ScottFeinberg.com

By Rachel Bennett
Television Editor & Columnist

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A week ago, Breaking Bad finished the first half of its fifth and final season. In other words, summer TV has ended.

Although some shows, such as FX’s Louie and AMC’s Hell on Wheels, still have more episodes to go before their seasons conclude, NBC will be unveiling some of its new fall series this week — and the other networks won’t be too far behind.

To be honest, summer TV isn’t my favorite. I use the season to catch up on TV I’ve missed more than I do to watch such new offerings as TBS’s Men at Work and E!’s Married to Jonas.

However, this doesn’t mean all of summer TV is a bust.

Here are the choices for the brightest and darkest spots of summer TV 2012:

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By Rachel Bennett
Television Editor & Columnist

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This past Sunday, HBO aired the last of the ten episodes that comprise the first season of The Newsroom, a series about television and politics created by Emmy and Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin that was the most highly anticipated new show of the summer. Unfortunately, its final episode was greeted much like its first one – with mostly unenthusiastic reviews. After 10 episodes, though, critics seemed less surprised than accepting of the show’s mediocrity.

Expectations for The Newsroom were so high because it seemed to combine the subjects at the center of each of his three previous TV series, ABC’s Sports Night (1998-2000), NBC’s The West Wing (1999-2006), and NBC’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006-2007): in the case of the first and third, a behind-the-scenes look at a television program, and, in the case of the second, American politics. And yet The Newsroom has been widely regarded as a letdown that pales in comparison to Sorkin’s earlier work.

So what is different about The Newsroom? Or about us? I find that to be a fascinating question.

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Last night, thanks to a very kind gesture on the part of my editor, I was able to realize a lifelong dream and sit in the audience at the Academy Awards. I covered the Oscars from the backstage press room three years ago, which was a thrill in and of itself, but, as someone who has spent a huge chunk of my life researching, writing, and talking about the Oscars, you can imagine how much more excited I was to have the chance to watch the ceremony unfold with my own two eyes. And, I’m pleased to report, the experience did not disappoint.

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Question: People who are getting excited about the fact that 29 years have passed since Meryl Streep last won an Oscar might want to consider the fact that two actresses had even longer spans of time between Oscar wins. Who were or are those two women?

Prize: The first person to Tweet the correct answer to this question to @ScottFeinberg will win Michael Danna’s soundtrack to Moneyball!

(To be eligible, your mailing address must be in the United States, and you must be following @ScottFeinberg on Twitter so that we can direct message you, if you win, and tell you the email address to which you should send your mailing address.)

Photo: Brad Pitt in Moneyball. Credit: Sony.

This is my assessment of the Oscar landscape for the 2012 adapted screenplay and best original screenplay Oscars.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (The Descendants)

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This year, for the first time in 83 years, the best picture Oscar will almost certainly go to a silent movie, The Artist. That is, by this point in the season, already common knowledge. What is not, however, is the fact that there are a number of other films and performances nominated which are also largely silent. That’s highly unusual, if only because the Academy, in the sound era, has almost always rewarded showy films and performances, which tend to feature lots of dialogue.

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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts handed out its 65th annual BAFTA Awards this afternoon across the pond, and many of the same folks who will congregate at the Oscars two weeks from today were in attendance. Of course, the question now on all of their minds — and ours — is whether or not the American Academy will annoint the same major winners as the British Academy: The Artist for best picture, Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) for best director; Jean Dujardin (The Artist) for best actor; Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) for best actress; Christopher Plummer (Beginners) for best supporting actor; and Octavia Spencer (The Help) for best supporting actress.

Here’s my take…

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On Tuesday evening, I had the opportunity to moderate the last Q&A that the principal cast of The Descendants — George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Nick Krause, Judy Greer, and Matthew Lillard — will ever do together. (That is, at least until they have to promote a 10th anniversary re-release or something along those lines!)

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By Sean O’Connell

What’s that? You’re heading into the weekend without the latest Oscar news? Unheard of. We’re here to help. We only have a few more weekends of awards news before the big ceremony on Feb. 26. Soak it in! Let’s run through the top Oscar headlines as Friday draws to a close:

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The 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will take place on Sunday evening. I’ve already shared my picks and rationale for the eight TV categories; now it’s time to tackle the five film categories!

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