Blu-Ray is getting cheaper this Christmas
As we expected, in time for the holiday season, prices for technology and gadgets are plummeting. For all those who held out to see prices for Blu-Ray players to drop, the time is now. Memorex has just announced the MVBD-2510 Blu-Ray Disc player to hit retail shelves for only $269.50. The player is available immediately and should be available at various retail outlets.
The MVBD-2510 is a full-featured player that offers 1080p resolution at 24 and 60 frames per second as well as compatibility with pretty much all recorded optical media, such as DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, CD, CD-R, video discs, etc.
The player also offers Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD decoding and bit stream output, as well as Master audio bit stream output. It supports both 5.1 and 7.1 audio signals through HDMI.
When Blu-Ray players were first introduced into the market they hovered around $1000. It is great to see prices for the hardware to come down so dramatically in such a short period of time, making this high definition format more affordable for everyone. After all, always keep in mind that Blu-Ray does not devalue your DVD collection. You can play back DVD on any Blu-Ray player and will get tremendous looking results. But in addition you can now add high definition titles as you go forward that will simply blow your mind.
New channel offers Canadians more HBO shows
A new pay channel with a slate of HBO programs never before seen on this side of the border is to be launched in Canada in October.
Astral Media and Corus Entertainment are jointly launching a channel that will be known as HBO Canada, they announced Monday.
It will be available at no extra charge to those who already subscribe to the Movie Network and Movie Central.
HBO is the U.S. network Canadians most often say they would like to see offered in Canada.
But the federal broadcast regulator has blocked attempts to launch U.S. pay channels, such as HBO and USA Network, in Canada saying Canadian players are not well enough developed to withstand the competition.
The Movie Network and Movie Central already carry a large slate of HBO programs such as Entourage, True Blood and Flight of the Conchords.
But Corus and Astral said this will be the first chance for Canadians to get programs such as Real Time with Bill Maher, Def Comedy Jam and Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger.
The network will also carry older HBO series such as OZ and Da Ali G Show, movies Gia, The Late Shift and If These Walls Could Talk and older miniseries including From the Earth to the Moon and Angels in America.
"For years, HBO's dramatic programming has been available on The Movie Network and Movie Central. But even with all of the HBO titles we offered, Canadians still wanted more," John Riley, president of Astral Television Networks, said in a release Monday.
HBO, backed by Time Warner, will have no business interest in the new channel, but Astral Media and Corus Entertainment have expanded their long-term programming deal with the U.S. network.
HBO Canada, like all other Canadian stations, will be required to carry Canadian content, and that will include the series Durham County and Terminal City.
TMN, owned by Astral, is available only in eastern Canada while Movie Central, owned by Corus, is available in western Canada.
New CD Releases, September 23rd: Kings of Leon, Jackson Browne, David Gilmour
Kings of Leon "Only by the Night" (RCA)
The Southern alt-rock troupe returns to the fray with its fourth album, "Only by the Night," which is a follow-up to last year's "Because of the Times."
"Only by the Night" was recorded on the band's home turf in Nashville, TN, and features the leadoff single "Sex on Fire." Fans can hear the new tracks in concert during Kings of Leon's fall tour, which launches Oct. 11 in Las Vegas.
* * *
Jackson Browne "Time the Conqueror" (Inside Recordings)
The acclaimed singer-songwriter returns with his first new studio release in six years. "Time the Conqueror" follows 2002's "The Naked Ride Home," which also marked the end of a six-year hiatus between studio recordings.
The new 10-song set was recorded with the performer's longtime band--Kevin McCormick, Mark Goldenberg, Mauricio "Fritz" Lewak and Jeff Young--along with additional members Chavonne Morris and Alethea Mills.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer kicked off his "Time the Conqueror World Tour" last week in Washington, DC. The trek will continue to stop at North American venues through early November.
In other news, Browne recently sued Senator John McCain and the Republican National Committee. The move was in response to a recent TV commercial supporting McCain's presidential bid that incorporates the Browne signature song "Running on Empty."
