Emmy Watch Phase 2 Continued: My Reactions to the 2025 SAG Awards Nominations for TV

 

I didn’t mention it yesterday but it is worth noting the SAG awards themselves have always been a pleasing ceremony for me to watch. It may be the only awards show I’ve ever seen where the nominees, at least in the introductions, show some humility as well as respect for their profession. For this awards show they don’t pretend to be anything but what they are: actors.

And as a result the presentations of the awards go out of their way to remind us of television’s storied passed. One year – probably in the late 2000s  the cast of The Mary Tyler Moore show assembled onstage to present Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series. (Steve Carell, accepting for The Office, admitted it made the award extra special.) Larry Hagman and Linda Gray came out to present Best Drama series just weeks before they would officially reunite in the TNT continuation of Dallas. And Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow three years ago presented Best Comic Ensemble leading everyone to wonder of the possibility that Romy and Michelle would get together onscreen.

Those who accept awards for TV have sometimes given incredible speeches: few who witnessed it will forget David Harbour’s acceptance speech for Stranger Things when he shouted out “We will punch bullies in the face.” (Yes, it was in 2017.) Two years ago in accepting the Ensemble Award for Succession Brian Cox (wearing a scarf that included ‘Team Logan’ and F---Off prominently on it) went out of his way to shout out to Zelensky (‘He is one of us, after all,” he said.) And sometimes they’re just fun: last year when Pedro Pascal accepted for The Last of Us he was so shocked he admitted he was drunk and took another occasion to add to the ‘feud’ he had all season with Kieran Culkin.

All of which is to say, even when the nominations show little surprise from the major awards that we get, the ceremony itself is always enjoyable. It ‘s now streaming on Netflix and I have every intention of watching it this year. Now let’s deal with the nominated series and actors for TV.

 

BEST COMEDIC ENSEMBLE

Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks and Only Murders in the Building were all expected to be here. (It’s looking like the guilds have no problem with the third season of The Bear even if the audience does.) The biggest surprise is that Shrinking is the fifth nominee instead of Nobody Wants This which has made the lists of every other show so far. And as you will see it hasn’t exactly been neglected.

 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Jeremy Allen White and Martin Short have been here the last three years. Adam Brody is here as well and Ted Danson, nominated by the Golden Globes for A Man on the Inside is also here. Once again the fact there is no differing between lead and supporting explains the presence of Harrison Ford for Shrinking. I’m not complaining of course, just reminding the SAG of their biggest flaw.

 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Jean Smart, Quinta Brunson and Ayo Edebiri are among the expected. I think its safe to say Smart is the favorite. I expected Kristen Bell to be here for Nobody Wants This. Lisa Colon-Zayas is here for The Bear for the same reason that Ford in the male category for Shrinking. The likelihood is this will split the vote between the two nominees from The Bear.

 

OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC ENSEMBLE

For the first time we see an awards show more focused on the season to come. The Diplomat, Slow Horses, and The Day of the Jackal are here, along with Shogun. I am shocked to see Bridgerton here instead of, say, Squid Game; this series has been shutout of every other major awards show to this point. HBO has no presence in Drama this year but that will change this fall.

 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA

No real notes. Gary Oldman, Hiroyuki Sanada and Eddie Redmayne have been making the rounds lately and I’m glad to see Jeff Bridges here for what will be the final season of The Gold Man. Tadanobu Asano’s presence is hardly shocking for Shogun – though it may syphon votes from Sanada.

 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Keri Russel and Alison Janney firm up their Emmy credentials with their nominations for The Diplomat as does Kathy Bates for Matlock. Anna Sawai is here as well. It is very odd to see Nicola Coughlan here for Bridgerton, perhaps most impressively over Keira Knightley who has been nominated by the Globes and the Critics Choice for her work in Black Doves. Lady Whistledown is clearly a major force among the SAG members.

 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY  A MALE ACTOR IN A TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Very few surprises here. Richard Gadd and Andrew Scott are here for the season just past and Colin Farrell and Kevin Kline (nominated yet again for Disclaimer) is here for the future. Javier Bardem looks very much like he will be nominated for Monsters even if the series itself is not. (Yes I will be getting to that show down the road.)

 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

And here we see something I haven’t seen in a very long time. The nominees in every category have been capped at five and seem unwilling to shift. But this year in this category six performers have been honored.

Four make perfect sense: Jodie Foster, Cate Blanchett and Cristin Milioti will be facing off for the third straight awards show and this time they’re up against Jessica Gunning. Lily Gladstone, absent from other major awards shows, is here for Under the Bridge. But Kathy Bates – not Jessica Lange – is nominated for the brilliant HBO TV Movie The Great Lillian Hall. This seems rather odd to be, though perhaps this is out of admiration for Bates (who was superb in the film.)

 

STUNT ENSEMBLE

Few surprises though it’s worth noting all of these series either have been or will be Emmy nominees: Fallout and Shogun from this past year; House of The Dragon from two years period; The Boys from three years prior and The Penguin for this year. I’m honestly not sure who will prevail this time.

 

As the Critics Choice Awards have been postponed until January 26^th due to the wildfires in LA I will be waiting for two weeks to make my prediction for those awards. I’ll be back to deal with the final part of Phase 2 – the nominees for the People’s Choice Awards for television –  next week. Stay tuned.

Jeopardy Second Chance Recap, Part 3: Week 2 Semifinals

 

 

Before we begin an update on the upcoming Champions Wild Card.

In a sign that the show seems willing to acknowledge ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” next week’s wildcard is a return to the format of tournaments prevalent under the Alex Trebek era. Fifteen quarterfinalists – including Will Yancey and whoever prevails on Friday – will compete in five quarterfinal games that will involve five winners and four wild-card spots for high scores among non-winners. This will no doubt add a layer of strategy to this year’s Wild Card tournament that has been lacking in almost every tournament last year.

I will have details on the official way the Tournament of Champions itself will unfold this weekend but for now, let’s look the three semi-final games, which have been just as thrilling in their own ways as last weeks.

 

Semi-Final Game 1:

Jonquil Garrick-Reynolds vs. Steve Miller vs. Drew Goins

For the record: Drew lost to David Erb in his third win after leading him most of the game.. Steve Miller was the runner up and was ahead of Amar Kakirde going into his fifth match. Jonquil Garrick-Reynolds narrowly lost to Drew Basile in what would be his second win.

