The 2010 Prime Time Emmy Awards

Some brief thoughts the day after. I would say this was the best Emmy's ever for opening and for keeping the show moving. Jimmy Fallon was actually funny and pulled off the best opening for an Emmy broadcast.


I wasn't too unhappy with the winners, the comedy catagories were full of nominees that I couldnt not argue with and only Alec Baldwin and Tony Shaloub winning would have put a damper on the show for me. Jim Parsons winning for Best Lead Actor in a comedy was tremendous and he deserved it and the show should have been nominated for best Comedy but you take the victories where you find them.
It was nice to see the classy and funny Betty White enjoying the attention and making everyone realize this isnt life and death, just another awards show.
Edie Falco I didnt understand but I have never watched Nurse Jackie but I really dont think that fits the comedy role, but I wont argue because the rest of the night was enjoyable.
Now the highlight of the show after the opening was the GREAT comedy skit by the cast of "Modern Family"

This was just fantastic and gave those who havent seen the show just how good "Modern Family" really is. Wednesdays at 9pm by the way.

Things really bogged down in the awards for mini series and made for tv movies. The big winner was the HBO movie Temple Grandin.
Not only was it mostly movies and mini series that no one watched but when the winners went to thanking everyone it seemed they thanked more people than watched the movie.
My personal opinion is that the networks have missed the boat with movies and miniseries due to cost cutting and bypassing shows like MadMen and Breaking Bad they have given life to cable taking home the big awards. One last point about this made for tv movie awards, Al Pacino is a train wreck! He seemed more out of it than usual and seemed to have no idea what was going on around him. I never thought I would see Jack Kevorkian as a guest of someone at any function let alone the Emmy awards.

Overall it was a great show and didnt lack for energy (until the near the end) and really seemed to have fun and be able to laugh at themselves. Kudos to the writers and directors and everyone involved to make this a memorable show.

The Billion Dollar Club

This weekend the movie Toy Story 3 joined an exclusive club, the 7 movies that have made $1 billion dollars worldwide in box office receipts.

Already the top money making animated movie of all time, it passed Alice In Wonderland to become the #1 film of 2010 in the United States with $405,726,000.

This makes Disney the first studio to have two $1 billion dollar movies in the same year.

The other billion dollar films are:

7 - Toy Story 3

6 - The Dark Knight $1,001,900,000 (worldwide)

5 - Alice in Wonderland $1,024,298,794

4 - Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest $1,066,200,000

3 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King $1,119,100,000

2 - Titanic $1,843,200,000

1 - Avatar $2,740,405,721

NYTimes Bestseller List - Fiction for August 26th 2010

A not very surprising debut at the top of the NY Times bestselling fiction list this week.

1 - The Postcard Killers - James Patterson & Liza Marklund

NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer.
Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim.
Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm--and they think they know where the next victims will be. With relentless logic and unstoppable action, The Postcard Killers may be James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet.

2 - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Steig Larsson
13 weeks on the list and last weeks #1 novel.

3 - The Help - Kathryn Stockett
73 weeks on the list and a former #1 best seller.

4 - The Cobra - Frederick Forsyth
Debuting this week on the list.
A former C.I.A. operative is unleashed on the cocaine industry.

5 - Star Island - Carl Hiassen
4th week on the list.
A paparazzo attempting to kidnap a drug-addled pop star grabs her stunt double by mistake.

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"Big Bang Theory" Moves to Thursdays This Fall

Here is a short article and the poster for "The Big Bang Theory" moving to Thursday nights this fall.

Read it here

NY Times Bestseller 50 Years Ago this week

August 21st 1960 saw James Michener's all time classic "Hawaii" atop the NY Times Review of Books Best Selling Hardcover Fiction list. It would spend the majority of 1960 trading the top spot with Allen Drury's monster smash "Advise and Consent".
During 1959 and 1960 these 2 books amassed 78 weeks at #1.
"Hawaii" would be James Michener's most successful novel of his long and storied career spending 48 total weeks at #1.
2 film adaptations of "Hawaii" were made, the first in 1966 which took its main story from the 3rd chapter of the book which covered the settlement of American missionaries on the islands.
In a 1970 sequel "The Hawaiians" with Charlton Heston covered the latter part of the novel.

Upcoming Books for Fall/Winter 2010

The fall 2010 book season is shaping up to be a huge one for readers. The big names all have books due before the end of the year.

Nicolas Sparks kicks it off in September with Safe Haven.


John Grisham's new novel The Confession hits shelves on October 26th.


Vince Flynn's newest Mitch Rapp novel, American Assassin, comes out October 12th and should hit the top of the NYTimes bestseller list on release.


December 7th brings us the newest novel by Tom Clancy, Dead or Alive looks to be a huge seller for Christmas.


Stephen King tries to trump all the other new novels with Full Dark, No Stars which hits the shelf on November 9th.


James Patterson brings his latest Alex Cross novel, Cross Fire, to stores November 15th.


November 30th will bring us the new Scarpetta novel from Patricia Cornwell called Port Mortuary.


And for fans of the Dexter television series they get the new Dexter novel from Jeff Lindsay, Dexter is Delicious.

Elvis Presley

33 years ago today the King of Rock n Roll passed away in his home, Graceland, in Memphis TN. He was 43 years old and left behind a legacy in music and pop culture that will never be seen again or equaled.

Here is the only million selling single Elvis had in the UK and spent 9 weeks at #1 and 5 weeks at #1 on the US Hot 100, Its Now or Never

Today in History August 14th

1880 - Exactly 632 years after rebuilding began, the Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany, was completed ... only to be damaged again during WWII.
The largest Gothic style cathedral in Northern Europe was first built on the same site in 873 A.D., but was destroyed by fire in 1248.
Rebuilding began on this day in 1248.

Click here for the official website of the Cathedral (in German)

Bestselling Novel of 1970

The bestselling novel of 1970 according to Publishers Weekly and the New York Times Book Review was "Love Story" by Erich Segal.
Originally written as a screenplay by Mr. Segal, but when he was able to get it produced he turned it into a novel.
Informally nominated for the National Book Award, it caused a sensation as the 5 judge panel threatened to resign if it was officially nominated. It was withdrawn from consideration but still managed to stay atop the NY Times Best Selling Fiction list for 41 weeks.
It was the last novel to have more than 40 weeks at the top before "The Da Vinci Code" logged 65 non consecutive weeks at the top between April 2003 and April 2006.
"Love Story" did become a movie and was released in December of 1970, starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw.

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The Bestselling and Most Played Single of 1957

"All Shook Up" by Elvis Presley. Written by Otis Blackwell, who also wrote "Don't Be Cruel", the biggest selling single of 1956, he wrote this when challenged by a fellow songwriter. He was handed a bottle of Pepsi and told "You say you can write a song about anything, write about this" and within minutes he was playing "All Shook Up" on the piano at the Shalimar Music Publishing house.
Here the Jordanairres talk about recording "All Shook Up" and then we here the song.

Fawlty Towers

This is another of my very favorite shows of all time. Fawlty Towers was the brainchild of Monty Python alum John Cleese and his wife Connie Booth, who played Polly the hotel's maid.
John Cleese played Basil Fawlty, owner-operator of Fawlty Towers.
Probably the funniest part on the show was Manuel the waiter in the hotel restaurant, played by Andrew Sachs. Basil's wife Sybil was portrayed by Prunella Scales.
This was a lightning in a bottle show that will never be done again with only 12 episodes ever produced, 6 in 1975 and 6 in 1979.

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