Nominations for the 2013 Critics’ Choice Television Awards have been announced, and along with plenty of welcome surprises there are a couple of snubs that are likely to have people talking. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the highlights:
- Best Drama Series nominees include Game of Thrones, Homeland, Breaking Bad, and FX’s excellent new series The Americans. Conspicuously absent is Mad Men, which only scored one nomination overall for Elisabeth Moss as Lead Actress.
- Best Comedy Series nominees include Louie, New Girl, Parks and Recreation, and Veep, with Emmy favorite Modern Family failing to land a nomination along with last year’s winner Community. Instead, ABC sitcom The Middle made the cut.
- Netflix’s House of Cards scored two nominations for Best Actor (Kevin Spacey) and a very deserved Best Supporting Actor nod for Corey Stoll.
- David Lynch landed a Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series nom for his excellent work in Louie, and Happy Endings alums Casey Wilson and Adam Pally were recognized in the supporting categories.
- The love it/loathe it HBO comedy Girls didn’t get a Best Comedy Series nod, but received acting nominations for Lena Dunham, Alex Karpovsky, and Patrick Wilson.
- FX’s American Horror Story and CBS’ The Big Bang Theory scored the most nominations with six each, topping all other programs.
Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees, and sound off in the comments with your thoughts on the lineup. The awards will be handed out on June 10th.
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PBS has announced the US premiere date for the upcoming fourth season of everyone’s favorite early 20th century soap, Downton Abbey. The drama series will return on January 5, 2014 and will run through February 23rd on PBS. Those hoping the new season would air alongside the UK run in order to avoid spoilers will be disappointed, as season four will again air overseas months before its US premiere. Following last year’s abrupt exit of actor Dan Stevens, the fourth season will be chock full of new cast members like Tom Cullen, Nigel Harman, and Dame Harriet Walter. Season four will also see the return of Shirley MacLaine as Cora’s mother.
In more shocking Downton Abbey cast news (of the exiting kind), Siobhan Finneran has recently told the press that she will not reprise her role as the dastardly Mrs. O’Brien, the lady’s maid everyone loves to hate, in the show’s fourth season. The announcement comes on the heels of two other major cast departures this season, and it looks like Julian Fellowes‘ Edwardian drama, the reins of which he’s handing over next year, is going to need to start casting quickly. A few new characters have already been revealed:
- Tom Cullen will appear as Lord Gillingham, described as an old family friend of the Crawleys (aren’t they all?) who may or may not be helpful in mending Lady Mary’s heart.
- Nigel Harman will play a valet named Green.
- Harriet Walter plays Lady Shackleton, an old friend of the Dowager Countess (Shirley Maclaine as also been said to be rumored to return, but seeing the Dowager with someone she actually likes will be a treat).
Hit the jump for my speculation on the future of O’Brien and a few more casting updates.
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It’s been a few days since the season three finale of Downton Abbey aired here in the States, but some fans are likely still reeling from the abrupt departure of one of the show’s main characters in the episode’s final moments—assuming you weren’t spoiled when it aired in the UK back in December. Now it looks like another major departure could be in store for the wildly popular period series, as creator/showrunner Julian Fellowes has revealed that he might be stepping down from his head position at Downton Abbey in the near future. Hit the jump for more.
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This week on Blu-ray, the caped crusader’s animated iteration comes to a close, Sam Rockwell and Co. get their crazy on, and a classic action series that has been copied to no end gets a 25th anniversary collection. Briefly:
Hit the jump for the special features details.
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The Oscars picture is starting to emerge. Last night, Argo won the Producers Guild Award for Best Picture, and tonight Ben Affleck‘s drama has won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. With tonight’s win, Argo is slowly moving towards being the first film since Driving Miss Daisy to win Best Picture at the Oscars even though the director didn’t pick up a nomination. Like Driving Miss Daisy, Argo will have managed the incredible task of directing itself. The night’s other film actor winners included Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Tommy Lee Jones, and Anne Hathaway. It will be interesting to see how these will match up with the Oscar winners. Over on the TV side, Downton Abbey broke Homeland‘s awards-streak by picking up Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Hit the jump for the full list of winners.
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As part of the PBS portion of the TCA Press Tour, President and CEO Paula Kerger took some time to discuss the hugely popular drama series Downton Abbey. During the interview, she spoke about why she thinks both Downton and Sherlock have experienced such tremendous success, whether the casting changes for Season 4 of Downton might affect the show’s popularity, the chances of synching up the timing of the U.S. run of Downton to the show’s run in Britain to avoid spoilers, and that they’re already at work on Season 4. Check out what she had to say after the jump.
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The 2013 Golden Globes have just wrapped up. I only watched the last hour of the ceremony because the Globes no longer have their awards season power due to voting schedule changes. Reading tweets and Facebook posts, it seems like it was a fairly entertaining show (keep an eye out for Jodie Foster‘s acceptance speech for her Lifetime Achievement Award). As for the winners, they were very “Globes” in that they were more populist choices that are unlikely to have much bearing on the Oscars. Argo may have had a good night at the Globes by winning Best Picture (Drama) and Best Director, but I still think Lincoln is the picture to beat when it comes to the Academy Awards, especially since Ben Affleck was snubbed for the Best Director Oscar nomination.
