This morning, the Emmy Nominations were announced. In traditional fashion, many have nitpicked apart the highs and lows of this year's selections. With a continually blurred line of what a "miniseries" or "outstanding" means, it remains just as baffling as regular to those who would consider this to be a great year for TV. Nonetheless, it is important to take the great with the bad. This post is an incomplete look at things that I feel need to be highlighted regarding the positives and the negatives surrounding this year's class. I will also include critiques on the major categories as well as who should win. This will be followed by notable omissions and other subsequent comments.
THE GOOD
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| Left to right: Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in True Detective |
The True Detective Love
Nominations: 4
-Best Lead Actor (Drama Series): Woody Harrelson
-Best Lead Actor (Drama Series): Matthew McConaughey
-Best Drama Series (Drama)
-Best Directing (Drama Series): Cary Fukunaga ("Who Goes There")
While there have been a lot of impressive series to come out of 2014 so far, none have surpassed the January gem that is True Detective. Helping to usher in an auteur form of TV, it remains a beautifully strange beast that is cinematic and features possibly Matthew McConaughey's best performance in years (which is really saying something). I am ecstatic to see the series getting so much attention and that its placement in the pop culture zeitgeist hasn't diminished. It remains to be seen how season two will be handled. For the time being, it sets the bar high as one of the only shows that looks destined to beat Breaking Bad in its final season.
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| Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad |
The Breaking Bad Love
Nominations: 6
-Best Drama Series
-Best Lead Actor (Drama Series): Bryan Cranston
-Best Supporting Actor (Drama Series): Aaron Paul
-Best Supporting Actress (Drama Series): Anna Gunn
-Best Directing (Drama Series): Vince Gilligan ("Felina")
-Best Writing (Drama Series): Moira Walley-Beckett ("Ozymandias")
-Best Writing (Drama Series): Vince Gilligan ("Felina")
It is the series that ends its run on an impressive high not only in viewership, but with creativity and acclaim. Even if the series' love affair with awards have been more sparse than its competitors, it will hopefully be taking home all of the love this year. With a phenomenal stretch of episodes that closes out one of the most enticing seasons, and series, of 2013. There is nothing likely to capture the level of unprecedented success that this show has. The only issue awaiting it is Freshman rookie True Detective and its sudden rise as one of the best things to appear on TV.
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| Left to right: Lizzy Caplan and Beau Bridges in Masters of Sex |
The Masters of Sex Love
Nominations: 3
-Best Lead Actress (Drama Series): Lizzy Caplan
-Best Guest Actress (Drama Series): Allison Janney
-Best Guest Actor (Drama Series): Beau Bridges
One of my surprise favorites from 2013 was this Showtime Freshman series which took a close look at sex and turned into a delightfully clinical show that explored all of its complications in great detail. While it is upsetting to see Michael Sheen absent from the Best Lead Actor (Drama Series) category, these three nominations are well deserved as some of the best performances on the series. In particular, Beau Bridges turned in a surprisingly effective role unlike anything that I saw on TV during that time. With the series returning this Sunday, I can only hope that the quality of the show maintains and maybe next year, with the absence of Breaking Bad, we will get Sheen into the race.
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| Taylor Schilling in Orange is the New Black |
The Orange is the New Black Love
Nominations: 8
-Best Comedy Series
-Best Lead Actress (Comedy Series): Taylor Schilling
-Best Supporting Actress (Comedy Series): Kate Mulgrew
-Best Directing (Comedy Series): Jodie Foster ("Lesbian Request Denied")
-Best Writing (Comedy Series): Jenji Kohan, Liz Friedman ("I Wasn't Ready")
-Best Guest Actress (Comedy Series): Uzo Aduba
-Best Guest Actress (Comedy Series): Natasha Lyonne
-Best Guest Actress (Comedy Series): Laverne Cox
Quite possibly the greatest story of the Emmy Nominations is that Orange is the New Black made its mark with an impressive force. Not only is the ensemble cast greatly recognized, but so is the writing and directing. This is the moment that Netflix has been waiting for, as it now looks to dominated this and the Drama category with House of Cards. It is too early to say it, but the show is looking to be a revolutionary series in TV history, and it is starting off its awards legacy correctly. Also, kudos on Laverne Cox becoming one of the few transgender performers to receive an Emmy nomination. However, it does seem strange that most of the performers who appear regularly are "guests."
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| Thomas Middleditch in Silicon Valley |
The Silicon Valley Love
Nominations: 3
-Best Comedy Series
-Best Directing (Comedy Series): Mike Judge ("Minimum Viable Product")
-Best Writing (Comedy Series): Alec Berg ("Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency")
Probably the least likely series that I would've predicted to make the cut. While there is plenty to admire about the show, it definitely was a rocky first season that highlighted the characters, but didn't give much else of value. It was often hilarious and there's no contest to "Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency" having some of the best comedy writing of 2014 so far. I don't see it winning, but the fact that it is even on this list is something that makes me very excited for its future and I hope to see it for season two, when I feel it will inevitably be able to hit its stride better.
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| Lena Dunham in Girls |
The Best Lead Actress (Comedy Series) Category
Nominees:
-Lena Dunham (Girls)
-Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
-Julia Louis-Dreyfuss (Veep)
-Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly)
-Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)
-Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black)
This may be the only competing category that I find above acceptable. While the love for Girls has shrunk, it is nice to see Lena Dunham still in the mix, especially with Taylor Schilling coming in fast and Amy Poehler becoming overdue for a win. It is a complicated year, but one that is likely going to go to Julia Louis-Dreyfuss again simply because of her charismatic charm and history with the Emmys. Otherwise, a really solid category that mixes some veterans with new faces and one of the few that is hardest to nitpick over.