From the start of the Jeopardy round Drew was off and running. He found the Daily Double in HISTORIC HISTORY and bet the $3000 he already had:

“The 1973 Arab-Israeli War occurred during these 2 periods, one Jewish & one Islamic, both of which involve fasting.” Drew knew they were Ramadan and Yom Kippur and doubled his score. He finished the round with an incredible $11,600 to Steve’s $3400 and Jonquil’s $2600.

Drew maintained his lead throughout the round but a big Daily Double wager by Steve narrowed the gap. He still had $22,400 when he found the second Daily Double in MANUAL EVENTS and wagered $5000. “See junipers & pines as you never have before at Kofuku-ten, a major exhibition of skills in this art.” He knew it was bonsai and went up to $27,400. He finished Double Jeopardy having gotten 30 correct responses – the highwater mark for any player so far in Season 41  - but he didn’t have a runaway as Steve had $18,400 and Jonquil had $9800.

The Final Jeopardy category was 21^ST CENTURY BUSINESS. “An early version of this app was called Matchbox but that name was too similar to another company that offered the same service.” This stumped me but all three players knew it: “What is Tinder?” (As Ken reminded me: “Matchbox was too close to match.com.” Drew’s wager of $3400 put him at $36,801  the highest one day total in Season 41 so far. And if that doesn’t tell you how tough the clues have been this season, I don’t know what will.

 

SEMIFINAL GAME #2

Josh Heit vs Zoe Grobman vs Enzo Cunanan

Josh lost the tiebreaker in Game 3 to Drew Basile. Zoe Grobman had a memorable stint in her game in which she revealed her love of Talking Heads which almost got her a victory. Enzo Cunanan narrowly lost to Adriana Harmeyer in what would be her eleventh win.

After a bad daily Double very early in the Jeopardy round, it looked like Josh was heading for moving the fastest. He had $5200 at the end of the round to Zoe’s $3800 and Enzo’s $400. Enzo kept going one step forward, two steps back throughout the round.

So Enzo spent the early stages of Double Jeopardy hunting for the Daily Double at the bottom of the board. He’d managed to make it up to $6800 when he found the first Daily Double in OPERA SETTINGS. He bet $2000:

“Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier takes place in 18^th century Vienna during the reign of this empress. Enzo knew it was Maria Theresa and went into the lead for the first time in the game.

Zoe got to the other Daily Double in POTENT QUOTABLES. Saying she hoped she didn’t regret this she bet $6000. She did in more ways than one:

“This pale dry sherry gets title billing in a Poe tale.” She said What is…Amontidello?” She had the right story in mind, it was Amontillado. Zoe said: “I’m gonna remember that one.

Enzo maintained his lead from that point forward finishing Double Jeopardy with $15,600. However a late push by Josh moved him up to $9600 and Zoe finished with $6600.

Final Jeopardy had a very vague category. “FACTS ABOUT COUNTRIES.” I didn’t know this particular fact. “It has 40,000 people & a workforce of 42,000, more than half commuting from nearby, including Vorarlberg state in a neighbor country.” Zoe knew the correct country: “What is Liechtenstein?” (Apparently Vorarlberg is in western Austria.” She added $5401 to put her at $12,001. Josh thought it was Luxembourg which cost him $3601. Enzo started with Luxembourg, crossed it out and wrote in Liechtenstein. Had Zoe responded correctly on her Daily Double she would have been the winner but instead Enzo managed to prevail and he moved on to the finals.

 

SEMI-FINAL GAME #3

Lindsay Denninger v. Ferdinand Percentie v. Sam Cameron

Ferdinand nearly beat Amy Hummel in her fourth win. Sam was reminded of how he nearly beat Greg Jolin. Lindsay was in a neck and neck game with Neilesh Vinjamuri before he prevailed for his third win.

Sam got off to a fast start in the Jeopardy round, amassing $2600 before he found the Daily Double in BEST IF USED BY DECEMBER 31, 1999. He wagered everything. It went badly.

“After 85 years, complete control of it passed to its home nation on December 31, 1999.” He guessed Hong Kong (which went back to the Chinese in 1997) when it was actually the Panama Canal. He rebuilt to $3000 by the end of the round, trailing Ferdinand by $2000.

Sam was in a close battle for the lead when he found the first Daily Double in YOU JUST GOT MONK’D. He bet $5000:

“In 1939 Thomas Merton opened the Bible to Luke 1:20 and read “Behold, you shall be” this & he decided to become a Trappist monk.” It took him a moment to say: “What is silent?” and he jumped into the lead.

He had a bigger lead when he found the other Daily Double in GOVERNMENT WORK but he was cautious and only bet $1000: “You might get a bit sick of Lincoln’s face as a metal-forming machine operator at this agency’s production facilities.” He knew it was the Mint and went up to $17,800. However a late run by Ferdinand at the end of the round stopped Sam from running away with the game – kind of the theme for the semi-finals and Sam finished with $19,400 to Ferdinand’s $10,2000 and Lindsay’s $6200.

The Final Jeopardy category was AMERICAN HISTORY: “The last claim awarded under this act was in 1988, 126 years after it passed, for a parcel of land in Alaska.” Sam and Ferdinand both knew the correct response (as did I at home):”What is the Homestead Act?” Sam’s wager of $1001 gave him the win.

Three gentlemen in the finals and yet another Second Chance winner who lost to Adriana Havemeyer in her original appearance. That motivation was not enough to help either Colleen or Kaitlin overcome Will last week. Will it make a difference this week?

I’ll be back on Friday with the report.

Emmy Watch Phase 2, Part 1: The Independent Spirit And Image Award Nominations for TV

 

 

Those of you who have been following my columns for the last few years are aware that in recent year I have begun to divide the awards shows for television that I believe may be harbingers for the Emmy nominations in the summer among different ‘phases’. Phase 1 starts in December with the nominations for the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Award nominations for television and ends in the middle of January.

The second phase has involved organizations that focus more on films but have a history with TV. Many have existed for years but I’ve only begun to follow them fairly recently even in alignment with my column. The majority of the nominations occur this week and the next. They include the Image Awards, the awards given by the NAACP to celebrate the excellence of African-Americans in pop culture, the SAG Awards which while relatively limited have in recent years given more variety in their prizes that the Emmys sometimes do and recently the Independent Spirit Awards which in the last few years have begun nominated television shows and performers from the year just past.

