Tony! Tony! Tony!

By now, I'm sure you've all seen the Tony nominations that were announced this morning by Emmy award winners (and stage vets!) Jim Parsons (see he him in Roundabout's production of Harvey this summer!) and Tony award winner Kristen Chenoweth (Kristen, honey, leave GCB and come back to Broadway!). You know, if you're into that sort of thing. And just be reassured by returning host Neil Patrick Harris, the Tonys aren't just for gays anymore! And if you're not into it...how did you get to this site? Anyway, on to the nominees and my thoughtful insights because I live in New York! I see Theatre! And I love awards...

For the longest time, when I saw the production stills I thought they had light sabers. They don't. But they would have fit in just fine with the production...

Best Play
Clybourne Park
Other Desert Cities
Peter and the Starcatcher
Venus in Fur

The only one of these four that I haven't seen is Claybourne Park (which won the Pulitzer Prize last year!). It's probably gonna win, so I should probably get on that. Of the three I've seen, Peter and the Starcatcher was my favorite. It's just a great example of why we go to Theatre. It's the kind of magic that can only happen on a stage. Your imagination is just free to roam when you see the creativity they are achieving onstage. And I kept getting choked up at certain points. I really enjoyed Other Desert Cities as well, but there are some plot points that are a little questionable. And I didn't really care for Venus in Fur all that much. It got really repetitive, there's only so much you can do with just two people on the stage the whole time. 

Best Musical
Leap of Faith
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once

Three musicals based on movies and a musical written around the songs of Gershwin–yep, all really original. I haven't seen any of these yet (I'm more of a play kinda guy), but I really want to see Once and Newsies. I really love the movie Once and have seen Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from the film) a couple of times in concert. And people keep telling me they didn't like the movie (including the person I saw it in the theatre with when it came out. You liked it then!), but that this musical is ah-MAZ-ing (it also has the most nominations this year with 11)! I didn't see the movie version of Newsies until I was in my late 20s and let's just say it's one of those movies you would have had to see as a child to enjoy. But, I've only heard good things about the musical. You could not pay me to see Leap of Faith or Nice Work. Seriously. No Spiderman. Is anyone really surprised by that? 

Best Revival of a Play
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Master Class
Wit

Do Death of a Salesman and The Best Man officially have to have the author's name attached to them from now on? I didn't know there were other productions with the same name? But can't get them confused with Neil Simon's Death of a Salesman or Shakespeare's The Best Man. Also, those are the two shows I haven't seen yet. I'm dying to see Death (oh, I just realized what I did there...) and it's probably gonna win. I'm surprised Master Class made it on here as it was the first show to open the 2011-2012 season way back in August. Faye Dunaway must be happy people remember it. I didn't love this production of Wit mainly because I think Cynthia Nixon had to work too hard to make us believe her in the role. She just doesn't have that innate academia intelligence naturally about her the way Emma Thompson did in the HBO version.

Best Revival of a Musical
Evita
Follies
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Jesus Christ Superstar

The only one of these that I saw was Follies and it's most likely gonna win, so good thing I did. I enjoyed it a lot. Many people consider tis one of the greatest musicals ever written. I wouldn't go that far...I really want to see Evita. I love the music and it's the first revival since the original production made Patti LuPone a star. But, everyone keeps saying Elena Roger is screaming her way through the performances. Maybe that's why she didn't get nominated...I heard people are surprised Godspell wasn't nominated, but that production was awful. I left at intermission. I was also really drunk, which may have contributed to my strong dislike. But I couldn't sit through that twee Christian propaganda. 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
James Earl Jones, Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Frank Langella, Man and Boy
John Lithgow, The Columnist

It's really between Corden and Hoffman in what are so completely different performances, how can you choose who's "best"? I mean, I haven't seen either, yet (oh, god. The only one I've seen is Frank Langella. Yikes.), Corden is doing slapstick comedy and Hoffman is doing one of the most iconic characters in dramatic history. Tough call. Jones, Langella, and Lithgow seem to be here on name recognition as none have really been praised all that much. Too bad Alan Rickman's name is further down alphabetically...

