Josh Charles

As his sleek black Mustang convertible races down Pacific Coast Highway, 22-year-old actor Josh Charles takes in the strains of Ben Harper's "Welcome to the Cruel World" on his tape player. Fortunately for Charles, the song is anything but his theme song. In fact, he seems sublimely unaware that he is part of Hollywood's new breed of up-and-coming actors, including such diverse actors as Ethan Hawke, Brendan Fraiser, Ben Stiller and Cuba Gooding Jr.

For a television critic, the Emmys are always a mixed bag. It's always great when shows and performances we have supported from the beginning are recognized, but sometimes — if you can believe it — the shows and people we believe deserve to win don't. But there is one consistent bright spot in the process — when people whose work has been consistently terrific over the years are recognized for the first time. This year saw quite a few accomplished performers get their first Emmy nomination.

For a television critic, the Emmys are always a mixed bag. It's always great when shows and performances we have supported from the beginning are recognized, but sometimes — if you can believe it — the shows and people we believe deserve to win don't. But there is one consistent bright spot in the process — when people whose work has been consistently terrific over the years are recognized for the first time. This year saw quite a few accomplished performers get their first Emmy nomination.

As his sleek black Mustang convertible races down Pacific Coast Highway, 22-year-old actor Josh Charles takes in the strains of Ben Harper's "Welcome to the Cruel World" on his tape player. Fortunately for Charles, the song is anything but his theme song. In fact, he seems sublimely unaware that he is part of Hollywood's new breed of up-and-coming actors, including such diverse actors as Ethan Hawke, Brendan Fraiser, Ben Stiller and Cuba Gooding Jr.

If you haven't seen Aaron Sorkin repeating himself, then you haven't seen Shakespeare the way it was meant to be done. Sorkin's new series, "The Newsroom,"premiered on HBO on Sunday to good ratings and rotten reviews. And though he's been on a career high for a year now (he finally won an Oscar to go alongside his Emmys last year), even longtime fans may be cooling on the prolific writer's way with words. Best example? The current viral hit "Sorkinisms," which has been working its away around the Internet since Monday.

The strange thing about "Threesome" is that it looks like a TV sitcom but it walks and talks like a soft-porn roundelay. It's as if "Three's Company" suddenly got a case of hot monkey love. The threesome in question involves Stuart (Stephen Baldwin) and Eddy (Josh Charles), college roommates who couldn't be further apart in temperament, and Alex (Lara Flynn Boyle), who, through a computer mix-up, ends up sharing a dorm suite with them.

Warning: Seeing other people in the interval leading up to your wedding can be hazardous to the relationship. Although it takes the couple in the film "Seeing Other People" 90 minutes to learn this rather obvious lesson, fine performances from some TV-friendly faces make this slight romantic comedy more enjoyable than it sounds.

Can a film illustrate complex issues with relatively cardboard characters and dialogue? That's the conundrum of "Our America," which received accolades at Sundance in January and premieres on Showtime Sunday at 8 p.m. Based on a true story, the 95-minute movie focuses on LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman in Chicago's South Side. After a 1993 audition, the teens were selected by producer David Isay to create a "diary" for National Public Radio.

What: "Sports Night" When: Tuesday, 9:30 p.m., Channel 7 The promos were right. This show has as much to do with sports as "Baywatch" did with water safety. (Not that I ever watched "Baywatch." Honest.) OK, so "Sports Night" is not about sports. What is it about? People. Funny people. Smart people. People who need people. People who talk like you and I wish we could talk.

The Early Show (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today The Duggar family; Stephen King. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Regis and Kelly Katie Holmes; Peter Facinelli. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Darrell Hammond. (N) 10 a.m. KABC The Talk Kate Walsh; Nestor Carbonell. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS The Doctors Fat versus sugar; eliminating excessive body hair. (N) 2 p.m. KCBS The Nate Berkus Show Chef Paula Deen. (N)