Top 5 Podcasts

Since getting my first iPod as a gift some four years ago, I’ve downloaded countless gigs of all forms of media. One of my favorite things to download is podcasts. Over the last few years, I’ve tried out hundreds of different podcasts, but have now narrowed it down to 15 or 20 that I listen to on a regular basis. I thought I would share with you my top 5 podcasts:

1.) Slate Culture Gabfest – This is a must listen if you want to stay current on all things related to culture. The shows regular panel consists of Dana Stevens, Julia Turner and Stephen Metcalf, though they are frequently joined by other members of the Slate.Com staff. The content leans towards the “high brow” and much of it involves material published in Northeast publications (i.e. New York Times, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, etc.), but it provides an inside look at what intellectual elitists all over the nation are talking about.  The most recent episode included a review of the controversial new Lee Daniels’ movie Precious, a review of the Ian McEwan novel Black Dogs to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and Jim Windolf’s recent Vanity Fair article on “cuteness.”

2.)  Slate Political Gabfest – Functions in pretty much the same fashion as the Culture Gabfest–three person panel discusses three issues–only involving politics instead of cultural issues. The normal panel consists of John Dickerson, Emily Bazelon and Slate managing editor, David Plotz. Be warned, the panel leans Left–far Left, but it’s entertaining and informative all the same.

3.) Anything You Ever Wanted to Know – This show is produced by KERA, Dallas’ local public radio station. The show airs each Friday afternoon, but I always listen to it via podcast. The show provides an open forum for listeners to submit questions, either on the phone or through e-mail, to be answered by other members of the listening audience and is moderated by Jeff Whittington. Over the past three years, I’ve learned some fascinating things from the show.

4.) The Writer’s Almanac Podcast – Hosted by Garrison Keillor, the show serves as a “this day in literary history” for lovers of words.  Normally, Keillor lists off several key events for each day and then will focus heavily on one birthday or event before reading a selected “poem of the day.” More than anything else, the show has introduced me to some great new poetry.

5.) NPR Playback – While the other podcasts I listed are released on a weekly or daily basies, the NPR Playback podcast is released on a monthly basis and features audio clips from the archives from 20 years prior. For example, the November podcast features audio from NPR segments from November 1984. I love being transported back to the 80′s and this podcast does just that.

61st Emmy Nominations

The nominees for the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards were announced today. Leading the way with 22 nominations was NBC’s 30 Rock. NBC fared pretty wel overall with 67 nominationsl (30 Rock,The Office and Saturday Night Live accounted for 44 nominations); however, the cable networks really flexed their muscles, with HBO pulling down 99 nominations alone.

Now I don’t have time to go through every nomination (the complete list of nominations is a 44 page PDF document), but let’s at least look at some of the major catergories.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

• Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory
• Jemaine Clement – Flight of the Conchords
• Tony Shalhoub – Monk
• Steve Carell – The Office
• Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
• Charlie Sheen – Two and a Half Men

For the most part, there’s not much to argue with regarding these choices. I don’t understand what is so great about Tony Shalhoub, but I’ve never watched Monk and he seems to be nominated every year for both the Emmy and Golden Globe award in this category, so he must have something. I think I would have found some way to work Larry David into the nominations, probably in place of Charlie Sheen.

For a long time, I looked down on The Big Bang Theory because it was not only on network TV, but it was also on CBS, a network who hasn’t produced a relevant TV show since The Dukes of Hazzard.  However, Netflix recommended Season 1 of Big Bang and though predictable, I found it to be a throwback to the situational comedy of old–a comfort show. Jim Parsons performance is definitely tops on the show and he is well deserving of this nomination.

Though not as groundbreaking as other HBO series, Flight of the Conchords is quirky and hillarious.  For some reason, fusing music and comedy together always packs an extra punch and Clement and co-star, Bret McKenzie definitely deliver in this one.  Of the two, Clement comes off as the more memorable and probably deserves the nod over McKenzie. Either way, it’s good to see the show represented.

NBC offers the top two picks in this category, Steve Carell from The Office and Alec Baldwin from 30 Rock. With all due respect to Carell, Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy character is the best on TV right now and already ranks as one of the top television characters of all time.