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur
Tracie Bennett, End of the Rainbow
Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities
Linda Lavin, The Lyons
Cynthia Nixon, Wit

Like last year, this category looks to be pretty competitive. Nina gets her second Tony nom in a row in this category (She was in my group for final semester of school. She's since worked with Woody Allen and has two Tony noms and I'm typing away at this blog, Yeah...). Stockard was wonderful in Other Desert Cities. Sat in the front row, so I was close for all the action (also close to see Judith Light's bunions). I still have to see Bennett playing Judy Garland and Linda Lavin (who didn't take her Follies role to Broadway so she could be the lead in this. I bet she's happy with her choice), but I plan on before Tony night. Surprised that they remembered Master Class for Revival but not Tyne Daly here. She kinda is the play. Don't know who she would replace though. Maybe Cynthia Nixon.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Follies
Jeremy Jordan, Newsies
Steve Kazee, Once
Norm Lewis, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Ron Raines, Follies

Another close race. I don't think it'll be either of the Follies guys (that show is really about the gals anyway). A couple of new stars and a veteran. If someone twisted my arm until I made a pick, I guess I'd go with Kazee.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Jan Maxwell, Follies
Audra McDonald, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Cristin Milioti, Once
Kelli O'Hara, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Laura Osnes, Bonnie & Clyde

I think a lot of people were shocked that Bernadette Peters didn't make the cut in this category while Osnes in the long-closed Bonnie & Clyde did. I can't vouch for Osnes because I didn't see her show. I was busy that week. But she really seems like she's being groomed to be Broadway's next leading lady (like a Kelli O'Hara type). She just played Maria in an anniversary concert of Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall and it was announced that she's gonna be Cinderella in a Broadway revival of the Rogers and Hammerstein version. So, obviously things are going good for her. Bernie, whom I love, was no at her best in Follies. The night I saw her she could barely get through her songs. I'm all for emotion in the song, but you do actually have to be able to sing it as well. I think it's down to Maxwell and McDonald and I'm leanin' towards Jan because she's never won and she was snubbed twice in 2010 when she was a double nominee . 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Michael Cumpsty, End of the Rainbow
Tom Edden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Andrew Garfield, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Jeremy Shamos, Clybourne Park

After seeing Peter, my friend wondered if Christian Borle was gay. I didn't think there was any question about it after seeing him in Angels in America onstage, his role in Smash, and his hilariously flamboyant performance in this. But, then my friend said he used to be married. To a woman. And not just any woman–Sutton Foster. Which really doesn't help his case because what guy man wouldn't marry two-time Tony award winner Sutton? Oh, and he's winning this Tony. Sorry, Andrew Garfield. You can go cry on the pile of money your unnecessary Spiderman movie will make. 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Linda Emond, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Spencer Kayden, Don't Dress for Dinner
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Peter and the Starcatcher
Judith Light, Other Desert Cities
Condola Rashad, Stick Fly

The biggest surprise here is that Angela Landsbury isn't nominated for The Best Man, excuse me–Gore Vidal's The Best Man (don't want to get you confused). Every time she's in a new production I rush to se her in it as who knows how long she'll be able to do 8 live shows a week? The woman is 86! But, as soon as I see her in something, it's announced she's on to another Broadway show. I can't keep up with her! She needs her own Kardashian like reality show...And she needs to take Spencer Kayden's place. Who was the best part of a really flat, unfunny show. Which isn't good in a comedic farce, y'all. Celia is more of a lead in Peter. Which means it's between Emond and Judith Light. I'm hoping for TV's Angela Bower only to see if she thanks Tony Danza in her acceptance speech.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Phillip Boykin, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Michael Cerveris, Evita
David Alan Grier, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Michael McGrath, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Josh Young, Jesus Christ Superstar

People are shocked that Ricky Martin didn't get nominated? Really? They do know he was just cast to sell tickets (like Uma Thurman's Rebecca Duvall on Smash!), right? Did anyone really think he would be nominated? I only know who Michael Cerveris and David Alan Grier are in this category. And Michael has already won before and the part of Peron isn't really that good. So, I'm gonna go with DAG for the win. 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Elizabeth A. Davis, Once
Jayne Houdyshell, Follies
Judy Kaye, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Jessie Mueller, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Ghost the Musical

I really need to see Once cause who the hell is the other female character? I don't recall any other females other than the lead in the film. Not even like a woman in the background that puts some money in Glen Hansard's guitar case. People really love this musical. I don't even remember Jayne Houdyshell in Follies. It'll be nice for Jessie Mueller to add "Tony Award Nominee" when she plays Cinderella in the park with Amy Adams. And the role of Oda Mae won Whoopi an Oscar, but from what I hear, Da'Vine ain't no Whoopi. Sooooo...random girl from Once! Your show has the most nominations and you deserve it!