All of them have flaws in their process. The Screen Actors guild has never differentiation between lead and supporting in any of the television series they nominate shows and performers for each year and while they nominate a lead male and female actor for Limited Series they have yet to create an award to honor ensembles for that category. The Spirit Awards, in addition to not differentiating awards by gender, have the added burden of only honoring a series in its first season and never again thereafter. The Image Awards flaw is self-explanatory. Yet all three do have a gift for recognizing and often honoring shows and awards that even the Golden Globes and Critics Choice have chosen to ignore. And while there are rarely parallels between these awards and many of those the Emmys will honor; they have a potential to find possibilities that the Emmys might honor as well as series and actors that assuredly will fall under the radar of the Academy.

For that reason even though Phase One is  not over yet, I think it’s time we begin phase 2. In large part this is because the nominations for the Image Awards came out today and the SAG Awards will come out tomorrow. How much of this will aid the Emmy voters going forward is hard to know – it’s a long way between now and June – but it’s worth checking in at least.

I’m going to start with the Spirit Awards because they actually gave their nominations in December but because I was focused on other things at the time, I didn’t have a chance to look at them then.

 

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Well, no one can fault Baby Reindeer or Shogun being here and I’m glad to see English Teacher among the contenders. Fantasmas has a significant critical and audience following. I have yet to hear of Diarra From Detroit but perhaps other awards show will follow along

 

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN  A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Ten nominees with no separation from gender. Fans of my blog no how I feel about this but for a change it works as if they’d divided the nominees between male and female: five male actors, five female ones.

For the males Brian Jordan Alvarez now looks more and more like an Emmy favorite for his work in English Teacher. We’ve already seen Hiroyuki Sanada win last night for his work in Shogun and Richard Gadd and Andrew Scott have been dominating the nominations for limited series already. Julio Torres nomination for Fantasmas makes sense because, as with Alvarez and Gadd, he is one of the creative minds behind the show.

Apparently comic book based material is not a burden for Independent Spirit awards: both Kathryn Hahn for Agatha All Along and Cristin Milioti for The Penguin are represented here. Anna Sawai is showing up everywhere and Lily Gladstone was nominated for an Emmy for her work in Under the Bridge. I am overjoyed to see Julianne Moore here for her work in Mary & George.

 

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

This has a slight advantage for female performances: there are seven actresses nominated and three actors – but I can’t quibble given the caliber.

For the male we have Enrico Colantoni deservedly nominated for The English Teacher and Tadanobu Asano here for Shogun. I’m not sure about Brian Tee for Expats though.

I am overjoyed to see Betty Gilpin here for Three Women and hope this and her nomination by the Spirits is a sign of an Emmy nod down the road. Stephanie Koening is more than worthy as in Nava Mau and I’m thrilled to see Ruth Negga here for Presumed Innocent and Moeka Hoshi for Shogun. I believe Patti LuPone was nominated by the Critics Choice for her work in Agatha All Along. As for Chloe Guidry’s presence for Under the Bridge, not having seen the series I will withhold comment (though I may get to it down the line now)

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE IN A SCRIPTED SERIES

I’m thrilled to see Hoa Xuande nominated for his extraordinary in The Sympathizer a show that has almost been completely shutout by all the major award groups. No surprise to see Jessica Gunning here. Diarra Kilpatrick is clearly the lead from Diarra From Detroit and there have been many great things to say about Penelope and Megan Stott. I will get to Agatha All Along so I know who Joe Locke is.

 

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series in Natasha Rothwell’s How To Die Alone. I’ll give that a pass and look for it down the road.

 

Now let’s look at the Images for TV

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES

And there’s How To Die Alone. Along with perennials Abbott Elementary, The Neighborhood and The Upshaws. Joining them is freshman series Poppa’s House.

 

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

I hope the nomination for David Alan Grier for St. Denis Medical will help move him to the forefront of this category in the Emmys going forward. He is nominated with fellow freshman (and In Living Color co-star) Damon Wayans for Poppas House. Delroy Lindo is here for the now cancelled UnPrisoned and Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps have been here before.

 

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Two Emmy winners in this category: Ayo Edebiri for The Bear, Quinta Brunson for Abbott Elementary. Want to take odds one of them prevails? Natasha Rothwell is here for How to Die Alone, Kerry Washington for UnPrisoned, Tichina Arnold for The Neighborhood.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY

As you’d expect Tyler James Williams and William Stanford Davis are representing Abbott Elementary and perpetual Emmy nominee Keenan Thompson is here for SNL. Giancarlo Esposito is always here for one show or another: in this category it’s The Gentlemen. Damon Wayans, Jr is here for Poppa’s House.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph, no argument. Danielle Pinnock has gotten her share of recognition for Ghosts. Ego Nwodim is here for her farewell season on SNL and Wanda Sykes is always here.

 

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

And another reason to love the Images they nominated Found for Best Drama. 9-1-1 is also deservedly present. Bel-Air is no surprise and neither is Reasonable Doubt. Cross being here over the Power franchise; slightly odd.

 

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Donald Glover continues to circulate for Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Harold Perrineau is here for From which makes a lot of sense. Aldis Hodge is here for Cross and Jabari Banks for Bel-Air. Michael Rainey, Jr does make sense for Ghost.

 

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

If the Emmys could do so well. Here is Shanola Hampton, making another argument for an Emmy nomination. Here is Angela Bassett yet again here for 9-1-1. And here, most welcome, is Zoe Saldana for Lioness which I honestly didn’t expect to see here. Queen Latifah is a perennial favorite; perhaps I’ll get to Reasonable Doubt down the road.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Few likely possibilities for Emmys down the road but criminally undervalued performers: Method Man for Ghost; Jacob Latimore for The Chi; Morris Chestnut for Reasonable Doubt (my guess is he’ll be back here next year for Watson) and nominees for Bel-Air and Cross.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Kind of shocked this is where the only nominees for Bridgerton are. Always thrilled to see Lorainne Toussaint and Lynn Whitfield here (especially given Whitfield’s incredible work on The Chi) and more love for Bel-Air. No presence by Grey’s Anatomy. Maybe even the Images are running out of patience.

