Here's the nominations for the TV Critics' Awards, a great chance for us to sum up the TV Season by comparing our own opinions with those of "professionals". I'm fairly impressed with the nominees, to be honest, and expect a fair bit of similarity between these and the Emmy nominations for September.
Program of the Year
# "Arrested Development" (FOX)
# "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
# "Deadwood" (HBO)
# "Desperate Housewives" (ABC)
# "Lost" (ABC)
Almost tempted to give this to the consistently fantastic Daily Show, but I think this show has to go to one of the shows that has revitalized scripted television on network TV.
Outstanding Achievement in Comedy
# "Arrested Development" (FOX)
# "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
# "Desperate Housewives" (ABC)
# "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS)
# "Gilmore Girls" (The WB)
I'm tired of it getting no love from the Emmys, but Gilmore Girls has to fall to Jon Stewart here.
Outstanding Achievement in Drama
# "24" (FOX)
# "Deadwood" (HBO)
# "House" (FOX)
# "Lost" (ABC)
# "Rescue Me" (FX)
Interesting to see how "new school" this list is, really. It's amazing how much things have changed since those crappy days of The West Wing vs. The Sopranos year after year (In terms of awards domination crappy, rather than show crappy).
Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials
# "Lackawanna Blues" (HBO)
# "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" (HBO)
# "The Office Special" (BBC America)
# "Something the Lord Made" (HBO)
# "Sometimes in April" (HBO)
Seen none of them.
New Program of the Year
# "Desperate Housewives" (ABC)
# "House" (FOX)
# "Lost" (ABC)
# "Rescue Me" (FX)
# "Veronica Mars" (UPN)
Lost was the best new show of the year, although I am very happy to see Veronica Mars pop up here.
Individual Acheivement in Comedy
# Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development")
# Marcia Cross ("Desperate Housewives")
# Teri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives")
# Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond")
# Jon Stewart ("The Daily Show")
Very happy to see the best two people in the cast of Desperate Housewives grab these nominations...but this "comedy" thing is beginning to get old, fast. Only Hatcher is a truly comedic actress, and even her character ended the season at gunpoint. While Cross' character is genuinely funny, it's a much more nuanced performance that I'm glad to see get noticed. Hatcher's star is too bright...her comic antics got pretty old at midseason, and the character only got interesting...well, it didn't, really. Despite all of that...Stewart.
Individual Achievement in Drama
# Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars")
# Matthew Fox ("Lost")
# Hugh Laurie ("House")
# Ian McShane ("Deadwood")
# Kiefer Sutherland ("24")
Does Kiefer give better performances? Sure. Is Jack Bauer a better character? You betcha. From the one episode of House I've watched, is that performance fantastic? Yep. But I can't help but feel that Kristen Bell will quickly become much like Jennifer Garner, in that while the show gets generally ignored she will get some token nominations. In a season like this one, there is no chance of the show getting nominated for major awards, so I expect they'll single out her performance. Lost cast is too ensemble for me to pick a single person outside of Terry O'Quinn (Who SHOULD be there over Fox) and I've never seen Deadwood (McShane's Globe gives him a good chance).
Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming
# "DeGrassi: Next Generation" (The N)
# "Dora the Explorer" (Nickelodeon)
# "Nick News" (Nickelodeon)
# "Postcards from Buster" (PBS)
# "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon)
F'ing Degrassi. Grrrr. Go Spongebob. Still, the Lesbian factor could bode better for Buster than the Gay factor for Spongebob.
Outstanding Achievement in News and Information
# "60 Minutes" Sunday edition (CBS)
# "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
# "Frontline" (PBS)
# "Meet the Press" (NBC)
# "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS)
# "Nightline" (ABC)
Heh...the Daily Show is news or information.
Heritage Award
# "Frontline" (PBS)
# "M*A*S*H" (CBS)
# "Nightline" (ABC)
# "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
# "Sesame Street" (PBS)
Nostalgia in awards shows? It's beginning.
Career Achievement
# Tom Brokaw
# Bill Moyers
# Bob Newhart
# Aaron Spelling
# Oprah Winfrey
Nominees for career achievement...I love it.
