Primetime Emmy Award Nominations!

In my forced absence from my blog (due to working, working, and working), I have not provided any commentary on the Emmy Award Nominations that were announced last Wednesday. Here is a list of Emmy Nominations and some of my picks for winners:

Outstanding Comedy Series
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
The Office
Parks And Recreation
30 Rock

Outstanding Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Game Of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men

Outstanding Miniseries Or Movie
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Kennedys
Mildred Pierce
The Pillars Of The Earth
Too Big To Fail

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory 
Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, The Big Bang Theory
Matt LeBlanc as Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Louis C.K. as Louie, Louie
Steve Carell as Michael Scott, The Office
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, Boardwalk Empire
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, Dexter
Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor, Friday Night Lights 
Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, House
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Justified
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, Mad Men

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison, The Big C
Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn, Mike & Molly 
Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton, Nurse Jackie 
Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, Parks And Recreation 
Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance, Raising Hope
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Connie Britton as Tami Taylor, Friday Night Lights
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife
Kathy Bates as Harriet “Harry” Korn, Harry’s Law
Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden, The Killing
Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson, Mad Men

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel, Glee
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Modern Family
Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett, Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker, Modern Family
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Modern Family
Jon Cryer as Alan Harper, Two and a Half Men

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones
Josh Charles as Will Gardner, The Good Wife
Alan Cumming as Eli Gold, The Good Wife
Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder, Justified
John Slattery as Roger Sterling, Mad Men
Andre Braugher as Owen, Men of a Certain Age

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester, Glee
Betty White as Elka Ostrosky, Hot in Cleveland
Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Modern Family
Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Modern Family
Kristen Wiig as Various characters, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney, 30 Rock

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Schroeder, Boardwalk Empire
Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma, The Good Wife
Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, The Good Wife
Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett, Justified
Michelle Forbes as Mitch Larsen, The Killing
Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris, Mad Men

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Edgar Ramirez as Carlos, Carlos
Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy, The Kennedys
Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy, The Kennedys
Idris Elba as John Luther, Luther
Laurence Fishburne as Thurgood Marshall, Thurgood
William Hurt as Henry ‘Hank’ Paulson, Too Big Too Fail

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Diane Lane as Patricia Loud, Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern as Cora, Countess of Grantham, Downton Abbey
Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce, Mildred Pierce
Taraji P. Henson as Tiffany Rubin, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story
Jean Marsh as Rose Buck, Upstairs Downstairs (Masterpiece)

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Tom Wilkinson as Joe Kennedy, The Kennedys
Guy Pearce as Monty Beragon, Mildred Pierce
Brian F. O’Byrne as Bert Pierce, Mildred Pierce
Paul Giamatti as Ben Bernanke, Too Big to Fail
James Woods as Richard Fuld, Too Big to Fail

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)
Evan Rachel Wood as Veda Pierce, Mildred Pierce
Melissa Leo as Lucy Gessler, Mildred Pierce
Mare Winningham as Ida, Mildred Pierce
Eileen Atkins as Lady Maud Holland, Upstairs, Downstairs (Masterpiece)

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series
Idris Elba as Lenny, The Big C
Nathan Lane as Pepper Saltzman, Modern Family
Zach Galifianakis, Host, Saturday Night Live
Justin Timberlake, Host, Saturday Night Live
Matt Damon as Carol, 30 Rock
Will Arnett as Devin Banks, 30 Rock

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series
Bruce Dern as Frank Harlow, Big Love
Beau Bridges as Nick Brody, Brothers & Sisters
Michael J. Fox as Louis Canning, The Good Wife
Paul McCrane as Josh Peyton, Harry’s Law
Jeremy Davies as Dickie Bennett, Justified
Robert Morse as Bertram Cooper, Mad Men

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series
Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes, Glee
Dot-Marie Jones as Coach Beiste, Glee
Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holliday, Glee
Cloris Leachman as Maw Maw, Raising Hope
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Elizabeth Banks as Avery, 30 Rock

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series
Mary McDonnell as Capt. Sharon Raydor, The Closer
Julia Stiles as Lumen Pierce, Dexter
Loretta Devine as Adele Webber, Grey’s Anatomy
Randee Heller as Miss Blankenship, Mad Men
Cara Buono as Faye Miller, Mad Men
Joan Cusack as Sheila Jackson, Shameless
Alfre Woodard as Ruby Jean Reynolds, True Blood

Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
Brenda Strong as Mary-Alice Young, Desperate Housewives
Maurice LaMarche as Lrrr & Orson Welles, Futurama 
Bob Bergen as Porky Pig, The Looney Tunes Show
Christopher Plummer, Narrator, Moguls & Movie Stars 
Seth Green as Robot Chicken Nerd, Batman, Venger, Cobra Commander, Teenager, Judge, Newscaster, Light Cycle Driver, Robot Chicken
Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Barney Gumble, Louie, The Simpsons

Outstanding Animated Program
The Cleveland Show
Futurama
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III
The Simpsons
South Park

The full list of nominees can be seen here.

