Losing the EGOT

Occasionally I find myself sorting through particularly random trivia (this happened a few days ago in a conversation with a friend), and one of my favorite bits of trivia surrounds the younger of the acting Redgrave sisters.  While Vanessa was the great actor of her generation, Lynn had something else special about her.  Lynn managed to be the only person in the history of entertainment to receive nominations for an Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, and Tony award...and not win any.

This is of course both a huge compliment and an enormous disappointment.  Redgrave managed to get nominated for three Tonys, two Emmys, two Oscars, and a Grammy in her career, something almost every actor would kill for, but you have to assume that she wishes she could have taken the stage just once to accept one of those major awards (to her credit, she did pick up a pair of Golden Globe Awards).

We took a look at Redgrave's record six years ago, but I was curious after the conversation with my friend if there had been any new additions to this list, if any people who had been on the list had migrated off of it, and most importantly, if someone had tied Redgrave's record.  Below you'll find that her record is still intact, though there's still room for some performers to go after it, and a few more have been added to the challenge since six years ago.  I've listed below every living performer I could find that has been nominated for (and lost) three of the four of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, & Tony.  If you have a name I don't have on the list, please bring it to the comments (particularly for the Grammys, this is hard to research), and I'll update accordingly!

(Note: All of these are listed alphabetically)

Lauren Ambrose

Nomination She's Missing: Oscar

Emmys Lost: 2002 & 2003-Lead Actress in a Drama (Six Feet Under)

Grammys Lost: 2019-Best Musical Theater Album (My Fair Lady)

Tonys Lost: 2018-Best Actress in a Musical (My Fair Lady)

She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She won two SAG Awards for her work on Six Feet Under.

Can She Seal the Deal?: I would assume not.  Ambrose getting the lead in My Fair Lady is surprising in retrospect (her career had been relatively mixed since her breakout role in Six Feet Under ended, and I suppose this was a case of the "play" selling tickets more than any of the stars).  Currently she is on Servant for AppleTV, but hasn't done a film role in almost a decade, so an Oscar nomination would be a surprise.

Antonio Banderas

Nomination He's Missing: Grammy

Emmys Lost: 2004-Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (And Starring Pancho Villas Himself), 2018-Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Genius)

Oscars Lost: 2019-Best Actor (Pain and Glory)

Tonys Lost: 2003-Best Actor in a Musical (Nine)

He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Banderas won a Drama Desk for Nine, and finally pulled off a Goya earlier this year for his work in Pain and Glory

Can He Seal the Deal?: Of all of the people on this list, Banderas has the most grounds to be mad, as under current awards rules he would have tied Lynn Redgrave for this award.  Banderas was a key vocalist on the cast recording on Nine, and that was nominated in 2004 for Best Musical Theater Album (but lost to the Bernadette Peters revival of Gypsy).  Today Banderas would've been nominated for a Grammy for the award as a principle vocalist, but at the time he wasn't because it was only the producers of the album that got nominated.  I don't know if Banderas has it in him to do another play (he hasn't gone back to either musicals or the theater in recent years), and so I kind of wonder if this is a trivia answer that will never be, but was very close to becoming reality.

Gabriel Byrne

Nomination He's Missing: Oscar
Emmys Lost: 2008 & 2009-Lead Actor in a Drama (In Treatment)
Grammys Lost: 1998-Spoken Word Album (The Nightingale and the Rose)
Tonys Lost: 2000-Lead Actor in a Play (A Moon for the Misbegotten), 2016-Lead Actor in a Play (Long Day's Journey Into Night)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: He did win a Golden Globe for his work on In Treatment

Can He Seal the Deal?: The trick to "pulling a Lynn Redgrave" (patent-pending) is to be able to make positions second through fifth, but not manage to grab first.  I think that Byrne could well nab an Oscar nomination, considering he is a multi-hyphenate entertainer (he not only acts, but also writes, directs, and produces), and doesn't seem too likely to win any of the other awards anytime soon.  He rarely does Broadway and his television show isn't on anymore.

Adam Driver

Nomination He's Missing: Grammy

Emmys Lost: 2013, 2014, & 2015-Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Girls), 2020-Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Saturday Night Live)

Oscars Lost: 2018-Supporting Actor (BlacKkKlansman), 2019-Actor (Marriage Story)

Tonys Lost: 2019-Lead Actor in a Play (Burn This)

He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Driver has failed to secure any major entertainment award in his career, so there should be some sympathy for him, but it feels doubtful he's going to end his career empty-handed considering its current trajectory, so don't worry if you're a fan.

