The Gold Standard

I mean, I knew it was going to be a good night when the opening Emmy number was set to Bruce Springsteen and included Jon Hamm. That and knowing George Clooney was going to be receiving the Humanitarian award? About as mysterious an outcome for me as when I order up some nachos at the local pub: pure joy!

Duh.

GOOD Everyone's been talking about how good the opening number was and I'm no exception. Besides what I've already mentioned, let's not leave out that Betty White never gets old (figuratively and literally). I even have to admit that I liked the Kate Gosselin moment where she disses herself, though it was slightly marred by the fact that girl looks a little plastic surgeried up to me. Had to rewind for a sec after a "Who is that?" moment. Seriously, Kate, it's time to go away and design baby strollers or something. Step. Away. From. The. Camera.


BETTER Ok, fine, it's no secret I'll pretty much like anything with George Clooney in it, but his inclusion in the "How can we make Modern Family better" bit was priceless.

BTW, when I tried to find a picture for this, I Googled "george clooney emmy modern family". Why is the picture that comes up first the girl who plays Kayla on Days of Our Lives? Someone should start a website of "Weird S&*T that turns up on Google searches".

Hmm, maybe I just did.

BEST And of course, speaking of Modern Family...Eric Stonestreet getting the Emmy was not just good because he is so freaking hilarious as Cameron on that show, but for me, way beyond all the quippy banter and skits, I am tuned in for the good acceptance speeches. Not the over-rehearsed-in-front-of-the-mirror ones (I'm talking to you Kyra Sedgwick) but the really awesome, heartfelt-make-you-cry ones, and Eric's speech fit the bill. Plus, bringing his mama as his date and giving his award to his parents as a show of his appreciation?

I'd like him to be a part of my modern family.

They Might Be Giants

Despite the recent cold snap, fall is still a ways off. But, never too soon to start DVR planning ahead! We've already talked about a few of the legal shows and Matt LeBlanc's long-overdue comeback vehicle...but what about some of these potential gems?

RAISING HOPE
Fox mashes up "Three Men + a Baby", a little "Baby Boom" and a dash of "Juno". Maybe a bit of "Raising Arizona".

Pros Nice to see Martha Plimpton still kicking around. The lead newcomer kid seems to have some promise. Is it just me or does he look like (a young) Crispin Glover?

Cons It's from the creators of "My Name is Earl"...and I'm pretty sure they reached the white trash quota in season one of THAT show. Also, probably a limit on diaper-catastrophe-hijinks plot lines.

Bottom Line When American Idol tanks because Fox blew getting Jlo as a judge, they'll need a hit. Give 'em some love.



SCHOOL PRIDE
NBC attempts tries to dig out of the hole they're in with feel good TV in this Extreme-Home-Makeover-for-Schools reality show.

Pros Who doesn't love a little feel good tv?

Cons These schools might need more than a fresh coat of paint.

Bottom Line The "hosts" seem a little random, but I'll support casting Miss USA Susie Castillo since she hails from the place where everybody knows her name. Also, it's like replaying the ending to "Lean on Me" every single week...and I love that movie!

Go ahead, try and not think of that theme song....



LONE STAR
Fox has another potential goodie on its hands with this series that's got serious buzz (my boyfriend even knew about this one, and he doesn't spend half his days scouring the internet for tv news like crazy me). The premise? It's about a really hot con man that lives a double life. And it's got Jon Voight.

Pros It's about a really hot con man that lives a double life. It's from the creators of "Party of Five". How can it lose?

Cons Could they have come up with a more original title? Googling it yields way too many John Sayles references, beer and country songs to slog through before I could find it on YouTube.

Bottom Line Weren't you listening? Hot con man? From the creators of "Party of Five"? Just watch it!

The Envelope Please

I was starting to panic. There are only 5 episodes of Mad Men left (yes, really) and there's only so much back-to-back-to-back Bachelor incarnations I can take before I need to regenerate my brain cells by reading a book or something.

So with a tv lull looming before the new fall shows begin, I am relieved that at least I have the Emmys coming up THIS Sunday!!

Things I'm Looking Forward to:
George Clooney is receiving the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. I don't know what this entails, but it's a segment honoring George Clooney. Um, duh. I'll be there.

Modern Family has 14 nominations. Would love to see a sweep...though that kid and Ed O'Neill weren't part of those nominations? Muy mal.

Conan's now defunct Tonight Show is nominated. I'm with Coco!!! How bad do you want to see THAT speech? Suck it, Jay Leno.

I'll probably grab some Ben + Jerry's during...
I'm still bitter over wasting 6 years of my life on LOST. Not rooting for anyone from LOST and especially hoping there are no Dharma-themed skits. And enough dragging it out with that auction already! No, I don't want to buy the smoke monster, musical instruments from Driveshaft, and absolutely, positively I do not want any of their what I assume-to-be-smelly outfits!


BTW, how come no one's hair ever got longer on that show? Maybe if they didn't waste time fashioning a blade to cut it, they would've gotten off the island sooner.

Wait, did they get off the island or did the smoke monster get them? I'm still not sure...