The Tech nominees after the jump. They aren't even good enough for the actual ceremony on Broadcast TV, so why start acting like I care now...

The Tonys air LIVE on June 10th at 8:00PM EST on CBS

'Isn't That A Daytime Emmy?' 'It Still Counts!'

Last week at the Grammys, producer, Scott Rudin, became the 11th person in history to join the EGOT club. For those of you not familiar, the EGOT stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony- the four major awards in the performing arts profession for television, music, film, and theatre. Rudin joins the ranks of actors, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, and Whoopi Goldberg, composers, Richard Rodgers, Marvin Hamlisch, and Jonathan Tunick (I don't know who that is either), director, Mike Nichols, and comedian/writer/director, Mel Brooks.

Since I'm always looking ahead, I wondered who is one award away from joining the EGOT ranks. But, the task of looking up every single person who's won awards at 4 different ceremonies over the past decades seemed a little daunting. Luckily, I live in 2012 and have the internet. Let someone else do the work! Thanks, internets! (Seriously, how did people find out anything back in the olden days without Wikipedia?) Because I had some time on my hands after not having to personally do the research, I decided to pursue another one of my loves- list making. I present to you the 10 Most Likely People to Receive the EGOT. Some of the people (and the award they need) may surprise you.

10. Ellen Burstyn, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Vanessa Redgrave, Geoffrey Rush, Maggie Smith What they need: Grammy
So, say you're a respected actor that has the triple crown of acting awards. You're a respected star of stage and screen. But, the odds of you winning a Grammy for Best Pop Song by a Group or Duo aren't looking very likely. How do you win that Grammy? The answer is simple- Best Spoken Word Album. You think Audrey Hepburn and John Gielgud were recording rap albums? Of course not. It's the surefire way for a respected actor to get that Grammy. Any of these six actors would have a great chance of winning if they did. In fact, Ellen Burstyn has been nominated in this category before. Perhaps all six should get together and record a multi-part collection of The Complete Works of Shakespeare so they can get it done in one shot. Perfect.

9. Cynthia Nixon What she needs: Oscar
Nixon is best known for playing Miranda Hobbs on 'Sex and the City' and won an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Emmy Award for it in 2004. She won a second Emmy in 2008 for her guest-starring role on 'Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit'. But, she's just as active on the stage and even appeared in two Broadway shows at the same time in 1984. In 2006, she won a Tony award for her role in the play Rabbit Hole (the role brought Nicole Kidman an Oscar nomination in the film version). She may even win a second Tony this year for MTC's revival of Wit. And what did she win a Grammy for, you ask? Why, you guessed it, Best Spoken Word Album in 2009 for An Inconvenient Truth. So, hard can it be to win an Oscar? Well, it's not the easiest thing (just ask Glenn Close). But, with the right role in an independent film, I could conceivably see Nixon winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Although she's never even been nominated for an Oscar, she's apt at both comedy and drama and is well respected in the industry. People have won with a lot less.

8. Lily Tomlin What she needs: Oscar
This comic was America's favorite lesbian long before Ellen came along (and also before we knew she officially was gay). And thanks to her Emmy nominated work on 'Laugh-In', she became one of the most famous comediennes in history–paving the way for females in the world of comedy. Her comedy album, 'This Is a Recording', won her a Grammy in 1972 and hit #15 on Billboards Hot 100 that year–the highest ranking a solo female comedy album has ever received. She has won 4 Emmys (out of 16 career nominations) for her comedy specials and a Daytime Emmy for voicing Miss Frizz on the animated show 'The Magic School Bus'. In 1986, she won the Best Lead Actress in a Play Tony Award for her one-woman show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. She even received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in her film debut, Robert Altman's Nashville. She still appears in film, most notably in Flirting With Disaster, I Heart Huckabee's, and A Prairie Home Companion. If she can garner another role that highlights her quirky charm, she would have a pretty good shot at an Oscar.

7. Robin Williams What he needs: Tony
The Juilliard trained actor/comedian has always tried to balance both the comedy (his 2 Emmys come from comedy specials and his 5 Grammys were awarded for his comedy albums) and the dramatic (his Oscar win was for playing Matt Damon's shrink in 1997's Good Will Hunting) in his work. Last year, he made his Broadway debut in the play A Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and received good reviews. If he continues to pursue roles on stage, and put that Juilliard training to use, he could very well land himself with a Tony for his efforts.

