Showbiz Sandbox 21: Name Dropping At The Emmys and Toronto

September 21, 2009

Three very special guests join us on this episode to discuss the Emmy Awards and the Toronto International Film Festival, including Brill Bundy from Zap2it.com, Noel Murray from the Onion’s AV Club and David Poland from The Hot Blog and Movie City News. Before we get into either of those hot topics Michael Giltz and J. Sperling Reich duke it out over 3D movies while discussing this week’s North American box office topper, “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs”. Karen Woodward still isn’t convinced to see animated content, whether it’s 3D or not.

Brill wasn’t all that suprised by any of the Emmy Awards handed out on Sunday, except for maybe Jon Cryer’s trophy for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. Like last year, Both “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” repeated their wins for Best Drama and Best Comedy. In the end, it was host Neil Patrick Harris who stole the show, if not an Emmy for himself, by winning rave reviews for keeping the awards program light and fast paced (even at three hours).

Jay Leno began his new primetime talk show last week with enormous ratings, though Brill says it will take a few months, if not a year, before the show’s success can be determined. Certainly, having Kanye West as a guest, fresh from his stage storming moment at MTV’s Video Music Awards, was a major coup.     Read more

Showbiz Sandbox 12: I Want To Be Korbi!

July 20, 2009

Korbi Ghosh of Zap2it’s Korbi TV blog joins us this week to discuss a bunch of television news including the Emmy nominations.  Korbi‘s blog shares scoops, spoilers and breaking news with a community of fellow TV fanatics. She often appears on the TV Guide Channel, delivering her expert opinion on the television topic of the day and has filmed guest spot appearances on series such as “Scrubs” and “Greek.”  Michael Giltz, whose writing appears in the New York Daily News, the Huffington Post and the Advocate also joins us this week.

The Emmy nominations were led by “30 Rock” which garnered a total of 22 (plus, noms for supporting cast Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan!) A surprise nomination for Jim Parsons for Actor in a Comedy Series (the the underrated “Big Bang Theory”), Simon Baker (“The Mentalist”),  and Farrah Fawcett, nominated posthumously for “Farrah’s Story.”  Snubbed one again were “Friday Night Lights,”  “Battlestar Galactica,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” and that show’s host, Cat Deeley. Read more