Can He Seal the Deal?: I would assume that Adam Driver is the type that might randomly get a Spoken Word Album nomination at some point (not for a memoir, but more so for a table read recording of The Crucible or something similar).  But Driver's career trajectory (he has been nominated for three of these awards in the past two years alone) indicates that a win is more likely to stop him from reaching Redgrave's record than a missing Grammy nomination.  He seems certain to win one (probably the Oscar or Tony) in the next few years.

James Franco

Nomination He's Mising: Tony
Emmys Lost: 2002-Lead Actor in a Miniseries (James Dean), 2011-Outstanding Special Class Programs (The 83rd Academy Awards...yes, James Franco was nominated for an Emmy for his comically bad hosting of the Oscars...let that sink in for a second), 2016-Outstanding Short Form Variety Series (Making a Scene)
Oscars Lost: 2010-Best Actor (127 Hours)
Grammys Lost: 2014-Spoken Word Album (Actors Anonymous)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Franco missed the Emmy but picked up the Golden Globe for his work in James Dean, and he missed the Oscar but pulled off another Globe for The Disaster Artist.

Can He Seal the Deal? I'm starting to think no.  Franco has done stage work (he did a turn in Of Mice and Men six years ago), but he wasn't nominated for a Tony Award (instead they went for his costar Chris O'Dowd).  Franco's sexual misconduct allegations have hurt his career; after his surprise Oscar snub in 2017 for The Disaster Artist, he has made direct-to-video & unreleased films, and his only more mainstream work was a cameo in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and The Deuce, which was a middling success at best for HBO.  Winning an Emmy at this point seems more probable than a Tony nomination.

Ed Harris

Nomination He's Missing: Grammy
Emmys Lost: 2005-Lead Actor in a Miniseries (Empire Falls), 2012-Supporting Actor in a Miniseries (Game Change), 2018-Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Westworld)
Oscars Lost: 1995-Supporting Actor (Apollo 13), 1998-Supporting Actor (The Truman Show), 2000-Lead Actor (Pollock), 2002-Supporting Actor (The Hours)
Tonys Lost: 1986-Actor in a Play (Precious Sons)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: He has two Golden Globe awards, for The Truman Show and Game Change

Can He Seal the Deal?: For a long time there, it seemed like Ed Harris would surely win an Oscar.  He received a staggering four nominations in the span of seven years, and one could make a pretty convincing argument that he was in second in two, if not three of those years (Amy Adams-take note).  Harris has since fallen on hard times with the Academy and has had no more luck with Emmy (not even his grand return to TV with Westworld has gotten him a trophy so far).  This of course could happen, as the Spoken Word Album category can slip someone in at almost any time, and Harris is famous enough that he could make it for some reading of Shakespeare or Arthur Miller.  However, he's never been a particularly "awards-seeking" performer (otherwise he would have beaten James Coburn in 1998), and I don't see this happening.

Marsha Mason

Nomination She's Missing: Tony
Emmys Lost: 1997-Guest Actress in a Comedy (Frasier)
Oscars Lost: 1973-Best Actress (Cinderella Liberty), 1977-Best Actress (The Goodbye Girl), 1979-Best Actress (Cinderella Liberty), and 1981-Best Actress (Only When I Laugh)
Grammys Lost: 2000-Best Comedy Album (The Prisoner of Second Avenue)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Mason won Golden Globes for both Cinderella Liberty and The Goodbye Girl

Can She Seal the Deal? The better question has to be how has she not?  Marsha Mason is one of my minor obsessions (she's been nominated for four Oscars, is still living, and yet somehow she disappeared off the face of the public sphere after her divorce to Neil Simon), and the real question was how was she ever going to get a Grammy nomination considering how minor her celebrity is.  With the Comedy Album citation, though, she's actually most well-known these days for her work on Broadway, as she's done six different productions in her career and is constantly working in the New York stage.  Make it happen Marcie!