* * *
David Gilmour "Live in Gdansk" (Sony)
The legendary vocalist/guitarist from Pink Floyd gives fans a full-fledged document of his most recent solo tour. The two-CD, two-DVD set captures a full gig that Gilmour performed at the shipyards in Gdansk, Poland.
"Live in Gdansk" includes performances of such Pink Floyd favorites as "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, "Breathe" and "Echoes." It also features tracks from Gilmour's most recent studio outing, "On an Island."
* * *
TV on the Radio "Dear Science" (Interscope)
The avant-garde New York rock band is set to release its third studio album, which follows 2006's highly acclaimed "Return to Cookie Mountain."
TV on the Radio is already out supporting "Dear Science." The road show began early this month in Portland, OR, and is scheduled to hit approximately 26 cities. Detroit garage rockers The Dirtbombs will open the October and November dates, while folksinger Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson will provide support for most of the September shows.
* * *
Jenny Lewis "Acid Tongue" (Reprise)
The Rilo Kiley vocalist adds to her solo resume with the release of "Acid Tongue." It's Lewis' second solo offering, following 2006's "Rabbit Fur Coat." She's currently in the midst of a 14-date tour in support of "Acid Tongue." The trek will include a stop at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Sept. 26.
* * *
More new releases:
Cold War Kids, "Loyalty to Loyalty" (Downtown)
Fourplay, "Energy" (Heads Up)
Demi Lovato, "Don't Forget" (Hollywood)
Bette Midler, "Jackpot: The Best Bette" (Warner Bros.)
Mogwai, "The Hawk is Howling" (Matador)
Old Crow Medicine Show, "Tennessee Pusher" (Nettwerk)
Pussycat Dolls, "Doll Domination" (Interscope)
The Replacements, "Pleased to Meet Me" (Rhino)
The Replacements, "Tim" (Rhino)
Jazmine Sullivan, "Fearless" (J-Records)
Thievery Corporation, "Radio Retaliation" (Eighteenth Street)
Hank Williams III, "Hank III Collector's Edition" (Curb)
Within Temptation, "Black Symphony" (Roadrunner)
Soundtracks and scores:
"Sex and the City, Vol. 2" (Steady)
Ghostbusters game delayed to 2009!!
The new "Ghostbusters" game, which was scheduled to come out this fall, may have been delayed.
But beyond a vague statement from a PR rep that the game is "not canceled," there's been no indication yet of what will happen to the "Ghostbusters" game. Since it's so close to completion, surely it won't just be thrown to oblivion and never published, right?
Sony Pictures, which of course owns the rights to "Ghostbusters" and licensed the IP to Vivendi last year, has said that they are working with Activision Blizzard "to evaluate various options surrounding the release of the 'Ghostbusters' video game." That's obviously vague, but it does contain an important nugget: it wants the game to be released, one way or another.
Sony goes on to state that "this has presented [Sony Pictures Consumer Products] with an opportunity to reevaluate the game release marketing strategy to potentially coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original film in '09."
So the studio's plan now is to get the game released in 2009. But who will publish it? There's no official word yet, but my understanding from further reporting is that Activision Blizzard and Sony are talking to other publishers about picking up the game right now. Given the strength of the brand and the marketing that has already gone into the game, I can't imagine the studio will have any trouble finding multiple interested partners. The only question may be whether that new publisher can reach a deal with Activision Blizzard to pay for the millions already spent on development.
Of course regardless of who releases it, developers Terminal Reality and Red Fly now have an extra year to work on the game. So there's no reason it shouldn't be really good.
Some Facebook users aren't fond of website's new face
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook's new face is drawing frowns from some of its users.
They're grousing about a spanking new redesign intended to unclutter their profiles on the social network. Several groups requesting a return to the old design have surfaced, including one with 1 million members.
