HBO

Ellen Burstyn snagged a sweet Emmy supporting-actress nomination for her role in Mrs. Harris, an HBO original film. One good way -- best I can tell -- to get nominated for an award, is to have a shelf-full of accolades already, and Burstyn certainly does.

Ray Richmond goes on a tear over the nomination, which then extends to all behaviors Burstyn and award-related, in a rant that makes for some fun reading at Past Deadline.

I especially take to his point that this calls into questions whether Emmy-nominators actually watch the performances they pick from, or they merely check boxes based on reputations of those involved. Maybe the TV screens at the old folks home are blurry and they thought Burstyn was someone else in the same movie. I would not heed Richmond's call to decline the nomination if I were in Burstyn's position, though. If anyone wants to give you a stupid award, I say let 'em.

[Thanks, tvrayz, for the tip!]

Remember the film Christopher tried to get greenlit in last season's Sopranos? Evidently it is a go project, and casting will begin when the show returns (eventually) for its next season. Daniel Baldwin, of the increasingly weighty Baldwin brothers, has a grabbed the meaty role as the star of "Pork Store Killer" (working title), or "Cleaver" -- the "Godfather 2 meets Saw" dream project to be funded by the fictional Jersey mob's money.

Not sure if Baldwin will play an original character, or a one based on himself. John Favreau, Janine Garofalo, Sandra Bernhard, Ben Kingsley, and Lauren Bacall, have played themselves in this and previous story arcs, as Christopher struggles for his big Hollywood (or at least his big direct-to-DVD) break. If Baldwin plays himself, could be interesting if they choose to tie in which his recent troubles.

Ahh, the Fall season. Cooler temperatures. The wonderful sights of foliage and smoke coming from chimney tops as winter approaches. But forget all that. Who needs to bother raking leaves when you can lock yourself in a room with no windows and watch all the great TV that's starting up? Pumpkins, scarecrows, Thanksgiving dinner? Big deal. Here's what I'm really looking forward to.

1.) The Wire - Only until recently did I get in to this show. I'm all caught up now and it's fantastic. Bob made a good point the other day when he asked why no one seems to talk about this show though. Why is that? It's great, the writing is tight, and everyone from the bottom to the top turns in a flawless performance. Even Dominic West, who until now, I only knew as the guy in that terrible Julianne Moore movie is outstanding as Jimmy McNulty. The Wire returns to HBO with it's fourth season on Sunday, September 10. Although I heard somewhere that you'll be able to screen the episode earlier than that on HBO On-Demand.

I've never seen the show, but everything I've heard about the show - from people whose opinion I trust in these matters - rave about it. Every single review of the show uses the words "brilliant" and "great writing" and "great cast," and the writiers and directors on the show (including David Simon, who also worked on Homicide, and crime novelists George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane) are an interesting bunch. So why doesn't the show get the same massive buzz that The Sopranos and Deadwood do?

The Star-Ledger's Alan Sepinwall has a long essay about what makes The Wire so great. It makes me want to watch the show (I guess it did its job), and that's a good thing, since it looks like a final, fifth season will depend on how many viewers tune in to the long-delayed fourth season, which starts September 10.

(S03E09) I'm not sure how this episode tied into anything (it didn't at all really), but I loved it. There were some great lines and c'mon, we had to expect this anyway. A Las Vegas episode for the Entourage boys almost seemed inevitable. Besides they had to go (Vince was getting paid) and as Ari told his wife, he really didn't have a choice:

"I'm sorry baby. You know I'd rather be at menopause the musical, but I got kidnapped."

(S03E09) Since there are only three episodes left this season, I was expecting this to be a much tenser hour. Don't get me wrong, it was great, but David Milch and Co. are being very economical about when, where, and how they're doling out the really explosive stuff. If anything, the final three installments will be brimming with what this whole season has been building up to: a final confrontation between the people of Deadwood and George "Boy the Earth Talks To" Hearst.

(S03E08) Vince really is his own man. If he doesn't believe in something, he won't stand behind it. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more likely that this sort of behavior is slowly killing his career. We'll get to what I'm talking about in a minute. I'm really starting to like Drama's character more and more. I love this sort of fake past that's been created for him. For instance, he turned down a lead role in The Brothers McMullen to take a three episode arc on 90210 where he played a guy who sexually harassed Tori Spelling's Donna Martin. Just look at his resume. Priceless.

