Well, my friends, it is that time of year again: Awards Season is upon us. The time of year when we celebrate the best of the best in film and television at the Golden Globes, The SAG Awards, The Critics Choice awards and the Super Bowl of Pop Culture, the Academy Awards.
It’s also the time of year when people with evolved tastes in television scream at their TVs and Computers in agony on a regular basis.
The SAG nominations came out this morning, and the Golden Globe nods come out tomorrow. So expect to hear a LOT of me screaming about my shows over the next few days.
It never ceases to amaze me at how while the SAG nominations tend to get the film side SO RIGHT, they get the television side (ESPECIALLY the comedies) SO WRONG. Are the Comedy ballots at the back of their books and they are just tired of really thinking about who should be nominated so they just check off all the usual suspects because they are lazy??? Do they know what the word “ensemble” means (here’s a hint: it DOESN’T mean just a really big cast)? More importantly, do they know what the word “COMEDY” means?? I really question whether or not they do.
I will also never cease to understand how they don’t have a category for supporting performances on the television side. How in the HELL can you lump in a supporting player like Christina Hendricks or Neil Patrick Harris with leading performances like Juliana Marguiles and Jim Parsons? The supporting actors, outside of the Modern Family cast or Dame Maggie Smith, don’t have a chance in HELL of being recognized.
Let’s take a look at the nominees, shall we?
Best Comedy Ensemble
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie
The Office
I’m sorry…in what UNIVERSE is the really big cast…erm “ensemble” of Glee better than the ensembles of both Parks and Recreation and Community?? Are the SAG members merely sucking up to uber-producer Ryan Murphy because they all want jobs?? Glee lost its relevance and critical acclaim several seasons ago and is a SHADOW of its former self creatively. And this is coming from someone who thought Glee was BRILLIANT in its first season and a half or so. I don’t understand at all how it is still getting nominated for ACTING. Are they WATCHING the show? The acting is horrendous. And the cast does not work together as an ensemble. Jane Lynch and Matthew Morrison are barely on the show anymore. Most of the original cast has been downgraded to recurring status. Also tears/over emotive singing does NOT equal good acting.
Also SAG voters? The Sopranos (one of the most overrated shows in the history of TV IMO, but that’s another post) went off the air five years ago. Mayhaps it is time to move on from your infatuation with all things Edie Falco. Cause that is the only reason I can think of for your constant nominating of Nurse Jackie. I’m not even a massive fan of Girls, but even I can say that if you were going to nominate an edgy cable comedy, it should have been Girls over Nurse Jackie. I think some people are jealous of Lena Dunham being so successful at age 26.
The Big Bang Theory is the biggest comedy on television, so their nomination was a given. Modern Family, while some (me included, only cause I want other shows to get a chance) whine about it being overpraised, is the three-time Emmy champ and an excellent ensemble of comic actors. It’s the last hurrah for perennial winner 30 Rock and past winner The Office so I wasn’t surprised by those nominations. 30 Rock is having a pretty stellar final season and while it’s not at all what it used to be, the cast of The Office has always been a true ensemble, so I am fine with their nomination. But I can’t help but think/rage that the other two Thursday night NBC comedies, Community and Parks and Recreation are the ones who should be on the list.
ESPECIALLY Parks and Recreation. If you look up the word “ensemble” in the dictionary, you would find a picture of Leslie Knope and Company.
Best Actor in A Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
Ty Burrell – Modern Family
Louis C.K. – Louie
Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory
Eric Stonestreet – Modern Family
Alec Baldwin has NEVER lost this category since 30 Rock started airing. I suspect it is because his name is first on the ballot every year.
#lazy
I know, Steve. I KNOW.
Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey – 30 Rock (NBC)
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreations (NBC)
Sofia Vergara – Modern Family (ABC)
Betty White – Hot in Cleveland (TV Land)
Not on this list? Recent Emmy Winner and Comedy ICON Julia Louis-Dreyfus. That’s how messed up these nominations are. Look. I adore Betty White as much as anyone. But the fact that she has WON for Hot in Cleveland the past two years is an atrocity. She is only winning because she is BETTY WHITE…not because she is the best in her field for that year. So honestly, I expect her to win again this year. If it’s not Betty, than it will likely be a send off award for Liz Lemon.
In a fair and just world, this award would be Amy Poehler’s. ALL THE AWARDS WOULD BE AMY POEHLER’S.