Kate Nelligan

Nomination She's Missing: Grammy
Emmys Lost: 1989-Actress in a Drama Series (Road to Avonlea)
Oscars Lost: 1991-Supporting Actress (The Prince of Tides)
Tonys Lost: 1983-Actress in a Play (Plenty), 1984-Actress in a Play (A Moon for the Misbegotten), 1988-Featured Actress in a Play (Serious Money), 1989-Actress in a Play (Spoils of War)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She did win a BAFTA for Frankie and Johnny

Can She Seal the Deal?: The longtime Canadian stage actress enjoyed most of her awards-success at the Tonys, where in the 1980's she was a frequent contender but always missed (it can't feel too bad losing to the likes of Jessica Tandy and Glenn Close, though).  Her one-and-done nomination in 1991 at the Oscars makes her the person who has been on this list the longest, and as a whole she rarely acts anymore (on the stage or otherwise), so unless she has a particular penchant to get involved with an album and score a truly random nomination, this seems like the least likely of the list to happen.  It is interesting, though, how such a comparatively obscure (certainly the least well-known of these performers) actress could so quickly score 3/4 of an EGOT loss.

Kathleen Turner

Nomination She's Missing: Emmy
Grammys Lost: 2001-Spoken Word Album (The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets)
Oscars Lost: 1986-Lead Actress (Peggy Sue Got Married)
Tonys Lost: 1990-Actress in a Play (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), 2005-Actress in a Play (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She has two Golden Globes for Romancing the Stone and Prizzi's Honor.

Can She Seal the Deal?: Of the people on this list, I think this is probably the most shocking person on the list, considering that she almost certainly was close to getting nominated at the Emmys for playing Chandler's mother on Friends.  I would suspect, therefore, that she's also the most likely person to pull the Lynn Redgrave of anyone listed here.  She just needs a solid guest spot on a cable television series (probably not too hard considering their penchant for going for former headliners of a certain age for guest roles), and to not win the Tony Award (she probably would have won in 2005, but no one was going to take out Cherry Jones in Doubt).  I think that's manageable, and that she's probably going to make it thanks to the bizarre dozens-of-people-nominated Shakespeare Sonnets nomination she got in 2001.

Vanessa Williams

Nominations She's Missing: Oscar
Emmys Lost: 2007, 2008, and 2009-Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Ugly Betty), 2009-Performer in an Animated Program (Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies)
Grammys Lost: 1989-New Artist and Female R and B Performance ("The Right Stuff"), 1990-Female R and B Performance ("Dreamin"), 1992-Female R and B Performance ("Runnin' Back to You"), 1993-Record of the Year ("Save the Best for Last"), Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Save the Best for Last"), Female R and B Vocal Performance ("The Comfort Zone"), & Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Love Is"), 1995-Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Colors of the Wind") & Female R and B Performance ("The Way That You Love"), 1997-Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album (Star Bright)
Tonys Lost: 2002-Actress in a Musical (Into the Woods)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She was Miss America, but umm, yeah, maybe she should get a little pity here.

Can She Seal the Deal?: Yeah, that list of Grammy losses is massive.  Williams is one of the most nominated women in the Recording Academy to never win.  Despite her seventeen year absence, I think her best shot would be to pick up one of the below-the-line Grammy Awards rather than take an Oscar nomination.  Williams did sing an Oscar-winning song, of course (1995's "Color of the Wind"), but she's not very much of a songwriter, and the movies have oddly never taken to her like music, television, and the theater.  So my gut says no, she can't quite get there (prove me wrong, casting directors), but may well win one of the other three awards before all is said and done.

And those are the ten!  Like I said, I researched pretty thoroughly, but if you trivia sleuths have an eleventh person let me know!

OVP: When Marnie Was There (2015)

Film: When Marnie Was There (2015)
Stars: Hailee Steinfeld, Kiernan Shipka, Vanessa Williams, Catherine O'Hara, John C. Reilly, Geena Davis, Ellen Burstyn, Kathy Bates
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Animated Feature Film)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

It's bizarre welcoming in what may well be the final Studio Ghibli film (I'm still stumped as to why the studio feels it can't function any longer without Hayao Miyazaki at the helm, but that's a discussion for a different day), and I suspect that the nostalgia for decades of quality entertainment made this an easy nomination that a lot of Oscar pundits failed to anticipate this past season.  The film's narrative is classic Ghibli, with enough magical realism thrown in amidst a story of a struggling young girl who can't find a way to fit in or acknowledge her status as a child of foster parents.  The movie's artistry is on clear display, even if its plotting is a bit off and not quite to the caliber I would have expected for a film that displaced the blockbuster likes of The Peanuts Movie and The Good Dinosaur.

