How The Writers Strike of 2007 Helped Change The Course of TV History

 

I have been well aware of the labor problems affecting Hollywood, both the writers strike that began in May and the Screen Actors Guild strike that started yesterday.  Considering how much this directly affects the world I focus in, some of my readers might think it odd I have yet to comment on it directly, besides my messages of support for the WGA at the end of many of my columns the last two months.

In a sense, I have been wondering how to express my thoughts. I am aware of the stakes of the battle being waged regarded AI. I know that Hollywood, because it is a business and thinks as little of labor as every other business, will do everything possible to squeeze its workers until they can force them to take lesser terms, despite how vitally they depend on their labor is to their product. I also know that, in a sense,  the viewer and the niche audience, amplified by streaming, is in a large way responsible for how this current crisis has begun.

But as someone who actually lived through the last major strike of the Writers Guild in 2007, I am very aware of the consequences that may lie in store. You’d think that so many of the people who suffered from it last time would have learned the lesson, but as we all know, history has a habit of repeating itself.  So for the benefit of those of you who might either have forgotten or been unaware, I will give a brief history of the 2007-2008 writer’s strike: why it happened, how it ended, and what the consequences were short term and long term for one of the most vital parts of the industry: network TV. I will also intersperse some of my memories from that era, as well as the ramifications.

At the 2007 Emmys as The Sopranos took the prize for Best Drama for its final season, there is a real possibility that the heads of network television had begun to think the revolution that HBO had brought forth with The Sopranos might have been an insurrection that they had survived and put down. This might have been foolish optimism, but it was not entirely unfounded.

As  I wrote in a separate article last year when The Sopranos debut in 1999,  the broadcast networks reactions were to go to war. They did so by decided to try and fight HBO on its own terms with quality series that while they could not break the barriers that Tony Soprano had done, could at least compete in quality.  It may shock the current viewer to know that for the next eight years the major networks were fighting HBO to a draw and maybe even winning.

The West Wing premiered that September and became NBC’s powerhouse. ABC was willing to fight on the same lines with shows like Once & Again and Alias before they had taken control of the narrative in 2004 with the trio smash hits: Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy. Other series such as Boston Legal would pick up ground at awards shows. Fox quickly joined the fight with 24 and eventually House would become a similar hit. And while CBS mainly would stay with the procedural that was started with CSI, every so often they would find a different audience with series like Joan of Arcadia or Without A Trace. The WB had been firing on all cylinders with Buffy,  Gilmore Girls, Felicity and Everwood all of which would net Golden Globes nods.

By 2007, it was beginning to look like HBO’s time in the sun was starting to end. Six Feet Under and Deadwood were gone; The Sopranos had been gone well before that and The Wire was in its final season. Sex and the City had also ended and there had yet to be a new hit drama or comedy in its place: Carnivale had proven to be a disaster and John From Cincinnati, David Milch’s follow-up to Deadwood had been a fiasco.  At the same time, while there were many basic cable series that had been challenging HBO for supremacy, particularly on FX and Showtime, none of them had yet to make inroads into the Emmys. The Shield would never be nominated for Best Drama, and while series like Rescue Me and The Riches would make inroads, the network had been having its share of failures. Showtime was making inroads at the awards front – Weeds had upset Desperate Housewives at the Golden Globes in 2006 and Blythe Danner had taken two consecutive Supporting Actress Emmys for Huff – but neither network had yet had a series nominating in either Drama or Comedy at the Emmys.

Indeed, aside from the Sopranos victory in Best Drama, the 2007 Emmys had been a celebration of network TV almost from top to bottom. For the first time since 2000 every single acting award in the drama category was won by a performer in a network series. This even surprised some of the winners: James Spader accepted his second Emmy for Boston Legal by starting his speech: “I feel like I’ve just stolen from the mob” and Katherine Heigl mouthed an obscenity as she walked up to the stage to pick up her Best Supporting Actress prize for Grey’s Anatomy. The other two winners were also from ABC: Sally Field for Brothers and Sisters and Terry O’Quinn for Lost. While HBO had taken the male acting prizes in comedy (Ricky Gervais for Extras; Jeremy Piven for Entourage), the female awards had gone to network shows: America Ferrara for Ugly Betty and Jaime Pressly for My Name is Earl.  Meanwhile 30 Rock, which had been considered a certain disaster when it had debuted on NBC the previous fall, had become the first series to win the Emmy for Best Comedy in its freshman year since Frasier’s first season in 1994.

And indeed, there was little sign going into the fall of 2007 that this trend would not continue: ABC, in particular, had the strongest lineup for its fall since 2004. Pushing Daisies had already been labeled by TV Guide as the best series of the 2007-2008 season, and as we shall see, they had several other shows in their lineup that were nearly as good.

But there was a cloud on the horizon, one that loomed darker and darker as the 2007-2008 season began.

In the 1980s, the WGA had been asked to take an 80% pay cut in residuals for VHS tapes to boost the then booming home video business. By the 1990s, VHS tapes prices had dropped to below $10. When the DVD market burst on to the scene, residuals were not renegotiated, and the writers got less. By the early 2000s, the Internet and streaming was beginning to loom, and though it was a shell of what it is today, the studios were fighting to get their shows to my generation. (Not me, for the record, I didn’t start watching shows online until 2013. But that’s neither here nor there.)

The WGA knew well enough that television might soon move away from the traditional medium and they knew this very well might bankrupt them. They asked for an increase in percentage on the residuals they would make, from 2.5% to 5%. Showing the same blindness towards labor that every other corporation does, the studios refused. On November 5, 2007 the WGA went on strike and Hollywood ground to a halt.

I remember this period very well, though I also remember regarding it with detachment at first.  The networks had episodes in reserve so I knew it was going to be at least until January or February of 2008 that the viewer would feel the pinch.  It became more obvious on late-night when all late night shows stopped broadcast for two months and just aired reruns. It is a measure of how foolish networks seemed that NBC chose to air several reruns from the first two seasons of Jay Leno even though that had nearly killed the franchise at the time. In January, late night did return but refused to play by the rules: David Letterman and Conan O’Brien had grown beards and said that they would not shave until the strike was resolved; Jon Stewart essentially did The Daily Show with none of his correspondents.

(On a purely cynical side note, part of me really believes that there was so much interest in the 2008 presidential race, particularly in the primaries, because there was nothing else on in prime-time to watch during this period. I was (and still am) a political junkie but I often wonder if so many other Americans just tuned into the coverage because Grey’s Anatomy wasn’t running).

I was concerned up to a point as 2007 ended and 2008 began, particularly because I wondered what would happen when the vaults were empty.  There were quite a few series I was scared would never come back; I worried that Battlestar Galactica, which I had become invested in, would never get its final season aired; I was concerned whether this would effect if and when 24 returned for its seventh season (a valid concern, as you’ll see) and I was particularly frightened about what this would do to the fate of the fourth season of Lost, which had ended on what was one of the greatest cliffhangers in TV history and where both the writing and filming had stopped right around November.

