Tony Alemida is Returning to 24!

Next to Jack and Chloe, easily the best character ever on 24 is Tony Almeida. Who can forget his surprising and heroic appearance to save Jack and Kate a few seasons back? When Tony died (or seemed to die), I was genuinely sad.

Well, Tony's coming back!

According to a press release from Fox, Tony (Carlos Bernard) will be returning to 24 this season! Holla!

The press release reads:

"With CTU dismantled, the show's setting moves to Washington, D.C., where Jack Bauer faces trial for his actions in the pursuit of justice. Bauer's day gets off to a shocking start when former colleague Tony Almeida, last seen in Day 5, returns after being left for dead by a terrorist conspirator in CTU's infirmary."

Executive producer Howard Gordon says "Since there was no silent clock at the conclusion of his last appearance — the 24 tribute to a major character's demise — we always kept this as a possibility."

Tony!!

Can't wait 'til January...

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Predicting the Emmys: Best Drama Series

I'm still giving my predictions for the 2007 Emmy Awards. Who was overlooked? Who should win? And who's gonna win?

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Boston Legal
Grey's Anatomy
Heroes
House
The Sopranos

Overlooked:
Friday Night Lights
Lost
Rescue Me
The Shield
The Wire

Should Win: The Sopranos

Will Win: The Sopranos

Potential Spoiler: Heroes

Believe it or not, The Sopranos, which many consider to be the best Drama series of all time, has only won one Emmy Award, back in 2004. It would be nothing short of shocking if the Academy didn't recognize the series one last time by giving it the top prize. Boston Legal doesn't stand a chance, House is more often acclaimed for Hugh Laurie than for the show itself, and the consensus is that Grey's Anatomy didn't have it's strongest season last year. That leaves newcomer Heroes as the only possible competition, but really...are they really going to deny Tony and co. one last shot at the gold? Fuhgeddaboutit.

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Janeane Garofalo Joins the Cast of 24

She starred in one of my favorite movies of all time (Reality Bites -- genius!!), and now she's coming to television in of my favorite shows. Yes, comedian Janeane Garofalo is joining the cast of 24 this fall!

Michael Ausiello over at TVGuide.com is reporting that the comedian will play a government official on the 7th season of the Emmy winning drama.

Can't wait!

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Predicting the Emmy Nominations: The Dramas

There's still about a month until this year's Emmy Award nominations are announced, but since the 2006-2007 television season has come to an end, I thought it would be fun to try and predict who will and won't make the cut.

This list actually includes two sets of predictions -- who I think should be nominated, and who I think will be nominated. First up -- the prizes for Best Drama, Best Actor and Actress in a Drama, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama. The rest of the categories will follow later in the week.

Best Drama Series
Will 24 be rewarded, even though last year's Best Drama had it's worst season yet? Will bad feelings about The Sopranos finale cause it to miss out on a nod? Will The Wire, hands down the best show on TV, or any of FX's dynamite shows (Rescue Me, The Shield, The Riches) make the cut? How about deserving newbies Brothers & Sisters, Friday Night Lights, and The Tudors?

Should Be Nominated:
Friday Night Lights
Grey's Anatomy
Lost
Rescue Me
The Wire

Will Be Nominated:
Friday Night Lights
Grey's Anatomy
Heroes
Lost
The Sopranos

Best Actor in a Drama
Will 24's creative slump mean last year's champ Kiefer Sutherland will be left off the list? Will last year's egregious snub of Hugh Laurie be rectified this year? Will Kyle Chandler be rewarded for his superb work on Friday Night Lights? And how about other stars of freshman series, The Tudors' Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Dexter's Michael C. Hall?

Should Be Nominated:
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Michael Chiklis, The Shield
Matthew Fox, Lost
Hugh Laurie, House
Denis Leary, Rescue Me

Will Be Nominated:
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Kiefer Sutherland, 24

Best Actress in a Drama
For the first time in years The West Wing's Allison Janney is not eligible, which opens up at least one new spot on the list. Could that spot be taken by perpetual Emmy snubee Lauren Graham, whose show, Gilmore Girls, has made the switch from Comedy to Drama? Or what about Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell, whose beloved show was killed before it's time? Will former champs Mariska Hargitay and Patricia Arquette make the list again? And which of Brothers & Sisters leading ladies will get a nod?

