As we come to Limited Series, once
again I am disappointed by the fact that the Emmys remain stuck on five
nominees in the major categories. I’m not much happier not only on who they
decided to nominated but who they ignored. I will get to the specifics very
quickly but I am outraged beyond words that The Patient, which was
nominated for acting awards by every major critics group was completely shut
out as well as White House Plumbers and the near total exclusion of Love
& Death. And in quite a few cases, who was nominated in their
places, truly makes me question the process. Let’s get started.
OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES
Beef more than deserves to be here. I’m
starting to understand why Fleishmann is in Trouble is here. I
understand why Dahmer was nominated and I’ll get to Daisy Jones and
the Six which seems interesting.
But Obi-Wan Kenobi? Seriously.
Forget the ones that were completely shut out. Obi Wan Kenobi received
no nominations in acting, writing or directing. Why was it nominated instead of some of the series that a got
several of those nominations? Black Bird is by far the most obvious
candidate, but so was George & Tammy, Welcome to Chippendales and Tiny
Beautiful Things. The nomination of Obi-Wan Kenobi to me is as
inexplicable as the recognition of Inventing Anna last year over Maid
and Impeachment. If this isn’t an argument to at least expand this
category by one nominee, I don’t know what’ll take.
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED
SERIES/TV MOVIE
Well Steven Yeun, Michael Shannon
and Taron Egerton more than deserve to be here; I advocated for them. It is
more than logical that Daniel Radcliffe is here for Weird and it would
have been bizarre if Evan Peters, who took the Golden Globe last year, wasn’t
here.
However, I question the wisdom of
Kumail Nujani for Welcome to Chippendales in this category. I will
probably end up watching the series later are on – there are too many
nominations for me to ignore it – but the decision to nominate him over Steve
Carell for The Patient or Woody Harrelson for White House Plumbers boggles
the mind. Those were powerhouse performances, and it is clearly not at the same
level. At least that is my opinion right now. I may change my mind later. (I’ve
seen much of Under the Banner of Heaven, I now understand why Andrew Garfield
got his nomination. I’ve been wrong in this category before.)
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A
LIMITED SERIES
Ali Wong and Jessica Chastain I
have no problem with. I hoped that Kathryn Hahn would be here. I have seen more
of Fleishmann is in Trouble; I’m now inclined to agree Lizzy Caplan’s
earned her spot. I can understand why Riley Keough is here. I’m actually inclined
to give Dominique Fishback the benefit of the doubt for Swarm; there was
a fair amount of love for it from the critics awards before this, and I’m not
certain I truly had a better candidate.
I just don’t understand why
Elisabeth Olsen was ignored for Love & Death. And I have to tell
you, I’m not entirely thrilled that they chose Caplan over Emily Blunt for The
English. Still, this is a better group than I expected.
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A
LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE
I wouldn’t argue the presence of Paul
Walter Hauser or Ray Liotta for Black Bird. I’m disappointed that my
candidate for Beef wasn’t nominated here but few would question the work
of Young Mazino or Joseph Lee. I’m glad that the Emmys was willing to acknowledge
Jesse Plemons at long last, and at least give Love & Death something.
All right, I have no problem with
Richard Jenkins or Murray Bartlett being here in principle. Where I do have a
problem is the inexplicable decision to ignore Domhnall Gleeson for his
brilliant work in The Patient. Justin Theroux I can wrap my head around,
but Gleeson was nominated by the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice; to ignore
him is one of the most grievous oversights of the Emmys this year.
OUTSTANINDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN
A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE
This is interesting. I am thrilled
to see Maria Bello here. Claire Danes has more than earned her spot in my opinion
for Fleishmann. I’m glad to see Niecy Nash-Betts as well.
The rest I’m still deciding. I have
always loved Annaleigh Ashford and Juliette Lewis as actresses and I’m
overjoyed they’ve been nominated. (For Lewis, this must be a partial balm for
being shut out for Yellowjackets.) I have always loved Merritt Wever in
almost everything she has done, I thought it was criminal she was overlooked
for Unbelievable her last major limited series; so I’m fine with her being
nominated for Tiny Beautiful Things. (I’ll get to that too. ) Camila
Morrone has been nominated by the HCA for her work in Daisy Jones & The
Six by the HCA, I think she might have been a possibility. My larger issue
is the decision to overlook both Lena Headey and Judy Greer for their superb
work in White House Plumbers. Headey in particular had been a heavy
favorite to be nominated in this category so its odd she was excluded. Still many of these performers are among my
favorites, and I’ll be watching more of their series in the weeks to come.
WRITING AND DIRECTING
Beef and Fleishman is in Trouble are the only series that
have nominations in each category. Dahmer received two directing
nominations (so did Beef) and Swarm was nominated in writing.
Interestingly enough, the rest of the writing and directing nods went somewhere
they mostly haven’t for the last several years – TV movies. Prey was
nominated in both categories and Weird and Fire Island were
nominated for writing. Considering that all three received nominations for TV Movie
this year, that race may actually be more than the side note its been for the
last few years. Perhaps the Emmys might move it to the main ceremony.
Some random thoughts. The
separation of Late Night into Talk and Sketch is a good choice. I’m glad to see
Seth Meyers finally competing as well as Jon Stewart back in the hunt against
his proteges Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah. Considering that John Oliver
dominated this category for seven years, it will be interesting to see who
wins. It will be equally intriguing to see whether Jon Oliver can triumph over Saturday
Night Live – his show has always been closer to that than The Daily Show
and traditional late night. And of course, as a loyal Jeopardy watcher I am
thrilled to see Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik nominated for Best Game Show Host
and hope the show can win Best Game Show in prime time.
I still think the Emmys are going
to happen and in due time, I’ll be dealing with my predictions. By that time, I’ll
have watched a lot more of the series in my backlog and I will speak from a
place from greater authority. Stay tuned.
Support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA!
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