2010-11 TV Season in Review Nominees

For this version of the annual Vague Space TV season review, I've decided to change the format a bit and make it similar to an Emmys or awards nominations process, with my panel of judges (the voices in my head) announcing the nominations first and the winners in a second post.  Mostly, this is so that I can get two columns out of this one bit.  But also because I found it really difficult to figure out which shows to include and which not to, particularly since many of my favorite programs appeared on the air last summer (True Blood, Weeds, Entourage) and haven't since.  I can't even remember what happened on True Blood (something about werewolves?) so it's really tough to rank it among all the shows in my annual list, particularly against shows with new episodes airing right now.  It's easier to just say True Blood is among the top 5 best dramas of the year and move on.  Of course, this opened up another can of worms, particularly how to categorize the Showtime shows that will dominate these year-end awards -- Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara and Shameless, for instance.  All are certainly more drama than comedy, but all are funny at times, and I know that Edie Falco won the Emmy for comedy actress last year so the Emmys consider it a comedy even if her character really doesn't do a whole lot that's remotely funny.  But as a default, I'm calling half-hour shows comedies and hour-longs drama and moving on.  It's not like anyone is still reading this introduction at this point anyway.  Without further ado, click through for the nominations for the 2010-11 TV Season in Review.

Nominees are (in alphabetical order):

Best Comedy

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia  (FX)
Modern Family  (ABC)
Nurse Jackie  (Showtime)
Parks and Recreation  (NBC)
United States of Tara  (Showtime)
Weeds  (Showtime)

This was a great year in this category and it's really tight at the top among 3 nominees.  Perennial favorites like The Office and 30 Rock had their moments this year (I really liked the Will Ferrell episodes of The Office, surprisingly) but they didn't make the cut.

Best Drama

Big Love  (HBO)
Friday Night Lights  (DirecTV)
Game of Thrones  (HBO)
Shameless  (Showtime)
True Blood  (HBO)

Boardwalk Empire probably deserved to be here, but I stopped watching after an only somewhat entertaining first episode and didn't go back.  The first season of Shameless was really great.  The final seasons of Friday Night Lights and Big Love had very appropriate and satisfying conclusions to their series.  I will be in the need for some new hour-longs next year, although this is not a category of shows I ever watch as much on television, despite the quality of so many shows on AMC or FX or wherever (that I just never have watched).

Best Reality Show

The Amazing Race  (CBS)
Survivor  (CBS)
Real World / Road Rules Challenge  (MTV)

I don't watch much reality programming anymore.  I have never watched any singing style competition or dancing or anything.  And anyone who complains about the dearth of quality in American television entertainment need only take a glance at the top of the ratings for this week, which are dominated by American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and NBC's latest cheesy competition The Voice.  This is what your fellow Americans are watching.  Actually, all of these shows do incredibly well around the world as well.  This is what people like.  I shouldn't judge, we all have our vices -- I caught the end of this season of Survivor, the first time I've watched the show in 5 years, because I always loved Boston Rob, who won this year in his 4th attempt -- and I guess I shouldn't complain about what the studios are offering the mainstream of society.  This appeals to something in enough people to make money.  Much like Lady Gaga or whatever is popular in music.  And comic book movies instead of quality writing and acting.  Whatever.  The Amazing Race is going to win this category.  It's still a great show.

Best Actor, Comedy

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Steve Carell, The Office
John Corbett, United States of Tara
Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory

The question I have in comedy acting, especially on a television program, is am I voting for an acting performance or for a character.  Because, really, other than John Corbett, all of the nominees are basically just characters, overblown and oftentimes hilarious characters, and I'm sure there's acting to inhabit those characters so well, but it's the writers that make the performance so very great.  Writing.  Hmm... who would have thought?

Best Actress, Comedy

Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Mary Louise-Parker, Weeds
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

This category is much much stronger than the male acting category, at least this year.  Any of these nominees is very deserving.

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy

Charlie Day, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
John Krasinski, The Office
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Rob McElhenny, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation
Chris Pratt, Parks and Recreation

This was a tough category to establish and to narrow down, with Aziz Ansari of Parks & Recreation and Ed Helms of The Office and Jeremy Piven of Entourage all just missing out.  And again, they are all just character-based.  And if you don't know who Nick Offerman is, he's "Ron Swanson", just about the greatest character on television today.  Sorry, Mac and Charlie.

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy

Eve Best, Nurse Jackie
Alyson Hannigan, How I Met Your Mother
Rashida Jones, Parks and Recreation
Aubrey Plaza, Parks and Recreation
Anna Deavere Smith, Nurse Jackie

In last week's episode of Parks and Recreation (which, shamefully, no one watches, but it's an absolutely brilliant comedy), Aubrey Plaza's April character names Jeff Mangum as her favorite musician in a fake Newlywed Game skit.  Then a recurring sideplot of the entire episode became about Neutral Milk Hotel and her love for the band as her incredulous new husband (Chris Pratt) struggles to figure out who the hell they are.  I don't know who's writing this show or who wrote that episode or how I can start hanging out with them, but in and of itself, that got Aubrey Plaza nominated for this category.  One of the most amazing joys I've ever had in watching episodic television was to hear a plotline about Neutral Milk Hotel... on NBC, in prime time, no less!!  Seriously check out me talking about the band when I listed "Two-Headed Boy" as my #2 favorite song of all time.  You cannot get less mainstream than NMH.  And here they were on NBC.  Amazing.