Facebook has shifted millions of users to its new design in a bid to draw more members and advertisers to a cleaner interface. Facebook's torrid growth — it has added 90 million members the past two years — has put it in a prime position to vie for an estimated $2 billion market for social-networking ads this year.
But the new look has rankled some. "It's really difficult to read, and I don't like the tabs that you have to go through to see the whole profile. I hate it," says Jenny Smelyanets, 22, a public relations specialist in Palo Alto, Calif.
The facelift includes partitioning members' personal profiles into different areas of the site and offering more tools to make it easier to share information and photos. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the changes, although for the better, might alienate some of the more than 100 million active users.
Facebook made the changes over several months and has left it up to individuals to decide when they want to switch over. So far, more than 80 million people have the new Facebook.
The process started in February, when Facebook launched a preview page to solicit user feedback. By late July, users had the ability to opt into the new design, says Mark Slee, a product manager at Facebook. The company began migrating everyone on Sept. 10 and will finish the task by the end of the month.
Despite some dissatisfaction, few users are expected to defect.
"Change is good, and change makes us angry," says Ben Parr, a blogger who started a protest group about the site's "news feed" feature two years ago but is fine with the new Facebook look.
Redesigns of tech hangouts typically elicit hand-wringing from loyal users. When Facebook introduced news feeds, critics called them an invasion of privacy. The feature — which outlines profile changes, upcoming events and birthdays, for instance — is now one of the most popular.
"There is backlash to change, simple as that," says Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst at Forrester Research. "There was to news feeds and Beacon (Facebook's advertising system that sparked privacy concerns). This time, Facebook gave users an opt-out option. They handled it as well as they could have."
A redesign at social network MySpace met with minimal criticism when it was unveiled in June. It enhanced functions of its home page, a video player and Profile Editor, which lets users customize their profiles. Since then, its number of unique users and the amount of time spent on the site are up. The site has 122 million members, up 2.7 million.
"Everything we did was shown to users six months to a year before they were finalized, and we were very sensitive to their input," says Steve Pearman, MySpace's senior vice president of product strategy.
No more 'Bond, James Bond'!
Don't you love to hear the words "Bond, James Bond" in a James Bond movie? Well, you won't be hearing them in the new Quantum of Solace film, out in November. For the first time in his 22 screen outings, Britain's super cool secret agent will not utter the words of introduction that have been a tradition for 46 years. He also won't say another classic one-liner – "shaken not stirred" – when ordering his martini, according to director Marc Forster in The Independent.
"There was a 'Bond, James Bond' in the script," he said. "There are several places where we shot it as well, but it never worked as we hoped. I just felt we should cut it out," he says, and the producers as well as star Daniel Craig "agreed."
Graham Rye, who edits an online 007 Magazine says that Craig is much closer to author Ian Fleming's original vision for the character. "The Bond films had become tired and needed reinvigorating," he said. "Rather than going away from Fleming I think the producers have gone back to him." Rye added, "His announcing of himself had become a bit corny."
Emmy telecast bombs in ratings and reviews
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The 60th annual Primetime Emmys show, roundly panned by critics as perhaps the worst ever, laid a big, fat ratings egg as well, with early figures pointing to the smallest audience in the awards' history.
According to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research, ABC's three-hour Sunday telecast, featuring major wins for "Mad Men" and "30 Rock," averaged 12.2 million viewers, falling just below the historic low of 12.3 million posted by the 1990 ceremony aired on Fox.
Final national ratings for Sunday's broadcasts are due Tuesday.
By comparison, 13 million viewers tuned in for last year's ceremony and its farewell send-off of "The Sopranos," which ranked as the second-lowest Emmys audience on the books.
Sunday's telecast no doubt suffered from the fact that the shows and stars getting most of the attention, including best drama "Mad Men," comedy champion "30 Rock" and winning actors from shows like "Damages" and "Breaking Bad," represent programs that draw relatively few viewers themselves.
