59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations

Last week the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences the nominations for the 59th Annual Emmy Awards to be held this year. As usual, it was a mixed bag, with some series that in my opinion receiving nominations that should not have, and others that deserved to be nominated but weren't.

Indeed, perhaps the least deserving show on television received several nominations. I am talking about Grey's Anatomyh. This show is simply a standard medical drama. There is next to nothing to differentiate it from Dr. Kildare beyond unusual cases (done before on both St. Elsewhere and E.R.) and more sex. It did not deserve to be nominated in the Best Drama category by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, outside of special effects, I am not sure it should have been nominated in any category, although I will admit the cast can be forgiven if their performances aren't up to par with the rest of television. They don't have much to work with.

There are other Best Drama nominees that I am also not sure deserved to be so honoured. Boston Legal is more enjoyable than most David E. Kelley, primarily due to a good cast (it's hard to beat William Shatner and Candice Bergen), but I am not sure it is entertaining enough for Best Drama. And while Heroes has its enjoyable moments, I am also sure it deserves a Best Drama nomination.

While Grey's Anatomy was nominated for Best Drama, Lost was once again snubbed. While this season of Lost started poorly, in the end it turned out to be the best season so far. Indeed, the best single episode of the show aired this season ("Flashes Before Your Eyes"). At least Lost has picked up several other nominations, including direction (for the episode "Through the Looking Glass"), Editing (for the same episode), Sound Editing, Best Supporting Actor (Terry O'Quinn as Locke and Michael Emerson as Ben), and Writing (although it was for "Through the Looking Glass" instead of "Flashes Before Your Eyes..."). I am disappointed that Evangeline Lily did not receive an Outstanding Actress nod. In fact, none of the actresses from the show were nominated, even though Grey's Anatomy received three.

At least Lost received some nominations. HBO's The Wire is easily the best show on television, yet it was entirely shut out. It did not receive any nominations at all.

That having been said, I can say both The Sopranos and House deserved to be nominated for Best Drama. House also received a nomination for Lead Actor, and I can honestly say that I believe Huge Laurie (who lays Gregory House M. D.) deserves to win. The Sopranos also picked up several other nominations, which it definitely deserved to.

As to the Comedy Series category, I was glad to see Entourage, The Office, and 30 Rock were all nominated. That having been said, I am puzzled why My Name is Earl wasn't. Did they think they had too many NBC sitcoms nominated? Quite frankly, My Name is Earl is funnier than the pedestrian Two and Half Men and The New Adventures of Old Christine. Indeed, if I had to nominated a CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother would have beaten both of those! It also pleases me that Entourage picked up several nominations, including a Guest Actor nod for Martin Landau and Supporting Actor nods for Jeremy Piven as Ari and Kevin Dillon as Drama (who's easily the funniest character on the show). I'm also happy to see that Alec Baldwin was nominated for Lead Actor for 30 Rock. That having been said, I was disappointed to see that Tracy Morgan wasn't nominated in the Supporting Actor category for the same show. I am glad to see that both Jamie Pressly (Earl's evil ex-wife on My Name is Earl and Jenna Fischer (Pam on The Office received Outstanding Supporting Actress nominations. I was also happy to see Tina Fey receive an Outstanding Lead Actress nod.

As to other categories, I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the Outstanding Animated Progrramme (for less than one hour). While The Simpsons and South Park were nominated as usual, another old timer was missing--King of the Hill. This is a series that has been consistently good over its long run, which is more than can be said for The Simpsons of late (as much as I love the show, I can't help but wonder that it hasn't overstayed its welcome). I was also happy to see the excellent Broken Trail nominated in the Outstanding Miniseries category.

Over all I suppose the 59th Annual Emmy Award nominations could have been worse. Lost was at least nominated in several categories, even if it was snubbed when it came to Outstanding Drama. And many of my favourite actors did receive nods. I only wish the Academy would get over their infatuation with Grey's Anatomy. I rather suspect years from now they will look back at having nominated that show with the thought, "What was I thinking?!"