Already our savvy forum moderators gave us their gutsy Oscars predix for best picture and lead actress. Now these pundits come out swinging over the lead actors' slugfest: Chris "Boomer" Beachum, Matthew "Boidiva02" Cormier, Darrin "DoubleD" Dortch, Robert "Rob L" Licuria, Andrew "andrew" Pickett and Paul Sheehan. Read the reax of our regular forum posters here.

Personally, my own picks are Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth and Viggo Mortensen. I'd like to add Freeman to my lineup too, but I have a hunch that it's probably an emotionally reserved role, like Nelson Mandela in real life, and maybe even a supporting one. I have a sneaky suspicion that Warner Bros. is pushing Freeman in the lead category for "Invictus" so he doesn't compete against costar Matt Damon, who is being shoved down to supporting so that he doesn't compete against his rival lead performance in Warner Bros.'s "The Informant!" Just a suspicion. No proof — yet. But this Damon setup looks a lot like the same mess involving Leonardo DiCaprio caught between clashing Warner Bros. films "The Departed" and "Blood Diamond."

Photos from left: Morgan Freeman in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.), Colin Firth in "A Single Man" (Weinstein Co.), George Clooney in "Up in the Air" (Paramount)

RELATED POSTS

Oscars predix: Who's ahead in the best-actress derby

Gold Derby nuggets: Good and great news for Jude Law | Will Sandra Bullock be double Globe nominee? | Ellwood & Thompson crazy for Jeff Bridges in 'Crazy Heart'

Forum commenters divided over Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as Oscars hosts

'Inglourious Basterds' goes for drama at the Golden Globes

During its first 14 years on NBC, "ER" reaped a record number of Emmy Award nominations (122), resulting in 22 wins, including a victory as best drama series of 1996. After it exits the television airwaves on Thursday, "ER" will have one last shot at Emmy glory.

In its early TV years, most of "ER's" Emmy acting bids were for ongoing series stars George Clooney, Noah Wyle, Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfield and Eriq La Salle. The only regularly featured star to win was Julianne Margulies as best supporting actress of 1995.

Later in the TV life of "ER," its acting nominations came only in the guest categories — and there were lots of them (21) over the years — including bids for such luminaries as Alan Alda, Red Buttons, Don Cheadle, Sally Field, Ray Liotta, Bob Newhart, Stanley Tucci, Forest Whitaker, James Woods and George Clooney's real-life aunt, crooner Rosemary Clooney. Two guest stars won. Can you name them? Click through the photo gallery created for The Envelope by Paul Sheehan to see the answers and to revisit the historical guest turns on one of TV's greatest series.

The return of George Clooney to "ER" on Thursday gave the long-running medical drama its best rating in two years. NBC says 10.7 million people tuned in to catch up on what had happened to George Clooney's character since we last saw Doug Ross at the end of Season 6. While Clooney had left the show at the end of the fifth season when his contract expired, he returned then to film a cameo that saw him reuniting with on-again, off-again love Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) in Seattle.

Thursday's episode came almost nine years after that last appearance and we learned that the pair are now happily married and working together at a hospital in Seattle. While they delicately dealt with a grandmother (Susan Sarandon) deciding whether to donate the organs of her dying grandson, another fan favorite — Eriq La Salle as Peter Benton — was seen once more in a Chicago hospital. In a nice touch, he tended to his one-time student John Carter (Noah Wyle) as he underwent a kidney transplant.

Though those ratings are respectable enough in today's 100-plus channel universe — especially for a show finishing its 15th season — they are a far cry from the staggering numbers that "ER" used to get. For those first five seasons with George Clooney onboard, the show averaged an audience of just less than 30 million. Even for the next five seasons, the Thursday night staple still averaged a viewership of almost 22 million. Beginning with Season 11, the medical drama dropped out of the top 10. Last year — Season 14 — saw viewership fall below 10 million for the first time. Even though "ER" came in at only No. 54, that still put it in on a par with Emmy contenders such as "Boston Legal" (No. 51) and "Ugly Betty" (No. 53).

