As I’m sure you know if you’re one of the handful of people reading this, I watch a lot of TV. So of course even though I think award shows are often bunk and don’t actually reflect the true accomplishments of people and shows in the TV industry, it is interesting to take a look at what gets included… and usually more interestingly, what gets excluded.
So here’s some thoughts:
- Forget the fact that there’s no network drama in the running for Best Drama–the real story is how insane it is that The Good Wife wasn’t nominated in this category. It is easily as good as any of the other nominees and, although I don’t watch all of them, I suspect better in a lot of cases.
- No Best Comedy nom for Glee. In fact I believe the only nomination for Gleel this year was a Best Guest Actress in a Comedy nod for Dot-Marie Jones. I think if I was going to effectively shut out Glee from the nominations, I would have done it over the season before last, their 2nd, and not their 3rd, which for all its flaws seemed a lot more consistent than the first two did.
- I’m happy for Dot-Marie Jones, though… the work she did in the last few eps of the season was great.
- Glad Michael C. Hall got another nomination for Lead Actor in a Drama for Dexter. However much you may like or dislike any particular season of the show, Hall is always compelling and crazily believable as the serial killer with a heart of gold.
- Why do reality tv series even EXIST, let alone get to compete for awards?!
- Given it’s the only sitcom I follow (well, other than MTV’s Awkward., which I think transcends the notion of sitcom), it’s a bit disappointing Courtney Cox didn’t get a nom for Cougar Town. She is definitely the wacky glue that keeps that show together.
- The Best Supporting Actor, Comedy category is a bit over-cluttered with Modern Family people, who make up 4 of the 6 slots. There should probably be a rule against that, like max. two nominations per show per category, or at the very least no more than half the nomination slots.
- SO very happy for Anna Gunn’s nomation as Best Supporting Actress, Drama for Breaking Bad as she is terminally underrated and overlooked on that show (granted, it’s not like her other castmates fade into the background). However, very sad that she’s up against two stellar The Good Wife cast members, namely the always fantastic Archie Panjabi and Christine Baranski. If any of those 3 win, I’ll be happy.
- It’s great the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is honouring Giancarlo Esposito for his turn as Gus Fring on Breaking Bad. As annoying as I found this past season’s “Gus is always two steps ahead of Walt… until he isn’t” interminable drag-on, Esposito was amazing to watch as one of the best villains of the last 20 or 30 years. Stiff competition for Aaron Paul, who also snagged a nom as Bad‘s constantly bewildered Jesse.
- Best miniseries or movie. I love how the BBC’s Sherlock is somehow in this category when it’s obviously a series. But if you were going to nominate one of the “movies” from its 2nd “series” (aka season), why on Earth would you pick the uneven and overly Moriarty-focused A Scandal in Belgravia and not the sublime… wait a sec, got my episodes mixed up! They did indeed nominate the best one of the second 3. The whole Irene Adler-Sherlock Holmes interplay in Scandal was magic.
- I quite liked American Horror Story but, as with Sherlock, sorry–it’s not a miniseries or movie. With Sherlock, I feel like it’s more of a grey area; with AHS, it’s obviously a ploy to face easier competition.
- Apparently Michael J. Fox is your go-to guy for Guest Actor, seeing as he was nominated not only as Best Guest Actor, Comedy for Curb Your Enthusiasm but also as Best Guest Actor, Drama for The Good Wife. Obviously his performance in Good Wife is better than anything he could have done in a comedy. It’s too bad for Dylan Baker, also nominated for his guest role in The Good Wife–he’s pretty great, but MJF is better.
- Seriously?! Uma Thurman for Smash?! Uh NO.
- It’s pretty weird that there’s anyone but The Good Wife nominees for the Best Guest Actor/ress races, actually, since all their guest stars are phenomenal and apparently it’s the show everyone wants to appear on.
- Okay, granted I didn’t really get into Missing and while I do really like its lead actress, really?! Ashley Judd for Best Lead Actress, Miniseries or Movie?! She was good but not what I would call Emmy-worthy. Probably better than Uma Thurman, however.
- Also, how you can nominate Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia but NOT nominate the woman who played Irene Adler is beyond me. Related: yay Benedict Cumberbatch’s nom for Lead Actor. Boo Martin Freeman’s nom for Support Actor. BC is amazing. MF–not so much. I don’t have high hopes for The Hobbit movies if they rely on his performance.
- Yes, and then finally we have the fact that The Good Wife didn’t get one nomination for writing, while Mad Men got three. Uh yeah, again… no.
- Finally, there should definitely be a Best Drama Willing to Winkingly Play Up Its Homoerotic Subtexts award and there should be two nominees: Supernatural and MTV’s Teen Wolf. And Teen Wolf should win, hands down.