This Grand Master Has A Great Opening: The Queen's Gambit

 

Chess has always been one of those things that, as far as entertainment goes, has always been better in metaphor than the subject for its own film or television shows.  There are dozens of episodes of TV shows that show people playing it; very few that actually deal with what makes it a great game. The fact that prodigies come out of it more often than almost any other game doesn’t necessarily lend to great drama.

That changed when Netflix dropped The Queen’s Gambit last December. Based on an obscure Walter Tevis novel, the limited series deals with the life of Elizabeth Harmon, a young female chess prodigy in a game that in the 1960s – and to this day – has very few women players, much less geniuses. Her story is one that is full of tragedy long before we even meet her. Her mother has died in a car accident, and she is sent to a Catholic orphanage. She spends most of her days in the middle of a routine, given ‘pills’ as part of it. That all changes when she goes down to the basement and finds an old man known as Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp of The Outsider and The Night of)  playing chess. For days she watches him. Then she works up the nerve to ask to learn the play. Shaibel is the only person in the series who treats her as an equal.

Throughout the first episode, he slowly teaches her. She surpasses very quickly. Then he invites a teacher to see her play. Then she goes to a high school to play the chess club. She beats everybody who plays her, and is not impressed by them in the least, even though she isn’t even thirteen. We see how chess works to her in a bizarre way at night; she looks at the ceiling which has the form of a board. She imagines the pieces moving in her head and we see them on the ceiling. How much of this is her and how much are the tranquilizers she takes we don’t know…yet.

In the second episode, she is adopted by the Wheatleys – most importantly, Alma (Marielle Heller). Alma has only the vaguest of interests in being a mother, wants to dress her ‘daughter’ like a doll, have her join dance clubs and cheerleader clubs. She had dreams of being a pianist at one point, but suffered from massive stage fright. Her maternal instincts are hampered severely by the ‘medicine’ she takes.  On her own, Alma finds out about a chess tournament in Kentucky. She doesn’t understand clocks or rankings, suffers the casual sexism of the men in charge, and after winning one of her matches, has her first period. All she has in confidence in herself and more skill than all the grandmasters who face her.

This is an engrossing series to watch, but the thing that makes it exceptional is the lead performance of Elizabeth by Anya Taylor-Joy. Last February, I had the privilege of seeing her play the title role in Emma, and am having a hard time believing it’s the same actress. It’s not just that her beauty and skill; it’s the stare. Elizabeth is a woman of very few words, so a lot of Taylor-Joy’s brilliance comes from her silent looks into the distance, sometimes when she’s decided how to move, more often when she lost in her thoughts. I don’t remember a look of concentration that intense since the days of Andre Braugher in Homicide.  There’s the same level of confidence, too. When Alma tells her about a tournament in Cincinnati and that they’ll make money even if she comes in second or third, Elizabeth simply says: “I’ll win.” No doubt in her voice.

Do you need to understand chess to enjoy  The Queen’s Gambit? Probably not. The game itself is played so quickly and the terms for victory so simple that we get the message: Elizabeth is brilliant at it. One knows, given the flashes we got of her life in the first episode, and the way she takes pills like they were candy, that there was tragedy in her past and there’s likely pain ahead. And it is hard not to watch Taylor-Joy even for a second and not be mesmerized by her work. This is likely an early contenders for awards down the line, and even more amazing, it may actually make chess sexy.

My score: 4.75 stars.

grown-ish is back for Season 3...ish

I’ve always been delighted by the world that Kenya Barris has created around being black in America, something that has become even more potent in the last couple of years. All of the series focuses on the Johnson family have been incredibly entertaining and often very moving to watch. That said, the one I still find the most fun is the one that isn’t on ABC, and therefore has fewer boundaries when it comes to language, sex and issues in general.

It’s been more than a year since the first half of Season 3 of grown-ish  aired (the pandemic has made filming difficult) and while a lot has changed, particularly for Zoey (Yara Shahdi) there are a lot of deeper issues going on. For one thing, Zoey dropped out of college at the end of the first half of Season 3 to pursue her dream of being a stylist for celebrities. Like so much in her world, it hasn’t gone according to plan. When she came back to Cal State to try and hook up with her on-again, off-again squeeze Aaron, he basically told her that he’s finally moved on (perhaps as a signal to the audience that was getting as sick of the love triangle as he is). Everyone else is dealing with a whole new set of issues, which are still being formed. Twins Jazz and Sky are trying out for the next Olympics. Nomi, who ended up pregnant at the beginning of Season 3, is now raising her child on her own. Both Luca and Aaron had moved on to other girlfriends, and Jazz has finally broken up with her own boyfriend.

