66th Primetime Emmys: Water Cooler Edition – Sofia Vergara Rotating on a Pedestal

Late Night with Seth Meyers - Season 1

The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on a Monday and a month earlier this year to accommodate both the VMAs and NFL season.  But it’s okay, you’ve seen this show before.  No, really.  Seth Meyers gave a fantastic monologue but beyond that it was pretty much a lot of the same as last year and the year before.  I was so bored that I couldn’t even muster up annoyance at the fact that the President of TV (as Stephen Colbert called him) literally put Sofia Vergara onto a rotating pedestal so that people would have something to look at while he spoke.   Continue reading “66th Primetime Emmys: Water Cooler Edition – Sofia Vergara Rotating on a Pedestal”

AMC Considering Breaking Bad Spin-off Starring Saul Goodman

Better Call Saul

[Nellie Andreeva at Deadline](http://www.deadline.com/2013/04/breaking-bad-spinoff-series-bob-odenkirk-saul-goodman-amc/):

> As AMC‘s Breaking Bad is heading into its final eight-episode run this summer, the network and series producer Sony TV are exploring keeping the franchise alive with a spinoff series centered on one of Breaking Bad‘s most recognizable supporting characters, Bob Odenkirk‘s unflappable criminal lawyer Saul Goodman. There are no deals in place yet as the project is in its nascent stages, but I hear it is being conceived by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and series writer-producer Peter Gould, who created the Saul character together for a Season 2 episode written by Gould.

> […]

> Goodman, who has been a regular presence on the show since, is a sleazy but highly competent criminal lawyer with a penchant for over-the-top TV commercials in which he uses his signature tagline “Better Call Saul!” Saul has served as Breaking Bad‘s comic relief, which is not surprising given Odenkirk’s strong comedy background. As a result, I hear the potential spinoff is eyed as a comedy, which could be one-hour, but a half-hour format also is being explored.

My immediate reaction to this is “this would awesome!” but then I remember every other time that the zany, funny supporting character has been given the main role in a subsequent outing (most recently this would be Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 4) and how that’s never really worked out.

See, the amoral character works really well as a supporting character because he doesn’t need to grow or evolve but as the central character he does. Since Saul is already a “criminal lawyer” the only choices are to make him evolve towards good or towards worse, and I’m not sure how that would play out. Then again, given that Walter White has been slowly moving towards bad it might be interesting to see the same writers do just the opposite with Saul.

Awesome: Directors Guild of America Awards Winners Announced

Argo

With all this hoopla about the Super Bowl I forgot to talk about the Directors Guild Awards. The big winner this year is _Argo_ director Ben Affleck. So far he and his film have locked up Best Picture _and_ Director at the Golden Globes, Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards, Best Picture at the Producers Guild Awards. So yeah, the Oscar is pretty much Argo’s to lose at this point but bear in mind that while the film itself is up for Best Picture at the Oscars Affleck isn’t up for Best Director.

Rian Johnson, that of Looper (one of our favourite films here at the Awesome Friday HQ) also won an award in the dramatic series category for directing an episode of Breaking Bad. Which is kind of awesome. It’s the second time he’s directed an episode of Breaking Bad and only the second time he has directed something he didn’t write. I just hope he makes another film soon so he can win for that.

Also severely awesome, Lena Dunham won for directing the pilot episode of her fantastic series _Girls_. We haven’t talked about Girls much around here but we really should. It’s a great series, and one that feels both raw and honest about being young, living in the city, and figuring your shit out. Lena Dunham is the creator and head writer and producer and she’s well deserving of all the accolades she keeps receiving for it.

[You can check out the full list of winners at the DGA Website](http://www.dga.org/Awards/Annual.aspx).