(Spoilers Ahead) The problems here lie in the hopeless predictability of the main character, Anna (Steinfeld, and yes I got the English-dubbed version rather than the Japanese even though I always prefer the original-it's so difficult to find in the United States though!).  Anna is a girl who is raised by loving foster parents, though they receive money as a result of their status as foster parents from the government, which makes Anna distant and aloof.  They send her, as she suffers from asthma, to the country to live with relatives, and while there she comes across an abandoned mansion which feels deeply familiar to her and which occasionally is well-lit and restored to its former glory.  Eventually we learn that a girl lives there that only Anna can see named Marnie (Shipka), and along the way we find out that the girl is in fact the ghost of her grandmother, who is haunted by the fact that she cannot disconnect from the past, and in particular her horrible relationship with Anna's mother.  As the film progresses, everyone finds absolution, including Anna and Marnie, and the film ends happily with Anna moving on with her loving foster parents, realizing that there is family there.

The film's plot, though, is apparent from the outset.  It's pretty obvious, especially since the film underlines with a bold pen that Anna is biracial, that this girl is in some way her relative and likely her grandmother, and so a lot of the mystery, which is a big part of the story, feels taxing and starts to drag because you've already filled in all of the gaps.  When it finally comes time for the big reveal it felt a little like the finales on every season of Desperate Housewives-we'd already pieced together every angle so what was the point in replaying it like a recap?  The characters also get lost in translation a little bit, as it's not apparent why Anna suddenly realizes that her parents had received money from the government (do these children not understand such things?), and why she has such violent, cruel outbursts to those around her but not to Marnie.  The main character doesn't have the 3-dimensional appeal that I've come to expect from Studio Ghibli, which is disappointing.

The artistry on-display is, of course, divine, but even here it's questionable whether we're hitting new heights.  The film exhibits none of the inventiveness of Inside Out, the beauty of The Good Dinosaur, nor the perfect nostalgia of The Peanuts Movie.  The film plays with yellow and blue in some fun ways, particularly in the way the lake looks at night, but the movie's painting is just so-so and never comes close to, say, The Wind Rises which was so sensational a few years ago.  Overall I feel like any pangs of love I had for the film were tinged by memories of the movies that came before it, and sadness that this might be my last trip with such an important artistic force.

Those are my thoughts on When Marnie Was There-how about yours?  Where does it rank in your personal Studio Ghibli lineup?  Do you think they'll ever reopen?  And how do you think this beat out Peanuts and Dinosaur for a coveted Oscar slot?  Share your theories in the comments!

Losing the EGOT

Occasionally I find myself sorting through particularly random trivia, and one of my favorite bits of trivia surrounds the younger of the acting Redgrave sisters.  While Vanessa was the great actor of her generation, Lynn had something else special about her.  Lynn managed to be the only person in the history of entertainment to receive nominations for an Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, and Tony award...and not win any.

This is of course both a huge compliment and an enormous disappointment.  Redgrave managed to get nominated for three Tonys, two Emmys, two Oscars, and a Grammy in her career, something almost every actor would kill for, but you have to assume that she wishes she could have taken the stage just once to accept one of those major awards (to her credit, she did pick up a pair of Golden Globe Awards).

I'm always struggling a bit here to get commenters, so I'm hoping some of you will see the chance for awards trivia and jump on it, as this list is likely not comprehensive despite my exhaustive Wikipedia efforts.  What I am trying to do is predict who would be the next person to pull off the feat of losing all four of the EGOT trophies will be.  As far as my research has discovered I have found five people who have been nominated for and lost three of these awards and are still kicking so they could go on to lose the fourth.  I am sure, though, that there must be more-if you know of one, share in the comments and I'll be happy to give you credit.  Until then, here are the five people who could follow in Ms. Redgrave's footsteps if they can make it to the top (almost).

Gabriel Byrne

Nomination He's Missing: Oscar
Emmys Lost: 2008 and 2009-Lead Actor in a Drama (In Treatment)
Grammys Lost: 1998-Spoken Word Album (The Nightingale and the Rose)
Tonys Lost: 2000-Lead Actor in a Play (A Moon for the Misbegotten)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: He did win a Golden Globe for his work on In Treatment

Can He Seal the Deal?: The trick to "pulling a Lynn Redgrave" (patent-pending) is to be able to make positions second through fifth, but not manage to grab first.  I think that Byrne could well nab an Oscar nomination, considering he is a multi-hyphenate entertainer (he not only acts, but also writes, directs, and produces), and doesn't seem too likely to win any of the other awards anytime soon.  He rarely does Broadway and his television show isn't on anymore-this seems like one of the more likely of the five (I did the list alphabetically, so there was no leading toward the victor here).

