The Extratextuals

The 2009 Emmy nominees list has been out for a while now, and with it the griping about who has been overlooked is by now well-established. I have my own feelings about who got snubbed and who is over-rated (Mariska Hargitay gets nominated and January Jones doesn’t?! Weeds jumps the shark, or if we could offer a new phrase to signify the self-destruction of a series, “dates the Tijuana mob boss after burning down the suburb,” yet still gets nominations for seemingly everything but the one really good thing about it, Justin Kirk?!) … but instead of focusing on them, I want to discuss the boundaries between categories … after the fold

A perennial complaint with the Oscars and Emmys regards supporting performances that somehow get elevated to lead performances, and vice versa, yet the Emmys also add “Guest Actor/Actress,” which makes the system even stupider. Case in point – could anyone out there explain to me how Jimmy Smits’s appearance in every episode of this season’s Dexter, often with more screen time than anyone but Michael C. Hall, amounts to a “Guest” performance? Ed Asner, also nominated in that category, was in one episode of CSI: New York, by comparison. I realize that a person’s category is likely a factor of where their network’s marketing team decided to place them, but that doesn’t mean I have to like such a silly system.

I’m also unhappy with the comedy vs. drama distinction. Yes, comic acting and dramatic acting are often two different styles, and two different skill-sets, thereby making it hard to compare, for instance, Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock with Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad. But the distinction there is in the acting, I believe, not in the genre of the show, and thus I find it a pity that some actors and actresses in a dramatic role in a comic series, or vice versa, find themselves nominated in the wrong category. Case in point – Mary Louise Parker and Toni Collette are both nominated as Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, yet Parker is the straight woman in Weeds and is very rarely all that funny, while Collette certainly engages in comedy but is dealing with a dramatic role at heart. Put these actresses up against Tina Fey from 30 Rock, Julia-Louis Dreyfus from New Adventures, and Sarah Silverman from her own show, and you have an odd category.

Much is said of “splitting votes” as a problem in the Emmys (note the Outstanding Writing categories this year, in which four episodes of 30 Rock or Mad Men face off against one of Flight of the Conchords or Lost in the Comedy and Drama categories respectively. You have to like the latter’s chance of winning each), but incorrect categorization seems as big a problem. I, for instance, think that Collette’s performance is better than her competition, but I think Fey or Silverman give the better comic performance. Assuming I’m not alone in feeling this way, Collette could suffer some “split votes” of her own, from those who think she’s easily the best, but who disagree about whether it’s enough to be the best, or whether she also needs to be the funniest in this category.

My final comment, for now, is that I also wonder if it’s worth adding a statute of limitations on nominations for one role, or whether it might be possible to deal with this by adding Best New _____ and/or another category that honors longstanding shows and performances (to be distinguished from the Lifetime Achievement awards). I’ve grown sick of seeing Tony Shalhoub nominated and winning, for instance, and am equally sick of seeing Mariska Hargitay perpetually nominated (for a fairly bland performance based on endless incredulous scowls, no less). Meanwhile, some categories clearly have statutes of limitations, as with Outstanding Main Title Design (a category about which I’ll post more later), so why not shake things up a bit elsewhere too?

Anyway, let me end with my own picks, out of the nominees for some key categories (and not episode specific ones, since my memory isn’t that good):

Animated Program: The Simpsons, who had a good year
Casting for a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, if we mean casting of guests; The Office, if we mean regular cast
Casting for a Drama Series: Mad Men
Comedy Series: 30 Rock
Drama Series: Lost or Mad Men
Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Jon Hamm on 30 Rock (very un-Don-ish)
Guest Actor in a Drama Series: I’ll say Jimmy Smits for Dexter, but unhappily, since it’s unfair to the competition, given that he’s supporting, not a guest
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey in SNL or the world is wrong
Guest Actress in a Drama Series: didn’t see enough of them
Host for Reality or Reality-Competition Program: Jeff Probst, Survivor
Creative Achievement in Interactive Media – Fiction: Dharma Initiative, Lost
Creative Achievement in Interactive Media – Nonfiction: didn’t see them
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Michael C. Hall, Dexter or Jon Hamm, Mad Men (with explanation that I haven’t seen enough Breaking Bad yet)
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Again, I dislike the unfair competition, but will say Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Main Title Design: see a future post
Main Title Theme Music: ditto
Reality – Competition Program: Amazing Race
Reality: didn’t see enough
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock (or perhaps NPH)
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Michael Emerson, Lost
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Colbert Report
Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

awards Emmys