Somebody could ask Hollywood the same question. Fall movie season is usually the time when the studios haul out their dark dramas for awards consideration, but this year's batch seems especially bleak. The themes they touch upon include incest, murder, AIDS, cancer, abuse, layoffs, and lots of unexpected, tragic deaths (and we're not even counting the dead vampires in the Twilight sequel). This probably isn't just coincidental. This fall's slate was written at the end of the Bush administration, when most of Hollywood—at least the predominantly liberal part—was under a cloud of gloom. Now, we're all feeling gloomy; the economy is in tatters, and the unemployment rate continues to soar. Does anybody really want to go to the movies this year to feel even more depressed?

by Joshua Alston

Our TV guru Joshua Alston divines who'll take home a primetime, statuette-shaped doorstop in '09. The 61st Emmy Awards airs Sunday Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. ET.

For the writers and cast of every comedy that is not 30 Rock, I have good news and bad news about this year’s Emmy Awards. The bad news is that Tina Fey has already taken home an Emmy this year, at the Creative Arts portion, which are handed out early. Granted, it wasn’t for 30 Rock, her insatiable Emmy beast (this year it garnered a record 22 nominations), it was for her now-iconic performance as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. Still, it could mean that there remains a Fey frenzy among Emmy voters, which could mean another 30 Rock sweep. The good news is that Fey’s show came up short in the categories it usually excels in: guest actors. All five of the actors nominated for guest spots on 30 Rock went home empty-handed. Though, in the case of the actresses. they lost to none other than…Tina Fey.

The point is that predicting Emmy winners is hardly scientific. However...

by Joshua Alston

by Ramin Setoodeh

I don't know how it looked on TV, but from Radio City Music Hall last night, the MTV Video Music Awards were like (to steal the title of a Britney Spears song) a circus. And we had our favorite ringleader presiding over the ceremonies, Madonna—remember the time she kissed Christina Aguilera and Britney, or how she stared down old versions of herself in a music dance tribute? This year, the Material Girl opened the show, but all eyes were on Jackson: Michael Jackson, who Madonna paid tribute to in a heartfelt soliloquey. "Long live the King," she said, after recounting a special dinner she had with him in '90s, which ended with the two of them holding hands. (Eww. Don't worry. It was strictly platonic.)

Then Janet Jackson took the stage—to a roar from the crowd—for a dance medley (that requiring no singing) dedicated to her late brother, including her duet "Scream" and "Bad." And there were plenty of other Michael references from everyone from Nelly Furtado to Russell Brand, the evening's host. "Tonight is dedicated to the great Michael Jackson," said Brand. "Let's honor Michael Jackson tonight by loving each other in his memory." How sweet. But the VMAs are also about pop artists loving themselves. It's like a high-stakes version of your high school battle of the bands, where superstars try to outdo each other by coming up with the night's most over-the-top acts. Here were the eight biggest surprises of the night:

by Joshua Alston

The Shield
By far, 2009’s most gobsmacking oversight. The final season of The Shield featured some of the most compelling performances we’ve seen all year, and the series finale was among the best ever. And yet ... no acting nominations, no writing nominations, no directing nominations. No nothing. Given Emmy’s usual soft spot for outgoing shows, I can make neither heads nor tails of this one.

Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
I hate to even mention the injustice of leaving out television’s most complex and credible marriage and the actors who bring it to life. Friday Night Lights is snubbed every year for some reason, and while I didn’t expect a best-drama nomination for the show, I always hope that either one or both of the pair will get a nod. No such luck.

In Treatment
HBO’s über-talky therapy drama winds up in the classic Emmy conundrum. It’s highly serialized, and nearly impossible to sum up in just a few episodes for Emmy voters who haven’t been watching on their own. As a result, the show made a good showing in the acting categories, including nods for Gabriel Byrne, Hope Davis, and Dianne Wiest, but the series, which was just as excellent in its second season as in its first, pulled up short.

Jill Scott, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
This one I thought might be a long shot, and I have nary a complaint with any of the women nominated for best actress in a drama series. Still, I would have loved to see Jill Scott’s performance as the unsinkable Precious Ramotswe in the category. The most irritating thing about Emmy voters is their tendency to latch onto nominees and hold them with a bulldog’s grip. Nothing against Holly Hunter, whom I love, but a new face in the category would have been a treat, especially one as joyful as Scott’s.

