Emmy Nominations 2006 (1 Viewer)

[ZacharyTait]

Being the nerd that I am, I looked at the acting nominations to see which ones won't be nominated next year because the show is canceled. Obviously, I didn't look at Miniseries, Movies, Variety or Music since those pretty much change every year.

Only two categories, Leading Actor in a Comedy and Guest Actor in a Drama, had no canceled shows in their nominations. The others are as follows:

Drama: The West Wing

Comedy: Arrested Development

Lead Actor, Drama: Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) and Martin Sheen (The West Wing)

Lead Actress, Drama: Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under, Geena Davis (Commander in Chief) and Allison Janney (The West Wing)

Personal Note: With three not elgible next year, I can only hope that Kristen Bell gets nominated for wonderful work on Veronica Mars.

Lead Actress, Comedy: Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback), Stockard Channing (Out of Practice) and Debra Messing (Will and Grace)

Personal Note: This can be seen as a good sign that Lauren Graham will get her long, long, long overdue nomination in this category next year.

Supporting Actor, Comedy: Will Arnet (Arrested Development), Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle) and Sean Hayes (Will and Grace)

Supporting Actress, Comedy: Megan Mullally (Will and Grace)

Suppoting Actor, Drama: Oliver Platt (Huff) and Alan Alda (The West Wing)

Personal Note: Based on screen time, I would have flipped his and Martin Sheen's spots, but the actors are free to pick which category they want to be considered for.

Supporting Actress, Drama: Blythe Danner (Huff)

Guest Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin (Will and Grace) and Leslie Jordan (Will and Grace)

Guest Actress, Comedy: Cloris Leachman (Malcolm in the Middle) and Blythe Danner (Will and Grace)

Guest Actress, Drama: Swoosie Kurtz (Huff), Patricia Clarkson (Six Feet Under) and Joanna Cassidy (Six Feet Under)


Same here. The critics are the ones who watch as much as TV as possible and know what is good and what is bad. Basing nominations on a small fraction of a season is ludicrous.

 

[Rob P S]

Hey, at least Barry Manilow, Zack & Cody and According to Jim were nominated, so cheer up.

But seriously, Michael Emerson, Terry O'Quinn, Jorge Garcia and Hugh Laurie being snubbed is disgraceful. But then Chris Meloni finally got a nod, even though it was for an obvious Emmy-grubbing episode.

Interesting that Patricia Arquette won last year and wasn't even nominated this year. And no Tyne Daly for the first time in eons.

Kevin James???

 

[Brad Porter]

Shamefully I admit that I didn't do any research on the time period of eligibility before starting the thread and griping about Deadwood being snubbed, but recently rewatching some of season 2 on DVD had set me in a mood to be upset about Emmy injustices regardless of the facts.

Here's my thoughts on the major acting categories. It's a list of who I would have nominated (in blue), plus who else I would have considered for nomination (in red), based solely on the shows that I've watched (at which point I must make the disclaimer that I don't currently watch Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica, or House so nobody gripes about me snubbing them). The * indicates the actual nominee for this year's awards.

Lead Actor, Comedy Series
Jason Lee (as Earl) - My Name Is Earl
Jason Bateman (as Michael Bluth) - Arrested Development
Zach Braff (as Dr. John "J.D." Dorian) - Scrubs
*Tony Shalhoub (as Adrian Monk) - Monk
*Steve Carell (as Michael Scott) - The Office
*Larry David (as Himself) - Curb Your Enthusiasm
*Kevin James (as Doug Heffernan) - The King Of Queens
*Charlie Sheen (as Charlie Harper) - Two And A Half Men

It's difficult to identify a "lead actor" in a comedy series since so many of them are ensemble enterprises. I originally had Denis Leary on my list here, but I saw that he is nominated as an actor under the drama category. That show could go in either category. I think their noms aren't too bad, but Jason Lee really deserved recognition.

