Primetime Emmy Nominations: After the Aftermath

 

This post is late. Let’s just get that out of the way. In my defense, I think my first post has already indicated that I may not be the timeliest blogger ever, and righteous indignation is timeless, after all.

Moving right past the obvious dominators this year—congratulations Mad Men, Glee, Breaking Bad, 30 Rock—I will admit that the initial joy I felt over some of the more surprising nominations momentarily overshadowed the disappointments—acting noms for virtually the entire cast of Modern Family and Chris Colfer from Glee; Conan honored over Leno, yippee! However, on second pass, the disappointments were really bloody grand, especially considering the personal relationships I had developed with some of the unchosen this year.

First of all, House left out of the Outstanding Drama Series category? Seriously? Since when do we snub the one show that has consistently gotten better in each subsequent season? Does the Academy not realize how rare that is? (No offense Damages, I still like you, but you peaked in your first year.) But yeah, OK, there has been a lot of good TV this year, so it must have been a really hard decis—wait, The Good Wife got nominated? Damages is better than that show—hold the phone, for real, Lost? TRUE BLOOD??? After an unsurpassable track record penning American Beauty and bringing Six Feet Under to HBO, I too am wondering what the hell Alan Ball could have been thinking in creating a show (mediocre) around the vampire fad (tiresome); I too want to believe that he knows what he is doing, that he has a master plan he will one day gloriously reveal to all the unbelievers, but an Emmy nomination is not going to “inspire” this guilty pleasure slash thinly veiled social commentary into getting any less ridiculous, people! What do you think this is, the Norwegian Nobel Committee? These awards matter! I’m pretty sure the word “achievement” is somewhere in the descriptions.

And whom, pray tell, does Courteney Cox have to sleep with to get some freaking recognition around here? Isn’t it bad enough that in ten years, she was the only friend not to have been nominated for a single Emmy? What, was she not as charming as Jennifer Aniston? Not as funny as Lisa Kudrow? And in spite of her awesome leading lady work on Cougar Town, she is snubbed yet again. You guys know this show was made for her, right? She is a “cougar.” Whatever, Emmys.

Perhaps the biggest personal disappointment was seeing such puny representation for The United States of Tara. Yes, Toni Colette is super good at playing a bunch of different characters, whoop-de-freaking-do, but this entire show has reached new creative heights this year and still manages to treat a serious psychiatric condition with sensitivity, grace, and humor. And come on: it’s way more endearing than that soulless Nurse Jackie.

But in the end, the Most Disappointing (But Predictable) Emmy Snub 2010 goes to… Rosemarie DeWitt for her perfectly balanced supporting work as Tara’s envious yet loyal Charmaine—the sister lucky in mental health and unlucky in everything else.  By turns narcissistic and self-loathing, Charmaine would not be portrayed quite as brilliantly by a lesser actress. I just hope DeWitt is not the Academy’s choice to fulfill the role of perennial loser the new Courteney Cox.

These were only a few of the Emmy oversights that stuck most uncomfortably in my craw this year. Share yours in the comments section.