July 6, 2006

Biggest Emmy snub and the Emmy thing I'm thrilled about.

No nomination for Edie Falco. Good! I think she's a terrific actress, and she's done a great job of bringing dimension to the loathsome Carmela Soprano over the years, but the whole show was trying way too hard to deliver her the Emmy on a silver platter this season. I said it here:
Are these scripts a gift to Edie Falco? Is the actress groveling for an Emmy with all of these harshly lit, no-makeup bedside scenes?
I'm glad the Emmy people, whoever they are, stand up to this kind of begging. Beating her out for the nomination are Frances Conroy ("Six Feet Under"), Geena Davis ("Commander in Chief"), Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"), Allison Janney ("The West Wing") and Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer").

But here's the real news I care about: Lisa Kudrow is nominated for "The Comeback." Her competition in the comic actress category: Stockard Channing ("Out of Practice"), Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Debra Messing ("Will & Grace") and Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("The New Adventures of Old Christine"). Though her show -- cancelled! -- did not get a nomination -- the comedies are "Arrested Development," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Office," "Scrubs" and "Two and a Half Men" -- perhaps the recognition she's getting might inspire HBO to let "The Comeback" come back. That was a brilliant, brilliant comedy, and her performance was truly sublime.

Come on, HBO, bring it back. I'll say I love "Lucky Louie" if you do!

ADDED: I see that the nomination procedures were changed this year:
In February, Emmy officials revamped guidelines in hopes of making the nominations more inclusive.

Under the new approach, the AP observes, blue-ribbon panels pick the five nominees each for comedy and drama series from 10 front-runners as decided by a vote of the academy's general membership. Videotapes of shows were used by panelists in their decisions. Previously, leading vote-getters in the general vote were declared the final nominees.

Great.

7 comments:

chuck b. said...

Battlestar Galactica is by far the best show on TV! Season three coming in October... Spoilers here, but I can't bring myself to read them.

Beth said...

I'm with Todd and chuck. Genre shows like BG and Buffy have some of the best writing and permances on television, but you will never know it by the Emmy nominations. I put no credence whatsoever in the Emmys because of this persistant snobbery.

Beth said...

argh- performances

price said...

The Comeback was incredible, and getting moreso the longer it's been off the air. I recently went to the Palm Springs resort where Valerie Cherish stayed, and we ended up quoting the show most of the weekend.

The Emmy's are still terrible though. Maybe they should do it like the Oscars and have people only voting within their field? Do people actually watch Two and a Half Men? Maybe Dave?

Simon said...

Much as I would normally favor giving Geena any award for which she is elligble, it's hard to make an argument that the ghastly Commander in Chief should be nominated for anything except a bargain bin. Terribly researched, terribly written, and painfully acted by all concerned. That it made it past a pilot is hard to comprehend, unless the network were judging its value on a criterion other than its own merits.

Craig Ranapia said...

Simon:

Agree with you on C-in-C, and much as it grieves me to say so, with the exception of Alan Alda's nod, I really think The West Wing got a lot of pity votes this year. It wasn't as bad as I feared, but one of the best dramas of this - or any other - year? Nope.

Looks like the promised fresh air was little more than "we're so over Lost and Desperate Housewives".

Price:
I watch one and a half episodes of Two and A Half Men - hell, I'm no prude but I have to wonder if the writers are paid by the crass and witless sexual innuendo they can stuff into every line...

Anonymous said...

The Powers that Be have always snubbed the sci fi/fantasy genre as somehow lesser. Battlestar Galactica is a fantastic drama show that would garner all soets of accolades if it were not set in space.

I am also baffled about Lost being snubbed. for heaven's sake, it is the current winner for best drama and this sason has had a lot more personal, touching moments than the last. Are they afraid such a show might win again, sulllying the good name of Emmy?