SAG Awards: Did Your TV Faves Make the Cut?

Christina Applegate by Bob D’Amico/ABC, Jon Hamm courtesy AMC

Nominations for the 14th-annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, to (hopefully!) be held Jan. 27, are out, and the big story is on the cinematic side, where Into the Wild topped the pack with four nods, Golden Globes fave Atonement got shut out, and Cate Blanchett is entered in two races. TV-wise, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty and The Sopranos netted three nods each. The details:

Male Actor in a Drama Series
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House
James Spader, Boston Legal

Female Actor in a Drama Series
Glenn Close, Damages
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Ricky Gervais, Extras
Jeremy Piven, Entourage
Tony Shalhoub, Monk

Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty

Male Actor in a TV-movie or Miniseries
Michael Keaton, The Company
Kevin Kline, As You Like It
Oliver Platt, The Bronx Is Burning
Sam Shepard, Ruffian
John Turturro, The Bronx iIs Burning

Female Actor in a TV-movie or Miniseries
Ellen Burstyn, Mitch Albom’s For One More Day
Debra Messing, The Starter Wife
Anna Paquin, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Queen Latifah, Life Support
Vanessa Redgrave, The Fever
Gena Rowlands, What If God Were the Sun?

Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boston Legal
The Closer
Grey’s Anatomy
Mad Men (woo-hoo!)
The Sopranos

Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
The Office
Ugly Betty

Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
24
Heroes
Lost
Rome
The Unit

The Top Five Things We Love About Gossip Girl

by Damian Holbrook, TVGuide.com

Blake Lively and Penn Badgley, Gossip Girl

Take that, Nielsens. Turns out the mighty ratings system has met its match in a plucky little lady named Gossip Girl (Wednesdays at 9 pm/ET, CW). She may not have the biggest numbers, but raging word of mouth, mad style and a rules-rewriting DVR draw have made the CW’s snazzy adaptation of the novels — Dynasty, 90210 by way of the Big Apple — the stuff teen dreams are made of. And that’s the sort of rep every girl would die for.

1. It’s the smartest ensemble this side of Fashion Week.
Teen soaps usually have one weak link (no names, please!), but not in this cast. Blake Lively, as sassy Serena van der Woodsen, lives up to her name; Leighton Meester‘s broken-doll sadness saves Blair from bitch cliché; and Taylor Momsen is a find as the prep-school Eve Harrington nipping at Blair’s well-heeled world. The guys ain’t too shabby, either. Chace Crawford‘s soulful Nate and Ed Westwick’s snotty Chuck are hot as buds born of privilege, and Penn Badgley simply rocks as adorable outcast Dan Humphrey. (And the show’s parents — namely Matthew Settle and Kelly Rutherford — are equally convincing. And hot.)

2. Finally, a voiceover that doesn’t make us want to scream.
As our unseen overseer, Kristen Bell’s purr is the sexiest disembodied fun you can have without paying $4.95 per minute. Whether she’s describing Blair’s burlesque debut (“no matter how long you try to be good, you can’t keep a bad girl down”) or Sunday brunch (“it comes with champagne, a dress code… and 100 of our closest friends”), even the most mundane tidbits sound deliciously enticing.

3. This class has class.
There’s nary a bare midriff or baggy jean to be found on these stylish teens, who instead rock the clas­sics — tuxes, frilly dresses, headbands — while Serena’s boho-chic look leaves more to the imagination than most getups sported by girls her age. Here’s hoping this will teach GG‘s buy-curious fashion fans that high-end elegance trumps trashy any day.

4. Ah, behold the joys of casual text.
Cell-phone pics, text messages, Guitar Hero showdowns. IMHO, no show has ever been so plugged in to how the IMing masses roll. And with this crew firing off updates on Serena’s surprise return and snapping shots of Nate’s secret clinches, they’re the super­cool weapon of class destruction. :-0

5. Our iPods have never been happier!
Like Josh Schwartz’s first dance with teen-culture vultures The O.C., Girl goes to 11 with the tunes. Only now, it’s Rihanna and Justin Timberlake instead of emo. “The idea is to do for pop music what The O.C. did for indie rock,” says Schwartz, who sees a Gossip Girl soundtrack in the future. Until then, you know you love it… we do!