 

OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES SPECIAL OR MOVIE

Little surprise the MLK/X version on Genius is here or for that matter the recent Fight Night and Griselda. I’ve heard interesting things about The Madness; Rebel Ridge is unknown to me.

 

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A LIMITED TELEVISION

Colman Domingo is one of the major figures nominated across the board and it is hardly a shock to see Kelvin Harrison here for Genius. Kevin Hart was always a possibility and I didn’t know Laurence Fishburne had worked in TV this year.

 

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED TELEVISION

Apparently The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat is a major film and features three of the greatest African-American actresses working today in it: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sanaa Lathan and Uzo Aduba. Perhaps this is where Sofia Vergara finally wins a Best Actress prize

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED TELEVISION

Ron Cephas Jones was nominated for Genius by the Critics Choice as well and it seems every African-American character actor in the world was in Fight Night, considering Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackosn and Terrence Howard are all nominated for it.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES

So was Taraji P. Henson. Sanaa Lathan doubled dipped for a BET film and Jayme Lawson was nominated for Genius.

 

OUTSTANDING GUEST PERFORMANCE

Everyone who say Ayo Edebiri and Maya Rudolph’s hosting SNL knows they earned it. Keegan Michael Key and Cree Summer were superb in their guest roles on Abbott. Marlon Wayans is here for Bel Air.

 

 COMEDY WRITING/ DIRECTING

Two nominees for Abbott Elementary and none of them are for comedy. I’ll be watching Shrinking with interest and wondering why no actors are nominated. Apparently Ayo Edebiri also directed an episode of The Bear.

 

DRAMA WRITING /DIRECTING

Big surprise Bridgerton has three nominations for writing yet received no nominations for Best Drama. Not a shock to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith nominated for the Pilot. The majority of the directing nominees are for drama and Marta Cunningham is nominated against herself for her work on Genius. Paris Barclay and Carl Franklin are two of the best directors in television so their nominations for Monsters is hardly a shock.

Abbott Elementary and The Bear are already contending for Emmy nominations across the board for their seasons and Donald Glover has gotten his share of love for his work on Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Monsters is likely to be contending for awards down the road and its conceivable Fight Night will due. Shanola Hampton continues to linger as a possibility for Best Actress in a Drama (none of last year’s nominees in the category are eligible) and its not yet clear where the Emmys will land on limited series yet. As for the rest of the nominated series and actors, the majority are almost certain to be overlooked for Emmys mainly because the majority of them, sadly, always seem to be.

Both the Spirits and the Images will air on February 22^nd; The Spirits will be streaming; the Images on two consecutive nights edited for BET.

 

Tomorrow I will report on the results of the SAG Award nominations for television.

 

 

My Joyous Reactions to the 2025 Golden Globes - And I'm Not Just Talking About the Winners for TV

 

I know that I said on Friday what I was expecting from the Golden Globes going into last night’s ceremony: I said all I cared about was the awards in television and that entertainment was very low on my list of concerns.

This was something I have sadly come to expect from the Golden Globes during so much of the past several years. During much of the 2010s watching the Golden Globes could be a joyous experience and that always happened when SNL alums were hosting. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were wondrous in their first three appearances on the show; the opening number of the 2017 Golden Globes in which Jimmy Fallon led the celebrities through a brilliant satire of La La Land is a high point in my career of awards watching; the gentle prodding of Seth Meyers with very little of his political commentary – all of those were fun.

This didn’t occur when Ricky Gervais did so and with each passing year he seemed less committed to entertaining and more to getting drunk. (I’m convinced he was completely pissed in his final stint in 2020 before the show started.) Amy Poehler and Tina Fey did their best during 2021 but could do little to overcome both Covid and the mood; Jerrod Carmichael’s exceptional work of addressing the elephant in the room in his opening monologue was both radical and hysterical in 2023 but the audience clearly was uncomfortable and Jo Koi last year was arguably the most disastrous choice to emcee any awards show since Seth McFarlane hosted the Oscars in 2013. One can understand why I chose to focus more and more on the awards given then the ceremonies themselves: I couldn’t say something nice, so I didn’t say anything at all. (And I knew my fellow critics were not going to be nearly as forgiving so I saw no need to pile on.)

Nikki Glaser, however, seemed to know the right mood to set from the start. “If you’re watching on CBS, welcome and if you’re watching on Paramount Plus you have six days to cancel your subscription.” She then looked at the audience: “These people can do anything except convince America who to vote for.”

With that she was off and running and kept her political commentary, refreshingly, to a minimum and always in a certain context. “The Penguin, The Bear, Baby Reindeer, these are not just things you will find in RFK Junior freezer,” she said before saying they were nominated TV shows. “Look at all the movie stars: Colin Farrell, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet. And look all the big TV stars: Colin Farrell, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet.” She claimed she was not their to roast even though that’s more or less what she did but unlike the contempt that one saw in Gervais, there seemed to be an affection towards it that I just didn’t see. “Eddie Redmayne is nominated for Day of the Jackal. He plays an assassin that no one knows exists because his show takes place on Peacock.” An appropriate dig. “Nicole Kidman has been nominated for her 20^th Golden Globe. Congratulations to Nicole and to Keith Urban for being such a horrible musician that Nicole leaves the house to make eighteen movies a year rather than listen to you.” (It’s as good as explanation as any.) “Tilda Swinton is here, nominated for playing Timothee Chalamet.” Then she went after Chalamet. “Timothee you were so good as Bob Dylan that Dylan himself said your singing was completely unrecognizable.” Then she turned to Zendaya. “You were so good in Dune. I woke up for every scene in you were in.”

This level of mockery was very pleasant – and she was more than willing to turn it against herself. After losing Best Stand-up performance to Ali Wong (I’ll get back to that) when the commercial cut back to her she said, “Welcome back, I’m Golden Globe loser Nikki Glaser. But I’m not bitter because I just made $11,000 betting for Ali Wong to win that award. You lose some, you win some.” If her genius – and I’ve only touched on some of it – doesn’t get her an automatic invitation to return next year, I don’t know what will and I have to say this is more proof that, the best man to host any award show is a woman. I’m looking forward to Chelsea Handler’s return hosting the Critics’ Choice next week.