Best Actor, Drama (Supporting or Main)

Sean Bean, Game of Thrones
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
William H. Macy, Shameless
Alexander Skarsgard, True Blood

I don't watch enough hour-long shows for enough actors to be eligible to separate out the supporting and main categories, which probably gives an unfair advantage to Kyle Chandler, who anchors his show, or William H. Macy, who is the de facto main character in a large cast, rather than a supporting character like Eric of True Blood.

Best Actress, Drama (Supporting or Main)

Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
Joan Cusack, Shameless
Ginnifer Goodwin, Big Love
Anna Paquin, True Blood
Emmy Rossum, Shameless
Chloe Sevigny, Big Love
Jeanne Tripplehorn, Big Love

I couldn't decide between the three female leads (wives) of the great (and now departed) HBO drama Big Love, so I just nominated them all.  They were the strength of a show that I still don't know if it was as anti-religion as I presume, because it held these women up in such high esteem, even the very troubled Chloe Sevigny.  But yes, Bill Paxton didn't get an acting nomination, as much for the fact that I hated his character so much (surprising, for the main character of a show I liked) as for his limited range as an actor. 

Best Late Night or Variety Program

The Colbert Report  (Comedy Central)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart  (Comedy Central)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon  (NBC)
The Late Show with David Letterman  (CBS)
Real Time with Bill Maher  (HBO)

The award will be down to the first two on the list, who are far and away my favorites in this category and will be competing in the "overall show" awards below.  I don't watch Fallon or Letterman or any other late night show regularly, unless they have a compelling guest, or a musician I love.  Fallon has the best musical setup.

Best Late Night or Variety Host

Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
Jimmy Fallon, Late Night
Craig Ferguson, The Late Late Show
David Letterman, The Late Show
Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Bill Maher isn't particularly funny (his monologue isn't really watchable) and isn't informed enough on the issues to properly debate facts with a well-informed guest, but he's all kinds of liberal and anti-religion and his show is lively and entertaining as a result.  And I loved his movie Religulous. But that's why he doesn't make this list.  Again, it's Colbert's or Stewart's to win.

Best Late Night Performer (Non-Host)

Samantha Bee, The Daily Show
Wyatt Cenac, The Daily Show
Jason Jones, The Daily Show
Aasif Mandvi, The Daily Show
John Oliver, The Daily Show

Did I create this category just to tout how much I love The Daily Show?  Perhaps.  But this is a category that someone on Saturday Night Live could easily have been nominated for, if I ever actually watched SNL anymore, or if it was even remotely funny when I tried to watch it.  Unlike The Daily Show, which is just ridiculously funny and perfect all the time.  I mean, did you see Aasif Mandvi's interview with a businessman from Asbestos, Quebec -- a real town that is still exporting the cancer-causing building material to India, because laws in the U.S. and Canada are restrictive, and they need to make money.  It was both hilarious and profoundly horrific at the same time.  I'm sorry, but if more people watched The Daily Show than American Idol, the world would be a much better place.  Or at least the vast majority of Americans wouldn't be so blissfully unaware of what's going on around them.

Best Overall Program

The Colbert Report  (Comedy Central)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart  (Comedy Central)
Parks and Recreation  (NBC)
Modern Family  (ABC)
Nurse Jackie  (Showtime)
(final nominee hidden)

I'm hiding the final nominee because it's the only Drama nominee and if you read that, it would ruin the huge suspense over who was going to win the Best Drama category and I know you're all waiting with baited breath for the awards to come.  Admittedly, I've also just narrowed down the Comedy category, but this year wasn't anywhere close to peak for Always Sunny or Weeds, and United States of Tara, while picking up speed, isn't yet at the level of the other three shows here.

Winners will be announced later this week.

Comments

[LegFuJohnson]

Weeds really wasn't that funny this season.

I thought they'd "reset" and have them all living in Seattle and working in that hotel all season... that could have been funny, have the Mexicans catch up at the very end of the season, but that didn't happen.

And Olivia Munn is hotter than the other people on the Daily Show, so she should get a mention.

[LegFuJohnson]

And you could have thrown Joey a bone for Episodes.

[Bill]

I forgot about Olivia Munn. She's not on very often.

Joey and the British guy were on my short list for comedy actor. John Corbett squeaked past for that last slot, possibly because I had just watched his show before I wrote this post. Episodes should have saved their episodes for this time of the year.

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