This could be seen as the making of a black college sitcom, but like so many other shows by Barris (and in a different way, so many of the series on Freeform), grown-ish has a way of making so many of these issues entertaining. In the second episode, Ana (who has been gunshy about dating) learned that her most recent boyfriend is a practicing celibate. So there were a fair amount of jokes about guys all wanting to have sex. But there was also a fairly sound discussion about Ana, who has always been religious, trying to find a way to understand her boyfriend. This led her to attending a youth church service unlike any I’ve seen on any medium and it later led to her finding a way to let God back into her life.

On a more serious note Aaron, the major student activist on this series, announced that he had been ignoring the Black Student Union because they didn’t take causes seriously. When he went to a meeting, though, he learned that the university had been investing in private prisons and using that money to pay for security. Aaron began to protest as he does, and it quickly turned very serious as two campus cops told him to take down his posters, then began to treat him very much as a felon. (The fact that one of the cops happened to be African-American was a very subtle jab at the nature of policing.) Aaron ended up being arrested while his girlfriend filmed the whole encounter. I really want to see how this turns out.

Honestly, as good as Shahdi still is, Zoey is now the weakest link of grown-ish. The series is far more of an ensemble piece than almost any of Barris’ other series, and in a way, I was getting fatigue watching Zoey try to find her place in the world and bouncing between Luca and Aaron. There are far more interesting stories going on, and the series far bigger than its lead. Zoey may not be grown-ish, but the cast and the writing sure are.

My score: 4 stars.

 

Nancy Drew's Back for a Second Season...kind of

 

When Nancy Drew premiered way back in October of 2019, it seemed to be yet another example of a CW angst filled revision of a once cheerful children’s series.  I really railed against mainly because I thought it seemed to be another point as to the direction this once promising network seemed to be going. Nancy Drew, the once cheerful teen detective, had become a bleached out, angry teenager who didn’t so much solve mystery as have them collide with her, whose friends seemed drawn to her more because of their flaws then due to any real friendship. When the series prematurely ended its first season because of the pandemic, I wasn’t exactly upset.

I’ve had some time to reassess my feeling over the series over the past several months and the last few episodes I’ve seen (because of the end, the series is wrapping up the mystery that was the foundation of Season 1 in the early part of this season) it has seemed notably better than I remember it being. The problems with the show are still there, but it may be my own reaction.

The series has been leaning more in the supernatural during the second half of the first season, which in my opinion is actually an improvement. It may seem petty, but by giving these characters the threat of potentially horrifying death has actually given them a bit more life. The fear now actually seems to give them more motivation than trying to solve the murder that took up most of the first season and it’s given them a lot of room to grow.  George has gotten over such of her poison by being helped by a backstory that actually explains so much of her harshness – she had an alcoholic mother and had to raise her siblings by herself, and her relationship with an adult has damaged how she views people. She’s actually moved into seeing Ned and this actually seems to have helped both of them move forward. Bess, who was proven to be an illegitimate child of the Marvin clan (the people who run Horseshoe Bay), has been given more of a personality as she fights between the loyalty to her friends, her family, and her police lover.  Even Ace, who was the forensic techie, now seems to be really alive as he faces what may be his death.

Sadly, I still think the biggest problem with the show is Kennedy McCann’s work as Nancy Drew.  Already weighed down by so much in the early episodes and now dealing with the curse of a sea spirit, she has to deal with the death of a boyfriend and the fact that Carson (Scott Wolf is still struggling for something to do) is not her real father and that she is also a bastard child. There actually seemed to be some forward motion in the first episodes of the season, when she finally realized how her fear and anger were destroying everybody, and maybe it’ll be a motion forward.

Honestly, my major problem with the series that it still plays like a cross between True Detective and Supernatural. Just once, I wish there could be a little light in this series. I know the CW is capable of doing things like with a slight shade of humor – iZombie was a delightful little charmer and Katy Keene proved that being a Riverdale spinoff didn’t mean you couldn’t have fun.  And given that the CW has produced some franchises recently that were actually enjoyable – Stargirl was a revelation among the darkness of the Berlanti-verse - it’s not like there aren’t some better examples of it out here. There are good things to be found in Nancy Drew, but half the time it still plays more like a slog that entertainment.

