Every morning I hail a cab at the same corner in the West Village in NYC.  Most days, it’s an easy grab, rarely a wait.  But this morning I was running late and there were literally 5 people standing up and down the avenue flailing for a cab’s attention. So, I did what any good New Yorker would do, walked deeper into the stream of traffic and snagged the first cab.  This FTW moment quickly became a moment of FAIL when I saw Jon Stewart standing outside my window. D’oh.

(this is another guy also waiting for a cab)

Check Out These Other Posts

We recently chimed in with our thoughts on the truncated Golden Globes, stating that the awards show is barely relevant to even the most hardcore pop-culture follower. The Academy Awards, on the other hand, are a far larger affair.

With the Golden Globes being scaled down to a high-society press conference, is the axe looming over the Oscars?

The 80th Annual Academy Awards are scheduled to be broadcast live on February 24, with the nominees announced on January 22, less than two weeks away.

Under the usual circumstances, a staff of writers would be knee-deep in zingers come January 22 – but no dice this year, with all this WGA strike hullabaloo.

Even Bruce Davis, the Academy’s executive director, doesn’t sound very optimistic about the shows’ outcome: “I’m not going to cite odds, but our hope is we can work something out or that the strike is resolved in time.” Ouch.

Has the WGA finally broke down the corporate heads? Quite possibly: Jon Stewart is scheduled to revisit his role as host at the Oscars, but in lieu of recent events may or may not follow through with his part of the bargain. If that’s the case, the Academy has no host, let alone a shoe-in ready to fill Stewart’s spot.

This situation is sticky. A resolution is in order, methinks…

With the writer’s strike still going strong, the WGA has denied invitations to prepare material for the Golden Globes on January 13 and the Oscars in February. If both events didn’t seem crappy enough last time, they should be craptacular this time around.

(See what happens when you don’t get pros to make jokes for you?)

This situation raises a red flag for the Oscars in particular. With Jon Stewart returning as host it’s assumed that he will have to “wing it” without any writer’s assistance. Sure, Stewart can handle a fair share of improvisation – but an entire show? That’s a tall order. (more…)

The Emmys, not unlike the Grammys, usually have a healthy helping of smug involved – and that’s why it was nice to see a looser, more improvised feel at this year’s show.

The Sopranos, as expected, swept the major categories in drama, winning Best Series, Writing and Directing. Along with those wins, The Sopranos secured a spot in history as the only drama in the past 30 years to win Best Series in its final season.

As for dramatic acting: James Spader won Best Actor in a Dramatic Series (with his dry, sly, nonchalant wit in tow, natch) and the always-overdramatic Sally Field ranted about moms and war and stuff during her acceptance speech for winning Best Actress. Terry O’ Quinn scored gold for Supporting Actor in Lost and Katherine Heigl won Best Actress for her role on Grey’s Anatomy.
(more…)