curiousYesterday I ran to Blockbuster to rent the Mad Men DVDs as soon as they were available, and I'm now up to episode 5 in my rewatch -- I watched sporadically and didn't pay much attention last summer. I'm enjoying it more now, and it's an amazing work of art (yeah, "art" applies in this case.) But it reminds me of The Wire in that both are shows that I truly appreciate for the overall magnificence, but I just can't seem to *enjoy* them as much as I wish I did.
Time for more Emmys fun! Gold Derby tracked down the lists of finalists for all the acting categories except Comedy Actor and Comedy Supporting Actress, though the Drama Actress one isn't confirmed.
Rather than retyping the lists, I'll just put them in handy-dandy poll format, with some comments at the end. Hey, I *love* making polls. Choose up to five in each category. :)
Actress - Drama
Patricia Arquette, "Medium"
0(0.0%)
Glenn Close, "Damages"
0(0.0%)
Minnie Driver, "The Riches"
0(0.0%)
Sally Field, "Brothers and Sisters"
0(0.0%)
Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: SVU"
0(0.0%)
Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace"
0(0.0%)
Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men"
0(0.0%)
Mary McDonnell, "Battlestar Galactica"
15(34.1%)
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
1(2.3%)
Jeanne Tripplehorn, "Big Love"
0(0.0%)
Actor - Drama
Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment"
1(2.2%)
Kyle Chandler, "Friday Night Lights"
2(4.4%)
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
1(2.2%)
Patrick Dempsey, "Grey's Anatomy"
0(0.0%)
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
5(11.1%)
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
1(2.2%)
Eddie Izzard, "The Riches"
1(2.2%)
Hugh Laurie, "House"
3(6.7%)
Denis Leary, "Rescue Me"
0(0.0%)
James Spader, "Boston Legal"
0(0.0%)
Supporting Actress - Drama
Jane Alexander, "Tell Me You Love Me"
0(0.0%)
Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal"
0(0.0%)
Rose Byrne, "Damages"
1(2.4%)
Jill Clayburgh, "Dirty Sexy Money"
0(0.0%)
Sharon Gless, "Burn Notice"
1(2.4%)
Rachel Griffiths, "Brothers and Sisters"
1(2.4%)
Christina Hendricks, "Mad Men"
5(12.2%)
S. Epatha Merkerson, "Law & Order"
0(0.0%)
Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy"
4(9.8%)
Dianne Wiest, "In Treatment"
1(2.4%)
Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy"
4(9.8%)
Supporting Actor - Drama
Naveen Andrews, "Lost"
5(13.2%)
Bruce Dern, "Big Love"
0(0.0%)
Christian Clemenson, "Boston Legal"
0(0.0%)
Ted Danson, "Damages"
1(2.6%)
Michael Emerson, "Lost"
4(10.5%)
Zeljko Ivanek, "Damages"
0(0.0%)
T.R. Knight, "Grey's Anatomy"
2(5.3%)
William Shatner, "Boston Legal"
0(0.0%)
John Slattery, "Mad Men"
3(7.9%)
Blair Underwood, "In Treatment"
0(0.0%)
Jake Weber, "Medium"
0(0.0%)
Actress - Comedy
Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who"
1(2.2%)
Marcia Cross, "Desperate Housewives"
0(0.0%)
America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"
2(4.4%)
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
6(13.3%)
Anna Friel, "Pushing Daisies"
2(4.4%)
Felicity Huffman, "Desperate Housewives"
0(0.0%)
Eva Longoria-Parker, "Desperate Housewives"
0(0.0%)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine"
0(0.0%)
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"
3(6.7%)
Sarah Silverman, "The Sarah Silverman Program"
0(0.0%)
Supporting Actor - Comedy
Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men"
0(0.0%)
Kevin Dillon, "Entourage"
0(0.0%)
Justin Kirk, "Weeds"
1(2.3%)
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
11(25.0%)
John Krasinski, "The Office"
1(2.3%)
Jack McBrayer, "30 Rock"
0(0.0%)
Tracy Morgan, "30 Rock"
0(0.0%)
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"
0(0.0%)
Fred Willard, "Back to You"
0(0.0%)
Rainn Wilson, "The Office"
2(4.5%)
... And my thoughts.
So thrilled to see Mary McDonnell up there! I do hope this is the actual list; right now it's technically hearsay, though Tom O'Neil from Gold Derby believes it. I'm skeptical about her chances, just because, well, it's BSG. The Emmys voters aren't fans. *g* (That said, the nominations for writing and directing last year were a HUGE deal.)
I'm firmly convinced that Mad Men is going to get a metric ton of nominations, though I'm surprised that it didn't get more acting finalists ... even though they're represented in each category. I would've put Elisabeth Moss in Supporting, just by virtue of her screentime, but kudos to her for squeezing in there anyway.
The lists for Drama Actress and Supporting Actress bother me a bit. While I can't question the talent in shows that I haven't seen, I just see so many Big Names up there, almost as if voters who don't watch much TV just went down the list and checked off names they recognized.
I'm generally pleased with Drama Actor. Nice to see Kyle Chandler (even if Connie Britton's absence is appalling.) Also nice to see Bryan Cranston, who did a great job. After seeing him onstage last week, I'm voting for Eddie Izzard, despite my not seeing his show. ;) I used to really like Rescue Me, but Leary and his character just pissed me off last season. I would've liked to see Eddie Olmos there for fandom reasons, but he had so little to do this past season, and "Sine Qua Non" wasn't his best ep.
I'm still a bit surprised to see so much love for Damages, just because the ratings were iffy and I don't remember very much buzz while it was on. I can't really fault most of the acting finalists from the show, but I wasn't all that fond of Byrne's performance.
I'll be interested to see the rest of the Comedy finalists, though I'm not all that invested in any of the potential names. Well, except for Bret and Jemaine from Conchords. While I'd love for them to get listed, I'm almost afraid that only one will (Jemaine tends to make a stronger impression, but I love Bret more) and I don't want to have to choose!
