If you followed
my column last year, you know that only recently I became aware of the existence
of the Dorian TV nominations. They are a group associated with GALECA, the
society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and have existed since 2009. I realize I
only became aware of the existence in the past two years but in my defense I
only recently realize what a good job the Image awards were doing in regard to
TV and they’ve been around much longer.
The GALECA awards
when it comes to TV are just as willing to recognize series that have no prominent
LGBTQ+ actors or storylines as I found out when they gave significant
recognition to Succession and The Bear same as every other show.
But they also were willing recognize shows the Emmys should recognize such as The
Other Two and Somebody Somewhere. I was impressed both with the
nominations and eventually the awards.
Now given how
many of the most significant dramas and comedies of the 2023-2024 season
involved LGBTQ+ stories and actors, I figured there might be a better chance
they could presage the Emmy nominations in a few weeks and on some fronts surpass
it. When the nominations came out yesterday the Dorian Awards more than lived
up to my expectations. I would support this organization regardless and at this
point the Emmys should more than follow the Dorians examples.
Here are the
nominations broken down by category
BEST TV DRAMA
Shogun and The
Gilded Age more than deserve to me here and The Curse and Fallout
have a very good chance of being nominated. AMC’s Interview With The Vampire
has been taken very seriously by critics organizations even without the
prominent LGBTQ storylines. Given the enormous popularity of Heartstopper I
don’t question it belonging.
BEST TV COMEDY
Abbott
Elementary, The Bear and
Hacks will be the most nominated shows by the Emmys in this category. What
We Do In The Shadows has been in the past and I hope Reservation Dogs is
included.
BEST LGBTQ+ SHOW
Hacks more than
deserves to be here, Baby Reindeer is already the frontrunner for Best
Limited Series and the Emmys seriously need to nominate Fellow Travelers. One
can’t question either Interview with the Vampire or Heartstopper being
here.
BEST TV MOVIE OR
MINISERIES
With the
exception of Fargo being here in the place of True Detective I
honestly want all of the nominated series here up for Emmys. Considering I’ve
advocated for Baby Reindeer, Capote Vs The Swans, Fellow Travelers and Ripley
the Emmys would be doing a disservice to the category if it didn’t nominate
all of these series.
BEST UNSUNG TV
SHOW
Really the Emmys
should have had this category years ago. It would have solved so many problems.
One can hardly argue
with Reservation Dogs, Interview with the Vampire, We are Lady Parts and
Our Flag Means Death. I might not have gone with Chucky, but
maybe they just ran out of room. There are a lot of unsung shows after
all.
BEST WRITTEN TV
SHOW
I can’t argue
that Abbott Elementary, The Bear and Hacks aren’t among the best
written comedies and Baby Reindeer and Fellow Travelers the best
written Limited Series. Perhaps they good have broken it down but maybe next
year.
BEST NON-ENGLISH
LANGUAGE TV SHOW
This one puzzles
me a little because I’m pretty sure Fellow Travelers, Hacks and The
Bear are written in English. Elite and Lupin I don’t question.
I’ll let it go for Best LGBTQ+ English Language TV because I don’t recognize
the nominees.
BEST TV
PERFORMANCE DRAMA
As I mentioned last
year, the Dorians don’t discriminate between genders in their acting categories
and while I don’t normally approve of it elsewhere, given the nature of the
organization I can understand why.
The lion’s share
of nominees are near certain to get acting nominations but with the exception
of Emma Stone for The Curse and Anna Sawai for Shogun, the likely
nominees are all in Limited Series. But few could fault the decisions: Matt
Bomer, Jodie Foster, Richard Gadd, Andrew Scott and Tom Hollander. Less likely
is Lily Gladstone for Under the Bridge and Jacob Anderson for Interview
With the Vampire and Ncuti Gatwa for Dr. Who have no chance at all.
Sill props for nominating them.
BEST SUPPORTING
TV PERFORMANCE – DRAMA
There are more
likely nominees in the drama category here: Christine Baranski for The Gilded
Age, Elizabeth Debicki for The Crown and Moeka Hoshi for Shogun. I’ve
overjoyed to see Jennifer Jason Leigh here for Fargo, Jonathan Bailey is
a frontrunner for Fellow Travelers and both Jessica Gunning and Nama Mau
are likely contenders for Baby Reindeer. Kali Reis is currently the
front runner for Supporting Actress in a Limited Series. Benny Sadfie is at
best a dark horse for his work in The Curse and Jinkx Monsoon has no
chance for Doctor Who.
