ScottFeinberg.com

By Joey Magidson
Film Contributor

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Being an Oscar prognosticator for over a half decade now, I’ve developed some odd habits. One of the things that I do that I know makes people question my sanity is posting my Oscar predictions for the another season as soon as the previous one has ended. I like getting a jump on things and actually started organizing contenders for the 2014 show a few months ago, but unless you’re as hardcore a film junkie as me, that’s crazy-talk.

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By Joey Magidson
Film Contributor

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It’s no secret that I love the Oscars and just about everything that comes with it, but if there’s one element of the season that I’m rather indifferent about, it’s the show itself. The Oscar telecast can often leave something to be desired, even if the producers’ hearts are in the right place. The ceremony itself can invoke mockery more than admiration among the masses, and even if I don’t share that, I do recognize that there are improvements that can be made.

I want to help the Academy have the best awards show possible, one that appeals to both die-hards like myself and the casual viewer who watches as much as anything in order to be knowledgeable around the water cooler the next day. It might be a task that can’t be feasibly done, but what’s the harm in trying?

Some of the changes I’m proposing — with a little help from Scott — have to do with making the winners slightly more satisfying. Others have to do with the aesthetics and pacing of the televised ceremony itself. The goal is to keep the Oscars feeling like the Oscars for those of us who truly love them, but to do so in a manner that would be more pleasing to everyone.

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By Rachel Bennett
Television Editor & Columnist

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It’s pilot season, which means your favorite out-of-work TV actors, actresses, creators and writers are getting a chance to return to the small screen once more.

Although we have yet to know what new series we’ll see next year, the networks have been busy selecting projects to consider for their schedules. So far, almost 100 scripts have been chosen, and audiences will only get to see a handful actually come to fruition.

Several are duds, but there are a few promising prospects that I hope network executives will keep around for the 2013-2014 season — even if it means they have to cancel old favorites to make room (just keep Parks and Recreation, OK, NBC?).

Check out my choices for the best prospective ABC and Fox pilots, and read my selections for NBC and CBS if you missed them yesterday:

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By Scott Feinberg
The Hollywood Reporter

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For prognosticators like me, the 85th Annual Academy Awards was a scary affair. The outcomes of so many of the major categories were up in the air. I was literally on the edge of my seat — on the far right side of the first mezzanine at the Dolby Theatre – as each category was announced.

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By Carson Blackwelder
Television Contributor

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Last Monday, The CW’s The Carrie Diaries slipped to 1.08 million viewers and a 0.4 adults rating, a new low for the freshman series.

Since its Jan. 14 debut, The Carrie Diaries has struggled in the ratings, bowing to 1.6 million viewers and not topping it since. The teen drama peaked at a 0.7 rating in the key demo with the Feb. 4 episode, compared to the 0.6 rating from the premiere.

These small victories are miniscule for the bigger broadcast networks, but for The CW, they’re enough to have the series considered a “toss up” for renewal after just two episodes.

The Carrie Diaries seemed to have a lot of steam behind it when it premiered, especially since the Sex and the City (HBO) prequel was riding the coattails of its predecessor as well as the popular Gossip Girl, which ended Dec. 17. The theory was that The Carrie Diaries would capitalize on Gossip Girl’s audience and attract loyal fans of the original series — giving it the ability to bridge generations.

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By Rachel Bennett
Television Editor & Columnist

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Every Monday, Rachel will pick a TV show you need to watch out for that week and/or in the near future.

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When ABC’s Nashville premiered in the fall, critics were immedidiately smitten with the new drama, with several calling it the best pilot of the season.

The story of country star Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) and her young competitor Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) is a simple one, but at the same time, it’s not so simple. Backstabbing, cheating, undermining and more abound in this series, proving that it’s not easy to reach the top — and it’s even harder to stay there.

Its initial strength aside, though, the stories stalled as the show crawled toward its winter finale, with love triangles seemingly going nowhere and time spent on characters about whom viewers could care less (As much as Eric Close tries, Teddy is incredibly boring).

Luckily, Nashville is picking up the pace and developing its players a little more, and I increasingly look forward to it week after week. Wednesday’s episode, “Dear Brother,” looks like another fun ride, so here’s why you should keep an eye on Nashville:

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By Joey Magidson
Film Contributor

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It’s all over, folks. After almost a year of preparation (and yes, I’ve already started working on early predictions for next year), the Oscar ceremony is now in our rear view mirror. Argo has been crowned Best Picture, Daniel Day-Lewis has his record-setting third Best Actor statue, host Seth MacFarlane managed to wed his trademark humor with the more buttoned down tastes of the Academy, and nearly every film nominated took home something. Hell, we even got a surprise video recording from First Lady Michelle Obama and our first tie in any category since 1968! It was a good evening for just about everyone.

The Academy really spread the love around this year. No film won more than four statues (that was Life of Pi), and Argo wound up with only three Oscars overall. We’ll forever argue over if Ben Affleck would have gotten the film a fourth had he been actually in the Best Director field, but that’s just speculation in the end. A dozen different features (not counting the Documentary winner Searching for Sugar Man) wound up with Academy Awards, and many of those 12 managed to scoop up more than one prize. In fact, the only major contender to walk home empty handed was Beasts of the Southern Wild. There’s always something that you can take issue with in terms of the results, but the results were pleasing overall — at least as far as I can tell.

The question I wanted to look at with 50/50 hindsight today was which film festivals and precursor awards wound up mattering the most. As has always been the case, festivals and precursors factored into the Oscar race in a big way. The Best Picture winner was one of the flicks that had a debut at a fest, as is the norm, while it also dominated the precursors. That’s also somewhat commonplace, but considering the chaos that was awards season, it wound up being pretty interesting to witness.

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By Rachel Bennett
Television Editor & Columnist

***

It’s pilot season, which means your favorite out-of-work TV actors, actresses, creators and writers are getting a chance to return to the small screen once more.

Although we have yet to know what new series we’ll see next year, the networks have been busy selecting projects to consider for their schedules. So far, almost 100 scripts have been chosen, and audiences will only get to see a handful actually come to fruition.

Several are duds, but there are a few promising prospects that I hope network executives will keep around for the 2013-2014 season — even if it means they have to cancel old favorites to make room (just keep Parks and Recreation, OK, NBC?).

Check out my choices for the best prospective pilots NBC and CBS have ordered, and come back tomorrow to see my picks for ABC and Fox:

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By Brie Strohmeyer
Special Correspondent

Grey Goose Vodka helped kick off Oscar weekend on Friday with a special lunch at the swanky SoHo House in West Hollywood. The ultra-exclusive celebrity hot spot, with its sweeping views of Los Angeles, served as the perfect backdrop for the popular vodka brand to showcase five specially-created award season cocktails. The custom drinks pay homage to this year’s best picture nominees and will be served at several Tinseltown soirees this weekend, including the star-studded Vanity Fair bash.

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By Rachel Bennett
Television Editor & Columnist

Every Friday, Rachel recaps the week’s major TV-related news, announcements and gossip!

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TOP STORIES

• Kevin Hart and Justin Timberlake are set to host NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Hart will take the stage March 2, the next new episode, whereas Timberlake will host and perform March 9.

• FX has renewed its drama The Americans for a second season. Let’s just hope Keri Russell doesn’t cut her hair and doom it all to hell.

• Welcome to the 21st century, Nielsen! The company says that beginning in the fall, it will begin taking into account online streaming when computing ratings.

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