I love the "Shut. UP!" faces on Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Mary-Louise Parker when Sarah Silverman is talking about auditioning to play Jonah Hill's mother. Because, for real? That's probably one of the most concise summaries out there of what's wrong with the mainstream film roles available for actresses nowadays.
More discussion of age and how it plays out for actresses in film versus television. Personally, I wouldn't mind taking every "Best Actress in a Drama" nominee from this year who's not Elisabeth Moss or Glenn Close and replacing them with Jones, McDonnell, Paquin and King. On a completely shallow note, how fabulous does Mary McDonnell's hair look?
Writer/showrunners kind of fascinate me. They were essentially able to take their own creative energy and transform it into industry power. This roundtable has two of my faves, Alan Ball and Matthew Weiner - during the weeks when True Blood and Mad Men are both airing, I will just be losing my shit all the time all day long every Sunday. Talk about a two-hour block of heaven. Also, even when I disagree with her creative decisions, I still love Shonda Rhimes.
I love Weiner's unqualified disdain for spoilers. I'll try to be good this season, really!
So, I'll try to keep the Emmy commentary as brief as possible, since it's the kind of thing I can expound upon at length.
The Good
Big Love gets a Best Drama nomination - the Emmys can seem so stagnant sometimes that it's truly shocking when a show that's been airing for a few years gets recognized for stepping its game up. Big Love is probably one of the few shows that seemed to truly benefit from the writers strike, using the time to acknowledge and integrate the real-life compound raids in Texas. The result was an unbelievably rich season that explored the role of women in the show's patriarchal world to previously unplumbed depths.
How I Met Your Mother gets a Best Comedy nomination - the critical attention lavished on shows like Arrested Development and 30 Rock has resulted in those sitcoms that follow a more traditional format being maligned in turn. (My parents, for whatever reason, always seem kind of shocked that I like this show. My dad has, more than once, asked a skeptical, "You watch that?" to which I somewhat manically reply, "Watch it? I love it! I have all the DVDs! And a fake Robin Sparkles concert tee!") HIMYM is living proof that a laugh track does not preclude awesomeness. This past season was a bit disjointed, but I'm glad that they're finally getting recognition.
Elisabeth Moss gets a Best Actress nomination - as I said above, the Best Actress in a Drama category was kind of a letdown. Moss' nomination was the pleasant surprise in the category. Unable to resist the pull of my DVDs, I rewatched the second season of Mad Men and found myself drawn in again to Moss' portrayal of Peggy contending with her family, her religion and her boundless ambition. And then there's her soul-crushing monologue at the end of "Meditations in an Emergency," the season finale. (I'd post the clip if I could find it.) Unbelievable stuff.
Jeremy Piven goes unnominated - more fallout from the mercury poisoning debacle? Please, please, PLEASE let this be Neil Patrick Harris' year.
Jack McBrayer, Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski get nominated; Kristin Chenoweth gets nominated
The Annoying
Little major-category love for Pushing Daisies - truthfully, was I really expecting any? Not really - the last three episodes aired at 10 pm on Saturday nights in June - but it still stings. They did get a fair number of nominations in the Creative categories, which at least shows that someone recognized some of the show's merits.
No love for the ladies of Big Love - Jeanne Tripplehorn did get nominated for her five-minute doppelganger act as Jackie O in Grey Gardens, which I suppose is something. However, I can't believe that there wasn't one spot in the Supporting Actress category for any of Big Love's unbelievable actresses. Look: I like Rose Byrne a lot - more than many other people do - and I don't think she's a bad actress. As the Duchesse de Polignac, she's one of my very favorite things about Marie Antoinette, and I think most people's quibbles with her work on Damages are more about the character than her acting. However, I can't in good faith say that she deserved an Emmy nod over anyone from Big Love.
No acting nominations for Generation Kill - the miniseries/movie acting categories often read like academy members just searched the eligibility list for names they recognized and used those to fill their ballots. It's a shame that no one from GK's less-famous ensemble got nominated - their work was so good that I kept watching even when I knew I had no idea what was going on. Hopefully, this summer's dramatic uptick in popularity for True Blood means that Alexander Skarsgard will be recognized for his all-around awesomeness in the future.
John Slattery over Vincent Kartheiser? Look, I love John Slattery as much as the next person - he manages to imbue Roger Sterling with so much humor and charm that it's hard to dislike him even when he's being an unimaginable sleazebag. However, Kartheiser deserves to be recognized for his continually stellar work - he makes Pete Campbell's bottomless need for approval so tangible as to be uncomfortable to watch. In the best way possible.
Mark Moses goes unnominated - the Guest Actor category is a weird place, a mix of one-offs by actors more well-known for their film work, former cast regulars returning to reprise their roles and actors who appear in multi-episode arcs. For whatever contractual reasons, Moses was a guest actor in Mad Men's second season, but he was a major factor in making that season as excellent as it was. The simultaneous attempts to exert power at Sterling Cooper and to hold on to his sobriety made Duck a compelling character, and Moses made him stand out even among a crowd of unabashedly ambitious people, all the way through to his season-ending implosion.
Hope Davis over Alison Pill? - well-acted but emotionally cold vs. well-acted and deeply emotionally affecting. Though I thought her performance was one of the year's best, I didn't automatically assume that Pill would be a nominee. However, since the nominations of Davis and Dianne Wiest show that some people were watching In Treatment, I'm baffled as to how Pill could not be nominated.
The Grave Miscarriages of Television Academy Justice
Cat Deeley goes unnominated - watching So You Think You Can Dance last Wednesday, I thought to myself, "Surely Cat Deeley will be nominated for a Best Reality Host Emmy." It's sort of an intangible factor - a warmth Deeley lends to the show, remaining positive without simpering or being patronizing to contestants. The reality categories need some shaking up in general - I still love The Amazing Race, but it plateaued a few seasons back. The television academy needs to get on its game and recognize the excellence of SYTYCD and its unparalleled host.
Battlestar Galactica goes unrecognized in major categories - such is the plight of the cult TV lover. "Maybe this year," you hope, willing others to see what you see in a little-watched show. The critics often agree, and what fans there are are intensely devoted. I hoped that maybe, in the last season of the show, when the acting was always top-notch, someone, anyone from the cast might get a nod. Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos pulled out some of their best work this time around, and though it ultimately can't take away from the quality of their performances, I'm sad that the academy didn't see fit to honor the final stretch of BSG episodes.
I just shouldn't make any comments about brevity anymore, because apparently it's a lost cause.
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