In my opinion, the choice in this category is rather easy, give me Alec Baldwin from 30 Rock.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

• Bryan Cranson – Breaking Bad
• Michael C. Hall – Dexter
• Hugh Laurie – House
• Gabriel Byrne – In Treatment
• Jon Hamm – Mad Men
• Simon Baker -  The Mentalist

This group seems a bit more curious. I’ve heard great things about Breaking Bad, Dexter, and In Treatment, but of the three I’m only seen one episode of In Treatment. It was late at night and I ended up falling asleep. I’m willing to give each of those three shows another shot.  The Simon Baker nod makes me scratchc my head. I haven’t seen The Mentalist either, but from the previews it looks rather generic, like most CBS programs. This looks like a nomination to satisfy CBS since it’s their season to show the awards ceremony.

I think Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler and Jonathan Rhys Meyers from The Tudors both continue to amaze me with the way they develop their characters, yet neither one received a nomination.

Be not confused, this is a highly competitive field, but in my opinion it’s a two man race between Laurie and Hamm. Choosing between the two is like choosing between Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton to to play lead in your fantasy rock band–you can’t go wrong either way. One is a crazy Brit who has battled through addiction, the other a smooth American, both excel at their art. I think I have to give the nod to Hugh Laurie from  House, just because he is a Brit who flawlessly masters the American dialect.

Outstanding  Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

• Julia Louise-Dreyfus – The New Adventures of Old Christine
• Cristina Applegate – Samantha Who?
• Sarah Silverman – The Sarah Silverman Program
• Tina Fey – 30 Rock
• Toni Collette – United States of Tara
• Mary Louise-Parker – Weeds

My main experience with this group has been with Tina Fey and Mary Louise-Parker. I feel that over the course of the past year, Tina Fey have been over exposed.  No doubt that she has talent, but between her Sarah Palin bits and the media’s growing fascination with 30 Rock, it seems like she has been on the cover of every magazine, the star of every awards show and the subject of every podcast. It’s gotten just a tad bit old and stale.

Mary Louise-Parker’s first couple of seasons were amazing.  Over the past few seasons, the writing has gotten sloppy and Parker has tried to overcompensate with her acting. Her character has gone way over the top and the show jumped the shark a bit last season. Thankfully, the show has pulled back a bit during the current season, but this award is based on work from last season. Overexposed or not, Tina Fey deserves another award for 30 Rock.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

• Sally Field – Brothers and Sisters
• Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer
• Glenn Close – Damages
• Mariska Hargitay – Law &  Order: Special Victims Unit
• Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men
• Holly Hunter – Saving Grace

I classify these nominations in the category of  ‘Things That Make You Go Hmmm”. Question marks pop up all over my head when I look at these nominees, are rather the people not on the list.

Let’s start with Connie Britton from Friday Night Lights. I watch her character and I see the small town, Texas mother. I can relate to her character. I see bits of my former teachers, my friends’ mothers and my own mother. No other actress on TV plays such a real character–a character I feel that I walk out my door and see on Main Street.

I’m just as baffled regarding the snub of Chloe Sevigny from HBO’s Big Love.  Sevigny has created a character some would describe as a monster, cunning, yet naive. However, you choose to describe her character, you have to be amazed at the depth she gives her character.

If I had to choose between the nominees, I would choose Elisabeth Moss from Mad Men. However, I still maintain that either Sevigny or Britton are more deserving.

Outstanding Supporting Actor ina Comedy Series

• Kevin Dillon – Entourage
• Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother
• Rainn Wilson – The Office
• Tracy Morgan – 30 Rock
• Jack McBrayer – 30 Rock
• Jon Cryer – Two and a Half Men

At first glance, this looks like a pretty solid category, filled with big names.  On closer inspection, I’m left wondering if some of the nominees are really tht great. Like Weeds, Entourage jumped the shark a couple of seasons ago.  If anyone from that cast deserves a nomination, it’s Jeremy Piven, not Dillon.  Jack McBrayer’s character is funny because he is goofy, not because of great acting. The only thing more annoying than Tracy Morgan is the character he plays on 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan. Neil Patrick Harris will forever be Doogie Howser, M.D. to me. The Office’s Rainn Wilson deserves this award hands down.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

• William Shatner – Boston Legal
• Christian Clemenson – Boston Legal
• Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad
• William Hurt – Damages
• Michael Emerson – Lost
• John Slattery – Mad Men

Michael Emerson’s “Benjamin Linus” is the best character on television today–period.

