The people responsible for this year’s batch of Emmy Award nominations made their selections last Thursday. Now comes the inevitable opine wave over who got in, who was left out and who should be out.
Over who got in, given the incredible season of cable drama series just past, the nominees in that category should thank their lucky stars. Or should we say, their stable of actors, writers, directors and production crews who turned in their star efforts. There were easily 10-plus series, all cable, deserving of the best category, not in play. You can make a great case for The Killing and The Walking Dead on AMC, Shameless on Showtime, Justified, Lights Out and Sons Of Anarchy from FX, Treme on HBO and Men Of A Certain Age and Southland on TNT…that’s nine right there. So kudos to the six drama series nominees.
Moreover, many of the non-best dramas did earn some nominations, such as Justified did with four for acting, all top-notch and one (supporting actress) a sure-fire to win. Loved the nominations directed toward The Killing (actresses Mirelle Enos and Michelle Forbes, writer Veena Sud and director Patty Jenkins). As for snubs, The Walking Dead deserved something somewhere, and no matter how hard critics or pundits try, Treme continues to fly way below Emmy’s radar, and Khandi Alexander continues to give the shattering episode-to-episode performance unrecognized by award constituencies (except NAMIC’s Vision Awards earlier this year).
Give a cheer for most of the comedy category picks, for sure every single one earned by Modern Family. And before leaving the drama field, another cheer for Friday Night Lights‘ long-overdue best series nomination in its final season.
Dopiest decision: combining the made-for-TV and miniseries categories. All along, Emmy officials were saying they didn’t have enough programs to fill the miniseries category, therefore the merger. Guess what? They did–four of the six nominations were miniseries. Add what didn’t get nominated–Carlos, Upstairs, Downstairs and Luther. Now we see how bogus that reasoning was. Result: a few deserving made-for movies were shut out.
Gutsy call: The Kennedys winning 10 miniseries nominations, more than most nominated programs. History Channel earns the backfire of the year award for passing over its own production, caving into misguided critiques from people who never saw the finished product and made their judgment off a preliminary script. No matter what happens, Reelz Channel reaps big publicity and becomes a new home for scripted TV.
Explain this away, Emmy people: American Idol‘s director earns a nomination in the variety series categories, even though the show is placed in the reality-competition arena. Yet for yet another time, Alex Rudninski, Dancing With The Stars‘ director, who does sensational live work week after week, can’t break into the same category. He was only responsible for one of this year’s best live TV moments, the performance by 17-year-old ballet dancer Patricia Zhou to an original song by singer Priscilla Ahn. Check out YouTube and see this for yourself, then try believing Rudninski isn’t worthy of a variety show nomination.
We’ll save some Emmy thoughts for another column, closer to ceremony time on Fox this September. Be sure the Fox folks are gleeful about another round of comedy nominations for Glee.
Until the next time, stay well and stay tuned!