The Emmy telecast on ABC also collided in the eastern half of the country with NBC's highly rated Sunday Night Football broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys' 27-16 defeat of the Green Bay Packers.
And many New York viewers were likely siphoned off by an ESPN telecast of the last baseball game by the New York Yankees at historic Yankee Stadium.
Still, ABC's cause was not helped by an Emmy presentation that critics largely derided as a flop, especially an oddly ad-libbed opening monologue shared by five reality-show hosts who served as the evening's collective emcees.
In an apparent homage to their unscripted TV genre, Howie Mandell ("Deal or No Deal"), Ryan Seacrest ("American Idol") Jeff Probst ("Survivor"), Tom Bergeron ("Dancing with the Stars") and Heidi Klum ("Project Runway") took to the stage for about five minutes to joke about how they literally had nothing prepared to say.
Probst, Seacrest and Mandell then left the stage to Bergeron and Klum, who were joined by William Shatner for a gag that involved ripping off Klum's clothes.
The whole bit was panned by reviewers and other performers. Emmy winner Jeremy Piven, co-star of HBO's "Entourage," called the opening confusing and a "celebration of nothingness."
The ceremony then lurched into overdrive by mid-show with many presenters and winners forced to rush through their appearances to make up for lost time.
"It was hideously awful from start to harried finish, dragged down by five amateurish reality anchors who would have been unwelcome as guests, let alone hosts," USA Today wrote.
ABC, a unit of the Walt Disney Co. and fellow networks doubt hoped for a more auspicious official kickoff to prime-time TV's premiere week, seen by industry executives as a kind of reboot for television after last season was cut short by the Hollywood writers strike.
Clooney and 'ER' return? Thanks, but no thanks
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The producers of hospital drama "ER" are hoping to entice George Clooney back for the show's upcoming final season, even though Clooney has said he's not interested in putting his scrubs on one more time.
"ER" executive producer David Zabel told TV Guide that story lines had been dreamed up for the show's 15th and last season for all major past characters, including Clooney's Dr. Ross and his old flame, nurse Carol Hathaway, played by Julianna Margulies.
In an interview with TV Guide released on Monday, Zabel told the magazine he was "optimistic that we might be able to get them all. We have a really good story line for every (major) character from the past to show (the actors) what we want to do."
Anthony Edwards, whose character, Dr. Mark Greene, died of brain cancer in May 2002, has already agreed to return in flashback scenes this season, along with Laura Innes (Dr. Weaver), Paul McCrane (Dr. Romano, who also died) and Noah Wyle (Dr. John Carter).
But Clooney hasn't been tempted yet.
"He is on record as saying he is not coming back," said Clooney's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, on Monday. "It is something he has already done. He is busy making movies."
"ER" launched the career of Clooney as a matinee idol after he left the regular cast in 1999 to pursue his movie career full time. He returned for a surprise cameo in May 2000 marking the departure of Margulies from the show after six seasons.
The groundbreaking series, set in the emergency room of the fictional Chicago-based County General Hospital, was the top-rated drama on U.S. television for several years but ratings have slipped in recent years.
The series will end with a two-hour finale in May 2009, preceded by a one-hour retrospective.
Run-D.M.C., Metallica nominated for Rock Hall
CLEVELAND - Run-D.M.C. could "Walk This Way" into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The 1980s rap act, along with Metallica and the Stooges are among the nine nominees for next year's hall of fame class, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced Monday.
The other nominees are guitarist Jeff Beck, singer Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, War, Bobby Womack, and disco and R&B group Chic, the only nominee back from last year's ballot.
The five leading vote-getters will be announced in January and inducted April 4, 2009, in Cleveland.
The ceremony typically has been held in New York but is returning to Cleveland after more than a decade-long absence. Tickets will be made available to the public for the first time.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five opened the door for rap at the Rock Hall as the first hip-hop act to be inducted in 2007. Now, Run-D.M.C., nominated in the first year of its eligibility, has the chance to follow on the strength of rock and rap blends such as the 1986 cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" and classics like "It's Tricky" and "My Adidas."
