Grid Effect

The Golden Globe nominations were announced today. I feel compelled to bitch about the film nominations (certain films were overly or under appreciated), but since this blog is dedicated to television I will try to stay on topic.

Let me just preface this by saying I am not really into award shows. They are completely subjective and have no baring on anything. Art isn’t like, say, athletics. Where competition is the driving force behind the vernacular. There is no clear cut winner. Because when shows get shortchanged like some were this year, it loses quite a bit of credibility.

First off, no nominations for The Wire yet again, this is the best season of television since the fifth season of The Sopranos and it gets snubbed time after time for three reasons:

1) No A-list celebrities in the cast. The Wire features a bevy of talented no-names that are unrecognizeable. Actually, Method Man probably had like twenty minutes of screen time if you want to nit-pick. But, I mean, does this warrant snubbing Michael K. Williams (Omar Little), Jim True-Frost (Prezbo), Wendell Pierce (Bunk), Seth Gillam (Carver) or JD Williams (Bodie). At least throw them a bone and give them an ensemble cast nomination.

2) HBO does not promote the series like they do with The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Entourage. Why is this? I have no idea. It is hard to fault them because they have kept it around for four seasons and have agreed to a fifth. But it just doesn’t get the same mainstream attention as its HBO brethren.

3) Exceptionally large cast. If I count it out in my head, the fourth season of The Wire hovers around fifty integral characters, making available screentime scarce for someone trying to make a statement for the Emmys/Golden Globes. I still do not think this warrants snubbing for supporting roles, but it definitely slims any opportunity for the series’ actors to get noticed.

Essentially, its voters lacking familiarity to award it with a nomination. It is deservant of not only acting noms, but screenplay, direction, cinematography and every other available award. Simon and Burns do not care about these things, because ultimately they are innocuous, but a little recognition goes a long way and maybe more networks would start to aim for series with a little substance. Its hard to blame the foreign press because they probably haven’t even seen the show, but I doubt The Emmy’s will be a much different story.

The Best Drama category also missed the boat with Friday Night Lights. And I am not surprised, its hard to get the foreign press interested in a series that on the surface appears to revolve around a high school football team in West Texas. Of the five nominated, I would like to see Big Love get it. At least its something original. And between that And Heroes (the other original TV premise this season), Big Love is penned much better. Regardless, Heroes is probably a lock.

In the Lead Acting categories for drama, Edie Falco was nominated for best actress. Which is surprising because I assumed the statute on limitations was up for the last season of The Sopranos. In addition, this was the only nomination it received, no Michael Imperioli, no James Gandolfini and no best drama. How can I take this seriously?
Anyhow, for the two categories, I am pulling for Falco and Bill Paxton for his turn in Big Love, though I have no idea who will win.

The one redeeming quality from these nominations are those for comedy series’. The two I wanted too see nominated (Entourage and The Office) were both honored with Best Musical or Comedy Series alongside Desperate Housewives, Weeds and Ugly Betty. With the exception of Desperate Housewives, I wouldn’t mind seeing any of these win. Although The Office is a runaway favorite because there are four European countries have different versions of it (The series was exported from England to The US, France and Germany).

As far as the acting nominations are concerned, again I am unaware of time constraints on these things, but assuming Curb Your Enthusiasm was past due, Steve Carrell and Jeremy Piven were the only two I cared to see nominated. And they will both probably win their respective categories.

One final note, this award show, more so than The Emmys even, is reflective of ratings success. Friday Night Lights was not nominated for a single award despite having some of the better acting on television. Scott Porter (Jason Street), Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor) Connie Britton (Tami Taylor) and Zach Gilford (Matt Saceran) seem too live these roles. The realism on the series is unlike anything else on network TV.

It is really detrimental to the longevity of the series if Friday Night Lights does not receive any critical recognition, because if a series with ratings this low cannot at least pickup any hardware, then its chances of surviving are even slimmer. Again, I am not surprised that this series didn’t get any nominations at The Golden Globes, but if The Emmy’s decides to nominate the quirky Asian dude or the spunky cheerleader from Heroes over some of the raw dramatic acting on FNL and The Wire, then it will be mildly disappointing, if inconsequential.