That said, I had a hunch as to how it would end and when Hollywood would blink. I was certain that before the Academy Awards aired at the end of February, the studio heads would come up with a compromise that was close to what the WGA wanted. 

It’s worth remembering that, even in 2008, the Academy Awards had begun its march to the stiff and humorless celebration it is today, something that fewer and fewer people wanted to actively host. Jon Stewart, whose 2006 stint had been considered tepid at best, had been named to come back in 2008 mainly because it was increasingly becoming hard to find anyone who wanted the job.  They were being criticized as ridiculously long, completely stilted and, with the films it was nominating, approaching obsolescence. But I was cynical enough to know even then that this was Hollywood’s biggest show, and the last thing they wanted was for it to be postponed or cancelled, particularly by a labor stoppage.

My hunch was confirmed by the utterly disastrous 2008 Golden Globes, which was more or less held in the lobby of a hotel. It was not  a ceremony but a press conference that barely lasted half an hour. No one watched even though it was technically broadcast on NBC that night. By this point, I had been religiously following it for a decade; I didn’t tune in. That said, it is worth going over the nominees for TV because it was a sign of the shape of things to come.

In Best Drama, the major nominees were Big Love, Damages, The Tudors and Mad Men, which ended up taking Best Drama. Jon Hamm took the Golden Globe for Best Actor, Glenn Close Best Actress for her role in Damages.  Nominees that would be at the center of the awards circuit for years to come included Michael C. Hall for the second season of Dexter; Holly Hunter and Kyra Sedgwick for Saving Grace and The Closer, respectively and Tina Fey, who took her first Golden Globe for her role on 30 Rock.  The night should have been a treasure for ABC – Pushing Daisies was nominated for 3 Golden Globes, including Best Comedy; Christina Applegate had been nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy for Samantha Who? and Donald Sutherland had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Dirty Sexy Money. ABC had received. ABC had in fact been second to HBO with total nominations from the Golden Globes with 10. But no one had paid attention.

By late January the public, which had initially supported the writers, began to turn against the guild. The cancellation of the ceremony may have actually helped shift momentum back when the co-chairman of NBC complained to Ryan Seacrest about that: “Sadly, it feels like nerdiest, ugliest, meanest kids in the high school are trying to cancel the prom. But NBC wants to try and keep that prom alive.” This quote probably was all the press the WGA needed and by the start of February the studios were back at the table, working out a deal by February 11^th. (Of course, if you were to ask them at the time, I’m sure it was just a coincidence the Academy awards were two weeks away.)

The ripple effects would be felt throughout television for years to come, and to be fair not all of them were horrible. Friday Night Lights, which was at the time going through a disastrous second season, managed to right the course because of the strike and got another three years. Vince Gilligan who had been working on the first season of Breaking Bad before the strike had unfolded made it clear when the series was about to end that if the first season had gone to its end, he would have taken the show in a direction so drastic it might never have been the same. Perhaps best of all, Lost, which ended up debuting right around the time frustration towards the studios was at its peak, was held up as just how great scripted TV. After it’s first season, the Emmys had passed over it for Best Drama the next two years; it was nominated for Best Drama for its last three seasons, something nearly unprecedented in the Emmys history.

But the consequences for so many of the series that had debuted in the 2007-2008 season were immediate and far more harsh. While many of those series had been renewed for a second season because of immense critical or ratings, after the strike was resolved, the networks refused to resume shooting any more episodes for the remainder of 2008. They would also air no reruns in the interim leading up to the 2008-2009 season. As a result, the lion’s shares of these series lost a huge number of their viewership.

I have often read blogs about how many series that viewers miss and considered cancelled too soon. Perhaps it should not come as a shock how many of those shows were victims of this strike. They include not merely Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Samantha Who? but also Eli Stone, a fascinating Johnny Lee Miller vehicle. The only series of the 2007-2008 season to have a run longer than two years was Private Practice, and I have always believed it was more out of loyalty to Shonda Rhimes than anything else.

Nor was this limited to ABC. NBC’s fascinating show Life, CBS Jericho, Fox’s’ The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the CW’s Reaper would all end up disappearing after the 2008-2009 season.  There is also a web theory that the plan for Heroes second season had been scuttled by the strike. The show, which had been a smash on NBC’s beleaguered 2006-2007 lineup, dwindled and was cancelled in 2010 with little notice.

Now while I could blame the networks dwindling decision to keep producing the similar quality series because of the strike, I don’t entirely believe that’s true.  Mad Men and Damages had, in fact, premiered well before the strike began and Breaking Bad which would be a major force on television had debuted in January. No one questions the that both AMC’s series are among the greatest in history and I have contended for years that Damages is at their level.  And I have written, in some of my earlier columns that in part the decision for networks to stop producing the same quality series that they had before the strike may have been aided and abetting by the Emmys. From 2012 to 2016, not a single network series was nominated for Best Drama despite the fact that there were many formidable contenders (including The Good Wife and Parenthood) as well as several ratings pop culture sensations that would have in earlier years dominated (I’m thinking of Nashville and Empire, both of which were nominated for Best Drama by the Golden Globes but never were by the Emmys.) Network television got the lesson loud and clear: why should we spend so much time and energy on major dramas when we get no rewards for it?

But looking back on it and in light of what is happening today, I am inclined to think that much of those cancellations of great shows in the aftermath of the strike and networks decisions to stop trying as hard to compete were in least in part retribution for the strike of 2007-2008. It was the network’s way of getting back at so many people who they considered traitors and scabs for what had happened.  That they were essentially cutting off their noses to spite their collective faces to do so was of no consequence: based on everything we know about television, the people essentially consider viewers as consumers of their products who will eat anything they offer them. (I sometimes wonder if the heads of these services are looking for a way to use AI to create viewers for their shows and not have to bother pleasing us at all. At this point, I think some of them would show a blue screen for thirty minutes if they though they could make money airing it.)

The fact that this strike is going on is just another example of Hollywood’s decision to be penny-wise and pound-foolish.  They would rather save millions  now than earn billions in a few months.  If that means having fall-lineups with no scripted shows, cancelling series they’ve already greenlit,  airing nothing but reruns of late night shows from ten years ago, well, they’ll do it. And if that means that their business end up losing money, that some of them lose their jobs, that their entire industry might collapses – well, what do they care? They’re already wealthy. Most of their ‘menial labor’ – the people who create the product that helped make them wealth - isn’t. They’ll come back to the table for less than their worth eventually.

And when this happens again, ten years or fifteen down the track, what will they care? Most of them will be working elsewhere or enjoying their golden parachutes. I imagine the heads of Netflix and Hulu today will be giving the same advice they got from the heads of ABC programming back then: “Don’t give the bastards a cent. They need us more than we need them.”

