ReasonForOurHope

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Emmy Nominations 2015: My Thoughts

photo by Alan Light


The nominees for this year's Emmys have just been announced.

For those who don't care about award shows and what they mean, feel free to skip this post.  But I think that there is actually insight that can be gained from these things.  The pushers of pop culture are telling us here what they think is important.  And we can understand how they will try to influences us better.

But for me, I just enjoy award shows.

Here are some of the major nominees (my thoughts below):

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
“Better Call Saul”
“Downton Abbey”
“Game of Thrones”
“Homeland”
“House of Cards”
“Mad Men”
“Orange is the New Black”
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
“Louie”
“Modern Family”
“Parks and Recreation”
“Silicon Valley”
“Transparent”
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
“Veep”
LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA
Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”
Kyle Chandler, “Bloodline”
Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
Jeff Daniels, “The Newsroom”
Liev Schreiber, “Ray Donovan”
LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA
Taraji P. Henson, “Empire”
Claire Danes, “Homeland”
Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder”
Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”
Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”
LEAD ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Timothy Hutton, “American Crime”
Ricky Gervais, “Derek Special”
Adrien Brody, “Houdini”
David Oyelowo, “Nightingale”
Richard Jenkins, “Olive Kitteridge”
Mark Rylance, “Wolf Hall”
LEAD ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Felicity Huffman, “American Crime”
Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story”
Queen Latifah, “Bessie”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honorable Woman”
Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge”
Emma Thompson, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street”
LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY
Anthony Anderson, “black-ish”
Matt LeBlanc, “Episodes”
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Will Forte, “The Last Man On Earth”
Louis C.K., “Louie”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”
LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY
Lisa Kudrow, “The Comeback”
Lily Tomlin, “Grace And Frankie”
Amy Schumer, “Inside Amy Schumer”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Amy Poehler, “Parks And Recreation”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
REALITY-COMPETITION SERIES
“The Amazing Race”
“Dancing With The Stars”
“Project Runway”
“So You Think You Can Dance”
“Top Chef”
“The Voice”
VARIETY SERIES
“The Colbert Report”
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live”
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”
“Late Show With David Letterman”
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”
LIMITED SERIES
“American Crime”
“American Horror Story: Freak Show”
“The Honorable Woman”
“Olive Kitteridge”
“Wolf Hall”
VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
“Drunk History”
“Inside Amy Schumer”
“Key & Peele”
“Portlandia”
“Saturday Night Live”
TELEVISION MOVIE
“Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Curtain, Poirot’s Last Case”
“Bessie”
“Grace of Monaco”
“Hello Ladies: The Movie”
“Killing Jesus”
“Nightingale”
SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA
Jonathan Banks, “Better Call Saul”
Ben Mendelsohn, “Bloodline”
Jim Carter, “Downton Abbey”
Peter Dinklage, “Game Of Thrones”
Alan Cumming, “The Good Wife”
Michael Kelly, “House Of Cards”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA
Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey”
Lena Headey, “Game Of Thrones”
Emilia Clarke, “Game Of Thrones”
Christine Baranski, “The Good Wife”
Christina Hendricks, “Man Men”
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is The New Black”
GUEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Alan Alda, “The Blacklist”
Michael J. Fox, “The Good Wife”
F. Murray Abraham, “Homeland”
Reg E. Cathey, “House of Cards”
Beau Bridges, “Masters Of Sex”
Pablo Schreiber, “Orange Is The New Black”
GUEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Margo Martindale, “The Americans”
Diana Rigg, “Game of Thrones”
Rachel Brosnahan, “House Of Cards”
Cicely Tyson, “How To Get Away With Murder”
Allison Janney, “Masters Of Sex”
Khandi Alexander, “Scandal”
SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY
Andre Braugher, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
Adam Driver, “Girls”
Keegan-Michael Key, “Key & Peele”
Ty Burrell, “Modern Family”
Tituss Burgess, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
Tony Hale, “Veep”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY
Mayim Bialik, “The Big Bang Theory”
Niecy Nash, “Getting On”
Julie Bowen, “Modern Family”
Allison Janney, “Mom”
Kate McKinnon “Saturday Night Live”
Gaby Hoffmann, “Transparent”
Jane Krakowski, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
Anna Chlumsky, “Veep”
GUEST ACTOR, COMEDY
Mel Brooks, “The Comedians”
Paul Giamatti, “Inside Amy Schumer”
Bill Hader, “Saturday Night Live”
Louis C.K., “Saturday Night Live”
Bradley Whitford, “Transparent”
Jon Hamm, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
GUEST ACTRESS, COMEDY
Christine Baranski, “The Big Bang Theory”
Gaby Hoffmann, “Girls”
Pamela Adlon, “Louie”
Elizabeth Banks, “Modern Family”
Joan Cusack, “Shameless”
Tina Fey, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
SUPPORTING ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Richard Cabral, “American Crime”
Denis O’Hare, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Finn Wittrock, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Michael Kenneth Williams, “Bessie”
Bill Murray, “Olive Kitteridge”
Damian Lewis, “Wolf Hall”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Regina King, “American Crime”
Sarah Paulson, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Angela Bassett, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Kathy Bates, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Mo’Nique, “Bessie”
Zoe Kazan, “Olive Kitteridge”


