The Sandys…
Ok, so the Emmy nominees have been announced, and I know I shouldn’t care but part of me sort of does. This year there are some acceptable categories, and of course, some things maddeningly overlooked. This year I have decided to create my own tribute to all the great TV of this year. Why should you care? Fuck you, that’s why.
This is The Sandys!
The opening ceremony…
Our budget isn’t that of the Oscars.
| The Emmys | Swearing | The Sandys | ||||
| Best Drama | ||||||
| Boardwalk Empire Dexter Friday Night Lights Game of Thrones The Good Wife Mad Men |
Cock off! Dexter? I mean it’s perfectly fine but it’s not up there. There’s a few interesting bits, mutilated beyond any merit by a pointless, overwritten voiceover which was written by yourself as a teenage poet.“If I had a heart it would be breaking right now…”Really? That’s our top quality writing now? It might be good enough for the Emmys but not for me! | In TreatmentThe Good Wife | ||||
| The Good Wife took me a while to get into due to a poor couple of first episodes, but this season it has been shitting excellent. Nurse Jacke calls itself a comedy but it isn’t. It’s funny, but the comedy comes second to the drama, so I’m putting it in here whether they like it or not. This season started slow but got very good indeed (Eve Best, I love you). Parenthood I love so much, it’s got a great ensemble cast, it’s really funny and really horrible at times, and much of the writing is extremely good (although I was annoyed that a character wrote and had a play given a professional run in about 2 weeks. Some of us are jealous writers you know!). Mad men I’ve grown to really enjoy but opinion is pretty solidly there that this season wasn’t the best and let’s say what I’m all thinking… it’s just not as good as Breaking Bad, which was left out of the Emmys this year because of scheduling. Not here! But is it time to rectify that? | ||||||
| THE WINNER: In Treatment. One of the best dramas ever, and also the show with the least jokes of any show I’ve ever seen. Incredible character development. Yes this season wasn’t as good as the last, which wasn’t as good as the first, but really with a show this good that’s completely irrelevant. Congratulations! | ||||||
| Best Comedy | ||||||
| Big Bang Theory Glee Modern Family The Office Parks and Recreation 30 Rock |
I’ve never really got Modern Family, or the Office, or Parks and Recreation, but I’ve always felt that was more my fault than anyone else’s. But I am fairly confident in one thing.The Big Bang Theory is the worst show in history. It’s like being slapped by a guy who’s copied the first paragraphs of Wikipedia articles onto his hands so he can read them and claim he’s intelligent. And at first you find him really annoying, until you notice what’s in the other hand and suddenly it’s scarier than it is shit.What’s in the other hand? Penny, whose entire character can be boiled down to a single facial expression which reads “I don’t understand, it’s ok, you’ll fancy me anyway!”Penny is an image crafted from what a serial killer sees when you ask him to imagine his dream woman. She is nothing. She is nothing. She is nothing. And they fight over her. Because she’s pretty. And I’m not being all “this is a role model blah blah” about it, no she’s not. She’s just incredibly boring and soulless and that’s treated as being adorable, and it pisses me off.“A massive, insulting distillation of what we consider intelligent, horrible sexism, and we get lots and lots of really bad jokes!”Put that on your fucking poster, you feckless thugs. | CommunityThe Big C | ||||
| The first season of The Big C was really very good. Really funny, extremely moving, to the point of tears at least once. Such a pity this season has been a disappointment, but at least we had the big hitters to fall back on. I’m a huge fan of both 30 Rock and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and both delivered this year (though I’d say 30 Rock more consistently). I also found a British show called Him & Her which deserves some real mention. Extremely funny, minimalist dialogue comedy. It sells itself as being all about the filth but really that isn’t it’s strength. The two actors are really warm together, and their petty squabbles are really funny, and really endearing, and I’m glad to hear it’s coming back this year. | ||||||
