2011 Emmy Nominations - Who got robbed? Where did they get it right?

Sorry I've been away so long; too busy with work and catching up on the hundred of hours of TV recorded on my Tivo to be able to take time to blog.
I was too busy earlier this week laughing my ass off at the Emmy promo video with Joel McHale and Melissa McCarthy to remember that the nominations were coming out on Thursday, so this commentary is a little late, but I don't care.
Below are the 2011 Emmy nominations with my comments:

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men

Eh, we're off to a fairly good start. It's nice to see a nom for Game of Thrones. And one could only expect FNL to get one because they're in their final season. The Good Wife and Mad Men also had critically and audience acclaimed seasons. My problems here? As much as I love Dexter, last season wasn't that great (I mean seriously it was hard to top the superlative season 4) and I f'in hate Boardwalk Empire. Justify should have totally taken one of these places in the list!

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
The Office
30 Rock
Parks and Recreation

Woohoo! Parks and Recreation got nominated! I know some are up in arms about Community not getting a nod, but seriously that show isn't as funny as y'all think it is. I'm fine with these nominations full stop. If only Parks & Rec would win.

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Timothy Olyphant, Justified
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House

Hugh Laurie? Again? For this pitiful, lame, past season of House? No, just no. I've never even seen this damn show but I know Laurie doesn't deserve a nomination this year.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Kathy Bates, Harry's Law
Mariska Hargitay, SVU
Mirelle Enos, The Killing
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men

No Kyra Sedgwick this year for The Closer? harumph. No Katey Sagal for Sons of Anarchy? As much as I love Mariska Hargitay (and will never tire of the joy of saying her name aloud), giving her a nomination every year is becoming rote and unnecessary.

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly
Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope
Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation

Not one single problem with these nominations. Well, I still think Nurse Jackie is a drama NOT a comedy, but I definitely think Falco deserves recognition for her work as Jackie. Amy or Martha FTW please!

BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Steve Carell, The Office
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Louie C.K., Louie

The nominating committee really did a great job with the lead comedy acting categories because I also love these noms. Especially the one for Louie C.K.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY
Chris Colfer, Glee
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family
Ed O’Neill, Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men

Unlike a lot of people, I'm still just as much in love with Modern Family and its cast as I was the first season, so I was really pleased with season all four of the guys from this gem get a nom. I hate the fucking "Men" show, but Cryer getting a nomination is probably well deserved. And I even though I do not understand why everyone loves Chris Colfer so much, his nomination in this category is also expected. BUT I think that Nick Offerman deserved a nomination for his Ron Swanson from Parks & Rec.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Josh Charles, The Good Wife
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Walton Goggins, Justified
John Slattery, Mad Men
Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age

This category is all about Dinklage and Goggins for me. Love them both, and hope it's a tie so that they both get a statuette.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY
Jane Lynch, Glee
Betty White, Hot in Cleveland
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock

Fawking Betty White does not deserve a damn nomination for that decidedly UNFUNNY crap show. Betty White as a person is awesome but this blind love for her where she just gets accolades handed to her has to stop. Merritt Wever should've been nominated for Nurse Jackie instead! I'm fine with the other noms. When was the last time you saw a SNL cast member get a nomination though? That's the power of Bridesmaids for ya'.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Margo Martindale, Justified
Michelle Forbes, The Killing
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men

The two Good Wife nods, and my fave Margo Martindale are deserving nominations. The other 3? Hendricks is fine I guess, although this past season of Mad Men didn't give her much to work with. But Forbes and Macdonald? Their characters are easily the most annoying parts of their respective shows. If Martindale doesn't win this I will be PISSED.

OUTSTANDING MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Kennedys
Mildred Pierce
The Pillars of the Earth
Too Big to Fail

Yay for Downton Abbey! Boo for The Kennedys! All of the others are fine.

