July 2, 2008 · 12:21 pm

The Top 10+ Pleasant Surprises of the 2008 Emmy Top 10s

The Top 10 Pleasant Surprises of the Top 10s

[If I was currently wearing a hat, I would take it off in honour of Tom O’Neill’s continued amazing work gathering up leaks in regards to the Top 10 lists of semi-finalists for the Emmy Awards panels taking place over the next few weeks. While he doesn’t have the complete list, I’m willing to go out and indicate the 10 choices (In no particular order, but the top 2 probably are) that actually make me optimistic about the show’s relevancy (Before, admittedly, taking a look tomorrow at the ones that give me no hope at all).]

1. Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica)

Category: Lead Actress, Drama Series

Last year when writing up my For Your Consideration posts, I said the following about Mary McDonnell’s work as President Laura Roslin on my favourite Sci-Fi series:

“What I love about Mary McDonnell’s portrayal of the character is that, without fail, you are always rooting for Laura Roslin to succeed except for those moments where she is clearly wrong. In those cases, McDonnell makes you want to see Roslin get let down as easily as possible, in order to ensure that she isn’t too damaged in the process.”

This is even more true this season, where her character finds her cancer back and where a whole new perspective is reached. Her performance in “Faith” is heart-wrenching, and that panels will finally get to see an episode of this fantastic series in the Top 10 warms my frakking heart. This is one of those surprises that gives you faith that the Emmys are willing to recognize performances off the beaten path, if you will, and they don’t get much better than this.

2. Zeljko Ivanek (Damages)

Category: Supporting Actor, Drama Series

When previewing this category, I lamented the likely lack of recognition for Damages other supporting actor contender:

“While he seemed fairly minimal in most instance, sparring with Patty or reasoning with Frobisher, Ivanek burst into the main narrative with “I Hate These People.” Without falling into total spoiler territory, the character took a sudden turn to the tragic, a dramatic fall that was more compelling than anything the other supporting characters went through.”

That he broke through was a highlight for me, a sign that people were watching all of Damages and not just the show’s pilot. Ivanek may have had accent issues, and certainly the show wasn’t near perfect, but his performance in his submission is simply stunning, and I can only hope voters enjoy the time they have with this amazing piece of work.

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July 2, 2008 · 12:44 am

Series Premiere Review – The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Learning that ABC Family was airing a new series, I was of two minds. On the one hand, it’s ABC Family – a network not exactly known for its high-class programming. On the other hand, I’ve been enjoying their fare as of late – I was a big fan of Greek which had its season finale a few weeks back, and I’m slowly but surely going to be posting Middleman commentary in time (And I’m quite enjoying it as well). So, figuring that I should at least give their latest series a try, I dug in.

What I found, however, is that the network is not the issue here: airing on ABC Family is no longer a curse, but Brenda Hampton certainly is. Best known for her eons-long stint running 7th Heaven, one of my most hated shows of all time, she brings to The Secret Life of the American Teenager a bag of tricks so lifeless and emotionless as to emaciate any interest the series could have driven. The show looks, feels, like 7th Heaven, and while it isn’t quite as preachy that seems more like pilot sins that will later be repented.

What Teenager lacks is what Greek had: for all of the show’s stereotypical storylines and love triangles and everything else, it was willing to treat all of it with both a sense of humour and a sense of respect. While there is some humour in the show’s first episode, and I think that it does respect a few of its characters, the former is isolated to one character and the latter is only created through hackneyed bait-and-switch mechanics. At the end of the day, there’s a central secret, but it doesn’t have any of the life that its title alludes to.

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July 1, 2008 · 6:11 pm

The Mole (2008) – “Episode Five”

“Episode Five”

June 30th, 2008

First off, happy Canada Day to my Canadian bretheren! I’ve been out for the day, but wanted to get a chance to catch up on the summer’s most high quality reality series that in recent weeks has been working extremely well. I won’t say it’s on the level of the other seasons of the series, but there is something that feels right about the overall purpose of the series. Or, felt right.

In this episode, it’s all about the psychological on first glance: the first task is entirely mental, demonstrating the emotional breakdown of a contestant who was once most confident in his game. The second task, though, seemed like it was about ingenuity or will but ended up being a giant mind game that demonstrates that these players are really just spoiled children.  It was an episode that showed these players at their worst, and while I saw semblances of the real story for the most part it was just reality show drivel that needs to stop.

And hopefully, as the game wittles down, it might – but losing one of the sane people isn’t going to help much.

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July 1, 2008 · 1:56 am

Weeds – “The Whole Blah Damn Thing”

“The Whole Blah Damn Thing”

June 30th, 2008

There are certain points in time when I question whether or not Nancy Botwin really understands what she does for a living. It’s one thing that she isn’t a seasoned professional when it comes to the drug trade, such as last week’s embarassing excursion to Mexico, but when she remains so shocked at the voltatility of it all I have to wonder if she even understands her own life. When she programs her new “secret” home into her GPS that Guillermo has access to, why should she be survived that he knows where she lives?