However, with the decline in ratings came a corresponding drop in Emmy attention. Over the course of its first 14 years, "ER" has amassed a record 122 Emmy nominations, with 22 wins. Beginning with its first season, it earned seven consecutive bids for best drama series, winning for Season 2 in 1996. But no regular cast member has been nominated for an Emmy since Season 7 when Maura Tierny contended for supporting actress. (She lost to Allison Janney for "The West Wing.") And the show has earned only 22 of its total Emmy nods since then, winning two tech awards and the guest actor Emmy for Ray Liotta in Season 11. While Tierney left "ER" at the beginning of this season, she is slated to return in this week's episode.

RELATED POSTS:

George Clooney and the rest of the returning 'ER' cast can't compete as guest stars at the Emmys

Can Oscar winner Susan Sarandon earn an Emmy for guesting on tonight's 'ER'?

Meryl Streep no-go on '30 Rock,' but Susan Sarandon joins George Clooney on 'ER'

As usual, Showtime launches first major campaign of Emmy season

'Desperate Housewives' Nicollette Sheridan waves goodbye to Wisteria Lane

Photo: NBC

Get Gold Derby on Twitter. Join the Gold Derby Group at Facebook. Become friends with Tom O'Neil on Facebook. Get Gold Derby RSS feed via Facebook. RSS Feedburner. RSS Atom.

The "ER" series finale April 2 is being sold to advertisers at $425,000 per 30-second spot. That is more than three times the going rate of $135,000 that the show has been getting as it winds up its 15th and final season on NBC. Part of the price hike is no doubt due to the highly anticipated return of one-time show star George Clooney as Doug Ross.

Clooney's appearance will cap off a farewell season that has already seen the return of original castmates Anthony Edwards — in a flashback as Mark Greene with new series regular Angela Bassett — and Noah Wyle who began an arc last week that has his character, John Carter, undergoing dialysis.

The last appearance of George Clooney on "ER" came at the end of the sixth season as Ross reunited with on-again off-again love Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies). Margulies — whose character was to die at the end of the pilot — had such great chemistry with Clooney that the producers kept her on the show. And she is the only one of the series regulars to ever win an Emmy taking home supporting actress in a drama series for the first season (1995). Margulies was nominated for each of her following five years on the medical drama, moving up to lead actress in the third season but never winning any of her four bids in that category.

George Clooney lost the lead-actor race for each of the first two seasons while Anthony Edwards went 0 for 4 in the category (1995-98) and then went without a nod for another four seasons before his character was killed off. Also appearing in that flashback with Edwards was two-time supporting actress nominee (1997-98) Laura Innes as the feisty Kerry Weaver. Wyle, who rose up the ranks as the other original cast members left, was featured in 11 seasons and had five consecutive unsuccessful supporting actor nods (1995-99).

Also slated to appear in the finale is Sherry Stringfield, who lost three consecutive lead actress bids (1995-1997) as Susan Lewis. And Eriq La Salle, who also lost three supporting actor nods (1995, 1997-98) as Peter Benton, recently directed an episode.

To date, "ER" has racked up a record 122 Emmy nominations, including seven consecutive bids for best drama series (1995 - 2001). It has won 22 Emmys including a single win for series in 1996. Given the show's success rate at getting Emmy nominations for guest stars, Clooney and company could end up making one last run for the gold.

Meryl Streep has managed to avoid the fate of her female contemporaries who, at a certain age, have found themselves shunted off to the small screen after decades of starring on the big one. Just look at the lineup of nominees at last weekend's SAG Awards. Two Oscars winners — Sally Field ("Brothers & Sisters") and Holly Hunter ("Saving Grace") contended in the drama series lead actress race — while another two Oscar champs — Shirley MacLaine ("Coco Chanel") and Susan Sarandon ("Bernard & Doris") competed in the movie/mini lead actress category.

