Is anyone surprised that of these two long-shot shows, the big winner today was the one set safely in the past, in New York, with nary a black person to be seen? is it really the case that the Academy would avoid rewarding a show bcs does not want to encourage interest in real societal problems? (why would the academy -not the govt- be out to keep the masses ignorant?)
"The Wire" had a grand total of 2 nominations over 5 seasons
"It's like them never giving a Nobel Prize to Tolstoy," says Slate's Jacob Weisberg, whose site lavised praise on the HBO drama. "It doesn't make Tolstoy look bad, it makes the Nobel Prize look bad."
... ... [ TV t a t t l e . c o m ] ... ...
* 2008 TV Emmy nominations: did they get them right? | Organgrinder | guardian.co.uk:
Every year Kelley's Boston Legal makes it onto the shortlist for best drama, despite the fact that it's a good two or three seasons since this legal show was anything approaching must-see. yes.
And Kelley's not the only one with an apparent lock on the nominations. Two and A Half Men, The US version of The Office and even Ricky Gervais all seem to turn up with mind-numbing regularity. ...
The outstanding Mad Men made it to the drama shortlist and picked up directing & writing nominations, plus Jon Hamm - the secretive Don Draper - and John Slattery - suave ad boss Roger Sterling - were nominated for best actor and best supporting actor respectively.
Of the rest Lost, which had a great return to form last year, deserved its nod yes and House remains entertaining television I dunno maybe. I personally could have done without either the hysterical, poorly plotted Damages - which I feel coasted by largely on big name recognition. yes yes yes, poorly plotted, very. weird to me the praise it gets. didn't make any sense. Or Dexter, which, again in my opinion, declined sharply in its second season, not coincidentally once they moved away from adapting the books.
The elephant in the room here is, as ever, The Wire.
... and the perennially overlooked Friday Night Lights, fast becoming to network television what The Wire was to cable: a strong interesting drama with an excellent ensemble cast that for some reason receives no love.
At the very least Friday Night Lights' Connie Britton deserved a nod for her nuanced performance as the tough, tender Tami Taylor. yes Instead she was nudged out by a series of histrionic movie star "performances" yes - Glenn Close in Damages, Holly Hunter in the execrable Saving Grace, Sally Field in Brothers and Sisters - plus the dependable Kyra Sedgwick and Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay.
Of all the shortlists, the lead actor in a drama category was probably the most interesting with nominations also going to Gabriel Byrne, the quiet, controlled centre of In Treatment; Michael C Hall, whose performance as Dexter remains fascinating even when the show doesn't; and the ever dependable Hugh Laurie.
Of course when the ceremony comes round we all know the award will still go to James Spader in Boston Legal. who is v good (as is Hugh Laurie) but has already been recognized (was that last year, yes, that they said James- and people expected Gandolfini, in recognition of his work as TonySoprano in the year of final season but no, and even Spader joked about it, didn't he? and Spader was great as Alan Shore the first year, no new achievement specially. who do I like of these? well Michael C Hall is outstanding, in general. hmm I pick the guy in Life, Charlie Crews. he's my favorite for the year. and I hope that Terry Quinn has been awarded for performance as John Locke on Lost, excellent. but yes this year Damian Lewis ...
Life's Charlie Crews has Me Baffled - Film.com: Lewis is a frighteningly talented British actor, who, as a tall redhead with a pointy face, has so far stumbled in scoring meaningful Hollywood roles. Lewis's best success was a lead in Steven Spielberg's Band of Brothers and a small but crucial role in the quickly forgotten Stephen King thriller Dreamcatcher.
In Charlie Crews, Lewis has crafted a dark character, rich with quirks and passion. Prison turned Crews into a Zen-fully loopy philosopher, who, much to the annoyance of his partner, regularly loses himself in simple musings on fruit and butterflies and the mysteries of life. Yet, as silly and lofty as his ethereal ramblings are, they amazingly don't seem to contradict his violent reflexes.
Look at the Law & Order dynasty, the CSI family: for both, the writers downplay the detectives' characters and choose the crimes themselves, the sheer depravity of human nature, to command center stage. Sure, SVU's Olivia and Elliot wrestle with their inner demons. Gary Sinise and Jerry Orbach could be animatronic for all I care, as long as they're still out there piecing together the stories ripped from the headlines.
Yet, you get an actor like Damian Lewis, and the character captures you.
...elsewhere:
TUNED IN Lost Discussion Group: You Are the Emmys /You all everybody!/ : I realized after posting my Emmy reactions this morning that I mentioned not a word about Lost being nominated for best drama nor Michael Emerson for best supporting actor. ...
The Watcher - Emmys award historic nods to 'Mad Men' and 'Damages': Emmy reactions and analysis (and I'll be adding to this roster all day)
admires James Poniewozik's headline ("It's not HBO, it's TV"); he also had some thoughts on "The Wire" snub ("[M]aybe it's more fitting that The Wire can go out with its purity of outrage and injustice intact") and also opined on "Conchords," "Damages," "Big Love" (sorry, I don't agree with him there) and "30 Rock"
No comments:
Post a Comment