Zap2It.com's Amy Awards

Alias has been nominated in 7 of 13 categories:

The Amnesiac Cougar Award, aka Most Ridiculous Storyline or Plot Twist
Chase's baby on "24"
Joey and Rachel date on "Friends"
Madison is pregnant and doesn't tell Ephram on "Everwood"
Oliver comes to "The O.C."
Sydney has a half-sister on "Alias"

The Bennifer Award, aka TV's Worst Couple
Carter and Kem on "ER"
Ephram and Madision on "Everwood"
Ross and Rachel on "Friends"
Ryan and Marissa on "The O.C."
Vaughn and Lauren on "Alias"

Get Off My Show, aka Worst New Character or Guest Star
Eve on "Angel"
Jason ("Digger") on "Gilmore Girls"
Kem on "ER"
Lauren on "Alias"
Oliver on "The O.C."

Rewind: Let's Hear that Again Award, aka Best Quote
"Chloe, I'm getting really tired of your personality." Tony to Chloe on "24."
"I hate you, but I love Sydney more. That's the only reason you're not dying tonight." Vaughn to Lauren on "Alias."
"Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon. Let's go to work." Angel's final line in the series finale of "Angel."
"Will you just stand still?" Lorelai to Luke and vice-versa before they kissed on "Gilmore Girls."
"Welcome to the O.C., bitch." Luke to Ryan on "The O.C."

'Til Death Do Us Part, aka Best Death or Character Exit
Ben (Brendan Fraser) on "Scrubs"
Lauren on "Alias"
Ryan Chappelle on "24"
Dr. Robert Romano on "ER"
Wesley on "Angel"

Character You Love to Hate and Hate to Love, aka Best Villain
Julian Sark on "Alias"
Julie Cooper on "The O.C."
Sherry Palmer on "24"
Lindsey McDonald on "Angel"
Boston Rob on "Survivor: All-Stars"

I Want that Hour (or Half-hour) of My Life Back, aka Worst Episode of the Season
"Blowback" (episode told from two different perspectives) on "Alias"
"Makemba" (Carter meets Kem) on "ER"
"An Affair to Remember" (Rory finds a study tree) on "Gilmore Girls"
"Cheers" (series finale) on "The Practice"
"I Do and Oh No You Di-in't" (season finale) of "Will & Grace"


About the awards / See all nominees
Vote here

     Posted 8:02 PM by Sarah  []

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Test Pattern: TV on DVD
Catching up on the shows you never had time for

I've been glued to the TV set recently, watching the adventures of super double-agent Sydney Bristow on"Alias." Right now, in a two-parter, Sydney, her fellow double-agent father, and her onetime Russian spy mother, are on a mission trying to seize six nuclear warheads. What, you say that's old news, it happened back in season two and we're now done with season three? Maybe for you, but I have yet to watch an episode of "Alias" when it's actually being broadcast. Instead I'm catching up on this intriguing show via the full-season DVDs.

I've watched shows on DVD before, of course — it was a great way to catch up on "The Sopranos" after years without HBO. But "Alias" is the first one I've watched only via DVD, and it can be both a fabulous and a frustrating way to watch shows.

It's fabulous because you can watch an entire season or more pretty much in a row. A two-part episode ends with a cliffhanger? Just click to the DVD menu and move right on to the next episode — no waiting until next week! Can't remember how Will got labeled a drug addict in the first place? Bop back to an earlier episode for a refresher. And even though I normally watch TV via a TiVo, and so fast-forward through commercials as a matter of course, on a DVD, I don't even have to be that engaged. The screen fades briefly to black, letting me know "hey, here there once was a commercial break," I feel smug for a second, and the show snaps right back.