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Diane Lane, Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce
Taraji P. Henson, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story
Jean Marsh, Upstairs Downstairs

Um, is this "Taken" thing a Lifetime movie? Because the title certainly sounds like it. For some reason I'm surprised about McGovern's nomination here. Not that she wasn't great in Downton, just that I kind of thought of her as more supporting than lead. But who would want to go against  Dame Maggie in the supporting category?!
                   
OUTSTANDING ACTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Edgar Ramirez, Carlos
Greg Kinnear, The Kennedys
Barry Pepper, The Kennedys
Idris Elba, Luther
Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
William Hurt, Too Big to Fail

No problems here I guess, except, didn't Carlos come out a million years ago? And didn't Ramirez win the Golden Globe and the SAG for this role? So how the hell is he eligible? CONFUSED.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce
Melissa Leo, Mildred Pierce
Mare Winningham, Mildred Pierce
Eileen Atkins, Upstairs Downstairs

Just go ahead and give the Emmy to Maggie Smith now. Eileen Atkins was also awesome. Feisty old English grandmas FTW!

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Tom Wilkinson, The Kennedys
Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce
Brian F. O'Byrne, Mildred Pierce
Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail
James Woods, Too Big to Fail

ZzzzzZzzz predictable. Don't care at all about any of these people.

BEST VARIETY SERIES
The Colbert Report
Conan
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Real Time with Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live

Again, predictable but it's nice to see Conan get a nod and not Jay.

OUTSTANDING REALITY PROGRAM
Hoarders

Antiques Roadshow
Deadliest Catch
Mythbusters
Undercover Boss
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List

Go Antiques, go Antiques! No seriously, these all seem like deserving contenders.

OUTSTANDING REALITY COMPETITION
The Amazing Race
American Idol
So You Think You Can Dance
Top Chef

SYTYCD got a nomination finally for something other than choreography!

OUTSTANDING HOST FOR A REALITY OR REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance
Jeff Probst, Survivor

My beloved Cat Deeley FINALLY got a nomination! So ecstatic that the Emmy voters finally pulled their heads out of their asses. If Probst or Seacrest wins again I will be really fucking annoyed.

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SPECIAL
Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On
Carrie Fisher in Wishful Drinking
The Kennedy Center Honors
Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden
The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway

I surprisingly have seen all of the nominees this year. And I think except for the Kennedy Center they were all produced by HBO? Anyway, I'd like to see Carrie or Paul take it.

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
Episodes, "Episode 107"
Louie, "Poker/Divorce"
Modern Family, "Caught in the Act"
The Office, "Good-bye Michael"
30 Rock, "Reaganing"

Good choices for Episodes, Modern Family, and Louie. But there were much funnier episodes this season for the Office and 30 Rock. And what about Parks and Recreation?!

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
Friday Night Lights, "Always"
Game of Thrones, "Baelor"
The Killing, "Pilot"
Mad Men, "The Suitcase"
Mad Men, "Blowing Smoke"

It always bugs me when a show gets more than one nomination in the writing categories. I feel like they should limit it to one each. I don't know why I don't feel the same way for the acting categories, but I don't. I could think of at least 7 episodes of Justified that could've and should've been nominated.

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES
The Colbert Report
Conan
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Saturday Night Live

No surprises in these nominations, but I would love to see someone other than The Daily Show writers win for once.

I have to say, I am pretty darn excited for September to roll around to see who wins. And Jane Lynch is hosting so that should be awesome.

TV Round Up - last week of August/early September

I've been embroiled in a bunch of family drama these past several weeks (don't you just love family sometimes?); so I haven't had any time to watch television. My poor Tivo and Tifaux have been working overtime and their little memories are filled to capacity.
But let's talk about some of the things I managed to watch this week. Keep in mind, most of this stuff aired days ago and in this day and age of Twitter and live blogging, none of my comments are really that fascinating. That's not stopping me from sharing them though.

Project Runway from 8/26

The team challenge episode for this season was superb television. Gretchen's spectacularly crazy spiral on the runway, the appalling treatment of Michael C. by the rest of his team, and best of all the AMAZING smackdown of Gretchen from one Tim Gunn were some of the best moments this show has had in some time.