Metallica jumped on the heavy metal wave of the '80s and 25 years later is still selling out arenas. This month the group released "Death Magnetic," which marks a return to its early speed metal days.
The Stooges, recently given props in the film "Juno," get another shot after last appearing on the ballot two years ago.
Left off the ballot were Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bon Jovi. Both had been eligible for the first time. To be nominated an act must have released its first single or album 25 years prior.
More than 500 musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote on the inductions
Crime pays for Samuel L. Jackson at box office
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Samuel L. Jackson ruled the North American box office for the second time this year, while moviegoers largely ignored three other new releases as overall weekend sales resumed their downward spiral.
According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, Jackson's cop thriller "Lakeview Terrace" sold a modest $15.6 million worth of tickets during its first three days of release. It barely surpassed the $14 million opening for Jackson's 2006 bomb "Snakes on a Plane."
But Screen Gems, the distributor of the $20 million film, said the three-day tally was at the upper end of its expectations. Screen Gems is a low-budget division of Sony Corp.
Jackson plays a vindictive cop who makes life hell for his new neighbors. Reviews were mixed, even though it was directed by Neil LaBute, the filmmaker behind such edgy dramas as "In the Company Of Men."
The 59-year-old actor was last at No. 1 with the sci-fi action movie "Jumper," which opened with $27 million in February and finished with $80 million.
As for the other three rookies, the Lionsgate romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Girl," starring Kate Hudson and Dane Cook, opened at No. 3 with $8.3 million; the MGM cartoon "Igor" was No. 4 with $8 million; and Paramount/DreamWorks' Ricky Gervais comedy "Ghost Town" was No. 8 with $5.2 million.
Last weekend's champ, the Coen brothers' comedy "Burn After Reading" slipped to No. 2 with $11.3 million. The Focus Features release, which stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt, has earned $36.4 million after 10 days, and should end up in the $50 million range, the studio said.
SALES FALLING
Overall sales fell 4 percent from the year-ago period to $93 million, said tracking firm Media By Numbers, and have now dropped for eight of the last nine weekends. Year-to-date sales are flat, and the number of tickets sold is down by about five percent, the company said.
A week ago, Lionsgate had predicted that "My Best Friend's Girl" would be No. 1, and the $8.3 million opening was at the lower end of expectations, the studio said. Observers speculated the film might have been too raunchy for Hudson's core female fan base.
Hudson went to No. 1 in February with "Fool's Gold," which opened to $21.6 million. Cook was No. 2 last September with a $13.7 million opening for "Good Luck Chuck."
"Igor" revolves around a hunchbacked servant who dreams of scientific stardom. John Cusack leads the voice cast. The $25 million film was produced by independent animator Exodus Film Group, which said it was pleased with the $8 million opening. In addition to the usual family audience, the film also drew teens and young adults, Exodus founder/CEO John Eraklis said.
"Ghost Town" marks the feature headlining debut of Gervais, the wry co-creator of the BBC comedy "The Office." He plays a misanthropic dentist who sees dead people. The film played mostly to women and old people, not exactly Hollywood's preferred audience. A DreamWorks spokesman predicted the $20 million film would do better internationally. It opens on October 24 in the United Kingdom.
TV Review: Emmycast tries to get real, and flops
NEW YORK - Are the TV writers still on strike?
There have been boring, listless and otherwise ham-handed Emmy broadcasts among the past 59. Sunday's Emmycast was all of those things. But "The 60th Primetime Emmys" also seemed an inadvertent homage to the 100 days of the Hollywood writers strike last season, when the shows that were able to continue demonstrated what TV without writers is like.
ABC's Emmycast seemed to recapture that dreary world, despite the strike having been settled seven months ago, and the credits for the Emmycast listing writers and script supervisors.
