The Emmy Awards are this weekend, and once again, the list of nominees are wrong. It's impossible to please everyone, but the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences make it especially hard. It's interesting: while the Oscars have drawn heat of late for the fact that their nominated pictures aren't widely seen productions, the Emmy people continue to baffle critics by insisting on nominating popular (and inferior) shows like Two And A Half Men or Boston Legal. But it wasn't all bad this year (you can see the Academy's full list of nominees, although you're probably better off with an abridged version), as they got around to recognizing some smaller cable shows like Dexter and Mad Men.
But rather than be one of those people who complains about the snubbing of one show or another, I'm one of those obsessives who will come up with my own list of nominees and winners to show just exactly who was snubbed and who wasn't. In doing so, I do have some sympathy for Academy voters, as even an avid TV viewer such as myself can't manage to watch every great show (although I do like to think that I watch more than the average Academy member). Among the highly acclaimed shows that I haven't seen (and thus will not be eligible for awards) include Battlestar Galactica (I know, I know... I will check it out eventually; at this point, I think it's best to wait for the whole series to come out on DVD), Breaking Bad, Brothers & Sisters, Doctor Who, House, and Nip/Tuck.
Some ground rules: to qualify for nomination, a show must have aired most of its season, including its season finale, in the past 12 months. Unlike the Emmys, each category is limited to five nominees each (the Academy wimps out a few times with six nominees on occasion). To decide what shows belong where, and which actors belong where (i.e., comedy vs drama, lead vs supporting), I used the official ballot for performers (which you can see here), even in situations that don't necessarily make sense. Also, my votes are based on entire seasons, not single episodes (except when appropriate). And best of all? No awkward monologue to start the show...
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
The nominees are...
- Neil Patrick Harris for How I Met Your Mother
- John Krasinski for The Office
- Tracy Morgan for 30 Rock
- Jason Segal for How I Met Your Mother
- Rainn Wilson for The Office
I'll start things off with one of the toughest categories (the supporting categories are always packed with talent), choosing to double up on two of my favourite shows, with two nominees a piece from The Office and How I Met Your Mother (just leaving out a third from The Office in the form of Ed Helms). Tracy Morgan is hilarious in 30 Rock, but found his role cut down a bit in the strike-shortened season, and Jason Segal is an underrated strength of HIMYM, but this is a two-horse race between Neil Patrick Harris and Rainn Wilson. NPH is always a highlight, and the best reason to watch HIMYM, but I'm going to give the nod to Wilson this year, as he was able to inject some genuine pathos to Dwight Schrute's problems this season whereas in the past he'd sometimes drift too far off into cartoon character territory. Dwight was still wonderfully strange, but a bit more human.
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