(S03E08) This show just continues to impress. After missing last week's episode, I sat down an hour early tonight and got a double dose. Talk about a great two hours of television. We pick up the morning after Al's impromptu meeting with the rest of the camp elders. Tensions are high as Merrick and Blasinov distribute fresh copies of The Pioneer around camp. The waiting game came next as it would only be a matter of time before Hearst saw Bullock's letter to the families of the murdered Cornishmen. And find it he did. He had some words with Merrick about printing the letter. But Hearst is no fool. He knows it was published to embarrass him and shed light on the murders he clearly had a hand in. If anything, all this has done is strengthened his already powerful dislike for the camp and its residents.

(S03E07) Forgive me folks, but because of the power outages, my TV viewing schedule is all sorts of messed up. We've gotten numerous requests for a review of this past Sunday's Entourage, and I was finally able to catch it On-Demand last night. So here goes.

Mark Wahlberg, one of the creators of Entourage, is working on another show for HBO. This time, it's a half-hour comedy about a shrink who is calm, cool, and collected with his patients but turns into a total nutcase when he sees his own shrink. Ah, the irony. It's called In Treatment and is based on the popular Israeli series of the same name (of course, in Hebrew it's called BeTipul).

Filming for In Treatment is scheduled to begin next month. No word yet on a cast or an air date.

On yesterday's Howard Stern show, Artie Lange revealed that he'll be filming an episode of Entourage this week; there are very little details about the part he's going to play, aside the fact that his character is supposed to make out with a character played by Leslie Bibb. Jeez, talk about an odd couple... the tall, blonde, lovely Bibb making out with 275-pound Lange. I think Artie's great, but even I can't make that pairing work.

Anyway, it looks like Artie's fame is growing, despite the fact that Howard's show isn't on terrestrial radio anymore. My guess is that Artie can now let go on Sirius; his sense of humor and timing are really shining on satellite, and people are noticing. Also, Lange wrote and starred in a new independent comedy, Beer League, which will be out in September. It's getting good reviews at film festivals, so that may also be upping Artie's profile. Either way, good for him. He's one of the good guys in the business.

(S03E06) Yes, yes, and yes. Finally back to form, after an up and down season thus far. This was definitely the sort of episode we've all been hoping for. It had plenty of great one-liners (far too many for me to remember), as well as the one thing that all fantastic episodes of any TV show should have... well, you can figure out what it is if you hear what Drama had to say about it:

Drama (to Eric): "When opportunity knocks, let her the f#*k in. And for God's sake, let her go down on your girlfriend!"

(S03E06) Omar Gooding?!?! This is too much to handle. From Wild and Crazy Kids to Deadwood. And yes, before people go comment crazy, I realize he's done plenty since then. But c'mon, he hosted a show where kids threw water balloons full of whipped cream and chocolate syrup at each other. Regardless, I'm not sure what adding his character (he plays Odell, Aunt Lou's son) will accomplish. I was starting to become content with all the players we had. Now we add Odell and leave out someone like Jack Langrishe, who I absolutely love. But I shouldn't discriminate... or else I'll come off sounding like E.B. or Steve the Drunk.

Kelly Clarkson just joined the ranks of Madonna and U2. OK, she joined their ranks earlier this year when she won two Emmys Grammys, but now she is also signed on to a concert for HBO. The performance will be recorded at London's Wembley Arena on Feb. 3. The concert will feature her popular hits, Miss Independent, Since You Been Gone, and Breakaway, as well as songs from her new album, which coincidentally comes out in February. The E! announcement doesn't say whether the concert will be aired live or on tape.

This is good news for people like me who are fans of Kelly but are probably too old to feel comfortable at a concert.

HBO just inked a deal with Cingular to make episodes of Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm available to for viewing on cell phones. This is the first time cell phone content comes in the form of an entire episode, rather than just video shorts. Although, the deal also includes a series of Entourage original video shorts starring Kevin Dillon.

I'm not so sure that I could handle squinting at my tiny cell phone screen for 30 minutes to watch an entire show. It's hard enough to do on a video iPod. Any takers?