6. Trey Parker and Matt Stone What they need: Oscar
Who would have thought the duo behind a crudely animated show about four foul-mouthed children would be one award away from the EGOT? But the thing about 'South Park' (which has brought them 4 Emmys for Outstanding Animated Program) and Broadway's The Book of Mormon (which brought them 4 Tonys for Best New Musical, Director, Book, and Score and a recent Grammy for Best Musical Show Album) is that along with the off-color humor is a smartness, wit, and, yes, heart that elevates the material. It's never offensive just for shock value- there's always thought behind it. They've been Oscar nominated before in the Best Song category for 'Blame Canada' from the 'South Park' movie. I think they could very easily win an Oscar, especially if a film version of Mormon ever hits the big screen.

Marty, Mary Poppins, Liza with a 'Z' and Number 1, after the jump

Live Blogging The SAGs Ceremony

8:02 They're doing the classic intro for the SAGs: I'm an actor. Everyone is so awkward. You would think as actors they would be able to do better in saying such awful copy.

8:05 Best Supporting Actor: My roommate says that Armie Hammer has a great voice. Then we hear Leo in the J. Edgar clip who must definitely does not have the best voice. Especially in that movie.

8:07 Christopher Plummer wins. No surprise there. He has a sweet speech but keeps doing this odd thing with his mouth where he's making a sucking sound. Is he losing his dentures?

8:12 Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer. Another no brainer. If she wasn't already winning the Oscar she would be with that speech. She managed to honor everyone from the woman who have come before her to pave the way and the present day down-trodden. Wow, imagine if this was actually an award that mattered...

8:22 Now we've gone to TV. Best Actor in a Comedy: Alec Baldwin. 6th consecutive win in this category! Man, Steve Carrell never wins anything. And now he will officially never win an award for 'The Office'. Some Country music starts playing in the middle of the '30 Rock' theme. Get it together SAGs!

8:25 Moving right along. Best Actress in a Comedy: Betty White. She won last year. Her clip was awful. Is it time for some Betty backlash? I just realized that theirs no supporting category. Its just everyone in there.

8:31 That was a fun montage of local actors in films. Its nice to honor working actors who make a living acting but don't get recognition. But, Mike Tyson as a local actor from Las Vegas is a bit of a stretch.

8:35 Best Ensemble in TV Comedy: Modern Family. Everything is so predictable. They even wrote a skit for the kids they were so confident of their win. After seeing that, is it too late to take back the award?

8:43 Best Actress in a TV Movie or Miniseries: Kate Winslet Mildred Pierce. I wrote that before they actually announced it. Where's Kate? Is she suddenly over winning awards?

8:47 Is that a wife-beater underneath Zoe Saldana's old lady caftan?

8:48 Best Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries: Paul Giamatti Too Big To Fail. He's a no show as well. Makes the ceremony go more quickly. And now the SAG president is speaking so, scratch that...

8:59 That was the highlight of the evening. Drinking game from the set of Bridesmaids. Drink everytime someone says "Scorsese". There was a reason that movie was so successful. Those ladies are funny. Hopefully they bring the funny to the Oscars. God knows it needs it.

9:01 Mary Tyler Moore tribute. I'm making a salad. Talk amongst yourselves...

9:17 Best Actress in Drama: Jessica Lange 'American Horror Story' (Did Kathy Bates have a feather fan with her? Someone cast her as a Madame in a brothel soon.) Lange is really good at playing crazy, but part of me feels it's not that different from her real life.

9:21 "If Drag Queens love you, you'll have the longest career. They know phony and they know real." Kathie Lee Gifford courtesy of Tina Fey

9:23 Best Actor in a Drama: Steve Buscemi 'Boardwalk Empire' Drink! He said Scorsese!

9:26 Meryl now presents In Memoriam. She's so somber tonight. I don't like this Meryl.

9:37 Best Ensemble Drama: Boardwalk Empire. I still have to see that show. HBO sure takes its sweet ass time putting shows out on DVD at Netflix. (Which apparently, they're thinking about not doing at all anymore.) Luckily, the first season is up now. I'll get on it soon. Just as soon as I watch Roman Polanski's Tess. (God, I hate when I don't update my queue in time.)