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series
Jeffrey Tambor (as George Bluth, Sr.) - Arrested Development
*Will Arnett (as GOB Bluth) - Arrested Development
Neil Patrick Harris (as Barney) - How I Met Your Mother
John C. McGinley (as Dr. Perry Cox) - Scrubs
Rainn Wilson (as Dwight Schrute) - The Office
Ethan Suplee (as Randy) - My Name Is Earl
Charlie Day (as Charlie) - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Ted Levine (as Capt. Leland Stottlemeyer) - Monk
*Bryan Cranston (as Hal) - Malcolm In The Middle
*Jeremy Piven (as Ari Gold) - Entourage
*Jon Cryer (as Alan Harper) - Two And A Half Men
*Sean Hayes (as Jack) - Will & Grace

I've got so many quality nominees here that it's hard to choose. I've never really watched Entourage, but I would probably not disagree with rewarding Jeremy Piven since I've liked him in other things. Still, I like my top five nominees much more than the Emmy list. As you can tell, I'll be rooting for Will Arnett.

Lead Actress, Comedy Series
Lauren Graham (as Lorelai Gilmore) - The Gilmore Girls
*Jane Kaczmarek (as Lois) - Malcolm In The Middle
*Julia Louis-Dreyfus (as Christine Campbell) - The New Adventures Of Old Christine
*Lisa Kudrow (as Valerie Cherish) - The Comeback
*Stockard Channing (as Lydia Barnes) - Out Of Practice
*Debra Messing (as Grace) - Will & Grace

It's a fucking crime that Lauren Graham keeps getting snubbed. Funny thing is that none of the desperate housewives got renominated this year. Had you told me that was going to happen then I would have sworn that Lauren would be recognized. Shame.

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series
Jessica Walter (as Lucille Bluth) - Arrested Development
Kelly Bishop (as Emily Gilmore) - Gilmore Girls
Jenna Fischer (as Pam Beesly) - The Office
Alyson Hannigan (as Lily) - How I Met Your Mother
*Jaime Pressly (as Joy) - My Name Is Earl
*Cheryl Hines (as Cheryl David) - Curb Your Enthusiasm
*Elizabeth Perkins (as Celia Hodes) - Weeds
*Megan Mullally (as Karen) - Will & Grace
*Alfre Woodard (as Betty Applewhite) - Desperate Housewives


I like my nominee list more, but I freely admit that I didn't see three of the nominated actresses shows.

Lead Actor, Drama Series
James Gandolfini (as Tony Soprano) - The Sopranos
Dennis Haysbert (as Jonas Blane) - The Unit
*Kiefer Sutherland (as Jack Bauer) - 24
*Denis Leary (as Tommy Gavin) - Rescue Me
Kevin McKidd (as Lucius Vorenus) - Rome
Gary Cole (as Lt. Conrad "Connie" Rose) - Wanted
*Christopher Meloni (as Detective Elliot Stabler) - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
*Peter Krause (as Nate Fisher) - Six Feet Under
*Martin Sheen (as President Josiah Bartlet) - The West Wing

Kiefer will probably take the award with little competition, but I'm surprised that Gandolfini didn't even get nominated. I would have put Andre Braugher in here as well, but I guess Thief was classified as a mini-series.

Supporting Actor, Drama Series
Robert Knepper (as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell) - Prison Break
Terry O'Quinn (as John Locke) - Lost
*Alan Alda (as Arnold Vinick) - The West Wing
John Scurti (as Kenny Lou) - Rescue Me
David Krumholtz (as Charlie Eppes) - NUMB3RS
*Michael Imperioli (as Christopher Moltisanti) - The Sopranos
*William Shatner (as Denny Crane) - Boston Legal
*Oliver Platt (as Russell Tupper) - Huff
*Gregory Itzin (as President Charles Logan) - 24


I'd probably like Shatner and Platt if I watched those shows.

Lead Actress, Drama Series
Edie Falco (as Carmela Soprano) - The Sopranos
*Kyra Sedgwick (as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson) - The Closer
*Allison Janney (as C.J. Cregg) - The West Wing
Ellen Pompeo (as Meredith Grey) - Grey's Anatomy
*Geena Davis (as Mackenzie Allen) - Commander In Chief
*Mariska Hargitay (as Detective Olivia Benson) - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
*Frances Conroy (as Ruth Fisher) - Six Feet Under

I guess I can't complain much about their list since I can't come up with very many more nominees.


