Life After Jacob's Foot: Musings on 2010 Emmy Nominations

Gotta love these entertainment sites like EW.com and company who provide THE EXACT SAME EMMY COVERAGE. What about people like me who simply wants to know who got nominated for best drama writing and best directing in a drama series? I might have to navigate the dark sewers of the internet to find what I'm looking for. It's no problem finding out that True Blood actually got nominated for Best Television Series. And, well, that's going to be a rant.

Seriously, in this Internet era when everybody is fighting for site traffic, is it really the best idea to report the same exact info of 250 sites? Luckily, the good folks at hitfix.com have provided a complete list of the 2010 Emmy Nominations. Well, this will be fun. There's going to be rants, predictions and wild assumptions about shows I've never seen. Critiquing the Emmy nominations also allows me the opportunity to write about LOST.

Before that, some overall thoughts about the nominations:

--I'm thrilled that Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler received Emmy Nominations for best actress in a drama series and best actor in a drama series respectively. The two actors have consistently been the strongest component of Friday Night Lights. It's about time they received the recognition they deserved.

--The Best Actor in a Drama Series category is jam-packed. Matthew Fox of LOST is nominated along with Michael C. Hall, Jon Hamm, Bryan Cranston and Hugh Laurie. Jon Hamm is so awesome as Don Draper that, without even seeing season three, I can say right now that I'd have no problem with him winning. Of course, my bias favors Matthew Fox because Matthew Fox was tremendous during the final season of LOST. The individual journey of Jack was not a brisk walk in the park. The fan community had grown weary of the character in the last few years because of how dark the character had become (don't count me among those who didn't like Jack for the rankings prove where Jack ranked in the world of LOST for me) but Foxy and the writers were able to get the audience to love Jack again. If Matthew Fox wins, he's earned it.

--If Entourage received a nomination, I think I would've signed with a KHL team like Nabokov did. If the Emmy Voters considered Entourage's sixth season as emmy worthy writing, I would feel exponentionally more hopeful about making it in the television business as a nomination would have proven that story, in fact, does not matter nor does character development.

--The lone HBO comedy that garned a nomination is Curb Your Enthusiam. Frankly, Curb should win easily. Curb is actually funny. Plus, any show that has JB Smoove impersonating a Jewish doctor deserves the win. I'm unsure why Showtime's Nurse Jackie is nominated in the comedy category. I assume one could describe the show as a dark comedy. I don't agree. I have watched a few episodes of the show but I did not laugh once. Does the mere fact of the show running 30 minutes automatically place it in the comedy category? These categories have to evolve since the actual industry and programming is evolving.

--Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson received Emmy Nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. I think I'd vote for Emerson if I had the vote. I know that Mr. O'Quinn portrayed basically three characters this season. Only two specifically but John Locke was different before he became aware in the Sideways.

--January Jones also received a best actress nomination for Mad Men. I'd vote for Connie Britton though. I've been watching the second season of Mad Men and January Jones is getting better and better.

--I want Christina Hendricks to win Best Supporting Actress. Don't take offense to this, Elisabeth Moss; however, Hendricks is awesome as Joan and she portrayed Saffron on the short-lived FOX series, Firefly. Christina Hendricks is amazing.

--For Guest Actor in a drama, I don't have much of an opinion besides Robert Morse is always great as Bert Cooper but, for the Dexter fans, I hope Lithgow takes the award. I hear Lithgow was fantastic in his role.

--For Guest Actress, my vote goes to Elizabeth Mitchell for her guest spot in "The End." I wrote plenty of words in the past about my love for Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet.

--LOST was snubbed in the Outstanding Cinematography for a One Hour Series category. LOST is a beautifully shot show. COME ON!

--Simon Reay earned a nomination for Outstanding Cinematography in Reality Programming for his work on Man vs. Wild. I think he should win because the show is insane and it's amazing how he is able to get some of the shots he gets.

