Awards Mania

Oscar organizers announced this afternoon that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are going to co-host the 82nd Academy Awards. From Hollywood Outbreak:

We think the team of Steve and Alec are the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars," said [Oscar telecast producers] Shankman and Mechanic. "Steve will bring the experience of having hosted the show in the past and Alec will be a completely fresh personality for this event."

"I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin," said Martin.

"I don't play the banjo but I'm thrilled to be hosting the Oscars - it's the opportunity of a lifetime," said Baldwin.

Martin hosted the 73rd and 75th Academy Awards shows, earning an Emmy nomination for the first stint. He has also served as a presenter on the show several times, most recently at the ceremony in February when he appeared with Tina Fey. He is currently touring with the bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers in support of his latest album "The Crow: New Songs for the Five String Banjo." In 1977 and 1978 Martin won Grammys for Best Comedy Recording. He earned a third Grammy in 2001 in the Best Country Instrumental Performance category. In 2007 Martin earned a Kennedy Center Honor.

Baldwin was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for his supporting role in "The Cooler." That year also marked his most recent appearance as a presenter on the show. Baldwin currently stars as Jack Donaghy on the comedy "30 Rock," a role for which he has won two Emmys (in 2008 and 2009). Baldwin earned a Tony nomination in 1992 for his performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire."

The Golden Globes is gonna have a host for the first time since 1995, and it's Brit comic Ricky Gervais. From Variety.com:

In a statement, Gervais said he felt the show offered him "free reign."

"Not only is this the biggest Hollywood celebration of the industry which includes both film and TV, but also an environment where I feel I can get free reign as a host," said Gervais. "I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don't turn down."

Nominations will be announced December 15. This year's show will be broadcast live from 5-8 p.m. (PT) and 8-11 p.m. (ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

"Oh no!" says Lewis Black. "A scourge of anger has struck America's seventh most popular sport and its 38th most prestigious awards show!"

Awards ceremonies are dull, dull, dull. There's a reason organizers are always looking for seat-fillers. So kudos to Kanye West for adding some highly entertaining improv and controversy to the MTV Music Video Awards last night by interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech. Rude? Inappropriate? Sure. But this is the network that brought us 'A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila', 'My Super Sweet 16', and 'Punk'd'. Rude and inappropriate is a big part of the business plan. If MTV had thought there was a buck to be made by doing it, they would have asked Kanye to interrupt the ceremony years ago.

The Emmy awards announced Thursday plans for a change in the format of the ceremony. Eight of the 28 Emmy categories will be pre-taped, in order to shave minutes off the lengthy program time. Two of the categories excluded from the ceremony are for writing, and given that there are only four writing categories in the Emmys to start with, There's understandably some resentment. More than 100 television writers have signed a letter protesting the changes. James Hibberd at The Hollywood Reporter has the letter, and further details:

We, the undersigned showrunners and executive producers of television's current line-up of programs, oppose the Academy of Television Arts and Science's decision to remove writing awards from the live telecast. This decision conveys a fundamental understatement of the importance of writers in the creation of television programming and a symbolic attack on the primacy of writing in our industry. We implore ATAS to restore these awards to their rightful place in the live telecast of the 2009 Emmy Awards.

Russell Brand hosted the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards from the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. And he'll be doing it again in 2009, but this time from the Radio City Music Hall in New York. The award ceremony is scheduled for September 13 at 9 p.m. ET. From the MTV website:

"This year will be a controversy-free festival of love and discrete orgasms," said the "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" star, who stirred plenty of controversy as host last year when he joked about the Jonas Brothers' purity rings.

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"We are thrilled that despite numerous death threats from Jonas Brothers fans, Russell Brand has accepted our offer to put his life on the line and host the VMAs again this year," said Stephen Friedman, general manager of MTV. "We're also excited to be coming home to bring the most rambunctious night in music back to New York City."

Congrats to KCET!

Los Angeles - July 9, 2009 - KCET, public television for Southern and Central California, earned a total of 11 nominations for the 61st Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards. The station's award-winning weekly news program, SoCal Connected, received 10 nominations. An additional nomination went to KCET's 49th Annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration. The winners will be announced at the 61st Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards presentation on Saturday evening, August 29, 2009 at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood.

KCET's nominations included the categories of Information/Public Affairs Series (more than 50% remote) for SoCal Connected and Education Special for SoCal Connected's special report about one of the country's most notorious schools, "Inside Locke High."
SoCal Connected also received nominations in the categories of Feature Segment, Information Segment, where it swept the entire category, and three non-news categories.

"KCET is extremely proud of all our nominees," said Bret Marcus, executive producer of SoCal Connected and KCET senior vice president of programming and production. "It is especially gratifying to receive 10 nominations in our first season of SoCal
Connected."

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The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies announced the winners for the 2009 AltWeekly Awards in Tucson last Friday, and LA Weekly led the pack in the large-circulation division. The LAW has historically done well at the AAN awards, but with massive budget cuts and the recent firing of kick-ass editor-in-chief Laurie Ochoa, it seems plausible the paper's winning streak could slow in future years. Fingers crossed for 2010.

LAW won four first place awards in the following categories:

FOOD WRITING-
Counter Intelligence by Jonathan Gold

ARTS FEATURE-
No Exit Plan and The Life and Death of JT Leroy by Nancy Rommelmann

EDITORIAL LAYOUT-
Death of a Hollywood Beauty by Darrick Rainey

SPECIAL SECTION-
LA People 2008 by Laurie Ochoa and LA Weekly staff

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The LA Press Club held their annual awards banquet last night at the Sheraton hotel in Universal City. Winners of the Journalist Of The Year awards included David Evans of Bloomberg Markets in the Print- over 100K circulation division, Brad A. Greenberg of The Jewish Journal in the Print- under 100K circulation division, Ana Garcia and Fred Mamoun of KNBC and Eric Longabardi of TeleMedia in the Television category, and Frank Stoltze of KPCC 89.3 in the Radio category.

The winners for the event's highest awards were Rick Orlov of the Daily News (Joseph M. Quinn Award for lifetime achievement), Robyn Dixon of the LAT (Daniel Pearl Award) and Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post (President's Award).

Jonathan Gold was awarded an honorable mention in the Newspaper Columnist category, which we are certain he will be displaying proudly on his mantle right next to the Pulitzer.

A complete list of last night's winners can be viewed here.

This morning the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies announced the finalists for the 2009 AltWeekly Awards. LA Weekly made the list seven times, and other California papers being recognized include Pasadena Weekly, OC Weekly, San Luis Obispo New Times, SF Weekly, Metro Santa Cruz, North Bay Bohemian and Monterey County Weekly.

Award winners will be announced at a June 26 luncheon during the annual AAN Convention in Tucson, Arizona. A complete list of finalists can be viewed here.