9:41 Best Actor  (we're back to film): Jean Dujardin The Artist Finally, a surprise! I'm just glad it's not Clooney. Maybe the best Actor race is more exciting than we thought. Oh, to be charming and French...
(What was with Natalie Portman presenting? She seemed annoyed or exhausted. I know she has a newborn, but you don't think everyone else in that room isn't exhausted from all these awards ceremonies?)

9:52 Best Actress: Viola Davis The Help Emotional speech. I got a little misty eyed. I do love when people are able to do the thing they love. And Viola obviously loves acting.

9:56 Best Ensemble: The Help People really love that movie. I'm glad that it went to a film that actually is an ensemble.

And the ceremony is over in 2 hours. In and out, but as a whole- kinda boring. The music and copy just seemed so dated. The first SAGs were in 1995, but this ceremony seems even older than that.

Well, I've survived my first live-blog of an awards show. How do you feel about the winners? The real surprises really came toward the end. Do you feel most people had tuned out before then? On to the Oscars in Feb!

Alternate Oscar Ballot

As much as I love the Oscars, wouldn't it be exciting to see them give out awards to the categories that really matter. Like, Best Kiss or Best Action Scene. What's that you say? Those are categories at the MTV Movie Awards? Well, maybe they're on to something...Behold the Alternate Nominees of 2011:

Worst Performance By a Previous Oscar Winner 

Nicolas Cage Trespass, Drive Angry, Season of the Witch

Jodie Foster The Beaver

Tom Hanks Larry Crowne

Nicole Kidman Just Go With It, Trespass

Natalie Portman No Strings Attached, Your Highness

Best Jessica Chastain Performance

Jessica Chastain Coriolanus

Jessica Chastain The Debt

Jessica Chastain The Help

Jessica Chastain Take Shelter

Jessica Chastain The Tree of Life

Hottest Actor: Male

Michael Fassbender Jane Eyre, X-Men:First Class, Shame

Chris Hemsworth Thor

Ryan Gosling Crazy, Stupid, Love; Drive

Chris Evans Captain America: The First Avenger

Glenn Close Albert Nobbs

Hottest Actor: Female

Mila Kunis Friends With Benefits

Rachel McAdams Midnight in Paris

Michelle Williams My Week With Marilyn

January Jones X Men:First Class

Meryl Streep The Iron Lady

Most Stylish

The Gods in Immortals

The Driver's satin bomber jackets in Drive

Lisbeth Salander's punk looks in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (It even inspired an H&M line)

Emma Frost's all white 60's ensembles in X-Men:First Class

J.Edgar Hoover in his mother's dress and pearls in J.Edgar

Best Performance by a Non-Human, Best Scene Stealers, and more after the jump

Golden Globe Noms! Now with 2 times the Gosling and Winslet...

My roommate text me this morning asking why I was recording Sandy Bullock on the Today show. It's a good question seeing as we have history. But, it was for the Golden Globe nominations. And it worked this time! (Thanks for nothing TNT and SAGs) Thank god it did because there were some laughs to be had. And not like last year where the laughs came from the Best Comedy or Musical category. (Oh, it will never get old making fun of Angie and Johnny Depp being nominated for The Tourist.) The four random stars of (big) screen and (small) screen at first seemed like odd choices but I now want to write some sort of rom-com to star Rashida Jones in hipster glasses, Gerry Butler looking rugged, Sofia Vergara not being able to pronounce anything, and shameless promoter, and complete delight, Woody Harrelson. But, let's move on to the nominees:

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

1. THE DESCENDANTS
   Sofia Vergara Ad Hominem Enterprises; Fox Searchlight Pictures
2. THE HELPDreamWorks Pictures, Participant Media; Touchstone Pictures
3. HUGOParamount Pictures presents a GK Films Production; Paramount Pictures
4. THE IDES OF MARCH
   Columbia Pictures, Cross Creek Pictures, Exclusive Media Group, Crystal City Entertainment; Sony Pictures Releasing
5. MONEYBALL
   Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing International
6. WAR HORSE
   DreamWorks Pictures; Touchstone Pictures

I would just like to point out that I cut and paste this directly from The Golden Globe website. Notice something odd about the film company that made The Descendants? I wonder how long it will take them to correct that. One of the highlight's of the announcement was Woody leaning into the mic and announcing that his film Rampart opens January 27 and it somehow got left off the list. They have six nominations and the average The Ides of March gets a nod? Its looking like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is fading from awards potential. It hasn't gotten anything from any awards body. Its gonna have to have good word of mouth when it opens if its gonna get traction. Predicted Winner: War Horse

