should i bother to say anything about the emmy nominations?

I don't like mainstream awards ceremonies and rarely have anything in common with the voters. Or at least that's how it seems. For all I know, Boston Legal is a really good show. Honestly, though, who gives a fuck when The Wire is once again missing from the list of Outstanding Drama Series nominees? I watch five of the six nominees ... did I mention that while I'm sure Boston Legal is a good show, fuck it anyway? ... two are excellent, two are pretty good but flawed, one is mediocre, none come close to matching The Wire. There were also no acting nominations for The Wire ... guess they should have cast more white actors.

The big story, at least the one getting the most play, is that cable series are starting to make headway, with the deserving Mad Men leading all dramas in nominations with 16. But I see another item worth mentioning. Here is the list of nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Sally Field, Glenn Close, Mariska Hargitay, Holly Hunter, Kyra Sedgwick. Here are the nominees, listed using a different identifier: 61, 61, 44, 50, 42. Those are, of course, the ages of the nominees, which points out something fairly obvious if we think about it: television is a great place for middle-aged actresses, who aren't always treated so kindly in the movie business.

I'm not saying those five are necessarily great choices. Sally Field, who I generally enjoy, was so grating to me that she single-handedly was the reason I quit watching Brothers and Sisters. I only made it through five minutes of one episode of The Closer before I realized I was never going to be able to sit through an hour of Sedgwick. All I know about the various Law & Orders is that they are always on at our house when Robin is knitting (and thus not actually paying attention). My scattershot minute-here-minute-there viewing tells me Hargitay is doing a fine job, but I can't really say that with any authority (the only person who stands out to me on those shows is Vincent D'Onofrio, who seems to reach out from the TV and force me to sit and watch him for a few minutes whenever I pass by when he's on the screen). Holly Hunter definitely deserves her nomination ... I don't much like Saving Grace and gave up on it midway through its first season, but I wouldn't have made it past the first episode if Hunter wasn't so great on the show. That leaves Glenn Close, who is indeed terrific on Damages, as she was on The Shield. I'd have no problem with her winning, given the nominated competition.

The problem is, there's another actress ... happens to be 56 years old, for what it's worth ... she's on a show with an ensemble cast, maybe she wasn't eligible for Best Actress, but Mary McDonnell on Battlestar Galactica is better than even this illustrious list of nominees. And she's not even the saddest absentee ... Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights is the best lead actress on any drama I watch.

Finally, to boost my hit count, I should mention Christina Hendricks, who was up for a Supporting Actress nomination for her work on Mad Men. She's very good on the show, but in truth, if I remove the slobber-on-the-screen-whenever-she's-on-it angle, I can't say that she's any better than the people who were nominated in that category. Seriously ... I don't watch any of the series that had nominees for Supporting Actress. Of course, one reason for that is that no one from BSG was nominated, not Katee Sackhoff, not Tricia Helfer (those are the two most deserving, off the top of my head).

Oh well. Here are my personal choices from among the shows that were actually nominated, as opposed to the shows that deserved to be nominated:

Comedy: 30 Rock

Drama: Mad Men

Lead Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin

Lead Actor, Drama: Hugh Laurie

Lead Actress, Comedy: Mary-Louise Parker

Lead Actress, Drama: Holly Hunter

Supporting Actor, Comedy: Jeremy Piven

Supporting Actor, Drama: Ted Danson

Supporting Actress, Comedy: Kristin Chenoweth

Supporting Actress, Drama: don't watch any of those shows

One thing I notice in the above: for me, good acting can make up for a lot of mediocrity. I already mentioned that Hunter is pretty much the only good thing about Saving Grace. House without Hugh Laurie would not be worth watching. And Entourage really isn't a very good show at all, but Jeremy Piven still delivers.

Comments

[Chris]

I wonder who the Emmys are for, really, and who determines what shows and actors get nominated. Oh, sure, I know I can find the answer to the latter, but take the two of us, for example. You don't watch too many of the shows nominated, nor do I. You have a couple of shows you do watch that ended up with a couple of nominations, same for me. Of course, those shows/nominations are different on our individual lists, so I'm back at the beginning. Who exactly do these nominated shows represent?