And this flow, I should add, was felt entirely in every single pairing who came out with almost no awkwardness. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley came out together to present an award looked at each other. Moore: “what are you doing here?” Qualley: “It’s my week.” (I’ll be getting to The Substance.) Seth Rogen and Catherine O’Hara before their presentation of Best Female Actor in a Limited Series did a superb bit of all the awards that they had won for Canadian productions over the years. (O’Hara, as we all know, is very good on these moments.) Melissa McCarthy and Awkwafina came out to present the awards for Comedy and chose to use their moments to ‘raise awareness’ for each nominee. McCarthy said she would use The Bear to raise awareness for bears freedom to do cocaine; Awkwafina about how The Gentlemen are underserved in our communities and the self-esteem issues faced by Nobody Wants This. “We see you. We want you!” they assured Kristen Bell.

And the majority of the speeches themselves had their creative high-points. By far the most visible was Demi Moore’s somewhat surprising victory for Best Female Actor in a Comedy for The Substance. Moore’s moving, defiant speech about her career and how she had thought a few years ago it was over was everything an awards show speech should be. Kerry Washington said before announcing Best Male Actor in a Comedy: “Good luck following that speech.” Sebastian Stan’s victory for A Different Man was also somewhat of a surprising and he gave a quieter, albeit differently inspiring speech. Some speeches were a bit overextended by far – Adrian Brody’s win by far the biggest offender – but I actually found it a strength that no one was trying to hard to play anybody off tonight.

And it’s hard not to see the parallels even in some of wins in movie with television. Kieran Culkin’s win for Best Supporting Male Actor for A Real Pain made him the first performer since Angelina Jolie in 1998-1999 to win back-to-back awards in television and film. (In an interesting parallel, one of the performers he beat was his former Succession sibling Jeremy Strong, who was nominated for The Apprentice.) Ali Wong did something similar in her victory for Outstanding Stand-Up Special; last year she won Outstanding Lead Actress in A Limited Series for Beef. And Moore’s victory comes in the midst of what has been a revival of her career on multiple platforms she was one of the Swans in Capote vs The Swans in what was by far the most tragic role.

I have put off relating my reactions to the winners in television in large part because with only a couple of exceptions I was dead on in the lion’s share of my predictions. It was hard to imagine being wrong about Shogun being the biggest winner in Drama: it swept the lead prize and took trophies for Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai as I expected. Sanada was, as you’d imagine, humble (and went out of his way to point out the biggest technical glitch of the night) and Sawai even more so. She gave credit to the voters but she made it very clear that if she’d been a voter she would have chosen Kathy Bates. (Bates’s held her hand to her heart when the camera cut to her.) But given his reaction when his name was announced not even Tadanobu Asano expected to win for Best Supporting Male in Television. It was not like he was undeserving: his character was one of the more beloved of the entire series. But Asano’s work had been overlooked by the Emmys this September so a natural assumption seemed to be it would be this year.

The producers were incredibly grateful about just what was happening, which is to be fair, more than deserving when you consider just how much they were asking of FX when they were producing, how long it took for it to be realized and how great the exception was. The producers were astonished, among other things, “their marriage had survived.”

The one disappointment I had of the night was Jeremy Allan White’s third consecutive win for Outstanding Male Actor in a Comedy for The Bear. Sight unseen, I’m not sure he deserved it and he clearly didn’t expect to win: he was the only nominated actor who wasn’t present. This was made up for by numerous factors, not the least of which he will not be able to win at the Critics’ Choice awards.

And of course there was the fact that Hacks was the big winner in comedy. Jean Smart’s win (her second for the show; the first speech she gave) was as you might expect humble. “I’ve never felt more grateful to be called a Hack she said.” When the show triumphed for Outstanding Comedy Series, it’s first win at the Globes Paul W. Downs gave another superb speech, ending by saying: “We’re still shooting season 4 and we’re up at 6 am tomorrow. So if Jean asks for a shot, no one give it to her. Give her water instead. I’m looking at you, Kate Winslet.” (Winslet and Smart, of course, collaborated in Mare of Easttown Smart’s previous HBO project before starting Hacks.)

And Limited Series had by far the biggest rewards. As was to be expect Baby Reindeer ended up winning the grand prize but I suspect there was room for doubt given that in the other upset of the night (though not nearly at the level of Asano’s) Colin Farrell won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor for The Penguin. This award by far gave me the greatest joy in a night full of them, not just because I believed it would happen but because it was one of the great performances.

Farrell started his speech by saying: “No false modesty. I did it all by myself” before acknowledging everybody responsible, especially the makeup people and the crew. Given just how much work it took for Farrell to become Oz and given the cold nature of how the show looked – which he confirmed – I have a feeling this was a heartfelt one.

The female wins were more expected. Jodie Foster, as to be expected, did prevail for Night Country and even Sofia Vergara, her fellow nominee, seemed overjoyed. Foster has now moved past the point of talking about her privacy and went out of her way to thank both her partner and her children along with Issa Lopez and the people of Alaska. And Jessica Gunning did prevail for Baby Reindeer and justifiably went back to the idea of how incredibly lucky she was. When the show did win the grand prize (something I was not sure of given that Farrell had prevailed) Gadd was his usual modest self, talking about why he thought this incredibly dark and unpleasant show had managed to find such a following. He spoke about the needs for stories like this, particularly in today’s world (his speech was the only one among the TV winners that had anything to do with the political climate) and even that was more out a desire for creativity than anything else.

 In 2024 there was a greater balance considering that at least half the awards were divided between shows that had come from the 2022-2023 season (Succession, Beef) and the 2023-2024 season (Season 2 of The Bear; Elizabeth Debicki’s win for the new season of The Crown.) This year, with the exception of the wins for White and Farrell, all of the awards for TV were given the shows that aired during the 2023-2024 season. Will this trend continue in the remainder of the end of year awards?

On Friday I will begin my predictions for the TV Awards for the 2025 Critics Choice which severely differ from the Globes in many ways in almost every category. They are usually superior to the Globes both in awards given and entertainment value. This year the Golden Globes set the bar high on both fronts. I look forward to seeing how that turns out.

