Emmy Preview: Nominations

Today is a very exciting day on a TV fanatic's calendar much the same way a person gets excited about season premieres and finales and such. Because today is when they released the nominations for the 2015 Emmy awards! I don't respect the people behind the Emmy's anywhere near as much as I respect the Academy, but I still enjoy the Emmys and they still matter a lot in terms of ongoing success for some shows.

As a first note I will say that I'm way behind on the following contenders: OITNB (I'm in Season 1), House of Cards, Mad Men (again, Season 1), Silicon Valley (midway through Season 2), Veep (back in Season 1), Modern Family (Season 2) among others. I will endeavor to get caught up on some of those in the two months before the Emmys air, but no guarantees. However, as that list will show, while I may not be completely current, I'm relatively familiar with the show and watch other internet chatter about who will (and should) win. So even though I'm a little behind on some cases, my critical opinion is still at least somewhat valid.

As a second note, the nominations this year are dominated by what's not there: True Detective, Fargo and Daredevil. In the case of TD and Fargo, the sophomore seasons didn't air in time to be considered for awards. In terms of Daredevil, THEY JUST TOTALLY BLEW IT!!! I wasn't expecting a Best Drama nod or anything, but Vincent D'Onofrio deserved a Best Supporting Actor nod for his absolutely brilliant Heath Ledger-esque portrayal of the villainous Fisk. There is no excuse here. They just got it wrong.

With that in mind, let's get down to a breakdown of my thoughts by category. On some I won't have much to say, and on some I'll say a lot. I recommend you have the nominations open on a separate tab because I will not list them out for reference. 

Best Drama:  (I refuse to overuse "Outstanding" on every category)These Best Drama titles are pretty true to form. I'm very pleased to see Better Call Saul get a freshman nom it really deserves. I'm not so sure about Homeland. I feel like they've been nominated a lot and no one really ever talks about how good they are. I would have rather seen Bloodline or The Americans get some love here, but it's okay. 

Best Drama Actor/Actress: Did you think last year was tight for Best Actor with Harrelson, Mcconaughey, Stacey and Cranston all going for the top prize? This year will be even crazier! Allow me to explain. This year the nominees are: 

Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul"

Kyle Chandler, "Bloodline" 
Kevin Spacey, "House of Cards"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Jeff Daniels, "The Newsroom"
Liev Schriber, "Ray Donovan"

I know nothing about Ray Donovan so I won't talk about it, but I watch all the others to some extent and they're all worthy of the prize. Odenkirk is amazing (as he always is) in Better Call Saul creating a really great character that's still fresh even from the Saul we knew in Breaking Bad. Kyle Chandler does an equally awesome job leading the tense Bloodline through its maze of plots and characters. Kevin Spacey is Kevin Spacey (more doesn’t need to be said). In the case of Jon Hamm and Jeff Daniels, this is there last time to win for the top prize for either Mad Men or The Newsroom respectively. I doubt I’ve ever seen a tighter race for Best Actor regardless of the media. In terms of Best Actress, the only one I've really seen in Robin Wright for House of Cards, but I'm really happy Tatiana Malslany got a nomination after being snubbed last year.

I'm not even going to talk about the miniseries category. It makes me really sad to see the list of names after the greatness that was Fargo and TD (Yes, I know they submitted as Drama last year but this year would have been Miniseries). This year the names are for a bunch of movies and such few people talked about and a ridiculous number of AHS nominations. David Oyelowo will win, and that's all I have to say about that.

Best Comedy: Unnnnnnbreakable! I'm very happy that Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (the best comedy in at least 5 years) got rewarded with so much Emmy love! Will it win lots of awards? I don't know. Best Comedy series is a tough race. Silicon Valley got a lot better this season as did Veep (or so I heard). Modern Family was probably really good (because it always is), Parks and Rec is in it's last year, and Transparent has won all the similar awards at other award shows up to this point. I really hope Unbreakable gets this one, because it would validate Netflix as the comedy empire it should be considered (since OITNB is only sort of a comedy anyway). It's a tough and interesting race for sure.

The Best Actress race is interesting too since it pits Amy Shumer (who's exploding like a supernova right now) against long time winner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and hold over, Amy Poehler. Tituss Burgess had better win Best Supporting Actor.

Reality: I don't care in the slightest, but when the Awards roll around, I'll still make a prediction.

Variety Series: Toss up between Colbert and Daily Show since both are ending. You might even see Fallon come in and steal it, but that's unlikely. 

Directing: HOW DID HARDHOME NOT GET NOMINATED FOR BEST DIRECTING WHEN MOTHER'S MERCY AND UNBOWED, UNBENT, UNBROKEN DID!?!?!?!?!?! This is baffling to me and a complete disgrace.

Animation: South Park or Archer deserves to win this year. I've never heard of "Over the Garden Wall" and will investigate.

There are way too many Emmys when you look at all of them, but I'm still excited. If you haven't already you should absolutely watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Better Call Saul. It's a great time for TV. The nominees don't capture all that greatness, so get yourself on Netflix and get watching!