The sea spirit curse that has made up the bulk of the first season will probably reach a climax in the next couple of episode. I really hope that Nancy Drew then tries to do something that’s a little more fun. Part of me thinks they will because once you’ve been faced with a supernatural curse, things can only go up. But then I see what Riverdale has become and I hope that serves as an abject lesson.

My score: 2.75 stars.

Yes I'll Call This Number: 9--1-1 Season 4 Review

 

I’ve had a problem with a lot of procedural series for a while, going as far back as ER and much of Dick Wolf’s oeuvre. But over the last few years, I’ve been more than willing to make an exception for Fox’s 9-1-1, a series that some critics have dismissed as ‘disaster porn’.

To be fair, it’s really hard not to see where they’re coming from. Season 2 open with a massive earthquake. Season 3 opened with a tidal wave. And this season’s opening arc has involved a massive quake breaking down the reservoir and causing the ‘H’ of the Hollywood sign to be floated down hill. And if it were just because of the crises, one could see this easily being done by the hand of Michael Bay. But it’s done by Ryan Murphy who, as anyone who remotely knows of his work (American Horror Story is the prime example) knows that he is fond of going to excess.

But what makes me lean more in favor of this series than some of his other work is that Murphy, who will go towards excesses of camp in almost all his network series, is playing most of the characters in 9-1-1 relatively straight. Most of the characters do not lean towards the excesses that we saw in Glee and Scream Queens; instead, they are human beings trying to get through a day’s work. And perhaps more than any show on television in the era of the pandemic, 9-1-1 seems to have its pulse firmly on the world we live in.  (Trying to figure out a person’s level of competency, a paramedic asks a victim “What year is it?” Her response: “Don’t make me say it.”)

As we all know, our first responders and emergency care workers have been stressed to the limit during this past year. 9-1-1 handles this with far more competency and subtlety than just about any series I have seen in the 2020-2021 season so far. Chimney and Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who found out they were having a baby in the Season 3 finale apparently spent most of the hiatus in separate apartments, ostensibly to keep the child safe, mostly out of Chimney’s personal fears. Bobby Nash (Peter Krause, once again playing his everyman personality to perfection) is running the fire station trying to deal with the crisis in the world with the problems with his family. And Athena (frequent Murphy player Angela Bassett) is back on the job after a major assault, but it takes a crisis for her to realize that she may not be ready to be back.

In a way, 9-1-1 has a better handle on the idea of family than any Murphy series since the early days of Glee.  Athena is still reeling from the fact that her daughter May has abandoned her plans for college to work at a call center, and doesn’t seem to realize just how powerless May feels. This is made clear very quickly when her mother is in a crisis. Even though Athena has long since moved on with Bobby, it is clear how big a role her ex-husband will always play in her life. ‘Hen’ Wilson (Aisha Hinds) having spent so much of the last year trying to get a family, is now trying to move on professionally: she’s going to med school (on Zoom, of course) And Buck, still dealing with the fall out from last year’s finale, is now facing his own issues in therapy. 9-1-1 makes it clear that the family you’re born in and the family you work with are just as important.

So yes, 9-1-1 is in a sense disaster porn. But considering that we’re all basically living in a disaster movie right now, makes it to hard to argue that it’s not relevant.  And considering that so many of these shows put the disaster above character development, shouldn’t we celebrate a series that does the reverse? It may be a formula show, but a formula works for a reason.

My score: 3.75 stars.

 

Why The Office Never Worked For Me: Conclusion

 

I’ll admit that when I saw the documentary approach to The Office, I was mostly left cold. In retrospect, I’ve never been sure why it didn’t appeal to me. It certainly did for Parks and Recreation, which I felt was one of the great comedies of the last decade, if not of all time and it worked well for me in Modern Family, a series I mostly ignored when it was on the air, but every time I see an episode in syndication I get a pang when I realize what I missed.

For some reason, though, the way The Office did it never quite worked. I got the feeling that almost everybody on the series was playing to the camera in a way that just never appealed to me.  Jim’s knowing glances to the fourth wall (which I’ll admit could be amusing) reminded me to much of the work of Jack Benny, who could say so much with just a look at the camera. The difference is, when Benny did, he was lampooning himself. When John Krasinki did it, it seemed a little mean.

There were some things, I’ll admit, that I really liked about the series. Most of it applied to many of the background characters. Kelly Kaling and Angela Kinsey were both incredibly good at being two polar opposites; Mindy utterly irrepressible in the face of her job; Angela incredibly repressed in just about everything (well, except her cat.) I thought just about everything that came out of Stanley’s mouth was funny – in retrospect he may have been the most relatable character on the show, someone who just wanted to get through the day and had no patience for his bosses shenanigans. And I really like the naivete of Ed Helms’ early work as Andy, someone who seemed so eager to do what he wanted.