Supporting Actress, Drama Series
Mary Lynn Rajskub (as Chloe O'Brian) - 24
*Jean Smart (as First Lady Martha Logan) - 24
Audrey Marie Anderson (as Kim Brown) - The Unit
*Chandra Wilson (as Dr. Bailey) - Grey’s Anatomy
Polly Walker (as Atia of the Julii) - Rome
Joely Richardson (as Julia McNamara) - Nip/Tuck
*Sandra Oh (as Cristina Yang) - Grey’s Anatomy
*Candice Bergen (as Shirley Schmidt) - Boston Legal
*Blythe Danner (as Izzy Huffstodt) - Huff


I think this is the best place to put the things that have been annoying the shit out of me for the hour or two that I've been composing this post. Here they are:

Brad

 

[Marty M]

The TV Academy is notorious for nominating the same people, over and over. The Emmy awards is full of people and shows that have won way after the show had started to decline in popularity and quality.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

A story on one of the CNN shows (I think Show Biz Tonight) said that this year the Academy's nomination process has changed. First the members within a category vote, then the top ten vote getters go to a single committee that selects the final nominees in all categories. So in any given category we may actually have the 6th through 10th vote-getters instead of the top five.

I don't see Keiffer as being such a shoo-in for 24. His show's going to be back this year, which means he'll get another shot. I think the statue goes to Martin Sheen, as a consolation prize for his show's end and in recognition of his work on it.

Nor is it that surprising that even with the old nominating procedure "the same people keep getting nominated" (or even winning repeatedly. How many statues did John Laroquette take home in how many straight years for Night Court?)

This isn't like the Oscars, where you generally have a completely different list of film, actors, directors, etc. from year to year. (There aren't many people in any category who manage to get a new film into theaters year in and year out.) So you pretty much can't have the same problem there.

In TV series can run for years, sometimes decades. A few new shows make it on the schedule each year, most are quickly cancelled - the majority of them because they simply aren't very good, and therefor are unlikely to generate many nominations. It is true that many people in the industry don't watch much television - because the hours they tend to work when shows are shooting make that damned hard. (Hey, most actors on Broadway have a tough time seeing one another's shows for similar reasons. The Broadway actors are all working while the other shows are running, many of the TV actors, directors, lighting people and sound techs are still on the stage shooting when primetime shows are running. Then they go home, prep for the next day, eat and sleep and get up at 5 to start the process again.)

If I'm an actor and the guy whose work I most admired last year was James Gandolfini, the odds aren't great that somebody else is going to come along this year who changes my mind. So I'm going to vote for him again. Since each member votes as an individual there can't really be a collective decision that Gandolfini has received enough nominations and we need to pick someone new. That only happens when a whole bunch of individuals simultaneously decide, "James has had his shot, I'm voting for someone else this year" that anything changes. (Or an actor asks not to be nominated or to have a nomination withdrawn, as sometimes happens.)

Multiply the Gandolfini thing by five nominantions, factor in that most Academy members don't have time to watch a lot of TV and - lo and behold - you tend to get five nominations from popular shows and they tend not to change much from year to year because the best and most popular shows in each category tend not to change much from year to year.

The new committee system was introduced, in part, to avoid just those situations and allow new blood into the nomination pool. Unfortunately this adds other odd variables. For the major awards the shows and actors that made the first cut were asked to submit sample episodes for the final decision, precisely because many members of the committee have not seen all or even most of the shows/actors/what-have-you. One of the CNN guys thought Desparate Housewives lost out on a nomination because the producers elected to submit a dramatic episode even though they were nominated in the comedy category. He suggested Lost got snubbed because too many committee members don't watch it couldn't figure out the arc-heavy episode they were given to watch. (Always a tough situation for a show that is mostly a serial story, and less a series of individual episodes.) James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, on the other hand, were considered shrewed for selecting their best moments (the episode with the parking lot confrontation between Tony and AJ after the botched hit on Uncle Junior and the hospital episode where Carmen tells the sleeping Tony she loves him) from an uneven season.

So yeah, some of the nominations and ommissions seem odd, but no odder than in past years. And this is the first test for the new system. Maybe after a couple of years of ironing the bugs out the new committee will start to produce nomination lists that the critics and the viewers can understand, and that don't simply give us the same names every time. We'll just have to wait and see.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Craig S]

I loved Sheen on TWW, but I was shocked at this nom, as he appeared in only a handful of eps. Bradley Whitford was the de-facto male lead this season and IMO deserved the nod more.