BEST TV PERFORMANCE
– COMEDY
Three of the
nominated performers – Quinta Brunson, Ayo Edebiri and Jean Smart – are the
front runners for Best Actress in a Comedy. I mentioned the likelihood of
Kristen Wiig or Maya Rudolph’s inclusion and I’m thrilled to see Devery Jacobs
here for Reservation Dogs. (Emmy voters pat attention.) Renee Elise Goldberry
was nominated for her work in Girls5Eva by the TCA so they’ve covered
the spread. Jeremy Allan White is here as in Martin Short. Only Matt Berry for What
We Do In the Shadows seems unlikely to get a corresponding Emmy nomination.
No notes.
BEST SUPPORTING
TV PERFORMANCE COMEDY
Hannah Einbinder,
Meryl Streep, Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph will be battling it out for Best
Supporting Actress in a Comedy. I take a note of pride (pardon me) to see that
Dorian agrees with me on Meg Stalter’s wok in Hacks. I have no problem
if Carol Burnett is among the nominees (and trust me, I’ll be getting to Palm
Royale soon.)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
is the front runner for Supporting Actor and Harvey Guillen has been nominated
for his wonderful work on What We Do In The Shadows. Jamie Lee Curtis
seems certain to win for guest work in The Bear. Only Joel Kim Booster for
Loot has no realistic chance.
I don’t normally
acknowledge TV Musical Performance but having seen the incredible work by Ryan
Gosling on this year’s Oscars and Maya Rudolph’s opening number on her SNL
stint, I will tip my hat to the Dorians for that category.
I will skip documentary
series but as to LGBTQ TV Documentary series, I actually saw some of them and I
give credit to Dorian for recognizing Jerrod Carmichael’s reality show, Rock
Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed and The Stroll.
Best Current
Affairs has the usual suspects (basically cut and paste most of the late night
comedy shows) and I’m not qualified to discuss reality TV, However:
BEST GENRE TV
SHOW
Another category
that would have solved a lot of problems for the Emmys over the years. Fallout
and What We Do In The Shadows are like Emmy nominees in their
respective categories. More love for Interview and Chucky and
props to Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
MOST VISUALLY
STRIKING TV SHOW
I can’t argue
with Ripley, Shogun or Night Country and considering what I’ve
seen of Interview with a Vampire and heard about Fallout no one
should question their presence. I’ll get to Palm Royale.
CAMPIEST TV SHOW
I am hardly the
best arbiter of camp but given what I already know about Palm Royale, Chucky
and The Traitors it’s hard not to blame them for being here. Bridgerton
really deserves the title camp as I’m pretty sure all things Shondaland don’t
deserve to be taken seriously. I’m assuming Capote Vs. The Swans is an
example of high quality camp, like some of the best of Ryan Murphy.
They also give
awards for individual performers. There is the Wilde Wit Award, and few could
question that Quinta Brunson, Ayo Edebiri and Hannah Einbinder are not, according
to the site: ‘performers, writers or commentators whose observations both
challenge and amuse.” I don’t know enough about Joel Kim Booster but given what
I’ve seen of his Fantasmas Julio Torres certainly qualifies.
As For Their TV
Icon Award anyone whose watched TV for as long as I can knows that Gillian
Anderson, Angela Bassett, Carol Burnett, Levar Burton and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
don’t need an award to prove that to us. I’ll leave the Trailblazer Part out of
the equation but I can’t exactly argue that RuPaul, Margaret Cho and Alan
Cumming haven’t spent their careers doing that and that Emma D’Arcy and Ncuti
Gatwa are doing so now.
Honestly if the
Emmys nominates three-quarters of the shows and performers that GALECA has
here, they should still be ashamed of themselves at how truly bad the Dorians
make them look – and I don’t just mean when it comes to such things as LGBTQ+ I
am, if anything, more impressed by what GALECA did this year then before. For
any of this group, it is an honor just to be nominated.
Next week, I wrap
this part of it up with the 2024 Astra (former Hollywood Critics Association)
TV nominations.
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