Yesterday we brought you the Critics’ Choice Award nominees.  Tonight belongs to the Television Critics Association.  Homeland tops the list with 4 nominations.  While it got the extra boost over established veterans in the Outstanding New Program category, the taut thriller earned its spots in Best Drama and Program of the Year as well as the nod to Claire Danes for her stellar performance.  The critics understandably still love Breaking Bad and Bryan Cranston, Mad Men and Jon Hamm, Louie and Louis C.K., Game of Thrones and Peter Dinklage, Parks and Recreation and Amy Poehler.  Creator/star Lena Dunham is the freshest face in the bunch, representing in both Individual Achievement in Comedy and Outstanding New Program with Girls.  But as always, there are a few head-scratchers.  Jessica Lange for American Horror Story is a legacy vote, and while her scenery-chewing was very entertaining—for Individual Achievement in Drama?  No.  And Smash somehow sneaked into Outstanding New Program rather than, say, Veep or Awake.

Still, the TCA always gets more right than they do wrong, especially with their neat Heritage Award.  (This year’s eclectic contenders are Cheers, Lost, Saturday Night Live, Star Trek, and Twin Peaks.)  Read the full list after the jump.

The upfronts are nearing an end, and we’ve already seen the new schedules from NBC, Fox, and ABC.  Now it’s CBS’s turn.  The readers of this site may not exactly be CBS’s target demo—though I’m still watching and enjoying How I Met Your Mother—but The Eye is hoping to change that with a few promising new series slated for this fall.  Shifts for returning series include moving the Ashton Kutcher-enhanced Two and a Half Men to Thursdays, while The Mentalist (which is probably your parents’ favorite show) will now air on Sunday.  Also, the young-skewing comedy 2 Broke Girls has been pushed back to the prime 9pm slot on Mondays after doing well at 8:30.  Moreover, I’m now aware that a show unironically called Crimetime Saturday exists.

As far as new series go, I’m really only keeping my eye on Elementary at this point.  I didn’t really find the need for a new Sherlock Holmes series given that we already have the beyond excellent Sherlock (and, to a lesser extent, House), but I’m willing to check out this new drama (starring Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes and Lucy Liu as Watson) to see what they’ve come up with.  Hit the jump to check out CBS’s schedule.

The Artist has yet again taken home a major Oscar precursor award. The black-and-white silent film was recognized for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Pictures at the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards last night. This is yet another notch in the column that points to a very big night for The Artist at the upcoming 84th Academy Awards. In a slight surprise, The Adventures of Tintin was the winner among animated films, besting critical favorite Rango. On the television side of things, Boardwalk Empire won for excellence in dramatic series (beating out fare like Mad Men and Game of Thrones), Modern Family was the winner for the comedies, and the fantastically addictive Downton Abbey won in the movies of the week/mini-series category.

Hit the jump to see the full list of winners.

CBS’ 60 Minutes did a segment tonight on Julie Taymor’s upcoming musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.  With music by U2′s Bono and The Edge, it is the most expensive musical in Broadway history.  Part of that is due to the production’s continued delays and, according to 60 Minutes, the operating cost is $1 million a week.  Another interesting fact gleamed from 60 Minutes‘ story is that one of the show’s original producers had a seizure and died when Bono and The Edge were about to sign their contracts.  No one took that as a bad sign.

Tonight, the $65 million musical began it’s first night of previews.  According to WENN, the show’s only full rehearsal was scheduled for last night, but had to be canceled, which means tonight, in front of an audience, is the first time it’s ever been performed from start to finish.  Hit the jump for the 60 Minutes piece and reactions to tonight’s performance.  Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is set to open on January 11, 2011.

In the latest chapter in the Conan O’Brien saga, the red-headed comedian appeared on TV for the first time since The Tonight Show ended, via last night’s 60 Minutes.  You probably know the gist of the story: the Great Primetime Leno Experiment of 2010 was a failure, which resulted in NBC seizing the 11:30 timeslot from O’Brien and handing it back to Leno.  Now O’Brien has his own show on TBS and is travelling the nation for the 30-city Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.

O’Brien was back on television last night, but I think he maintains the stated “no funny” clause of his contract.  He makes jokes, to be sure, but there’s too much hurt behind them for the interview to be a laugh riot (“I’m laughing ’cause crying would be sad”).  You can find the entire melancholy clip after the jump.

Slowly, the pale, red-headed onion that is the Conan O’Brien severance package is peeling away and next week the former Tonight Show host can finally give his side of the story.  On Sunday, May 2^nd, O’Brien will sit down with 60 Minutes in an interview with Steve Kroft.  O’Brien’s deal with NBC had him prohibited from giving interviews until May 1^st.   While some may hope for Conan to rag on his former network, his deal with NBC also prevents him from disparaging the network on television (he’s allowed to do it in his stage show and he has).  But it will be a good opportunity for him to give his side of the story, his feelings about Leno’s role, what his upcoming show on TBS (set to debut in November) will be like, and so forth (although I have no idea what questions Kroft will ask).  Despite the restrictions, I’m confident that Conan will provide a humorous and thoughtful interview. [The Live Feed]

This weekend was devoted not only to the spending power of women and their hearts/libidos, but to continuing the dominance of Avatar and its attempt to saturate the populace in coverage and marketing so thick that it could suffocate a child or pet.  Over the past several days, we’ve learned the film’s official runtime, more about the film’s antagonist Colonel Quaritch (played by Stephen Lang), and seen some new international posters.  Tonight, 60 Minutes devoted an entire segment to covering the film.  You can see all of it after the jump, and without my editorializing because I seem to catch flack from Avatar fans no matter how much I try to convey that I’m looking forward to the film.

Avatar hits theaters on December 18^th.