The multi-camera sitcom Project Gary stars Jay Mohr (Ghost Whisperer) as Gary Barnes and Paula Marshall (Nip/Tuck) as Allison, a couple divorced after fifteen years of marriage who share custody of their two children. Their “politically correct and environmentally conscious” eleven-year-old daughter Louise is played by Laura Marano (Back to You, Without a Trace), while Ryan Malgarini (How to Eat Fried Worms) portrays their fourteen-year old “socially awkward” son Tom.

Gary, a painting contractor, finally re-enters the dating world and hooks up with single mother Vanessa (Jaime King of The Class), whom he meets when he’s hired to paint her apartment. Complications arise, however, when Gary learns his ex-wife is engaged to the ex-couple’s therapist, which encourages him to pursue his own form of happiness.

CBS ordered 13 episodes of the series executive produced by Ed Yeager (Still Standing) and Ric Swartzlander (8 Simple Rules). View a clip after the jump.

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The Peacock Network may not be anywhere near the highest-rated broadcast network around—that title goes to CBS—but that hasn’t stopped it from performing incredibly well at the Primetime Emmy Awards each year recently.

When you combine the results from last Sunday’s ceremony (seven wins) with those from the previous weekend’s Primetime Creative Arts Emmys (twelve wins), NBC managed to score an impressive nineteen statuettes, more than any other broadcast network.

The parent company NBC Universal also placed an additional five Emmys on its mantle thanks to those the cable networks Bravo, Sci Fi Channel, and USA earned.

The notable performers over on free TV included:

• Tony Bennett: An American Classic: Seven Emmys, including Outstanding Individual Performance (Tony Bennett) and Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special
• 30 Rock: Two Emmys, Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Elaine Stritch)
• The Office: Two Emmys, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Greg Daniels) and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series
• Saturday Night Live: Two Emmys, Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics (“Dick in a Box”) and Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series

While I’d like to pretend that it was a surprise when beautiful, 23-year-old America Ferrera’s name was called for her to go onstage and retrieve her Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, it wasn’t. Ever since Ugly Betty debuted last fall, Ferrera has turned in a skilled performance that makes viewers completely believe she is Betty Suarez, the kindhearted, capable, and sincere girl from Queens, New York, who positively impacts nearly every life she touches.

I had my first in-depth encounter with Ferrera’s work in the young-adult feature film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Different story, different medium, different cast and crew, same excellent and 100 percent convincing performance by Ferrera. It’s not too premature to predict that this is one young actress who will remain around for a while and who will maintain her self-respect and professionalism as long as she is. Even her acceptance speech reflected an especially gracious attitude, which seems rare among the Britneys and Lindsays and Parises who define too much of Hollywood preoccupations.

It is truly an amazing, wonderful thing that happens when your dreams come true. And I just wish that for everybody, that they get to do what inspires them and inspires them to make a change in the world. And I just— I have to share this with all the people in my life who truly know what this means to me: my family, who I know is watching; Ryan, my best friend; my team, Carrie, Alicia; and to this cast. To Ben Silverman and Teri Weinberg and Jim Hayman, and to Marco Pennette and Silvio for creating the show. This is such an amazing, wonderful achievement. And the reward is being able to wake up and go to work tomorrow and see all your faces. So, thank you so much.

Richard Shepard is no stranger to directing, both for the small screen and the big ones. In addition to taking on last year’s pilot for the ABC dramedy Ugly Betty, he has also directed an episode of the CBS FBI procedural Criminal Minds, as well as a Hollywood release I enjoyed a lot when I saw it—The Matador, starring Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, and Hope Davis.

Thanks to his talent guiding cast and crew members, everyone’s favorite Americanized telenovela is now even more a part of Emmy history. I’m personally grateful to Shepard and everyone else who works or has worked on the dramedy for making the series as entertaining and unique as it is.

Shepard said the following when he arrived onstage Sunday night to accept his award for helming the debut installment of Ugly Betty.

In 1977, I was twelve years old, and I was failing every class in sixth grade. And my parents decided to ban the television, and I was allowed a half hour each week, which I, of course, watched Happy Days on ABC. I was allowed to watch if the Mets or the Yankees made it into the World Series.

Of course, it didn’t work; I just watched TV at my friend’s house. I watched late at night with my face right against the television. But, at least they tried. And I love you, mom and dad, my wife Carolyn, and all the people at Ugly Betty. You guys are the best.

Writer, executive producer, and director Greg Daniels picked up a fifth primetime Emmy on Sunday to go along with the four he had already earned while working on Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and the U.S. version of The Office. His award-worthy feat this time around consisted of penning the really funny Office episode “Gay Witch Hunt,” the sitcom’s third-season premiere that aired last September for the first time.

If you haven’t seen the episode already, it’s highly recommended and well worth watching, if only to experience the extraordinary level of discomfort it manages to attain, even for an installment of the frequently cringe-inducing Office.

Upon accepting his award, Daniels related the following anecdote.

This is my name which I recognize, but it’s really a team effort. I’m not the little red hen that baked that bread all by themselves.

I asked, “Who will write this script with me?” And the duck, the pig, and cat—that would be Mike Schur, Jen, and Paul—all said, “We will.”

I asked, “Who will direct this episode?” And Ken Kwapis said, “I will.”

I asked, “Who will say my words exactly as I wrote them?” And Steve Carell said, “Not I.”

“Not I,” said Rainn Wilson, and “Not I,” said Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski.

But thank you very much. Love you all.

This week feels like Attack of the Comediennes Week because a couple of them have been all over the news headlines in recent days. Sarah Silverman started tongues a-wagging, of course, when she offered her uncensored opinion of Britney Spears’ opening “comeback” performance during Sunday’s 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. But, before Silverman even opened her mouth, Kathy Griffin opened the way for a firestorm of criticism when she took to the stage at Saturday’s 2007 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards to accept the Outstanding Reality Program statuette for her Bravo reality series Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List.

Upon receiving her award, Griffin quipped in typical, acerbic D-List fashion, “A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now.”

As expected, folks everywhere claimed to be offended by the less than reverent religious tone of that statement, including Catholic League President Bill Donohue, and their adamant protests quickly resulted in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ public promise on Monday to censor Griffin’s remarks when the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards air this Sunday, September 16. Not that that move will help all that much since anyone who cares probably already knows what Griffin said due to the extensive media coverage that followed.

Also in typical D-List fashion, Griffin seems not to have the slightest concern about the controversy her acceptance speech aroused. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published online yesterday, she offers more opinions on Sunday’s Video Music Awards spectacle than Jesus after clarifying what her fans realized from the get-go: “It’s so great that people know, like, I’m actually kidding. So it was great to not get booed off the stage and have people throw burning crosses at me. I don’t think you can bring a burning cross to the Emmys. It was like, ‘Oh good, they’re finally getting that I’m just kidding.’”

To read more of Griffin’s thoughts about the VMAs—and Britney Spears, too—check out the interview “Chatty Kathy” at the EW site.