emmys2009

Tina Fey's surprise return to Saturday Night Live as Sarah Palin was one of the ten greatest TV moments of 2008 (and quite possibly the decade, the century, the millennium and the eon).

So it's no surprise that Fey's name and show 30 Rock came up so many times in the recent list of Emmy nods. I'm no longer convinced that she's a woman. I'm convinced she's an experimental humanoid prototype designed by studio executives solely to win awards like Tom Hanks (aka "Project Red Shoe").

It's also no surprise that one of the two acting nods she scored included her Palin performance on SNL.

Television is a vast alien landscape of shows, programs and other watchables. So the odds of a really good show not getting special recognition are about as good as Michael Chiklis' chances of his noggin being mistaken for a shiny, beige Brunswick in a bowling alley.

The Emmys also tend to favor younger shows rather than the oldies that have had their chance to win some awards because the best stuff on television is always fresher out of the gate. It's just the beast of the cycle. Great movies age like a fine cheese. Great TV shows age like spray cheese.

The Shield, however, got totally snubbed from this year's nomination list. And is that something the Academy really wants to do to a guy with a hair trigger anger who considers a Smith and Wesson as his "backup piece"? (I should ask myself the same thing after that bowling ball noggin joke.)

Every year I foolishly get excited that maybe this year the Emmys will reach out and nominate something different. But then it's the same old nominees from the previous year. Even if a show has an off year, Emmy just goes ahead and nominates it again.

Of last year's six nominees for Drama Series, only one didn't make the cut this year. Lead Actor kept five of their six nominees as well, and Lead Actress kept all five nominees from last year. That's fifteen of 17 repeat contenders from last year in three categories. If Emmy hadn't added a slot each to Series and Actress it might have been a virtual rerun.

With all those repeats, there's no room to honor the final season of Battlestar Galactica. Maybe Emmy voters look at the shows they picked last year and say "That's still on, right? Let's go with that." And they're done picking their nominees in less than ten minutes.

In a last hurrah, The Mole was nominated for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music in the Emmys. Like Pushing Daises, we'll probably never see The Mole on ABC again. The nomination had to be one of those, "well, we really don't have any other better options" decisions.

The show's intro was probably the best new reality opening theme of the past year. The only other reality theme I could remember was Stylista's and only because it was a pastiche of girly shopping.

Now that the excitement has died down, I've been scouring the complete list of nominations. Here's a few observations... Then, let me know what you think.

-- Why bother with the Outstanding Mini-Series category? There were only two nominees worthy of a nomination. Exactly how many mini-series are even produced anymore? This is an outmoded TV format. Kill the category.

-- What's going on with the writers? 30 Rock dominates the comedy category and Mad Men dominates the drama category. What are the chances that the lone nomination in each category wins? I'd say slim and none. I call for limitations; only two episodes per series. Writing is such a subjective thing anyway. If you like 30 Rock's scattershot humor, you're more likely to vote for it compared to a traditional sitcom like Big Bang Theory. The latter should have snagged a nom for The Lizard-Spock Expansion episode.

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?

The Emmy Award nominees were announced this morning, and with the help of a lot of caffeine and my DVR, I managed to catch the announcement. Here are the nominees in the major categories, with some comment on who was nominated and who was neglected.

If you notice, the major categories have more nominees starting this year.


Outstanding Drama

Mad Men
Damages
House
Lost
Big Love
Breaking Bad
Dexter

When it comes to the Primetime Emmy nominations, there are scads of terrific supporting performances to choose from in the comedy field. The difficulty is narrowing it down to just six actors and six actresses (which is better than last year's five each). Maybe the Emmys should take a page from the Academy Awards and double the number of nominations -- this year's Best Picture will include ten noms. That's not going to happen, but that doesn't mean my wish list discussion can't mention all those worthy comedy performers.

Last year's comedy winners, Jean Smart for Samantha Who? and Jeremy Piven for Entourage, were both multiple winners. In Jean's case, it wasn't all for the same role, but Jeremy has been pulling a John Larroquette/Don Knotts in this category. (Larroquette and Knotts dominated this category; the former winning for Night Court from 1985-88, while Knotts won five times for The Andy Griffith Show from 1961-67). My wish list would start by shaking things up.