Homicide Rewatch: A Dog and Pony Show

 

Written by James Yoshimura; story by Tom Fontana

Directed by Alan Taylor

 

The episode’s title is, like so many we will see, to be taken literally. And as is frequently the case for Homicide it shows what you’re going to get comedy and tragedy, served with a heaping side of melancholy.

The comedy, in what will be a rarity for Homicide, mostly focuses on the two characters who provide the most drama: Bayliss and Pembleton.  Bayliss as Giardello makes very clear is still hung up on trying to close the Adena Watson case. Gee has been patient with this for the last two weeks but now its wearing thin and he chooses to take it out on Pembleton. Frank, in an effort to get ‘my esteemed Lieutenant’ off his back, picks up the phone the moment it rings.

Only to find he and Bayliss are investigation the death of a police dog. Bayliss, for a change, is beyond annoyed: this is clearly not the way he wants to move forward, especially when he’s told that the murder of any city animal is entitled to the same investigation as any city employee. “So if one of those ceremonial Clydesdales drops dead he deserves the same attention as an officer down?” he says in  frustration. Pembleton, however, in his usual stubbornness is determined to investigate and close this case which infuriates Bayliss. “Homicide, Frank. From the Latin ‘homos’. Homos meaning human!” And then his human partner shows up and he's slightly bereaved – though to be fair, he is a pet owner.

And so the viewer is treated to Pembleton and Bayliss interviewing the next of kin with the complete solemnity of any other investigation. “Did you dog have any enemies?” Bayliss says straight-faced, and takes in the fact that Jake – as it goes up on the board – might have had a problem with the Pekinese next door.

The thing is when the autopsy is done it becomes clear that Jake was poisoned. In the midst of a discussion of the dogs they owned as children – in typical fashion the two of them get on each other’s cases about who had the better pet – Pembleton realizes what city agency wasn’t on the scene: Animal Control, which famously still uses the carbon monoxide that was used to put down strays. Bayliss and Pembleton then encounter yet another haggard, underpaid city employee who clearly didn’t see the tags when Jake got out – on the prowl as dogs do – and then panicked and disposed of the body in Druitt Hill. In typical fashion the female employee is given away when two fellow city employees behave, very much like males have done when they see females since time began, and the woman in question gives, to quote Pembleton “an emphatic middle-finger salute.” It is a misdemeanor (though I’m somewhat horrified to learn that this action was once called manslaughter in Baltimore) and at the end of the episode, his partner takes the dogs ashes and scatters them over the water. Bayliss can’t help but be reminded of Adena and in a rare moment of empathy Pembleton says: “The world would be a better place if it was only kids and dogs.”

While this is going on Howard and Felton are handling a far-darker matter and one that has implications beyond the usual. We’ve had our share of references to the drug war that has been the cause of so many murders in Baltimore and across the country but in this episode we get the first drug related homicide on the show. And it follows pretty much verbatim Simon’s book.

Howard and Felton go to the house of Ida Mae Keene and find her shot and tortured. There’s an odd kind of bullet left behind with a wad cutter. Keene took her clothes off and folded them, which implies she knew her attacker. Much of what we see initially involves a certain amount of comedy – the patrol officer is a woman and Howard, of all people, calls her a secretary with a gun. Then Ida Mae’s friends descend on the house to get everything of value out of it – as Felton points out, this is common sense. Once they know the victim is dead, every burglar in a five mile radius will descend on it. But then her daughter shows up after being interviewed and collapses in grief when she sees her mother’s body.

In our interview with Pony Johnson Ida Mae’s boyfriend, we also see a measure of comedy. He’s married but he also has a mistress and he’s clearly trying to chat up Howard during this. But he makes it very clear that he has no shame about being a drug dealer, considering how high unemployment is among white collar in the 1990s and that he doesn’t have a lot of options. “Jail doesn’t scare me,” he tells Felton in a moment of brutal honesty. It’s in that moment we see the monster behind the charming façade.

The episode then flows back to comedy as Felton and Howard chat up Pony’s mistress, who is clearly pretending that she is high society when she’s little more than a drug dealer’s third choice. She also shows know shame about her life; when Howard asks her if she’s sure about Pony’s alibi she tells her: “I should know whether or not I had sex.” Here Felton tries to be charming and Howard pries her for information.

For the first time on the show there is a clear intersection between two investigations. Lewis (on his own for reasons that I will reveal soon) caught murder with a similar MO, tortured victim, bullet with wad cutter. The victim, one Mary Lyness. Mother of William Lyness an associate of Pony Johnson. In the search of the Lyness home they find drugs and the same kind of bullet. Howard thinks Johnson killed both women because she believes William would have to have ice water in his veins to do what he did to his own mother.

The interrogation that closes the investigation shows Melissa Leo at her finest. Felton and Lewis are showing William the evidence of what happened to his mother and to Ida Mae and then Howard comes in. We rarely on the show will get to see Howard interrogate a suspect with rage – she will usually exercise restraint – but in this case she has no patience for William’s denial. And when she learns that he drove Pony to his house with the gun and bullets and just waited outside while he came out, she unloads on him with both barrels. “She was your mother, William!” she shouts. “The bullet in her brain must have come as a relief.” And she shows no remorse when William breaks down. “You’re not entitled to those tears,” as she stamps out of the room.

The episode also makes it clear that it has no intention of forgetting past personal storylines. Crosetti has gone to visit Chris Thormann after he has been transferred out of the hospital. He’s clearly doing better – they’ve just taken the catheter out – but as is to be expected, he’s dealing with enormous PTSD. We see one of these examples take place when he ends up shitting himself in front of Steve and in another when Eva tells Steve that she’s pregnant after three years of trying – and how Chris was just as angry then. “I should have died on the table!” he shouts at Steve. “I’m not a man anymore!”

In what is Jon Polito’s finest work (sadly he won’t have much to choose from) he treats his fallen comrade with compassion and respect. On the first occasion, he goes out of his way to change his friends sheets despite his embarrassment. “You’d do the same for me?” he said calmly. On the second he tells Chris he will be a great father and that all a baby needs is for you to hold him and you figure out the rest. And throughout both scenes he continues to talk to his old friend as if nothing has changed as if the two of them are still in a squad car, shooting the shit.

