2011 Emmy Nominations: Surprisingly Decent

The Emmy nominations came out yesterday morning with mostly hits, very few misses. I'm still waiting for the Academy to one day hit on all six of my personal favorite series/performances of a given year, and thus validate my superior taste (like when Arcade Fire won a Grammy), but all in all, I was pretty pleased with the 2011 selections.

The Awesome:  

• Game of Thrones got a lot of love, both as a series and as a vehicle for Peter Dinklage's acting, which is good, because I happen to be totally gay for that show. 
• All the Mad Men nominations were obviously deserved, but they have to give Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss the damned statues this year. They're overdue (as is Steve Carell), and the season itself was unsurpassable. Hear that, Boardwalk Empire? Unsurpassable.  
• Parks and Recreation being nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series was about damn time, and it should definitely win... because I love it the most right now. Amy Poehler, too -- Sorry, Tina! I still worship at your altar! -- but alas, it'll probably go to Laura Linney, since she's in the movies and stuff.
• Martha Plimpton! I didn't stick around for the entire first season of Raising Hope, but for as long as I did, her work (and Garret Dillahunt's) was the reason I tuned in week after week.
• Equally exclamation-point-worthy: Louis C.K.! This guy is without a doubt one of the funniest comedians around; I would watch him get interviewed by The View, that's how funny he is.

The Snubs:

• Community is not quite in my top 6 comedies, but between Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, and Danny Pudi, it's a shame the show wasn't awarded a single acting nomination.
• Oh, but forget the Community cast for a second, because you cannot call yourself an American and not vote for Nick Offerman in the supporting comedy actor category; that's Ron Fucking Swanson you're snubbing!
• Michael Pitt on Boardwalk Empire looks, sounds, breathes, and just plain is the part. Period.
• Toni Colette and Keir Gilchrist were pretty fantastic on the final season of United States of Tara, as were Mary Louise Parker on Weeds and Kiernan Shipka on Mad Men; I can't remember the last time a performance made me forget that the actor was actually a child.  
• The In Treatment actors: Gabriel Byrne, Dane DeHaan (a young Leo DiCaprio in every way), Irrfan Khan, Amy Ryan, Debra Winger... Again, I ask: not a single nomination?
• Failing to consider Carlos among the year's best miniseries is criminal any way you cut it.

My Unfulfilled Wishlist of Admitted Long Shots: 

• Cougar Town, in fact, is in my top 6 comedies, so... that was a bummer. (The Big Bang Theory? Really? Who can seriously still abide a live-audience show anymore? And why does not-Sheldon have Joel McHale's lead actor spot? Not OK, guys.)
• Mary Elizabeth Ellis on the short-lived Perfect Couples was the highlight of an overall strong cast; somebody give her another sitcom!
• Ellie Kemper as Erin on The Office is pure perfection in my eyes.
• I have to believe that one day Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter will get the recognition she deserves. Otherwise, what's the point of anything?
• Chloe Sevigny has never been nominated for Big Love, and that just makes me sad.
• Would I lose all credibility if I suggested Terriers should have been shortlisted for outstanding drama this year? I like Dexter, but the show is failing to grow out of its one-note-ness with each passing season. 

So that's where The Emmys leave us until the coutoure-clad winners are announced in September. What did everyone else think? Did the good outweigh the perplexingly bad this year? I don't know about you guys, but these nominations really made me want to start and resume watching Justified and The Good Wife, respectively. So, should I bother?

Independent Spirit A— What Now?

While I was performing one of my frequent perusals of ifc.com—generally for the purpose of re-watching Portlandia clips—I saw an ad for THIS.

First of all, I had no idea the Independent Spirit Awards were even televised, but what excited me more was seeing Joel McHale’s face right next to the title. I have been saying for ages that he would be an excellent choice to host an awards show, so I am just tickled that there are some similarly minded people out there. Sure, it would be nice to see him employ that perfect comedic timing for a higher-profile and more pop culture-laden affair, like the Golden Globes or the Emmys, but you know what? I love awards shows. I love Joel. I will be watching this. Probably whilst fantasizing about being cocooned inside those long, tux-clad limbs. Besides, it will be nice to see a show that promises some slightly different victors than the all-but-predetermined Oscar winners of the following night. 

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.