The 2010 Emmys deliver, thanks to Jimmy Fallon and company

I love Emmy night. Most people I come into contact with on a regular basis don't understand the fierce passion I have when it comes to Emmy nominations, wins and the broadcast itself. After last year's show was fairly terrible, I was concerned about whether I'd be impressed again, and I certainly was (yes, NBC did something right).

This year's epic opener kind of proves why I love the Emmys so.



Jon Hamm and Betty White shimmying. Perfect song choice. Joel McHale being Joel McHale (side note: I loved that the Emmys used Joel liberally throughout the show, yet never nominated Community for anything). Jimmy and Tina Fey bringing back their adorable chemistry from their Weekend Update days (but, Tina, don't try to sing, please). Lea Michele not making me gag. If that alone doesn't make the Emmys worth watching, I don't understand how you can call yourself a television fan. For God's sake, they made you laugh at Kate Gosselin without hating her. That's quite the feat.

This year really provided a lot of fantastic moments. My second favorite?



Jimmy's dead-on impression of Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, during his tribute to LOST. While I love TV, I'm also a very devoted Green Day fan, so I nearly fell out of my chair in a combination of laughter and giddiness. Just ask anyone at the BG News, who put up with my reactions to the awards all evening long.

I know a lot of people hate Jimmy, but I think he delivered tonight. He played to his strengths but he didn't dominate the show.

Now, to the actual winners.

I was impressed with the comedy wins. I love 30 Rock, but I can handle them losing, especially to a show like Modern Family. I've expressed my feelings about Glee here before, and I just think that they won the awards they deserved, mainly Jane Lynch. I expected vote-splitting for the three Modern Family nominees in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category, but I'm happy Eric Stonestreet took it (actually, I would have been happy with anyone but Jon Cryer). I strongly believe that in terms of consistency, cast excellence and comedic value, Modern Family is a far superior show to Glee. I have no complaints about it winning, even if it isn't 30 Rock. It's time for some new blood. As for one Modern Family complaint? I wasn't wowed by the pilot episode, which earned Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan an Emmy tonight. 30 Rock's Anna Howard Shaw day, written by Matt Hubbard, was a better episode.

Edie Falco won for her wonderful performance on Nurse Jackie, making her the first woman to win for both comedy and drama acting categories. I would have liked to have seen Amy Poehler (who looked amazing so soon after having her baby) win, so it would help the woefully under-viewed Parks and Recreation, but there's no denying that Edie is great. Due to my inherent bias against CBS comedies, I haven't seen the Big Bang Theory, so I don't know about how deserving Jim Parsons win was. Like with the suppporting actor category, I was just happy it wasn't Larry David, Tony Shalhoub or Matthew Morrison.

As for guest actors, I was impressed. As much as I love and adore Will Arnett, Neil Patrick Harris was great on Glee, and Betty White's win for SNL was also well-deserved. John Lithgow for Dexter was a no-brainer, too.

Now, for drama. Mad Men won once again, over Dexter's amazing season four. As I've said before, Mad Men may be a show that's well executed, but it would have been nice to see Dexter rewarded for its stellar season. Likewise, I'm frustrated Michael C. Hall lost for Outstanding Actor. Yet, since he lost to Bryan Cranston, who put forth a great body of work this year on Breaking Bad (even if the season was a little inconsistent), who has deserved his three consecutive awards.

The award that brought me the most joy, though, was seeing Aaron Paul win for Outstanding Supporting Actor for Breaking Bad. He was just astounding to watch this season. I loved hearing the insane amount of applause for him and his speech was so heartfelt. I'd say it's a three-way tie between him, Edie Falco and Eric Stonestreet for favorite speeches tonight.

(I'm ashamed to say that I'm very unfamiliar with the nominees for the dramatic actresses. However, just because I do root for the underdogs, it would have been nice to see Connie Britton take home the award. I have seen a scant few Friday Night Lights episodes, and her work impressed me.)

Lord knows I love the Daily Show and Jon Stewart, but I wish Conan O'Brien or Stephen Colbert and their respective shows could have won instead, if only so we could have actually received an acceptance speech for them. Conan's nomination intro was pretty humorous too, and it was wonderful seeing him in the audience, strike/unemployment beard still in tact.

Another highlight? Ricky Gervais, as always. It was silly for NBC to book him to host this year's Golden Globes, a show where the host does little work. This isn't meant as a dig at Jimmy, because I think he did great, but the Emmys are what Ricky is made to host. A low light, however, was seeing Jason Sudeikis bring January Jones as his date. I don't care too much about celebrities' private lives, but I just find January to be boring and basic (put on display during her awful SNL episode), especially compared to his ex-wife, the hilarious and gorgeous Kay Cannon (who was nominated tonight for 30 Rock). It's just one of those couples that baffles me.

Alright, I've rambled on long enough about the Emmys, but I just love them so. What did everyone else think were highlights and low points? Any red carpet mishaps I missed? Seriously, if there were any awful/hilarious/amazing red carpet moments, please let me know. I had to work, so I was only able to watch the show on a stream online, and it was hard enough to pay attention to them, I didn't have time to watch red carpet shows, either.

For a list of winners, click here.

Emmy nominations, LeBron James' tackiness and Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert's brilliance

It was quite the day for television Thursday, and there's a lot to discuss.

First up - the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Award nominations were announced bright and early yesterday morning. The nominations feature a fair share of stalwarts, snubs and surprises, as always.