Hit the jump for the full list of winners.
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The holiday hiatus is officially over, and it’s back to our regularly scheduled programming. Here’s a brief look at the highlights of Sunday’s TV ratings:
- Season three of Downton Abbey had its stateside premiere last night on PBS, earning a whopping 7.9 million viewers. The two-hour premiere was up a ridiculous 96% over its season two premiere, which garnered 4.2 million viewers.
- News wasn’t as great for ABC’s displaced comedies Happy Endings and Don’t Trust the B in Apt. 23. The network is now airing (burning off?) both shows twice a week, and the comedies hit series lows in their Sunday debut. Happy Endings scored a 1.0 rating and 2.57 million viewers, while Don’t Trust the B garnered a 0.9 rating and 2.23 million viewers.
Hit the jump for the full ratings report for Sunday, January 6th, including Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers, and more.
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Returning for Season 3 on January 6, 2013 on Masterpiece on PBS, the hit drama series Downton Abbey will see wrenching social changes, romantic intrigues, and personal crises that grip the majestic English country estate, now that the Great War is over. Written and created by Julian Fellowes, the show has become a worldwide cultural phenomenon, breaking records with its fan support and award recognition. The series stars Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Penelope Wilton, Joanne Froggatt and Brendan Coyle, with special guest star Shirley MacLaine.
During this exclusive interview with Collider, actress Elizabeth McGovern talked about what fans can expect from Season 3, how all of the characters will be dealing with the changing world in different ways, what it was like to work with Shirley MacLaine, how the relationships in Cora’s family will be growing and evolving, what she would still like to get to know about her character, what the success of the show has been like, when she realized the show had become such a phenomenon, how the on-set atmosphere has changed over the seasons, that the scripts almost never change and that there’s never any improvisation, and what being a part of this show has meant for her career. Check out what she had to say after the jump.
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The nominations for the 2013 Producers Guild Awards have been announced. The PGA’s are a fairly reliable predictor of the Academy Awards, as last year all but two eventual Best Picture nominees (The Tree of Life and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) were PGA nominees. This year’s contenders include expected fare like Argo, Les Miserables, and Lincoln, indies such as Beasts of the Southern Wild and Moonrise Kingdom, and critical favorite Zero Dark Thirty. The PGA’s are also fond of singling out one “popular” choice, and in this year’s case that film looks to be the excellent Skyfall
In addition to the feature films, the PGAs also announced the nominees in television. Drama series nominees include the usual suspects like Homeland, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones, while the comedy category is filled out by 30 Rock, Louie, Modern Family, and for some reason The Big Bang Theory. Notably absent is HBO’s Girls and NBC’s brilliant Parks and Recreation. Hit the jump to check out the full list of film and television nominees. The 24th Annual PGA Awards will be held on January 26th.
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While we poor American souls must wait until January 6th for the third season premiere of Edwardian zeitgeist juggernaut Downton Abbey, that season has already aired in the UK in full (minus the Christmas Special). However, Downton uber-fan Michelle Obama apparently asked British producers if, as a favor, she could view the tapes early, before they air in the U.S. Stephen Colbert reacted to this on The Colbert Report last night, with not only indignation to the idea, but by going one step further. He countered with a sneak peek of his own: new scenes from Breaking Bad … performed by the men of Downton Abbey. Hit the jump for the video of this hilarious mashup.
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Today’s Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day is 60% Off Downton Abbey Limited-Edition Seasons 1 and 2 Boxed Set on DVD and Blu-ray. Like all Gold Box Deals, it’s only good till midnight or when they sellout. So if you’ve been waiting to own Downton Abbey (which is a great show) today’s a good day to finally check it out. In addition, I’ve listed a number of other deals below. If you’re a Criterion fan, Amazon still has a ton of Criterion DVD and Blu-rays over 50% off. Included in the sale are David Fincher’s The Game, Rosemary’s Baby, Seven Samurai, Godzilla, Harold and Maude, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Rushmore, Anatomy of a Murder, Quadrophenia and too many others to list here.
Hit the jump for hundreds of other deals.
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The Producers Guild of American announced the TV and Digital Series nominations for the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards today. The Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television Drama nominees include Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Homeland, and Mad Men, while the comedy category consists of 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Louie, and Modern Family. Hit the jump to see the full list of nominees. All other nominations (including film) will be announced on January 3, 2013, followed by the 2013 Producers Guild Award ceremony on January 26, 2013.
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The upstairs/downstairs shenanigans of Downton Abbey are poised to continue for at least another year. Hot off its highest U.K. ratings to-date for the show’s third season, THR reports that the British drama Downton Abbey has been renewed for a fourth season by ITV. Series creator/showrunner Julian Fellowes recently opined that it would be strange to see ITV not order another season of the addictive soap, and it appears that his intuition was spot-on. Season three averaged 9.7 million viewers on ITV when factoring in same-day DVR viewing, which is a rise over season two’s 9.5 million average.
We’ll finally get to see the continued adventures of Lord and Lady Grantham over here in the states on PBS on January 6th, when season three has its U.S. premiere. A two-hour Christmas special will air on ITV on Christmas Day, which finds The Granthams taking a summer break in Scotland. Season four will be set in the early 1920s and is expected to air on ITV in Fall 2013. Production begins in February.
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