the emmys

Emmy Nomination Hell! 10 Plots and Subplots to Watch After Today's Big Announcements

The world awoke this morning to the chirping of little birds resembling Kristin Chenoweth and Neil Patrick Harris, perched at a podium in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, announcing nominations for the 60th Emmy Awards. While most rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, we sat bolt upright as usual and sprinted to the window, our furious note-taking chronicling a few snubs, surprises and plenty of the conventional wisdom we've come to expect from the annual ritual.

The Academy has the full, looong slate of nominees, naturally, but we've narrowed our interests down to 10 easy storylines for our own Emmy dramedy — conveniently outlined after the jump!

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trade roundup

Amy Poehler Joins Cast Of 'Office'-Unrelated 'Office' Spinoff

· Baby Mama's supporting womb Amy Poehler is in "final negotiations" to star in the "don't-call-it-a-spinoff" The Office spinoff. Said Poehler, "The second I heard Aziz Ansari had already signed on, it really just became a matter of 'when do we start?'" [Variety]
· Most annoyingly overhyped project ever (and it's still just a script! Barely a glimmer of a storyboard in its amorous father Quentin Tarantino's eye) Inglorious Bastards is said to now be considering Leo DiCaprio to star, in addition to Brad Pitt. Also on their shortlist: Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin, and Jesus Christ. [Variety]
· Wait a second—Desperate Housewives is actually committing to the whole jump-ahead-five-years gimmick used in the season finale? We guess so, as all the kids on the show have been replaced by teenage actors. Maybe that's what Grey's Anatomy can do with Katherine Heigl: Set next season in 2118, where all your friends at Seattle Grace enjoys the benefits of a miraculous age-freezing pill, except Izzie, who didn't sign up for trials. (And died of natural causes at 86.) [THR]
· Lost writer Craig Rosenberg will make his feature directorial debut with The Panopticon, about "a medical salesman who receives a mysterious videotape from himself telling him the world will end and that he must stop it." [THR]
· Fox has ordered a presentation for Sincerely, Ted L. Nancy, a non-scripted comedy based on the popular disgruntled-consumer-fights-back Letters From A Nut books, an inferior retread of Don Novello's classic The Lazlo Letters. [THR]

saturday night live

Live, From New York, It's Saturday Night: Defamer Pays A Visit To Studio 8H

It's difficult to properly convey to you the excitement level that hits you the second you walk through the revolving doors at 30 Rockefeller Center before a live taping of Saturday Night Live. After all, it's one of the hardest tickets to get in show business. So, unlike a concert or athletic event where you can see the eyes of some attendees glazing over from boredom, everyone who is in attendance is someone who desperately wants to be there. As anyone who is in the building will attest, the energy in these moments is both palpable and kinetic. And that's just in the lobby of the ground floor of the building! As you have probably gathered by now, your Uncle Grambo was fortunate enough to be one of the lucky 250 or so people who got to watch this weekend's episode of SNL (host: Shia LaBeouf, musical guest: My Morning Jacket) from the friendly confines of Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center. A full run-down of the evening follows after the jump. More »

Deciphering your moviegoing options for the third week running, Defamer Attractions returns today with a look at the final weekend before the studios spill summer in our lap. Today we gauge Tina Fey's chances for box office superiority, corral the highest-profile dog since 88 Minutes (that was only last week? Really?), recommend a certain Oscar-winning actress's directing debut and scan the new arrivals shelf for DVD's of notice. As always, our opinions are our own, but they're also right. You can thank us later! More »

seeing what sticks

Marketing 'Baby Mama': Universal Tries The Kitchen Sink Approach

Ever since Mean Girls became a runaway success back in 2004, Tina Fey has been riding a wave of near universal acclaim. Her ability to ride that tasty wave of popularity for the last four years without succumbing to any nasty wipeouts has arguably turned her into the Laird Hamilton of the Writers-Turned-Performers circuit. But when Baby Mama hits theaters this weekend, all of that cred that she has built up will be put to the test. Not only has Variety's Todd McCarthy gone on record calling it "exceedingly predictable", but Videogum has been trumpeting the notion that "Tina Fey-Tigue" is about to set in for the last week and some change. Recognizing that this film doesn't exactly fit the mold of traditional studio comedies (namely, in that it stars two female protagonists), Universal has been throwing a bunch of dollars at Baby Mama television advertising over the last few weeks, alternately positioning the film as a Tina Fey Vehicle, a film In Which Amy Poehler Steals The Show and, gasp, as something that even sports-loving, beer guzzling men will dig (specifically, by scoring the spots with The Cars' dude-friendly power pop anthem "Just What I Needed").

While all three of these spots appear after the jump, we thought it would be fun to enlist Defamer's videographer par excellence Molly McAleer to cut a commercial for the film that would play to all the thrill-seeking teens who have made Prom Night one of this spring's surprise B.O. hits (above). Feel free to use our cut, Universal marketing team — all we ask for is a link in return. Enjoy! More »

short ends

Amy Poehler: Drugged, Naked, And Observed Through Immaculate Glass

· Question: Why would David Letterman (and untold other horny comedy goons) be envious of a window washer? Answer: Watch the video. [Late Show]
· You'll have to wait until May 20 to get your hands on "Anywhere I Lay My Head," Scarlett Johansson's album of Tom Waits covers, but you can enjoy a sneak preview of her ear-raping rendition of "Falling Down" right now! [AOL Music]
· If you've not yet heard, Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain have all taped messages that will air on WWE's Raw tonight, in the hopes of currying favor with the "will readily buy into heavily spun violence-as-entertainment" block of voters. [WWE.com]
· We really can't decide which month of The Texas Polygamist Wives Calendar most does it for us. Oh, who are we kidding. December: You had us at your carefully coordinated ankle socks and sensible man-satchel. [BWE]
· Just in time for Cloverfield's DVD release: J.J. Abrams thinks the best place to enjoy it is at home, just a few steps from the toilet should the shakey images on your 65-inch LCD screen make you want to hurl. [Reuters]