Emmy nomination

The list of Emmy nominations have become the Hummer limo of the awards show world. They get longer and even more uncool, even though they are attempting to show just how cool they are with each passing year.

The whole system is in serious need of revamping. For the most part, the category structure hasn't changed in the last 50 years when then Academy President Rod Serling chose to eliminate favoritism by widening the playing field and the judging, a move so disastrous that no one has dared to even touch the system since then.

So if you're not going to revamp the process, at least add some categories that we wouldn't mind giving up four hours of sleep, exercise and our lives to wait for the winner.

One of last years biggest online video hits, Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, is back in the news, and in a very good way: It's been nominated for an Emmy.

Not sure where to find it on the complete list of nominees? Just search for "Dr. Horrible" and you'll find it. It got the nod in the "Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs" (a pithy name, no?) category. What's interesting is that the other nominees were all either on TV already or were offshoots of existing TV shows. Dr. Horrible was the only nominee that was born online and built its audience there (until, at least, the DVD came out earlier this year).

This could be the start of something great; the Academy recognizing online-only programming can do nothing but help make it more mainstream. But this could also be an isolated incident, since the names behind the production were so huge. What do you folks think? Think this nomination will encourage more big names to hit the internet with their pet projects?

(S02E02) Nothing brings a family together faster than a crisis. With Walter missing without a trace, Hank gets the DEA team working on tracking down Tuco so he can help Skyler and Walt, Jr. find Walter. It seemed unlikely that Hank would have any luck tracking him down in Tuco's desert crib.

Tuco remained an unpredictable force and from the moment he let Walt and Jesse out of the trunk, it was anybody's guess what he was going to do to them. The revelation that he didn't know about Gonzo's death and believed his second in command was working with the cops just added to the paranoia. Feeding his fear only made Tuco more unpredictable.

When Ellen Burstyn received an Emmy nomination based on a fourteen-second cameo appearance in the HBO film Mrs. Harris, many critics used the nomination as an example of how out of touch Emmy voters were with the viewing public.

Even Burstyn herself was shocked by the nomination as she told AP Radio. This was the first time she made any public remarks about the nomination, and as one would expect, she thought it was as silly as everyone else thought it was. "My next ambition is to get nominated for seven seconds, and, ultimately, I want to be nominated for a picture in which I don't even appear," she joked.

The critics had a good point; as good an actress as Burstyn is (she won an Oscar thirty-two years ago for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), fourteen seconds is not long enough to determine whether a performance is award-worthy or not. Luckily, she didn't win; he co-star in Mrs. Harris, Cloris Leachman, took the award.

Ellen Burstyn snagged a sweet Emmy supporting-actress nomination for her role in Mrs. Harris, an HBO original film. One good way -- best I can tell -- to get nominated for an award, is to have a shelf-full of accolades already, and Burstyn certainly does.

Ray Richmond goes on a tear over the nomination, which then extends to all behaviors Burstyn and award-related, in a rant that makes for some fun reading at Past Deadline.

I especially take to his point that this calls into questions whether Emmy-nominators actually watch the performances they pick from, or they merely check boxes based on reputations of those involved. Maybe the TV screens at the old folks home are blurry and they thought Burstyn was someone else in the same movie. I would not heed Richmond's call to decline the nomination if I were in Burstyn's position, though. If anyone wants to give you a stupid award, I say let 'em.

[Thanks, tvrayz, for the tip!]