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Send me your TV questions!

Hey all,
As you'll see in Sunday's Post, I'm launching a new feature in which I answer all your TV questions like: What happened to my favorite show? Why did my favorite actor leave my favorite show? Is my favorite show available on DVD?
Send me your questions, along with your name, town of residence and contact info, and I'll do my best to answer them. Your question may even appear in the Post.
I can be reached at acuda@ctpost.com.
Look forward to hearing from you!

Thoughts on the "Heroes" premiere

Hello friends. I've recovered from my Emmy blogfest, and am ready to tell you a little bit about the third-season premiere of NBC's "Heroes." I say "a little bit" because, even though the premiere is two hours long, NBC, in its infinite wisdom, only sent the first hour to critics.
Grrr.
However, while I'd love to talk trash in retaliation, I actually enjoyed what I saw of the first new episode. As most of you remember, "Heroes's" second season was marked by lackluster new characters (hello, Maya with the bleeding eyes), silly plotlines (hello, Hiro-in-feudal Japan) and general ennui. It periodically showed glimpses of being the show we all loved when it debuted a few years ago, but even die-hard fans knew it was floundering.
So, when the show's creators decided not to come back after the resolution of last year's writers' strike, it seemed like a good move. Let them take the time to reexamine the show, tune it up and, if possible, make it good again.
Now that I've seen (part of) the first new episode, I am more convinced than ever that that was a good decision. So far, it looks intriguing. This season has been dubbed "Villains" and it's all about superheroes gone bad. Thus, in the first few minutes of the new ep, we see one of our beloved "Heroes" about to kill someone very dear to them, for reasons we don't understand. The person fails, but only time will tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
In other developments, Hiro happens about a message left by his late dad, and meets a new super-powered being might prove to be the downfall of the time-stopping sweetie-pie. Suresh starts working on a serum that can imbue normal people with superpowers -- much to the dismay of Maya (yes, she's still with us, but markedly less annoying so far).
And a few Heroes we thought were dead appear to be alive and well.
It's a decent, quick moving episode that generates some real chills -- particularly in a cat-and-mouse sequence featuring invincible cheerleader Claire and creepy uber-villain Silar.
It's unclear yet whether "Heroes" is totally back on its feet. Maybe I'd have a better idea if I'd seen that second hour.
Heroes airs from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. today on NBC.

Wrapping up...

Well, that's the last award, meaning that's it for me. See you all next year!

Best drama series

And the winner is...another given -- Mad Men. This makes it the first basic cable show to ever win the best drama series Emmy. Aw. Look how cute Elizabeth Moss looks! She's totally ditched her Peggy Olson bangs and looks fab. Not that that matters, but it's true.

Best comedy series...

And the winner is...huge shock -- "30 Rock." You know, I have to say, I'm very impressed how many of this year's winners really did deserve to win. Ha! Tina Fey is totally pimping all the web sites that show "30 Rock." Go Tina! Lure those viewers to your high-quality, low rated show.

Yay! Jeff Probst wins...

...and, more importantly, Ryan Seacrest loses, thus delaying his inevitable world domination.

Ha!

As much as I hate having the reality show host nominees as the award show hosts, I love Jimmy Kimmel's reality-show-aping presentation of the best host award. He even cut away to commercial at a crucial moment! Too funny!

Best lead actress in a comedy series

And the winner is... Tina Fey....and my husband called during her speech, so I missed the whole thing. Stupid marriage.

Best lead actor in a drama series

And the winner is...Bryan Cranston! What a shock! Yes, he is absolutely wonderful on the small, dark new AMC series Breaking Bad, but I thought for sure the award would go to he AMC colleague Jon Hamm for Mad Men. Still, it's nice to see such an inspired, unconventional choice. And maybe this will draw some viewers to his very worthy show.

In Memoriam...

They're showing the footage of the TV personalities who died in the past year and, as usual, it's very sad. I can't say this enough -- really do miss Bernie Mac. Oh, and I also miss Suzanne Pleshette a lot, and never was able to write anything about it, because I was on vacation when she passed away. But I really did love her.
Hmm. I'm kind of bummed out now.

Best actress in a drama series

And the winner is...Glenn Close, for Damages. Got to say, I was still secretly hoping Kyra Sedgwick would win, even though I picked Close in my column. Still, Close is wonderful, and gave a peerless performance. And she's giving a classy acceptance speech, which is being eaten into by the "get off the stage" music. Is it just me, or does it seem like the award winners are getting less time to give their speeches this year?

Best lead actor in a comedy series

And the winner is...Alec Baldwin! Yay! Say what you want about the guy, but he is bar-none brilliant on "30 Rock." And he's even being warm and gracious, giving most of the credit of his award to Tina Fey.

G!

Woo-Hoo! Paul Giamatti, or, as I like to call him, The G, just won for playing the lead role in John Adams. And, he got off a good line: "I am living proof that anybody can play the president!"

A brief aside

I saw that Macy's ad again where they show all those references to the store in different movies and TV shows and such. It just tickles me that, in between clips from iconic piece of pop culture, like "Miracle on 34th Street" and "Seinfeld," they show a clip from "Mannequin." You know, "Mannequin" -- that movie in which Kim Catrall is the Egyptian princess who is imprisoned in the form of a department store mannequin, and Andrew McCarthy is the window dress who releases her spirit. Really? They absolutely couldn't find anything else to fill out the commercial? They had to use a clip from an 80s B-comedy?
Sigh. I guess I'm just ranting to rant, but, for some reason, that really annoyed me. Rant over.

Don Rickles wins

Rickles wins for his winning appearance in the equally winning HBO special "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project." It's funny -- he's been up there a while, doing schtick and no one's even trying to cut him off. He really is revered. Good for him.