Predicting the Emmy Award Nominations: Best Actress in a Comedy

All this week I'll be predicting who will receive Emmy Award nominations, based on the Top 10 lists that were revealed by theenvelope.com. Stay tuned for more categories!

*Who will be nominated
+Who should be nominated

*+Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?"
Marcia Cross, "Desperate Housewives"
*America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"
*+Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Anna Friel, "Pushing Daisies"
+Felicity Huffman, "Desperate Housewives"
Eva Longoria Parker, "Desperate Housewives"
*Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "New Adventures of Old Christine"
*+Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"
+Sarah Silverman, "The Sarah Silverman Program"

Horrible oversights:
None

TV Thoughts on Weeds (9/24): Nancy is in the Clear

I got a lot of flack for posing the question "Has Weeds jumped the shark?" last week, and I am now ready to admit that yes, I may have been a bit premature in posing that question. This week's episode, while not reaching the height of the first couple showings of the season, seemed to be getting our beloved Nancy back on track.

Of course, it wouldn't be Weeds if Nancy wasn't making a few questionable decisions, and she continued to do so in this episode. While it was awesome to watch her get her debt to Marvin erased by negotiating with the "Mexicans," was it really necessary for her to celebrate that triumph by screwing her creepy boss? I'd much prefer she resuscitate her flirtation with Conrad -- those two are hot!

My favorite moment of the episode, though, was when Nancy watched the drug dealer walk to her car and retrieve the trunk of heroin. The look on Mary Louise Parker's face, of both relief and sexual attraction, totally illustrates what a genius she is.

Mary Kate Olsen didn't have much to do in this episode, but I found her banter with Shane about the tenants of Christianity quite amusing. I also enjoyed mini-lesbian Isabelle stealing Shane's dream girl out from under his nose, as well as Andy's foray into the world of porn catering.

All in all, I have to admit I was foolish to underestimate Jenji Kohan and company. After all, this show is so entertainingly, ridiculously off-the-wall, I think the shark may have been jumped before the first episode ever even aired!

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TV Thoughts on Weeds: Nancy Goes Ghetto

Uh oh, Nancy. This is a dangerous path you're on.

This week on Weeds, our favorite suburban drug dealer found herself the driver in a drive-by shooting and with a case full of heroin in her garage. Meanwhile, her elder son has become a full fledged drug dealer, and her younger son is enrolled in a summer school that employs bizarre abortion scare tactics. Parent of the year, anyone?

A few highlights:

-Nancy's breakdown while scrubbing the blood out of the backseat at her car, happening while Uncle Andy sported a ridiculous wig. Mary Louise Parker and Justin Kirk are simply brilliant.

-WWVMD -- What would Vic Mackey (The Shield) do? Genius. But to follow it up with "That's it, no more cable." A masterpiece of irony. Love it.

-Matthew Modine in all his smarmy glory. He is perfect for the part.

-The fact that Nancy and Silas have never been closer since he started dealing drugs. The relationship Nancy has with her children is the most complicated parent/child dynamics on the tube.

-Marvin's "Hi Nancy," while in agony from having been shot in the ass. Jenji Kohan, how I love thee.

Can't wait 'til next week when we get our first glimpses of Mary Kate!

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New Trailer for The Assassination of Jesse James Now Online

It seems like they've been shooting this movie forever -- who knew it was coming out next month?

Here is the first trailer for The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Wow, that's quite a title!

The movie stars Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Mary Louise Parker and more. According to reports on the film, it's more a psychological character study than it is a shoot-em-up. Looks interesting!

Review: Season 3 of Weeds Is The Chronic!

Showtime was kind enough to send me the first four episodes of the third season of Weeds, and let me tell you -- television doesn't get much better than this!

When we last left Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker) and family, younger son Shane (Alexander Gould) had embarked on a road-trip with Uncle Andy's (Justin Kirk) crazy ex-girlfriend (Zoey Deschanel); DEA agent (and Nancy's husband) Peter (Martin Donovan) had been killed by a group of Armenians; Nancy and Conrad (Romany Malco) were in the process of being held up at gunpoint; and older son Silas (Hunter Parrish) had made off with Nancy's marijuana supply in an attempt to get in on the action, but was about to busted by Celia (Elizabeth Perkins).

That's quite a hole for creator Jenji Kohen to write herself out of.

But write herself out of it she does, and brilliantly.

I'm hesitant to reveal too many plot details of the first few episodes, out of fear of spoiling what is truly one of the most satisfying viewing experiences of the year, but trust me when I tell you Weeds is delivering some of the most inspired comedy and moving family dynamics on any television show on any network. The first two episodes of the season are so tightly paced and chock full of oh-my-god moments, they actually rival thrillers like 24 and Prison Break for edge-of-your-seat/what-is-going-to-happen suspense. Genius.

The performances are, as always, across the board fantastic. Parker is the heart and soul of the show, and she has never been more luminous or heartbreaking than she is in these first few episodes. She creates so many layers to Nancy, that you alternately find yourself laughing with and rooting for her, or cursing at her for the danger she is bringing to her family. Is Nancy a good mother? A good person? These questions don't have easy answers, and Parker never takes the easy way out in playing this very 3-dimensional character.

Emmy nominee Perkins is pitch-perfect as Celia, whether stumbling drunk down a street or realizing that she has perhaps permanently ostracized her family, and she has a moment at the end of the season's first episode that will literally make you gasp aloud. Kirk is ideally cast as Uncle Andy (even if the season's 3rd and 4th episodes find him making a somewhat random and unsatisfying trip to the army), while Kevin Nealon brings another dose of comedy to the proceedings (the scene in the first episode in the bathroom with Celia's estranged husband Doug is Weeds at its subversive, hysterical best). In fact, there is not a weak link in the entire cast, with Malco, Parrish, Gould, Tonye Patano (Heylia), and Renee Victor (Lupita) also making invaluable contributions .

Whether you've watched Weeds in the past, or are simply considering making a foray to the town of Agrestic, I can't recommend Season 3's first episodes strongly enough.

Bong hits, anyone?

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Photo Credit: Mark Seliger/Showtime