Sci-Fi Storm

It’s Emmy season, and the 2014 Emmy nominations are out – and we’re getting at least a little love in genre-related programming.

Among the major nominations (see the complete list here):

Game of Thrones picked up a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, along with Peter Dinklage getting a Supporting Actor nod for his role as Tyrion Lannister and Lena Headey getting a Supporting Actress nod for playing his sister Cersei Lannister. Headey will square off against former Robin Hood actress Joanne Froggatt and Professor McGonagall herself Maggie Smith, both nominated from Downton Abbey. Avengers star Diana Rigg also picked up an Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Lady Olenna Tyrell.

Game of Thrones also picked up Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series.

Big Bang Theory again puts up Jim Parsons for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, with Mayim Bialik again nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and Bob Newhart will defend his Guest Actor win from last year. The show also was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson will face each other in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Mini-series/Movie for American Horror Story: Coven, while Frances Conroy, Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett all represent in the Supporting actress category. The show also garnered the Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing nominations.

Notably absent was any nominations for Orphan Black, where by all accounts star Tatiana Maslany should have warranted a nomination.

TV Line reports that Big Bang Theory producers Bill Prady and Steve Molaro said on the red carpet last night at the Golden Globes that they’ve signed James Earl Jones, best known as the booming voice of Darth Vader, and Princess Leia herself Carrie Fisher, to play themselves in cameo roles in an upcoming episode of the show where they will cross paths with Sheldon.

We know that Sheldon is a huge fan of That Other Franchise, but we’ve not seen a lot of Star Wars representation on the show. I wonder what reaction we’ll see?

In the meantime, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting on some of the names being bandied about as possibly up for roles in the upcoming Episode VII movie, including Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix), Adam Driver (Girls) and Breaking Bad‘s Jesse Plemons.

But there is also this interesting nugget…that with the departure of Michael Arndt, who was originally writing the script which focused on the offspring the of the original trilogy’s main characters – Luke, Leia and Han, with them and the original actors taking supporting roles, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan, who have taken over the writing, have rewritten the script to put the three back into the lead roles!

Apparently even George Lucas, who had given guidance at the start, has acquiesced to Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm.

Is this a good idea? I can see them perhaps using this film as a transition, launching the new characters forward, but I can’t see it working for three movies.

Speaking of the Man in the Iron Suit, it appears that Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. injured his foot during a stunt on set. According to Disney:

While performing a stunt on the set of Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr. sustained an injury to his foot. There will be a short delay in production while he recuperates.

Nothing else is known at this point. This comes on the heels of actress Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory) who suffered injuries to her hand in an automobile collision in New York City yesterday. Fortunately she tweeted yesterday (with her husband typing) that she was “in pain but will keep all my fingers,” and she was back on set today.

The science fiction and fantasy genre seems to have taken a hit in the latest Golden Globe nominations. It don’t see anything in the Motion Picture awards at all aside from the animated features, which is very surprising given the major buzz about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Harry Potter could still see an Oscar nod as the field is larger there, but it could mean it is a longshot at winning.

On the TV side, however, there were a few genre hits, notably Game Of Thrones receiving nods for “Best Television Series – Drama” and a “Best Supporting Actor” for Peter Dinklage, while American Horror Story also received one for “Best Television Series – Drama” and “Best Supporting Actress” for Jessica Lange.

SF-friendly show The Big Bang Theory saw a single nod for Johnny Galecki for “Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical”.

The complete nomination list is available at Deadline.

There wasn’t a lot of genre stuff going on at the Emmys last night, but there were a few highlights. Although Game of Thrones was nominated 13 times, it only won one (aside from a Creative Arts award announced last week) – Peter Dinklage won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister. Jim Parsons won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory.

On other Creative Arts Emmys (where the genre shows tend to do well), Futurama won two, for Outstanding Animated Program and Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (Maurice LaMarche as Lrrr/Orson Welles). The Walking Dead also won for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup.

Other little tidbits – the pre-filmed open included Leonard Nimoy as “Television Network President” (apparently a late replacement for Alec Baldwin, reportedly upset they cut a joke at NewsCorp’s expense – it was aired on NewsCorp-owned FOX), and Marcel Vigneron was briefly shown during the open wearing his Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen shirt – although he and his show were not nominated or otherwise part of the Emmys (and I still haven’t heard confirmation that it is or is not coming back).

Current Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat was in the audience, but for Outstanding Writing for his Sherlock mini-series. Alas he didn’t win (nor did Sherlock pick any of for it’s 3 other nominations), losing to Julian Fellowes and his Downton Abbey (which is an excellent series as well).

The 2011 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced today, and it looks like cable TV is the big winner this year. Read on for a list of the genre shows and their nominations.
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Two of the “hot girls of the Whedonverse”, Eliza Dushku and Summer Glau, will each have a guest spot on two popular broadcast network shows. Dushku, who last week could be briefly spotted watching boyfriend Rick Fox dancing on Dancing With The Stars, will appear in an episode of Big Bang Theory, playing an FBI agent interviewing the gang so Wolowitz can get a security clearance – I’m wondering if we’ll see Eliza show her skills after an inappropriate comment from him. Then Glau, who already did a guest stint on BBT will turn up on Chuck as one of a series of rotating undercover agents manning the Buy More, specifically in the 8th episode. Fret not one the one shot for Glau though – she’ll be appearing in the mid-season NBC series The Cape.

The nominees for the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards are out, but it doesn’t look like there is much from the SF&F areas among the main awards (not really surprising). A quick glance shows Lost with a Best Drama nod, and Jim Parsons of Big Bang Theory getting a Best Actor In A Comedy nomination for his role as Sheldon, and Battlestar Galactica did get a Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series nod for the episode “Daybreak (Part 2)”