--Oh No. Tucker Gates got SNUBBED for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series. I forget what I intially predicted about this category. Tucker will not receive an award for his outstanding direction on Ab Aertno. Jack Bender received a well-earned nomination though. He essentially directed a movie in about two weeks. "The End" is a beautiful episode. Lesli Linka Glatter received a nomination for a Mad Men episode I've yet to see and am quite eager to see. I've seen a few of her Mad Men episodes and she's very good. Agnieszka Holland was nominated for the Pilot of Treme. Steve Shill received a nomination for an episode of Dexter. I, surpisingly, think Jack Bender should win. If the Emmys are celebrating LOST, Jack deserves to win not just for his episode but because he's largely responsible for the look of the show. Television directors do not have the same freedom feature film directors do because television is a writer's medium. Dan Feinberg of hitfix.com said that a director of television should be evaluated based on how well he or she executes the vision of the story. Of course, that is largely the purpose of any director; however, a television director is supposed to blend in with the show because the look of the show has been established and the showrunners have final cut on everything. Many Joss Whedon fans watched his episode of Glee but there wasn't anything distinctively Joss about the episode. Whereas in his own television series, a long one-er is a staple of a Whedon episode, I don't recall any Joss staples in his Glee episode. Television directing is a field I'd like more knowledge on. I think it's fascinating.

--The four LOST editors who worked on 'The End' received Emmy nods. Mad Men received two Editing nominations for two different episodes. Christopher Nelson was nominated twice. He was part of the LOST editing group and he co-edited a Mad Men episode. Obviously, I'd like LOST to win.

--Rolin Jones, of Friday Night Lights, received a nomination for his episode "The Son." It's the penultimate Saracen episode when he comes to terms with the death of his father. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse received a nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Drama series for their episode "The End." It's a given who I think should win, right? These two exemplary gentleman answered a question I posed on lostpedia.com and they only were responsible for my favorite show of all-time. Mad Men received two writing nominations. Again, I haven't seen the third season so I cannot comment. I'll have an opinion in about two weeks.

--Michael Giacchino received a nomination for Best Scoring!

--It's a shame Community was ignored by the Emmy voters. Community is a show that got better and better every week. Treme deserved more nominations. Party Down, despite no one watching, deserved something. True Blood did not deserve a best drama nomination. 30 for 30 was ignored and it is a shame because the ESPN series has produced some outstanding documentaries like The Two Escobars and Run, Ricky, Run.

BEST DRAMA SERIES

The nominees and my thoughts:

Mad Men: I've yet to see season three of this show but I'm sure it's terrific. Some critics were worried that the Emmy voters would forget about the show because the season finished airing in October. Mad Men is an excellent series though.

Breaking Bad: Again, I haven't seen the third season but critics have described season three as one of the greatest seasons of television. It's a strong claim. Noted The Wire fan, Alan Sepinwall, said it reached season four Wire level. That must be a good thing.

The Good Wife: I have not watched a single minute of this show. I do know that it's one of only two network nominations for best television which opens up the question: should cable series and network series be separated? Both are entirely different beasts.

Dexter: Look at this! Haven't seen this show before either! Our resident Post Collegiate Apocalypse writer is a huge fan of the show as is a buddy of ours and I hear the fourth season is well worth a nomination. I somehow know what happens in the last scene of the season though.

True Blood: Where do I begin? I enjoy this show somewhat on a weekly basis. But Best Drama Series? Really, Emmy Voters? The back end of the season featured, essentially, nothing but orgies. Emmy Voters must recognize that True Blood is a genre show, right? Two smarter vampire shows were forever ignored by these voters. The shows: Buffy and ANGEL. I imagine, if one attached Alan Ball's name to The CW's Life Unexpected that it would receive a best drama nomination as well. True Blood does not deserve this nomination. Most of the season was an utter trainwreck. HBO is basically the only reason this show has been nominated. "Oh, it's on HBO. It must be good." Six Feet Under was, no doubt, an emmy worthy show. The first season of True Blood is immensely better than the second season. To quote the famous last words of John Locke: I don't understand.

LOST: Many critics expected LOST to receive a ton of nominations because of the show has ended. Well, they were right; however, the final season of LOST is very, very good. Say what you want about the Sideways but the device allowed the writers to tell very effective and emotional character stories like they did during the first season of the show. The show had many things to accomplish in its final eightteen hours. Not every question was answered but, judging by the response to the questions that were answered in the fan community, maybe it was better to leave many mysteries unanswered. After all, LOST told a wonderful story which is what matters most.

My Prediction: LOST. LOST won the award in 2005 and will win again. The 62nd Emmy Awards will celebrate LOST as they've celebrated other shows that ended their run.

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