And to be clear, there will be some in the fan community in agreement. This is, like most labor struggles, an abstract concept until it hits home.  We’ll all be fine supporting the WGA and the SAG members until we start running out of shows to watch. Then we will turn on them, call them overpaid and demand they get back to work, pulling their lifeblood and energy for ridiculously low sums for products that we increasingly don’t want to pay anything for. Then even when they’re back, we’ll do what we’ve been doing for years: complaining there’s nothing good on TV.

Should Your Political Affiliation Override Every Other Aspect of Who You Are?

 

It is odd that The West Wing, that series so many leftists now find hopelessly idealistic, so often came up with storylines that these day reflect the reality of the mindset of American politics today.  Every so often, I think of a random plot line and I realize: “Wow. Aaron Sorkin really did see the future.”

My recent reverie (and yes, this is probably going to be a recurring jumping off point for many articles in this series going forward) came from an episode that aired in November 2000 called ‘The Portland Trip’.  Like almost all Sorkin’s episodes, it is hysterically funny at times. CJ has been forced to go on the midnight flight to Portland because she is being punished for ‘making fun of Notre Dame’ which is President Bartlet’s alumnus and is playing Michigan that week.  The President and Danny (CJ’s once and future boyfriend) give her a lot of grief for that fact throughout the episode and its quite funny. But back in the White House, serious business is afoot.

Josh (Bradley Whitford) is trying to tell with a bill that was not uncommon in Congress until well into the first decade of this century: The Defense of Marriage Act. In case we need reminder of the bad old days, this was yet another in a long line of legislation (mostly bipartisan at the time) that was designed at ‘protecting’ the institution of marriage and was a not-at-all veiled service to homophobia. Josh is meeting with a Republican member of Congress who is one of the votes on the committee putting it forward. He and this Congressman Skinner go through the conversation.

Josh: “Some offensive things were said on the floor.”

Skinner: “I know.”

Josh: “They were said by members of your own party.”

Skinner: “I know.”

Josh: “Congressman, you’re gay.”

Throughout the episode we come back to the debate between Skinner and Josh, in which Skinner defends both the bill and the rhetoric from leadership. Finally he says the obvious:

Skinner: “Ask the question!”

Josh: “How can you be a member of this party?!”

Skinner (pause): “You’ve been waiting all night to ask that. You know, I never understand why all you gun control people just don’t join the NRA. They have two million members. You could bring three million and call a vote.”

Skinner says that he believes in the fundamentals of the Republican Party; his sexuality doesn’t define him.  (I’m going to go back to both parts of this in a minute.)

Now as always Sorkin does his homework, both when he explains why this bill is not unconstitutional and when Josh calls Bartlet at the end of the episode and tells him not only that this bill will pass but if he vetoes it, the House has the votes to override it which will make him look weaker. Instead he advises Bartlet to just give a pocket veto as a gesture of support to what was then called the ‘gay community’ and then start working on legislation that will make other aspects of life easier for the gay and lesbian community.

Bartlet is more unhappy. “This is just wrong.” Then after listing the constitutional and political reasons, he gets to the heart of it. “We shouldn’t define love. And we certainly shouldn’t ill-define it.” Like so many things Sorkin wrote over the years, it’s such an obvious defense that you really wonder why it took so long for Democrats to come up with this as a strategy.

Now I imagine most progressives who dared to read this article stopped when they learned that there was a gay Republican congressman and dismissed the idea as pure fantasy. That is actually why I’m writing this article.  See there are polls out there that say that at least as many as ten percent of all gay people are registered Republicans. The thing is, I’m pretty sure that there are, to use an unpleasant but apt metaphor, at least that many and probably more who are in the closet. About being a Republican, not gay.

Because let’s not kid ourselves: these days if you talk to progressives they are accepting of LGBTQ+ of African Americans, Latinos, women, and really all members of their coalition – but not Republicans.  They can’t accept the concept that anyone of these minorities could believe in any one bit of the Republican platform.  They were very clear on that fact to the late Herman Cain, Clarence Thomas and Alan Keyes; I’m pretty sure they don’t really consider Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio real Latinos, and I’m willing to bet they consider Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene are women only because of their biological makeup.  These days I imagine that the idea of a Democrat marrying a Republican is as offensive to them as interracial marriage was half a century ago or gay marriage is to many today. To them, you are a Democrat first, everything else second. (Of course too many of the extreme cases, even a Democrat is to conservative, but we’ll let that go for now.)

They are welcoming to all these oppressed groups – but the conditions you must believe in every single element of equality for all the other oppressed groups.  In this sense leftists have just as much of a purity test and conservatives do; you disagree with one part and you’re not one of them. We saw this very clearly when it came to Dave Chapelle. Chapelle was a hero to millions for nearly fifteen years because of his radical views on racism in America. I think it was when he appeared on Saturday Night Live the week of Trump’s election and used his monologue to make a plea for unity that they began to turn on him. Over time as he increasingly begun to make comments that are offensive to the transgender community, he has essentially been considered part of the enemy.  You are either a hundred percent with us or you are completely against us: leftists have no more room for middle ground than conservatives.

I recently read that in Michigan, among the Muslim community there, Republicans have begun to make slow but steady inroads because Muslims at their core are in agreement with the fundamentalism views that the right has on LGBTQ+ I find it likely these people who think this way will find a separate set of ostracism among their own because you have to be one or the other.

100 percent of all African-Americans, LatinX, LGBTQ+ etc. do not all vote Democrat. Yet the party and leftist seem to act as if not only they should, but that they’re un-American if some of them choose not do.  In the minds of progressives, they view your racial or sexual identity as part and parcel with your political one. That this has never been true with female voters is just another sign of their blindness: in the minds of progressive and leftists women who vote for Republicans just aren’t real women.  They are traitors to their gender or their race or anything else. To leftists, it is binary: you can not be one thing and not the other. That is the same close-minded attitude that Republicans and conservatives seem to hold is a blindness that they refuse to see.

This actually brings me to the other statement Skinner brings up when he talks about gun-control people joining the NRA. In a very real sense, he is suggesting that if you can’t beat them, join them. He is arguing that by working within a group you can create change in a way you just can’t from without.  But this too is something progressives are not interested in doing at all. When AOC says that she is not interested in working across the aisle, she speaks for all-too many progressives and Democrats.  Progressives will frequently speak to polling that says there is a healthy percentage of Republicans who agree with ideas like gun control, taxing the wealthy, abortion, and yes protecting the LGBTQ+ community. But as far as their concerned, they wouldn’t dream of trying to find a way to reach out to those people. As far as they’re concerned, the best thing that they can do for America is change who they vote for.  Otherwise, why should they help anyone who is lives in a red state or votes Republican even if its in the interest of the greater good?

