The Front Page: June 27, 2008

By Randee Dawn

Yikes, I can see the condolence emails coming at this very moment. And it is a dark, dark day for those of us who've watched Mike Logan on and off on first "Law & Order" and then "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" -- and even stuck with the L&O movie "Exiled" for yet another glimpse. Why? Because Nellie Andreeva has dropped the bomb today that Chris Noth is leaving "CI" -- to be replaced by Jeff Goldblum. Who, I may say, I have nothing against whatsoever. Except that like Benjamin Bratt he'll always be known among us Loganites as the guy who replaced Mike Logan. "Chris has been a member of the 'Law & Order' family since the beginning, and Mike Logan is one of the most popular detectives in the history of television," Dick Wolf said in Andreeva's piece. "We all wish him the best."

Again: Noooooo!

More importantly to more people, I suppose, is the fact that -- as PD's Ray Richmond reports -- the TV Academy released the top ten finalists for nominations at this year's Primetime Emmy Awards, in the comedy and drama categories: For Drama, it's "Lost," "Boston Legal," "House" "Grey's Anatomy," "Friday Night Lights," "Dexter," "Mad Men," "Damages," "The Tudors," and "The Wire." For Comedy: "30 Rock," "The Office," "Two and a Half Men," "Family Guy," "Pushing Daisies," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Entourage," "Flight of the Conchords" and Weeds." It's not quite the cable trouncing predicted earlier, but it's also an excellent showing -- particularly if you're a comedy on HBO.

Writes Richmond: "Part of the rationale for the early release of the series short-listers was to avoid the kind of rumors and confusion that circulated in the wake of the publishing of the unofficial lists on blogs. 'We thought it a good idea to make sure people weren't forced to get this information from secondary sources but straight from the academy,' an ATAS spokesman said. The TV Academy had reportedly planned to release the 10 top finalists in the acting races, too, but the idea was shelved because of the more individualized nature of judging in those categories, according to a source. The official disclosure of those lists in advance now isn't expected to happen at all."

Aw, nooooooo!

Finally, what could be better than a bottom line of "It's now 9-for-9 for Pixar!" from a review? That's right, Kirk Honeycutt reveals in today's issue that he very much hearts "Wall-E," saying that Pixar's filmmakers, "have spun a whimsical sci-fi fantasy about robots 800 years into the future that has all the heart, soul, spirit and romance of the very best silent movies 60 years ago. (Andrew) Stanton and his animation team punch across their terrific (and ecologically sound!) story by inventing a visual and aural language with which these robotic creatures can express a rainbow of emotions." He ends with: "Can they really top this?"

Answer: Nooooooo!

(Okay, well, it is Pixar. So maybe.)