Emmy Insanity

So the 59th Primetime Emmy Nominees are up. I’m not a big fan of awards shows. In fact I usually think that they have their collective heads up their collective asses. Have half the voters seen the shows they’re voting for? I seriously doubt it. This Emmy nominee list is just the latest bit of evidence to bolster my argument.

Friday Night Lights was largely ignored. No Best Drama nod. No writing or acting nods. This is a show widely considered to be the BEST SHOW ON NETWORK TELEVISION. Shut out. That’s disgraceful. Here’s hoping that Ben Silverman doesn’t use the lack of Emmy noms to get rid of FNL early (especially if he replaces it with his Venezuelan Breast Show).

The Wire and Deadwood were both ignored as well. Okay, slight exaggeration. Deadwood got some tech noms (hairstyling, makeup and the like), but no writing or acting nods? Really? I’m sure Al Swearengen would have some choice words about that, most likely starting with mother and ending in suckers.

Even harder to deal with is The Wire’s oversight. This is by far the best show on television (FNL is the best show on network TV, The Wire best show once you factor in cable). But it airs on HBO, is shot in Baltimore (which might as well be the North Pole as far as Ho’wood’s concerned), and features a cast of unknowns. Oh, and did I mention that they’re all black? Just one more reason why no one’s (read: Emmy voters) heard of The Wire.

Alright. Fine then. Surely they couldn’t have gotten it all wrong. The Sopranos got some much deserved noms. Not sure 15 were in order, but I’m willing to go along with the majority of them (that and I’m still afraid Tony might come around and whack me if I disagree too loudly). James Gandolfini and Edie Falco both got acting nods. They also picked up three out of five writing nods. That I can’t agree with, especially when shows like Friday Night Lights and The Wire were shut out. Give David Chase a directing nod for “Made in America” (that crash to black was genius). Give Terence Winter a writing nod for “The Second Coming” (Anthony’s suicide attempt and the aftermath was great freakin’ tv). But do they really need 2 more writing nods? I don’t think so.

The nomination I’m really stoked about would have to be Battlestar Galactica’s writing nom for “Occupation” and “Precipice.” Those are virtuoso episodes of a great, great show. It’s about damn time Sci-Fi crawled out of its ghetto and got some recognition. BSG also snagged a directing nom for “Exodus: Part 2.” Frakkin’ awesome.

Lost rounds out the drama writing noms. Personally I think that Lost really struggled this season, though it started to find its legs towards the end. Not sure that it deserves this nom though.

On the comedy side of things 30 Rock picked up two well-deserved writing nods, as did The Office. If I had to lay money on it I’d go with The Office, which is too bad because Extras (which also got a nom) really deserves it. But being a drama guy at heart I wouldn’t use my advice to decide who you’re going to bet on.

I could spend some time talking about the acting noms, but I don’t really want to (Alec Baldwin? As a LEAD?), cause it’s just going to make me crazy (or crazier).

Good thing that these awards mean absolutely nothing in the long run…but if NBC uses this to cancel FNL early, well, I’m going to take a page from Al Swearengen's book and have some choice words about Mr. Silverman…