THE ONLY THING I'M GUILTY OF IS LOVING PAWNEE. AND PUNCHING LINDSAY IN THE FACE AND SHOVING A COFFEE FILER DOWN HER PANTS: For a long time, the Emmys have occupied the awards-space that the Grammys used to fill -- not respected for who was nominated or who won, and a lousy three hours of tv on top of it. Well, the Grammys fixed the second (and marginally improved the first), and today's Emmy nominations suggest significant improvement on the nominating front.
Critics' darlings abound: Friday Night Lights for best drama, and its two leads in the acting categories; multiple Justified and Louie nominations; Parks and Recreation for Best Comedy (but no love for Ron f'n Swanson?); Game of Thrones and Peter Dinklage (and Miss Blankenship!) all among those recognized. And then the expected stuff for Mad Men, The Good Wife, 30 Rock, The Office, Modern Family (four best supporting actor noms), Boardwalk Empire and the like.
We'll be digging in the weeds all day (two more noms for Timberlake-as-lyricist, and one as SNL host; Pig Vomit nominated for his portrayal of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve!; Bill Simmons gets an Emmy nomination for the 30 for 30 series), and supplementing this post as we can.
added: Linda Holmes: "The Twitter vote for Most Aggravating Snub (Again) seems to be going to Community, which was completely shut out. In fairness, some of its more likely nominees might have been in the supporting categories, and Modern Family — where this year, all six of the major players were nominated — takes up a lot of real estate in those categories.... Runner-up is probably either Fringe or Ron Offerman of Parks & Rec, and while Offerman would be a great and worthy nominee, again, when one show takes four nominations in a single category, it's hard to break in. David Simon's Treme also got a big nothing, but at this point, fans of his past work (including the aforementioned The Wire) expect very little from the Emmys."
Alan Sepinwall: "Overall, though, the good far outweighed the bad this year. There will always be bad when you have this many shows, often being voted on by people who have neither the time nor interest in watching a lot of TV until they get the submission episodes for the nominees, and who have their own biases just as much as I do. But I look at Parks and Rec, at Friday Night Lights and Margo Martindale and Louis C.K. - and I have pie-in-the-sky fantasies about some of the less-famous nominees walking up to the stage - and I'm mostly content with how these nominations turned out, especially given how angry some past lists have made me."
There's a lot of good this year, and I want to be upfront that I think most of the nods are gold (and good lord, Louie getting nods makes me happy as hell). But...
ReplyDeleteYes, there's a but. Nothing for Community that I can see yet? Not even a writing nod for the My Dinner With Andre episode? Danny Pudi gets nothing? Oy.
Elton John only needed the E for his EGOT; no nom for his SNL work. I did not notice the Community snub the first time around. (Also snubbed: Outlaw.)
ReplyDeleteI finally got the fiance to start watching Sports Night, which reminds me how very glad I was to see Josh Charles finally get a role on another great series, and just makes me even happier to see his Emmy nomination today.
ReplyDeleteMelissa McCarthy looked so shocked she might fall over when Pacey read her nomination. Adorable. And I love her (although I've maybe never watched mike and Molly).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Melissa McCarthy being nominated was delightful, as she allowed herself a moment of gratified surprise before going on to read the next category.
ReplyDeleteThat writing nomination for "A Study in Pink" is spot-on. Also really happy to see A Game of Thrones overcome genre bias to get that series nod. Overall, in fact, I'm so happy with what they've included that I can't worked up about snubs.
ReplyDeleteYET.
Also snubbed, Alan Taylor for directing "Baelor" for Game of Thrones. Tim Van Patten was nominated for the pilot, though.
ReplyDeleteJustified got nominations of Olyphant, Goggins, Martindale and Davies (guest). Plus Louis C.K. Maybe if they swapped out some show that aren't funny that were nominated for Best Comedy and got "Archer" in there, FX's ascent could be complete.
ReplyDeleteSome thoughts:
ReplyDelete5 of the 6 choreography nominations are SYTYCD. It lists multiple dances for each choreographer nominated. Is that usual? They have talked on the show about particular "emmy nominated" dances in the past which made me assume the nominations were more specific.
I hope Game of Thrones wins for casting. That was a helluva job and one that was very well done.
I did not know there was an emmy for "Outstanding Commercial".
Matt LeBlanc as Matt LeBlanc? Nominated for an emmy? This sounds like something I have to see.
