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The clique clacks about the Emmy nominations

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In case you live in a cave, nominations were announced today for the Emmys. This year things look a little different, as the Academy decided to bump up the number of nominees in each category. Now there are seven nominees in the best show category (for both comedy and drama, of course), and six nominees in the major acting categories. This seems to be a really popular trend, as the Oscars are doubling their best picture short list.

In any case, we here at CliqueClack had some strong opinions, both good and bad, about this years list of nominees.

Here are our thoughts:

If you missed Annie’s post, she was excited that Flight of the Conchords, and specifically Jemaine Clement, was feeling some love from the Emmys. We’ll see just how much love there is once the awards are handed out.

One thing that stuck out for me (aside from the much-warranted dominance for Mad Men and 30 Rock), was the nomination for Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad. He was stellar in this season’s Breaking Bad, and I often found myself thinking: “Damn. He really deserves an Emmy.” On such a high quality show, it’s difficult to stand out, and Paul certainly did that this year. Kudos.

Rich had some interesting thoughts on Family Guy’s nod for best series:

  • Family Guy? Really? Family Guy? While a good show, it isn’t nearly as interesting as it was a few seasons ago. With so many vignettes interspersed amongst the actual plot of an episode, it’s hard to find the actual plot. The Simpsons, which hasn’t had a best comedy nod in its 20 years on the air, would have been somewhat more deserving.”

Ivey shares the sentiment of so many other critics when it comes to the Emmys and Friday Night Lights:

  • “Will Friday Night Lights always live in the shadow of the lauded murder storyline? I can’t come up with another reason for the continued snubs by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton continue to do some of the best character work ever done on television, yet receive very little recognition for that work. As much as I enjoy Simon Baker in The Mentalist, there’s no way his work compares to what Chandler has done this season. Britton is in the same category. It’s criminal that these guys keep getting ignored this way.”

Julia rants about … well, Julia rants. You should be used to that by now:

  • “It’s funny how very little I care about the drama category – in the comedy category, I get torn to-and-fro. Who do I want to win between How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock, and The Office??? Which to choose? I do think Psych deserves some nods, and Pushing Daisies certainly deserves far more nominations. (If Cheno doesn’t win for supporting actress, I’ll be ticked.) But with the comedy categories, I always feel like there are too many deserving people, and not enough nomination spots. The drama category needs some serious re-vamping. Like, maybe the deserving comedy people could go in the drama categories? Because I don’t know if we were watching the same House this year, but it blew. I’ve never understood why Bones gets so routinely snubbed, either. It’s a phenomenal show, that I feel gets way too ignored just because it’s on the same network as House.”

Scott has some thoughts about Entourage:

  • Entourage‘s inclusion in the Outstanding Comedy Series category is ridiculously stupid. The show hasn’t been funny since early in season two, and it registers a ZERO on the relevance scale. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia would have been a better choice. It is my sincere hope that the Entourage gang perishes in a horrific thirty-car pileup in the series’ finale. Too harsh? Too bad.”

And then there is Aryeh. I feel that I should remind our readers that Aryeh’s opinions are solely his, and do not necessarily reflect those of the rest of us….

  • “While Alec Baldwin was fantastic, as usual, 30 Rock garnering 22 nominations is a bigger laugh then the show. Tina Fey (who also doesn’t deserve a nod for her “guest spot” on Saturday Night Live) should stick to writing, Steve Martin’s turn on the show was widely booed, Jon Hamm looked as awkward as a cow dancing salsa, Jennifer Aniston was less embarrassing as a guest on Dirt, Tracy Morgan may be amusing, but is no “outstanding” actor, Jane Krakowski’s casting is reason enough for their casting director to be fired, not praised, and the writing this year has been sub-par, often.”

Aryeh continues:

  • “No Jeremy Piven for Entourage? Really? Piven is one of the finest actors on TV today, who consistently reminds us how lucky the show is to have landed such a huge star. And, how does Kevin Dillon stand out from Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, and Jerry Ferrara? How come no love, or respect, for those three? Johnny Drama’s memorable quote from the season was, ‘tweet!'”

Aryeh also loves Boston Legal … a lot….

  • “No Candace Bergen or James Spader for Boston Legal this year? How about the standard respect for a fallen show that’s been under-recognized for the entirety of its run? Talk about kicking a man when he’s down; this is almost as disrespectful as the show’s cancellation this past winter.”

What were your thoughts on this year’s Emmy nominations?

Photo Credit: NBC

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18 Responses to “The clique clacks about the Emmy nominations”

July 17, 2009 at 9:29 AM

First, calling “Boston Legal” UNDER-recognized is hysterical. I’m not sure any show has gotten more undeserved attention from Emmy voters…and I say that as someone who watched BL its entire run.
But I do agree with Aryeh about “30 Rock”. The guest appearances nearly always resulted in bad shows.
On other points: “Family Guy” is a much better show these days than “The Simpsons”. There was a time when “The Simpsons” definitely deserved an Outstanding Comedy Series nomination…back when Bush I and Clinton were President. Giving it to the show now would be more Emmy cluelessness, and there’s far too much of that already.
My gripe is the lack of “Big Bang Theory” in that list of best comedies. I’m glad Jim Parsons got a nomination, although I worry about making the show even MORE Sheldon-centric than it’s become. But no program made me laugh more often, and more consistently, last season than BBT. I appreciate “The Office”, but I don’t find myself laughing at it very much.

