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NEW YORK (August 31, 2009) – Entertainment Weekly, a leading pop culture brand dedicated to showcasing the best of TV, film, books and more, is teaming up with Hulu, an online video service that offers hit TV shows, movies and clips at Hulu.com and other online destination sites anytime in the U.S., for EW.com’s 2nd Annual EWwy Awards.  Every year, outstanding TV shows and performances are egregiously overlooked, underappreciated and essentially snubbed by the Emmy Awards.  Now, fans can turn the Emmys upside down by allowing their favorites a second chance at glory.  

The partnership between Hulu and Entertainment Weekly for this year’s EWwys cross-promotes the two brands and provides a digital forum for TV enthusiasts to support their favorite shows and stars.  EW.com’s EWwys programming will include galleries of photos for the ten categories with links back to Hulu’s EWwys package, as well as a series of posts on the award-winning blog PopWatch (www.EW.com/popwatch) with embedded video clips of the nominees.  Hulu will feature a thematic “carousel” of videos at www.hulu.com/ewwys2009 with links to vote and review all the nominees at EW.com. 

Starting today, EW.com and Hulu invite TV fans to log on to www.EW.com/ewwys and vote for their favorite TV shows, actors and actresses.  For the next week, voting is in five Comedy Series categories; on Monday, September 7, voting begins in the five Drama Series categories.  Six nominees in each of the ten EWwy categories were selected by passionate and discerning EW.com readers, who voiced their outrage when their favorite shows and actors were once again ignored by the voting members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.  

Fans are encouraged to visit www.EW.com/ewwys to vote in the five Comedy Series categories beginning Monday, August 31 until 3:01 AM ET/12:01 AM PT on Sunday, September 6:

Best Comedy Series. Nominees include Big Bang Theory, Better Off Ted, Chuck, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Psych, Pushing Daisies

Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Nominees include Zachary Levi (Chuck), James Roday (Psych), Kyle Bornheimer (Worst Week), Adam Scott (Party Down), Nathan Fillion (Castle), Patrick Warburton (Rules of Engagement)

Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Nominees include Eva Longoria Parker (Desperate Housewives), Jordana Spiro (My Boys), Kaley Cuoco (Big Bang Theory), Spencer Grammer (Greek), Portia DeRossi (Better Off Ted), Billie Piper (Secret Diary of a Callgirl)

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Nominees include Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies), Ed Helms (The Office), Hamish Linklater (New Adventures of Old Christine), Keir Gilchrist (United States of Tara), Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother)

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Nominees include Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords), Nicollette Sheridan (Desperate Housewives), Amy Ryan (The Office), Judy Reyes (Scrubs), Wanda Sykes (New Adventures of Old Christine), Becki Newton (Ugly Betty)

Fans may also visit www.EW.com/ewwys to vote in the five Drama Series categories beginning Sunday, September 6 until 3:01 AM ET/12:01 AM PT on Friday, September 11:

Best Drama Series. Nominees include Friday Night Lights, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, True Blood, Rescue Me, Burn Notice

Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Nominees include Josh Holloway (Lost), Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Denis Leary (Rescue Me), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), William Petersen (CSI), Scott Grimes (ER), David Boreanaz (Bones)

Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Nominees include January Jones (Mad Men), Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica), Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), Regina King (Southland), Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), Emily Deschanel (Bones)

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Nominees include Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy), Jake Weber (Medium), Walton Goggins (The Shield), John Noble (Fringe), Nelsan Ellis (True Blood), Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters)

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Nominees include Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), Alison Pill (In Treatment), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Lisa Edelstein (House), Chloe Sevigny (Big Love), Cote de Pablo (NCIS)

Winners of the coveted EWwy statuette – a shiny, golden female sheep or “ewe” – will be announced on Monday, September 14.

“EW.com has received a hailstorm of emails and blog comments from fans who are outraged that their favorite shows haven’t been recognized," said Cyndi Stivers, managing editor of EW.com.  “They say, ‘How did the Emmys manage to ignore True Blood?’ and 'What about Battlestar Galactica; what about The Shield?  They had the most amazing final seasons!’  We’re delighted to join forces with Hulu so we can show as well as tell what our audience believes to be TV’s best.”

Please visit www.EW.com/ewwys to view the rest of the 2009 EWwy nominees and to begin voting in the Comedy Series category.

About Entertainment Weekly and EW.com

Entertainment Weekly helps readers have fun.  It is your all-access pass to Hollywood’s most creative minds and most fascinating stars.  The print weekly was introduced by Time Inc. in 1990 and is America’s leading consumer magazine in the entertainment category, with a guaranteed circulation rate base of 1.813 million and an audience of 10.7 million loyal, engaged fans.  It is a winner of four National Magazine Awards (two for General Excellence, one for Design and one for Special Interest) and was named one of AdWeek's 2008 Magazine Brand Leaders.  Entertainment Weekly is the first to know about the best (and worst) in entertainment, and with sharp insight and a trusted voice, EW keeps readers plugged into pop culture. This is where buzz begins.
 
Each day, EW.com publishes dozens of online-only articles, videos, and photo galleries – plus a complete archive of Entertainment Weekly magazine.  In 2009, EW.com has received more than a half dozen industry awards, including the EPpy Award (from Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek) for best national magazine-affiliated website, two MIN Best of the Web awards (for PopWatch as best blog and best overall use of video), and an MPA Digital Award for best magazine blog (PopWatch). This year, the site has repeatedly broken its all-time records for total page views, unique users, and time spent.

About Hulu

Hulu is an online video service that offers a selection of hit shows, clips, movies, and more at Hulu.com and 35 destination sites online, including AOL, IMDb, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo!. Hulu's selection of premium programming is provided by nearly 190 leading content companies, including FOX, NBC Universal, Comedy Central, Lionsgate, MGM, MTV Networks, National Geographic, Paramount, PBS, Sony Pictures Television, and Warner Bros. Television Group.

Founded in March 2007, Hulu is currently co-owned by NBC Universal, News Corp., The Walt Disney Company, and Providence Equity Partners. It is operated independently by a dedicated management team with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Beijing.