And yes, like everybody else in the world, I loved Jim and Pam. How could you not? Of all the people at Dunder Mifflin, they were the only ones who seemed genuinely interested in life outside their jobs.  Jim was never really happy at his job, which is probably why he did everything he could to divert attention from work. And Pam so clearly wanted to do more with her life than be a secretary and it was actually wonderful when she managed to break free of that desk.

  And the flirtation that went back and forth between Pam for the first three seasons was adorable and unlike so many romances that fizz out when they finally hook up, it actually became more lively and entertaining when they were together. A lot of this has to do with the chemistry between Krasinki and Fischer that was always there. There are very few relationships on television that actually work all the way through. (Another reason I never really liked one of the final episode arcs, but since I never saw it, I’ll let it go.)

So it’s obvious that there were parts of The Office that worked very well. Why then, did it never add up to real greatness for me? I really don’t know. Full disclosure: one of the greatest joys I ever found watching the Emmys came in 2011 just after Steve Carell had left. In this three minute segment, the workers at Dunder Mifflin were upset at the ‘new people’ who had come to work there after Michael had left. Most of these people were either stars of Emmy nominated or popular series. Among my favorite segments: Aziz Ansari’s Tom from Parks & Rec trying to get Stanley to cheer up (which he didn’t) Jesse Pinkman walking in to see Creed (the office’s clearest criminal) and Creed openly buying crystal meth from him, and a segment where Peter Dinklage’s character from Game of Thrones was seen speaking Dothraki, followed by Leslie Knope doing the same. I’ve rarely laughed that hard at any segment before or since.

So why couldn’t I enjoy the series either when it was on the air or in syndication now?  When it comes right down to it, unlike so many of the great sitcoms of that era – I think not only of Parks & Rec, but 30 Rock and, when it was at its peak, Arrested Development -  how mundane it was. All of the funniest series on the air at the time offered absurdity and Easter eggs if you paid close attention. Most of all, even in their lunacy, they offered escapism. The Office’s humor was literally based in the average job that so many of us have. In retrospect, that may have been the main reason The Office was so popular, while the series I’ve mentioned were critically acclaimed but barely watched. The series I listed have had a great afterlife too – believe me, their fans are legion as well – but none have had the consistent fanbase of The Office.

Perhaps in that sense I’m more of an elitist than a working stiff. But I’d still rather spent an afternoon watching Leslie and Ron spar in Pawnee in the parks department or see Liz Lemon try to control Jenna and Tracy than watch Jim perform pranks on Dwight at Dunder Mifflin.  And I still prefer Leslie and Ben’s love story – or for that matter, any of the wondrous romances that unfolded in Parks & Rec – to any of those – yes, even Pam and Jim’s that came to life in Scranton. They were truly moving and there were none of the contrivances to keep them apart after they got together. Maybe the satire is more obvious than the humor on The Office, but I’d rather hang out with them than got to work there.

 

 

Why The Office Never Worked for Me, Part 1

 

Over the last several years – especially during the pandemic – there has been a near deification of NBC’s The Office. The series was beloved when it was on the air, but after it left its reached heights that I don’t think even the creators would’ve expected. The series has become one of the most streamed shows, there are several major podcasts and rewatches going on and it continues to rerun everywhere. (During the height of the pandemic, Comedy Central has devoted anywhere from two to three of its nights and much of its daytime slots to The Office marathons, which may sadly say more for the state of the network than anything else.)

Now I understand than in a period where everybody is working from home, the nostalgia for a show that glorified the dullness of your work life would be understandable. But I can’t for the life of me understand why so many people would embrace this series more than any other workplace comedy. When it was on the air, I put a tremendous about of effort into trying to see what so many people saw in it. And after watching the first five seasons (the creative peak according to fans) I still can’t find anything entertaining or amusing about it. So I figured, given the current worship of this series which is only likely to become even greater now that it is the foundation of NBC’s new streaming app Peacock, now would be a good time to look back.

Any discussion of The Office must begin with its origin in Britain under the auspices of Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. I can’t in good conscience do so, however, because I never watched it and have no plans too. This is mainly due to my utter loathing of everything Ricky Gervais does. With the lone exception of his HBO series Extras, I have never found a single thing about him funny. His smarmy, bad music hall insult comic shtick has never appealed to me at all. I have no understanding why the Golden Globes keeps asking him to host, considering he is charmless, smug and utterly without wit. The idea that anything remotely funny could come out his mind has always amazed me, which may be part of the reason NBC took so long to decide to make an American version.