The writing was on the wall (sorry) at the top of the show, when its five co-emcees — Heidi Klum ("Project Runway"), Tom Bergeron ("Dancing With the Stars"), Howie Mandel ("Deal or No Deal"), Jeff Probst ("Survivor") and Ryan Seacrest ("American Idol") — arrived on stage, all dressed in tuxedoes.
They, of course, were also the five nominees in the brand-new reality host category. Each is skilled, charming and/or gorgeous doing whatever series got each of them nominated. But on the Emmy broadcast they shared no chemistry, and seemed at a loss for anything clever to say from the outset.
After their initial strained banter, Probst confessed to the audience, "We have absolutely nothing for you. This is not a joke."
"This is not a bit," Mandel chimed in. "This is reality, and who better to offer that to you?"
Seacrest broke it to viewers that "there is absolutely nothing" on the TelePrompTers.
"We are like on Sarah Palin's bridge to nowhere," Mandel said.
A few more tedious moments and William Shatner burst from his seat in the Nokia Theatre, strode on stage, and gave a tug to Klum's tux, which ripped away to reveal a scanty black sequined number.
Well, at least someone presumably wrote that gag, however lame.
The remainder of the three-hour broadcast was occasionally jolted back to life by the appearance of people who knew to BYOM (bring your own material).
An early presenter, Ricky Gervais, displayed how he's one of the drollest performers on the planet as he recalled his absence last year, when he won a comedy Emmy for his series "Extras."
"I couldn't come last year. Which is a shame. But I STILL won. Do you remember?"
Another presenter, Steve Martin, introduced himself by saying "I'm Steve Martin and I'll be out here in just a minute" — a 40-year-old quip from his standup days that was still fresher than most of the broadcast's material.
Politics, and the presidential race, was in evidence in the exchange between Jon Stewart and his co-presenter, Stephen Colbert. While Stewart tried to list the best miniseries nominees, Colbert began munching from a bagful of prunes.
It was necessary, said Colbert, slipping into character as right-wing buffoon, then added, "Right now, America needs a prune ... This dried-up old fruit has the experience we need."
Stewart looked doubtful. "You know, after eight years of prunes, you would think _"
"Never enough!" Colbert snapped, then ate another. "What could possibly go wrong?"
While the Emmycast seemed to want to validate reality shows, it also crammed in a few pleasant, but extraneous, tributes to favorite scripted entertainment. These clips, accompanied by reproductions of familiar settings from those bygone shows (the WJM newsroom from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Monk's Diner from "Seinfeld"), seemed little more than filler.
Not nearly soon enough, the program was nearing its conclusion. Jimmy Kimmel handled the chore of presenting the best reality host Emmy.
With his customary wryness, Kimmel offered all five nominees a bit of backhanded praise for their shared Emmycast performance.
"Haven't they been sufficient, everybody?" he said.
He was being too kind.
'Mad Men,' '30 Rock' take top Emmy awards
LOS ANGELES - The sleek '60s drama "Mad Men" made Emmy history Sunday as the first basic-cable show to win a top series award, while the sitcom "30 Rock" and its stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin also emerged as big winners.
"We're all so very grateful to have jobs in this turkey-burger economy," Fey said after accepting the best comedy series trophy for her satire about a late-night TV show.
"This is the greatest job I've ever had in my life," Baldwin said of his role an a network executive.
He paid tribute to Fey, the NBC show's star and creator, as "the Elaine May of her generation."
"I thank my parents for somehow raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate with my looks and abilities. Well done. That is what all parents should do," said Fey, who also won for best actress and writing in a comedy series.
Emmy voters rewarded quality, not ratings: Many of the winners draw relatively small audiences. AMC's "Mad Men," which looks at America through the prism of Madison Avenue, is lucky to get 2 million viewers.
Glenn Close of FX's "Damages" and Bryan Cranston of AMC's "Breaking Bad" captured drama acting trophies.
Close, honored for her portrayal of a ruthless attorney, complimented her fellow nominees, including Holly Hunter and Sally Field.
