Now that the excitement has died down, I've been scouring the complete list of nominations. Here's a few observations... Then, let me know what you think.

-- Why bother with the Outstanding Mini-Series category? There were only two nominees worthy of a nomination. Exactly how many mini-series are even produced anymore? This is an outmoded TV format. Kill the category.

-- What's going on with the writers? 30 Rock dominates the comedy category and Mad Men dominates the drama category. What are the chances that the lone nomination in each category wins? I'd say slim and none. I call for limitations; only two episodes per series. Writing is such a subjective thing anyway. If you like 30 Rock's scattershot humor, you're more likely to vote for it compared to a traditional sitcom like Big Bang Theory. The latter should have snagged a nom for The Lizard-Spock Expansion episode.

The fifth edition of Top Chef came to a conclusion last night. I'd like to say it was one of the all-time best seasons, that I was on the edge of my seat with excitement, that I was really rooting for one competitor more than another... I'd like to say that, but I can't. All in all, Top Chef New York, which became Top Chef New Orleans in the last few episodes, was kind of a dud.

Before I talk about the winner and what happened specifically in the finale, I have to ask why Top Chef failed to really make use of the location this time around? New York is all about food and great restaurants and amazing chefs, but I can't think of one episode that really used the city in a creative way. Where was the Little Italy challenge? What about a trip to Chinatown for wild ingredients? Gail Simmons' bridal shower could have taken place anywhere. The Super Bowl challenge was generic. And when it was time for the finale, TC went to the Big Easy. Is that any way to honor the Big Apple?

Attention, TV Squad readers, my friends and fellow television fans, it's time to announce the winner for The Excellence in Outsourcing Award, that is, the foreign actor who possesses the best American accent. There were many worthy nominees, but the overwhelming winner was House, MD himself, actor Hugh Laurie. That Englishman, one of her majesty's loyal subjects, has been making us all believe that he's just a Jersey boy. As Dr. Gregory House of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, he sounds like he was born in south Jersey, spent his summers in Asbury Park, and is as much a Garden Stater as Bruce Springsteen and Tony Soprano.
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One of the things I noticed when I watched last week's pilot of The Riches was that Eddie Izzard was struggling to maintain an American accent of any kind, much less the southern accent that his character, Wayne Malloy, is likely to have.

But when I watched last night's episode (Brett and I are trading off reviews on this show), I noticed that Izzard's accent had smoothed out, and his British didn't seep out as much as it did in the first episode. This is no small feat; doing an accurate American accent is extremely difficult for Brits, as the many tiny differences between how each country speaks English are tough to keep track of. The effort to make the leap has sunk many accomplished British actors; even ones who do a reasonable job, like Emma Thompson, let their native accents leak through every so often.

TV Squad readers tend to know a lot about the inner workings of the television industry, so it's not a surprise to many of you that some shows we grew up with were actually retoolings of British sitcoms. Three's Company, Sanford and Son, and All in the Family are all based on shows that first aired across the pond. Sometimes, however, networks will try to turn a popular British series into a popular American series and fail miserably, and such was the case with Red Dwarf. I was a pretty big fan of the original Red Dwarf, and I would hear occasional rumblings that an American version was being planned. It turns out a pilot was actually shot with American actors, as well as Robert Llewellyn reprising his role as the android Kryten. NBC passed on the pilot but still wanted to try to turn it into a series. In the end, though, an Americanized Red Dwarf never came to fruition. Television Obscurities has a wonderful history of this failed attempt, complete with video clips of the unaired pilot.

Ice skating returns to NBC primetime tonight with the finals in the ice dancing competition where an American team is in contention for a medal. But, the real interesting action on the ice is over at the speed skating track. Americans Chris Witty and Jennifer Rodriguez are both going for the gold in the 1000m. Expect to see and hear a lot about Witty from NBC tonight. She has overcome some pretty intense personal problems since winning gold in Salt Lake City.

Also tonight, the women's freestyle aerials competition, and the two-man bobsled. Here is the schedule for all of NBC's stations:

Oh joy. Ice dancing begins tonight on NBC. That's one event that I just can't watch because it looks too much like high-school-drama-club-on-ice to me. They can't jump or do lifts, so they wear weird costumes and look longingly into each other's eyes. This is much more of an artistic event than a sport. Why is this still in the Olympics?

If you can stomach the ice dancing, there are some other interesting events on television tonight, including the premiere of women's snowboardcross. I saw the men's race last night and it was pretty darn cool. It's like motorcross on snow. Once again, the American women are the favorites.

As usual, there is plenty of hockey and curling on NBC's other stations:

Beloved actor and writer Ricky Gervais, creator and star of the original British offering The Office, will write an episode of the American version starring Steve Carell. The episode will be co-written by Stephen Merchant. While Gervais and Merchant have each served as an executive producer on the show, they have not yet written an episode. The news comes from Gervais' spokesman, and there's no word on what the episode will be about or when it will air just yet.