Thursday, July 8, 2010

"Friday Night Lights" Finally Scores in Emmys


Cheers. Big cheers to the voters for the Emmy nominations announced this morning.

I got my wish stated in a recent blog.

Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights” – who play the most supportive married couple on television – were nominated in the best actor and best actress category, respectively.

Long overdue. Maybe it will get some local viewers to watch the low-rated series, which is having a terrific fourth season. It airs on Friday nights on Channel 2 and is available On Demand for free.

The “Lights” nominations were good news for NBC, which is carrying “Lights” after it previously played on DirecTV in an arrangement that saved the series from cancellation.

NBC also took a hit on the chin when Conan O’Brien’s short run as the host of “The Tonight Show” got a nomination and Jay Leno’s version did not. The right call. The news comes on the heels of reports that Leno’s recent ratings are even lower than O’Brien’s.

Notably, David Letterman’s program wasn’t nominated in the category, either. That may be more surprising than Leno’s slight.

The “Lights” nomination and the Leno slight are enough for me to forgive the Emmys for any other “mistakes” I find once I get through the pages and pages of nominations.

From a first glance, most of the usual suspects were nominated with a few freshman exceptions. Fox should be thrilled for all the support for “Glee” in the comedy category. CBS should be happy with the best drama nomination for “The Good Wife,” which was my favorite new drama of the year. Julianna Margulies, the series star, also deservedly was nominated as best dramatic actress.

In a minor surprise, “Damages” of FX didn’t make the cut in the best drama category, apparently losing its place to “True Blood.”

After further review, here are some notable things in the lengthy nomination report:

* Buffalo’s Christine Baranski received two nominations – one for her supporting role on “The Good Wife” and the other for a guest spot on “The Big Bang Theory.”

* Jim and Pam’s wedding on “The Office” in an episode called “Niagara” earned writing nominations for Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling.

* Batavia native Thom Beer saw his series, “The Deadliest Catch,” earn a nomination in the outstanding non-fiction category that included PBS’ “American Experience” and “American Masters.”

* The Time Warner commercial guy, Mike O’Malley, received a guest nomination for his role of the father of Kurt Hummel. Chris Colfer, who plays the openly gay son, Kurt, also was nominated as were "Glee" cast members Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch.

* Every adult member of the cast of the ABC comedy “Modern Family,” with the exception of Ed O’Neill, was nominated in some category.

* Terry O’Quinn, who played John Locke on “Lost,” was nominated again in a supporting category. So was Michael Emerson, who played Ben. And Matthew Fox got a nomination as Jack Shephard.

* HBO’s new series, “Treme,” FX’s new series “Justified” and two veteran ABC series, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice,” didn’t get any significant nominations. Nor did Fox's "Fringe."

* The Year of Betty White ended with her appearance on “Saturday Night Live” and in the Snickers commercial, “The Game,” both getting nominated.

* And finally “The End” of “Lost” may be debated for years to come. The voters liked it and gave writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse nominations in a category that included two episodes of “Mad Men” and episodes of “Friday Night Lights” and “The Good Wife.”
pergament@msn.com

3 comments:

  1. There's a commercials category that Betty White's snickers was nominated in? I've be watching the Emmys for almost 50 years and never heard of such a thing, at least that I recall.

    And I think Ed O'Neil declined to be nominated for Modern Family to give his other lesser-billed colleagues the limelight.

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  2. A couple points on the late-night thing: the critics have never really liked Leno's hosting of Tonight, so the slight doesn't surprise me. It'd be a hoot to see Conan win, but Emmy voters are jaded, and it'll probably go-- as it has the past several years-- to Jon Stewart.

    Good to see you're still writing. Your column at the BN was one of the staples of my reading and your access to the Nielsens and other sources are an invaluable resource to anyone who follows local media.

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  3. To Bfohl: The commercial category isn't shown on the Prime Time program. But it is not new.
    To J. Myrle Fuller: Thanks for the kind words. I agree -- Stewart or Stephen Colbert probably will win.

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