Nice to see two nominations for our old pal Stringer Bell for two very different performances.
I don't see any circumstances under which Michael J. Fox loses guest actor for his role in The Good Wife, can you?
Bourdain's Haiti episode got a writing nomination. Well deserved.
<p>Yes! Cat Deeley finally gets nominated. After last night's blushing, fumbling embarrassment when Jesse Tyler Ferguson brought it up, how can anybody not love her?
ReplyDelete</p>
<span>BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
ReplyDeleteKathy Bates, Harry's Law
Mirelle Enos, The Killing</span>
really?
also Modern Family is making a good argument for a cap on the number of nominations a single show can get a category.
ReplyDeleteAye. Danny Pudi, especially, was hosed.
ReplyDeleteI was so excited to see Friday Night Lights get nominated in its last season. And I was happy the Emmys' love for AMC didn't result in an undeserved nomination for The Killing. I was hoping Men of a Certain Age would get a few more nominations as it makes its bid for a third season, but I can't complain too much when the nominations in general were such a pleasant surprise.
ReplyDeleteI really like all the performers on Modern Family, but honestly, none of them had a real standout episode this year like Stonestreet had with Fizbo last year. (Arguably, Burrell and Bowen with the sex episode that repeated last night, but the Cam/Mitchell plot in that one is pretty damn intolerable.)
ReplyDelete<span>also Modern Family is making a good argument for a cap on the number of nominations a single show can get a category.</span>
ReplyDelete<span></span>
<span>It's only a matter of time before Nolan Gould and Rico Rodriguez make it a clean sweep.</span>
Most of the nominations are very reasonable and sensible.
ReplyDeleteWith the exceptions of:
-The complete snub of Community (which should've been considered as a best comedy, Danny Pudi for supporting and Joel McHale for lead)
-The complete domination of the comedy supporting actor category by the entire cast of Modern Family (which is a great argument of the need for a best ensemble category) to the omission of Danny Pudi, Nick Offerman, and NPH.
-Dexter grabbing a Best Drama nod over Justified or (the unlikely but deserving) Terriers
-Emilia Clarke not nominated for supporting actress for Game of Thrones.
The good surprises:
-Miss Blaneknship!
-Louis CK for best actor in a comedy and Louie as Best comedy Series.
Goggins was a pleasant shock. But I agree with Matt -- nobody in Modern Family really deserved a nomination in an extremely crowded field this year. I have liked the work that all of the MF actors except Stonestreet did (not his fault, but they really only gave him one note to play most of the year, and it was not a great note), but it absolutely does not match the work that Offerman, Pratt, Ansari, Adam Scott, and Donald Glover turned in. I would add Rob Lowe, but he submitted in lead.
ReplyDeleteToo soon to start getting mad about this, but Poehler gave an all-time performance this year on P&R, nailing every note of superwoman and dingbat they threw her and ad-libbing the hell out of stuff when they let her. I cannot fathom giving that award to anybody else. Yet she's on a low-rated show and in a category with a couple of multi-Emmy winners, including one who was a winner in drama for a seminal program. I'm worried is what I'm saying.
I'm not sure I would have included Danny Pudi. He had some good episodes (Pulp Fiction, D&D, and Christmas, mainly), but he also disappeared for long stretches and wasn't featured as much comedically as Donald Glover. I feel like actors in the comedy categories should get a bonus for comedic performance, even though I know that it's "actor in a comedy" not "comedic actor." Even Dean Pelton got more showy gag lines than Abed this year.
ReplyDeleteWas "Flu Season" her submission episode? If so, she wins.
ReplyDelete(Quick google: Yes it was. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/awards/2011/07/glee-modern-family-sons-of-anarchy-emmy-tv-news.html)
That is if Emmy voters actually look at the episodes to base their decisions.
She's screwed.
--bd
Matt LeBlanc over Joel McHale? FTS.
ReplyDelete--bd
Yeah, try these on for size:
ReplyDelete"Emmy-nominated Crack Baby Athletic Association"
"Emmy-nominated NappyTabs"
"Emmy-nominated Sports Guy"
By the way, of the four SYTYCD nominations, I absolutely think that Travis Wall deserved his and I get Mia Michaels, but Stacey Tookey is iffy (solid but kind of vanilla) and NappyTabs, no, no, no.
