The SAG Award nominations have come out; nothing hugely troublesome or scandalous, but I do have a handful of quibbles, starting with Sally Field.  Field does a great job as Nora Walker on Brothers & Sisters, but it's an ensemble show, yet Field still gets all the lead-actress noms, it seems like, and Rachel Griffiths gets overlooked.  And again, Field isn't bad or anything, but she's working with prime Emmy bait, and she's hardly subtle; I kind of don't get it.  I also don't get the Sedgwick lovefest; I like her too, usually, and I like the show well enough, but that Closer role is tic-y as all get out, and the portrayal isn't getting any less hectic as time goes on.  Do these academies just want to prove that they watch basic cable?

And of course Jeremy Piven gets another nod for the Ari role on Entourage, and Tony Shalhoub another nom for Monk, both of which we can file under "I" for "it worked for a couple of seasons because we hadn't seen that sort of thing before, but we get it now, and you haven't shown us anything new in a few years."  Actors can continue to do good work in the same role year after year, of course, and it's another two actors I like very much, but when you keep seeing Spader's name in these lists, and Hugh Laurie, just the same people over and over with only a couple minor variations each year, it's hard not to feel like there's a certain laziness behind it.  "Well, I don't watch Saving Grace, but the critics say Holly Hunter is very good in it."  "Well, Laurie's doing twice the work because of the accent, so I'll just nominate him."  Hugh Laurie's still entertaining as Greg House, but he's not doing anything we haven't seen him do before -- and even if these same guys really are the best TV had to offer in the last year, acting-wise, it's hard to trust that when we've seen them all before.

Tags: brothers and sisters, entourage, house, hugh laurie, jeremy piven, kyra sedgwick, monk, sally field, the closer