"We're proving that complicated, powerful, mature women are sexy in high entertainment and can carry a show," she said. "I call us the sisterhood of the TV drama divas."
Cranston won the trophy for his role of a desperate man who turns to making drugs.
Dianne Wiest of "In Treatment" and Zeljko Ivanek of "Damages" won supporting acting honors for the drama series. Jean Smart of ABC's "Samantha Who?" was honored as best supporting actress in a comedy series, with Jeremy Piven her actor counterpart for "Entourage."
Piven took aim at the five reality hosts who helped open the ceremony in what could charitably called a rambling way, saying, "What if I just kept talking for 12 minutes — what would happen? That was the opening."
The crowd at the 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards laughed heartily, not a good sign for the hosts, who included Ryan Seacreast of "American Idol."
Don Rickles was honored for best individual performance in a variety or music program for "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project."
"It's a mistake," Rickles said. "I've been in the business 55 years and the biggest award I got was an ashtray from the Friar's in New York."
Best reality-competition program went to "The Amazing Race," the show's sixth award. It and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" are now tied for most consecutive awards in a best-series category.
Jeff Probst of "Survivor," one of the ceremony's masters of ceremonies, claimed the first award for best reality series host. "We feel honored to be part of this family. Thank you for letting reality in," he said.
As the evening progressed, politics went from having a cameo to a co-starring role.
"I really look forward to the next administration, whoever it is," Jon Stewart said as he accepted the best variety, music or comedy series award for "The Daily Show." "I have nothing to follow that. I just really look forward to the next administration."
Later, Stewart and Stephen Colbert, whose "The Colbert Report" won a writing trophy, teamed to present an award — and exchange banter in which they used a package of prunes as a metaphor for the upcoming presidential election.
"America needs prunes. It may not be a young, sexy plum. Granted, it's shriveled and at times hard to swallow. But this dried-up old prune has the experience we need," Colbert said.
Tommy Smothers received a commemorative writing achievement for his work on the cutting-edge and controversial "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" from the late '60s — and turned serious.
"It's hard for me to stay silent when I keep hearing that peace is only attainable through war. And there's nothing more scary than watching ignorance in action," he said, dedicating his award to "all people who feel compelled to speak out, and are not afraid to speak to power, and won't shut up and refuse to be silenced."
Martin Sheen, who played a president on "The West Wing," lauded television for giving America a front-row seat to real presidential campaigns. Then he urged viewers to vote for "the candidate of your choice, at least once."
The award for best TV movie went to "Recount," about the contested 2000 Bush-Gore contest.
HBO's "John Adams," about the founding father, was named best miniseries and won other awards including acting trophies for Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson.
The historical drama set a record for most awards, 13, including five trophies Sunday and eight previously announced. The record of 11 was held by HBO's "Angels in America," the TV academy said.
HBO was the most-honored network, with 26 awards earned Sunday and at the creative arts ceremony held earlier this month. ABC was second with 12 awards, followed by CBS, NBC and PBS with 10 each; AMC with eight, Showtime with five and Fox with four.
Throughout the evening, the ceremony kept its landmark 60th birthday in the spotlight with salutes to television's past.
Pop star Josh Groban offered a marathon medley of TV theme songs, ranging from "The Simpsons" to "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" to "South Park" to "Gilligan's Island." At one point, Ed McMahon kicked in a "Heeeere's Johnny!" to salute Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show.
A tribute to memorable TV dialogue of the past was delivered by the stars of today in an opening clip package.
"One of these days, Alice, pow, right in the kisser!" Helen Mirren said, quoting Jackie Gleason's line from "The Honeymooners."
As the show opened at the Nokia Theatre, Howie Mandel and his fellow hosts riffed about a lack of material for the ceremony.
They then turned to slapstick: "Boston Legal" star William Shatner came on stage to help Tom Bergeron rip off co-host Heidi Klum's modest suit to reveal hot pants and more skin.