Bolander is still seeing Dr. Blythe and is even more nervous because he’s about to meet her teenage son for the first time. It is this episode – indeed almost every scene he’s in during Homicide – that causes me to question the argument that some critics and fans would later say about how Ned Beatty’s work on the series was one-note. Because this is definitely not the case here.

Bolander is incredibly nervous waiting for Carol and Danny to show up and is distracted when Munch goes on one of his tangents. He’s actually asking Munch why he agreed to take her son on a ride-along and Munch gives a straight answer. “You’re snorkeling his mom,” he reminds Stanley.

When Danny shows up he’s clearly a juvenile delinquent in the making and Bolander is in over his head from the start. He has no idea how to deal with Danny’s main character energy, doesn’t know what ‘fresh’ means, ends up taking Danny on a ride along and is baffled when he learns Danny’s career choice seems to be Secretary of Interior. Then at dinner Danny begins to interrogate Stan and the hardened detective doesn’t know how to respond. (In one of Yoshimura’s brilliant decisions, Munch is there but is mostly silent, clearly enjoying every moment of this.) Bolander keeps getting more and more flummoxed, and when Danny brings up his mother’s sex life he finally freaks out. It’s not clear whether it was a decision on the writer’s part or a necessity of how the show dealt with being renewed but after this point we never see Wendy Hughes again and Blythe is written out of the series starting in Season 2. It’s not, however, the end of Bolander’s love life.

And in a story that has an added poignancy the episode begins with Giardello attending the retirement party of Jim Scinta, the commander of the other shift. That night Gee brings his old friend home but while his friend is drunk he is not a fool. He didn’t want to retire; he was clearly pushed out by Bonfather. Before he staggers up to bed he points at Giardello and says: “You’re next. He’s gonna stick it to you like he stuck it to me.” Giardello doesn’t blink. “Probably.”

A truer exchange was never spoken. Giardello never leaves the job but the bosses do keep sticking it to him time and again. We’ll get the first clear example how in the next episode and another sign of how he pushes back in the season finale. So much of what happens to Giardello throughout the series makes me wonder, in retrospect, whether the bosses have been trying an endless series of microaggression to get rid of Giardello and put in one of their own to make their lives easier. You suspect that Gee knows this and has made it his mission to never give them the satisfaction.

The episode ends with Scinta coming in after cleaning out his office. Gee promises he’ll call you tomorrow. Scinta says: “No you won’t. You’ll mean too, but you’ll keep putting it off.” Scinta knows of what he speaks. Though the two go out to dinner for one last hurrah Scinta is never seen again in the series and you get a feeling that Giardello is doing so purposefully. He has to keep moving forward to do his job – everyone in Homicide does – and that means whether you like it or not, you have to move on.

 

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

 

Detective Munch: In what will become one of the show’s best running gags Munch is seen reading the newspaper and reporting random anecdotes that would no doubt strike the actual Richard Belzer as hysterical. The first story he bothers a weary Bolander with is the story of a man arrested for drunk driving in Kentucky – riding a horse. He then tells Bolander about in addition under the new laws the police have arrested two bicycle riders and – wait for it – a guy in a wheelchair. “You’re under arrest, drunk and disabled,” he says cheerfully.

Of course it’s not all fun Munch leads off by relating that a 71-year old nun won a million dollars in the lottery and gave the winnings to her convent. “Nuns can do a lot of good with that money” he says as he tears up his ticket. “I’m happy for her.”

Hey, Isn’t That…?: Quite a few of them this time. The brilliant character actor Michael Constantine appears as Jin Scinta. At the time this episode was filmed he’d already been acting for nearly thirty years and he would end up acting for another twenty-five before he finally hung it up. Stretching back to the early days of television when it was mostly live theater, he appeared in everything from Naked City to Dr. Kildare to The Twilight Zone. He was basically every series of note from 1959 to 1970 but didn’t land his first series regular role until he played Principal Kauffman on Room 222. After that he went back to starring in one shot roles for the next twenty years. After his role in Homicide he began to work in films more often but didn’t find his role of a lifetime until he played Gus the patriarch in the box office hit My Big Fate Greek Wedding, a role he recreated on TV and film.

Larry Gillard had just started acting when he was cast as William Lyness (imdb.com lists it has his third role) but it made an impression on the viewer and more importantly David Simon. While he appeared in some roles of significance over the next decade, he officially broke out when he was cast in a similar role as D’Angelo Barksdale on The Wire. He’s never slowed down since then, appearing in such brilliant shows as Friday Night Lights, starring along Patrick Swayze in what would be last major role in the series The Beast and appearing for three seasons as Bob on The Walking Dead. After that Simon called on him yet again to play Chris Alston in 1970s and 80s New York in The Deuce. His last major role on television was playing Deen on Raising Kanan the third series in Starz’s landmark Power franchise.

I almost didn’t recognize Lisa Gay Hamilton in one of her earliest roles as her flamboyance as Latoya goes against the kind of work she’s done her entire career. She would work slowly in TV and film before landing her breakout role as Rebecca, the secretary turned attorney at the title law firm in The Practice. (Somehow she was the only performer who never got an Emmy.) She has worked in film and TV ever since, eventually getting married to Andre Braugher’s character in the underrated series Men of a Certain Age. She had a one season role on House of Cards, appeared as a regular in the first season of the Hugh Laurie series Chance and has starred as Judith Baker on The Dropout. She has not slowed down in recent years with recurring roles on Will Trent, Winning Time and the most recent season of Genius where she played Alberta King.

Last Call: Final appearance of Wendy Hughes as Dr. Blythe.

 

Jeopardy Second Chance Finals Recap, Part 2: Week 1 Finals

 

As I expected both Colleen and Kaitlin discussed their run-ins with Adriana Havemeyer in  their interview. Kaitlin’s friends held a watch party and booed Adriana whenever she went ahead. Colleen’s son teased her about the Daily Double she got wrong. Being a loving mother her son was in the audience.

 

Game 1

In a sign of things to come Will found the Daily Double on the second clue of the Jeopardy round in SO SAYETH THE KING JAMES BIBLE. With only $600 he bet the $1000 he was allowed:

“And there was war again: and David went out, and thought with’ this group, “and slew them with a great slaughter.” Will knew they were the Philistines and jumped to $1600. He maintained that margin throughout the Jeopardy round, finishing with $6400 to Kaitlin’s $2800 and Colleen’s $1800.

