Thursday, July 16, 2009

Lost Gets Emmy Nods!

While it certainly hasn't gotten the attention of 30 Rock, with its 22 nominations (22!!), Lost has been nominated for Best Drama, and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for Michael Emerson. PLEASE give that award to Emerson. The "What about ME?!" scene in the finale, where he faces off against Jacob, is worth the award right there, but there's just a subtlety to his acting, an evil laced with comic undertones, that deserves it. I adore him... and this is finally a year where he's not up against anyone else on Lost. Lost ended up with 5 nominations in total (scroll to the bottom to see the rest).

Here are the nominations in the most-touted categories:

Outstanding Comedy Series
Family Guy
30 Rock
Weeds
How I Met Your Mother
The Office
Flight of the Conchords
Entourage

**My pick: 30 Rock. While I LOVE The Office, 30 Rock was just consistently funny this year, with lines that rivalled any other series on television. I found myself quoting it week after week, and I think Tina Fey is some kind of genius. I don't watch How I Met Your Mother (I know, I know... I'm getting to it, promise); I thought season 2 of Flight of the Conchords was even funnier than season 1; I stopped watching Weeds in season 3 when it just got too serious; Entourage was consistently fun to watch week after week, but never stood out as the best thing on television; and while I'm thrilled that the Family Guy is in there, it's not consistently funny.

Outstanding Drama Series
Mad Men
Breaking Bad
Lost
Damages
Dexter
Big Love
House

**I think y'all know my pick for this one. Season 5 of Lost was stunning. Stunning stunning stunning, in its writing, acting, and directing. It deserves the award. I loved season 2 of Mad Men, and it's probably the frontrunner in this one; I'm partway through Breaking Bad (LOVE it); Damages was AMAZING; Big Love had a really excellent season; Dexter's third season was its best yet; and, okay, I'm not a House fan. So honestly, despite me ragging on the Emmys year after year, I think they've put together an excellent crop of shows here.

Lead Actor in a Drama
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Hugh Laurie, House
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Simon Baker, The Mentalist

**What can I say: Gabriel Byrne. This guy has to carry In Treatment through 48 episodes, has to play the ups and downs, has to face off against every other character... there isn't a scene that he isn't in. That is a feat in itself -- and not only does he put in the time, he's brilliant. Unbelievably brilliant. I love Michael C. Hall (and admittedly, if he won it I'd be leaping off my couch in happiness) and Jon Hamm, but this one belongs to Byrne.

Lead Actress in a Drama
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Glenn Close, Damages
Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters
Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace

**My pick: Glenn Close. My love for her is boundless. And confession time: the only other show I watch here is Mad Men. Moss is amazing in it, but she's no Patty Hewes.

Lead Actor in a Comedy
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords

**Torn!! I'm always torn between Baldwin and Carell. They're both genius, both convey that insanity mixed with seriousness. I honestly can't pick one. It would be like choosing a favourite child.

Lead Actress in a Comedy
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?

**Tina Fey. And not just because she's the writer/actress on it (she can get her writing kudos in those categories) but because she's funny, and plays the perfect straight person in the midst of a bunch of psychos, and STILL manages to pull off some of the best lines in each episode.

Best Reality Competition
The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing With the Stars
Project Runway
Top Chef

**Damn you for not nominating So You Think You Can Dance!!!! Are you crazy?? Consistently the best reality show on television. But a close second is Project Runway, so I'm going for that.

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Late Show With David Letterman
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live

**While SNL had some truly outstanding moments this past season, they were mostly thanks to Andy Samberg or Justin Timberlake, so I'm going with Jon Stewart on this one.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
William Shatner, Boston Legal
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
William Hurt, Damages
Michael Emerson, Lost
John Slattery, Mad Men

**Oh you know what I'm going to say (see above). William Hurt put in a crazy good turn on Damages, and John Slattery is brilliant on Mad Men as Roger, but Michael Emerson stole the show this year.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Rose Byrne, Damages
Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy
Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Hope Davis, In Treatment
Cherry Jones, 24

**Don't watch Grey's or 24, and Rose Byrne was great on Damages, but was often overshadowed by people who were better than her in each scene. So I'm with Dianne Wiest. That woman can fall apart like nobody else on television. When she and Gabriel Byrne are on screen together in In Treatment, there are moments when I feel like I can't breathe. Extraordinary.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Rainn Wilson, The Office
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men

**Oh Dwight. I could never vote against you. Rainn Wilson FTW!!

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Kristin Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Vanessa William, Ugly Betty
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

**It's like they are MOCKING ME with nominating Pushing Daisies. Stupid $@^!ing awards shows. My vote is for Kristin. May she find another lead part in a drama to prove to everyone that her show should NOT HAVE BEEN CANCELLED.

And here are the other nominations for Lost. Does ANYONE else deserve that writing award? I didn't think so. Come on, Darlton!

