Charlize giving a "Genius" award to Seth McFarlane. The title disturbs both of them. After the laziest weekend of all time in TFE HQ, we must jump right back to deep conversations on all the entertainment thingies that matter and some that don't. Who's to say which is which but you? This week I watched a lot of mindless TV as I vegged out (I have no idea why my body/mind absolutely rejected my normal blog 24/7 routine) so let's go with that first and talk about the Critics Choice TV Wins. They're the Emmy-like sibling branch of the BFCA (I am not a member of the former, just the latter). Thankfully they don't try to predict the Emmys at all the way my branch tries to predict the Oscars (sigh). They're totally willing to get behind TV shows that haven't a prayer with Emmy (note their win for The Americans which The Emmys consistently ignore) . This doesn't mean they don't still make annoying choices but at least you can tell they're voting from their hearts.
Drama
Best Drama Series: The Americans (FX)
Best Actor in a Drama Series: Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul (AMC)
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul (AMC)
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Lorraine Toussaint, Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)
Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series: Sam Elliott, Justified (FX)
More winners and commentary after the jump...
Lynn is going to be so happy that The Americans won!
I don't wach Better Call Saul but the fact that the spinoff of the overrrewarded* Breaking Bad is now taking multiple prizes is horrific to me in the way that Frasier winning endless Emmys was post Cheers. Or the way whatever future spin-off of Modern Family winning prizes is going to be. Spread the wealth, people. Fanboyisms with awardage often leads to embarrassing hoarding of prizes and neglect at masterful work elsewhere.
(Yay for Lorraine Toussaint though who has her work cut out for her getting an Emmy nod given her overstuffed category but let's table that discussion for its own post since I have Things To Say About Supporting Actress. )
Alison Janney makes out with James Corden because... why not?Comedy
Best Comedy Series: Silicon Valley (HBO)
Best Actor in a Comedy Series: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent (Amazon)
Best Actress in a Comedy Series: Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Allison Janey, Mom (CBS)
Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series: Bradley Whitford, Transparent (Amazon)
Transparent is genius and an original and we should cross our fingers that it does well at the Emmys too. Otherwise... I continue to be a bit mystified that enough people can still stomach laughtracks in 2015 for shows that use them to be regarded as awards-worthy (see Mom or, over at the Emmys, The Big Bang Theory). It's a little bit like giving the Visual FX Oscar going to a movie that uses rear projection for its driving scenes, and not in an ironic Mad Men kind of way. It's... From Another Time. That said Janney is a major actress in practically everything but she has won so many awards over the years (6 Emmys, 6 SAGs, 2 Drama Desks for her stage work, and various other minor citations from critics groups, and multiple Globe nominations) that it feels a little generous and Streepian all the same. Spread the wealth.
Telefilms & Miniseries
Best Movie Made for Television: Bessie (HBO)
Best Limited Series: Olive Kitteridge (HBO)
Best Actor in a Movie or Limited Series: David Oyelowo, Nightingale (HBO)
Best Actress in a Movie or Limited Series: Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge (HBO)
Best Supporting Actor in a Movie or Limited Series: Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge (HBO)
Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Limited Series: Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Freak Show (FX)
Best Reality Series: Shark Tank (ABC)
Best Reality Competition Series: Face Off (Syfy)
Best Reality Series Host: Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance (FOX)
Nice to see Sarah Paulson pick up a prize for her hard working double-duty on Freak Show. She was easily best in show once you got past the shockingly great (and sexy) surprise of Finn Wittrock's breakout year in general and with "Dandy" especially. I only caught a few minutes as I was channel hopping. And those minutes were right around here. Queen Latifah looked disappointed to lose Best Actress (McDormand wasn't there which was hardly unexpected given her face at the Globes. Remember that?)
Because I was experiencing one of those vegging-out weekends I thought I'd try out Faceoff after seeing it win. Especially since I knew it would have something to do with the movies -- and sure enough three Oscar winning makeup artists were represented in the two episodes I watched. Yay, Oscar winning craftspeople. The premise was exciting but the execution was... just embarrassing.
Reality Competition Television has to be the most uncreative of all television genres, creatively bankrupt even. It's product from an assembly line with absolutely no attempts to make it a cut above. Every show is the same as every other no matter the network, producers, or subject matter, as if they're all cut by the same editors and scripted by the same writers and scored by the same composers. There is the generically pretty (usually blonde) hostess who talks like a robot. There's the Mini then the Maxi Challenges. The same process of elimination. The same discussing the tops and bottoms and sending them away during "deliberations". There's the same reverential introduction of guest stars with the same off camera coaching to the contestants who then know the whole persons career to the camera. There's the same replaying of exact scenes before and after commercial and the same cutting to on camera confessionals to explain what you've just seen exactly when you'd expect it every time. I'd argue that it's the single most artistically restrictive entertainment format on the planet right now and has been for years. I watched two episodes of Faceoff and I felt like I had seen both of them 1000s of times before (which is weird because I've never ever seen a show about makeup artists before and the subject matter sounded like it had great promise) and I will never watch another episode unless I am insanely insanely bored and can't find any of my DVDs.
Cat Deeley won Best Reality Host, and I hear only wonderful things about her from friends that watch that show but it still means nothing since RuPaul wasn't a nominee and frankly that's a little embarassing for this group given that some Reality hosts just get nominated for standing at their marks and saying the exact same lines every episode. Done. Collect your check.
RuPaul has her catchphrases too but they're so self aware they've practically become sentient and she has a wondrous comic habit of spinning them in subtle inflected and/or wildly affected ways just as you're feeling complacent about them. Plus she's about 1000 times funnier, more spontaneous, and more glamorous than her regularly nominated competition at the Emmys and here.
That awards bodies don't honor her ever is Shade so strong it's Perpetual Eclipse.
Randomness
Best Talk Show: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
Best Animated Series: Archer (FX)
Critics’ Choice LOUIS XIII Genius Award: Seth MacFarlane
Most Exciting New Series: American Crime Story (FX), Aquarius (NBC), Blindspot (NBC), Minority Report (FOX), The Muppets (ABC), Scream Queens (FOX), Supergirl (CBS) and UnREAL (Lifetime)
Yay Archer.
But we should stop there. That final category. Eeep. The less said about "critics" giving prizes to shows they've never seen -- perhaps they should retitle the prize "most exciting new ad campaign!" or "my favorite publicist!" the better, you know?
* People who love Breaking Bad will say it deserved all of its prizes but....Fact: Nothing ever is the best at everything all the time, year in and Year out. All longform art has peaks and valleys or even if it's just peaks, other longform art may also be experiencing peaks at the same time and those must be considered, too. It just doesn't happen that something is the best all the time forever in everything. Never has happened. Never will. Even Mad Men, the greatest TV show of all time, (generally speaking), didn't deserve to win Best Series and all the directing and writing and costuming and acting prizes at the Emmys for every year of its existence. The fact that it won NONE of the acting or costuming prizes is just a stain on the Emmys forever. But anyway. Yeah. Spread the wealth. It's more generous, and also more artistically and critically and intellectually sensible.