In keeping with his want immediately after Will rang in the first time during Double Jeopardy he found the first Daily Double on the next clue in TRIBUTARIES. (The clue was right next to TRIALS; the writers were having fun, as Alex had a habit of saying.) He wagered $2500:

“A sheepish response is perhaps best for this, the largest tributary of the Yellowstone.” Will knew it was the Bighorn and gained $2500.

The rest of the round was mainly dominated by Will as neither Colleen nor Kaitlan had much of a chance. He had $23,700 when he found the last Daily Double on the Final clue of the round in the category that one can only find on Jeopardy during these Tournaments NOVEL DROP A LETTER.

The clue was confounding: “An Edith Wharton title drops a letter and laughter spews from a tube.” Will said: “What is Hilarious Toothpaste, I don’t know?”

Ken: “That’s like my favorite band, but it is not an Edith Wharton novel.”

For the record it was The Hose of Mirth (one drops the ‘U’ from House”.)

Will dropped to $20,000, significantly ahead of Kaitlin’s $6800 and Colleen’s $4200.

The Final Jeopardy category was one that I hadn’t seen before: SCIENCE: THE ___ OF____ The clue made it logical:

“4 of these discovered in the early 1600s were given the names of lovers of a mythological deity.”

Colleen’s response was revealed first and she figured out what it meant: “What are the moons of Jupiter?” And that makes sense when you consider that some of the moons names are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto – all of whom were lovers of Jupiter or Zeus. (I reasoned it out because of the time period as well as the fact I remembered that Europa and Io were two lovers of Zeus.) Colleen did what she had to do and wagered everything.

No one else knew what it was. Kaitlin wrote down “What are fossils?” and Will saluted a friend my writing down in memory of Carey Hardyn. Caitlin lost everything  but a dollar and Will bet nothing. Both of them were making the smart play.

At the end of Game 1 Will led with $20,000 to Colleen’s $8400 and Kaitlin’s $1. Will had an advantage but far from an insurmountable one. As Alex said anything could happen in Jeopardy and in Game 2, that’s what happened.

 

Game 2

From the start of the Jeopardy round of Game 2 everything went Colleen and Kaitlin’s way and nothing seemed to go Will’s way. It was Colleen got off to an early lead and she would maintain it the entire round. By the time Will found the Daily Double he was in a distant third and had only $1000 in front of him which he bet in 10-,11-& 12-LETTER WORDS.:

“Containing a root from Latin for ‘scales’, it’s a state of balance in physics. It took Will a minute to come up with the correct response: “What is equilibrium?” He doubled his score but it made little of a difference: by the end of the round Colleen led with $6200 to Kaitlin’s $6000 while Will trailed with $3000.

Things kept going against Will in Double Jeopardy: he did poorly in YOUR 19^TH CENTURY BEARD TICKLES and even though bears and history were his specialty he was only able to give one correct response in that category.

Kaitlin and Colleen maintained their level of dominance throughout the round while Will kept struggling: he gave four incorrect responses and kept sliding backwards: at the end of game 2 he would give 17 correct responses but six incorrect ones. By contrast Colleen gave 17 correct responses and only 2 incorrect ones and Kaitlin gave 18 correct responses and only made one mistake. And two of them in ‘R’ WE THERE YET were critical. Will would lose $3200 and Colleen found the first Daily Double in it:

“This mountain’s major peaks are named Liberty Cap, Point Success & Columbia Crest, which is actually the summit. “Colleen knew it was Mount Rainier and added $3000 to her total.

By the time Will found the other Daily Double in SLANG FROM YOUR START-UP JOB, he had just $3800. He was conservative and bet just $1000”

“Do you think you have the” this word ‘to do the work – the word has expanded to mean more than just ‘data capacity’. Will knew it was bandwidth and went up to $4800.

At the end of Double Jeopardy it was reversal from the end of Game 1: Kaitlin was leading with $16,000; Colleen was next with $12,600 and Will trailed with $7600. Despite the turn around Kaitlin’s $1 at the end of Game 1 left her out of contention for advancement. Colleen however still had a chance to overtake Will if he was incorrect in Final Jeopardy and she was correct and bet enough.

The critical Final Jeopardy was about 19^th CENTURY FICTION. “In Chapter 9 of an 1851 work, a preacher in a New England port city delivers a sermon about this old testament prophet.”

Will’s response was revealed first: “Who is Jonah?” That was correct. The novel as you might think given the date was Moby Dick and Ishmael was listening to a sermon about whaling. Will wagered everything to put him at $15,200. His two-day total was $35,200

Colleen’s response was revealed next. She also wrote down Jonah. She bet $12,000 to put her up to $24,600. Her two day total was $33,000.

Kaitlin was last and she had written down: “Who is Joseph?” which was wrong. Her wager was irrelevant; she had no chance of winning but Will had managed to hold on. He received $35,000 and advanced to Champions Wild Card.

 

Two comments from your humble scribe. First of all, all three finalists played well in both the semifinals and the finals. Will was superb throughout but I do give high marks to Kaitlin who made a remarkable recovery considering how far back she was at the end of Game 1 and where she was at the end of Double Jeopardy in Game 2. Everyone was clearly taking their Second Chance with the seriousness it deserved.

Second of all, a gentle suggestion to the producers. For the first decade I watched the show until roughly 2010 or so all Tournaments had guaranteed minimums for all three spots but if you won more money then that minimum, you were allowed to keep it. I suspect this remained true until all of the championships gave away $100,000 as their grand prize and the TOC moved from $100,000 to $250,000 as its grand prize though I’m not sure (the record is foggy)

Considering the nature of the tournament involved why not consider letting all three players keep their winnings? After all, they are Jeopardy champions now and that is what Jeopardy champions are allowed to do. In the case of Will of Colleen in particular, it would have been a nice bump, considering that Will’s total of $35,200 had to drop for the $35,000 he got for winning this leg of the Second Chance Tournament. And considering Colleen earned her $33,000, I think that would be a better take home then the $15,000 she was allowed to take with her. (Kaitlin, obviously, can’t complain.)

Just something to consider if we are to maintain these tournaments as an annual feature. Might very well make them more exciting for the viewer and the contestants.

I’ll be back next week to see the results of the second week of Second Chance.