Thursday, July 13, 2023

My Joyous (As Always) Reaction To the HCA TV Nominations, Conclusion: Limited Series/TV Movie et Al

 

I will now wrap things up with Outstanding Limited Series/TV Movie nominations as well as some other awards. Note: because of scarcity issues, the HCA had fewer nominees in the Broadcast Cable category than they did streaming. Still that does not mean they didn’t do a good job.

OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES BROADCAST OR CABLE

First of all, major points for the HCA for acknowledging Accused with five nominations. In all candor, I was surprised in that man. Minus points for nominating Flowers in the Attic over White House Plumbers which otherwise dominated. Well done for acknowledging both A Small Light and George and Tammy, though I might have thought they could find room for A Spy Among Friends.

 

OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES, STREAMING

Ten is a little extreme, but. Overjoyed to see Beef  and Black Bird here. (One up on the Emmys.) Not particularly happy, but unsurprised to see Fleishman is in Trouble and Dahmer here.  Will be glad to start watching Daisy Jones  and the Six.  Thrilled to see Mrs. Davis, willing to grant latitude for Tiny Beautiful Things and Welcome to Chippendales. But how the hell to Cabinet of Curiosities and Ms. Marvel ranked above The Patient and Love & Death?  I grant you that at least they gave some acknowledge to the former below, but I’m kind of appalled that Love and Death was completely shut out. That’s the HCA’s biggest flaw here. Credit, though, for not nominating Obi-Wan Kenobi.

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A  BROADCAST OR CABLE SERIES

I obviously have no issues with Michael Shannon or Woody Harrelson: Shannon was nominated by the Emmys and Harrelson should have been. (White House Plumbers was completely shut out by the Emmys, their biggest flaw in this particular category.) I won’t exactly argue Alexander Skarsgard for Documentary Now! Or Josh Groban for Beauty and The Beast, but they really should have nominated Damian Lewis for A Spy Among Friends.

 

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A STREAMING LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE

Steven Yeun, Taron Egerton, Daniel Radcliffe and Evan Peters have all been nominated for Emmys and all no doubt deserve to be. They were right to acknowledge Kumail Nanjiani (who the Emmys did) and righter to acknowledge Steve Carell (who the Emmys didn’t). Sam Claflin deserved his recognition; I would have preferred to see Bryan Cranston over Ewan McGregor.

 

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A BROADCAST NETWORK OR CABLE LIMITED SERIES

Few would dispute Jessica Chastain, the current front-runner for the Emmy and I can see the reasoning for Bel Powley but where is Sydney Sweeney for Reality or indeed in the TV movie category at all? Why was it nominated under Max when it aired on HBO? It makes little sense. I’ll let Cate Blanchett and H.E.R stand.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRES IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE

What they got right. Ali Wong, Riley Keough and Kathryn Hahn. Dominque Fishback should have been nominated for an Emmy.  What they also got right: not nominating Libby Caplan for Fleishman is in Trouble. After that it gets questionable.

While I’m willing to allow latitude for Vera Farmiga and Rachel Weisz, the decision to include Iman Vellani and Amber Midthunder over Sydney Sweeney for Reality, Betty Gilpin for Mrs. Davis and most egregious, Elisabeth Olsen for Love & Death is truly appalling. You had room for eight nominees and you couldn’t find room for even one of them? Shocking.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A BROADCAST NETWORK OR CABLE LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE

No problem with any of the four nominees. Guy Pearce was superb in A Spy Among Friends, I advocated heavily for Justin Theroux, Live Schreiber was an early frontrunner for his work in A Small Light and I can not fault the HCA for recognizing Wendell Pierce for his role on Accused. (I’d have preferred to see either Michael Chiklis or Jason Ritter nominated, but what can you do?)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR STREAMING MOVIE

Ten nominees. What they got right: Paul Walter Hauser and Ray Liotta for Black Bird, Domhnall Gleeson for The Patient, Young Mazino for Beef and Murray Bartlett for Welcome to Chippendales.  Richard Jenkins’ nomination for Dahmer was expected; Timothy Olyphant’s for Daisy Jones is a delight. I’ll even give latitude for Rainn Wilson

Nikolaj COster-Waldau, Kieran Tamondong, however – no. This is an occasion where the Emmys out did you. How could you possibly ignore Jesse Plemons for Love & Death? Greg Kinnear would have been acceptable; anyone else from Beef, fine. But somehow you gave an extra nod to Dahmer. This is unworthy of you.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A BROADCAST OR CABLE LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE

Again no complaints. Lena Headey and Judy Greer more than earned their nominations (I advocated for them profusely for Emmys) and Kathleen Turner’s stint as Dita Beard in White House Plumbers was hysterical. I’ll let Hannah Waddingham have this one, though I would have preferred Abigail Breslin for Accused.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

Claire Danes and Niecy Nash-Betts were inevitable. I’m thrilled to see Maria Bello and Ashley Park here for Beef. Many of the other nominees are among my favorite performers so I have little problem with Annaleigh Ashford and Evan Rachel Wood being nominated, series unseen. I can understand the logic of Camila Morrone for Daisy Jones and the Six . I’m surprised to see Sarah Pidgeon nominated for Tiny Beautiful Things rather than Merritt Weyer, who the Emmys recognized. I’m disappointed not to see Lily Rabe here rather than those chosen for Five Days at Memorial and Ms. Marvel.

 

Best Writing AND Directing

No complaints for the directing nods for White House Plumbers and the writing and directing nods for A Spy Among Friends  Documentary Now! (though considering how well they did, one really questions why Flowers in the Attic: The Origin was nominated for Best Limited series and neither of them were. Fine with A Small Light for direction, glad to see Accused nominated for writing.

I am glad to see Black Bird and Beef  receiving nominations for writing and directing and am fine with Weird: The Al Yankovic story doing the same. I am thrilled to see Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg acknowledged for their superb scripts for The Patient and I have little problem with Tiny Beautiful Things writing and directing nods. I understand the desire to have Fleishman nominated for writing and Dahmer for directing

CREATIVE ARTS

No complaints about  any of the animated series or all of the talk series, though I am irked that Bill Maher was nominated instead of Seth Meyers. Glad to see Ziwe  and The Black Lady Sketch Show go out of with a nomination even if they are up against John Oliver and Saturday Night Live. And as a Jeopardy lover, I am happy to see both Celebrity Jeopardy and Jeopardy Masters competing and the Jeopardy adjacent The Chase earning nominations for Best Game Show.  (Something else for Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer to compete against each other.)

I hope that the strike is resolved so I can see who wins the awards next month. Tomorrow I start in with my reaction to the Emmy nominations. Spoiler alert: I’m not nearly as happy with them.

SUPPORT THE WGA AND SCREEN ACTORS GUILD!

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