Hell, if leftists really feel this way about the Republican party, why don’t AOC, the rest of the Squad and let’s say eighteen other Democrats join the Freedom Caucus? Right now, they have twenty-one members. Bring twenty-five call a vote. Resolved: The Freedom Caucus shall be abolished.  It’s as realistic a solution as Sorkin has Skinner propose. But of course, who wants to even experiment as being a Republican these days?

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!

My Joyous (As Always) Reactions To The HCA TV Nominations, Part 2: Comedy

 

Before we get to Comedy, a side note on the Emmy nominations which were  announced earlier  today. While I acknowledge they did a better job than usual (they did nominate Jeff Bridges, which the HCA did not) in every regard the HCA has done a superior job, certainly in drama.  I will admit the HCA did go overboard on Handmaid’s Tale and the Emmys did not,  but the HCA gave more recognition to Andor, Yellowjackets and The Crown than the Emmys were willing to do in their over rush to recognize Succession and The White Lotus.

Now let’s go to comedy

 

BEST BROADCAST COMEDY

Abbott Elementary is deservedly here. I am overjoyed to see the undervalued Not Dead Yet which received four nominations. Ghosts was just as recognized as Abbott Elementary. The revival of Night Court deserved its recognition and I’m fine with Animal Control. I would have preferred to see The Neighborhood or So Help Me Todd, but I can’t complain.

BEST CABLE COMEDY

The big surprise here is the love for the revival of Party Down, which received twelve nominations, more than any comedy in this category. It was much admired in its return and many no doubt still mourn it, but I give points to any group that is willing to recognize Starz. (Not a single nomination from the Emmys by the way.)

Barry as you’d expect did extremely well and last year’s surprise winner What We Do In the Shadows is back for another turn. Atlanta was recognized for its final season (and receive five nominations in total.

While I have no real arguments against blindspotting or Dave , by far the biggest lapse by the HCA in this category is their failure to acknowledge Somebody Somewhere. Considering it was shortlisted for a Peabody and received multiple nominations from the TCA, as well as doing well in this category last year, the fact that it was completely shutout is one of the most glaring oversight of this organization. (Though don’t get me wrong; there are obvious flaws still to come.)

 

BEST STREAMING COMEDY

Ted Lasso, The Bear, Only Murders in the Building, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Wednesday and Poker Face no one can fault as the Emmys just selected all of them for Best Comedy. I would question the presence of Jury Duty, but since the Emmys had no problem with it either I won’t argue. Shrinking has been gaining respected in critical circles, and I have heard good things about Tulsa King. I seriously question the decision to put Rise of The Pink Ladies  ahead of Dead to Me.  Not even the Emmys went that far

 

 

BEST ACTOR IN A BROADCAST OR CABLE COMEDY SERIES

Leaving aside the absence of Donald Glover, the category has some very good choice. Bill Hader is the most likely to repeat in this category but it’s got some very good other nominees. Adam Scott is here for recreating his role in Party Down, John Laroquette and John Goodman received recognition for recreating their most iconic comedy roles. Alan Tudyk, who was nominated in this category for Resident Alien in the rookie year of the series is back. Utkarsh Ambudkar is back for Ghosts. I am overjoyed to see Bob Odenkirk recognized for his superb performance in Lucky Hank and am thrilled to see Joel McHale get recognition by any awards group.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A STREAMING COMEDY

Jeremy Allen White, Jason Sudeikis, Martin Short and Jason Segel all ranked with the Emmys. I’d argue Steve Martin should have been chosen ahead of Segel. I’m fine with Sylvester Stallone for Tulsa King and I never have any problem with Keegan-Michael Key being nominated for anything. I’d object to Nicholas Hoult being here, but at least they didn’t nominate Elle Fanning, so I can live with it.

BEST ACTRESS IN A BROADCAST OR CABLE COMEDY SERIES

This category has three of my greatest joys. Gina Rodriguez in the hunt for her superb work in Not Dead Yet. Marcia Gay Harden is recognized for her work in So Help Me Todd as I hoped. (Yes I predicted in Drama; let me have this one.) And most delightfully Sofia Black D’Elia got a nomination for her work in the title role in Single Drunk Female. I hope this makes up for your show being canceled. Granted you’ll most likely lose to Quinta Brunson, but I think you can live with that.

Rose McIver returns for Ghosts; Natasia Demetriou, Robin Thede and Jasmine Cephas Jones, who have all been nominated in this category at least once in the last two years are more than welcome. Good balance. No complaints.

BEST ACTRESS IN A STREAMING COMEDY

Christina Applegate, Rachel Brosnahan, Jenna Ortega and Natasha Lyonne were all nominated by the Emmys. Any reasonable person would have nominated Selena Gomez. The Emmys have now inexplicably ignored her two years running.  I never object to Maya Rudolph or Tatiana Maslany being nominated for anything, though in the latter case I think She-Hulk is somewhat beneath her. The Upshaws received many nominations from the Image awards, so I’ll let Kim Fields stay, though I really think Linda Cardellini should have been nominated in her place.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A BROADCAST OR CABLE COMEDY SERIES

Tyler James Williams and William Stanford Davis are here for Abbott Elementary but not Chris Perfetti. Henry Winkler is here for Barry but not Anthony Carrigan. (The Emmys topped the HCA here.)  The late Leslie Jordan was nominated for Call Me Kat (the critics choice did that too). Harvey Guillen, Bryan Tyree Henry and Brandon Scott Jones were all present last year, no problem.

I find it slightly excessive that there are three nominees from Party Down  in this category. Maybe it’s because I don’t know the series as well as everybody does. Still the Emmys gave them none, so I’ll let these guys, well, party.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A STREAMING COMEDY

Brett Goldstein and Phil Dunster were nominated by the Emmys for Ted Lasso  and Brendan Hunt should have been. Ebon Moss-Bachrach deserved his nomination and I’m glad to see that they nominated James Marsden twice, even if I would have been OK with just Dead to Me.  Tony Shalhoub was ignobly forgotten by the Emmys and I can understand why Benjamin Bratt ended up here.                 It’s Ke Huy Quan’s year. I’ll let him stay. Why couldn’t the Emmys have found room for Harrison Ford?

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A BROADCAST OR CABLE COMEDY

Sarah Goldberg and Lisa Ann Walter are here. Again, the HCA is two up on the Emmys. Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph are back for another round.  Zazie Beetz deservedly gets one more bite at the apple for Atlanta and I’m actually all right with two nominees from Ghosts.

I would protest three nominees from Party Down again, but I happen to love Jennifer Garner, Jane Lynch and Megan Mullally and they all deserve the love they can get. Would I have preferred that say, Ally Sheedy get recognized for Single Drunk Female? Yes. But this is a good group.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A STREAMING COMEDY

Hannah Waddingham deserved to be here. Juno Temple as well. Ayo Edebiri and Alex Borstein mirrored their Emmy nominations and in all candor, so should Christina Ricci.  I have no problem with Rachel Bloom, Kristin Chenoweth or Jessica Williams getting nominated for anything: I really wish the Emmys would catch up with them. Why do so many people love Ashley Park in Emily in Paris? I’ll let American Born Chinese slide, though I’m perturbed there is no room for Marin Hinkle here.

