Emmy FYC: Samira Wiley in "Orange is the New Black"

Team Experience is sharing Dream Emmy nominations this week. Here's Deborah Lipp

Reading the list of eligible Emmy performances is an eye-opening survey of how much good and great TV I’ve seen this year—and how much I’ve missed. How can anyone single out an individual, or a few individuals, from this sea of excellence? There is no doubt that Orange is the New Black is a great show, and my favorite show, but even narrowing the list to performances from that one show is daunting.

But then there is Samira Wiley...

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Share Your Emmy (Drama) Ballots

We've already discussed our comedy ballots and though we've got a few more individual FYCs coming and are still trying to sample various new series we missed that others are rooting for before the nominations, let's talk Drama Series. Emmy is always loathe to change up its nominations so the actual nominees this year are likely to be the exact same as last year which means that you're looking at...

PREDICTIONS

Do you think GAME OF THRONES can repeat its win?

• Game of Thrones (Season 6 -- nominated for all previous seasons. 1 win for Season 5)
• Better Call Saul (Season 2 -- nominated last year, too)
• Downton Abbey (Season 6 -- nominated for all previous seasons. 1 win for Season 1 as "limited series")
• Homeland (Season 5 -- nominated for 3 of 4 previous seasons. 1 win for Season 1)
• House of Cards (Season 4 -- nominated for all previous seasons)
• Orange is the New Black  (Season 3 -- nominated for all previous seasons. though first was in "comedy")

Basically you're looking at the same lineup that's been going on for half a decade (since Better Call Saul just replaced its origin series Breaking Bad). But with Mad Men out of the picture there is exactly one slot free, which we assume will be taken by...

• Mr Robot (Season 1 -- since its won so much buzz, acclaim, and fandom in its debut season)

PREFERENCES

If I was in charge rare would be the series that was always nominated since nearly all series have some ebb and flow in terms of quality and there is (thankfully) so much quality competition out there. The only long-running television show of my entire life that I would have nominated every single year was Mad Men...

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Best of '15: The TV Experience

Dancin' Dan here to take a look at 2015 on the small screen. When I moved to NYC late last year I thought that I would be going to the movies all the time. After all, so many more movies play here than my previous home in the middle of Connecticut! But the sheer glut of movies to see, both old and new, caused a lot of second-guessing and a bit of paralysis, leading to a less robust slate than I had imagined.

But the plentiful offerings of television were there for me in my indecisive, paralyzed state. I didn't watch everything, but I did watch a lot. And these are...

15 Favorite Things About TV in '15
after the jump... 

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Team Experience: Collective Emmy Ballot, Drama

Part 1 of 2... DRAMA!
Part 2 -- Comedy 

Eleven members of our team* turned in full Emmy ballots. I've compiled the results for you here. This is a very limited pool versus the thousands from the Television Academy who will vote on the actual Emmys but I thought it might be interesting for readers who are invested in this 'new golden age' of television. 

REMINDER: THESE ARE NOT PREDICTIONS

What follows is what we communally hope for when the nominations are announced. Voting on the nominations for the real Emmys ends this Friday, June 26th. The nominations will be announced on July 16th (what takes them so long to tally it?) and the ceremony happens on September 20th. It's a ridiculously wide spread of time -- nearly double the Oscar voting spread.

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

• The Americans (FX)
• Empire (FOX)
• Game of Thrones (HBO)
• The Leftovers (HBO)
• Mad Men (AMC)
• Masters of Sex (SHO)
• Orange is the New Black (NETFLIX)

Twenty-two different series received at least one vote but there were no votes at all for two Emmy regulars in this category (Downton Abbey & House of Cards). No series made every ballot though Mad Men and Masters of Sex were out front together in that regard. I forgot to hold a tiebreaker vote between The Leftovers and The Fall for the final slot so I made the choice myself, and erred on the side of way more ambition though The Fall was arguably more consistent. The nearest misses were The Affair and Agent Carter. The Agent Carter contingency surprised me even though I adore the show but then we're friendlier to non-prestige genre shows here (The Flash, Orphan Black and Daredevil also received votes). We shouldn't bring up the painful years of snubs for Battlestar Galactica and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, two of the finest shows TV ever produced. Neither of which could get arrested by Emmy voters in major categories. (sigh)

Acting Categories after the jump...

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Weekend Highs: Inside Emotions, Dinosaur Thrills, Prison Love

Two separate films earning over $90 million in a single weekend? Impressive. That didn't leave a ton to money to go round for other films, though. Spy is a solid performer at the box office but I'd actually expected it to be much bigger since it's the funniest film of the year. But all the action was at the dinosaur theme park and Pixar's return to form, the delightful Inside Out. The new film follows the emotions inside an 11 year old girl's head as she moves to a new city. I was resistant to the concept, which seemed too gimmicky and "Herman's Head" like, but resistance was futile: it's wonderful. Better still they didn't even remotely give the best stuff away in the trailer and that's such a surprise nowadways!

WIDE RELEASE BOX OFFICE
June 19th-21st Weekend
01 Jurassic World $102 (cum. $398.2) Jurassic Articles 
02 Inside Out NEW $91 Inside Out Articles
03 Spy $10.5 (cum. $74.3) Rose Byrne FYC
04 San Andreas $8.2 (cum. $132.2)
05 Dope NEW $6 Sundance capsule
06 Insididous Chapter 3 $4.1 (cum. $45.3)
07 Pitch Perfect 2 $3.3 (cum. $177.5) Review & Sequel
08 Mad Max: Fury Road $2.8 (cum. $143.6)  Review & Podcast & Random Articles
09 Avengers: Age of Ultron  $2.7 (cum. $451) Review & Marathon & Podcast
10 Tomorrowland $2 (cum. $87.6)  Review

The opening weekend for Dope was solid especially for a film with zero stars. It was one of the big sales at Sundance (7 million) and it nearly nabbed that back on opening weekend. Good word of mouth (which is likely - the film is very funny and likeable) could turn it into a minor hit. None of the miniscule limited releases caused a stir at the arthouse but The Overnight (also from Sundance -- why do they wait till all the heat dissipates to release those films?) took in $62,000 on 3 screens.

What did you see this weekend?
I'd already seen Inside Out so I started on the Smackdown movies -- Key Largo is so good. I hope y'all are watching along at home. I also went to a reunion concert for the original cast of Into the Woods . Let me just say that it was basically heaven on earth. I'm still high from it... and not just from the always sublime Bernadette Peters. I went in expecting more of a talk with a few musical numbers but they did several from each act. As it turns out the original Cinderella (whose voice is still ridiculously pretty) and the original Cinderella's Prince/Wolf got married in real life and they have kids now. Joanna Gleeson was still amazingly funny as the Baker's Wife,and so on.

And of course I took in a couple more episode of Orange is the New Black. I'm absolutely loving this newly low-key character-driven season. Gone are the distractions of the outside world that marred the otherwise brilliant Season 1, the absence of a focus pulling villain like season 2's Vee (Lorraine Toussaint's Emmy worthy work aside) means more focus on the complicated network of friendships and rivalries among the women in the prison and ways that they cope, or don't. I'm just loving it.

You?