I am not a fan of this list of nominees. I do not know how Glee has garnished the amount of nominations that it has, due to the fact that the show has noticeably declined in quality since the end of season one. I’m just really sick of mediocrity achieving success in Hollywood. Game of Thrones deserved more nominations than it got, however, Peter Dinklage’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor is much deserved. Parks and Recreation deserves a win this year, as does Amy Poehler for Best Actress.

Other than that, the Emmys are very predictable this year. I would have liked to see Archer or The Walking Dead nominated for awards, however, the Television Academy is not particularly ready to break away from their tired traditions to include new and innovative shows. It’s a shame really.

The Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, September 18th on FOX.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Critics’ Choice Television Award Winners

I’ve officially become too busy. I am just now seeing the list of winners from the first annual Television Critics’ Choice Awards, and just now writing about them. Here is the full winner list:

Best Drama Series
“Mad Men”

Best Actor in a Drama Series
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”

Best Actress in a Drama Series
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
John Noble, “Fringe”

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Tie: Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men”
and Margo Martindale, “Justified”

Best Reality Series
Tie: “Hoarders”
and “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”

Best Reality Series, Competition
“American Idol”

Best Reality Show Host
Mike Rowe, “Dirty Jobs”

Best Talk Show
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”

Best Comedy Series
“Modern Family”

Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”

Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Tina Fey, “30 Rock”

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Neil Patrick Harris, “How I Met Your Mother”

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Busy Philipps, “Cougar Town”

Most Exciting New Series
“Alcatraz”
“Apartment 23”
“Awake”
“Falling Skies”
“New Girl”
“Ringer”
“Smash”

—

Frankly, I think they awarded a lot of safe winners. While the nominations were extremely cutting edge, the winners were all too predictable (but mostly deserving). This award show does get my respect for not awarding Glee, though. I’m really sick of Glee being awarded for being less than mediocre when it could have been great (it actually was great during most of the first season, but for some reason, the show has just settled for success instead of greatness, which is utterly disappointing).

For Best Drama Series, Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead, or Dexter would have been a better choice now that Mad Men is expected to win multiple awards now. And for Best Actor, obviously I would preferred Steve Buscemi to take the award.

The most interesting thing about this awards is the category for Most Exciting New Series. Its completely abnormal for an award show to peak into the future and I’m curious to find out the effect this award could have on future pilot seasons. Maybe other award shows will look into the future, maybe it will encourage creativity in upcoming shows. We’ll just have to see.

Critic’s Choice Television Nominees

Because they’re aren’t already enough award shows in Hollywood, the newly formed Broadcast Television Journalists Association (offshoot of the Broadcast Film Critics Association) has created an award show in competition with the Emmy Awards, regarded as the Oscars of Television. In recent years, the Emmy Awards have been criticized for habitually ignoring really good television on cable channels such as FX, AMC, and premium sources such as HBO, Showtime, and Starz. They have announced their nominees for awards, and admittedly, I think there nominee list will be superior to the Emmy list.

This nominee list is so good that I can’t even cast my votes for it. The ‘best drama series’ category alone is so packed with good stuff that it’s impossible to even start deciding which is the best series. Archer is very deservingly nominated for ‘best comedy series’, which proves to be this award show’s most daring nomination (Emmys need to take note). And for some odd reason, Glee and its associates is nominated for an award, and I realllllllllllly don’t know why. Hopefully this award show rightfully ignores the heavily flawed Glee in order to recognize shows that are actually deserving.

This show will take place at the Beverly Hills Hotel on June 20th and will be streamed live on VH1.com and broadcast on the Reelz Channel on June 22 at 8pm (with a repeat at 11pm).

Best Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire – HBO
Dexter – Showtime
Friday Night Lights – DirecTV
Fringe – FOX
Game of Thrones – HBO
The Good Wife – CBS
Justified – FX
The Killing – AMC
Mad Men – AMC
The Walking Dead – AMC

Best Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire – HBO
Kyle Chandler – Friday Night Lights – DirecTV
Michael C. Hall – Dexter – Showtime
Jon Hamm – Mad Men – AMC
William H. Macy – Shameless – Showtime
Timothy Olyphant – Justified – FX

Best Actress in a Drama Series
Connie Britton – Friday Night Lights – DirecTV
Mireille Enos – The Killing – AMC
Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife – CBS
Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men – AMC
Katey Sagal – Sons of Anarchy – FX
Anna Torv – Fringe – FOX

