My Emmy's (Part 1)

As promised, here are my personal nominees for the 2007-08 Emmy's. You already know the nominees for the real Emmy's are going to be as boring as usual, so I hope you enjoy the few "oddball" choices I threw in. My winners will be announced sometime in the future.

BLIND SPOTS: I don't get any pay channels, so you won't see any acclaimed shows like Weeds, The Wire, Tell Me You Love Me or Californication. Somehow, Mad Men alluded me throughout it's season on AMC (which I do get), so I'll hopefully catch up with the first season on DVD soon. CBS procedural dramas annoy the fuck out of me, so don't expect CSI here. In fact, most shows on CBS annoy the fuck out of me, so there's not much from that channel. Neil Patrick Harris is the man, but I don't watch How I Met Your Mother anymore (the only episodes I saw this season were the one's with Britney) so it didn't feel right to nominate him. No matter how wildly you praise Battlestar Galactica I will probably never watch it; I just can't stand sci-fi. Too many years of watching Star Trek when my parents had it on has made me a lifetime hater.

Best Comedy
30 Rock (NBC)
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)

To be honest, the only reason Ugly Betty made it in is because I couldn't find another show more worthy. I love the show, but Ugly Betty works better when it concentrates on characters and interaction instead of dealing with a storyline. When you get Mark, Wilhemina and Christina into the same room, few can top it. At other times, however, it nearly stalls. I feel much stronger about the other four comedies. Pushing Daisies was the nicest surprise of the year- an eternally optimistic and schmaltzy show that didn't get on my nerves and was actually charming. Who knew that was possible? The New Adventures of Old Christine, for being a show about a 40-something divorced mother, is strangely a show I can totally relate to. The more this show gets going, the funnier it gets. 30 Rock thankfully retained its offbeat sense of humor into the second season. With the addition of the newest housewife on Wisteria Lane, Desperate Housewives felt rejuvenated and made me feel like I was watching the first season again.

Best Drama
Damages (FX)
Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)
Footballers Wives (BBC America)
Gossip Girl (The CW)
House (Fox)

I don't watch many dramas, but this is a shortlist I can feel very comfortable with. House is procedural, for sure, but it never feels stale to me. The ensemble works well together and the medical cases always have me fascinated. The final season of Footballers Wives wasn't as addictive as the first few seasons, but the show cranked its "batshit crazy" meter up to 11 and went places that few American shows do. Speaking of addictive, now other show on TV had me talking as much as Gossip Girl. I was enthralled with every minute and nearly every conversation on Thursday morning had me starting off with, "OMG, did you watch Gossip Girl last night? Wasn't that crazy?" Dirty Sexy Money had not only the best title of any new show, but it also had one of the most in-tune ensembles of the season. The show is pure trash, but it's enthralling nonetheless. Damages was brilliantly addictive in a way that even Gossip Girl couldn't imagine. Every scene had you re-evaluating the last one, wondering if you were judging a character wrong or if so-and-so is really a good/bad person.

Best Actress (Comedy)
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Tiffany Pollard, I Love New York 2 (VH1)

My favorite category this year was also one of the hardest to narrow down to five. This meant that Eva Longoria, who had her best season yet on Desperate Housewives, couldn't get a nomination, but I'm happy with my shortlist. Tina Fey is the straightwoman on 30 Rock, but no one does it as well as her. And bonus points for making Liz Lemon the most relatable character on TV. Marcia Cross is brilliant in every episode of Desperate Housewives and this year was further proof that this woman should be winning Emmy's every year for her work. Her best moment: her line reading of "Ow, my baby!" when Orson pokes her in her fake pregnancy belly with a BBQ fork. Louis-Dreyfus' Christine is, theoretically, one of the most awful characters on TV. She's lazy, meddling and inconsistent, but that's why I love her. Who else but her would spend a week in bed after Melinda Doolittle's defeat on American Idol and not allow anyone to mention it ever again. Anna Friel is charm personified, but she keeps her Chuck grounded in reality so she doesn't become annoying. I realize that I Love New York 2 is a reality show, but if Tiffany Pollard (aka New York) wasn't acting, then she needs to get counseling because she is majorly fucked up. To prove my point, recall the scene between her and Buddha in her hotel room where she goes from hating him, to loving him, to kicking him out of her room, to inviting him to stay the night and then getting angry when he doesn't....all in a matter of about 2 minutes. Those girls from The Hills should get lessons from Pollard about how to act for reality television, because after 4 different series with this character she has finally perfected her.