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing
Lost • The Incident • ABC • Grass Skirt Productions and ABC Studios
Stephen Semel, Editor
Mark Goldman, Editor
Chris Nelson, Editor

Outstanding Sound Mixing
Lost • The Incident • ABC • Grass Skirt Productions and ABC Studios
Robert Anderson, Production Sound Mixer
Ken King, Production Sound Mixer
Scott Weber, Re-Recording Mixer
Frank Morrone, Re-Recording Mixer

Outstanding Writing for a Drama
Lost • The Incident • ABC • Grass Skirt Productions and ABC Studios
Carlton Cuse, Writer
Damon Lindelof, Writer
**This actually has a good chance of winning, since it's up against FOUR Mad Men episodes and nothing else. The MM episodes will probably split the votes against each other (unless everyone votes for the finale) and Lost could shoot right up through the middle. :)

11 comments:

fb said...

nik, if you watched the big bang theory or how i met your mother, you'd have a much harder time choosing the supporting and lead comedy actors! :) i'm THRILLED jim parsons is finally getting the credit he deserves and i hope this is finally NPH's year to shine! (PS: go watch how i met your mother! you know, with all that FREE TIME you have!)

Erin {pughs' news} said...

Lost, Lost, Lost, Lost!!! Win, win, win, win!!!

I couldn't agree more about Michael Emerson. He is beyond brilliant.

yourblindspot said...

Um... how I missed the 'Best Drama' and 'Best Writing' noms when I reviewed the list earlier, I have no idea. Go LOST!

Still -- no nomination for Mary McDonnell? For shame.

MonkeyFace said...

While I am very happy LOST received the Best Drama and writing noms, I am saddened that Josh Holloway and Elizabeth Mitchell were snubbed. IMO, this was Josh's year and Mitchell took her performance to a whole other level. Michael Emerson is consistently great, but I think Josh deserved a nomination, too.

On the other hand, I was very happy and surprised to see Jim Parsons got a nomination. He deserves it!

TV Writer said...

Nikki,
Know you're happy about the Lost noms (as am I), but as my fellow Shield devotee, you've got to be upset about the lack of nominations for the show.
No best series nod and nothing for ANY of the actors (taking nothing away from the fantastic Michael Emerson, I think Walton Goggins could have really given him a run for his money).
I vent more here: http://iscreenyouscreen.blogspot.com/2009/07/some-quick-emmy-impressions.html

Rebecca T. said...

Michael Emerson completely deserves the win on this one. He is consistently and amazingly solid in all of the insanity of Lost and Ben. Michael Emerson totally built that character from the ground up. Yes, the writing is brilliant, but he can deliver a line like no one else.

Okay, enough fawning over ME :)

I CANNOT believe they passed over So You Think You Can Dance!!!!!! That show is brilliant! From the judges, to the host (love ya Cat) to the whole set up of the show. They totally deserve it.

And Darlton completely should have the win for writing. Brilliant I tell you, Brilliant!

Jazzygirl said...

LOL Nikki, I just read through all the nominees and aside from my excitement about LOST and Michael Emerson, I kept jumping for joy for YOU over all the Pushing Daisies nom's. There were a handful. How bittersweet. I actually did enjoy the show and tried to watch the last episodes on Sat nights but didn't catch them all. I will be SO mad if Emerson doesn't win!! On one of the sites I read, the writer actually was mad that O'Quinn wasn't on there as well. :)

The Shout said...

With you on House, Nik. Why this show seems to bag award after award while the likes The Wire, The Shield, Deadwood etc are ignored, I'll never know. I don't know what all of you in the US think about Hugh Laurie accent but I'm a Brit and it I'd file it under 'unconvincing', along with Charlie's mum's accent, Claire's mum's accent and Ben Linus' flashback wigs.

Agree with everyone on Josh Holloway. Michael Emerson had another great season but I defy anyone to say he matched Josh's performance in The Incident.

I've got a feeling we'll have to wait till next year to see Lost sweep the awards boards.

Gillian Whitfield said...

Michael Emerson had better win this year! Same with Damon & Carlton; The Incident was awesome. I don't really watch any other shows that were nominated. I used to watch American Idol. But that lasted all of two years (I started in season 5 partway through the Hollywood round and stopped during the auditions of season 7) I used to watch The Big Bang Theory. Very, very briefly. I never watched anything else.

Anonymous said...

I disagree pretty strongly that Lost was as "stunning" as you say. I thought it suffered from terrible writing and bad characterizations. I mean come on, Sawyer hooking up with Juliet? Stupid, stupid, stupid. She threatened to murder Kate, and we know what happens to people who mess with people Sawyer cares about. They DIE. And Juliet all of a sudden giving a shit about Sawyer when two weeks ago she didn't care if he lived or died? WTF were Darlton on when they dreamed this crap up? And Suliet is only the tip of the iceberg of suck that was s5. The only good parts were Jacob and Lapidus and Illana's gang. And the rare occasions when Sawyer remembered he was SAWYER and not Mr. Juliet Burke. Oh, and when Juliet finally kicked off. Ugh. I didn't feel at all sorry for her, that was a mercy killing for a totally butchered, formerly awesome female character. She is so better off dead and reincarnated as Erica Evans on V.

(nobody take this as a personal attack on anyone, this is just what I think. I like this blog a lot, and I totally respect everyone else's right to their opinions. Carry on.)

Anonymous said...

Whoops, should have proofread before I posted! My previous comment was about season 5 and season 5 only, not Lost in general. Seasons 1-4 were great, s5 sucked. :) I'll think positive and look forward to the last season as a great one.