Our own Tom O’Neil plays Oscar poker with Sasha Stone and Jeffrey Wells: “15 hours ago Awards Daily’s Sasha Stone, Goldderby.com’s Tom O’Neil and I kicked the 2012 Oscar ball around. Our consensus: ‘Les Miserables,’ ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild‘ and ‘Lincoln‘ in the Best Picture lead. And yet Tom and Sasha delivered some Lincoln pushback based on two factors: (a) Daniel Day-Lewis‘s Lincoln might be too quirky or extreme in some way, and (b) director Steven Spielberg might Spielberg-ize it — he might not be able to muster the discipline to ‘get out of the way’ and just let the material play on its own terms.” HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE
Nick Offerman and Kerry Washington will announce the Emmy nominees: “Ron Swanson and Olivia Pope are teaming up. ‘Parks and Recreation‘s’ Nick Offerman and ‘Scandal‘s’ Kerry Washington will announce the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy nominations on Thursday, July 19 at 8:40 am EST. The 2012 Emmys — hosted by late-night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel — will air live Sunday, Sept. 23 on ABC.” TV LINE
Bryan Cranston will host the Television Critics Association Awards: “‘As host of the TCA Awards, Cranston will open the invitation-only show with a monologue,’ the TCA press release explains, ‘then segue into the awards presentation that recognizes the best television programming of the 2011-2012 season.’ The ‘Breaking Bad‘ star is nominated in the TCAs for individual achievement in drama, a category he won in 2009, and also has won Emmys the past three years he has been eligible (2008-10). He also has well-known comedy chops through his stints on such shows as ‘Malcolm and the Middle’ and ‘Seinfeld’ — so well-known that this sentence is superfluous.” VARIETY
Monopoly meets “The Godfather” for new edition of the famous board game: “I’m gonna make him an offer for Marvin Gardens he can’t refuse! USAopoly, Hasbro, and Paramount have introduced a new version of Monopoly based on ‘The Godfather,’ no doubt to appease fans who have always felt that the classic board game had too many thimbles and not enough severed horse heads. The game features recognizable locales from the Godfather trilogy like Joe’s Diner and the Corleone Lake Tahoe estate, as well as ‘Friends’ and ‘Enemies’ cards that align players with specific Mob families, escalating the board game drama beyond illegal parking and paying utility bills.” EW.COM
Joel Grey to be saluted at Theater Hall of Fame Luncheon: “Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey, currently back on Broadway in the Tony-winning revival of ‘Anything Goes,’ will be saluted at the 9th Annual Theater Hall of Fame Fellowship Luncheon, which is being held June 15 in the Lucille Ball and Milton Berle Rooms of the New York Friars Club. The annual luncheon, which salutes a member of the Theater Hall of Fame who continues to work on Broadway, also presents grants to emerging theatre artists. Scheduled to salute Grey are two-time Tony winner Bernadette Peters, Julie Halston, Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth, Oscar winner Stephen Schwartz and cast members from ‘Anything Goes.'” PLAYBILL
Daytime Emmy battle pits “Good Morning America” against “Today“: “Morning shows ‘Today’ and ‘Good Morning America’ have one of the hottest rivalries in daytime television, and next week they’ll face off in yet another battle at the Daytime Emmy Awards. Both shows are nominated in the category of Outstanding Morning Program, and ‘Showbiz Tonight’ investigates which show has a better shot at winning the award. NBC’s ‘Today’ has taken home the gold for the past two years, but with ‘Good Morning America’ recently passing ‘Today’ in ratings for the first time in years, the ABC morning show might also break its rival’s winning streak at this year’s Emmy Awards.” HLN