| THE WINNER: But I’m afraid the clear winner is Community, an INCREDIBLY funny, warm, inspiring, heartfelt often quite poignant series. It is all of these things but most of all it is simply joyous. A real pleasure to watch each week. Often called a parody show due to the number of movie spoofs it undertakes, but to call it such, even while acknowledging its being hilarious is a dismissal. It is so much more. Not a SINGLE Emmy Nomination across the board. We’ll fix that won’t we. | ||||||
| Best Actress in a Drama (combined) | ||||||
| Kathy Bates – Harry’s Law Connie Britton – Friday Night Lights Mireille Enos – The Killing Mariska Hargitay – Law and Order: SVU Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife Elisabeth Moss – Mad MenKelly Macdonald – Boardwalk Empire Archie Panjabi – The Good Wife Christine Baranski – The Good Wife Margo Martindale – Justified Michelle Forbes – The Killing Christina Hendricks – Mad Men |
None of this offends me. Though plenty I haven’t seen. | Eve Best – Nurse JackieJulianna Margulies – The Good Wife | ||||
| Anyone who’s read earlier posts knows who is going to win this, but I just want to point out exactly how good Amy Ryan is as Adele, the intricately detached therapist from Season 3 of In Treatment. At once conveying masses of strength, intimidation, and a sense of immense loneliness buried under professionalism. A really beautiful depiction of counter-transference, so subtle and yet so clear that they didn’t even have to mention it in the show. | ||||||
| THE WINNER: My hero. Eve Best. She’s pathologically likable in Nurse Jackie, despite her character on paper being extremely annoying. She’s hilarious, warm, and clever. But where she really comes into her own is in the dramatic moments. Watching Eve Best have a moment of private grief or anger is like standing on dry land and just panhandling at the ocean. Eve Best I love you like a Sunday Porch I could do nothing on. | ||||||
| Best Actor in a Drama (combined) | ||||||
| Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire Kyle Chandler – Friday Night Lights Michael C. Hall – Dexter John Hamm – Mad Men Hugh Laurie – House Timothy Olyphant – JustifiedPeter Dinklage – Game of Thrones Josh Charles – The Good Wife Alan Cumming – The Good Wife Walton Goggins – Justified John Slattery – Mad Men Andrew Braugher – Men of a Certain Age |
Again, fuck Dexter. But other than that, yeah fine. | Josh Charles – The Good Wife Alan Cumming – The Good WifePeter Krause – ParenthoodJohn Slattery – Mad Men |
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| Alas, it’s a hard one, because Josh Charles is perhaps my favourite actor. His work in Sports Night, In Treatment, and now The Good Wife have all been exceptional. But I’m afraid this year, for this performance, he’s going to be beaten. Sorry Josh! You would have earned it any other year. And your work on the other two shows would have earned you it seven times a year, but this year, you missed out. | ||||||
| THE WINNER: Alan Cumming! I had never heard of him before this year, but he’s really impressed me! He came into the good wife filled with just enough smarm to love, embodied with rage, and fun, and the fun of rage. But when it was needed he also melted me with his guilt, his sincerity and his misbegotten romance. | ||||||
| Best Actress in a Comedy (combined) | ||||||
| Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie Tina Fey – 30 Rock Laura Linney – The Big C Melissa McCarthy – Mike & Molly Martha Plimpton – Raising Hope Amy Poehler – Parks and RecreationJane Lynch – Glee Betty White – Hot In Cleveland Julie Bowen – Modern Family Sofia Vergara – Modern Family Kristen Wiig – Saturday Night Live Jane Krakowski – 30 Rock |
Just because it’s funny, does not make Nurse Jackie a comedy! Some people would say the same about The Big C, but that at least is built in warmth, it’s a fun show. Nurse Jackie is grim. | Tina Fey – 30 RockLaura Linney – The Big C | ||||
| You think I’m going to go for Community again don’t you? Well I’m not. Though Alison Brie is really funny. And despite finding her just a little bit wonderful, I’m not going for Sarah Solemani either. But seriously, watch Him & Her it’s excellent. I’m a fool for a good bickering couple. But no! This year, it’s going to… | ||||||
| THE WINNER: Laura Linney, for giving a desperate warmth to a difficult character, and for making me smile. | ||||||
| Best Actor in a Comedy (combined) | ||||||
| Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock Louis C.K. – Louie Steve Carrell – The Office Johnny Galecki – The Big Bang Theory Matt LeBlanc – Episodes Jim Parsons – The Big Bang TheoryChris Colfer – Glee Jesse Tyler Ferguson – Modern Family Ed O’Neill – Modern Family Eric Stonestreet – Modern Family Ty Burrell – Modern Family Jon Cryer – Two and a Half Men |
Both the actors from The Big Bang Theory? People don’t get this about me, but I actually really love the world, and you two are RUINING IT! | Joel McHale – CommunityDanny Pudi – CommunityDonald Glover – Community | ||||
| Ok so Community have crowded the plate this year, and I’m ok with it, because all three of them are exceptional. Very different roles, perfectly squashing together. Charlie Day has always been the thing that made It’s Always Sunny from a good into a great, and Adam Pally playing gay offensive slacker is just extremely watchable and fun. Also I read an article suggesting that portraying a gay man as a slob offensively dismisses the clear differences between gay and straight people. So thanks Adam Pally for allowing that atrocious moron to make himself known. | ||||||
| THE WINNER: As much as Community has worked to make itself more of an ensemble show over its run, it’s still Joel McHale as Jeff Winder who I want to be given as much screen time as possible. I’m equal parts jealous of and full of pity for Jeff, the pathologically charismatic smarmy ex lawyer. It’s been a pretty dark year for him too, and I’m really looking forward to seeing him circle the drain a little in the coming season. | ||||||
So there you have it! This was self indulgent to the point of a fetish, but there’s some fucking good TV in here that I hope you’ll check out. I do feel kind of disgusting for spending so much time writing it though.
Closing ceremony…
I’m against Mad Men winning anything or getting any media exposure at all until they finish haggling with each other like a gaggle of avaricious philistines and just air a new season. It’s already long overdue, and my patience is already stretched. I love Mad Men, it’s been one of my favourite shows for a while, but they’re all getting way too big for their boots.
Just heard that the highly promising and enjoyable Walking Dead has lost Frank Darabont because AMC they had to divert funds to filling Matt Weiner’s swimming pool full of money, so he can swim in it like Scrooge McDuck. I mean, I’d love to watch another season of Don screwing over whichever woman he’s with at the moment, the rest of the Drapers becoming even more dysfunctional, Peggy enjoying her sexual liberation, Pete smirking, and so on, but this is hard to stomach. They’re taking the piss.
I’d put Treme in the Best Drama list, by the way. Second season’s not been as good as the first in some ways but it’s still got that David Simon social realism and commentary that made The Wire so incomparably awesome. Boardwalk Empire is also not bad, but in general HBO are really losing ground, as a network, to AMC when it comes to quality drama. AMC’s got Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. What’s HBO got? Treme and Boardwalk Empire (I enjoyed some of Game of Thrones and True Blood is good for what it is – kitschy shite). They need to up their game and bring us something of the calibre of The Wire / Sopranos / Deadwood / Oz again.
I read an article on the whole AMC Mad Men funding issue. Interesting to see the other side of “they cancelled it due to low rating even though everyone loved it”. Some are saying they kind of have to cancel it or the channel might be in big trouble. If renewing Mad Men means they can’t renew Breaking Bad I will be really annoyed, but as i t is, I’d WAY rather see another series of Mad Men than I would the sometimes enjoyable, sometimes throat clutchingly bad Walking Dead. Many a war has been waged over that 2nd episode.
You don’t even know how many times you’d have to kill me before I’d give True Blood any kind of award. Other than perhaps “greatest downfall of a once great writer.”
In the end, HBO wise, my shameful little secret is that I just don’t get The Wire, The Sporanos or Deadwood. I have tried my level best I really have, given them multiple goes. I cannot find myself caring about any of it. The Wire is the best of them, cos that was at least big and intricate enough that I wished I liked it. I just can’t manage to care about ANYONE in it. Maybe this is a confession for another article.