Academy Award Nominations!

This morning, the Academy Award nominations were announced.  Now, I know what you're thinking.  The Academy Awards are for movies, so why are we talking about them here on a TV blog?  Well, it turns out that many of our favorite TV stars are in fact multi-talented!  So congratulations to the following TV stars who just got nominated for an Academy Award:

Jim Rash (Dean Pelton on Community)

Longtime readers of this blog will remember that back on October 27, 2009, we did a TV Star Spotlight on Jim Rash, the actor who plays character of Dean Pelton (or as he's usually more commonly referred to, "The Dean") on the cult hit NBC comedy Community.  The Dean started out as only a recurring character on Community, occasionally dropping in on the gang's study group to inform them of some crazy assembly or program going on in the school. His scene-stealing performances soon earned him top-billing in the show.  It came as a surprise when we learned that the actor who played this flamboyant, over-the-top character was in fact one of the writers of the critically acclaimed dramedy The Descendants starring George Clooney.  And it was an even greater thrill when I discovered this morning that he had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published.   Here is the crazy Dean Pelton and the trailer for The Descendants, from Academy Award nominated Jim Rash:

Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live)

The terrific Kristen Wiig, along with her writing partner Annie Mumolo, was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for the blockbuster comedy Bridesmaids.  The film also has a great supporting cast with television roots, including Wiig's former SNL co-star Maya Rudolph (who now stars in NBC's Up All Night), The Office's Ellie Kempner, and the scene-stealing Melissa McCarthy, who also earned an Academy Award for Supporting Actress for her role in this film (McCarthy also stars in the CBS comedy Mike & Molly).  Here is Academy Award nominee Kristen Wiig in SNL and Bridesmaids: 

 

Brett McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords)

Brett McKenzie is one half of the comedy folk duo Flight of the Conchords (with Jemaine Clement).  The successful comedy musical act from New Zealand created their own HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords, where they play fictional versions of themselves, a folk band from New Zealand who are trying to make it big in New York City.  The show also incorporated musical numbers, which were written and performed by the Conchords themselves.  Therefore, when it was announced that Brett McKenzie would be  the musical supervisor and writer of original songs for the new Muppet movie (written by and starring How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segel), we were very excited.  The Muppets was a really fun film with lots of great songs, including "Man or Muppet", which just earned Brett an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.  Check out Brett McKenzie's musical writing skills in Flight of the Conchords (in the style parody of The Police) and Academy Award nominated song "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets:

The Academy Awards air Sunday February 26th, so tune in to see who wins!  Good luck to Jim, Kristen and Brett!