I love Archer. Spacewoman hates it. I try to watch it on Netflix Streaming after she's gone to bed, and she complains that it's just people yelling at each other. And that's true, too. But so funny.
ReplyDeleteI'm so delighted that Elizabeth Banks and Dot-Marie Jones got guest star noms. Ditto for Miss Blankenship and Loretta Devine.
ReplyDeleteI am, of course, happy about all the stuff everyone else is happy about - FNL, P&R (agree that no one can touch Poehler, but that it'll be hard for her to actually win), and perhaps most especially Cat Deeley, who is by far the best reality host around.
Is there any world in which "The Suitcase" doesn't win for writing? Cause I don't want to live in that world.
Pudi was undoubtedly hosed, but not as hosed as Nick Offerman.
ReplyDeleteSYTYCD actually got five nominations. Joining NappyTabs in the iffy or no-no-no category (depending on your opinion of "Boogie Shoes") is Mandy Moore.
ReplyDeleteHas Elisabeth Moss been nominated for lead before, or is this the first time? I feel like she's usually up for supporting, but that's what the money is for!!
ReplyDeleteSuper happy for Cat, whose nomination is long, long overdue.
BTW, of all the years of Survivor not to nominate, Boston Rob's Victory Lap gets snubbed?
ReplyDeleteLooking at the nominations, it seems like Sir Elton (Sir John? I'm not clear on the formailities) should have done a song for his Digital Short, instead of Laser Cats.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time Moss has submitted as a lead. Thrilled she's in, and she has a decent shot at a win, if just because that episode is so amazingly good.
ReplyDeleteI agree in general with that view of NT, but think if the nominations were based simply on individual pieces of choreography (rather than the Emmy's odd approach), they would deserve e a lot of points for this Twitch/Alex hip hop routine from last season, and Stacey Tookie would deserve some for this.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Moss submitted as a lead in 2009.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't watch Louie (I tried a couple of episodes, but found it kind of unrelentingly bleak, if often funny), a dear friend of mine had a role on one episode as "girl who repeatedly hits Louie over the head." She noted that Louie's only really direction was "hit me harder" and that it's basically the only thing she's ever gotten recognized on the street for.
ReplyDeleteThat Twitch/Alex routine delights me every time.
ReplyDeleteNice job Khal Drogo! Hairstyling, Game of Thrones, "A Golden Crown"
ReplyDeleteHeck, anyone can use extensions. But molten gold? Very nice.
Also, on the songs:
ReplyDelete1. How could they overlook "5,000 Candles In The Wind?" Humans cannot ride on a ghost!
2. Most of those digital shorts seem to me to have questions about "original."
Even better? Louis CK was also nominated for writing and editing. I'd love to see if anyone else managed to pull that trifecta ever.
ReplyDeleteSetting aside that I think that Abed had a better season than you seem to: The thing is that the acting nominations are based on specific episodes, not the entire season. So, you package together those three episodes, and I've got to think that Pudi had a very good argument for a nomination.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me that I wanted Alison Brie to get nominated for Community. Dammit.
I believe that the Emmy votes themselves are based on an episode submission. I think, though I do not know, that the nominations are just based on body of work. In Sepinwall's interview with Poehler today, she asked for his advice on which episode to submit, from which I inferred that she hadn't previously thought about it. And if the nominations were based on episode submissions, whoever it is that narrows down the list of nominees would have to view a shitload of screeners.
ReplyDeleteRe Abed, his two biggest episodes (Pulp Fiction and Christmas) were really melancholy stories (until the punch line in PF, anyway). He was more comic in D&D, but it wasn't really Abed-focused; he was just the facilitator for what was essentially a Pierce story with some great Annie and Britta gags. There was also the Abed-Shirley one where Abed was Jesus, but that didn't really work for me. I would think he would submit Pulp Fiction, since you don't really get to see him acting in Christmas, but I don't think people who don't watch Community would know what to make of it.
I'm reminded in watching the Twich/Alex clip that what this season of SYTYCD is missing is Adam Shankman.
ReplyDeleteLaura Linney is playing a woman with cancer. It's going to be a bloodbath.
ReplyDeletesame here! between Josh Charles and Cat Deeley, I'm pretty happy to see some of the noms. Ron fing Swanson better get nominated next year.
ReplyDeleteLaura Linney is also "a movie star" and when "a movie star" descends from the mountaintop to do lowly TV shows, they win Emmys.
ReplyDelete