Ed Harris

Nomination He's Missing: Grammy
Emmys Lost: 2005-Lead Actor in a Miniseries (Empire Falls), 2012-Supporting Actor in a Miniseries (Game Change)
Oscars Lost: 1995-Supporting Actor (Apollo 13), 1998-Supporting Actor (The Truman Show), 2000-Lead Actor (Pollock), 2002-Supporting Actor (The Hours)
Tonys Lost: 1986-Actor in a Play (Precious Sons)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: He has two Golden Globe awards, for The Truman Show and Game Change

Can He Seal the Deal?: For a long time there, it seemed like Ed Harris would surely win an Oscar.  He received a staggering four nominations in the span of seven years, and one could make a pretty convincing argument that he was in second in two, if not three of those years (Amy Adams-take note).  Harris has since fallen on hard times with the Academy and has had no more luck with Emmy.  This of course could happen, as the Spoken Word Album category can slip someone in at almost any time, and Harris is famous enough that he could make it for some reading of Shakespeare or Arthur Miller.  However, he's never been a particularly "awards-seeking" performer (otherwise he would have beaten James Coburn in 1998), and I don't see this happening.  Picking up an Emmy at some point is probably more likely.

Kate Nelligan

Nomination She's Missing: Grammy
Emmys Lost: 1989-Actress in a Drama Series (Road to Avonlea)
Oscars Lost: 1991-Supporting Actress (The Prince of Tides)
Tonys Lost: 1983-Actress in a Play (Plenty), 1984-Actress in a Play (A Moon for the Misbegotten), 1988-Featured Actress in a Play (Serious Money), 1989-Actress in a Play (Spoils of War)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She did win a BAFTA for Frankie and Johnny

Can She Seal the Deal?: The longtime Canadian stage actress enjoyed most of her awards-success at the Tonys, where in the 1980's she was a frequent contender but always missed (it can't feel too bad losing to the likes of Jessica Tandy and Glenn Close, though).  Her one-and-done nomination in 1991 at the Oscars makes her the person who has been on this list the longest, and as a whole she rarely acts anymore (on the stage or otherwise), so unless she has a particular penchant to get involved with an album and score a truly random nomination, this seems like the least likely of the five to happen.  It is interesting, though, how such a comparatively obscure (certainly the least well-known of these five) actress could so quickly score 3/4 of an EGOT loss.

Kathleen Turner

Nomination She's Missing: Emmy
Grammys Lost: 2001-Spoken Word Album (The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets)
Oscars Lost: 1986-Lead Actress (Peggy Sue Got Married)
Tonys Lost: 1990-Actress in a Play (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), 2005-Actress in a Play (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She has two Golden Globes for Romancing the Stone and Prizzi's Honor.

Can She Seal the Deal?: Of the five, I think this is probably the most shocking person on the list, considering that she almost certainly was close to getting nominated at the Emmys for playing Chandler's mother on Friends.  I would suspect, therefore, that she's also the most likely person to pull the Lynn Redgrave of these five.  She just needs a solid guest spot on a cable television series (probably not too hard considering their penchant for going for former headliners of a certain age for guest roles), and to not win the Tony Award (she probably would have won in 2005, but no one was going to take out Cherry Jones in Doubt).  I think that's manageable, and that she's probably going to make it thanks to the bizarre dozens-of-people-nominated Shakespeare Sonnets nomination she got in 2001.

Vanessa Williams

Nominations She's Missing: Oscar
Emmys Lost: 2007, 2008, and 2009-Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Ugly Betty), 2009-Performer in an Animated Program (Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies)
Grammys Lost: 1989-New Artist and Female R and B Performance ("The Right Stuff"), 1990-Female R and B Performance ("Dreamin"), 1992-Female R and B Performance ("Runnin' Back to You"), 1993-Record of the Year ("Save the Best for Last"), Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Save the Best for Last"), Female R and B Vocal Performance ("The Comfort Zone"), and Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Love Is"), 1995-Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Colors of the Wind") and Female R and B Performance ("The Way That You Love"), 1997-Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album (Star Bright)
Tonys Lost: 2002-Actress in a Musical (Into the Woods)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She was Miss America, but umm, yeah, maybe she should get a little pity here.

