Saturday, June 21, 2025

Emmy Watch 2025 Phase 3 Continued:My Usually Impressed Reaction to the 2025 Dorian Nominations for TV

 

 

If you'd followed my coverage of various awards shows related to TV the last several years you will know that relatively recently I became aware of GALECA (The Gay & Lesbian Critics Association) awards for television. In a very short time they have done much to earn my respect when it comes to recognizing the best of television in their Dorian Awards.

To be clear they are as much critics as they are part of the LGBTQ+ community and have recognized such brilliant shows as The Gilded Age, Succession and Reservation Dogs as they have Fellow Travelers and Schitt's Creek. Like other great critics groups they have a habit of recognizing series the Emmys absolutely should recognize but rarely does: Somebody Somewhere and Interview with a Vampire more than deserve awards from the Emmys. One can hardly blame them for having no gender differences in their acting awards; given the groups they recognize  you expect it to be understood.

Their nominations for 2025 came out this Monday but understandably I've been busy with other things. So now I think it's time to take a look at who the Dorians have nominated for the 2024-2025 TV season.

BEST TV DRAMA

Considering I just ranked The Last of Us, The Pitt, Severance and The White Lotus as likely to be the major contenders in this category, I'm hardly surprised to see them here. I haven't seen Andor yet but it would hardly shock me if it was. No notes.

 

BEST TV COMEDY

Abbott Elementary, Hacks and The Studio are most likely going to be the major contenders in this category in a few months' time. Note the absence of The Bear, which was here the last two years. No problem with Somebody Somewhere being here (the Emmys should be so generous). It is somewhat odd to see The Rehearsal here even though it's being submitted as best comedy rather than say Poker Face and Nobody Wants This. Oh well..

BEST LGBTQ TV SHOW

All comedies this year. Hacks and Somebody Somewhere are here for obvious reasons. Agatha All Along was a front runner in the comedies earlier this year and now it's fallen down to dark horse territory. Heartstopper and Overcompensating have little chance. It is both surprising and unsurprising that The English Teacher isn't among the contenders here.

BEST TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIS

Adolescence, Dying for Sex and The Penguin are among the major contenders for Best Limited Series. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Rebel Ridge will be fighting it out for Best TV movie. Can't argue with either.

 

BEST WRITTEN TV SHOW

Hacks is the only comedy. No argument. Andor, The Pitt, Severance and The White Lotus will likely be contending for many awards. It is strange not to see The Last of Us here but what can you do.

 

BEST UNSUNG TV SHOW

An award that, frankly, would resolve a lot of issues if the Emmys gave it. Here we find English Teacher which makes sense, along with Evil which makes more sense. Fantasmas was on the shortlist for  a Peabody. Mid Century Modern has gotten its share of recognition and Overcompensating makes a certain amount of sense.

BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHOW

There are six nominees here because of a tie between One Hundred Years of Solitude and Elite. The former makes a lot of sense; the latter I'm not sure of.

Squid Game, Pachinko and My Brilliant Friend will all likely contend. I have heard neither of Threesome nor Via Play on which is its service. I'll forgo best LGBTQ non-English Language show because I haven't heard of most of them.

 

BEST TV PERFORMANCE DRAMA

I can't disagree with any of the ten contenders considering that I argued for many of them last week. Pedro Pascall, Bella Ramsey, Adam Scott and Noah Wyle will be fighting it out. I understand why Diego Luna is here for Andor.

This category as I've mentioned before doesn't differentiate between original and limited series. Therefore it makes sense that Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti are here for The Penguin, Cooper Koch is here for Monsters, Stephen Graham is here for Adolescence and Michelle Williams for Dying For Sex. I'll be advocating for all five of them in a few weeks' time and like the above group, they've all received nominations from the Astras and other awards shows.

 

BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE - DRAMA

Walton Goggins, Parker Posey and Carrie Coon I all advocated for in my suggestions for The White Lotus. Having not seen The Pitt or Severance I didn't advocate for Taylor Dearden and Katherine LaNasa for the former or Tramell Tillman for the latter. I will confess I'm somewhat surprised not to see John Turturro here instead. Genevieve O'Reilly is on a few shortlists for Andor but I'm not sure she'll make it. Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty deserve to be here for Adolescence and Jenny Slate more than deserves to be here for Dying for Sex.

 

BEST TV PERFORMANCE – COMEDY

Quinta Brunson, Ayo Edebiri, Jean Smart and Natasha Lyonne absolutely will be contending for the Emmy in a few weeks' time. Kathryn Hahn was considered for Agatha All Along earlier, now she's falling behind. I really wish Bridget Everett gets an Emmy nomination for the last season. I do judge the fact that Uzo Aduba is here for The Residence rather than, say, Kristen Bell for Nobody Wants This.

Seth Rogen is almost certain to be a frontrunner for his work in The Studio. Nathan Fielder doesn't have much of a chance for The Rehearsal and Benito Skinner has none at all for Overcompensating.

 

BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE – COMEDY

Hannah Einbinder, Janelle James and Catherine O'Hara are shoo-ins for their work. I would like to see Kathryn Hahn contend for her work in The Studio. Meg Stalter, oh, if only. Another tribute to Linda Lavin for Mid Century Modern.

Ike Barinholtz is already a front-runner for The Studio and Colman Domingo is rising for his work in The Four Seasons. As with Bridget Everett, I'd love to see Jeff Hiller there for Somebody Somewhere. I don't know who Holmes is in Overcompensating but I'd say there's little chance.

 

BEST GENE TV SHOW

No argument at all. The Last of Us, Severance and Andor all deserve to be here and will likely be contending for the grand prize. Black Mirror will be contending for anthology. Agatha All Along should have been.

MOST VISUALLY STRIKING SHOW

Again I can't argue with any of them. No one who has seen Adolescence, Agatha All Along, Andor, Severance or The White Lotus can say they're not visually striking.

 

CAMPIEST TV SHOW

Hard to argue with RuPaul's Drag Race, The Traitors or Mid-Century Modern and given the definition not even Doctor Odyssey I'll save nothing about Overcompensating having not seen it.

Now some ephemera from the other categories.

I agree that Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's Wizard of Oz and Wicked medley at the Oscars deserves to be recognized for Best musical performance and I'm glad to see Kathryn Han and Patti LuPone getting nominated for their work in Agatha All Along alongside it.. I'm thrilled to see The Rehearsal, Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes and Pee Wee as Himself nominated for Best Documentary or Documentary series. All of the choices for Best Animated Series are good ones and I can't argue that all of the Current Affairs shows (all comedies) deserve recognition.

Now as to some of the larger awards which apparently you can keep nominated for until you win.

WILDE WIT AWARD

I can't argue with Quinta Brunson, Alan Cumming, Hannah Einbinder or Nathan Fielder. I don't know who Cole Escola is.

 

GALECA TV ICON AWARD

Is there any argument left that Gillian Anderson, Angela Bassett, Alan Cumming, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jean Smart aren't icons? Not from me.

 

GALECA LGBTQIA+ TV TRAILBLAZER AWARD

I can not quibble with any of the choices: Not Jonathan Bailey and Bella Ramsey for drama, Bowen Yang for Comedy or even Ncuti Gatwa for genre television. And Greg Berlanti and Mike White are two of the most formidable forces in TV history.

The winners will be announced July 8th and I'll be back then with my reactions, which I suspect will be as pleased as with the nominations themselves.

I will be back to deal with the winners along with the collective winners from every other major awards show during Phase 3 in the second week of July. Stay tuned.

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