Holly Hunter

Jennifer Aniston looked stunning in silver at the Women In Film 2009 Crystal And Lucy Awards in LA on Friday. Chelsea Handler sneaked in a joke about John Mayer as she presented Jennifer with the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film. Aniston responded by making fun of her own love life saying, "I have a strange parallel with movies I was doing and my life off screen. First, it was The Good Girl...which evolved into Rumor Has It, followed by Derailed. Then there was The Breakup. Followed by the lighter side, Friends With Money. If anyone has a movie called Everlasting Love With an Adult Stable Man, that would be great! I'm at table six, and my agents are at table 12." Love her sense of humor.

Jennifer was joined on the red carpet by some of her fellow leading ladies like Jodie Foster, Elizabeth Banks and Holly Hunter. Up-and-coming star Selena Gomez was surrounded by some great role models while Jenny McCarthy kept it sleek in her pantsuit. Catherine Hardwicke has had quite a whirlwind year in the success of Twilight but now she's shifting her focus elsewhere as she and Emile Hirsch take on Hamlet.

To see more from the event including Christina Hendricks, Heather Locklear, Sarah Chalke and others just read more

Jada Pinkett Smith brought Will along to the Turner networks' Upfronts in NY earlier today. She was the life of the party in her short cocktail dress, running around and chatting with other actors like Kyra Sedgwick and Tyler Perry. Jada's starring alongside Michael Vartan in a new medical show called Hawthorne, which premieres next month. Meanwhile, Will has news of his own to celebrate — his production company just acquired the rights to a true story about an ex-Marine dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

To see more photos including Dylan McDermott, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tyler Perry and others just read more

Saving Grace has already earned Holly Hunter a Golden Globe nomination, and few would be shocked to hear her name on Thursday when the Emmy nominations are announced. Hunter plays an Oklahoma City detective who lives large for better or for worse — throwing herself into her work but also drinking, smoking, and sleeping with the wrong people. She's also being visited by Earl, an unusual angel who encourages Grace to set her life straight.

The show's second season premieres tonight at 10 p.m. EDT and PDT on TNT, and last week, Hunter spoke with some reporters about her character, the show's second season, and her feelings about making the jump from movies to TV. Here are some highlights:

On whether Grace changes at all this season:
"I think she changes all the time, actually. I think there's give and take inside her. There's always movement. She's very kinetic. And I think she's also kinetic in a psychological way. . . . The most thrilling thing about her is how live she is. So many people are truly asleep for long periods in their days and their lives. I think Grace spends an extraordinary amount of her time really awake, awake to a real, true curiosity about why people do what they do. She also is a real tester of what people are capable of and what she herself is capable of."

On what opened the door for Saving Grace to exist:
"What preceded that was the success of The Shield and Rescue Me and The Sopranos — really started the wild, wild west in cable. FX and HBO kind of started this new idea, which was real character drama, and a character who does anti-heroic things, not just a character who's quirky but a character who straddles two worlds — one world being highly charged with questionable thoughts and behavior, such as Denis Leary and Tony Soprano and Vic Mackey. Those characters live in a more similar vein to how Grace lives, except that Grace is a woman. That's where cable is really kind of taking off. It's given women opportunities to play highly controversial characters, women who are doing things that maybe they wouldn't have been able to do on television 10 years ago, like Weeds on Showtime or Glenn Close in Damages or Minnie Driver in The Riches, women who were living lives of real, deep grayness."

To find out what Hunter thought was the toughest part of transitioning to TV, read more

A while ago, I speculated that TNT was becoming the official network of strong women. Tonight, two of the shows that have made it that way return for new seasons: The Closer begins its fourth season at 9 p.m. EDT and PDT, while Saving Grace starts its second immediately after.

The Closer has been a standout for several years now and spent last season shattering cable ratings records (many of which it already owned). The show has also earned wide acclaim for Kyra Sedwick as the no-holds-barred interrogator Brenda Leigh Johnson, who's practically a fixture in the Emmy and Golden Globe nominations these days. When this season begins, wildfires are tearing through Los Angeles, and Brenda is there to unleash her fury on anyone who seems to have done wrong.

Meanwhile, Saving Grace starts season two with Holly Hunter's Grace continuing to come to terms with her past — which seems to be darker and more haunted at every turn. Hunter spoke with reporters last week, including yours truly, and I'll be bringing you some of her comments later today. For now, though, you can get a sneak peek of the new episodes of The Closer and a quick recap of the first season of Saving Grace if you read more

I got a promotional e-mail today touting the Summer programming lineups on TNT and TBS. As I scrolled through looking for a return date for The Closer (July) and a start date for Raising the Bar (September), a banner at the bottom caught my eye:

"Kyra Sedgwick, Holly Hunter, Laura San Giacomo, Jordana Spiro, Nancy Travis, Jane Kaczmarek, and Gloria Reuben are just a few of the strong women coming to TNT and TBS this summer."

And they have good reason to spotlight that: Of the five series featured in the e-mail, only one (The Bill Engvall Show on TBS) has a male character in the lead. The rest are either female-led or have women in the majority of the starring roles: My Boys on TBS and all three of TNT's dramas, The Closer, Saving Grace, and the new series Raising the Bar. And, what's more, three of those four series have leading ladies over the age of 40 — a relative rarity in Hollywood.

I'm not sure if TNT and TBS set out to become networks full of programming featuring women who are tough, quirky, and relatable (and succeeding in roles typically earmarked for men, at that), but regardless, I find it encouraging that it's happened. They aren't the only networks in this game; FX's Damages drew a ton of acclaim with Glenn Close in its leading role. I just like the fact that these networks see their roster of shows with older, female stars not as a risk but as something to be celebrated. What's your take?

The Closer is going home for the holidays. Tonight, TNT will air a special two-hour version of the show called "Next of Kin."

The special finds Krya Sedwick's Brenda heading home to Georgia over Christmas — but she's there on business, not family matters, at least at first. A gang robbery of armored cars leads Brenda back home in pursuit of a suspect. But once Brenda's parents learn she's nearby, they start lobbying her to spend Christmas with them as a family. TNT's description of the episode promises the story involves "the federal Do-Not-Fly list, a long trip in an RV, missing Perry Como CDs and some questionable tactics that could, potentially, lead to deadly consequences on Christmas Eve." Sounds like a jam-packed two hours, indeed.

The special leads into the first of four new episodes of Saving Grace, the Holly Hunter series that premiered on the network this summer. I wish I'd kept up with the show better this summer, because its reappearance on Monday nights could give me something to watch now that Chuck and Heroes are heading off the air. Did anyone else stick with it? If you're like me and need to catch up on the first season, check out this quick recap. Or, you can watch a preview of the Closer special over here.

Photo courtesy of TNT