Awards Watch: ALMA Awards

The nominations for the 2008 ALMA Awards, recognizing "the outstanding artistic achievements of Latinos in motion pictures, television and music", have been announced.

Special achievement awards will be given to the cast of Ugly Betty, High School Musical 2 director Kenny Ortega and the Spanish language film Under the Same Moon. Other television nominees include Desperate Housewives' Ricardo Chavira, Lost's Jorge Garcia and Grey’s Anatomy's Sara Ramirez, while movie nominations went to Bella, El Cantante, Illegal Tender, Love in the Time of Cholera and Tortilla Heaven.

The 2008 Alma Awards, hosted by Eva Longoria Parker and Cristian De La Fuente, will be broadcast September 12 on ABC.

Awards Watch: Emmy Nominations 2008

The 2008 Emmy Award nominations were announced today, which means: time to start complaining. Seriously, Two and a Half Men, one of the least original "comedies" on TV today, instead of the brilliantly creative Pushing Daisies, the revitalized Desperate Housewives and the one and only Ugly Betty? Boston Legal, again? At least Lost returned to the Best Drama line-up.

Nevertheless, some of our favorites did make the cut, including Daisies' Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth, Betty's America Ferrera and Vanessa Williams, Housewives' Polly Bergen and Kathryn Joosten, Brothers & Sisters' Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths, Lost's Michael Emerson and Grey's Anatomy's Diahann Carroll, Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson.

Also among the nominees include out actors Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon, plus the TV movies Bernard and Doris (along with stars Ralph Fiennes and Susan Sarandon), A Raisin in the Sun (and its stars Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald, who both won Tonys for the Broadway production) and High School Musical 2 and the specials Movies Rock, Company, AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition and the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

The Emmys will be presented live on ABC on Sunday September 21.

Out in Film: Alec Mapa

Idol worship: Alec Mapa, actor/comedian.

- As "America's Gaysian Sweetheart" (self-proclaimed), he is a multi-talented actor of stage and screen and a very very funny comedian, who is also an advocate for several GLBT and Asian American causes.

- Remember R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" video? He was the boy tied to a tree with an arrow piercing his heart. Talk about your show biz debut!

- In addition to his own stand-up specials, he co-starred in the short-lived, based-on-Kiss Me, Guido sitcom Some of My Best Friends Are. Other television appearances include recurring roles on Desperate Housewives (as Vern, Gabrielle's gay pal) and Ugly Betty (as fabulous fashionista Suzuki St. Pierre); he also recently hosted LOGO's reality/dating show Transamerican Love Story.

- At the movies, he has had small but memorable roles in Bright Lights, Big City; Connie and Carla; Dirty Laundry; You Don't Mess with the Zohan and current festival fave Tru Loved.

- It has been an eventful week for him: not only did he just celebrate a birthday, he is being honored by the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival tonight as their "2008 Entertainer of the Year". Get her.

Bye Bye Betty

"All right ladies, it's time for some dodgeball!"

Our Ugly Betty (played by the always game America Ferrera) faces some big challenges in tomorrow night's season finale, including a Felicity-esque choice between her two suitors in the present and a Hairspray-esque game of dodgeball in the past.

And, as you may have heard, a certain Lindsay Lohan guest stars as a Mean Girl from Betty's high school days. But she isn't the only tabloid name to sign up for the second season closer, as Naomi Campbell also pops in for a little game of ... softball?

Immediately following Betty will be the two-hour season finale of Grey's Anatomy, which promises to feature a reunion between Meredith and Dr. McDreamy and a possible hook up between lady docs Hahn and Torres.

MD Poll: Cliff Noted

In the two recent MD Polls asking for your favorite Ugly Betty characters, it was one extreme to the other as far as the results were concerned. On one hand, Marc's lovable boyfriend Cliff (played by David Blue) dominated the male side with almost 50% of the votes (Marc himself had to settle for second). ABC, are you listening? The audience has spoken, and we want more Marcliff!!

But the real race was with the women, specifically a neck and neck nail-biter between Betty herself and her vampy nemesis Amanda (the always fabulous Becki Newton), who triumphed in the end with merely 0.5% of the votes more then our plucky unplucked heroine.

See the comments section below for the full stats on both polls, and click here for the latest MD Poll.

Awards Watch: GLAAD LA

Television favorites Brothers & Sisters, Ugly Betty and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List were honored "for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community" at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles last night. It is the second year in a row that Brothers and Betty won in their respective categories.

Also recognized for their contributions to visibility and equality were Janet Jackson, Rufus Wainwright and the late Herb Ritts.

MD Poll: Ready for Betty

Ugly Betty is back, so it's time for you to pick your favorite characters from the Dearie Award-winning comedy in this week's MD Poll. And don't worry if you can't pick between the fabulous fashionista Wilhelmina Slater or her ever-faithful assistant Marc St. James, as we've split the cast in half along gender lines, since there are way too many great characters to choose from on this show.

So be sure to vote in both polls, located in the sidebar at right, and tune in right here in two weeks to see the results.

UPDATE: This poll is now closed. Click here for the results, and here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

Easy as ABC

ABC will be overtaking the "Must-See TV" banner for Thursday nights starting tomorrow with the post-strike returns of three of our favorites. To celebrate, it's time for ABC Thursday Night Funnies!:

• Ugly Betty: On the official Ugly Betty Video Podcast, Becki Newton and Michael Urie ask the musical question, "Are You Ready for Betty?" Meanwhile, back in Iran: will anyone ever listen to Ugly Betool?
• Grey's Anatomy: A pair of pitch-perfect parodies from MADtv, including a special visit from Dr. House.
• Lost: Before you return to this island, see what happens when it crosses paths with two other famous TV isles, and then be sure to catch up on the past seasons with this helpful video primer. And a bonus: Lost - The Musical.