Josh Holloway, Lost
It’s always good to see network television’s most demanding (and arguably rewarding) drama among the series nominees, but this season of Lost belonged to Holloway. After being relegated for the bulk of season four, Holloway commanded this season as Sawyer, showing that he has much more to offer than a perpetually bare chest. It’s a shame Emmy didn’t agree.

Vincent Kartheiser, Mad Men
Everyone hates his character, the sniveling careerist Pete Campbell. So why isn’t there a consensus on the actor who plays him? Kartheiser brings a desperation and longing to the least-endearing character at Sterling Cooper, and he should have been recognized for it.

Annie Wersching, 24
As a series, 24 hasn’t been on top of its game from some time now. But of the complaints I could make about the show's seventh season, Annie Wersching is not among them. She was stellar as Jack Bauer’s partner Renee Walker, showing how easily it is for a moral absolutist to slide further and faster toward relativism.

Eva Longoria-Parker, Desperate Housewives
I’m just about tired of complaining about this one. That Longoria-Parker is still a bridesmaid after five seasons of this show is simply a travesty, especially considering that Desperate Housewives is included in the comedy categories, and she’s the most talented comedic actress of the bunch. This one may never happen.

Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy
I would have been most pleasantly surprised by a nomination for Sagal, who brilliantly played against character in the underappreciated FX biker series. Sagal’s performance was sad and ferocious, and with the show’s increased profile for its upcoming second season, don’t be surprised to see her break into next year’s list of nominees.

Better Off Ted
For a show with such an awful name, Better Off Ted is one of the most reliably funny comedies of the midseason, if not network television as a whole. The goings-on at Veridian Dynamics are always clever, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this show nipping at 30 Rock by next year.

Editor's note: Wait. Isn't Josh forgetting something? Oh, yeah: True Blood getting shut out in the best-drama and best-acting (no Anna Paquin?) categories. Come back tomorrow to Newsweek.com for his essay on why he can't sink his teeth into the HBO vampire show.

An open thread for you to sound off.  Here are the lucky contenders, announced this morning:

[CLICK MORE>> TO VIEW FULL POST]

Jamie Foxx (right) and Ne-Yo pay tribute to Jackson at the BET Awards. Photo, Kevin Winter / Getty Images.

by Allison Samuels

In between takes of the BET awards Sunday night in Los Angeles, Jamie Foxx continued a dialogue that he’d begun the night before at a BET pre-party. At both events, Foxx lamented how "they" (white America, presumably) had taken Michael Jackson away from us (African-Americans, definitely), and now we’d have to take him back. His tone and sentiment echoed the feeling of the week for many African-Americans as they began to come to terms with the death of the one of the world’s biggest stars. That included me.

As I sat in the audience at the awards, transfixed by the images of Michael that passed on the screen through the night, I couldn’t help but wipe away tears. When his baby sister, Janet, walked on the stage, her words really hit me like an arrow and put into context what many African-Americans are feeling in the wake of Jackson’s death. Janet Jackson told the audience that her brother was “icon to most—but, he was family to us.’’ And that’s exactly what Michael Jackson was to most African-Americans: family.

Looking at all those pictures of a younger Jackson before the nose jobs and skin-color change was like looking into my own family’s photo album. The hair, the clothes and the closeness of the Jackson family resembled any black family across the country, and the reason so much pride and an immediate connection was felt when the Jackson’s became international superstars.

To mainstream America, it may appear strange that the African-American community has in the last few days so defiantly claimed Jackson as their own in the wake of such ambivalent feelings about the pop star in recent years. But in reality, it makes perfect sense. Families disagree and families fall out and they may even refuse to speak to one another for years on end, but the love never really goes away.

Love was the overall vibe at the pre-awards-show event Saturday night where Foxx led a small group made up of Jill Scott, Macy Gray, Morgan Freeman, and Chaka Khan into an impromptu singalong of Jackson’s classic hit “Rock with You." Some tears were shed while others, like producer Teddy Riley—who arranged and produced Jackson’s hit “Remember the Time”—spoke of the good times he had with the singer to any who'd listen. “I had nothing but love for Michael, and I understood what stardom could do to you," said Riley. “And he was the biggest star of all—so he felt it more than anyone else."

