The "official" awards for TV excellence have officially become ridiculous. Could we base them on talent, please?
By ERIC DEGGANS, Times Media Critic
Published August 27, 2006
Fourteen seconds.
That's how long it took for Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn to deliver the performance that earned her an Emmy nomination this year and scuttle what little respect remained for TV's biggest awards ceremony.
Nominated for best supporting actress in a miniseries or movie for a few lines spoken in an HBO film, Burstyn is the recipient of a particularly backward form of Emmy worship: the celebrity supporting nomination.
Always given to venerated stars who spend a little time slumming on the small screen, they're also the nominations that draw the most heat, because it's obvious voters cast ballots based on the name and not the performance. If you doubt me, consider two of Burstyn's three competitors: Shirley "Mrs. Partridge" Jones and fellow Oscar winner Cloris Leachman, who won a guest acting Emmy last weekend at the advance ceremony where most of the technical awards are given. Did you see any of the TV movies they were nominated for?
The whole mess reminds me of an acquaintance years ago who owned a recording studio and voted on the Grammy Awards. Too busy making records to actually hear those filling the pop charts, he gave the ballot to his secretary because "she keeps track of all that stuff."
That's how classic rockers Jethro Tull wound up winning the first heavy metal Grammy in 1989. And how Burstyn turned a 38-word cameo performance into a shot at Emmy gold.
So if that's how they're handing out Emmys, maybe we need a new kind of TV award.
Let me present the Deggys, my own awards for TV's best performances. I'm kicking over the table: no rules on when a series was supposed to air, or even what genre the show is in. All that matters is what the voter - that would be me - prefers.
The Deggy goes to: Dave Chappelle of Chappelle's Show.
Think about it. He has played everyone from Rick James to a black, blind white supremacist. He turned incisive social commentary about race and culture into the bestselling TV-on-DVD release ever and a show that keeps drawing viewers, long after he quit it. Yeah, The Office's Steve Carell will probably take the prize - he's a big movie star and Emmy voters think his series is hip - but we all know who the funniest man on TV really is. Or was.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
The Deggy goes to: Denis Leary of Rescue Me.
This is one Emmy got right, at least in the nomination stage. Leary's conflicted, addicted New York firefighter, Tommy Gavin, is the epitome of male cluelessness one moment (duct taping the mouth of a too-talkative conquest) and a weeping, barely controlled mass of survivor's guilt the next. Even 24 star Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer, the odds-on favorite to win tonight, never straddled that much angst.
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
The Deggy goes to: Forest Whitaker of The Shield.
Emmy voters rarely look past the stars of basic cable series, so they slept on Whitaker's quirky Lt. Jon Kavanaugh, a manipulative, passionate internal affairs investigator who gave up everything in his quest to bag Michael Chiklis' corrupt cop, Vic Mackey. Honorable mention goes to Gerald McRaney, whose prickly, imperious turn as gold mogul George Hearst on HBO's Deadwood almost makes us forget he once co-starred on Commando Nanny. Almost.
Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Musical
The Deggy goes to: Craig Ferguson of The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.
This is really the hosting Emmy, where talk show luminaries such as David Letterman and Stephen Colbert take their big bow. But even though Colbert's fake pundit will probably win, voters should consider nominee Ferguson, who took over an empty showcase for egomaniac Craig Kilborn and turned it into a quirky, rollicking spotlight for his deceptively agile wit. From bits like Michael Caine in space to an always-entertaining 10-minute monologue that unfolds like the funniest stream of consciousness rant you've ever seen, Ferguson is quietly reinventing late- night TV for a growing cult of fans.
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
The Deggy goes to: VH1's Flavor of Love.
This is where the big game roam, with nominations for Survivor, American Idol and Dancing With the Stars. But the so-bad-it's-good king of this genre is Flavor Flav's ripoff of ABC's The Bachelor, which has turned the absurdity of women vying to hook up with a faded rapper resembling the Cryptkeeper into serious (at least for cable) ratings muscle: 3.3-million watched Season Two's debut Aug. 6. There are no pretensions of substance here; one contestant spat into another's face last season. But you've got to love a series that turned an '80s music trivia question into the king of cable TV.
EMMY NOMINATIONS
The 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards airs at 8 tonight on WFLA-Ch. 8, telecast live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Conan O'Brien is host.
Here are nominees in major categories:
Comedy series: Arrested Development, Fox; Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO; The Office, NBC; Scrubs, NBC; Two and a Half Men, CBS.
Drama series: Grey's Anatomy, ABC; House, Fox; The Sopranos, HBO; 24, Fox; The West Wing, NBC.
Variety, music or comedy series: The Colbert Report, Comedy Central; The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central; Late Night With Conan O'Brien, NBC; Late Show With David Letterman, CBS; Real Time With Bill Maher, HBO.
Miniseries: Bleak House, Masterpiece Theatre, PBS; Elizabeth I, HBO; Into the West, TNT; Sleeper Cell, Showtime.
Made for TV movie: Flight 93, A&E; The Flight That Fought Back, Discovery Channel; The Girl in the Cafe, HBO; Mrs. Harris, HBO; Yesterday, HBO.
Reality-competition program: The Amazing Race, CBS; American Idol, Fox; Dancing With the Stars, ABC; Project Runway, Bravo; Survivor, CBS.
Children's program: Classical Baby 2, HBO; High School Musical, Disney; I Have Tourette's But Tourette's Doesn't Have Me, HBO; Nick News With Linda Ellerbee: Do Something! Caring for the Kids of Katrina, Nickelodeon.
Comedy actor: Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Kevin James, The King of Queens, CBS; Tony Shalhoub, Monk, USA; Steve Carell, The Office; Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men.
Comedy actress: Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback, HBO; Jane Kaczmarek, Malcolm in the Middle, Fox; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine, CBS; Stockard Channing, Out of Practice, CBS; Debra Messing, Will & Grace, NBC.
Comedy supporting actor: Will Arnett, Arrested Development; Jeremy Piven, Entourage, HBO; Bryan Cranston, Malcolm in the Middle; Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men; Sean Hayes, Will & Grace.
Comedy supporting actress: Cheryl Hines, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Alfre Woodard, Desperate Housewives, ABC; Jaime Pressly, My Name Is Earl, NBC; Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds, Showtime; Megan Mullally, Will & Grace.
Drama actor: Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU, NBC; Denis Leary, Rescue Me, FX; Peter Krause, Six Feet Under, HBO; Kiefer Sutherland, 24; Martin Sheen, The West Wing.
Drama actress: Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer, TNT; Geena Davis, Commander in Chief, ABC; Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU; Frances Conroy, Six Feet Under; Allison Janney, The West Wing.
Drama supporting actor: William Shatner, Boston Legal, ABC; Oliver Platt, Huff, Showtime; Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos; Gregory Itzin, 24; Alan Alda, The West Wing.
Drama supporting actress: Candice Bergen, Boston Legal; Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy; Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy; Blythe Danner, Huff; Jean Smart, 24.
Individual performance, variety or music program: Barry Manilow, Barry Manilow: Music and Passion, PBS; Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report; Craig Ferguson, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, CBS; David Letterman, Late Show With David Letterman; Hugh Jackman, The 59th Annual Tony Awards.