Best Actress (Drama)
Glenn Close, Damages
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace (TNT)
Blake Lively, Gossip Girl
Zoe Lucker, Footballers Wives
Leighton Meester, Gossip Girl

The only reason I kept watching Saving Grace after the first couple of middling episodes was because of Holly Hunter. Her character was alive and always interesting even when the show wasn't and Hunter brought much needed star power. Zoe Lucker wasn't given much to do on this last season of Footballers Wives, even somehow emerging as the sane one next to Joan Collins's Eva de Wolfe and Laila Rouass's Amber Gates. But her Tanya Turner was still the fabulous bitch supreme and went out at the top of her game. Blake Lively and Leighton Meester, as Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf respectively, brought delicious energy and zest to Gossip Girl. Serena is positioned as the "good girl," but through Lively's performance you can see her "bad" side sneak through every now and again. Blair, on the other hand, is the bitchy queen and Meester plays up to that supremely well- she's the heir to the fabulous bitch throne now that Tanya Turner. And what more can be said about Glenn Close's triumphant return to form on Damages? She's played these type of roles before, but every moment feels like something brand new and never been done before.

Best Actor (Comedy)
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies
James Roday, Psych (USA)
Ray Wise, Reaper (The CW)

I don't watch The Office often, but when I do I'm always amazed at Steve Carell's ability to milk a laugh out of almost anything. Psych is an often underrated show and James Roday is a comedic firestorm who often gets ignored. No one else on TV lets loose with such reckless abandon and gets the same hilarious results. Alec Baldwin just keeps on impressing me in 30 Rock. Best moment: portraying four members of Tracy's family, racist stereotypes and all, in a three minute span. Reaper's quality varies from episode to episode, but Ray Wise as Satan is the only constant. He's charming, sly and quick witted- just what we want in our Devil. Lee Pace's Ned is a conflicted mess on Pushing Daisies, but his love for Friel's Chuck is endearing and provides some of the funniest moments of the show (kissing through cellophane....awwww!).

Best Actor (Drama)
Peter Krause, Dirty Sexy Money
Hugh Laurie, House
Penn Badgley, Gossip Girl
Ben Richards, Footballers Wives
???

You can tell I don't watch many dramas, since I could only come up with four nominees. Penn Badgley, playing the Seth Cohen role of Dan, isn't given as much to do as the girls on Gossip Girl, but his wit and bumbling/moping characterization of Dan is the most honest and realistic thing about the show. Hugh Laurie has got House down, but that doesn't mean his performance is any less fascinating. Bonus points for keeping the dark humor that made him popular throughout the series and not try to sneak in a little sympathy to make him a "full" character. Peter Krause, much like Stephen Campbell Moore in Bright Young Things, has to be the sane sense of reason in a crowd full of nuts. If his performance didn't work, the rest of the ensemble would look ridiculous and be unwatchable. Footballers Wives was Tanya Turner-less for the first few episodes of the season, so Ben Richards had to step up and take command for awhile. He went from wife-beater to guilty murderer to deeply in love to insane in a matter of four or five episodes and the progression was entirely logical. For the fifth and final spot, you tell me who I should nominate: Is Jon Hamm from Mad Men worthy, or do you have someone else to praise?


I've had to split this up into two parts because it's so long, so another post will come shortly with the Supporting Performers, Reality Shows and Guest Performances.