It would've been a lot harder for
this year's Critics Choice be nearly as much fun as they were last time.
Everything was in place - including host T.J. Miller - but it just didn't seem
as much fun as last time out.
Maybe part of the problem was a lot
of the award winners this time were absent - four of the major winners for TV
and two for film weren't there at all. I would have like to have heard Jane
Krakowski or Thandie Newton give a speech. For that matter, Regina King and
Sterling Brown were there, but their awards were given off stage.
However, there were still more than
a few funny and poignant moments for this particular year. T.J. Miller's finest
hour came, not surprisingly when his award for Best Supporting Actor in a
comedy was given to Louie Anderson, and he emerged and gave a bellicose speech
for losing. There were also some marvelous moments when Ryan Reynolds and Viola
Davis won special awards for the night, and Davis ,
as is her want, brought the house down when she accepted her Supporting Actress
award for Fences. Casey Affleck
looked a little hirsute, but gave a warm and charming speech when he prevailed
for Manchester
(Note, I made an error in my
predictions for this year by looking at an older blog. Mandy Patinkin was not
nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama; Michael McKean was for Better Call Saul. Had I been aware of
this, not only would I have reported it correctly, I would've predicted him for
Best Supporting Actor)
Now, let's look at some of the more
interesting trends:
FX has passed HBO. Yes, HBO
did win two of the bigger prizes - Game
of Thrones for Best Drama and Silicon Valley for
Best Comedy. But FX had the better nights. In addition to taking four awards
for People V. O.J. Simpson, Louie Anderson duplicated his Emmy, and Donald
Glover won Best Actor in a Comedy. The grand total were six wins to HBO's four.
Considering that Game of Thrones won't
be in contention next year, FX seems poised to take over as the new face of
groundbreaking TV. Of course, there may be some exceptions, because.
Westworld has risen: It is not yet clear whether or not Westworld
will be the next great event show for HBO. It is however, off to a fast start
on the awards front. Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton took the female prizes
in the drama category. Wood has a been great actress for nearly twenty years,
and I am delighted to finally see her in the awards running at last.
Netflix still has some life in it: Though neither The Crown nor Stranger Things prevailed last night, there were some good signs.
In addition to Jane Krakowski's win for Unbreakable
Kimmy Schmidt, John Lithgow prevailed for his role as Winston Churchill,
and Bojack Horseman won Best Animated
Series in a strong field. This, more than anything else, demonstrates the
empire Netflix has become in just five years.
Little close to the Emmys Guys: Don't get me wrong. People V. O.J. Simpson more then
deserved all of its wins, as did Regina King for her superb work on American Crime. But you could've shown a little variety. Maybe
given best Supporting Actor to Hugh Laurie? He's earned believe me. And I'm
still not sure why Kate McKinnon, who was a supporting actress for the Emmys,
was promoted to lead for Critic's Choice - where she won. Eh, maybe I'm just
still bitter that neither Amy Schumer nor Gina Rodriguez was nominated this
time out.
You have a good spread: No
major series won more than two awards. SNL tied Westworld in that regard. And
it was good to see Bob Odenkirk prevail for the second season in a row for the
title role in Better Call Saul. He's
done a lot to establish that his character was more than worthy of a series of
his own.
All in all, its always intriguing
to see what the Broadcast critics think, and that the long march to the Emmys
now starts here. Tune in tomorrow to see my reaction to this year's Golden
Globe nominations.
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