Outstanding Support Actress in a Comedy Series

• Kristin Chenoweth – Pushing Daisies
• Amy Poehler – Saturday Night Live
• Kristin Wiig – Saturday Night Live
• Jane Krakowski – 30 Rock
• Vanessa Williams – Ugly Betty
• Elizabeth Perkins – Weeds

Another catergory with some big names, but notably absent is The Office’s Jenna Fisher. I’m a huge fan of Chenoweth, but moreso on stage than on screen. I find Poehler and Krakowski both to be funny, but worth of an Emmy? I look at Elizabeth Perkins from Weeds the ideal comedic character, both in the heroic and tragic sense, for this reason I give her my vote in this category.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

• Rose Byrne – Damages
• Sandra Oh – Grey’s Anatonmy
• Dianne Wiest – In Treatment
• Hope Davis – In Treatment
• Cherry Jones – 24
• Chandra Wilson – Grey’s Anatonmy

Another puzzling group of nominees.  Where to begin? Where is Lisa Edelstein from House? What ab0ut Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell? No love for Cristine Rose of  Heroes? So many great supporting females and these are the 6 nominated for an Emmy? Please. None of the nominees are worth of an Emmy, instead I choose to cast vote for another snub, January Jones from Mad Men.

Outstanding Comedy Series

• Entourage – This started out as a great show, but has slowly morphed into Douchebags for Dummies and has far more eye candy than substance. Hopefully, Season 6 will see a return to the roots that made this show so great in the early going.
• Family Guy – Another on the long list of shows that were better when they began. I still get a ton of laughs from Family Guy, but it just hasn’t been the same since it returned from being canceled the first go-round.
• Flight of the Conchords – I used the word “quirky” to describe the cast and the same word can be used for the show. A lot of great moments, but there are also some dry spots. I see a lot of potential for this one, but Emmy worthy?
• How I Met Your Mother – I have not seen a single episode.
• The Office – It’s one of those rare shows that is so funny and so good that we’re seeing a whole new genre of programming created in its image (see Parks & Recreation). They’ve managed to keep the train on the tracks. The show remains funny and relevant and has yet to go over the top.
• 30 Rock – The show features a good staff, but two things make 30 Rock great, the writing and Alec Baldwin.
• Weeds – Perhaps its’ my ADD and I’ve grown restless with a lot of my favorite shows, but this is another program that has gone overboard with their storylines.

When all is said and done, I put The Office, just slightly ahead of 30 Rock.

Outstanding Drama Series

• Big Love – I’m glad to see this show finally starting to get some well deserved respect. Everything about the show–the writing, the directing and, without a doubt, the acting, is extraordinary.
• Breaking Bad – See my other earlier post regarding Bryan Cranson.
• Damages - Another show I haven’t had the opportunity to watch.
• Dexter – See above
• House – It’s predictable, but in this case that’s a good thing. You know that every week when you tune in you’re going to laugh, your going to be moved and, most importantly, you’re going to be entertained.
• Lost – What can I say? Amazing! So many twists and turns, it’s like a drug–highly addictive and you can never satisfy your appetitie, you constantly crave more and more.
• Mad Men – HBO quality on a basic cable budget. My biggest comlaint, as of last season, it wasn’t available in HD on DirectTV yet. Hopefully, that will soon change. That’s about that is missing from this show.

It really is nearly impossible to pick a top drama series from the above mentioned shows, so I won’t. Instead, I choose Friday Night Lights as the top dramatic television series.  When I watch the show, I see my hometown. I see a reflection of my life. I see a program that I can relate to in every episode. The characters, story lines and places are all very real to me.
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Now playing: Explosions In The Sky – Your Hand In Mine
via FoxyTunes

Sometimes no hand can be a real “cool” hand…

Today, whatever you do, be sure to take a few minutes and say a good thought for Paul Newman, who passed at the age of 83. While Newman will be remembered for a ton of movies and his philanthropy, Newman will always be Cool Hand Luke to me. In a movie filled with memorable lines and memorable moments,  there is perhaps no greater moment in movie history than when “Luke” earns his nickname playing cards, kind of personified Newman’s life.

R.I.P. Paul Newman