<![CDATA[Gawker: defamer, holly hunter]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: defamer, holly hunter]]> http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/hollyhunter http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/hollyhunter <![CDATA[Emmy Nomination Hell! 10 Plots and Subplots to Watch After Today's Big Announcements]]> The world awoke this morning to the chirping of little birds resembling Kristin Chenoweth and Neil Patrick Harris, perched at a podium in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, announcing nominations for the 60th Emmy Awards. While most rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, we sat bolt upright as usual and sprinted to the window, our furious note-taking chronicling a few snubs, surprises and plenty of the conventional wisdom we've come to expect from the annual ritual.

The Academy has the full, looong slate of nominees, naturally, but we've narrowed our interests down to 10 easy storylines for our own Emmy dramedy — conveniently outlined after the jump!

1. Mad Men joined Damages as the first basic-cable programs to earn a nomination for best dramatic series. Its 15 other nods led the pack among all nominated dramas, while 30 Rock led all shows with 17 noms.

2. For the last time (literally), the Academy has snubbed The Wire for a dramatic series nomination. Critics at the TCA press tour will be symbolically immolating themselves by lunchtime.

3. In other snubs, FX is wondering this morning who it has to blow to get Denis Leary, Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver back on the list after nominations in 2007. Hint: It might be a bribe-friendly exec at AMC, which scored a kind-of-stunning two dramatic actor nods this year.

4. Silverman, Emmy Darling (Part 1): "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" was nominated for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics. Silverman's competition is Flight of the Conchords and MADtv. As such, it bears saying aloud: " 'I'm Fucking Matt Damon' is going to win an Emmy."

5. Sarah Silverman, Emmy Darling (Part 2): Denied an actress nod for her own show, she earned a guest actress nomination for her turn as Marci Maven on Monk.

6. Amy Poehler's supporting-actress nod for Saturday Night Live is the first for an SNL actress since Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were each nominated in 1978. Radner won.

7. There's apparently a formula for earning a few dozen Emmy noms: Just make a loooong historical epic like HBO's John Adams, which pulled in 23 mentions including outstanding miniseries — as Variety notes, the third consecutive year a period miniseries has drawn the year's biggest haul. Awards-bait film stars like Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney — both nominated as well — can't hurt either.

8. Come to think of it, film actresses on cable dominated dramatic categories in general, with four Oscar winners (including Susan Sarandon and Holly Hunter) and three Oscar nominees (Linney, Catherine Keener and Glenn Close) among the ten performers recognized. We presume Sally Field got Katherine Heigl's spot.

9. Speaking of whom, we're guessing ABC had higher hopes for Grey's Anatomy than two supporting-actress nominations and "Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special."

10. If we must split up the reality and reality-competition categories, surely the Academy can find a way to further separate things like A&E's grueling Intervention from trifles like Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Really.

]]>
http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=398726&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ABC News Now Ready To Laugh About The Merry Miller Debacle]]>
Now that a week has passed since the viral proliferation of novice ABC News Now correspondent Merry Miller's inept interrogation of infinitely patient actress Holly Hunter, ABC is finally ready to share in the laughter enjoyed by untold millions of YouTube viewers, today running a lengthy explanation of the circumstances that transformed a simple satellite chat into (in their words) The Interview Seen Around the World. (We've helpfully re-embedded the clip above so that you can refresh your memory.) The fun began when Miller's ear piece, which normally would allow her to digest each of her subject's carefully considered words on how she came to play such an interesting character and respond with a thoughtful follow-up recognizing the scarcity of good roles for actresses of a certain age, failed:

Unfortunately for Miller and unknown to the crew, her IFB failed before she began speaking with Hunter. Another host might have known to alert the crew about the problem and delay the interview while the technical issues were worked out, but the inexperienced Miller gamely tried to speak with Hunter without hearing her responses.

"I couldn't hear her, and it's very hard to talk to somebody like that," Miller said. "I give credit to Holly Hunter. She was a pro, a class act. She saved the interview."

The technical problem explains the awkward delays and stumbled speaking but doesn't shed light on the most talked-about part of the interview, when Miller directed viewers to another news network's Web site for further coverage.

"It was just a blooper, it happens. Why do football players fumble sometimes? It was a disaster," she said of the network misidentification.

The article offers no mention for the off-camera, despair-tinged yelp that can be heard (turn up your speakers) immediately following the NBC blooper, but we suppose that's a matter that doesn't require much explanation; after everything that went wrong in the preceding four minutes, we're lucky it wasn't the report of a producer's self-inflicted gunshot wound that was audible in the background. But with the technical details dispensed with, the ABC News Now crew offers a challenge to those who think the gig is easy:

The Miller interview has inspired many people to think that they can do a better job hosting one of our shows. If you'd like to give it a shot, log on to www.abcnewsnow.com (yes — that is the correct site!) and submit your audition tape for the chance to be selected as a guest host on "What's the Buzz."

Be forewarned, hopeful Buzz guest hosts: we fear that this is a trap to humiliate haughty viewers who don't properly value the skills necessary to ask celebrities probing questions about their latest projects. Expect that any on-air opportunity will involve the precisely timed failures of satellite uplinks and IFB's, leaving you to flail in the same terrifying silence that's made Miller's internet-famous.

]]>
http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=285301&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[A Brave Holly Hunter Barely Survives Junket Nightmare]]>
Generally speaking, the blame for most junket disasters can be assigned to the talent, as the punishing demands of nonstop press obligations often leaves performers a little sleepy or disoriented by a handful of jetlag helpers, suboptimal interview conditions that invariably lead to erratic results. But in the above clip, all of the technical difficulties seem to be affecting only the personnel on hand in the news studio, leaving a game Holly Hunter to suffer her way through four of the more uncomfortable minutes you're likely to ever see.

]]>
http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=282825&view=rss&microfeed=true