Tuesday, December 7, 2021

My Mostly Favorable Reactions To The Critics Choice TV Nominations, Part 2: Comedy

 

I’m basically fine with ninety percent of the comedy nominations as well. There are a few disappointments here, but I’ll get to them (as well as the ones I had with everything else) in the final article. Here we go.

 

BEST COMEDY SERIES

No problem with Ted Lasso, sight unseen. Just as glad to see Hacks here and overjoyed to see Insecure recognized for its final season. Having seen the current season of What We Do in the Shadows it more than deserves to be here (and probably did last time as well). My only regret about Reservation Dogs being here is that it had no corresponding acting nods. The cast more than earned them. Now I have no excuse not to see Only Murders in the Building. The Other Two has always earned reverence from certain sources.

Is there something that the Critics see in The Great that I don’t? Maybe I’m just disappointed that Pen15 or Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist weren’t recognized (although the latter wasn’t entirely ignored.) I wouldn’t have minded if The Wonder Years was here either. Still, mostly good choices.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Talking about running the gamut. Two of comedy’s GOATS are nominated in this category: Steve Martin and Martin Short will fight it out in Only Murders in the Building. Of course, they have to compete a similar SNL legend in his own great show Jason Sudeikis for (well, you know). I have absolutely no problem with Kayvan Novak in WWDITS. And Iain Armitage has been one of my favorites for awhile, though he must feel all grown up to be competing with this bunch in Young Sheldon.

Is there a reason Nicholas Hoult was nominated for the lead in The Great? Not for nothing, but couldn’t we have had another legend like Michael Douglas or Ted Danson among the group? Ah, what can you do.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Jean Smart. Need I say anything more? Glad to see Issa Rae back in the hunt one last time. Here’s something I’d never thought I’d say: Sandra Oh deserved to be nominated this time. Honestly The Chair deserved more recognition. I guess Selena Gomez now can be mentioned in the same breath as Steve Martin and Martin Short, at least here. And I guess it would make sense to have Elle Fanning nominated as The Great. A lot of people really thought Renee Elise Goldsberry was ignobly ignored for her work on Girls5Eva. Would I have liked to see Jane Levy here? Sure. But all and all, a good group.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Brett Goldstein, I love both you and your profane speeches, which is why I hope you win. And look, Ray Romano is nominated in your category here too. Maybe now you can have that conversation you were talking about in your acceptance speech at the HCA (please check on YouTube for it. You won’t regret it.)

Harvey Guillen as Guillermo on WWDITS – to quote Entertainment Weekly in a different context, slay on. Bowen Yang, you more than earned it last year for SNL I’m not going to argue your presence here. Brandon Scott Jones for Ghosts? … Oh he played Isaac. I get it.

I don’t have a problem in principle with someone getting nominated for Sex Education. I just have other preferences. Any of the supporting actors in Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist or Reservation Dogs, for example. Hell maybe even a couple of the other supporting leads in Ted Lasso. But hey, it’s the Critics Category.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

This is trickier. No problem with either of the Hannahs in this category – Einbinder for Hacks and Waddingham for Ted Lasso. (Honestly, I think the category will come down to one of them.Cecily Strong is a good choice for SNL, though why she’s here and not Kate McKinnon or Aidy Bryant is somewhat beyond me. Always glad to see Kristin Chenoweth nominated for anything, and I really think Schmigadoon! should’ve gotten more love.

I have no problems with Molly Shannon as a comedian. If there was a way for her to be nominated for The White Lotus I would’ve pushed for it. (We’ll get to that in the next article.) I just find it strange she’s nominated here for The Other Two when the leads weren’t.

And for all her obvious talent I just can’t get behind anyone nominated for the new Saved by the Bell. Not when there are so many other great possibilities – from Kathleen Turner in The Kominsky Method to Mary Steenburgen in Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist to Juno Temple in Ted Lasso. This may be my problem, but I stand by it.

 

Tomorrow we will wrap up with Best Limited Series et al. I’ll also include glaring omissions – and some that I’m glad happened.

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