Here are my thoughts:

1.  Amy Schumer is the new Lena Dunham.
-I noted that Girls did not get nominated for best comedy and Dunham did not get a nomination for best actress.  I guess falsely accusing people of rape while admitting to molesting your baby sister is not the best way to boost your career.  But fear not, we have another foul-mouthed supposed "funny girl" to take her place.  I used to like Amy Schumer until she was on a panel show deriding a man for advocating saving yourself for marriage.  She just did a vulgar photo shoot for GQ and has a raunchy comedy coming out.  The media is pushing her hard.  We will see if she takes.  Based on anecdotal responses from some of my students, they love her.

2.  Ellie Kemper is snubbed.
-The Unbreakable Kimmi Schmidt is only tolerable because Ellie Kemper is fantastic in the lead role.  Everyone else is awful.  But nominations were given to other people that should never have been given, especially Tina Fey.  I'm not saying that Fey is a bad actress, but her character and performance on the show was simply awful.  But all of this fanfare for the worst parts of the show is like saying the best part of childbirth is the labor pain.

3.  Critic/audience divide.
The top 10 highest rated scripted shows of the year are these:
-The Big Bang Theory
-NCIS
-The Walking Dead
-NCIS: New Orleans
-Empire
-Scorpion
-Blue Bloods
-The Blacklist
-How to Get Away With Murder
-Criminal Minds

And none of these were nominated for best comedy or drama.

Now I have never said that popularity is necessarily an indicator of quality.  But it is strange that NONE of these shows were nominated for the best.  Maybe I am out of touch too, because I only watch 2 of the shows on this list: The Big Bang Theory and The Walking Dead.  But I would acknowledge that they deserve nominations over some of the ones up there.

4.  Edgy vs. Timeless.
-Honestly, will anybody be watching most of these shows in 10 years?  Besides Parks and Recreation, there are no shows nominated that I continue to watch regularly after the shows first air.  I might go back to Better Call Saul and perhaps if it improves House of Cards as well.  But will any of these other shows hold up?  Maybe, but I don't see it.

Thoughts?

4 comments:

  1. 3. Critic/audience divide.
    The top 10 highest rated scripted shows of the year are these:
    -The Big Bang Theory
    -NCIS
    -The Walking Dead
    -NCIS: New Orleans
    -Empire
    -Scorpion
    -Blue Bloods
    -The Blacklist
    -How to Get Away With Murder
    -Criminal Minds

    I would exclude any CSI or Law and Order variant. As well as anything by Chuck Lorre.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree about every Chuck Lorre show except for The Big Bang Theory. But I just find it fascinating how divided audiences and critics are sometimes.

      Delete
  2. On a personal note: Margo Martindale's performance in the second season of Justified deserves every award in the universe forever

    ReplyDelete
  3. "I agree about every Chuck Lorre show except for The Big Bang Theory."

    I'm having Seinfeld flashbacks with the Bing Bang Theory. I had to suffer through all too many Seinfeld show to stay current on my circle of friends's argot.
    Now they have deified Prissy. And I'm missing half the references they make.

    "But I just find it fascinating how divided audiences and critics are sometimes."

    My take on critics, with a grain of salt, is best summed up by Anton Ego's soliloquy in Ratatouille.

    As for the unwashed masses, I refer to Sturgeon's Law "Sure 90% of science fiction is crud. 90% of everything is crud." Water finds its own level.

    ReplyDelete