In what was technically an episode about assisted suicide, this is the only real pressing issue: the episode featured some strong performances from Justin Kirk and Albert Brooks, and ushered in a somewhat questionable if also potential-filled scenario that reintroduces Celia into the mix more quickly than anticipated. It’s a quickening of the pace that, following Bubbie’s passing, allows the show to stop dealing with the past and moving forward to the future.

And that’s a good stage for a series putting itself through an identity crisis on purpose.

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June 30, 2008 · 4:50 pm

Assessing the Contenders: Entourage – “The Day F*ckers”

[As the Top 10 Comedy and Drama series contenders have been released, and since Gold Derby has been kind enough to grab us the episode titles, I’m going through each submission judging its quality and its potential on the panel. As I prepare to write about the second Comedy series in contention, you can check out some great Spy reports gathered by Tom O’Neill and Boomer over at Gold Derby (One, Two & Three).]

Entourage (HBO)

Episode: “The Day F*ckers”

Synopsis: With both lovelorn Eric (Struggling to get over his ex-girlfriend Sloan) and Turtle (Who’s never been very good with dating) in slumps, Vince and Drama turn their rush to get laid in a casual fashion into a contest; meanwhile, Ari (Jeremy Piven) struggles to get his son into a private school despite his poor reputation.

My Thoughts: I’ll let my thoughts back when the episode aired to do a bit of the talking for me, although I’ll break into further analysis after the break.

That’s not to say this was a terrible episode of Entourage; as far as these really light and inconsequential episodes go, this one wasn’t particularly awful. But it just had no purpose: Ari’s storyline has been drawn out and neither funny nor dramatic, Eric’s love life has never been entertaining (Although Sloan remains attractive), and Turtle and Drama’s antics were just as ludicrous as ever. The episode just kind of sat there, not doing anything except advance Eric’s love life that tiny little baby step forward.

And when reading over this, and watching the episode, I have to agree: in context of this race, the episode gets even worse.

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June 29, 2008 · 6:00 pm

Assessing the Contenders: Boston Legal – “The Court Supreme”

[As the Top 10 Comedy and Drama series contenders have been released, and since Gold Derby has been kind enough to grab us the episode titles, I’m going through each submission judging its quality and its potential on the panel. Here’s the first Drama Series in contention, a nominee last year that looks to return.]

Boston Legal (ABC)

Episode: “The Court Supreme”

Synopsis: Having gained a reputation as a staunch opponent of the death penalthy, Alan Shore (James Spader) is approached by a young attourney whose client, a mentally disabled man from Louisiana convicted of raping a child, is appealing the death penalty at the highest level: the Supreme Court of the United States.

My Thoughts: There’s quite a few who are labeling this episode as Emmy bait, and they would not be wrong. For a show that is never afraid to quite literally throw its politics in the audience’s face, this goes even further than we’re used to. James Spader is likely to pick up his fourth Emmy for his performance here, and the show is more than likely guaranteed a nomination.

That doesn’t, however, mean I liked it.

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June 28, 2008 · 10:40 pm

Assessing the Emmy Contenders: Curb Your Enthusiasm – “The Bat Mitzvah”

When Emmy released the Top 10 lists of the potential nominees for both comedy and drama series, they took the wind out of my sails in terms of putting up my own predictions. However, their work and the work of Tom O’Neill over at Gold Derby getting the episode submission titles means that interested parties can have their own private screening of the 10 comedy and 10 drama episodes that the blue ribbon panels are viewing this weekend. So, following a suggestion by GoldDerby Forum poster jss0058, I figured I’d offer my thoughts on the submitted episodes in alphabetical order as we approach the July 17th nominations.

First off, two caveats:

  • For the sake of not ruining plot-heavy series, I have no intention of watching the submitted episodes from The Tudors or The Wire. I’m currently on the fence with Flight of the Conchords, but chances are I’ll be fine with it.
  • I probably won’t rewatch some of the episodes that I’ve already reviewed/watched extensively, but I’ll try to at least take a fresh perspective.

And with that out of the way, let’s get onto the first series, Larry David’s improvisational comedy hit that finished off its sixth season late last year.

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

Episode: “The Bat Mitzvah” (Directed by Larry David)

Synopsis: Larry (Larry David) has a tickle in his anus, and a rumour spreads that it’s the result of a gerbil finding a way into that particular cavity.

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June 27, 2008 · 2:06 am

My Boys – “The Shirt Contest”

“The Shirt Contest”

June 26th, 2008

Having just jumped on the My Boys bandwagon in the past week, this is the first time I’ve been able to catch an episode on the night of its airing. It’s a pity, then, that it was an episode that was so slight, a mere distraction with a central reality show parody that never quite clicked for me. There’s three storylines here, and none of them are really given anything to do. While I don’t miss PJ’s insipid Baseball cliches that opened each episode, part of me does miss episodes that felt more cohesive.