Compare their TV triumphs with those of Meryl Streep in the movies. She is still riding high in Hollywood with box-office smashes like "Mamma Mia!" and "The Devil Wears Prada" and she just earned her 15th Oscar nod (setting a new record) as well as her first SAG movie award for "Doubt." Streep has only deigned to do TV twice since her movie career took off in the late '70s She was Emmy nomm'd for the TV movie "First Do No Harm" in 1997 (she lost to Alfre Woodard in "Miss Evers' Boys") and won her second Emmy Award in 2004 for "Angels in America" (her first win came in 1978 for "Holocaust").

So, it was somewhat surprising to read in the New York Daily News Gatecrasher column that "Alec Baldwin, a winner for lead actor in a comedy series, interrupted Streep’s giddy dance-athon to ask her to appear on "30 Rock" and it didn’t take much for the star to agree. "Meryl was delighted with the idea of appearing on the show," a well-placed insider tells us. "She said yes immediately." Turns out, as TV Guide reports, "the fanciful tale is not true, and that the exchange between SAG winners never happened. The good news, though, for those who hoped to see Baldwin and Streep share a scene: At the very least, they will be working together this April, as costars of a new Nancy Meyers film."

But Kristin Dos Santos of E Online can confirm that Susan Sarandon will be guesting on the most anticipated episode of "ER" this season — the one that heralds the return of George Clooney. "Sources tell me exclusively that Sarandon filmed scenes late last week with fellow Oscar winner Clooney on the set of 'ER' at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. The episode will air toward the end of the current final season of the long-running NBC hit. So what went down on set? And which other stars got to share screen time with Dr. Doug Ross, a.k.a. Clooney? According to sources who were there on set for Clooney's return, 'ER' series regular Linda Cardellini (Sam) also got the chance to work with Clooney in at least one scene. So far no details of the storyline have been revealed."

Susan Sarandon, who got her start in '70s TV shows, has never shied away from returning to the tube if the part is a good one. She picked up her first Emmy nod in 2001 for guesting on the red-hot "Friends" as an over-the-top soap star (she lost to Jean Smart who won her second of two Emmys for her appearances on "Frasier") and her second the following year for a guest spot on "Malcolm in the Middle" (all-time Emmy champ Cloris Leachman won for her own star turn on "Malcolm"). Last fall, Sarandon lost the lead actress in a movie or mini race to "John Adams" leading lady Laura Linney, who also won at SAG on Sunday.

RELATED POSTS:

After SAG Awards, who's out in front in the Oscars derby?

Meryl Streep just hiked her record number of Oscar nominations, but . . .

George Clooney could finally take home the Emmy that has eluded him for 14 years. He came to fame on TV's "ER" in 1994 but lost the lead actor race for each of the first two seasons of the hit medical drama. Now the show is signing off at the end of this, its 15th season, and according to TV Guide, plans are afoot to lure Oscar winner George Clooney and other original castmates back to Cook County for one more shift. Show runner/executive producer David Zabel says he's optimistic that they might be able to get them all. "We have a really good story line for every [major] character from the past to show [the actors] what we want to do."

And given the show's success rate at getting Emmy nominations for guest stars, Clooney and company would do well to consider making an appearance. Over the first 14 seasons, 13 actors, including this year's nominee Stanley Tucci, have competed as guest stars on the show. Ray Liotta was the only winner among the group for his stunning 2005 portrayal of the last hours of the life of an alcoholic. Among the seven actresses to compete for their guest shots, only Sally Field won in 2001 for the first of her two nods as the bipolar mother of Maura Tierney.

Already in the can is a Nov. 13 appearance by Anthony Edwards, who went 0 for 4 in the lead actor race (1995-98). Although his character, Mark Greene, was killed off after eight seasons, he will appear in a flashback with new series regular Oscar nominee Angela Bassett. Also appearing in that flashback will be two-time supporting actress nominee Laura Innes as the feisty Kerry Weaver. And Noah Wyle is slated to return for the final four episodes as an older but wiser John Carter. Wyle, who rose up the ranks as the other original cast members left, was featured in eleven seasons and had five consecutive unsuccessful supporting actor nods (1995-99).