Can She Seal the Deal?: Yeah, that list of Grammy losses is massive.  Williams is one of the most nominated women in the Recording Academy to never win.  Despite her seventeen year absence, I think her best shot would be to pick up one of the below-the-line Grammy Awards rather than take an Oscar nomination.  Williams did sing an Oscar-winning song, of course (1995's "Color of the Wind"), but she's not very much of a songwriter, and the movies have oddly never taken to her like music, television, and the theater.  So my gut says no, she can't quite get there (prove me wrong, casting directors), but may well win one of the other three awards before all is said and done.

Whoops, I missed two (if you know of more, I read literally every comment on this blog, so mention them below and I'll be overjoyed):

James Franco

Nomination He's Mising: Tony
Emmys Lost: 2002-Lead Actor in a Miniseries (James Dean), 2011-Outstanding Special Class Programs (The 83rd Academy Awards...yes, James Franco was nominated for an Emmy for his comically bad hosting of the Oscars...let that sink in for a second)
Oscars Lost: 2010-Best Actor (127 Hours)
Grammys Lost: 2014-Spoken Word Album (Actors Anonymous)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Franco missed the Emmy but picked up the Golden Globe for his work in James Dean.

Can He Seal the Deal? Yes, I think he can.  Franco recently did a turn on Broadway in Of Mice and Men and while he missed out on a nomination there (instead the citation went to his co-lead Chris O'Dowd), he's the sort of person who probably saw the "Losing the EGOT" title (come on-James Franco is the sort of celebrity who googles himself) and thought it was a solid quirk to add to his To Do list, so I suspect that he'll be back relatively soon.  The question is whether or not he'll get a win in the meantime, and I have a feeling he won't.  His cinematic output is impressive, but it's usually staid adaptations of books you read in AP Lit, and he's never hosting anything ever again, so absent a Guest Actor win (which he couldn't even score for 30 Rock...and everyone scored those for 30 Rock), I think he's probably in the market for this title.

Marsha Mason

Nomination She's Missing: Tony
Emmys Lost: 1997-Guest Actress in a Comedy (Frasier)
Oscars Lost: 1973-Best Actress (Cinderella Liberty), 1977-Best Actress (The Goodbye Girl), 1979-Best Actress (Cinderella Liberty), and 1981-Best Actress (Only When I Laugh)
Grammys Lost: 2000-Best Comedy Album (The Prisoner of Second Avenue)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Mason won Golden Globes for both Cinderella Liberty and The Goodbye Girl

Can She Seal the Deal? The better question has to be how has she not?  Marsha Mason is one of my minor obsessions (she's been nominated for four Oscars, is still living, and yet somehow she disappeared off the face of the public sphere after her divorce to Neil Simon), and the real question was how was she ever going to get a Grammy nomination considering how minor her celebrity is.  With the Comedy Album citation, though, she's actually most well-known these days for her work on Broadway, as she's done six different productions in her career and is constantly working in the New York stage.  Make it happen Marcie!

And those are the seven!  Like I said, I researched pretty thoroughly, but if you trivia sleuths have a sixth person let me know!  And of course, if you don't, please discuss-which of these performers is most likely to score the fourth nomination and "pull a Lynn Redgrave?"  Share in the comments!

The New Fall Season (and a Little Politics)

Yes, yes, I should be watching the RNC, but, as bipartisan as I try to be (when it comes to predicting elections, I'm about as even as you get), I just can't sit through hours and hours of Obama-bashing and Mitt Romney's incredibly awkward laugh and Paul Ryan's complete disregard for the truth.  I shall be truly fair and balanced starting with the debates again; tonight, I am fair and balanced the way FOX News is, except hanging a bit gauche.  If it makes you feel better, I watched Clint Eastwood up there, and though he was even-toned and had the likability that Mitt Romney can only dream of (and for some reason kept talking to a chair), it broke my heart a bit that such a wonderful filmmaker was out campaigning for two people I vehemently oppose, and so I just can't sit through the post-Clint section.  We all have friends we disagree with, even if in this case they're cinematic friends, and we all find a way to still love them.  I'm sure there are Republicans who secretly love Streisand or Sarandon or Damon or Penn or any of the other countless Hollywood liberals.  Again, one night diatribe-I shall be back to being as nonpartisan as any person can be tomorrow when it comes to election coverage.  And I'll always be cheering for Clint, even if I think he only deserves two of his four Oscars (for the record, the ones from the 90's).

