By now, it's old news. But the Emmy honchos, who were already going to release the Best Comedy and Best Drama shortlists early, one-upped themselves in a pulse-gauging experiment by announcing their lists even earlier. Depending on industry reactions, we may be getting the Acting shortlists soon too. So who made the first cut for Best Comedy and Best Drama?
Best Comedy:
30 Rock Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
The Office
Pushing Daisies
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty
Weeds
As you can see, a few of my favorites made the cut, including 30 Rock, The Office, Flight of the Conchords, and Pushing Daisies. On the other hand, Two and a Half Men also made the shortlist, and while I don't watch that hypnotizer of awards voters, I do watch Entourage, whose last season outscored Rescue Me on the this-show-is-a-sad-parody-of-itself meter. Overall, I'm pretty okay with this list, but only because I know in my heart 30 Rock will not only make the nominee list but will also win the gold. The rest is noise.
Best Drama:
Boston Legal Damages
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Grey's Anatomy
House
Lost
Mad Men
The Tudors
The Wire
Well, The Wire made the shortlist for (I think) the first time ever, which is only going to make its inevitable loss more disappointing. In fact, I'm not even happy it got this far, if only because Boston Legal is STILL in the running, and as we learned from Spader's win last year, it's dangerous to underestimate the Academy's devotion to mediocrity. On top of that television travesty, Grey's Anatomy, in a universally ridiculed season, still made the cut over the likes of, oh, I don't know, Battlestar Galactica. That series, one of television's best, never really had a chance, so I'll reserve judgment until I see the gap where Mary McDonnell's name should be on the Best Actress shortlist. And really, all that aside, this is a decent list. Lost entered "The Constant," its best episode to date, so with any luck it will make the final five. House and Friday Night Lights are my other ponies in this race, apart from the second best drama of the year and lead contender for the Best Drama Emmy, Mad Men. Apparently they entered the pilot for consideration, a political choice for such serialized shows--judges don't need any backstory in order to understand the episode--even though the series went on to even greater highs.
Thoughts?
I'm starting to wonder how much longer the Emmys will exist in their current form. In this day and age can we continue to judge and award shows based on a single episode? I can understand how these award shows (hypothetically) helped highlight the best of television before the Internets, but it's all starting to feel a little pointless now.
ReplyDeleteI tell myself that this shortlist doesn't matter, because the Emmys don't matter, but I'm still irrationally upset about the snubbing of HIMYM and BSG.
It's ridiculous that I haven't seen this before now. I should be hurt for my lack of communication. :-D
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