Did "Pushing Daisies" really almost take down "30 Rock" at the Emmys?

You know, I didn't tune in for Sunday's Emmys except for in snippets, but for a reason any TV awards show should appreciate: There was simply much better TV on at the time.

On "Mad Men," that smooth cat getting his foot caught off by a John Deere was the most action the show has ever had, and of course very funny, but I thought all the stuff with poor Sally was even better. And for fans of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," I have it on good authority (from a friend who has seen the first three episodes) that the Loretta Black (Vivica A. Fox) cancer story line will take a turn by episode three that will shock and possibly offend even the most jaded Larry David fans, of which you can certainly count me one. I'll be there, especially since that's also when the "Seinfeld" folks begin their "Curb" run.

But perhaps I should have tuned in for at least a bit of the Emmys, because it somehow turned out to be a banner night for the late and much lamented (at least in this corner) "Pushing Daisies." The show somehow took home four awards, the biggest of which was easily Kristin Chenoweth's win for supporting actress in a comedy.

Now, I know a lot of folks just can't stand her cheery act, but it fit the spirit of the show perfectly (which may tell a lot about why it got canceled after just 22 episodes and two vexingly incomplete seasons), but I loved her Olive, especially how she played off of Chi McBride's Emerson Cod.

And though I'm sure a "Family Guy"-style resurrection is out of the question, it's certainly worth noting that with four Emmys (granted, three were in the creative arts realm handed out before Sunday night), "Pushing Daisies" finished only one behind "30 Rock," which I just assumed would take home its allotted double-digit assortment of trophies (granted, I tune in for every new episode of that one too, I'm just saying, it is kinda funny.)

I would say R.I.P. "Pushing Daisies," but with all these signs of life after death (Bryan Fuller is developing a comic book and even dreaming beyond all reason of some kind of movie) I just can't help but keep a little hope alive.

The only other thing I really would have liked to have seen was the visit from host Neil Patrick Harris' Dr. Horrible. It didn't come in a big production number, as hinted at by EW's Michael Ausiello, but this bit also featuring Nathan Fillion's Captain Hammer is still pretty funny. And I've been telling my bosses for years that the Internet is just a fad, but no one listens to me either. Peace out.

The best new movie you can see on TV right now for $2

Before seeing Kathyrn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" a few weeks ago - in my book the best movie of 2009 so far, with "Sugar" a close second - I was convinced there would never be a great movie about the Iraq war, but now since then I've already seen another one. Well, sort of ...

Though the looming war at the heart of Armando Ianucci's "In the Loop" is never really specified beyond being something "in the Middle East," it's clear from the beginning that it's about the run up to the Iraq war, and it fittingly just trades in utter chaos.

We start, thankfully, with Peter Capaldi, who though he looks much different now will be remembered by many as Oldsen in "Local Hero," which to this day remains easily one of my favorite films (Capaldi was also great as Sid's father in the addictive British teen soap "Skins.") It helps to try and remember him as the innocent young Scot Oldsen as you wither under the never-ending barrage of profanity that spews from his mouth as grizzled political operative Malcolm Tucker.

And if you're a fan of the fine art of cursing, and I certainly am, it doesn't get much better at all than it does in "In the Loop." On paper, Roddy Doyle's Barrytown trilogy ("The Commitments," "The Snapper" and "The Van") comes close, but lacks the bile that propels "In the Loop" to what would be extreme absurdity if it weren't so clearly close to something resembling the awful truth.

As "In the Loop" opens, British Minister for International Development Simon Foster, a perfectly dippy Tom Hollander, sets off a firestorm by referring to the possibility of war as "unforeseeable." And fans of wordplay will delight as it becomes clear that neither he nor anyone else he encounters has any idea what that means, so they're all free to make their own interpretation.

From there our hero, the Chance the Gardener of this piece, somehow becomes a PR pawn for each of the opposing forces in the Washington war machine, as Capaldi's Tucker and other aides try unsuccessfully to keep him under control. As the trailer plays up, the jokes here fly as fast as on any episode of "Family Guy," but thankfully always with a target. One of the best early bits, which I won't spoil for you, has Foster and his aides trying to come up with who he would like to be stranded with on a deserted island (it starts with Keira Knightley and just goes downhill from there.)

And once the action (what there is of it) shifts to Washington, Ianucci's film tests our ability to laugh at ourselves as much as any good satire should. "Wag the Dog" certainly tried in recent years but fell a bit short, and Mike Nichols' "Charlie Wilson War" was even better, but neither of those gets straight to the core of hypocrisy as sharply as "In the Loop."