So, instead, let's focus on some of the new fall television shows.  Fall is by far my favorite season, primarily because all of my favorite things come out to play-all of the Oscar-approved movies start hitting theaters (every day I feel like I'm adding a new one to my "To View" list), election season hits full swing (I promise, next week there will be convention recaps, and I shall stomach all four debates for you fine people), the leaves turn color and I get to pull out the blankets and go on brisk walks by the lake in my sweatshirt (I have the most comfortable Columbia University sweatshirt, and it is literally my favorite thing to wear-it's also a thousand degrees, so this global warming-induced August is not really conducive), and my television is crowded with loads of goodness.  Sure, there's lots of returning goodies (for me, the top of the list has to be seeing what American Horror Story: Asylum does), but right now I want to discuss the new shows on the docket.

For some reason I can't seem to find a decent rundown of what's new in cable (if you have a link or an in, please share in the comments), and I have to say that there's not a lot that's really calling to me.  Last year, I stuck to the bitter end with only two shows-American Horror Story and New Girl-every other new show I eventually dropped either because it was cancelled (Terra Nova) or because I lost interest (Person of Interest) or both (Pan Am).  So I know that only a couple of these shows will make it into a full season pass on TiVo and it might not even be one of these shows (New Girl I started watching about halfway through the season).  All of those asides being said, here are the five shows I'm going to give a try to, and we shall see if any become my new Lost or Desperate Housewives or The Office.

Nashville (ABC)

Pro: I need a new soap opera after losing Susan, Gaby, Bree, and Lynette after eight long seasons.  Connie Britton is a delight, and I do love me some country music.

Con: Not to be cruel, but doesn't this seem a little bit limiting?  And also, could someone tell me if I should just catch up on a season's worth of Revenge instead of taking up a new soap?

666 Park Avenue (ABC)

Pro: The cast and the premise-this looks like SO much fun, and I adore Terry O'Quinn and Vanessa Williams and crush on Dave Annable hard, so this is the perfect combo.  Combining horror and soap opera worked so well for AHS last year.

Con: Lightning rarely strikes twice, and I'm not just talking about AHS.  John Locke and Wilhelmina Slater were once-in-a-lifetime characters-how do you compete with that?

Last Resort (ABC)

Pro: The reviews on this one are spectacular, and I've heard complete raves about the pilot episode.  Though the cast does feature Andre Braugher and Bruce Davison, it's primarily made up of relative unknowns, which is good for ensemble dramas (which, for the record, is my favorite format for a TV show).

Con: I have this sneaking suspicion that this is one of those shows that will either get lost after its initial concept goes bad or is cancelled before it gets the chance to grow.

The New Normal (NBC)

Pro: I honestly don't need another comedy in my lineup, but Ryan Murphy's shows do tend to intrigue me, and having a gay couple at the center of a comedy could be very appealing (before you say Will & Grace, name one boyfriend of Will's aside from Bobby Cannavale, and I'll name you four off the top of my head that dated Debra Messing).  Ryan Murphy doesn't pull punches, and I suspect this could be both entertaining and groundbreaking.  Being on NBC, it doesn't need huge ratings to be a hit.

Con: Ryan Murphy also doesn't know how to tend to his shows well-Glee and AHS both went through spurts of great highs and great lows, and I expect the same here.  Though on the flip side I still watch both shows religiously, so maybe even that's a Pro.  Either way, I'm in.

  

Revolution (NBC)

Pro: Like Ponce de Leon, I may spend the rest of my television-watching days searching for the next Lost (if it's on right now and I'm missing it, please refer me to it in the comments).  This and Last Resort seem like the two most likely contenders.  Giancarlo Esposito is always welcome.

Con: It could also be the next Flash Forward, V, Terra Nova, The River...

And what about you?  What show are you most jonesing for?  Did you watch the RNC, and have a favorite speaker I should check out (I like to stay informed on both sides, regardless of how I may vote, so please share)?  Did you like Clint's speech?  And do you also search for the next "insert-your-favorite-show-in-the-blank-here" every fall season in hopes of finding something magical?