Talk about a wealth of choices! When it comes to the Primetime Emmys in the supporting actor and actress categories for drama, there are a plethora of worthy candidates. Some shows, like Mad Men or Lost, for instance, have multiple choices in the supporting ranks, especially since these ensembles seem to have a hard time determining who's really the lead.

Earlier, I shared my wish list for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama nominations, and I mentioned that Chloe Sevigny from Big Love would be a deserving selection. A TV Squad reader let me know that Chloe has actually been submitted in the supporting category. Good to know, and with that in mind, I'll start my wish list by talking about that category. (Remember, there are six nominees per category.)

Let's be honest. There are really only four or five real contenders for this category, and most of them were nominated last year. But it's not like the talented Tina Fey (30 Rock), Mary Louise-Parker (Weeds), Julia Louise-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine) and America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) don't deserve the recognition. They all fit the bill, and most of their shows were damn good this year.

I'd be happy to see any one of them go home with the gold on Emmy night. I'd also love to see some recognition for Christina Applegate's work in Samantha Who?, a great show that got the ax earlier this year.

The Outstanding Comedy Series category is one of the toughest of the big Emmy categories to predict. Why? Well, if you look at the list of nominees the last few years, you'll see why: What's considered a comedy? In 2005, Desperate Housewives was nominated; with what's gone on during the show this year, you'd be hard pressed to nominate it as a comedy this year. Same could be said of Ugly Betty, which got a nod in 2007.

In addition, the Emmy committee has a tendency to nominate the same shows repeatedly despite signs of decline -- Two and a Half Men is still funny, but does it deserve a nod every year? -- leaving less slots open for new blood.

So, between Men, 30 Rock, and The Office, all of which should get nominated, that leaves two (or three?) slots open. Who should go in there? Well, I can think of two right off the bat... and they're both on CBS.

Let's assume that there will be six nominees in the Best Drama category again this year, shall we? It wouldn't surprise me that five out of the six series that were nominated last year are once again nominated this year. Let's face it, Damages, Dexter, House, Lost and Mad Men are still powerhouse drama series and didn't let us down too much this past season.

Since Boston Legal, which was nominated last year, was canceled, it leaves space for another drama series to make its way to the nominees list. Which drama should get the spot?

This isn't just the week for prime time Emmy nominations, we also have the nominations for news.

Here's the list of news and documentary Emmy nominations. There are many categories, including several for the cable news channels, but a few of the big nominations include Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin for Outstanding Interview (really?), NBC Nightly News coverage of Tim Russert's death for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story, 60 Minutes taking three of the four nominations in the Outstanding Feature Story in a News Magazine category (Primetime took the other), and three nominations for The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

[via TV Newser]

I know what many of you are thinking. Alec Baldwin is probably gonna win for 30 Rock again so what does it even matter? Hollywood is in love with that show. Which is true, but not entirely undeserved. Baldwin still commands a scene like almost no one on television. But I don't think he was as dominating a comedic force as last year, and he was part of a 30 Rock sweep, so I don't think Emmy intends to repeat that.

Pushing Daisies was still sweet in its last year, but I'm going to have to snub Lee Pace and replace him with Chuck's Zachary Levi on the ballot. He balances comedy and drama so convincingly you can't help but root for him.

But there was a looming shadow in comedy this year that no one could escape. I don't see how Emmy could ignore the work of Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory. He's so convincing in the role that when you see him in interviews you fully expect him to demand his spot on the couch and condescend the host at every turn.

This is a tough category to crack. It's saying a lot that the always fantastic Hugh Laurie has yet to win for House. That's how tough the competition is.

But, just like the Oscars have expanded to include 10 Best Picture nominees, I think we could make room for a few more actors on this particular ballot. There's definitely one person I want to see make the 2009 Emmy list: Kyle Chandler for Friday Night Lights.