 

Writing and Directing

Bill Hader takes two nominations. Brunson gets a writing nod and there’s one for direction. Not Dead Yet got a nod for the Pilot. Over joyed. What We Do In the Shadows, Ghosts and Party Down fill out the rest. Not gonna lie, I would have been happier if Atlanta had gotten at least one nod in either category, but I’m thrilled to see Ayo Edebiri become a triple threat at the HCA for her script on What We Do In The Shadows.

Only Murders in the Building, Poker Face, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,  The Bear and Wednesday  all deserved to double dip. I’m fine with Ted Lasso only dancing in the directing pool, considering that Shrinking  - Bill Lawrence’s follow-up series – got a lot of love.

The most glaring omission in streaming comedy by far was Reservation Dogs, considering all the critics nods it got this year and that it was nominated in this category, directing and writing last year, the decision to put something as popcorn as Grease for Best Comedy and to recognize lesser shows like The Great, American Born Chinese and She-Hulk  shows a shallowness from the HCA I haven’t noticed before.

 

BEST GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Much improved from the Emmys. Jon Bernthal, Simon Helberg and Pedro Pascal more than earned it; Luke Kirby deserves to be here, as does the ‘legendary’ Leslie Odom, Jr. for Abbott Elementary. Why couldn’t the Emmys realize that they could nominate Steve Martin for SNL too? Why did Adrian Brody get nothing?

 

BEST GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Like the Emmys they found room for Taraji P. Henson. They also found room for her daughter on Abbott Elementary Ayo Edebiri. (Ayo Edebiri better win something.) Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza really should have been nominated for Emmys for their work on SNL as well as, you know, everything else. Catherine Zeta-Jones earned her stripes on Wednesday and I’m glad to see D’Arcy Carden recognized for her cameo on the final season of Barry. Also glad to see Stephanie Hsu and Hong Chau nominated for Poker Face, though I would have preferred Ellen Barkin or Judith Light.

 

Tomorrow I wrap things up here with Best Limited Series/TV Movie. Spoiler alert: The HCA’s streaming nominees for Limited series are better than everything we got from the Emmys this year.

 

SUPPORT THE WGA AND THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD!

My Joyous (As Always) Reaction to the HCA TV Nominations, Part 1: Drama

 

Few critics have espoused more words of praise for the Hollywood Critics Association than I have, and few organizations have been more worthy of it. By dividing the majority of their awards between broadcast, cable and streaming services and by adding more categories for each year, in just three years they have become the gold standard by which all other awards shows should be recognized. These days more awards shows are giving fewer nominations and awards. The HCA keeps giving more of each.

And while they have not yet received the pinnacle of awards shows when it comes to television – their fellow critics organization the Critics Choice awards currently holds that mantle -  in my opinion, they have reached a high standard both with the series they nominate and with their eventual winners. Over their first two years I was satisfied with more than ninety five percent of their nominees in every category and nearly ninety percent of their winners. In a good year with the Emmys, I’m lucky if I’m happy with seventy percent of the nominees, much less the eventual winners.

This afternoon the day before the Emmys nominations were announced, the HCA gave their listings for nominated series in drama, comedy, and limited series, separated by Broadcast & Cable (there is subdivision in some of the categories there) and streaming.  In addition, they have for the first time in their history announced a new set of awards, mirroring the Creative Arts that the Emmys give in a separate ceremony every year.  I will not be going into the same detail with this group as I have with the HCA, mainly because I have not done so with the Emmys. What I shall do is, with each show, give a listing for the collective nomination every major nominee has received.

As you’d expect the HCA is as imperfect as all other awards show: there are some glaring and surprising omissions in every category and I will deal with the biggest ones when I’m finished. But they have yet to fail to impress me and they deserve more respect.  Therefore, I am preempting my usual reactions to the Emmy nominees by three days, in which I will deal with all of the nominees in each group. (And I’ll be honest, I will doubtless need the time to deal with the inevitable disappointment that comes every year and I’d rather spend more time with an awards group that sparks joy.)

This year, I will be dealing with three separate columns for each major category: Drama, Comedy and Limited Series/Anthology, with the TV Movie nominees added. In each category, I will divide my reactions to the Broadcast and cable nominees and then the streaming ones.  I will express my joy and disappointment with each category – but if you’ve read my series on this awards show before, you know I am rarely disappointed by their selections.

This year, I will start with Drama

 

OUTSTANDING BROADCAST DRAMA

Congratulations HCA, you’ve fulfilled my great joys. The leading nominee in the Network drama category is Will Trent  already one of the best shows of 2023. It received eight nominations, all of them deserved. I hope that it ends up winning.

Also impressive, the showing by Quantum Leap, which managed four nominations -pretty good for a reboot. And I’m grateful that you acknowledged Alaska Daily despite its cancellation. (Couldn’t you have nominated Hilary Swank? Oh well.)

New Amsterdam, the inaugural winner in this category is back for its final season. The Cleaning Lady  repeated as did 9-1-1,. Dick Wolf still has friends here: the revival of Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU and Chicago Fire were all nominated.  I guess Grey’s Anatomy will never go away, though I would have been fine with The Company You Keep (As you’ll see, it got some parting gifts as well.)

BEST CABLE DRAMA

There are ten nominees here too. As you’d expect there are some familiar faces: The White Lotus, The Last of Us and Succession are among the major nominees. But there is one major from HBO exclusion that makes me love the HCA more. Though House of The Dragon was nominated for seven other awards, it was not nominated for Best Drama.

None of these big dramas were the most nominated series. What was? Yellowjackets. It received a whopping thirteen nominations, more than any other drama series in any category. HCA, you get the job done. I could complain that you only gave Better Call Saul  six nominations for its final season, but since it was the big winner last year and might well be again, I won’t argue.

There are some surprises. Interview with A Vampire probably isn’t it received some love from quite a few organizations. Neither is Yellowstone despite all the controversy. But there are three other intriguing choices which show the range. From, a much beloved horror series that the HCA recognized this year (and with more nominations) P-Valley from Starz, a series that several critics organizations have shown love to in the past, and perhaps the biggest shock the second season of Your Honor, though it received no other nominations. I will be honest; I would have preferred either Perry Mason or The Old Man but this is not a bad group.

OUTSTANDING STREAMING DRAMA

The Crown and Andor are the only almost certain nominees in this category to get recognized by the Emmys for Best Drama.  The Boys has been nominated before but never received much love from the Emmys otherwise; The Handmaid’s Tale seems to have to run out the clock; and the latest season of The Mandalorian was considered pretty low. In other words, they very well might get nominated by the Emmys. Bad Sisters is actually a far more deserving show to get nominated than the previous three – its gotten more love from other critics groups – but its chances are remote. Queen Charlotte might very well be flying on Bridgerton’s coattails.

