Award Shows | featured news

'Homeland's' acting awards confirm the dominance of niche-oriented offerings over big-broadcast shows. The one-hour drama has a glorious history on broadcast TV, from the old days of "Gunsmoke" to acclaimed fare such as "Hill Street Blues" to current hits like "NCIS."

Tonight, TV is celebrating, well, TV. And we'll definitely be tuning in. And we assume you will too, which is why, with hours to go until the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards (which starts at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT) we've compiled a list of everything you need to know before the festivities kick off.

The MTV Video Music Awards were quick and easy this year: no stage-crashers except for the audience. No drama from Chris Brown, Drake, Rihanna or their crews. Peace and love between artists abounded, from Young Money repping for each other, to Rihanna and Katy Perry hanging out to (most of the) "Twilight" crew presenting for one last time. No drama also means the show had is slow and vanilla moments, including some from One Direction, Alicia Keys, Kevin Hart and others.

The producing team that helped to create such musicals as "Chicago" and "Hairspray" is overseeing the next Academy Awards ceremony. Academy management announced Thursday that Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will produce the 85th annual Oscars that will air live Feb. 24 on ABC.

"The Twilight Saga" is gonna need a bigger garage. It was announced at Sunday's Teen Choice Awards that the supernatural franchise has won 41 surfboard-shaped trophies since 2008, including two awards earned this year for the penultimate film installment, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1." "Twilight" stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner were on hand to pick up this year's batch of boards, which included the ultimate choice award, the teen-fueled show's version of a lifetime achievement award.

"Mad Men," a piercingly bleak portrait of a 1960s American anti-hero, earned a leading 17 Emmy nominations Thursday and the chance to set a new record as the most-honored drama in television history. "Mad Men," which has won four best drama series trophies and is tied with "Hill Street Blues," ''L.A. Law" and "The West Wing," received a fifth bid in the category.

The dystopian survival saga escaped from Sunday's 21st annual extravaganza with the most golden popcorn-shaped trophies, including best fight for the film's final three-way battle and best on-screen transformation for Elizabeth Banks' over-the-top futuristic makeover. "Hunger Games" stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson were also honored for best female and male performances.

Russell Brand is returning to the MTV stage. The 36-year-old comedian has signed on to host the 2012 MTV Movie Awards. "This MTV Movie Awards will be more impressive than `The Avengers,' and you won't have to wait an hour for someone to Hulk out," Brand said Thursday.

This year's MTV Movie Awards will be a showdown between a bevy of bridesmaids and a cast of killer kids....