I think this may be Keifer's best shot at winning. The competition is comparitively weak this year (esp without Gandolfini & Laurie), and his show is coming off a strong year with the most noms (including the top-notch turns by Itzin & Smart). I also think this will be "24"'s best chance to grab Best Series - it's probably between "Grey's" & "24".

 

[Phil Florian]

This would be nice...then "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" would have been in the noms back when it was on, as would current critical faves like Battlestar and Veronica Mars. Oh well. One could only hope.

 

[DanielCo]

Not that the Emmys have meant much in recent years, but this should finally get them onto the OLN or maybe GSN. This is easily the worst nominations list in years. A strangely bizarre view of what television is.

It is self-evident that no one in this industry actually watches television. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they spend so much time making shows, they have no time to watch them.

Unlike music, film and theater, television has the disadvantage of having to string together episodes week after week. I guess this makes it difficult for industry people to get a handle on what really is out there.

But I can't give these people too much sympathy. These awards mean something to someone so it would be nice to have them taken seriously.

I'm sure something better will be on some other station when these trinkets are delivered.

 

[Phil_L]

Amen, this is easily the best nom of the year. Gilmore Girls gets shut out again. If the coming season is the last, maybe it will get the recognition it deserves next year.

 

[Walter C]

Watching only a handful of episodes of a TV show is like reading only a handful of chapters of a book, and then say it is one of the best books of the year.

I think with some shows, watching a season is like reading a book, and each episode is like an individual chapter.

 

[JohnS]

If South Park wins, which I hope to god it does, this will be the biggest "in your face" to Cruise.

my conspiracy self, thinks Cruise will try to influence the judges

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

There are no "judges". This isn't American Idol . The final Emmy decisions are made either by the academy members. I believe that all members vote for most of the awards, although some of the technical awards might be chosen only by specialists in those fields. But there is no discrete group of "judges" Cruise could "get to" and no way to tell how any individual member voted.

And, of course, Tom Cruise is hardly the only Scientologist in Hollywood. A whole bunch of folks are going to be ticked off if the Southpark episode wins including many (unlike Cruise) who actually work in television, are voting members of the academy, and who can be expected to show up for the show. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to hear some "boos" when the nominations are read, and maybe even see some walk-outs if the show wins. (Depending on whether or not they've already done the category for a Scientologist who has been nominated, of course. In that case expect a scripted response in somebody's acceptance speech or a walk-out after the person doesn't win. )

Regards,

Joe

 

[Ray H]

I bit late commenting on this. What hasn't been said? Some sorely missing while some getting their due.

Did anyone else notice Denis Lawson (Wedge from SW) got a nomination in the Supporting Actor for a Miniseries or Movie category?

 

[teapot2001]

The show is tonight.

~T

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

If I were Howie Mandel my advice to Meagan Mullally would have been, "Wear that dress"

Regards,

Joe

 

[ThomasC]

Conan's entire opening was awesome, especially the South Park and Dateline parts. Also, killing Bob Newhart if the show ran over was a great idea.

There were a lot of laughs and applause when Tom Cruise came out of the closet in Conan's bit. It could've been fake laugh and applause, but whatever. The awards for animation were presented at the Creative Emmy Awards ceremony, and South Park lost to The Simpsons. Al Jean, an executive producer of The Simpsons, had this to say while accepting the award: "This is what happens when you don't mock Scientology." I'm hoping he said it sarcastically.

 

[Brad Porter]

I haven't been watching the whole show (Deadwood was on), but I noticed the absence of Aaron Spelling in the "In Memoriam" segment. Did they do something else to recognize him?

Brad

 

[ThomasC]

Yes, there was an entire segment lasting 10-15 minutes recognizing him earlier, part of it having the original "Charlie's Angels" all coming up on stage and talking about him.

 

[Brad Porter]

OK. I figured they must have done something.

Has anyone had to announce the full title for "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!"?

Brad

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Nice touch opening with a plane crash "joke", on a day a crash killed 49 in Kentucky.