The other three nominees are intriguing. The Diplomat has been one of the more favored critics series the last few months. 1923 has  a good chance for acting nominees and Picard has been one of the most beloved series even among non-Star Trek fans.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A BROADCAST /CABLE SERIES

The three certainties for Emmy nominations listed here are Bob Odenkirk, Kieran Culkin and Pedro Pascal. (Pascal was not nominated for The Mandalorian) interestingly, Culkin is the only Succession cast member in this category: neither Brian Cox nor Jeremy Strong were nominated. You continue to impress me HCA.

Many of your other choices impress me more. Ramon Rodriguez is up for playing the title role in Will Trent.  Raymond Lee was nominated for his work in Quantum Leap (which was impressive) and Milo Ventimiglia took a Best Actor nod for The Company You Keep before he left. Kevin Costner averted controversy and was nominated and Harold Perrineau was nominated for From as he was last year.

The biggest omission by far is Jeff Bridges who has been nominated for every other award until now. I don’t want to say I’m worried but this troubles me.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A STREAMING SERIES

The lion’s share of the contenders are expected to come from cable.  Diego Luna is a dark horse for his work in the title role in Andor and I’m honestly surprised Dominic West has done so poorly in awards show for his work on The Crown. The other choices are interesting.

Anthony Starr and Jack Quaid received nominations for The Boys.  Penn Badgley, whose work on You has been a critics favorite received a nomination. Harrison Ford received a nod for 1923  (not his only nod for a streaming series this year) and Patrick Stewart got nominated for his valedictory season on Picard. The nomination that gives me the most pleasure is Logan Lerman for his undervalued work on Amazon’s Hunters. I honestly thought if anyone from that series would be nominated it would be Al Pacino. Glad to be proven wrong.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A BROADCAST/CABLE DRAMAS

The critics sure love the ladies from Yellowjackets. Melanie Lynskey and Juliette Lewis I expected and am glad to see. Sarah Snook, Emma D’Arcy and Bella Ramsey made their appointments. The other three nominees I find more interesting.

Kelly Reilly got nominated for her work on Yellowstone. Angela Bassett, who took a Best Actress prize from the Image awards for her superb work on 9-1-1  is here too. But my personal favorite: Erika Christensen for her superb work as Angie Pulaski on Will Trent.  I’m so glad to see her here, I’m willing to overlook the absence of Hilary Swank. You can’t have everything.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A STREAMING DRAMA

Let’s start with the most glaring absence. Imelda Staunton for The Crown. Considering not only that she’s a near certain nominee for the Best Actress Emmy and that almost all her co-stars (as we shall see) were nominated, her omission is particularly striking.

Elisabeth Moss is going to get nominated again even though everybody’s tired of The Handmaid’s Tale. Sharon Horgan and Keri Russell deserve to get nominated, but the odds are fairly long.  Erin Moriarty and Karen Fukuhara show the girls can play with The Boys.  I’m always glad to see Helen Mirren nominated for anything (she has a decent chance for an Emmy nod for 1923) and I’d rather see Lizzy Caplan nominated for Fatal Attraction than Fleishmann is in Trouble  - and as we shall see, so did the HCA.

Why is India Amertefelio here and Staunton isn’t? Why was a fictional queen nominated and a real wasn’t? Sigh.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A BROADCAST/CABLE DRAMA

They went to Ten and I’m fine with a lot of them. Matthew MacFayden and Alexander Skarsgard are here for Succession.  Good. Alan Ruck and Nicholas Braun aren’t. Hmm.  Matt Smith was recognized for House of The Dragon. Jonathan Banks was nominated for Better Call Saul but Giancarlo Esposito wasn’t. Honestly I’m fine with that: Banks had a larger role and Esposito won in this category last year. Elijah Wood is in for Yellowjackets. Hurray and Huzzah!

The rest is…odd. How is John Lithgow not here? How is Theo James here for The White Lotus but F. Murray Abraham isn’t? And apparently the HCA really likes Yellowstone as they seem to have nominated the entire supporting cast.  Jeremy Sisto for FBI. Huh? Seriously? You couldn’t nominate any of the guys from A Million Little Things? (Then again, you did nominate the final episode for a Best Teleplay award, so I’ll let that pass.) Besides, you didn’t go overboard on Succession so I’m okay.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A STREAMING DRAMA

The most likely nominees in this category who might get recognized by the Emmys are Jonathan Pryce for The Crown and Stellan Skarsgard for Andor. (Better him than his son.)

There are two nominees apiece for both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Boys.  Rufus Sewell is more than overdue a nomination for the Emmys, maybe he’ll get one for the second season of the Diplomat.  For All Mankind will never be recognized no matter how brilliant it is and Lord of the Rings will never get acknowledged for anything other than technical. I’m glad to see Brent Spiner nominated, though.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A BROADCAST CABLE DRAMA

Like I said, HCA loves Yellowjackets. Christina Ricci was a sure thing  but I didn’t expect to see Sophie Thatcher or Lauren Ambrose. I’m glad they’re here.  Rhea Seehorn is present. So is Jennifer Coolidge (these awards shows do have ties) and Aubrey Plaza! And they nominated Sonja Sohn for Will Trent.  Kima got nominated for something. As to the rest:

I’m glad someone was nominated for Perry Mason. I would have been happier if it was Hope Davis or Juliet Rylance rather than Jen Tulloch but I’ll take what I can get.  Catalina Sandino Moreno and Janet Montgomery are carryovers for From  and New Amsterdam and I have no objections. And there’s no presence from Succession at all. Even better!

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A STREAMING SERIES

Interesting group. Two for Bad Sisters, two for The Handmaid’s Tale (I can’t complain about either Ann Dowd for Yvonne Strahovski being nominated for anything) and Elizabeth Debicki for The Crown  - and Lesley Manville as well for her role as Princess Margaret.

I’m glad to see anyone from The Night Agent nominated and Sarah Desjardins earned it. I’m fine with Genevieve O’Reilly for Andor and Jeri Ryan for Picard.   I can live with one nominee from The Mandalorian.

 

As for writing and directing:

One writing nomination for Succession, two for Yellowjackets. The Emmys should do so well. A Million Little Things, Quantum Leap and Will Trent taking nods for writing alongside The White Lotus. Two directing nods for Yellowjackets , one for Succession  and one for Will Trent, The Company You Keep and The Cleaning Lady. Nothing for Better Call Saul in either, but nothing’s perfect.

Streaming has Picard, 1923, Andor, The Boys in each category. I expected to see The Mandalorian in direction and The Crown in writing. I’m glad to see The Handmaid’s Tale in neither.

BONUS

For the first time in its history, the HCA is giving awards for Guest Actor and Actress. Since it is in the creative awards, there is no separation by broadcast, cable or streaming. I’ll highlight some of my favorites and good choices.