While the show has racked up a record 122 nominations to date, the only regular cast member to win an Emmy so far is Julianna Margulies, who picked up the supporting actress trophy for the first season (1995) and was nominated for each of her following five years on the medical drama. Though she moved up to lead actress in the third season, she never won any of her four bids in that category. When Margulies left the show after six seasons, her character and Clooney's were reunited in a surprise that left fans wanting more.

(NBC)

In "Burn After Reading," John Malkovich gets one of his signature, showy, put-upon roles — the kind in which he gets to wig out. (Memo to fans: insert cheer here.)

"He's long-suffering in a way," Malkovich tells Gold Derby in our podcast chat. Because his character is such a loser, "one's happy, in a way, to see him suffer.  ... But at least he doesn't have the problem of not being able to express his anger!"

To listen our podcast, CLICK HERE to download the MP3 file. (Note: You may need to hold down your computer's control key while clicking.)

Malkovich defines his role thus: "He's a drunk who, of course, denies that by resorting to Mormon jokes. His wife's having an affair with George Clooney. He's been fired from his job. He's being blackmailed. He's trying to write his memoirs or his book [but] realizes he's utterly talentless. He's locked out of his house, and all of his things are thrown out in the rain, so he's burned out, he's burned up and now he wants to burn someone else."

His character's response: At one point he takes out a hatchet and goes at it. At another point, he punches Brad Pitt, who is blackmailing him after discovering a computer disk containing those memoirs.

What was it like to haul off and nail Pitt? Or, rather, shooting that scene for "Burn After Reading"?

"Little closed quarters for a punch," Malkovich says, "but it was just sort of a pop. Brad has done — how many trillion stunts in his life? — so he's very good. The person throwing the punch — it doesn't really matter what they do. It's the person receiving it that counts. Obviously, it only works from certain angles so you figure out, from where the camera is, what is the angle that it can really be sold that you're really punching someone. It didn't take long. He's very good at it."

Malkovich's character endures so much misery that the audience howls and hoots. But why do viewers laugh at such things in any film?

"Because we're glad it's not us," he says. "It's a comedy if it happens to you. It's a tragedy if it happens to me. That's why, when you see bloopers — you know, a grandmother loses her teeth or an overweight person falls out of a boat — it's hilarious stuff. To me, no, but most people just laugh themselves sick.

"We laugh because we realize how ridiculous and absurd we are," he adds. "Deep down, we know. You realize how easily we could be in that position, how incredibly easily, and part of that exhale of that laughter is our relief in that not having been us.

"But then there's another (reason) — when you laugh because you recognize. Like in this film when they see me come out with a hatchet, their natural reaction is to laugh. Why? A) Because it's me with the hatchet, so they know that it's probably going to get used. And B) they also laugh because it's their id saying, 'God, I'd love to do that!'"

(Focus Features)

A year late, but Brad Pitt finally received the best actor award he won from the Venice Film Festival in 2007 for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

Now back as star of the Coen brothers' "Burn After Reading," which opened the festival, Brad Pitt was handed the prize at last.

"I guess you forgot something here years ago," said the mistress of ceremonies, handing him the gold cup.

"You can run but you can't hide," Pitt said accepting it. "It was an honor to receive this last year and it's an honor to receive it this year. Thank you very much."

It's common for stars not to be present to accept the Venice Film Festival awards. The prizes are bestowed on the fest's final night at which point most celebs have gone home. Sometimes winners turn around and hurry back to reap the honor, but often they can't. That's what happened to Ben Affleck. Two years ago he found out that he won best actor for "Hollywoodland" soon after he landed in Los Angeles after returning from Venice. Affleck scrambled to try to arrange flights to get back before the fest officially closed, but without success.

Last year Brad Pitt attended the Venice Film Festival to promote "Jesse James," but left before awards night after being jumped by a crazed fan who pushed past his bodyguards and threw her arms around the heartthrob star. Pitt was obviously shaken by the ambush and said afterward, "I haven't been jumped like that in a while. It tells me that we're vulnerable. It's something I have been thinking about, but I don't want to change my life to avoid those kind of things. I've had break-ins in the house and I'm dealing with a recent one now. You also develop a radar. You feel it when you are approached by unbalanced people."

