Home » Film & TV » American Television » Screen Actors Guild Announces Nominations

Screen Actors Guild Announces Nominations

© F. Colin Kingston

The Screen Actors Guild has announced their nominations. Some highlights among the nominees in the television category are: Dennis Franz (NYPD BLUE); Gillian Anderson (THE X-FILES); Alec Baldwin and Brian Cox for their work in the TNT mini-series NUREMBERG. For a complete rundown of all the SAG nomination in television and film, please see http:www.sagawards.com/

Super Bowl Ratings Help Survivor: The Super Bowl may not have been very super to most fans, but it sure provided a lead in for the premiere episode of the CBS reality series SURVIVOR: THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK. The premiere episode came in as the third most popular show last week. Only the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl post-game show got higher ratings.

Rounding out the top ten ratings wise last week was: 4) WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE (Wednesday); 5) FRIENDS; 6) WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE (Thursday); 7) LAW AND ORDER; 8) THE WEST WING; 9) TEMPTATION ISLAND and 10) WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE (Friday).

Other rating highlights for the week:

LIFETIME was the highest rated cable network of the week. TNT's premiere of the adaptation of Louis LaMour's CROSSFIRE TRAIL starring Tom Selleck was the highest rated single cable program of the month. The reunion movie of the cancelled NBC series THE PRETENDER also made it into the top ten most watched cable programs of the week.

The XFL is ready for kick-off: The upstart XFL football league debuts on September 27th with telecasts on NBC and many local UPN stations. The league is 50% owned by NBC and World Wrestling Federation President Vince McMahon.

NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol told reporters in a conference call that NBC has already sold 70% of their entire advertising for the 10 week schedule. This is far above their initial estimates. Said Ebersol, "The promotional folks from NBC and the World Wrestling Federation have done a sensational job of spreading the word about the league."

Fans seem to be gravitating to the league as well. Two teams, one in New York/New Jersey and one in Las Vegas, have reported that they have sold out their opening game. The initial goal Ebersol said, was to sell 20,000 tickets for each game. He reported that several teams have already exceeded that goal.

Time will tell if the fans stick with the league after the initial weekend of play. Right now it is no doubt as much a curiosity factor as it is a true sporting event. With the WWF involved, almost anything can happen. Stay tuned for details. For more information on the XFL, check out http://www.xfl.com.