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The 2005 Emmy nominations revealed a strain of unforeseen brilliance on the part of Academy voters (Fox's Arrested Development scored three out of five comedy writing nods), a lot of the expected (13 nominations for the final season of Everybody Loves Raymond), as well as the usual foolishness (seriously, enough with the blind Will & Grace love — I mean, 15 nominations?). Other observations:
The sneakiest nominees
Smart,
smart Desperate Housewives. By submitting itself as a comedy, its
producers took advantage of the gap left by Friends and Sex and the City and scored 15 nominations. Stars Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, and
Marcia Cross slipped right into the spots vacated by Sarah Jessica
Parker and Co. Why Eva Longoria, who's just as good as her costars, was
snubbed, is a mystery — and where's the love for the most captivating
Wisteria Lane resident of all? That'd be Harriet Sansom Harris, who
sprayed much-needed vinegar all over that pastel suburb as Mrs. Huber's
crisp, creepy sister, Felicia Tilman.
The head-scratchers
Last year we
had the oooh. . .cool! acting nod for Deadwood's Calamity Jane, Robin
Weigert. This year we have the ooooh. . .okaaay left-field acting nods for
Hank Azaria, Blythe Danner, and Oliver Platt, of Showtime's coy drama
series Huff. And my psychic senses did not predict that murmury Patricia
Arquette would be nominated for the just-okay Medium.
The happiest late bloomer Scrubs, the second-best comedy on TV (hooray for Arrested Development's three acting nods, too!), has been ignored by voters three years running. Methinks the nominations for best comedy and best actor in a comedy — Zach Braff — had everything to do with Braff's movie-star status in the wake of last year's Garden State. But any way this charming, oddball comedy can get some attention, I'm for it. (Note to criminally snubbed Rescue Me star Denis Leary and Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy: Get some cool indie projects launched before next July.)
Reality. . .doesn't bite
The reality categories feature deserved shoo-ins
like The Amazing Race, while recognizing Bravo's addictive and
surprising Project Runway and Project Greenlight.
Good Emmy voters!
Lost's two best supporting actors, Naveen Andrews
(Sayid) and Terry O'Quinn (John Locke), got their proper due. (If I had
my druthers, the cool, coiled O'Quinn would share the win with The West
Wing's Alan Alda, who scored a hat trick this year with Tony, Oscar, and
now Emmy nods.) More kudos for recognizing actors on TV's two good
medical series (Hugh Laurie's prickly doc on House and Sandra Oh of
Grey's Anatomy) instead of on tired ER. Speaking of ER, I must thank the
Academy for not succumbing to repeat nominations of Law & Order, CSI,
and endless West Wing nominee Allison Janney.
. . .Bad Emmy voters!
There are many others I'd have liked to see
nominated (no respect for Everwood and Gilmore Girls, and while nominee
Glenn Close was a nice shot of steel on The Shield, Anthony Anderson was
transformant). But there's one series that absolutely should have been.
HBO's The Wire is the best drama on TV. To be snubbed while overwrought
Six Feet Under is celebrated is just plain wrong.
