Emmy Reactions

Don't you love them?

The Good

The Emmys are generally everyone’s favorite whipping boy when it comes to television, because, unlike movies, everyone watches so much of it and because there are relatively few precursors, and so everyone has a nomination they hated and a nomination they loved.   For me, my favorite nominations are always the ones that were “on-the-fence” and potentially not going to happen, so Adam Driver’s citation for Girls is about as wonderful as you get.  My current TV boyfriend Adam Sackler (give or take Robb Stark and Blaine Anderson) had a stunning season, particularly that terrific monologue at rehab that may have been the most “jaw-droppingly-awesome-acting” moment I saw on a comedy this year.

Likewise, I have to applaud the myriad nominations that arrived for some of my favorite shows, including Girls, Game of Thrones, American Horror Story, and Mad Men.  It’s nice to get that pat-on-the-back for the shows you love, and getting to hopefully have more exposure for the shows (more exposure hopefully equaling more viewers hopefully equaling more time with these characters).

Since no one (except perhaps my brother, who is a wizard at keeping up with every television series) can watch everything, I do want to recognize thinking outside the box with a nomination for Laura Dern’s critically-acclaimed but low-rated work on Enlightened, a series that was cancelled earlier this year (which is partially my fault, as I didn’t watch it).

And finally, Melissa Leo is one of my favorite actors on the planet, and also one of my favorite celebrities on the planet, and so I am thrilled she’s an Emmy nominee once again.  She should win (I don’t care who is against her).  Melissa Leo should win all of the Emmys.  I would watch an awards show of Melissa Leo just accepting Emmys.  And they should give that awards show another Emmy.

Award-worthy?  Yes.  Guest star?  Hardly.

The Confusing

Every year there’s some sort of category confusion, particularly regarding guest work.  How is Diana Rigg, who was in at least half of the Game of Thrones episodes from last season a Guest star?  Or Dot-Marie Jones?  Or Robert Morse?  The person who does these designations seems to have turned this category into “Another Five Supporting Actors,” which seems a bit much.

I am definitely supportive of this move, but am stunned that Eric Stonestreet, Emmy’s favorite man on Modern Family (giving him two trophies) somehow got snubbed in favor of his three costars.  Stonestreet has always been the weakest link of the adults on the series (I’ve many times complained about how much better the Jay/Gloria and Claire/Phil stories are in comparison to Cam/Mitchell, which are typically bitter, redundant, and without any romance), but considering he won the Emmy last year and doesn’t even get nominated this year-strange, no?

The Shunned and the Overly Nominated

The Bad

Am I the only person who is so tired of Alec Baldwin?  I do agree that his Jack Donaghy has been strong through the years and deserved some of his hardware, but yet another nomination?  For what was far more of a Liz Lemon farewell season that a great Jack season?  I’m not buying it, and Baldwin’s been thoroughly obnoxious recently, so I really don’t want to see him beat the affable Jim Parsons or Louis CK.

Additionally, Sarah Paulson is very talented, and I am hugely supportive of her nomination for American Horror Story, but what part of that is a supporting role?  The entire main story arch on the first season belonged to her-she should be in the same company as Lange, leaving someone like Lily Rabe room in supporting.

I don’t really watch reality television, but do occasionally catch snippets of it, and I have to wonder why the reality-competition categories don’t have more variety.  Unlike every other race, cable hasn’t taken too much of a hold of the category yet, and I would imagine that there are a number of quality cable programs that should be replacing Ryan Seacrest and Tom Bergeron once again.  Plus, shouldn’t this entire panel be filled with the judges on The Voice if we’re going to stay on network television?

I would have found room to nominate all three.

The Ugly

My go-to is Jon Cryer here, and he didn’t get nominated, so major bonus points to the Emmy Awards on that front.  I find Anthony Bourdain beyond insufferable, so his nomination was the biggest vomit moment of the morning.

I don’t oftentimes throw stones when I haven’t seen all of the nominees, but I have trouble believing that “The Rains of Castamere,” one of the best-produced hours of television I’ve ever seen, didn’t deserve a Directing nomination to go with its Writing nomination.

I usually have trouble believing seven-wide fields (couldn’t they weight them more so that they don’t result in a tie, and why does it happen so often at the Emmys and it’s never happened at the Oscars with nominations?), and while Glee is very close to my heart, Jane Lynch doesn’t deserve to be alongside the other six women in her category (I watch all but Wever’s show, and I hear she’s the bee’s knees from a critic I trust, so I’m giving her a pass).  Lynch’s story this past year was almost non-existent, and she is certainly getting this because her celebrity is resurgent at the moment.  The problem is that the way the Emmys vote, she actually has a strong featured episode for herself (the Becky shooting episode), which could put at jeopardy a win for Sofia Vergara or Mayim Bialik.  Not to mention the fact that if they really needed a seventh nominee, wouldn’t Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, or Jemima Kirke, the supporting ladies on Girls, have been a far more appropriate choice?  Or better yet, they could have nominated all three!

And while I cherish any citation that goes to Glee, giving it to “Diva,” an episode I openly disliked over so many other great moments (Season 4 was way better than Season 3) is a slap in the face.

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  Who are you most bummed about Emmy snubbing?  Who were you jumping up-and-down for?  How much do you love Melissa Leo?  Share in the comments!