GUEST ACTOR

At least, somebody was willing to mention The Good Fight somewhere, by far the most glaring omission in streaming.  The other nominations in  this category are likely to show up in the Emmys: Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman for The Last Of Us,  Bryan Cranston for Better Call Saul, Andy Serkis for Andor, and possibly Arian Moayed for Succession.  Giancarlo Esposito might be invited for his previously nominated work on The Mandalorian.

 

Guest Actress

Melanie Lynskey here for The Last of Us.  No one from Succession. Did I mention I love the HCA?  Vanessa Kirby is here for The Crown (Timothy Dalton is too). Ella Purnell, who had a great stint on Yellowjackets is here. Michelle Forbes has a presence and Tamara Clutterbuck who had a memorable stint on Will Trent is here. Lizzo fans’, praise The Mandalorian.  But no Betsy Brandt. Oh well.

 

Tomorrow I deal with Comedy where I will have just as much fun, if not more.

 

SUPPORT THE WGA AND THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD!

Episodes I Can't Stop Watching, A New Series: Major Crimes: 'Boys Will Be Boys'

 

Before streaming existed there was a time when – almost always late at night – you would be channel chasing. Surfing through hundreds of channels looking for something to hold your attention before you went to bed.  Usually it was a movie, sometimes it was a late night show, you know, just something to kill time.

And then, usually by accident, you found it.  An episode of a series you had watched long ago (or in the recent past) that was now being syndicated on a network you didn’t know existed. You stopped changing channels and with laser like intensity, you watched that channel alone for thirty minutes or an hour.  It had been a show you watched, sometimes with intensity, sometimes your devotion flagged.  Some of these series were among the greatest ever made, some of them merely very watchable.  But for whatever reason, this episode in particular was one of your all-time favorites, one that you never got tired of watching no matter how many times you’d seen it before. It might be a comedy, it might be sci-fi, it might be a procedural. It might even be one of those serialized programs that have made television great in the last decade.  

And it might not be the best episode of that series in the conventional sense – other episodes might have won more awards or been fan-favorites in a way that this episode just didn’t. But it’s your favorite episode of this series and you will never get tired of rewatching it.

The Internet and many publications are always fond of ranking the greatest episodes in TV history. TV Guide seems to do every decade or so; there’s are blogs about online, most of them having to do with fan ratings and they will be broken down often by genre.  I’ve done more than a few over the years. In a way, this series of articles will be a variation of this. In a more important way, it won’t be.

I have been reviewing TV for nearly half my life. I can tell you why an individual series is a classic and why I think some are overrated. I can tell you why I love some genres more than others. I can tell you what series are the greatest of all time. But one thing I have never attempted – and very few critics have tried to do – is what makes an individual episode of television rewatchable. Not necessarily one of the greatest of all time – though some of the ones that will be part of this series will fit in that meter – but why we are drawn to them again and again.  This is true in some of the most iconic series of all time which have several extraordinary episodes. I know that critics and fans consider the ‘Once More, With Feeling’ episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer one of the greatest of all times and it is but there are reasons I would prefer episodes such as ‘Hush’ or ‘Fool For Love’ more watchable. (Are either of those going to be an episode I talk about here? You’ll have to keep reading this column.) Similarly Law and Order has been going on forever and has so many individually great episodes that I seriously doubt anyone can agree on a consensus.  The episode I always am drawn to, no matter how times I’ve watched it already, is one of the very first one they ever did and that is because it’s one of the most powerful.

Some of these series are not classics in the way television views them: they are merely very good shows that every so often produced an episode that, no matter how many years have gone by, I can’t get them out of my head. I don’t think anyone would shows call Major Crimes or Chicago Hope masterpieces but they were capable of producing episodes that were searing or left an impression I’ve never been able to shake.

I may have mainly given reference to drama in this column, but comedies do have the same hold on me. In this case, the lion’s share of them are real classics and some merely underrated. All of them are screamingly funny, even if they aren’t the episode that most fans love when they think of it.

This series of articles will go into detail some of the episodes that have given me the greatest pleasure or fondness over my more than a quarter of a century watching television. A couple of provisos: with one or two critical exceptions, none of these episodes are of streaming series because they do not fall under the same concept as what I am discussing. That being said, there have been a couple of streaming series over the years that have produced episodes that I have repeatedly come back to in my life and I feel they do merit discussion.

I should also add that while I consider several of these episodes rewatchable, if you want to seek them or the series they’re on out, it’s going to take a major effort. Some of them aren’t on streaming, only DVD and in a few cases you may not be able to find them on American made DVDs. I list them here because when the series in question was in syndication, I never missed a chance to watch the episode if I came across them.

And it goes without saying that all of these articles will contain spoilers. It’s a necessity given that the only way to explain why I consider them rewatchable is to give away every reason. Then again, most of these episodes are decades in the past, and the whole point of this series is to explain why you’d rewatch them even if you know what’s going to happen.

Anyway, here we go.

 

Major Crimes:

‘Boys Will Be Boys’

Those of you who have read my blog over the last few years in particular know that I have gone through a major reassessment of TNT’s The Closer. While I initially thought the Kyra Sedgwick series was an undervalued masterpieces, I know consider her character of Brenda Lee Johnson as the prime example of everything that is wrong with policing in America today.  I believe I once considered her a Karen before the term was founded, and that’s actually putting it mildly: she was a control freak, a habitual liar to everybody, who never listened to anyone, including her fellow detectives or her eventual husband, who basically thought her badge gave her a license to put people in jail – and if she couldn’t do that, arrange it so they died rather than face justice.  I often wonder if the Innocence Project could have set up a branch dealing with the cases that Priority Homicide investigated.

I have also made it clear that the spin-off – really, a follow-up – Major Crimes was an infinitely superior show even though it essentially had the exact same cast with a few minor additions and Sedgwick completely absent. And indeed, the writers and creative forces were essentially the same. Why do I think this? Because the moment Kyra Sedgwick left the series, every other character on the show somehow managed to gain at least twenty IQ points and another dimension. In The Closer every character was more or less a cliché, only there to make Sedgwick’s character shine brighter. On Major Crimes, the unit worked as a team with each detective having more layers than they were ever able to show under Sedgwick’s tenure.

There are several episodes of the series I have enjoyed rewatching in the nearly six years since Major Crimes ended in 2017 but the one that has the greatest hold on me, even a full decade after it aired is Boys Will Be Boys. This episode was edgy because it dealt with an issue that was only starting to become gradually discussed in 2013 – gender identity issues – and deals with the very real horrors it can lead to, not merely for the person involved but for the nearest and dearest.

The episode opens with a missing child. A hysterical parent calls 911 and tells them frantically his daughter Michelle is missing.   Major Crimes, led at first by Detective Flynn (Tony Denison) and the videographer, Buzz (Phillip Keene) go to the Brand house. There they meet John, the father (Craig Sheffer) and Michelle’s older brother, Matt. Both of them are certain that Michelle has been the victim of an online bully, who earlier that same week sexually assaulted her in a mall bathroom and posted the pictures online. Buzz looks at the photos and asks the obvious question: “Is Michelle a boy?”

