Emmy only allows two Best Song entries for “Smash“: “Nineteen original songs were written, all but one by Tony-winning ‘Hairspray’ tunesmiths Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Unfortunately for ‘Smash’ and its songwriters — who have created an entire musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe, one that may still have a future in the legit theater — only two are entered in this year’s Emmy competition. Emmy rules permit only a single entry from an ‘identical team’ of songwriters from the same series. So Shaiman and Wittman, who were allowed to submit a single song, chose ‘Let Me Be Your Star,’ the showstopping number from the pilot sung by Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty as two actresses vying for the part of the blonde bombshell. Also submitted from ‘Smash’ was ‘Touch Me,’ from OneRepublic producer-songwriter Ryan Tedder and three other writers …” CHICAGO TRIBUNE
The Envelope hosts a TV comedy roundtable: “When you gather five comedic actors to discuss their work, the conversation naturally turns to, well, pain. And anguish. And desperation. But thankfully, when the performers are as thoughtful as Laura Dern (who plays Amy, an aggressively well-meaning woman on HBO’s ‘Enlightened‘), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (who as Mitchell is raising a daughter with his partner on ABC’s ‘Modern Family‘), Ed Helms (the under-appreciated Andy on NBC’s ‘The Office‘), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (who as Vice President Selina Meyer finds her ambitions thwarted on HBO’s ‘Veep‘) and Nick Offerman (the anti-bureaucracy bureaucrat on NBC’s ‘Parks and Recreation‘), a healthy dose of wit and optimism is thrown into the mix.” LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Parenthood” executive producer Jason Katims says young Max Burkholder deserves an Emmy nomination: “‘Parenthood’ has been the beneficiary of wonderful performances by child actors. And while I’m far from objective, I would argue that 14-year-old Max Burkholder, in particular, who portrays a young man with Asperger’s syndrome (high-functioning autism), perfectly exemplifies the need for the academy to consider these actors more seriously … From the beginning, I could see Max Burkholder was not only talented, he was a very serious actor. He read books on autism and was an eager participant in conversations about the character in ways that showed he was taking this role as seriously as any adult actor would. Max mastered the physical manifestations of his character (also named Max): The lack of eye contact; the lack of expressiveness in his tone of voice; the slightly ‘off’ quality in his interactions with others.” HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
After cutting 31 categories, that Grammys restore one, add two others: “On Friday, the Recording Academy announced that the Latin Jazz category wil be restored in 2013. It also announced that categories will be added for best uban contemporary album and best classical compendium, whatever that means. In announcing the restoration of the Latin Jazz category, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow sounded like a man who didn’t like being told what to do. ‘Every year we want to look at these objectively and make a good musical decision and not be influenced by politics and pressure,’ Neil Portnow told the AP. ‘I will say it’s incredibly unfortunate that a very small group chose to voice their discontent with a lawsuit that had no basis… Not only is it distracting from a time standpoint, but it costs a great deal of money to have to defend something that we knew was completely defensible.'” PHILADELPHIA ENQUIRER
Lena Dunham responds to criticisms of “Girls“: “Of course, it’s challenging when people are attacking your show … especially the ‘race on television’ dialogue. But I was like, ‘Well, there aren’t enough people of color on television, and if my show is the one that gets people talking about it, I’m willing to take that one for the team.’ As for the well-known parents thing, we laughed about that in my house. People were like, ‘She’s Laurie Simmons’ daughter!’ I wanted to [respond], ‘I’d like you to give me an explanation in two sentences of who Laurie Simmons is and see if you can even do that.’ I do get it, though. It might seem like a crazy coincidence that we’ve got a [playwright] David Mamet child and we’ve got [NBC Nightly News anchor] Brian Williams’ child, but I think, once people watch the show, they forget who their parents might be.” TV LINE
