I understand the need for redemption from the “Alien vs. Predator” movies and if adding more xenomorphs made “Aliens” an action-charged flick, then adding more Predators can’t be a horrible idea.  Recent casting news seemed sensible: Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins, Alexa Braga, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (his nickname is “Ali” although I can’t possibly imagine why he would need a nickname), and UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov.  A team of ass-kickers, just like in the original “Predator”.  But who would lead this band of modern-day vikings?

Adrien Brody.  Because when I think “bad-ass”, I think, “Adrien Brody”.  That’s who’s leading them.  Oh, and Topher Grace may also be in the gang, also as a bad-ass.  Let this casting news sink in a bit and then hit the jump.

Imagine if the same six or seven movies and their actors, writers, directors, etc. kept getting nominated for Oscars every year.  There would be slight deviations but for the most part, Academy members would just take their ballot from last year, peruse a couple of For Your Consideration ads, maybe read a critic’s list or two as a second source to make sure they weren’t making any selection deemed interesting, and you’d wonder if they just showed a repeat except they somehow replaced Jon Stewart with Hugh Jackman.

“TV’s Finest Night” is always a repeat and you cherish just about anyone who hasn’t won an Emmy in the past no matter the quality of the show.  Yes, “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” are excellent shows but barring a steep decline in quality, I already know who’s going to win next year because the Emmys are a bunch of lazy wimps who don’t watch anything outside the ten shows they already love.  Hit the jump for a list of tonight’s winners and only grumbling since this farce isn’t worth the energy of a blinding rage.

If The Shield made any mistakes in its seven season run, it’s that as it headed into the final stretch (really Seasons five, six and seven, which fits as five and six were really one season split apart), is that it put Vic Mackie (Michael Chiklis) and Shane Vandrell (Walton Goggins) front and center, and the supporting cast from the Barn - the show’s station for the Los Angeles cops who made up most of the cast - were put into the margins. Sure “Dutch” Wagenbach (Jay Karnes) gets to break a case or two, and Claudette Wimms (CCH Pounder) gets some moments, but they are the lucky ones compared to Michael Jace’s officer Julien, or Catherine Dent’s Danni Sofer. There wasn’t much to do, and they were sacrificed for momentum. Who did benefit? David Rees Snell, as his Detective Ronnie Gardocki went from a feature player who maybe got a line or two, to one of the show’s aces in the hole.

More after the jump: