Sherak and Mo’Nique, who won an Academy Award® for her supporting performance in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, announced the nominees in 10 of the 24 Award categories at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives.

Best Picture nominees are:

• Black Swan — Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• The Fighter — David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• Inception — Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• The Kids Are All Right — Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• The King’s Speech — Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• 127 Hours — Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• The Social Network — Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• Toy Story 3 — Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• True Grit — Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• Winter’s Bone — Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Visit Oscars.org for a complete list of nominees.

No Ordinary Family has been a fun departure from the superhero formula. The Powells are a typical American family growing steadily more distant. But after a plane crash in the Amazon, they gain amazing super powers. While Jim Powell (Michael Chiklis) tries to use his powers to stop crime, the rest of the family are trying to cope with their new abilities and maintain a “normal” life.

The Cape, on the other hand, does the opposite. It follows a cop named Vince Faraday (David Lyons) who is framed for the crimes of a master-criminal known only as Chess. When Faraday is apparently blown up on live television, he goes underground. With the help of a circus of criminals, he learns to fight back using a cape that can be used as a weapon. Like the hero in his son’s favorite comic book, he has no super powers, but he’s taking on criminals while trying to clear his name.

So, which show is the better superhero story? It may still be a bit too soon to declare a winner in the battle for prime-time superhero supremacy. But let’s take a closer look.

Powers

This is a bit of a no-brainer.

In No Ordinary Family, the dad, Jim (Chiklis) has super strength and invulnerability. Mom, Stephanie (Julie Benz) has super speed. The kids, Daphne (Kay Panabaker) and geek brother J.J. (Jimmy Bennett) are telepathic and super smart, respectively.

As The Cape, Faraday doesn’t have any powers. He has been trained by the Circus of Crime to be an escape artist, an illusionist, and a hypnotist. And, of course, he has a special cape that is “thin as spider silk but stronger than Kevlar.”

Advantage: No Ordinary Family

Villains

A hero is only as good as his or her villains. Take a look at Batman’s Rogues Gallery sometime. It’s the villains who test the mettle of a hero and define the hero by their evil actions.

In The Cape, Faraday has been framed by a criminal mastermind named Chess (James Frain). So it’s no surprise that Chess has become The Cape’s arch-nemesis. Like the Joker or Lex Luthor, Chess is the main bad guy. But there are others as well. Like The Cape, the villains don’t have super powers. With names like Chess, Scales, and Cain, they are more like caricatures of a real-world mobster.

In No Ordinary Family, the Powells abilities are the result of an accident in the Amazon jungle. So one might assume there aren’t any other similarly powered villains running around town. Unbeknownst to The Powells, Stephanie’s boss, Dr. King (Stephen Collins), has been experimenting with giving powers to test subjects. The powers are unstable and require constant injections, but the test subjects are every bit as powerful as The Powells.

Advantage: No Ordinary Family

Sidekicks

Every hero needs a sidekick, someone with whom they can share their secret and turn to for help now and then.

The Cape not only has the Circus of Crime to help train him, he has Max (Keith David) to act as mentor and guide. He also has a high-tech hacker named Orwell (Summer Glau) to help him track Chess’s movements and keep him connected to what’s going on.

In No Ordinary Family, Jim has his best friend George St. Cloud (Romany Malco), who works in the district attorney’s office and has a state-of-the-art surveillance “lair” in his garage. Stephanie’s lab assistant, Katie (Autumn Reeser), is not only her go-to helper, but she also has a head filled with superhero trivia.

Advantage: Tie

Costumes

Everyone knows a superhero needs a disguise to help hide his or her true identity.

So, it’s a bit surprising that Jim Powell hasn’t really caught on to this concept yet. He was working under the cover of darkness for a few episodes. But now he’s taken to leaping across town in broad daylight without so much as a bandanna to cover his face. It’s a wonder no one has snapped a picture yet.

The Cape, of course, has the the whole costume thing down. Naming himself after his son’s favorite comic book hero, Faraday knows how important it is to conceal his identity. Even when Max took away his cape for an episode, he had the presence of mind to fashion a mask for himself. Of course, calling yourself “The Cape” when you don’t have a cape is kind of stupid, but funny.

Advantage: The Cape

Tone

Tone is probably the biggest difference between The Cape and No Ordinary Family. Unfortunately, this is a bit like judging a flavor of ice cream. I may love chocolate, while you prefer strawberry. One isn’t necessarily better than the other. It’s just a question of taste.

The tone of The Cape is both serious and light-hearted. The world of Palm City and its problems are very realistic. This is basically a story of organized crime and one man’s quest to bring justice to his city. As a result, the story has some light-hearted moments to break up the tension. For me, the tone is almost perfect. If it has one failing, it’s the weekly subplots with Faraday’s estranged family. They slow down what otherwise would be a fast-paced adventure.

No Ordinary Family feels more like a situation comedy with superheroes thrown in for good measure. It’s not always funny, but it isn’t serious. When I saw the first couple of episodes, I kept describing it as “fluff.” It is, but I mean that in a good way. The story revolves around family drama more than crime fighting, as if this were a surreal deconstruction of a post-nuclear family. I know the fan community has been very vocal about the tone of this show not taking itself seriously. I don’t have a problem with it. But I would like to see the family come together more often to use their powers against a real villain.

Advantage: The Cape

Summary

So, if you’re counting, that’s 2 points for No Ordinary Family, 2 points for The Cape, and one tie. Both shows offer superhero drama, but they are doing it from opposite ends of the spectrum. But, if I had to make a guess, I think No Ordinary Family has the best chance to survive. As I said, it’s more of a family drama with superheroics thrown in. As such, I think it will reach a wider audience.

My recommendation is to try them both. Give each one a few weeks to grow on you. And if you like them, tell the networks. Maybe we’ll see more comic book-inspired television in the future.

“We think the team of Steve and Alec are the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars,” said Shankman and Mechanic. “Steve will bring the experience of having hosted the show in the past and Alec will be a completely fresh personality for this event.”

“I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin,” said Martin.

“I don’t play the banjo but I’m thrilled to be hosting the Oscars – it’s the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Baldwin.

Martin hosted the 73rd and 75th Academy Awards shows, earning an Emmy nomination for the first stint. He has also served as a presenter on the show several times, most recently at the ceremony in February when he appeared with Tina Fey. In 2007 Martin earned a Kennedy Center Honor.

Baldwin was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for his supporting role in The Cooler. That year also marked his most recent appearance as a presenter on the show. Baldwin currently stars as Jack Donaghy on the comedy 30 Rock, a role for which he has won two Emmys (in 2008 and 2009).

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

V promo poster courtesy of ABC

Last night, the new science fiction series V debuted on ABC.

I’m proud to be of a certain age, so I remember the original V miniseries quite well. To say that it had an effect on me is an understatement. I was already a self-proclaimed science fiction nerd by the time the show aired in 1983. V, however, did something very different. It brought outer space to Earth in an apocalyptic-type event.

So, it has been with great anticipation that I have waited for this series to come to television. I’ll admit, I had some trepidation, but I always give a new TV series a chance – especially when it’s science fiction.

So, how did last night’s debut of V do on the FilmGuru-a-meter? I’d give it a solid 6 out of 10. It was about what I expected. Not great, but not horrible either.

SPOILER ALERT! If you don’t want to know what happened, stop reading now!

My high school forensics teacher, Mrs. Shipley, always told us to start with something positive. So let me begin by saying that the new series has a good cast. I’m happy to see Elizabeth Mitchell, Joel Gretsch, Morris Chestnut, Morena Baccarin, and Alan Tudyk in this show, especially in roles that I wouldn’t have picked for them. I’m not convinced that the full range of their abilities is being utilized, but it was only one episode. I hope they can rise above their thin characters.

As for the problems V has, let’s begin with pacing. An informal poll of my co-workers this morning confirmed what I had already suspected; the show seemed rushed. Everyone thought the show did nothing to set up the characters before the action began. It was as if the writers thought “You all know this story, so let’s get right to it.”

The story begins with the day the Visitors arrive. We get a quick glimpse around New York so that we can identify a few people. There’s Erica the FBI agent (Mitchell) and her son Tyler (Logan Huffman), Father Jack (Gretch), anchorman Chad (Scott Wolf), and the soon-to-be engaged Ryan (Chestnut).

All hell breaks loose as alien ships arrive all over the globe. Next thing we know, Anna’s (Baccarin) face is beaming down at us from the mothership telling us, “We are of peace. Always.”

And that’s how things went for the entire episode. It’s as if they wanted to hit several things in the first episode, but only had one hour to do it. (Really, ABC? Would it have killed you to give it a 2-hour premiere?) So, in one episode we need to introduce:

• the Visitors are here for our water and other minerals
• the Visitors offer to provide universal health care in exchange for our resources
• the Visitors are co-opting the media by making Chad their public relations guy
• the Visitors’ “Peace Ambassador Program” is a way of indocrinating our youth
• there is a resistance to the aliens (although why is unclear)

Instead of carefully setting up the characters and the storyline, the show rushes through the set up to get to that punchline we all knew was coming: the Visitors are really reptilian! This discovery was actually downplayed in favor of the bigger reveal: the Visitors have been on Earth for years, secretly leading us on a destructive path.

This brings up a couple of good questions that I would like to see explored in future episodes. First, does it matter that the Visitors don’t look like us? It seems a bit bigoted in the new millennium to assume that the Visitors are good because they look like us or that they’re evil because they don’t.

The truth is far more complex. There are good Visitors and bad Visitors. And what they look like shouldn’t be an issue. Sure, they’re carnivorous. But so are we (vegans and vegetarians aside). But as long as they don’t go munching on my friends and family, I don’t have a problem with lizard aliens.

And, more importantly, let’s discuss the implication of the second big revelation. Are the show’s writers suggesting that all terrorism is an alien threat? I certainly hope not. I can see the Visitors utilizing our own human failings (greed, hatred, lust, etc.) to destroy us, but let’s be clear — humanity is more than capable of exterminating itself without any help.

In the end, I liked V enough to keep watching. I’ll give the series a few more shows to get the pacing and storytelling problems worked out. In the end, it only has to beat out a multitude of marginal shows to make it onto my watch list.

After all, I stuck with Smallville for 6 seasons.