July 17, 2009 at 11:46 AM

It’s refreshing to read a post that doesn’t gut James Spader and Boston Legal for being the brilliant entity that they were. I so wholeheartedly agree that they were regularly thrown under the bus and treated like the red-headed stepchild. Yes they were nominated because they were GOOD. Spader won, because he is brilliant and probably the best actor of his generation. Sadly he is unrecognized and disrespected and I still ask..Why? Sour grapes perhaps?
Well, the proof will be in the pudding as they say when he stars this fall on Broadway.

July 17, 2009 at 12:14 PM

Amen, brother.

I can’t get Spader’s character from Seinfeld out of my head (in a good way) whenever I see him … he was so thin, and I loved when his recovering alcoholic climbed into the ice cream display and started eating all the ones with alcohol in the ingredients.

July 18, 2009 at 12:12 PM

Hey, dude. On behalf of all redheads, don’t compare us to Boston Legal.

July 18, 2009 at 4:29 PM

NB, I agree wholeheartedly! “Boston Legal” was such a strange animal that the Academy wanted to acknowledge the work that was being done on the show, but didn’t really have a true category in which to place it. I believe both the show and James Spader are vilified by those who hate to see something that is not really a true drama in the category. I on the other hand applaud the Academy’s honoring the show with nominations and James Spader with two Emmys. (His first one was for “The Practice” which was a drama.) Both Spader and the show were brilliant and I sorely miss them.

July 17, 2009 at 12:35 PM

I like Boston Legal, but if you wanna talk about lack of respect for a show that saw its last season, look no further than The Shield. Goggins and Chiklis both deserved to be nominated, and I’m surprised that neither got any attention. Chiklis’ performance, especially in the penultimate episode, gave me chills at times. And Goggins was spot-on with his conflicted, spiraling out-of-control portrayal of Shane.

I haven’t been following this site all that long, so I don’t know if anyone here is even a fan of The Shield. And while I’m sure you guys get a lot of suggestions for Virgin Diaries material, but I would definitely recommend The Shield. It helped pave the way for a lot of shows to land on cable, changed the FX network, and never really got the respect it deserved after its first season.

July 17, 2009 at 12:48 PM

Maybe so, but The Wire getting ignored was criminal. Generation Kill getting a few nods this year doesn’t make up for that.

July 17, 2009 at 1:09 PM

I havent seen The Wire, but I’ve heard it’s similar to The Shield and have heard it’s also a very good show. I wonder if some of these shows got the out-of-sight, out-of-mind treatment, especially with shows that have ended their run in the first half of the television season. Boston Legal, The Shield, and The Wire were all done before 2009 and havent been talked about since because there are no new seasons coming up

July 17, 2009 at 1:28 PM

Obligatory complaint about BSG being largely ignored. Especially in the case of McDonnell and Bear.

July 17, 2009 at 2:17 PM

FNL won its Emmy in “Outstanding Casting” in its first season so I don’t really see the correlation. The show should’ve won then already, so I don’t think the reasoning behind the dreaded Season 2 storyline is valid. In fact I’d say that it was the perfect Emmy for this show as it encompassed all actors on the show as a whole, not shedding too much light on any of them. Because I think Chandler and Britton aren’t better than any other Actor on the show. Smash, Street, Riggins… you name it. All of them deliver such stellar performances, so gripping, that I think that if the whole show doesn’t get another nomination I’d be fine with that forever. Since it’s a gem and putting some bling on that would taint the impure perfection that it is. I’m GLAD it didn’t get a nod. I don’t want for it to get a nod I want for it to come out of left field and take the prize without anybody knowing that’s not possible with an award that names the noms beforehand.

Anyway, about the rest: I’ll watch the telecast of this live and every time 30 Rock get’s an Emmy I’ll think of England err Aryeh and drink a shot of Jäger because that’ll make it bittersweet :-D

July 17, 2009 at 5:10 PM

Don’t forget to drink one to the death of The Listener, too. :-)

July 18, 2009 at 2:42 PM

Hey I stopped writing about it ages ago because I saw the numbers and knew America wasn’t ready for a quality Canadian show ;-)

You can check the WP entry for the show, it got picked up in so many foreign markets I guess there will be a second season.

“Being Erica” got a second season order already though, so bite me :-)

July 17, 2009 at 2:20 PM

Oh and one thing: “lauded” murder storyline? Don’t you mean “dreaded”? Or do I simply don’t get the irony? Are quotes missing? Is my english that bad? *scratches head*

July 18, 2009 at 1:52 AM

Yes, you missed the irony.

July 17, 2009 at 8:29 PM

I think True Blood being snubbed is crazy. Top DVD sales, top ratings on HBO, widely talked about, Golden Globe winner…

Doesn’t make sense it snub them.

July 17, 2009 at 9:52 PM

James Spader won when James Gandolfini should have for the last season of The Sopranos. So Spader being snubbed for the final season of his show is no biggie. The man won enough Emmys.

July 18, 2009 at 4:10 PM

Gandolfini had won enough also…he had his three and with the 2007 Emmy Spader had his. Perhaps there should be a limit of three Emmys for the same role, that way it opens up the field for other individuals.

July 18, 2009 at 10:45 AM

Hi Bob!

Delving into the minor nominations for the one series in which you could have guessed I would have been interested, I was nonplussed to find Sarah Connor Chronicles under Sound Editing. I knew there would be only one (if any), but was expecting it to be Prosthetic Makeup or Original Dramatic Score.

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