At Ianucci's version of the State Department, the hawks are led by David Rasche (yes, Sledge Hammer, always welcome) as Linton Banks, the assistant secretary of state for something or other, and the doves are led by Mimi Kennedy as fellow State Department employee Karen Clarke, and their contempt for each other is mined for comedy gold. In the best scene, as Clarke starts bleeding from the mouth during a meeting and is alerted to this by a disgusted Banks, she brushes it off with "don't try to change the subject." Priceless.

There's plenty more going on this war of ideas, and an unrecognizable but very funny Steve Coogan even turns up near the end, but it's best if you discover it all for yourself, which, if you have Cox or I assume some other kind of digital cable, you can do now for just $2. When I saw that IFC was going to put this up on cable while it's still playing in at least a few theaters, I thought it was crazy, but I'm certainly glad they did. To find it, just go to your "on demand" channel (No. 1 for me) and search the movies for the IFC category.

The flick itself, in fact, plays out like an extremely funny episode of British TV, which in a way it is, springing directly from Ianucci's nine-episode TV series "The Thick of It," which I was sad to find you can't yet get on Netflix.

Anyways, if you enjoy a good satire that just doesn't just slaughter cows but splatters the blood all over the place, see "In the Loop" as soon as you can. Peace out.

Take a bite: Three glimpses of "True Blood" season two

I love it when a rumor turns into truth, but even more when that truth turns out to be even better than believed, as is the rather amazing case with "Futurama."

Collider reported earlier this week that Comedy Central was in negotiation for 13 new episodes of the fantasticly entertaining animated show, but it turns out that was half the deal. The network has apparently ordered 26 new episodes, so far, to run over two seasons.

"Futurama" creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen are already working on stories for the next season, set to premiere in mid-2010 with all the original voice cast returning.

Now I like "Family Guy" enough and I love "Scrubs," but seeing as there haven't been any new episodes of "Futurama" since 2003, I'd have to say this is the most remarkable story yet of a tv show getting resuscitated, and in honor of Bender, I'll just say "bite my shiny metal ass" and bring it on!

And this summer, two of my current favorites are returning, and I have to say, the more I hear about "Mad Men" show runner Matthew Weiner, the more I admire just how much he's an ornery sort. AMC apparently wanted to add two minutes of commercial time to the brilliant show about ad men, but Weiner balked and the network understandably gave in rather quickly, so the show will run until 11:02 or so when it returns at 10 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16. And to answer the first question that popped into my mind, AMC assures viewers that DVRs will indeed record all 62 minutes.

But here today it's supposed to be all about Charlayne Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels and how they've morphed into "True Blood," which returns this Sunday and is the only show in several years good enough to get me to re-up on HBO for three months (but I'll surely be back again when "The Wire" creator David Simon's New Orleans show "Treme" hits next year.)

I like stories about vampires ("Let the Right One In" has lingered as my favorite movie of all of 2008) and especially funny ones, so I'm ashamed of how long it took me to come on board with Harris' trashy-in-all-the-best-ways novels. They're certainly far from high art, but for airplane reads there are few series I can recommend higher. I've read two-and-a-half of them so far, and I have to say Harris' mix of horror, humor, romance and Southern flavor, while perhaps not unique, is extremely addictive.

So, what's gonna happen in season two? I have no way of knowing everything, of course, but from what I know happens in the second Sookie Stackhouse novel, "Living Dead in Dallas," and with the help of these three clips courtesy of HitFix, I can give you at least a taste.

Though you certainly won't hear who it is from me, season two opens with the murder of one of the show's most colorful minor characters. Along with looking into that, in an unrelated case, Sookie (Anna Paquin, whose certainly all growed up) is called to Dallas to investigate an anti-vampire church/cult that has kidnapped the brother of Dallas' vampire sheriff (yes, really.)

One big and mostly good way the show differs from the novels is that it builds up minor characters that Harris largely ignored and gives them new life, the best example being Tara Thornton, played for great comic effect by Rutina Wesley. In this first clip, we find Tara still staying at the home of her rescuer Maryann ("Battlestar Galactica" 's Michelle Forbes), who I can tell you plays a big part in the early parts of "Living Dead in Dallas," and here meets Tara's mother (Adina Porter.)



Another character who gets a lot more play in "True Blood" than in print is Sookie's brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten.) He pretty much disappears after the first novel, "Dead Until Dark," but on TV, "True Blood" mastermind Alan Ball has him become involved with the anti-vampire sect, as you can see from the clip below.



And, of course, Sookie is called in to investigate the Dallas case, or more accurately ordered to by the local vampire sheriff, Eric, played by Alexander Skarsgard. In this final clip, Eric explains his order to Sookie's vampire paramour Bill (Stephen Moyer), who understandably isn't terribly pleased about it.



Anyways, that's probably way too much to write about one TV show, but it's summer and, well, there's not much else on at all. And for anyone who cares about this kind of thing, apparently Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are now a couple in real life, too. Peace out.