Presidential woes in primetime

President Bush will appear on all the major networks tonight to speak about the nation’s financial crisis. ABC, CBS and NBC will be carrying the speech tonight at around 9p/8c. The networks have not said how this will affect tonight’s primetime programming, but B&C points out that it is premiere week and the nets may be taking that into consideration.

Meanwhile, Republican candidate Sen. John McCain announced today that he’s suspending his campaign to return to Washington and help resolve this financial crisis. He asked that Friday’s primetime debate with Sen. Barack Obama be postponed; the word just in from MSNBC is that the Commission on Presidential Debates intends to go forward with the debate as scheduled. That debate will air Friday night on all the major networks, including PBS.

Snap judgments: The new season in syndication

Splashy primetime premieres get all the attention and ink in September, as the networks trot out their new (old) lineups and promise that “comedies” like Do Not Disturb will get better. But I get at least as excited about the premieres and changes that happen a little earlier in the month.

I’m a syndication junkie, admittedly, but I’d also point out that viewers get saddled with strips for a lot longer than any primetime series (except maybe late ’90s Dateline). Think about it: a primetime series has maybe 22 episodes in a year. A syndicated daily broadast puts out 22 episodes in a month. And because of contractual obligations to syndicators, stations tend to change their daily lineups once per quarter at most. There are many more broadcast hours riding on these shows than their pampered primetime pals.

Last-minute Emmy picks

UPDATED | The winners (and thus my record stays intact)

The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards are just over an hour away. Here are my predictions:

Outstanding Reality Competition

• Who I’d Vote For: The Amazing Race
• Who Will Win: The Amazing Race

TAR has cleaned up every year since this category was established, and with good reason. The travelogue part balances out the trashy reality part and is probably part of the reason the Academy looks so well on it. I think it’s compelling, well-edited television.

Supporting Actress, Drama

• Who I’d Vote For: Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy
• Who Will Win: Dianne Wiest, In Treatment

I fear that nominations for Wilson and Oh will split the votes among Grey’s fans. And Academy fave HBO doesn’t have a whole lot to bring to the table this year.

Supporting Actor, Drama

• Who I’d Vote For: John Slattery, Mad Men
• Who Will Win: Ted Danson, Damages

Supporting Actress, Comedy

• Who I’d Vote For: Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
• Who Will Win: Kristin Chenowith, Pushing Daisies

Supporting Actor, Comedy

• Who I’d Vote For: Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
• Who Will Win: Jeremy Piven, Entourage

Harris has had a huge year, but Piven has rocked this category more than once in the past.

Lead Actress, Drama

• Who I’d Vote For: Glenn Close, Damages
• Who Will Win: Glenn Close, Damages

Lead Actor, Drama

• Who I’d Vote For: Michael C. Hall, Dexter
• Who Will Win: Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Lead Actress, Comedy

• Who I’d Vote For: Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
• Who Will Win: Christina Applegate, Samantha Who

This is a tough, tough category. Weeds is constantly overlooked, though Parker entirely makes the show and more than deserves it. She’ll be handicapped by Weeds‘ comedy classification, as the show has ventured more and more into drama in recent seasons. So then I think it’s between Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Applegate. Samantha had a critically lauded debut season and Applegate may be able to count on the sympathy vote.

Lead Actor, Comedy

• Who I’d Vote For: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Who Will Win: Tony Shalhoub, Monk

I hated Baldwin until I saw him in 30 Rock in the role he was born to play. The therapy session in which he played an entire African American family is proof enough of his comic versatility. But Emmy voters keep handing statues to Shalhoub, who’s been playing the same one-note character for years.

Outstanding Drama Series

• Who I’d Vote For: Mad Men
• Who Will Win: Mad Men

Outstanding Comedy Series

• Who I’d Vote For: Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Who Will Win: Curb Your Enthusiasm

So that’s it. We’ll see how it all shakes out tonight at 8p/7c on ABC.

LAST YEAR | I was roughly five for ten in my picks, so that’s decent, I guess, given that there’s no real predicting what those crazy voters are going to do.

BB10 | The finale

Last night was the season finale of Big Brother 10. It came down to Dan and Memphis. In a final nod to this season’s bloc-vote mentality, the jury of seven evicted houseguests unanimously voted Dan as the winner.

Say what you will about his tactics, but it was a game, and Dan played it very well. His early diary room comments about throwing competitions and wanting to appear weak seemed implausible — until he started dominating and put together a powerful alliance with Memphis, Keesha, and Renny.

I can’t remember ever being so satisfied with a BB season. Even though it was rough in the middle, with lots of explosive fighting, things played out well overall. The biggest surprise was Keesha as America’s Choice for a $25,000 jury prize. I voted for Renny, who I liked from the start, even though she grated on some. I am grateful that it didn’t go to Jerry, however, who coasted through the final weeks and behaved ridiculously at many points.

As for this season of After Dark, at least there were no whole-house orgies to speak of (season nine!). And, for a change, I’m going into the BB hiatus with good feelings. Whether we see another winter season or it’s on hold til next summer, it’ll be hard to top the great game that was played in season 10.

BB10 | After Dark Update (9/16; season finale)

WEEDS | Another season down…

UPDATE | I’m just throwing this out there: if tonight’s cliffhanger is that Nancy is pregnant, it should come as no surprise to anyone, as hints to this effect have been dropped over and over during the last two seasons. It’s one of many Weeds threads that goes on for so long you forget it’s been brewing. So I’m just saying, if that goes down tonight, I called it.

I’m anxiously anticipating tonight’s final installment of the fourth season of Weeds. Though it has been far from perfect, this season has had its moments, and you can usually count on Jenji Kohan for a spectacular season finale, if nothing else.

Of course, Kohan likes to say that she sees each finale as a pilot for the next season, so we know to expect some loose ends. But what kind of resolution is there to be had, now that Nancy is confronting four seasons’ worth of questionable decisions that have led her to this point?

And will the show say farewell to any more of its core cast? Last year, as Agrestic/Majestic burned down around everyone, the James family (Heylia, Conrad, and Vaneeta) was shown the door. What’s to be done with Doug, who’s been floundering this season and whose exodus with the Botwins was the least plausible?

Will the mayor of Tijuana die — if not tonight, then early next season? So far anyone Nancy has loved (even Peter, for whom her affection quickly soured) has ended up dead one way or another. So many questions, but I know better than to expect many answers. I’ll settle for a satisfying half-hour of television that I hope will have me counting down the days to season five as early as tomorrow.

THIS SEASON’S FAILING IN A NUTSHELL | Lazy character development, says Jacob, who recaps the show for Television Without Pity. His blow-by-blow commentary on last week’s penultimate episode is worth a read for his notes about the show’s reliance on gay themes, this year’s lifeless supporting cast, and how it all added up to enjoyable anyway.

BB10 | After Dark Update (9/15)

BB10 | After Dark Update (9/14)

BB10 | After Dark Update (9/13)

BB10 | After Dark Update (9/12)