Huge - 1st (and hopefully not last) season finale

You guys? I loved this quirky gem of a show so much. Yes it's a teen drama on the ABC Family channel. And yes, it was about teens at a fat camp for the summer. But boy oh boy it was so much more than that. The stories, dialog, and the characters that were created for this show was some of the best written stuff for tv that I've seen in some time. The tv show is better than the book. And the book is great! Teens talked and acted like real teens. The actors playing the kids at the camp were, guess what Hollywood?, actually overweight, and not some weird slightly bloated thin person or someone thin in make-up and prosthetics. No fat suits! Nikki Blonsky who was in the film version of the musical Hairspray was one of the leads, and she was so great; she has real dramatic talent. And I loved that they didn't really showcase her singing talent in a forced way (like some shows could've/would've done).Sure, her character and another one end up writing some songs together, but it was done in a very organic way, that made sense with the character development. And the singing was not at all canned, produced, or auto-tuned. 

You really cared about every single person and I really can't tell you the last time I experienced television characters, especially teen television characters that were so, well, deep.

The finale was just as superb as the whole season has been. My only complaint is that it really left me hanging. I'm dying to know how everyone fairs by the end of summer camp. Will I have to wait until next year?! I don't know how ABC Family does their seasons. Or if the show was even picked up for a second season; but if that dumb show they have about gymnasts can get a 2nd season, certainly Huge can right? They totally deserve it!

Memphis Beat season finale

Another quirky freshman drama; another cop drama on TNT, but hey if it's working for the network why mess with the formula? This one starred Jason Lee as MPD detective Dwight Hendricks who moonlights as a blues singer who has an affinity for Elvis songs. It also starred the always good Alfre Woodard, Celia Weston, and a surprisingly good DJ Qualls who finally found the right character and balance for his inherent weirdness. Jason Lee sure does have a beautiful singing voice. Who knew? No seriously, did people know this? I know about Lee being a former pro skateboarder, and a Scientologist etc. But I did not know that he could sing; and play guitar and bass. He should consider putting an album out. Maybe he already has and I'm just out of the loop; that would mean I'd have to give up my Jason Lee fan club membership card I guess. The show's writing was a little inconsistent throughout the season, but I can't say that there was any episode that I hated.

Which can't be said about another TNT drama HawthoRNe. This show and I had a very dramatic dvr-breakup last month because I hated Jada Pinkett-Smith's character so much. You know when the power of shirtless Michael Vartan can't save a show for me, there's something wrong.

Big Brother -

Sigh...the people I had picked to win in my office pool all got eliminated, the last being Brendon who really played an excellent game and just barely missed staying in the house (as HOH no less) for another week. Oh well, I really don't want anyone left in the house to win but if I had to choose I guess I'd go with Britney.

2010 Emmys -

I'll quickly just say that I was over the moon about Eric Stonestreet and the Modern Family wins. Can't wait for that show to come back into my life.

And that opening number from Jimmy Fallon et al was effin' brilliant.

True Blood

Season 3 has been better than I could've hoped for. I've said it before, Alan Ball and the rest of the writers are doing an excellent job of incorporating various plots and characters from the books into the television show, while creating totally new and interesting characters. Case in point the two men pictured above, Kevin Alejandro and Joe Manganiello. They play Jesus and Alcide respectively; Alcide is a beloved character from the book and Joe was the top choice from fans of the book who emailed and tweeted Alan Ball with suggestions to have him play Alcide. He's perfect in the role and I can't wait to see what next season brings. Jesus on the other hand is a brand new character created for the show and such a welcome addition. I love Alejandro's chemistry with Nelsan Ellis who plays Jesus's love interest Lafayette.

Speaking of my beloved Lafayette and Nelsan Ellis, how cute is he in this picture from a cast Emmy party with actor Marshall Allman who plays newcomer Tommy Mickens/Merlotte.

Needless to say, I'm super psyched for the True Blood season finale happening in a couple of weeks. And then it's time for all of the new and returning Fall tv shows. It's my favorite time of the year!