Plus, LeBron James inflates his ego by punching Northeast Ohio in the face on national television.

As if that weren't enough, Steve Carell made his first appearance on the Colbert Report, and the word "epic" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Breaking Bad goes out with a bang (literal pun intended)

This image says it all.

Sunday night's Breaking Bad season finale was yet another amazing hour of television. After a season that brought the show, and I would say television as a whole to new emotional heights (I strongly hope the "One Minute" episode helps the show win the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy this year) and lows (I would like to forget that "Fly" even existed, because it spent much too much time proving the simple point that Walt was losing his mind, and took 42 minutes to kill a fly), the season ended on a high note.

"Full Measures" was an episode that showed Walt at his most cunning and desperate, and Jesse, in the same scene (pictured), reached his highest and lowest emotional moments. In an act of desperation, Walt required Jesse kill Gale, a good-natured meth cooker who could leave Walt's entire existence irrelevant if he were to master Walt's skills. Throughout the episode, Jesse pleaded with Walt not to force him to commit such a heinous crime which showed that, while at the beginning of the series he seemed to be the burnt out meth addict who did not care much about anything, Jesse did have plenty of emotional depth.

However, as the episode ended with both Jesse and Walt's lives in danger, Jesse had to declare his alliance, and went to Gale's apartment to kill him. This wasn't an easy decision for Jesse to make, and he was visibly traumatized by the idea of killing a man who, even as a meth cooker, was innocent in other respects. However, the above pictured scene was the last moment the audience saw. An audible gunshot was heard as the screen went black, Sopranos-style.

This opens up numerous theories as to what the show's creator and episode scribe Vince Gilligan intended the scene to mean. On the obvious level, Jesse killed Gale, proving his willingness to survive and helping Walt remain the gold standard for Albuquerque meth cookers.

Or, and this is what I believe happened, when Jesse moved the gun slightly before the screen went black, he only shot up Gale's apartment to make it appear as though he killed Gale. Jesse was awarded the privilege of being able to go on the run after his season-long incidents (including last week's ending), so I wouldn't be surprised if he offered Gale the same.

Another option? Did Jesse get shot by someone else, such as Gus? We don't know for sure that the gunshot came from Jesse's gun. I would be very saddened to see Jesse to go, so I truly hope this isn't true (even if it would be a great twist).

No matter the ending, this episode just proved that Aaron Paul deserves the Emmy for Oustanding Supporting Actor this year. His performance made it impossible not to feel Jesse's anguish and emotional turmoil throughout the season (and this episode, in particular).

Have any other theories or thoughts about Breaking Bad this season, or where it could go next? Leave a comment!

On location: Famous TV landmarks

While many TV shows create fictional towns and landmarks, many also film at real-life locations, or they mention existing locations on the show. Of course, real locations are also used as exterior locations as well. Here is a select list of some famous locations seen or heard on TV shows.


View TV locations in a larger map

Do you have any other real-life locations that are used on TV that you've visited or heard about?

"Breaking Bad," TV at its best

One of the best shows on television right now is back, and I couldn't be more excited.

In the past few years, the AMC channel transformed itself from being a channel for movie buffs to reminisce on classics from long ago. Now, it is also home to one of the best shows on television, "Breaking Bad."

The drama features Bryan Cranston, likely best known to my generation as the father on "Malcolm in the Middle," as Walter White a father and science teach diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Desperate for a way to financially support his family, he begins cooking and selling methamphetamine with a former student of his, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul, also seen on "Big Love"). Walt and Jesse try to make their name in the Albuquerque, N.M. drug trade, and they both deal with personal struggles. Jesse fights his drug addiction, while Walt attempts to keep this 'family business' hidden from his wife, two children and his DEA agent brother-in-law.

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the blue text if you do not want to find out what happens on the season three premiere tonight or have not seen the season two finale.

Tonight, the fantastic show returns for its third season, and it is sure to be fascinating and intense. Walt's family will discover his secret life, and Jesse will be forced to deal with the death of his girlfriend, Jane, at the end of season two. Jane's air-traffic controller father's grief over his daughter's death caused a mid-air plane crash, and the show will reportedly explore the fallout of the crash.

AMC is more widely known for its Best Drama Emmy-winning show "Mad Men" than it is for "Breaking Bad," which is a shame, because I feel it is far superior to "Mad Men" (that's not to say "Mad Men" is bad, I just could never bring myself to have prolonged interest in it). Cranston has won consecutive Best Actor Emmys, and they are incredibly well-deserved. His performance is incredibly captivating, and you feel so invested in his life and his family, that your heart breaks for him. Paul was nominated for an Emmy last year, and I feel that he should have won. He turns a character that, on paper, would be deplorable, into a multifaceted, troubled character who will make you laugh at his glib, semi-incompetent nature one minute, and feel sadness and pity the next. Additionally, Bob Odenkirk returns as the morally questionable strip-mall lawyer Saul Goodman (slogan: Better Call Saul!), a character offering lots of comic relief.

Two of my favorite current television characters return, and for those who have hesitated to try this show out, please reconsider. Seasons one and two are available on DVD now. If you need a bit of a refresher before tonight's episode, AMCTV.com has posted this video so you can catch up.



Breaking Bad returns tonight at 10 p.m. on AMC. IMDb has a list of the upcoming encores of the show.