THE BEST OF THE BEST
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| Jon Hamm in Mad Men |
Best Drama Series
Nominees:
-Breaking Bad
-Downton Abbey
-Game of Thrones
-House of Cards
-Mad Men
-True Detective
While I will admit that I have improved on watching a wide array of TV series, I haven't quite gotten into a lot of the heavy hitting dramas that make up this category. I have only seen two of them, which both feel to be front runners. Breaking Bad is my pick for likely winner who will steal the show simply because of its six years on the air and ability to produce quality work and could be the perfect moment for the Emmys to recognize them. I do believe that this will also mean that Mad Men is due to win this category next year, unless True Detective continues to prove an enviable force of nature that will keep anything from standing a chance.
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| Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in Veep |
Best Comedy Series
Nominees:
-The Big Bang Theory
-Louie
-Modern Family
-Orange is the New Black
-Silicon Valley
-Veep
It is a nice mix of series that I feel represents the vast, confusing definition of comedy in 2014. Is the dark, almost laugh-free at points style of Louie still able to fit in this category? What does everyone else see in Modern Family that is clearly being missed? I am also glad to see that Orange is the New Black and Silicon Valley have shown up strong here and this will help to raise their profile. Hopefully this is only the start to the Netflix series' reign of dominance on the awards season and that it will be back around when the arguably even better season two is finally up for consideration.
The Bad
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| Ricky Gervais in Derek |
The Derek Love
Nominations: 1
-Best Lead Actor (Comedy Series): Ricky Gervais
Where Orange is the New Black and House of Cards representing Netflix at the Emmys seems like a great achievement, there is one that makes no sense. At what point did anyone think that Derek was an outstanding series? From the uncomfortable pilot to the fact that Ricky Gervais has outworn his welcome to many, it seems like the strangest move to give him any recognition. True, he did great work on The Office and Episodes, but in an already competitive category, why is he the one who makes the final cut? It doesn't even rank with the best of his mockumentary-style humor.
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| Louis C.K. in Louie |
The Louie Love
Nominations: 4
-Best Comedy Series
-Best Lead Actor (Comedy Series): Louis C.K.
-Best Directing (Comedy Series): Louis C.K. ("Elevator: Part 6")
-Best Writing (Comedy Series): Louis C.K. ("So Did the Fat Lady")
There's many reasons that I take umbrage with Louie getting as much attention at the Emmys as it has. For starters, I don't think that season four was all that good. Yes, I appreciate his desire to turn the mundane into art, but the results were pretentious and very sloppy in ways that haven't held up well for the series. However, more than anything else, the fact that the series released season four in such rapid succession over the course of a few weeks to simply meet the Emmy deadline just shows what this series was going for. It wants to be loved for being high art, but I don't feel like that keeps from making it distracting to the quality of the series. While I love the first three seasons, this one in particular felt created solely to pander to intellectuals.
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| Martin Freeman in Fargo |
Fargo: The Miniseries?
Nominations: 8
-Best Miniseries
-Best Lead Actor (Miniseries): Martin Freeman
-Best Lead Actor (Miniseries): Billy Bob Thornton
-Best Supporting Actor (Miniseries): Colin Hanks
-Best Supporting Actress (Miniseries): Allison Tolman
-Best Directing (Miniseries): Adam Bernstein
-Best Directing (Miniseries): Colin Bucksey
-Best Writing (Miniseries): Noah Hawley ("The Crocodile's Dilemma")
There isn't anything wrong with Fargo. It is actually a really good show. However, when compared to True Detective, it seems a little baffling that a show with more episodes somehow is a miniseries. While Fargo's future is still a little mysterious, the idea of labeling it in this category makes no sense other than to improve the advantages. Even then, True Detective would serve more value in this category, as it follows the illegible guidelines to what a miniseries is much like Luther or American Horror Story, which continue to dominate these fields.
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| Jeff Daniels in The Newsroom |
The The Newsroom Love
Nominations: 2
-Best Actor (Drama Series): Jeff Daniels
-Best Guest Actress (Drama Series): Jane Fonda
The only complaint here is that I hope that we're not seeing a repeat of last year in which Jeff Daniels took this category inexplicably against higher caliber performers. As it stands, he is up against cast members from Breaking Bad, True Detective, and Mad Men, which are all far more deserving of awards. If nothing else, I am posting this here as a plea to not let this happen again, especially since The Newsroom isn't technically as impressive as everyone else on this list.
The Omitted
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| Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire |
Boardwalk Empire
Former Best Drama mainstay has been removed from all except one category at this year's ceremony.
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| Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black |
Orphan Black
After making a strong presence in its debut season, this BBC America drama shows up empty handed in the face of nominations.
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| Left to right: Parker Young, Geoff Stults, and Chris Lowell in Enlisted |
Enlisted
Because of every comedy listed in the Best Comedy category, none were as moving or as interesting as Enlisted.
Rick and Morty
It was a long shot, but I wish that this made it into the race somewhere.
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| Left to right: Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer in Broad City |
Broad City
One of the best Freshman comedy series of 2014 with very few exceptions.
Bob's Burgers
Another pinnacle of modern animated sitcoms that is unfortunately overlooked by its bigger, older cohorts in the former Animation Domination line-up.
Community
... Just kidding. It wasn't that great of a season and that "G.I. Jeff" episode is still inexplicably awful.
Which one of your favorite series made or missed the cut?
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