It's frustrating because ... well, it's not really all that frustrating. I know that some viewers don't like watching a show on DVD if a major plot point has been all over the news (we received some complaints in this regard after publishing my Sopranos article). That doesn't really bother me for some reason. I know, of course, about a very major plot twist coming my way — but I'm kind of excited to see how it's pulled off, and not so much upset that I know about it. It's a little more frustrating that I don't have a huge group of people seeing the same episodes at the same time that I am, but the forums at Television Without Pity are great for that kind of discussion. (Full disclosure: TWoP is run by two of MSNBC's freelance writers, but I'd be plugging it even if it wasn't.)

Overall, I treat watching TV shows on DVD a little more like watching a movie on DVD. I can watch part of it one day, then pause the disc and pick it up a day, or a week later, when I have time. And as with movies, I choose mostly to rent (via Netflix) TV shows on DVD, rather than buy them — to me, they're best watched once, not over and over. As with movies, I keep a mental list of shows I'd like to get caught up on via DVD — "Six Feet Under"comes to mind, as does "Nip/Tuck." I haven't given up on real-time TV yet (thank you, TiVo, for making it more bearable) but I've also found TV on DVD is a perfect pastime for summer, when the small screen is full of reruns or new series that probably wouldn't play in the fall. ("Simple Life 2"? Please!)

Article from MSNBC, written by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper.

     Posted 7:48 PM by Sarah  []

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David's Appearance on TV Talk

ostentatious over at DavidAnders.net typed up a partial transcript of David's Interview on TV Guide's TV Talk. The first four parts are up, and there are four parts to go.

Interview @ davidanders.net

     Posted 6:53 PM by Sarah  []

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Alias Gets Back To Basics

When Alias kicks off its fourth season in January, fans are going to spy some big-time changes. Coming off a subpar season, which saw viewership decline 9 percent, series creator J.J. Abrams will once again embrace the show's original conceit. Namely, Sydney will go back to juggling her dual roles as an international spy and normal twentysomething.

"We got so deep in the Rimbaldi and Covenant [mysteries] that we lost sight of some of the stuff we fell in love with [in the beginning]," ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson tells TV Guide Online. "J.J. is talking about getting back to some of the joy that she used to have in her personal life early on... while still living in this crazy world."

Abrams says he had an epiphany about Alias' disappointing third season while he was working on the pilot for his upcoming ABC thriller, Lost. "Going away to do Lost allowed me to look at Alias in a way that I could not have done otherwise — from the outside," he explains. "And it was like an incredibly enlightening thing. I suddenly knew in my heart what I wanted and what I didn't want — and I saw what was happening. Not that I wasn't proud of what was there, but I saw some mistakes that I made and I thought, 'Oh my God.'

"It was like going home and watching the game on TV — it gives you that perspective that you don't have when you're playing it," he adds. "I have a knowledge of the show I never had before."

Meanwhile, Abrams, unlike fans, is not peeved at ABC for delaying the show's return until January. "I was begging them to do it," he admits, noting that the midseason launch will allow his baby to unspool its 20 episodes uninterrupted by reruns. "Every time we would return after three or four weeks of repeats, our ratings would dip. Every time."

The move, therefore, should not be interpreted as ABC not believing in the show, he says. "I guess you could argue that shuffling it to the back makes it look less important to them, but I think it's actually the opposite. If they didn't believe in the show they wouldn't have A) picked it up, B) ordered 20 [episodes] and C) strategized how to maximize its [potential]."

"I couldn't believe more in the show," McPherson attests. "We're going to be launching a lot of new dramas in the fall and we wouldn't have been able to put any money [into promoting Alias]. So we felt the best thing to do was bring it on in January when we've got all [20 episodes] and a huge promotion platform with the Academy Awards."

And if that strategy doesn't entangle more viewers in the spy yarn, Jennifer Garner can kiss her extensive wig collection good-bye, right? Wrong. McPherson insists there's "not a chance" Season 4 could be Alias' last. "It will be an asset for years." How many, exactly? Cracks Abrams: "Exactly 100." Nobody likes a smart-ass. Well, except us.

Article from TV Guide Online, written by Michael Ausiello.
A similar article also appeared at Sci-Fi Wire.

     Posted 11:38 AM by Sarah  []

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