All in all...needs more supporting actors, but it's a generally good list in my view.
Program of the Year
# "Arrested Development" (FOX)
# "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
# "Deadwood" (HBO)
# "Desperate Housewives" (ABC)
# "Lost" (ABC)
Almost tempted to give this to the consistently fantastic Daily Show, but I think this show has to go to one of the shows that has revitalized scripted television on network TV.
Outstanding Achievement in Comedy
# "Arrested Development" (FOX)
# "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
# "Desperate Housewives" (ABC)
# "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS)
# "Gilmore Girls" (The WB)
I'm tired of it getting no love from the Emmys, but Gilmore Girls has to fall to Jon Stewart here.
Outstanding Achievement in Drama
# "24" (FOX)
# "Deadwood" (HBO)
# "House" (FOX)
# "Lost" (ABC)
# "Rescue Me" (FX)
Interesting to see how "new school" this list is, really. It's amazing how much things have changed since those crappy days of The West Wing vs. The Sopranos year after year (In terms of awards domination crappy, rather than show crappy).
Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials
# "Lackawanna Blues" (HBO)
# "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" (HBO)
# "The Office Special" (BBC America)
# "Something the Lord Made" (HBO)
# "Sometimes in April" (HBO)
Seen none of them.
New Program of the Year
# "Desperate Housewives" (ABC)
# "House" (FOX)
# "Lost" (ABC)
# "Rescue Me" (FX)
# "Veronica Mars" (UPN)
Lost was the best new show of the year, although I am very happy to see Veronica Mars pop up here.
Individual Acheivement in Comedy
# Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development")
# Marcia Cross ("Desperate Housewives")
# Teri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives")
# Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond")
# Jon Stewart ("The Daily Show")
Very happy to see the best two people in the cast of Desperate Housewives grab these nominations...but this "comedy" thing is beginning to get old, fast. Only Hatcher is a truly comedic actress, and even her character ended the season at gunpoint. While Cross' character is genuinely funny, it's a much more nuanced performance that I'm glad to see get noticed. Hatcher's star is too bright...her comic antics got pretty old at midseason, and the character only got interesting...well, it didn't, really. Despite all of that...Stewart.
Individual Achievement in Drama
# Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars")
# Matthew Fox ("Lost")
# Hugh Laurie ("House")
# Ian McShane ("Deadwood")
# Kiefer Sutherland ("24")
Does Kiefer give better performances? Sure. Is Jack Bauer a better character? You betcha. From the one episode of House I've watched, is that performance fantastic? Yep. But I can't help but feel that Kristen Bell will quickly become much like Jennifer Garner, in that while the show gets generally ignored she will get some token nominations. In a season like this one, there is no chance of the show getting nominated for major awards, so I expect they'll single out her performance. Lost cast is too ensemble for me to pick a single person outside of Terry O'Quinn (Who SHOULD be there over Fox) and I've never seen Deadwood (McShane's Globe gives him a good chance).
Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming
# "DeGrassi: Next Generation" (The N)
# "Dora the Explorer" (Nickelodeon)
# "Nick News" (Nickelodeon)
# "Postcards from Buster" (PBS)
# "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon)
F'ing Degrassi. Grrrr. Go Spongebob. Still, the Lesbian factor could bode better for Buster than the Gay factor for Spongebob.
Outstanding Achievement in News and Information
# "60 Minutes" Sunday edition (CBS)
# "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
# "Frontline" (PBS)
# "Meet the Press" (NBC)
# "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS)
# "Nightline" (ABC)
Heh...the Daily Show is news or information.
Heritage Award
# "Frontline" (PBS)
# "M*A*S*H" (CBS)
# "Nightline" (ABC)
# "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
# "Sesame Street" (PBS)
Nostalgia in awards shows? It's beginning.
Career Achievement
# Tom Brokaw
# Bill Moyers
# Bob Newhart
# Aaron Spelling
# Oprah Winfrey
Nominees for career achievement...I love it.
All in all...needs more supporting actors, but it's a generally good list in my view.
At least till Six Feet Under and Sopranos are back on. Rescue Me was a pretty well made show, very funny and can't wait for season 2. And I'm with everyone else with Arrested Development.