So who are the big nominees in TV?
In the Drama Series category, the nominees are Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones on HBO, Breaking Bad and Mad Men on AMC, and Homeland on Showtime. The fact that Breaking Bad has four of the six total nominations for writing an episode of a TV drama says that they may split the vote in the episodic category, but they'll probably blow away the competition in Drama Series. Who knows, though? Homeland and Boardwalk Empire have mighty weapons of their own.
As I said, Breaking Bad dominates the episodic drama category, with episodes "Buyout," "Dead Weight," "Fifty-One" and "Say My Name" all nominated, along with the "New Car Smell" episode of Homeland and "The Other Woman" from Mad Men. "The Other Woman" was killer. Mad Men. S'all I'm gonna say.
Comedy Series with a Writers Guild nod include 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation on NBC, Modern Family on ABC, Girls on HBO, and Louie on FX. Modern Family will win, but Parks and Rec or Louie would be fine by me.
Modern Family almost corners the market in episodic comedy nominations, with Writers Guild love for "Little Bo Bleep," "Mistery Date" and "Virgin Territory," as well as "The Debate" episode of Parks and Recreation, "Leap Day" from 30 Rock, and "Episode 9" of Episodes. I like Modern Family as much as the next person, but I'm a little tired of automatically sending all the awards their way. "The Debate" was funny and smart and featured Paul Rudd as a sweet but stupid candidate for office in Pawnee. Ya gotta vote Paul Rudd!
Joining Fox's The Mindy Project and ABC's Nashville as nominees for Best New Series were Girls, The Newsroom and Veep from HBO. I'd personally go for Nashville if I had a vote, but really, you can give it to anything but Girls. Or The Mindy Project. Not trying to rain on the Girl Power Parade -- I just don't like Girls or That Mindy Thing.
And even though the daytime soaps are a dying breed, the Guild is still recognizing them. Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless, which still exist, will compete against the late and very much lamented One Life to Live in that category.
For the complete list of nominees, including Hatfields and McCoys, Conan and Kimmel and Colbert, anthrax and the Amish and The Ghost of Joe McCarthy, click here.
I really expect the writers themselves to be more savvy than the general Emmy public. So why are they just as hypnotized by "Modern Family." It's a perfectly fine show... but brilliant, brilliant comedy is being regularly seen on series like "Parks and Rec," "30 Rock" (ok, those both got one), "Community," "Happy Endings," "Louie," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," still occasionally "How I Met Your Mother," and as of this fall "New Girl" and "Don't Trust the B" (honestly, both VASTLY improved from how they started). "Go On" is starting to perk nicely too, but that's probably too late for their cutoff.
ReplyDeleteMost of those have their ups and downs -- but "Modern Family" does too. My point is, there's a substantial amount of intelligent comedy around these days, and it's not all on one show.
I hear you. I'm fine with Modern Family. But it's time to spread the wealth. Parks & Rec at least got a nomination. But what about Happy Endings?? I'll take your word for New Girl and Don't Trust The B. Neither interests me very much. I've seen Girls exactly once and HAAAAATED it, so... Nothing for me there.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on Girls. I tried it a couple times and (other than frontal Peter Scolari, which I never expected to be a life experience) it's just not for me at all. Yeah, it's different. But that's not the same as good (for me). And the Mindy thing just isn't good; it doesn't feel alive like these other shows do.
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