Cynthia Littleton On The Air

DGA Awards smile on "Mad Men," "Pushing Daisies"

Congrats to the all the winners of this year's DGA honors. On the small screen side, winners were all first-time DGA honorees with the exception of Larry Carpenter, victor in the daytime serial category for his work on ABC's "One Life to Live," who now has a matching set of the DGA's shiny round medallions.

Barry Sonnenfeld won the TV series comedy heat for his work on the "Pie-lette" of ABC's "Pushing Daisies." Alan Taylor prevailed on the drama side for the pilot of AMC's oh-so-stylish "Mad Men." Yves Simoneau took the longform honor for HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Bertram van Munster added to his trophy collection for his work on CBS' "The Amazing Race" in the reality competish. Glenn P. Weiss' navigation of CBS' 60th annual Tony-cast brought him the musical/variety nod. And Paul Hoen looked sharp in the children's programming field for his helming of the hit Disney Channel telepic "Jump In."

(Pictured top left, Barry Sonnenfeld and Debra Messing; top right, Alan Taylor; below, Yves Simoneau. Pics by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

This and that: "Family Guy's" 100th, "ER's" 300th

It may have taken them a little longer to get there than most shows, but Fox's unsinkable "Family Guy" is prepping a 100th episode party for Oct. 29 at the ever-fashionable Social Hollywood. Seth MacFarlane and his crew are known to know how to celebrate their "freakin' sweet" milestones. This bash might lend itself to some TMZ moments, if Stewie gets out of hand...

There might be some TMZ action coming out of next week's Hollywood Radio and Television Society gathering of the heads of the five network families. The selection of Barry Sonnenfeld, helmer and exec producer of ABC's "Pushing Daisies," as moderator of the Oct. 16 luncheon has raised some eyebrows among rival nets. It's a head-scratcher for others, given that Sonnenfeld isn't exactly known for his emcee-ing skills. But for those of us who've complained about milquetoast HRTS moderators in the past, we've got to give Barry the benefit of the doubt. It outta be a lively sesh, anyway, with ABC's Steve McPherson, CBS' Nina Tassler, CW's Dawn Ostroff, Fox's Kevin Reilly and NBC's Ben Silverman...

The milestone-episode parties continue on Nov. 3 with Warner Bros. Television's celebration of "ER's" 300th at Hollywood's Cabana Club. Hard to believe it was 13 years ago that George Clooney did such an effective job of playing the tipsy Dr. Doug Ross in the famously good two-hour "ER" pilot. NBC skein has had its ups and downs since then but it has earned its place in the pantheon of primetime's longest-running series, and casting history. This party outta be a classy affair to remember, especially if it attracts a full (or even pretty full) complement of thesp, writer and producer alums....

And from the good-cause department, Zimmer Children's Museum will fete Fox talent relations exec Missy Halperin (pictured left) and PBS' kidvid programming exec Linda Simensky (pictured right) at its 7th annual Discovery Award dinner on Nov. 8 at Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel. Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher, the battling spouses of Fox sitcom "'Til Death" will emcee. Zimmer org is focused on teaching small fry about ethics, community involvement and cultural sensivity through interactive and roll-up-your-sleeves exhibits at its museum on the Miracle Mile.

Clip Madness: Get a glimpse of Fox and ABC's new shows

In an effort to rev up for the fall season, it's time to inaugurate what I intend to make a regular feature of this blog, namely lots of video snippets from our favorite, and even not-so-favorite and we're-not-sure-yet, shows.

Let's call it Clip Madness. (This edition was made possible by the kind folks at Fox and ABC who helped me quickly wrangle some clips. In subsequent weeks we'll spread the spotlight around to all the nets that care to offer up easy-to-embed snippets.)

Clip Madness is presented in the spirit of this wonderful time of year, the tail end of the honeymoon period when every new show is full of promise, this year's sleeper, a new "Friends," the next "CSI," a slow-building gem a la "The Office," etc. etc. Showrunners are starting to stock up on Mylanta, vodka and Vicodin, but network marketing mavens are in their element as they head into the final now-or-never stretch of piquing the American public's interest in what the programming department came up with this year.

(Pictured above: A scene you're not likely to see on ABC's "Pushing Daisies," for reasons that will become clear in the clip posted below. Pic of actors Lee Pace and Anna Friel kissing comes from the Aug. 16 screening of "Daisies" at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.)