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Alan Cumming – The Good Wife – CBS
Walton Goggins – Justified – FX
Shawn Hatosy – Southland – TNT
John Noble – Fringe – FOX
Michael Pitt – Boardwalk Empire – HBO
John Slattery – Mad Men – AMC

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Michelle Forbes – The Killing – AMC
Christina Hendricks – Mad Men – AMC
Margo Martindale – Justified – FX
Kelly Macdonald – Boardwalk Empire – HBO
Archie Panjabi – The Good Wife – CBS
Chloë Sevigny – Big Love – HBO

Best Reality Series
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – ABC
Hoarders – A&E
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – Bravo
Sister Wives – TLC
Undercover Boss – CBS

Best Reality Series – Competition
The Amazing Race – CBS
American Idol – FOX
Dancing with the Stars – ABC
Project Runway – Lifetime
RuPaul’s Drag Race – Logo
Top Chef – Bravo

Best Reality Show Host
Tom Bergeron – Dancing with the Stars – ABC
Cat Deeley – So You Think You Can Dance – FOX
Ty Pennington – Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – ABC
Mike Rowe – Dirty Jobs – Discovery
Ryan Seacrest – American Idol – FOX

Best Talk Show
Chelsea Lately – E!
The Daily Show – Comedy Central
The Ellen DeGeneres Show – Warner Bros.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! – ABC
The Oprah Winfrey Show – Harpo

Best Comedy Series 
Archer – FX
The Big Bang Theory – CBS
Community – NBC
Glee – FOX
Louie – FX
The Middle – ABC
Modern Family – ABC
The Office – NBC
Parks and Recreation – NBC
30 Rock – NBC

Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock – NBC
Steve Carell – The Office – NBC
Louis C.K. – Louie – FX
Charlie Day – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – FX
Joel McHale – Community – NBC
Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory – CBS

Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Courteney Cox – Cougar Town – ABC
Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie – Showtime
Tina Fey – 30 Rock – NBC
Patricia Heaton – The Middle – ABC
Martha Plimpton – Raising Hope – FOX
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation – NBC

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Ty Burrell – Modern Family – ABC
Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother – CBS
Nick Offerman – Parks and Recreation – NBC
Ed O’Neill – Modern Family – ABC
Danny Pudi – Community – NBC
Eric Stonestreet – Modern Family – ABC

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Julie Bowen – Modern Family – ABC
Jane Krakowski – 30 Rock – NBC
Jane Lynch – Glee – FOX
Busy Philipps – Cougar Town – ABC
Eden Sher – The Middle – ABC
Sofía Vergara – Modern Family – ABC

PGA Award Winners

The Producer’s Guild of America has let me down.

Winner for Outstanding Producer : The King’s Speech

Winner for Outstanding Producer of Animated Features: Toy Story 3

Winner for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Feature: Waiting for Superman

(Full winner list: here)

I did like The King’s Speech a lot, but not over Inception, The Social Network, or Black Swan. I don’t really know what the PGA was thinking when it picked The King’s Speech. Possibly, they’re an older bunch and The King’s Speech appeals to an older crowd. So that could be why. But overall, I just don’t know what happened. The Social Network has had amazing awards momentum, and it was expected to win at the PGA awards… but it didn’t. The King’s Speech now has a shot at winning Best Picture at the Oscars… which isn’t really what I’d like to see happen… at all.

I’m in agreement with every other award that was given. Toy Story 3 is a shoo-in for every animation award (and if Disney is daring enough, they may start on a brazen Oscar campaign for Best Picture.)

These awards are a real indicator of what the Oscars will look like. The Oscar Nominations will be announced tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM.

The Golden Globes Winners and Reactions

The Golden Globes are not my favorite awards, or even the most important in Hollywood, but they’re always quite fun. I had a good amount of fun watching these awards over my lovely dinner prepared by my lovely grandmother, and I hope everyone else enjoyed them as well.

First off, the television nominations were a hot mess, but the winners made up for it. I have no clue as to why Glee was nominated for anything or won anything, the show used to be fantastic, but it just isn’t anymore. Boardwalk Empire won big! I’m so excited for that show and I hope more people will watch it.

I abused my Twitter account during the telecast:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(if you dare to look me up on Twitter: @brittany_darby)

So basically, this award show went as I expected it to. The Social Network took Best Director, Best Picture-Drama, Best Score, and Best Screenplay. I’m so happy Aaron Sorkin won that award because he is the most deserving screenwriter of the year. Though, I’m glad that The Academy Awards separates the writing awards to Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay, because that means that both Christopher Nolan and Aaron Sorkin could win Oscars this year, a thought that comforts me. I’m unhappy that Inception didn’t win a thing, but The Academy Awards are more important and in a month, so I’m taking additional comfort in the fact that Inception can win big there.