From everything I’m told, Greg Daniels and his troop went out of there way to make things ‘ten percent nicer’ at Dunder Mifflin. Nicer, however, didn’t translate into funny. I recall laughing maybe three times during the entire 100 episodes I ended up watching of the series. That’s truly remarkable, considering that in almost every show, movie or special they have done, I have loved almost every actor in the cast. I was a fan of Rainn Wilson’s awkwardness when he played an intern on Six Feet Under.  I now consider John Krasinki one of the most brilliant talents in acting, writing or personality. Jenna Fischer has always been a charming comic to me. And I’ve loved Ed Helms, BJ Novak, Angela Kinsey, Elle Kemper and especially Mindy Kaling in just about everything they have done. So what the hell was wrong with The Office that just made me go ‘Eh’ so much?

A lot of the problem has to do with Michael Scott. And to be clear, I mean Michael Scott, not Steve Carell. I love Steve Carell. His work on The Daily Show was a masterpiece. (Go to YouTube, type in ‘Daily Show Even Stephen and revel in the glory.) I’ve found his work in so many movies brilliant, from The 40 Year Old Virgin and Get Smart to dramas like Foxcatcher and The Big Short.  I even loved his acceptance speech when we won his only Golden Globe for The Office.

No, the biggest problem with Michael Scott is the fundamental flaw in the show. He’s a terrible boss. I’ll start with the obvious problem of his political incorrectness (though as you’ll see that’s actually the least of his flaws). It’s hard to look at so much of what the series did, even before the era of cancel culture, and find it funny.  Michael was a racist and a sexist, a very gentle one, but nevertheless one. How many of the episodes that aired have issues where he has problems with Stanley, an older black man? It was hard to see them then and not feel there was something flawed it; it’s more apparent now. When the women in the office started a women’s group; he started a man’s group. So many of the episode deal with his issues with Toby, the head of human resources who he considers his nemesis, because he won’t let Michael speak the way he wants to. I think it’s a tribute to Carell’s basic affability that so many people were willing to overlook his obvious bigotry.

But that’s not the real reason he’s a terrible boss. He’s more concerned with everybody thinking he’s a great boss than actually being a great boss.  There was so much focus on the “party planning committee” (which was run entirely by women, but let that pass) that one wondered how they ever got work done. There was more focus on having a fun work environment than actually having work done. I don’t think there was a single episode that I watched where we saw the staff at Dunder Mifflin doing their jobs. This would barely be tolerated at a successful company, which I may remind you Dunder Mifflin was not.

Another dirty secret: the company was producing paper in a world that is increasingly going digital. In the first five seasons, two branches of Dunder Mifflin closed and in the sixth, the company itself was sold. Michael didn’t seem to understand that the company needed to stay afloat, and if he did, it was only in how it affected his position. There was an episode called ‘Shareholder’s Meeting’ where the bosses inexplicably called Michael and Dwight in to calm the panic. As I recall, they poured napalm on the fire.

Which leads us to what is ultimately the tragedy of Michael Scott: he was loyal to a company that never valued him. In the third season, he began a relationship with Jan (Melora Hardin) his superior who he couldn’t stop bragging about having sex with even though she told him how critical it was not to let her bosses know. Jan than had a nervous breakdown in the third season finale and was fired. Michael then defended Jan in a lawsuit in which his girlfriend revealed the biggest secret of all: Dunder Mifflin was never going to promote him. Rather than turn on his company, he turned on Jan. (Says even more about him, but let that go.) The following season, Michael was removed from his position and came as close to rebelling when he formed the Michael Scott Paper Company. Pam and Ryan went with him, Pam because she wanted to try and move up, Ryan because his star had fallen in the course of the past season. The rebellion lasted barely an episode but Michael managed to win when he outmaneuvered the bosses (with an assist from Jim).

This might make entertaining material for a dramatic series, but all of this was ostensibly played for laughs. And these were the smart jokes; the lion’s share of the rest was Michael trying to be clever, when they just showed us how big an idiot he was. I’ve never been sure why you’d want this to be a workplace comedy; it might have been funny in flush times, but the lion’s share of The Office was being shown in the middle of a recession. Carell managed to keep much of the material from being cruel, but he just couldn’t make it funny. That’s rather impressive, when you consider what a masterful comedian and actor Carell is. I don’t know if the writers ever decided what Michael’s role was supposed to be – protagonist? Antagonist? Comic foil? Clown? 