Jackson’s ascent into mass superstardom after the release of Thriller in 1983 was a surprise to many but not for loyal African-Americans who’d followed Jackson from a beautiful child through his awkward teen years and beyond. While he seemed comfortable and accessible in the cocoon of African-American culture during those times, fame appeared to change Jackson at his core. A skin disease was blamed, as were other ailments in defense of his ever-changing appearance, but African-Americans saw it as a blatant attempt to distance himself from his history.

In truth, Jackson’s desire to look different in a world that did not then nor now embrace brown skin, kinky hair, and full lips (unless those lips are on Angelina Jolie’s face) was a painful reminder of our own insecurities as a minority group still searching for validation. His tortured view of himself, even in the light of world adoration, gave little hope that total acceptance could be ours. Interestingly enough, nose jobs are now the No. 1 surgery requested by African-Americans when undergoing plastic surgery. And the numbers of blacks receiving plastic surgery has tripled in the last 10 years.

Jackson’s troubles in recent years involving allegations of molestation also strained the community’s relationship with him. Many believed it was a setup—given that all the accusers were white or non-African-American, not unlike the way they felt about O. J. Simpson. Others just felt embarrassed that Jackson had brought yet another negative image of black men to the forefront.

I most certainly had a complicated relationship with Jackson. Though his album cover Off The Wall remained on my bedroom door through high school, I, too, ignore Jackson after the release of his mega-hit Thriller. He wasn’t the gorgeous little boy I’d fallen in love with as a child and even adored during his teenage bouts of acne and voice changes. I refused to watch his court battles or follow his highly publicized national interviews that were the talk of the town. I couldn’t bear to look at him and what he’d done to himself and chose to remember him easing on down the road with Diana Ross in The Wiz or rocking his Jheri curl in the "Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough" video.

As the days go by and the funeral of Jackson occurs, the outpouring of African-American grief will be on full view: grief over a riff that seemed to grow wider over the years and grief for the loss of a family member that we never had a chance to make peace with. But more than anything else for me, it will be grief based on a heartfelt love that never fully went away.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Sid Ganis announced this afternoon that the Oscar race for Best Picture—a race traditionally between five films, at least since World War II—will double the number of contenders starting with this year's presentation.  "Having 10 best picture nominees is going [to] allow academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," Ganis said.

It also makes room for more commercial picks, as recent Best Picture races have included few box-office hits and thereby hooked fewer viewers into the ceremony's broadcast.  In 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively, the five nominees for the top Oscar grossed a cumulative $70 million. Compare that to earlier this decade, when the five grossed upwards of $130 million.  In doubling the field of contenders, you can fit movies like The Dark Knight or Wall-E that resonated both critically and commercially.

In the spirit of this new announcement, we're going to get all revisionist on cinema history.  Who might've made the cut in the last five years, if ten films were nominated?

77th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees:

• The Aviator
• Million Dollar Baby
• Sideways
• Finding Neverland
• Ray

Woulda-beens:

• Closer
  
• Hotel Rwanda
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Maria Full of Grace
• Vera Drake
  

78th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees:

• Crash
• Brokeback Mountain
• Munich
• Good Night, and Good Luck
• Capote
  

Woulda-beens:

• Walk the Line
  
• The Constant Gardner
• Cindarella Man
  
• A History of Violence
  
• Junebug
  

79th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees:

• The Departed
• Little Miss Sunshine
• The Queen
• Babel
• Letters from Iwo Jima

Woulda-beens:

• Pan's Labyrinth
  
• Little Children
• Dreamgirls
• Borat
• Notes on a Scandal
  

80th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees:

• No Country for Old Men
• Juno
• Atonement
• Michael Clayton
• There Will Be Blood
  

Woulda-beens:

• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• Lars and the Real Girl
• Into the Wild
• Away From Her
• Gone Baby Gone
  

81st Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees:

• Slumdog Millionaire
• Frost/Nixon
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Reader
• Milk
  

