Is it Awards Season again already? Last night was the ESPYs, ESPN’s fairly new Sports Awards that they for some reason asked Justin Bieber to present the last award at last night. Oh and Jonah Hill lost about 200 pounds, looks like Gollum had a kid with Frodo, and has been trending on Twitter all day. What else has been trending all day? The Emmy nominations dropped today, with some givens as well as some huge surprises. How do I feel about the Emmys. I’ll spare you that diatribe. Let’s just go over the facts.
HBO not unexpectedly has a huge presence in the nominations. Most notably, Best Drama. Game of Thrones, an HBO original, is right now the best show on television (argue with me if you’d like). Game of Thrones was nominated for Best Drama, and Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. If all is just in this mystical universe of ours, both will convert their nominations to wins.
In my opinion (the absolute truth), Game of Thrones’ only real competition is another HBO drama called Boardwalk Empire. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Not only was Boardwalk Empire nominated for Best Drama, Steve Buscemi (Nucky Thompson) was nominated for Best Actor in a Drama, and Kelly Macdonald (Margaret Schroeder) was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. I predict a fight to the death between Ned Stark’s ghost and Steve Buscemi for dominion of the movie channel turned TV Titan. My vote is for Ned, but Boardwalk is easily the runner-up.
As for Boardwalk and Game’s competition, I know a lot of people will argue with me about this (Bring It), but the field doesn’t look very strong. People might love Dexter (Showtime) and Mad Men (AMC), but they both have the disadvantage of entering their 6th and 5th Seasons respectively. Why is this a disadvantage? Two reasons. One, in the world of television, shows can go on forever (see: Law and Order, The Simpsons). The Emmy voters are much more likely to give the Award to a new and budding series, then one that has 5+ years of chances. Dexter has been nominated 3 times and never converted. Mad Men has also been nominated 3 times and won all 3 of them. 2nd reason: TV shows all start out great and inevitably go down hill (see: Law and Order, The Simpsons). The only exception to this rule in history is Seinfeld. Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones are both as fresh as they could be, and in much better shape than their aged competitors.
The other two shows nominated are Friday Night Lights (DiectTV, NBC) and The Good Wife (CBS). Sorry guys, no shot. Maybe if I just once saw either of you trending on Twitter, i’d give you some odds. Unfortunately, that was not the case. After The Sopranos ended HBO still had some horses in the race, but ceased to be the juggernaut it was during Tony Soprano’s hayday. This is the year HBO comes out of it’s corner swinging, with two brilliant shows, both sure locks for Best Drama. If of course, it didn’t so happen that they were competing against each other. So sit back and watch the battle go down.