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Glenn Close Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis The Help
Rooney Mara The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton We Need To Talk About Kevin


With Michelle Williams competing in Comedy or Musical it opened up the field to another actress vying for that fifth slot at Oscar. It's looking in more and more like it's gonna be Tilda. And Kiki is all but forgotten for Melancholia. They went with Rooney Mara here. I think it'll be a huge box office success, but I think this will be it for her. It's such a power house of big name dramatic ladies this season. It's really between Meryl and Viola. But...Predicted Winner: Meryl Streep The Iron Lady I hope she wears pearls.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

George Clooney The Descandants

Leonardo DiCaprio J. Edgar

Michael Fassbender Shame

Ryan Gosling The Ides of March

Brad Pitt Moneyball

Movie stars and hot guys! I mean, what a talented group of actors. But, really this is a handsome group of fellows and they are, in fact, talented. When this was announced Woody asked if there was a name left off. It was a cute moment. Looks like he really wants to be recognized for Rampart. It seems more people like J.Edgar more than I thought. And I'm happy about Fassy's nom. And Gosling was nominated in drama and comedy. Is there anything he can't do? Predicted Winner: Brad Pitt Moneyball

I think this is the only promo pic for this movie

The Kardashians SAG Nominations Are Here!

Damn my DVR! TNT was airing Miss Regina King, perpetual best friend, Miss Judy Greer, and <swoon> SAG president, Ken Howard, announcing the nominees for the 18th Annual Screen Actor's Guild Awards and I only got to see the nominees in the TV Miniseries/Movie before it cut off! Oh, well. At least I have the Golden Globe Nominees tomorrow. Don't let me down, DVR! Anywho, enough about my problems. Let's get to the nominees! Surprises are in store:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

THE ARTIST (The Weinstein Company)

BÉRÉNICE BEJO / Peppy
JAMES CROMWELL / Clifton
JEAN DUJARDIN / George
JOHN GOODMAN / Al Zimmer

PENELOPE ANN MILLER / Doris

BRIDESMAIDS (Universal Pictures)
ROSE BYRNE / Helen
JILL CLAYBURGH / Annie’s Mom
ELLIE KEMPER / Becca
MATT LUCAS  / Gil
MELISSA McCARTHY / Megan
WENDI McLENDON-COVEY / Rita
CHRIS O’DOWD / Rhodes
MAYA RUDOLPH / Lillian
KRISTEN WIIG / Annie

THE DESCENDANTS (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
BEAU BRIDGES / Cousin Hugh
GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King
ROBERT FORSTER / Scott Thorson
JUDY GREER  / Julie Speer
MATTHEW LILLARD  / Brian Speer

SHAILENE WOODLEY  / Alexandra King

THE HELP (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)
JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote

VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark
BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD / Hilly Holbrook
ALLISON JANNEY / Charlotte Phelan
CHRIS LOWELL / Stuart Whitworth
AHNA O’REILLY / Elizabeth Leefolt
SISSY SPACEK / Missus Walters
OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson
MARY STEENBURGEN / Elaine Stein
EMMA STONE / Skeeter Phelan
CICELY TYSON / Constantine Jefferson
MIKE VOGEL / Johnny Foote

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (Sony Pictures Classics)
KATHY BATES / Gertrude Stein
ADRIEN BRODY / Salvador Dali
CARLA BRUNI / Museum Guide
MARION COTILLARD / Adriana
RACHEL McADAMS / Inez
MICHAEL SHEEN / PaulOWEN WILSON / Gil

Who's Missing: Well, for one thing, all of the actors from the nominated films. Thanks to Nathaiel over at The Film Experience for pointing this out. Where are all the great actors from the ensemble of Midnight In Paris? Corey Stoll is the only performance from that film that anyone talked about. Yet, somehow French First Lady, Carla Bruni, made the cut? Other great ensemble casts that could have made the cut: Drive, Win Win, Rampart, New Year's Eve...

Thoughts: All in all, a pleasing list. All the films have a good mix of comedy and drama in them. Sometimes I think those actors confuse this category with Best Picture and not what it actually is. The only film I wouldn't exactly consider an ensemble is The Artist. The film is pretty much just Dujardin, Bejo, and, of course, Uggie the dog. But, it's probably my favorite movie that I've seen so far this year. So, I'll let it pass.