(I believe in both The Social Network and Inception so much, so its really a conflict for these two movies to both be nominated this year against each other. Though it may not seem like it, I’m genuinely happy for The Social Network to be winning so many awards because its such a great film.)

Annette Benning won Best Actress for her role in The Kids Are All Right, that film also won Best Picture-Musical or Comedy. Two things I’m very, very happy with.

The Golden Globes telecast was entertaining, and I’m happy for all the winners. (complete winner list here.)

Award season is not over yet though! Next up: The Producer’s Guild of America presents awards on January 22nd, The Director’s Guild of America presents awards on January 29th, and The Screen Actor’s Guild presents awards on January 30th. I’m looking forward to all of those!

PGA and WGA Award Nominations

For those of you who don’t know, Hollywood is a huge union town. Nearly every job associated with a film set has a union attached, Producers Guild of America, Director’s Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, Writer’s Guild of America, Art Director’s Guild, Editor’s Guild, Costume Designer’s Guild… you get the picture. There are a lot of unions in Hollywood. (These unions are a good thing for many reasons, I’ll discuss why in a later post.)

Every year during Award Season, each of these guilds award the best films in their field. Arguably, the most important guild award ceremonies are the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA), Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), and Director’s Guild of America (DGA). These awards usually predict Oscar nominations and wins better than any other award show or critic. Winning these Awards is important, as these awards are awarded by professional peers and not a random jury.

The PGA and WGA annouced their award nominations today:

PGA:

Best Producer of a Feature Film:

• 127 Hours (Produced by: Danny Boyle and Christian Colson)
• Black Swan (Produced by: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, and Brian Oliver)
• Inception (Produced by: Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas)
• The Social Network (Produced by: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin)
• The Kids Are All Right (Produced by: Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray)
• The Fighter (Produced by: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, and Mark Wahlberg)
• The King’s Speech (Produced by: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin)
• The Town (Produced by: Basil Iwanyk and Graham King)
• Toy Story 3 (Produced by:  Darla K. Anderson)
• True Grit (Produced by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Scott Rudin)

Best Producer of a Animated Film:

• Despicable Me (Produced by: John Cohen, Janet Healy, and Christopher Meledandri)
• Toy Story 3 (Produced by: Darla K. Anderson)
• How to Train Your Dragon (Produced by:  Bonnie Arnold)

The rest of the nominations are here.

These are really solid nominations. I’d love to see Inception win this, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Darla K. Anderson get 2 awards for Toy Story 3. The rest of the nominations are really solid as well, I’m even okay with Glee getting a nomination from the producers because even though the show sucks content wise, its a very well produced show. The PGA got the television nominations right, which also makes me happy. These awards will be hosted by Judd Apatow and will be on January 22nd.

WGA:

Original Screenplay

• Black Swan (Screenwriters: Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin)
• Inception (Screenwriter: Christopher Nolan)
• The Fighter (Screenwriters: Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson)
• The Kids Are All Right (Screenwriters: Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg)
• Please Give (Screenwriter: Nicole Holofcener)

Adapted Screenplay:

• 127 Hours (Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; Based on the book
  Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston)
• The Social Network (Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The
  Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich)
• I Love You Phillip Morris ((Written by John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; Based on
  the book by Steven McVicker)
• The Town (Screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard; Based
  on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan)
• True Grit (Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Based on the novel by
  Charles Portis)

Documentary Screenplay:

• Enemies of the People (Written, Directed, Filmed and Produced by Rob Lemkin
  and Thet Sambath)
• Freedom Riders (Written, Produced and Directed by Stanley Nelson)
• Inside Job (Produced, Written and Directed by Charles Ferguson)
• The Two Escobars (Written by Michael Zimbalist, Jeff Zimbalist)
• Gasland (Written and Directed by Josh Fox)
• Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?  (Written and
  Directed by John Scheinfeld

Again, solid nominations. I will be very upset if Christopher Nolan does not win for Best Original Screenplay. I read the screenplay recently (as well as seen the movie 4 times in theaters) and I’ve also seen most of the other nominations and I just don’t think they’re better. No other live-action screenplay can be described with a diagram. (Yes, Nolan has a diagram basically explaining the story in the published copy of the Inception Shooting Script.) If Aaron Sorkin doesn’t win Best Adapted Screenplay it will be a crime against humanity. I’m so glad that Inception and The Social Network aren’t in the same screenwriting categories because I’d be horribly conflicted about the winner. The other scripts are good, but those two are works of art. I’m surprised at the nominees for Best Documentary Screenplay because I really expected to see Waiting for Superman nominated. Pretty much every documentary critic is madly in love with that film and its even got a little buzz for a Best Picture Nom at the Academy Awards. I don’t really know who should win, I haven’t seen any of these films. But I will try to see them before the ceremony. These awards will be held on February 5th.