For an avid television fan, the Emmys are the closest thing we have to the Academy Awards. The nominations are exciting, interesting and of predictably frustrating. But unlike the Oscars, contenders can be nominated year after year for the same role...as long as their show stays on the air! (AHEM...Alec Baldwin and Mariska Hargitay). There are plenty of snubs every year but always a few good surprises as well!
Here are thoughts on what made me squeal, groan and gasp as I read the 2011 Emmy Nominations. You can get the full nomination list here http://www.emmys.com/nominations
The Delightful
-FINALLY! Well deserved and painfully long awaited Emmy nominations for Friday Night Lights and it's two underrated stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. How four years could go by without any acknowledgment of Chandler's effortless transformation into the stoic Eric Taylor and Britton's fearless portrayal of mama-bear Tami Taylor is mind boggling. Jason Katim's writing nomination for the finale episode was also well deserved. I don't think I've ever watched a series conclusion as heartbreaking, uplifting and emotionally satisfying. It was perfectly realized from start to finish.
- No surprise that Michelle Forbes was nominated for her heart-wrenching turn in The Killing. Mitch Larson's pain socked me so hard in the gut every week, I could feel it for days!
-I don't really enjoy Mike and Molly, but I can't begrudge the delightful Melissa McCarthy anything. I'm so happy to see her nominated in the best actress in a comedy category.
-Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage is an unexpected poster boy for swagger and charm. Tyrion Lannister is not just a little man. He's THE man! If any of the cast deserved special recognition it was definitely him.
-More love for The Good Wife. Elated to see Josh Charles on the nomination list as a supporting actor. When Sports Night alums get any recognition I feel all giddy inside.
-Dot Marie Jones' nomination for guest actress in a comedy. Coach Bieste was a bright spot in Glee's bleak second season. I hope she triumphs over Gwenyth's Paltrow's over-hyped and underwhelming Holly Holliday and Kristen Chenowith's grating April Rhodes.
The Depressing
-Modern family is great...but it's not so mind-blowingly brilliant that is deserves 4 out of the 6 supporting actor nominations! Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson) from Parks and Rec or ANY of the male cast member of Community were equally as deserving...if not more so! I would personally like to profess my undying love for Donald Glover and his wacky take on the lovable, but slow, Troy Barnes. His facial expressions alone are enough to send me into hysterics.
-Mad Men fatigue. I was elated when Mad Men achieved Emmy glory right out of the gate. But its consistent domination of the drama categories has soured me a little. It's not that the show has dipped in quality, but there are other great shows being squeezed out to make way for the Mad Men Emmy machine. Seeing the same show win year after year is boring and anti-climactic. I felt the same way about 30 Rock a few years ago and I'm sure I'll be sick of hearing about Modern Family by this time next year. SHARE THE LOVE!
-John Noble's absence from the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama category. The Emmys have a hate-on for genre shows, so I didn't expect much Fringe love. But Noble is a revelation as Walter Bishop...in both universes.
-Great shows get shafted. Comedies like Community, The Middle, and Cougartown deserved better. I also would have liked to see one or two nominations for Parenthood, which proves that quality drama doesn't have to be salacious or slutty to hit all the right notes.
The Dumbfounding
-Jon Cryer being nominated for Two and a Half Men! Sure, when the show started 8 years ago the sitcom format was in decline and there wasn't a lot of stiff competition. But with the field now packed so full of talented actors in incredibly funny shows, how can they still justify this nomination?
-Glee's nod for best comedy series!? Just because a show was nominated in its first year, it shouldn't earn default nominations for the rest of its run. Glee was so poorly plotted, inconsistent and convoluted in its second season that even hardcore Gleeks were reeling. Badly done Emmys. Badly done.
I will always hate MAD MEN for the one reason that it took away a deserved Emmy from LOST and now it'll take one away from FNL that is the most deserving in that group this year, in my opinion. It's FNL's one and only chance to go out in the glory it always deserved and MM is going to ruin it.
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