Well the Emmys ended (on time for once) approximately twenty-five minutes ago, so I have had time to register the wins, become irrationally angry, and then take a deep breath as I realized what happened: None of the voters have time to actually watch TV anymore.
I understand that there are LOTS of shows that are submitted and then narrowed down to nominations and these are all people who are very busy so it is difficult to watch all the nominations. BUT SOME OF THESE WINS WERE BULL SHIT. I feel confident in saying this because I do not know ONE PERSON who watched the entirety of Olive Kittredge. It won everything it was up for, so I’m calling bull shit. But I should focus on the categories that matter to this blog. Let’s take a look at what the fuck went wrong… (I may still be a little irrationally angry.)
BEST COMEDY
- Louie
- Modern Family
- Parks and Recreation
- Silicon Valley
- Transparent
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
- Veep**
I love VEEP, I’m surprised it didn’t go to KIMMY SCHMIDT but I’m super bummed it didn’t go to PARKS AND REC or SILICON VALLEY. They both get overlooked way too often while people talk about how high quality they are.
BEST DRAMA
- Better Call Saul
- Downtown Abbey
- Game of Thrones**
- Homeland
- House of Cards
- Mad Men
- Orange is the New Black
UGHHHHH WHY NOT OITNB?! It is so deserved! What the hell is the rubric these votes are using? GOT is a well made show with amazing actors, so I do not hate this decision but there was a time when GOT earned this and it was Season Three, even Season Four, but not this year.
COMEDY WRITING
- Episodes
- Louie
- Silicon Valley
- Last Man on Earth
- Transparent**
- Veep
Fine. I can’t really argue with this one because I have never watched TRANSPARENT. Nothing against the show, just the channel it’s on. From what I have heard and read though, SILICON VALLEY is still the stronger writing for a comedy.
DRAMA WRITING
- Better Call Saul
- Game of Thrones**
- Mad Men “Lost Horizon”
- Mad Men “Person to Person”
- The Americans
I honestly think that the two MAD MEN nominations split the vote. There is ZERO F-ING REASON that this show should win. I don’t think any of the voters watched THE AMERICANS or BETTER CALL SAUL so they weren’t getting votes, and I have spoken ad nauseam about the issues with GOT’s writing. This win and the Best Drama win is clearly a lack of “options” in the eyes of the voters, and also the fact that this series hadn’t had a win in either category in its five year run makes me think a good chunk of these were “might as well” attitude votes because they hadn’t seen/preferred the other shows. Such a bummer.
VARIETY SERIES WRITING
- Inside Amy Schumer
- Key and Peele
- Last Week Tonight
- The Colbert Report
- The Daily Show**
Considering it was Jon Stewart’s last year his win is not a surprise and is definitely deserved, though I’m surprised it didn’t go to Amy Schumer. I just love LAST WEEK TONIGHT so much more overall.
VARIETY SPECIAL
- Key and Peele Super Bowl Special
- Louis C.K.: Live at the Comedy Store**
- Mel Brooks Live at the Geffen
- 72nd Golden Globes
- SNL 40th Special
This was such a surprise! Louis C.K. beat Mel Brooks! And the last two were such strong opportunities for the entertainment world to pat itself on the back, I’m surprised the voters didn’t take it! Maybe they’re making up for the lack of wins for Louis’s sitcom? That’s the only reason I can think of for this one.
I love television but with the continue fracturing audiences and the awards shows inability to recognize the wide range of worthy series I become less and less interested every year. I mostly just want to see the monologue (which was great, thank you Andy Samberg!) and the red carpet (which was boring apart from Tatiana Maslany’s amazing white suit). Hopefully the organizers in the future will figure out how to evolve with the television world and audiences.