It's strange, however, that the Venice Film Festival didn't ship the award to Pitt after he won. That's how Affleck eventually caught up with his golden cup.

Last year Pitt triumphed over his longtime pal and "Burn After Reading" costar George Clooney, who competed for "Michael Clayton," plus James McAvoy ("Atonement"), Tommy Lee Jones ("In the Valley of Elah") and Tony Leung Chiu Wai ("Lust, Caution," winner of the Golden Lion as best picture).

Pitt did not end up reaping an Oscar nomination for "Jesse James," but that's not unusual. Over the last 20 years, only two stars who won best actor at the Venice Film Festival were nommed by the academy: David Strathairn ("Good Night, and Good Luck") and Javier Bardem ("Before Night Falls"). Neither won the Oscar.

KEEP READING - CLICK HERE!

BELOW: Brad Pitt and George Clooney at the press conference in Venice for "Burn After Reading" where Pitt says of his role as ditzy gym trainer who holds a computer disc of secret info: "After reading the part, which they said was hand-written for myself, I was not sure if I should be flattered or insulted."

The Toronto International Film Festival has revealed its full roster, which includes 312 movies from 64 countries — 76% will be world, international or North American premieres. Lots of stars will attend to add hype to pix with Oscars potential. George Clooney can't make it, but Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton will be on hand to help Joel and Ethan Cohen to add media heat to "Burn After Reading." Also: Viggo Mortensen and Renee Zellweger ("Appaloosa"), Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger ("Rachel Getting Married"), Bill Maher ("Religulous"), Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore and Gael Garcia Bernal ("Blindness"), Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah ("The Secret Life of Bees").

Read more info in reports from Canada's National Post, the AP and Reuters, Variety, Hollywood Reporter. Check out the festival's website here.

The Past Deadline blog by Ray Richmond of the Hollywood Reporter reports on the end of "ER." The all-time Emmy Awards nominations champ — two more nods this year brought its total tally to 122 — is checking out at the end of its upcoming 15th season. Once a ratings powerhouse, the medical drama has seen declining numbers and rising costs in recent years.

"Of the original cast, Noah Wyle stayed on the show the longest — 11 seasons," notes the report. "Fittingly, he will return to 'ER' for the final episode." In this wide-ranging interview, exec producer John Wells also revealed that the show's finale is unlikely to end with the closing of the hospital. "I think we will probably — we haven't written it yet — but certainly my inclination will be to feel as if we've simply walked away from the hospital with the cameras." To read the rest of this interview - CLICK HERE

"ER" garnered seven consecutive Emmy nods for best drama series beginning with its first year, winning only in its second season (1996). The only regular cast member to win an Emmy so far is Julianna Margulies, who picked up the supporting actress trophy for the first season (1995) and was nominated for each of her following five years on the medical drama. While she moved up to lead actress in the third season she never won any of her four bids in that category. Her on-screen love interest, George Clooney, lost lead actor bids for the first two seasons (1995, 1996) while Anthony Edwards went 0 for four in that same race (1995-1998). Sherry Stringfield got lead actress nods for three seasons (1995-1997) before leaving the show and went without recognition when she returned in 2001 for four more seasons. The other supporting actress nominees — Laura Innes and Gloria Reuben (1997, 1998), CCH Pounder (1997), and Maura Tierney (2001) all lost as well. Supporting actor contender Wyle made five successive unsuccessful bids (1995-1999) while Eriq La Salle lost three noms (1995, 1997, 1998).

Over the first 14 seasons, 13 actors, including this year's nominee Stanley Tucci, have competed for guesting on the show. Ray Liotta was the only winner among the group for his stunning 2005 portrayal of the last hours of the life of an alcoholic. Among the seven actresses to compete for their guest shots, only Sally Field won in 2001 for the first of her two nods as the bipolar mother of Maura Tierney.

(NBC)