The center of the story is clear divide between the parents about Michelle. John is warm and supportive, while admitting his initial resistance. Anne (Gail O’Grady) keeps referring to her as ‘Michael’ and keeps snarling at John, blaming him for what’s going on. Eventually Lt. Tao, the tech expert tracks down the bully who posted the pictures and Detective Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) chases him down at his house.

 Sanchez is almost always habitually angry towards the people in the interrogation room, but there have rarely been few subjects who deserve it than Lewis Gates. He continuously refers to Michelle as ‘it’, feels no remorse for what he has done, even though it constitutes not just on-line harassment but sexual battery of a minor.  His attitude would almost seem one-dimensional were it not sadly so typical even today.

Provenza (the always wonderful G.W. Bailey) considers a critical missing. Provenza is by far the senior detective on this force and has always had difficulty dealing with so many of the changes in today’s world. Often this is a source of comedy. Here it isn’t. Provenza clearly has an idea going forward what he is going to find, and we’re not entirely shocked when the first act ends and he and Flynn have found Michelle’s body, with her skull smashed in.

The entire squad is saddened by this but Provenza and Flynn, who have been here the longest, very quickly see that there is something even darker afoot. Michelle’s body has been buried. Her eyes have been closed. Her body has been positioned to look like she has gone to sleep. These are not the actions of someone who is the victim of a hate crime.  There is something terribly sad in the way Provenza tells them to search the house. “Family first, as I always say.” Then he orders one of the detectives to go to the Brand home, gather the shoes and bag them separately.

Sharon Raydor, the head of the division (Mary McConnell, who is always incredible) has been doing her level best to maintain authority, but its clear this crime has already hit her hard. When she goes to see her ex-husband (Tom Berenger) and asks him to watch over her foster son, he asks her what happens. He gently says: “So it’s a hate crime.” And she says: “Every crime is to somebody.” Later on, looking over the body, the ME says: “I can never get used to this.” Raydor says: “Let’s hope we never do.”

She then notifies the family. Their collective reaction is troubling. Anne and John immediately begin to start yelling at each other, blaming each other for their daughters death. An infuriated Todd shouts at them to stop pretending this was all about Michelle.  John’s reaction is very strange, at least to the detectives. He wants to see Michelle’s body. The second act ends with him shouting that demand at a closed door.

They find inconsistencies in John’s story. He was not stuck in traffic at the time of Michelle’s death; he was in Santa Monica looking for an apartment. He also moved $80,000 out of his account. Sharon is trying to hit him, so she agrees to his request to see his daughter’s body. Flynn takes John  to the morgue and tries to talk him out of it. John walks in, sees his daughter on a slab, and collapses in grief.  Watching from outside Sharon asks Flynn if that changes his opinion. His response is cold: “He looks guilty. Most murderers break down when they see what they’ve done.”

Sheffer is a good actor whose career started out like gangbusters in A River Runs Through It but never received the same respect or prominence as his co-star Brad Pitt. In the scene afterward, you get a sense of just how good he is and he seems completely numb to the questioning. “Time’s come to a complete stop,” he tells the cops. Then he explains his actions. He was moving to Santa Monica to establish residency in order to change schools for Michelle. She hadn’t wanted to go back after being bullied. He cashed in his retirement fund to pay for hormone replacement therapy.

We now cut back to Anne, who is maintaining her level of barely held contempt for what Michelle wanted, saying that’s it was expensive and not the kind of decision ‘a child whose only thirteen should make’. She says she was just trying to be a good mother. At this point Provenza, who is interviewing her with Sharon says: “This shovel calls your parenting skills into question.”

He and Sharon tell her they found the shovel in the trunk of her car, and that it has the same dirt found on her daughter’s grave. She continues to dig a hole for herself, eventually saying: “I am a good mother.” Provenza then says: “Mrs. Brand, we have reached the point in our relationship where the lying has to stop.” Anne says: “I am a good mother, and I want a lawyer.”

In the penultimate act, Provenza, Raydor and DA Rios (Nadine Velasquez) are discussing the problems with the case. Rios has already proven herself to be squeamish around blood (she attended the autopsy but didn’t look at the corpse). Provenza shows the pictures of the positioning of the body and compares it to that of Michelle lying in bed. Rios looks away and Provenza loses his patience. “No you look at it!”  It’s rare he gets this angry at anyone.  Rios argues that the case will put the victim on trial. Provenza snaps and demands another DA “who isn’t afraid of losing in a good cause!”  He then shows a rare sign of humanity, admitting that he’s having trouble wrapping his head around on it and he understands the jury will too, but he doesn’t care because this child has been beaten to death and deserves justice.

However at this point Raydor, who has been looking at the phone logs of the service, has made a connection that throws everything open – and if anything makes the ending even more heart-wrenching. Provenza and Raydor go to talk with John and Todd (Anne has been arrested and is waiting a hearing). Then Sharon tells him a truth that a mother would know. Teenagers don’t call, they text. But Todd called Michelle’s cell phone nearly a hundred times while she was missing. And then fifty times more after she was dead. “So you could hear her voice again.”

The look on Mr. Brand’s face when this is revealed is heartbreaking. And in a way what happens next explains why Major Crimes was a better show than The Closer was. While Brenda always saw the world in binary terms, every so often Major Crimes would see that there were more levels.

Todd went to pick up Michelle when she called him. And Michelle started telling Todd that she and her father were moving to Santa Monica. Todd unravels saying that everything in his life has been about Michelle and he has been living in the chaos.  This action will snap the final thread that has been holding the Brand family together – and Michelle (who we see in a flashback) doesn’t seem to care. “She thought I’d be happy for her!” he shouts.

I don’t pretend that Todd’s actions aren’t horrific – he beat his sister to death with a bat, and his final remark to his father is singularly cruel. (I won’t repeat it here.) But the viewer can’t help but feel the tiniest bit of sympathy for him, if not his actions. We hear so much about the horrors that those who need gender affirming care need, the violence that they must go through, the prejudice that they have to live through every day. We never hear about the collateral damage that their families have to go through. Is the story of the Brand family more extreme that all the ones we hear about it? Honestly I think it was the norm more than the exception, and it probably still is now. How does a father, a mother, a sibling, live in this world and keep their sanity?   I honestly think the reactions of all three survivors of Michelle’s death are mirror images of what those with the families of gender identity disorder have to live through every day.

I think that’s why every time ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ airs I watch it. We can’t say its any less relevant than it was ten years ago. In a grim irony,  some channels took it out of syndication because some people believed the terms in the episode amounted to ‘hate speech’. That’s the very reason we need to watch it over and over. We need to know not only those people are out there, but so much of the issues that are involved are never easy to deal with.