Would-Beens:

• The Dark Knight
• Doubt
• Wall-E
• Revolutionary Road
  
• Rachel Getting Married
  

This week, we'll swap April for May -- making "Slumdog Millionaire" a nearly five-month-old release, something you'd never guess by the headlines.  Not a week goes by that the '09 Best Picture isn't atop entertainment sites' "LATEST" queues and sidebars, for all manner of good and evil.  Last week, we watched captivated as the father of the film's eight-year-old star Rubina Ali was accused of trafficking his daughter for a six-figure sum -- to undercover journalists. Then we heard that "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?", the game show that forms the basis of the film's storyline, will be revived on American televisions for a summer run -- perceived by some as a network nod to the film's popularity. And this week, we were elated to find out that Freida Pinto and Dev Patel are officially dating, per an exclusive interview that Patel's mother gave to the UK's Daily Mail.  This all comes months after other, bigger "Slumdog" headlines and controversies, covering everything from the use of language in the film and the questioned compensation of its child actors, to its mixed reception in India or the glaring lack of fairytale endings in the real Mumbai slums, to the lack of Oscar nominations for its non-white stars.

What gives?  The film grossed $300 million worldwide, but that's not extraordinary for a popular film or even a Best Picture.  Just as many people saw "The Departed" as saw "Slumdog;" many, many more people saw "Gladiator" and "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King."  Those films also nabbed top honors at the Academy Awards.  And yet, their related headlines petered out around the time the Vanity Fair party closed its bar.

Maybe we can source this sustained enthusiasm to the Brits. It was their News of the World journalists, posing undercover as child-shoppers, who started the Rubina rumors. And their Daily Mail journalists who somehow coerced Mama Patel into revealing her son's relationship status.  And their country that spawned the directorial and writing talent (half of it, at least) behind the film.

Or maybe it's China!  The film's early April debut in that country netted the best opening (nearly $3 million) of a non-Chinese or non-American film in a decade, according to Box Office Mojo. 

Or maybe it's just a captivating film.

What do you think?

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Jon Meacham has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for biography for his best-selling book "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House." The Pulitzer Board described Jon's book as "an unflinching portrait of a not always admirable democrat but a pivotal president, written with an agile prose that brings the Jackson saga to life."

You can read an excerpt from Meacham's award-winning book here, and you can read his Newsweek columns, cover stories and essays here.

The other arts winners are as follows, per the Associated Press's full list:

• Fiction: "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout

• Drama: "Ruined" by Lynn Nottage

• History: "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" by Annette Gordon-Reed

• Poetry: "The Shadow of Sirius" by W. S. Merwin

• General Nonfiction: "Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II" by Douglas A. Blackmon

• Music: Double Sextet by Steve Reich, premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA (Boosey & Hawkes)

Was it just me, or were the Oscars like the longest episode of "American Idol" ever? First, Ryan Seacrest interviewed all the contestants—oops, make that nominees—on the red carpet. Then, the stage was suspiciously similar to the circular "Idol" platform, and the live show began with a musical number from host Hugh Jackman. The first winner was announced by a panel, though unfortunately Paula Abdul wasn't on it. And at some point in the evening, Jackman appeared with Beyonce, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens to cover a strange assortment of Broadway tunes.

That latter number was awfully schizophrenic, and it only made sense when we learned that it was directed by the king of excess himself, Baz Luhrmann. The flashy, uneven choreography summed up the entire evening. This year was the Academy's biggest push to make the Oscars young and more relevant. Too bad they failed, even worse than when they tapped Jon Stewart as host. Throughout the telecast, my BlackBerry buzzed with messages from friends, all in their 20s, about how un-hip and un-young and unwatchable the Oscars felt.

It's not the Academy's fault the show was so predictable—nothing could stop "Slumdog Millionaire"'s unstoppable march to victory. At the same time, what the heck was going on onstage? It felt as though MTV executives tried to hatch a new Oscars, with two strange parents: the old Oscars and the Tonys. Needless to say, the result was a weird-looking baby.

Without further ado, let's get rid of the envelopes, please. Here are the eight strangest moments of the strangest Oscars of all time.