Worldwide Leader in What?

I've now had the chance to see two of the ESPN-created tournaments that they were hoping would extend the viewership brought on board by their World Series of Poker coverage.

The first involved dominos. ESPN Deportes has apparently been showing tournaments for a while, and someone in Bristol thought it was time to see if the practice would work for non-Hispanic viewers. It didn't, which isn't surprising given that the game isn't exactly a mainstay of Anglo households. There was also little time to show each player's rack and discuss strategy, which would be really helpful. About the only thing of interest was the possibility of violence between teammates when one blew a play.

Not that anyone came to blows, but they were rare shows of emotion.

Then there's the World Series of Dart, whose artifice is underscored by the lack of competition between the pros who've come over from Britain and the amateur Americans. Not that some of the Yanks aren't good, but when there's an obvious talent gap it makes for less than stellar TV. Heck, even the color guy and the on-site announcer were Brits. Still, it's a little more accessible than dominos, given that most people have, at some time in their lives, played darts.

Sadly, my favorite ESPN-created event, the Great Outdoor Games, is on hiatus for 2006. The network is giving it the once-over and plans to re-launch in 2007 with dazzling new events and such. By which I assume they mean sucking the life out of it.

And while I'm on the subject of ESPN's programming genius, word came today that Harold Reynolds got the hook from the network, and thus leaves Karl Ravech as the last sane man on Baseball Tonight. No word on why he got the gate, but if Michael Irvin could keep his job after his troubles, what did Reynolds have to do to lose his?

Update: according to the folks at Deadspin, the unofficial reason for HR's canning was sexual harrassment. Which isn't cool. But if you can get caught with blow, plea out, and still keep your job, you'd think the bar would be set much, much higher for getting fired.

This is why I don't generally care about the Emmys

So this year, new rules were put in place during the process of selecting Emmy finalists, in the hopes of making the nominations more open and less prone to the "nominee for life" status that seems to follow some actors and shows.

The result? There were some nominees that we would likely have not seen - Denis Leary for Rescue Me and Kyra Sedgewick for The Closer stand out - but for the most part, there was a sad familiarity to the acting nominees.

Part of this comes from shows taking their final bows - The West Wing, Malcolm in the Middle, Will & Grace, and Six Feet Under were all well-represented shows that have closed their doors. Stockard Channing managed a nod for her work on Out of Practice, though I think voters may have seen her name and just assumed she was up for The West Wing.

Combined with the return of The Sopranos and some new-found love for 24, the biggest losers this time around were Desperate Housewives and Lost, neither of which was tabbed for outstanding show and only generated one regular acting nomination for Alfre Woodard's directionless turn as Betty Applewhite on Housewives.

Not that either show lived up to its first-year performance/hype. But it's still pretty surprising.

Not that the news was all bad for ABC - Grey's Anatomy picked up 11 nominations. And while I keep saying I don't really care about the Emmys, I will be vexed beyond repair if Chandra Wilson doesn't win. Miranda Bailey completely kicks ass.

So who else would I give Emmys to, based on the nominees?

Supporting Actor, Drama - Gregory Itzin, 24. His Nixon for the 21st century was a fantastic melding of megalomania and insecurity.
Supporting Actor, Comedy - Will Arnett, Arrested Development. This isn't even close for me, though not watching Entourage means I can't assess Jeremy Piven's performance.
Supporting Actress, Drama - Chandra Wilson, fools!
Supporting Actress, Comedy - I can't think that Woodard's performance was the best on here - not her fault, really - so I'll go in the unexpected direction and go with Jaime Pressly on My Name is Earl.

Lead Actor, Drama - A win for Denis Leary and Rescue Me would be nice. Lead Actor, Comedy - Steve Carrell, The Office. To be fair, it's the only show for the nominees that I watch regularly.
Lead Actress, Drama - Allison Janney, The West Wing. For all my carping earlier, I still loves me some C. J. Cregg. Sorry.
Lead Actress, Comedy - Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback. Because, really, with the other choices, I'll take the HBO show I've never seen.

Outstanding Drama - House. It has no shot, between a possible send-off award for The West Wing, the buzz for Grey's Anatomy, and the return of The Sopranos, but for me House is the best of the five (though again, no HBO makes me less than an authority on The Sopranos). It's just a shame that Hugh Laurie didn't get a nod.

Outstanding Comedy - Arrested Development. Yup, I've drank the Kool-Aid. I can only hope that, if it does win, the orchestra plays "The Final Countdown" while the cast ambles to the stage.

The Long Hot Summer

Even with the great increase in first-run summer TV programming, I find that I'm sticking to some familiar shows rather than trying the new (such as NBC's much advertised Windfall) or getting into returning shows like Rescue Me or The Closer. Rather, we've been focusing on similar troika as last summer:

* Last Comic Standing, which I care even less about now than I did during their ill-advised third season (which pitted finalists from the previous two seasons against each other). Out of the 12 finalists picked by a judging panel of Garry Marshall, Tim Meadows, and the rebarbative Kathy Griffin, I think I agreed with 3 of their selections.

It didn't help that they went from 40 semifinalists to 12 finalists in just two shows, showing 20 comics an episode. Even with the short interview segments, I can't say I built much interest in any of the finalists, even the ones I liked.

* The Gordon Ramsay double-dip of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America and Hell's Kitchen on Fox. I sincerely hope there are more than the four episodes shown in the first run of the former show, as it's much more entertaining than the "reality" of Hell's Kitchen. Though that's entertaining enough, even if this year's crop of wannabes isn't quite as interesting as last summer's group.

* So You Think You Can Dance?, which is collateral damage from the wife's viewing. I've taken a NASCAR approach and watched mainly for the dancers who screwed up, which will be sadly reduced now that they've set their final 20. More time on the computer for me.

I've also taken in some of The History Channel's The Revolution, which is OK (it'd be better if it incorporated more graphics, like Battlefield Britain, and less of the re-enactment with voice-over that's the mainstay of History Channel shows). Otherwise, it's been World Cup, the Tour de France, and random catching up with DVR stuff (where I learned that I had seen the pilot for How I Met Your Mother and that The Apprentice finales are getting worse, which I may discuss in more detail if I can get motivated to do so this long after the fact).