This morning's big winner, and the biggest loser is...
Why, why....WHY? You may know where this lament is coming from - I can pull up the same rant I pull up every year, add an extra "why," maybe, shake my head with just a little more passion, sigh a little more loudly, and - out of earshot because this is after all a family blog - curse the Emmy voters with all the invective that is so richly their due.
Why no Best Drama nod for "The Wire," you scurrilous slopbowl of vaporous vamps ?
Makes no difference. Just baying at the moon. But a hounddog has still gotta do what a hounddog has gotta do. The bright side of this now-annual lament: At least there'll be a good reason when "The Wire" is left off the best drama list again next year.
In a funny way, the Emmys seem to have righted themselves in recent years, after a stretch of boner years that called into question the very viability of these awards. There were so many miscues, so many oversights, that you started to wonder - do they allow drinking, and sleeping, during those mysterious final closed-door sessions that mystically and magically yield the "best" list?
And, in fact, the rest of this list looks reasonable (see below). "Mad Men" scored (16 noms). No surprise. "30 Rock," too (17) - only a surprise for the sheer number of nods when the equally good "Office" could muster a little better than half that number.
But "The Wire?" Just one nod. One (for best writing, to Simon and Burns.) Others with just one nomination - a list, BTW, that stretches the length of my arm - included "Pirate Master," "Swear Jam," "Kid Nation," and "According to Jim."
It would have been better, really, if "The Wire" got nothing at all. Instead, it is now and forever confined to the crowd of ones, a seething mass of the desperate, disparate and ne'er-do-wells.
Sad.
But this is Emmy. What would be a nice day in mid-July if there wasn't some TV travesty and oversight of the first order. It's a tradition by now.
The list, if you haven't seen by now:
DRAMA SERIES:
"Boston Legal," ABC
"Damages," FX
"Dexter," Showtime
"House," Fox
"Lost," ABC
"Mad Men," AMC
(My read: Other than no "Wire," a reasonable list that shouldn't contain "Boston Legal," which'll probably end up winning.)
COMEDY SERIES:
"Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO
"Entourage," HBO
"The Office," NBC
"30 Rock," NBC
"Two and a Half Men," CBS
(My read: Safe and predictable, and while "30 Rock" may be a lock for a twofer, I wouldn't count out "Two and a Half" just yet...)
ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES:
Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie, "House"
James Spader, "Boston Legal"
(My read: Bryan Cranston a jaw-dropper of a surprise, but everyone may as well hang it up now cus' Spader the Emmy Invader is here once again...)
ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES:
Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?"
America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "New Adventures of Old Christine"
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"
(My read: Christina Applegate?)
ACTOR, COMEDY:
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"
Lee Pace, "Pushing Daisies"
Steve Carell, "Office"
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men"
(My read: By sheer virtue of habit, Emmy voters have already pushed Tony to the head of the pack...)
ACTRESS,DRAMA:
Sally Field, "Brothers & Sisters"
Glenn Close, "Damages,"
Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace,"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
(My read: Strong field - pun intended - and no obvious favorite, though Hargitay seems a longshot.)