right — and where I went oh-so wrong:

Drama Series
5 out of 6 correct
I had The Americans making the cut instead of House of Cards.

Comedy Series 
6 out of 6 correct
My one perfect score!

Lead Actress in a Drama Series
5 out of 7 correct
I had included The Good Wife‘s Julianna Marguilies, and left Downton Abbey‘s Michelle Dockery and House of Cards‘ Robin Wright off of the list.

Lead Actor in a Drama Series
4 out of 6 correct
I had included The Americans’ Matthew Rhys and Boardwalk Empire‘s Steve Buscemi, while The Newsroom‘s Jeff Daniels and Downton Abbey‘s Hugh Bonneville actually got the nods.

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
5 out of 6 correct
I thought Nurse Jackie Edie Falco would get the boot this year; instead it was New Girl‘s Zooey Deschanel who was left on the sidelines.

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
5 out of 6 correct
Who would have guessed last year’s winner Jon Cryer would get left out in the cold? Not me! I had him making the race, and Episodes‘ Matt LeBlanc getting snubbed.

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
4 out of 6 correct
I had included Nashville‘s Hayden Panetierre and Parenthood‘s Monica Potter (boo!), but Homeland‘s Morena Baccarin and Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke got those spots instead.

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
3 out 6 correct
In my worst showing overall, I had included House of Cards‘ Corey Stoll, Bates Motel‘s Freddie Highmore and Scandal‘s Jeff Perry; it turns out Boardwalk Empire‘s Bobby Cannavale, Downton Abbey‘s Jim Carter and Breaking Bad‘s Jonathan Banks got the nominations.

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
4 out of 7 correct
I let my heart get in the way of my head predicting Happy Endings‘ Casey Wilson would be nominated, and threw in Melissa Rauch even though I don’t watch The Big Bang Theory; instead, Veep‘s Anna Chlumsky, Nurse Jackie‘s Merritt Wever and Glee‘s Jane Lynch got the nods.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
3 out of 6 correct
I was right in thinking a Modern Family star would get snubbed — I just thought it would be Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Ed O’Neill (both of whom made the race), and not last year’s champ Eric Stonestreet. I also believed The Big Bang Theory‘s Simon Helberg would get in and New Girl‘s Max Greenberg would be back; instead, it’s Veep‘s Tony Hale who picked up a nod for Veep.

Reality Competition Show
5 out of 6 correct
I thought it was high time for Rupaul’s Drag Race to replace Project Runway on this list; apparently the Academy disagreed.

Reality Competition Show Host
4 out of 6 correct
I had Rupaul and The Amazing Race‘s Phil Keoghan making the list this year; Project Runway‘s Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum, along with Anthony Bourdain for (what?) The Taste, are in the running instead.

READ: The Good, The Bad and The Surprising From the Emmy Nominations
READ: Will Pilots From HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX and Bravo Get Picked Up?
READ: Lock Me Up: I Love the New Netflix Series Orange is the New Black
READ: Martha Plimpton is the Coolest, Smartest Actor in the Business
READ: The Strange, Wonderful Career of Linda Cardellini
READ: Looking Back at June’s Best TV, Movies, Books and Theater
READ: Summer TV Report Card — Grading the Top Ten June Premieres
READ: Revisiting the Grey’s Anatomy Pilot Episode
READ: Scott Speedman Joins New HBO Drama; Julianne Moore in for Hunger Games
READ: Where Have All the Medical Dramas Gone?
READ: My Complicated Relationship with Book Clubs
READ: Wentworth Miller, Tom Welling and Adrian Grenier — Where Have You Gone?
READ: Fully Emmy Ballot Revealed — The Submissions That Make Me Go “Huh?”
READ: Where Did My Love for Glee‘s Lea Michele Go?
READ: Predicting the Emmy Nominations

“People Hate People Who Are Cute” — Aaryn’s Most Ridiculous Quotes from Episode 10 of BIG BROTHER

Well, despite being the most hated houseguest in America and inside the Big Brother house, Aaryn somehow managed to escape eviction this week. Great — at least one more week with America’s favorite racist.

Here are her most entertaining — or, in other words, ridiculous — bon mots of the night.

“If I have to swallow my pride and kiss some butts for the week, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“GinaMarie crying like a little baby ruined the entire joke. I don’t know why we can’t just have a little fun once in a while.”

“I want to thank my family for giving me the love and support to be here.”
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Did they also teach you all of those “jokes” you know, Aaryn?]

“If I just show people I’m a good and fun person it’s definitely going to help me out of this week.”

“You know it’s hard for me to act nice to everyone. I think I deserve to be acknowledged for that.”

“Jeremy is being discriminated against because he’s a winner. I think it’s unfair for all of these wimps to penalize him for being good at competitions.”

“I have never meant any comment in any derogatory way. Ever.”

“This is such a perfect example of how life is. People hate people who are good at things. People hate people who are cute.”

What quote from Aaryn made your jaw drop the furthest? Let me know!

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