That’s not to say that the episode wasn’t funny, nor that the storylines are on a poor trajectory – rather, the pace of the storylines just seems a bit too slow. After they spent an episode in Italy, and spent last week with PJ searching for a man, it seemed like things were rebooting this week, and the result is less Andy (Never a good quality in an episode) and more of Brendan and PJ’s newest career moves.

And in one case, this is good news for an oft forgotten character; in the other, it’s an odd half-storyline that feels like we’re waiting for a payoff.

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June 26, 2008 · 9:21 pm

Academy Reveals Emmy “Top 10s” for Comedy and Drama Series

Earlier this week, Tom O’Neill over at The Envelope’s Gold Derby revealed that the Academy planned, for the first time, to reveal the official Top 10 qualifiers for the Series and Acting prizes. These are the shows that will be screened in front of panels, and then used to decide 50% of the final nomination process. These lists are the cutoff point – if you don’t make the list, you cannot get nominated for an Emmy.

Now, the Academy is making their unprecedented decision a little bit more tentative; they’ve announced the Top 10 Series in both Comedy and Drama, and are going to re-assess the situation tomorrow after they see the critical and industry response to these revelations. This is fair, I guess, but let me be the first to say that as a wannabe TV critic I love this news, and think that it’s only helpful to the process. Yes, it will make a potential nomination for a show like The Wire less surprising (Where before people would have presumed that it wouldn’t even make the Top 10), but now people are actually kind of excited going into the process.

Now, Tom has asked that the list of episode submissions be kept to his blog, but the Top 10 lists are floating around. So, here’s the link to Tom’s list, and then I’ll provide the full list of shows and go into some commentary on the choices, and why releasing the acting lists is still a viable option.

Gold Derby: Emmy Drama/Comedy Top 10 Submissions [Link]

Drama

“Boston Legal”
“Damages”
“Dexter”
“Friday Night Lights”
“Grey’s Anatomy”
“House”
“Lost”
“Mad Men”
“The Tudors”
“The Wire”

The Big Surprise: The Wire, which in its fifth season finally captured a little more of voters’ attention. The show is actually HBO’s only show in the category, trouncing their more heavily promoted In Treatment.

The Big Snub: While one could argue that Big Love’s absence from the list is a surprise, the real surprise is that Heroes (nominated last year) didn’t make the Top 10. That the Academy so clearly judged the second season’s quality correctly gives me high hopes.

The Sentimental Favourite: It’s gotta be Friday Night Lights, which squeaks its way into the category with an uneven, but still quality, second season.

After the break, the comedy list.

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June 26, 2008 · 8:42 am

Short Form Reviews: Plain Sight, Call Girl, Dance

Short Form Reviews

June 26th, 2008

Considering that a majority of my television watching has been spent finishing up one HBO show (Six Feet Under) and digging into another in earnest (The Wire), all in conjunction with regular TV viewing and some repeat viewings of some of the season’s best episodes (I’ll be getting to that maybe next week), some shows are either sitting on the DVR for longer and longer periods of time or, in some cases, just not grabbing my attention enough to warrant a blog post. So, we have short form reviews.

What’s there to say? Like my relationship with most USA Network shows, I enjoy my 42 minutes with these characters but never seem to really rush to watch them as soon as they air. I was the same way with both Monk and Psych before they got kicked from my rotation, and I might end up in the same position with this show. I enjoy Mary McCormack, and there’s some decent action/comedy hybrid stuff going on, but both of the most recent episodes (“Never the Bride” and “Trojan Horst”) have done little to make this must see TV.

I’d argue that both episodes had their issues – “Bride” was a bit too tacky in terms of the getup that Mary let her sister put her in, but otherwise featured a good mix of the series’ witness protection drama. “Horst,” which aired on Sunday, was stronger in action and tension, but literally stopped cold every time the storyline jumped to the mother/sister characters. There’s just literally nothing interesting about them, and I’d hate to think the show isn’t aware of it. I saw a comment over at Alan Sepinwall’s blog that the show had better be leading up to these two getting put in Witness Protection, and that’s right on: unless they’re part of Mary’s life, they serve no tangible purpose in the series’ narrative.

But if the show irons that out, it enters USA’s stable of watchable dramas – I’m more excited for Burn Notice’s return, let’s put it that way.

Having now been able to go through all eight episodes sent to critics, I’ll have to say that I have no interest whatsoever in continuing to discuss this Showtime series, even if I had interest in finishing the short season’s run. Yes, the show remains charming due to Billie Piper’s continued on-screen radiance, but each episode deals with such a small amount of plot or situation that it never amounts to anything. With only three “regular” characters (If we’re even willing to define her agent as a character), the show is such a small universe that its pacing does little to help me feel connected to anything beyond a very attractive female lead.

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