The only thing they could agree on was that he was the center, and when he left in 2011, the series completely collapsed.  That being said, I’m not sure they could’ve gotten around some of the other flaws, which I’ll discuss in the next part.

 

 

My Reactions To This Year's Critics Choice Nominations, Conclusion: Limited Series/TV Movie

 

BEST LIMITED SERIES

No problem with Mrs. America or The Undoing. I’m fine with I May Destroy You and The Queen’s Gambit,  both of which were very strong. I’m overjoyed that the critics recognized one of the major flaws of last year’s Emmys and gave a good amount of nominations to The Plot Against America.  And I can see the logic with recognizing Normal People and Unorthodox both of which were highly considered by the Emmys even though they were ignored.

It’s just really hard to see why Small Axe, which is being considered in the Best Movie categories by some critics group is in the TV category. And what makes it even harder to stomach is who they left out. I’m appalled that the critics, who loved Fargo in its three previous incarnations, ignored it this time, and I’m horrified that Little Fires Everywhere was completely shutout. Both are the kinds of series that the critics usually recognize; this time they were basically ignored. This may be the most glaring omissions so far, and they’re going to be more.

 

BEST ACTOR INA LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE.

Mark Ruffalo deserved to be here for I Know This Much Is True (though I’m still hurt that the rest of the cast was ignored) Chris Rock more than earned his spot here, as I made clear. Hugh Grant really earned it for The Undoing. And I’m glad to see Morgan Spector included for his work in The Plot Against America. Paul Mescal received a lot of buzz for his role in Normal People, so I’m not surprised.

But against, I question John Boyega in this category at all. I would much rather have seen Hugh Jackman nominated for his incredible work in Bad Education. This is a very questionable choice. Hell, Ethan Hawke was ignored for his great work in The Good Lord Bird whose omission as Best Limited Series is kind of shocking too.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TV

Cate Blanchett, no argument. I’m very glad to see Michaela Coel recognized for everything she did in I May Destroy You. Anya Taylor-Joy has taken chess to a new level in The Queens Gambit. Shira Haas was recognized by the Emmys for Unorthodox so that’s logical, and a lot of people were angry when Daisy Edgar-Jones was ignored for Normal People.

I don’t care how great Tessa Thompson was in Sylvie’s Love. How could they ignore Nicole Kidman for The Undoing? Even if by some miracle they could explain nominating her male costars and not here, there is no justification of Thompson being nominated instead of either Reese Witherspoon or Kerry Washington for Little Fires Everywhere. This is a travesty.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE

This is a bit better. John Turturro was on almost everybody’s short list for a nomination as the corrupt adviser to Lindbergh in Plot Against America, and it was ridiculous that he was shutout. Glad to see him included. Daveed Diggs and Joshua Caleb Johnson were both incredible in their work in The Good Lord Bird, so I’m glad to see them acknowledged at least. (You could make an argument that Johnson should be considered for Best Actor, but he’s here so we’ll let it pass.) Donald Sutherland was a tower of strength in The Undoing and was a sure thing. And while I would’ve been happier to see Ben Whishaw or Jason Schwartzman nominated, Glynn Turman’s work in Fargo was so good (and he’s been such a good actor for so long) that I’m glad to see him nominated.)

Dylan McDermott’s nomination for Hollywood is hard to fathom. If they were going to nominate someone from that series, I thought it would be Jim Parsons. And it would’ve been nice for another nominee for Fargo instead. But this is more what I expected.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TV

 

The three women from Mrs. America  were pretty among the best performances last year and I have no problem with any of them being nominated for anything. Winona Ryder should’ve been nominated for Stranger Things at least, so I’m glad to see her get one for The Plot Against America (though Zoe Kazan would’ve been a little better choice. Marielle Heller was a good choice for The Queens Gambit.

I’m torn about Betsy Brandt’s nomination. She was the only actor on Breaking Bad who never seemed to get any recognition for what she did. So I’m glad she’s nominated for something. That said, why did they have to nominate her instead of Jessie Buckley for Fargo or Allison Janney for Bad Education? What am I saying… these are the Broadcast Critics.

 

On a side note, in the talk show category, it’s good to see Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert nominated. It’s great to see Samantha Bee and Desus and Mero nominated. Nothing for John Oliver? I guess the critics are getting tired of him.

 

I’ll be at some point later to deal as I try to handicap (ha-ha) this awards. See you in a couple of weeks when the Golden Globes make their choices.