Best Drama Ensemble
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Downtown Abbey
Homeland
Mad Men
Take out Boardwalk Empire (which I just find to be incredibly BORING) and sub in The Good Wife or Grey’s Anatomy (Yeah, you heard me. The acting has been as top notch as it’s ever been) and I would be totally fine with this category.
Best Actress in a Drama Series
Claire Danes – Homeland
Michelle Dockery – Downton Abbey
Jessica Lange – American Horror Story: Asylum
Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife
Maggie Smith – Downton Abbey
This is where the lack of a supporting category REALLY hurts me. The actress category is too crowded with talent!! How can a true supporting player (and one of our Sexiest Women Alive) like Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks compete with leading players like Claire Danes and Juliana Marguiles? She can’t. And that’s a travesty.
Best Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels – The Newsroom
Jon Hamm – Mad Men
Damian Lewis – Homeland
WILL JON HAMM EVER WIN????
No, he won’t.
(Seriously, y’all. The only major award Hamm has ever won for Don Draper is the Golden Globe for the first season. Atrocious.)
Best Actor in a TV Movie/Miniseries
Kevin Costner – Hatfields & McCoys
Woody Harrelson – Game Change
Ed Harris – Game Change
Clive Owen – Hemingway & Gellhorn
Bill Paxton – Hatfields & McCoys
Best Actress in a TV Movie/Miniseries
Nicole Kidman – Hemingway & Gellhorn
Julianne Moore – Game Change
Charlotte Rampling – Restless
Sigourney Weaver – Political Animals
Alfre Woodward – Steel Magnolias
Onto the Film Nominees…aka the list of movies I will need to see over my vacation in Nashville where movies are cheaper.
Best Motion Picture Ensemble
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
This is interesting, because I really think it could go to anyone. Outside of Marigold Hotel, I think we’re also looking at four of the best picture nominees.
ALSO OMG IS IT CHRISTMAS ALREADY?!?! BECAUSE I AM DYING FOR LES MIS. I have done a STELLAR job of avoiding all the clips currently floating around on the interwebs, because I just want to experience it all for the first time in the movie theatre. I am so ready.
Best Actor in a Motion Picture
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables
Denzel Washington – Flight
The only performance I have seen of these thus far is Cooper’s, and it was FANTASTIC. I often forget, thanks to movies like Wedding Crashers and The Hangover, that Bradley Cooper is a classically trained actor. Look at baby Bradley on Inside The Actors Studio you guys! And now he’s a SAG nominee! They grow up so fast.
That being said, this looks to be an INCREDIBLY tough category. DDL is a LEGEND. Hugh Jackman is supposed to be spectacular in Les Mis and is incredibly well liked in the industry. Will that popularity win him a bounty of awards?
Best Actress in a Motion Picture
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard – Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
I saw the trailer for The Impossible the other day and it took my breath away. Word of warning to any lady who is a crybaby like me: don’t wear mascara when you go to see this one. I was in tears at the TRAILER, I can’t imagine what the movie will be. However once again I am MYSTIFIED by the fact that Ewan McGregor’s CO-STARS are always the ones to get nominated (Nicole Kidman, Christopher Plummer) yet he never does. When will ANYONE show Ewan some love??
Again, the only performance of these I have seen is J-Law in Silver Linings Playbook. She was amazing and continues to blow me away with every performance she gives…and she is still so YOUNG. We have so so much more to see from her. I can’t wait.
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Alan Arkin – Argo
Javier Bardem – Skyfall
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
It was SO refreshing to see DeNiro actually ACTING in Silver Linings as opposed to all the “Robert DeNiro-ing” he has done over the past few years. Will winning an award for this film encourage him to keep doing quality films? Bardem was fantastic in Skyfall, but isn’t the performance just a variation on his villain in (the overrated) No Country For Old Men? Why does the supporting actor category always seem to be filled with old dudes?
And most importantly…if Philip Seymour Hoffman just stood on a screen reading a phone book, would he get awards buzz?
Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Nicole Kidman – The Paperboy
Maggie Smith – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Anne Hathaway’s name is already engraved on the Oscar. Thanks for playing everyone!
I’ll be back tomorrow with a similarly ranty post about the Golden Globes…especially if they drop the ball in the TV categories. DON’T LET ME DOWN HFPA!!
Head Over Feels 
Pingback: Kim on the Golden Globe Nominations « Head Over Feels