Deal Me In

Finally saw an episode of Deal or No Deal, and I have to say I enjoyed it. The premise is simple, the psychology behind it twisted at times, and it was fun to watch. Howie Mandel makes a good host (even if he looks like Dr. Evil's hipster younger brother), balancing the usual genial host role with playing on the fear and greed of the contestants. I was less amused with the last player on Friday, as it seemed a bit staged to have both a gift from her husband on hand and a chance to call him. Did they do this with other contestants?

I do fear over-exposure, as we're getting another run of the show this week (which I don't think was originally planned). Hopefully, they'll put the thing on ice until Feburary sweeps after the second week is over.

Spanning the Globes

OK, so the Golden Globe nominations came out last week. The TV nods are as follows:

Best Drama: Lost, Prison Break, Grey's Anatomy, Rome, Commander in Chief

Lost is the only returning nominee. I assume Deadwood and The Sopranos were ineligible due to their unorthodox (by network standards) schedules, but I'm a little surprised that Nip/Tuck and 24 got passed over.

Out of the new nominees, I'm probably most surprised by Commander in Chief, which isn't too bad but doesn't really strike me as being one of the best five dramas on all of TV.

I don't watch Prison Break or Rome, so it's hard to handicap this one. I'd be tempted to go with Lost, but the slow pace of the season is pissing me off. Leaving my choice as Grey's Anatomy, which I think is better than CinC but doesn't exactly feel like the best drama out there.

Best Comedy - Curb Your Enthusiasm, Desperate Housewives, Entourage, Everybody Hates Chris, My Name is Earl, Weeds

I still don't feel like Desperate Housewives is a comedy, though its comedy is probably less ham-handed than its drama, so I'll just have to accept it. I don't watch any of the shows that are on pay cable, and I've not yet gotten into My Name is Earl. Which makes my pick, more or less by default, Everybody Hates Chris. Not that I think it'll win. I figure one of the cable shows will take it, and I look forward to a Larry David - Jeremy Piven grudge match.

Best Actor, Drama - Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Matthew Fox (Lost), Hugh Lawrie (House), Wentworth Miller (Prison Break), Kiefer Sutherland (24)

For my money there's no choice - if you can make an insufferable bastard likeable and betray exactly no vocal evidence that you're not actually American, you win. Hugh Lawrie, come on down!

Best Actress, Drama - Patricia Arquette (Medium), Glenn Close (The Shield), Geena Davis (Commander in Chief), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Polly Walker (Rome)

Pretty good group. Arquette has prior award wins in this role, Close and David bring star power, and Sedgwick has hugely popular press for her work. All of which means Polly Walker will probably win.

Best Actor, Comedy - Zach Braff (Scrubs), Steve Carrell (The Office), Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men)

Uh, Charlie Sheen? Really? I'd have loved to see a nomination for Tyler James Williams, who plays young Chris Rock on Everybody Hates Chris instead, but OK.

I'll go with Steve Carrell.

Best Actress, Comedy - all the actresses from Desperate Housewives and Mary-Louise Parker from Weeds

At least we don't get the entertainment reporters hyperventilating over which housewife got snubbed. Continuing a theme, though, a nod for Tichina Arnold, who plays Rochelle Rock on Everybody Hates Chris would have gone down nicely.

I'll go with Marcia Cross here, on the theory that Felicity Huffman might get something for Transamerica.

Supporting Actress - Candace Bergen (Boston Legal), Camryn Manheim (Elvis), Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy), Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds), Joanne Woodward (Empire Falls)

As much as I like Oh's work, I'd have rather seen a nod for castmate Chandra Wilson, who plays senior resident Dr. Miranda Bailey. She gets a lot less screen time, but does great things with it. She's kind of a female House, but without the loathing and the stubble.

Supporting Actor - Naveen Andrews (Lost), Paul Newman (Empire Falls), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Randy Quaid (Elvis), Donald Sutherland (Commander in Chief)

Hard to pick against Paul Newman, on legend appeal alone. And with the absence of Terry O'Quinn, I'm OK with that.

Winging Away

I was going to post something about why the current run of The West Wing is so much less entertaining than episodes from even a couple of seasons ago, but then last night I ran across the news that John Spencer had died of a heart attack.

One of the few joys of the current season is the too-infrequent appearances of Leo McGarry. His re-emergence in the most recent episode, where he was bandied about as becoming both VP candidate and campaign director, was a nice treat. It is sad to think there may not be many more of them to come.

How You Doin'? Not So Good.

In the AfterMASH or Frasier dichotomy, Joey is proving to be a combination of the two: a single character from a strong ensemble show moves west to poor ratings and flops around for a couple seasons before being put out of its misery.

Not that Joey is dead yet, but it's being pushed off the schedule in the new year so My Name is Earl and The Office can move over to Thursday and re-establish NBC's two hour comedy block (along with Will & Grace and a new show called Four Kings that sounds like the bastard child of Friends and Sex in the City). After the Olympics, Joey is slated to return - but not to Thursday. So ends the Friends legacy on that night.

Were I to guess where Joey will end up, the most obvious spot is Tuesday at 9:30, after Scrubs. I don't see those two as particularly complimentary, and wonder how many of either show's fan base would tune in to the other one.

I suppose it could return to Thursday if Four Kings is DOA, but it'd have to be well and truly dead. NBC's shown some patience with sitcoms, and if they've been willing to give Joey and The Office a second season, I figure they'll at least give Four Kings half of one. The other option, of course, is an accelerated burn off in an hour-long slot to open up some time during May sweeps (just hope it's not for more fare like The Posideon Adventure).

In any case, it's not looking good. David Schwimmer better get in his guest appearance now.

No Pie for Me

For what it's worth, I struck out in the great Dave's Mom pie guessing contest. I went with cherry and rhubarb, and she actually made pumpkin (for like the fifth year in a row) and blueberry (which I don't think she'd done before).

In related Dave news I have yet to watch the Oprah episode, but hear that it was what you'd expect, which is too bad. I was hoping for at least one appearance of the Oprah Log, but it wasn't to be.

In completely unrelated news, I am finally caught up with Lost. I'm at a stage of this show that feels kind of like where I was during my late-blooming viewership of The X-Files, where the information is coming just a little too slowly for my taste. I also can't say I was shocked by last week's ending, where Walt and his dad re-connect on the bunker's computer. If they really wanted it to be shocking, it should have been Shannon (better - Michael's wife) on the other end of the box. That would have been a serious mind-bender.