Should Be Nominated:
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Calista Flockhart, Brothers & Sisters
Lauren Graham, Gilmore Girls
Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy

Will Be Nominated:
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU
Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama
You could fill this entire category with the cast of Friday Night Lights, but will Emmy recognize any of the incredibly naturalistic young actors? Will Walton Goggins garner a nod for his shattering work on this season of The Shield? And what about the men of Lost? Dominic Monaghan, Michael Emerson, Terry O'Quinn, Daniel Dae Kim, Ian Cusick, Naveen Andrews, and Jorge Garcia are all worthy, but will any of their names be called on July 19?

Should Be Nominated:
Zach Gilford, Friday Night Lights
Walton Goggins, The Shield
TR Knight, Grey's Anatomy
Dominic Monaghan, Lost
Scott Porter, Friday Night Lights

Will Be Nominated:
Michael Emerson, Lost
Walton Goggins, The Shield
TR Knight, Grey's Anatomy
Dominic Monaghan, Lost
Masi Oka, Heroes

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
This seems to be the hardest category to call, with almost a dozen deserving candidates in the mix. Chandra Wilson, Katherine Heigl, Kate Walsh, and Sandra Oh are all worthy contenders, but which of Grey's Anatomy's supporting ladies will make the cut? Will Gilmore Girls' Kelly Bishop finally get the recognition she deserves? And will Lost's newest cast member pick up a nomination?

Should Be Nominated:
Kelly Bishop, Gilmore Girls
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy
Elizabeth Mitchell, Lost
CCH Pounder, The Shield
Callie Thorne, Rescue Me

Will Be Nominated:
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy
Elizabeth Mitchell, Lost
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy
CCH Pounder, The Shield
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy

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Idol Thoughts on 24's Season Finale

It was an appropriate end for a bummer of a season -- a bummer of an ending.

Practically start to finish this season of 24 has been a disappointment -- weak or annoying new characters, annoying changes to characters we've come to love, repeating plot points from previous seasons, and the list goes on.

Sure, the finale had it's moments -- I enjoyed seeing Bill Buchanan getting some field action and get to play the part of the hero; it was nice to see Tom Lennix become a redeemable character; and the action sequence with the helicopter and the oil station where the Chinese and Jack's father were holding Jack's nephew was very well executed.

But there was so much to hate! Let's start with Chloe, who, appropriately for how her season has gone, spent most of the episode lying in a hospital bed. What happened to the fiesty Chloe that we've fallen in love with over the past few years? Is this lame Morris/Chloe/pregnancy story really the best the writers could have come up with?

And why blind poor Mike Doyle? They never figured out how to use Ricky Schroeder on the show, and the "fake contraption blows up in his face" device was just lame, no two ways about it.

Then there is the miraculous redemption of the Vice President. In the course of half-a-day, he went from being an evil schemer (I'm still not convinced that he wasn't behind the attack on President Palmer), to an even more-evil schemer (trying to oust the President once he had "recovered" from his attack), to being a dupe (with the wool pulled over his eyes by blonde baddie Lisa Miller), to an actual good guy (choosing to release Karen Hayes). That's quite a journey in just 12 hours or so! His redemption was so complete, in fact, that Tom Lennix thought it appropriate to return the incriminating tape? If Richard Nixon was alive I bet he would have wished he was a character on 24, so he too could be so quickly and easily forgiven for his actions.

The most egregious part of the episode for me, however, was the final 15 minutes. As Jack dramatically waves good bye to Bill and heads off in pursuit of Audrey, I had hopes that something really dramatic would happen, setting up this "reboot" next season that the producers keep talking about. Instead, we found ourselves on the set of "One Life to Live," with Jack tearily realizing that he is not able to provide for Audrey in the way that he wants to, and that she is actually better off without him. Blah blah blah. The writing was so heavy-handed that even Kiefer Sutherland, who I generally love, couldn't make it work. The entire sequence screamed "emmy bait!" so loudly that I was almost offended. And are we supposed to believe that Jack, as he stares down into the water at the end of the episode, is contemplating suicide? Jack, who survived years of Chinese torture, is now considering ending his own life? I don't buy it.

I love 24, I do, and I really hope that the writers find a way of breathing some new life into the series next year. But for now, I'm not sorry to see Jack walk off into the sunset...or dive of a cliff, as the case may be.

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TV Ratings Report for Monday May 22

The final Dancing with the Stars performance show blew away the rest of the competition in last night's ratings, while Heroes outperformed 24 in a battle of the season finales.

Here are the Top 5 ratings performers for Monday May 22:

1. Dancing with the Stars, 19.75 million
2. Heroes, 13.21 million
3. The Bachelor, 12.85 million
4. CSI: Miami, 11.48 million
5. 24, 10.19 million

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