Year after year, TV viewers everywhere scream out in frustration when their favorite shows are passed over–again–after the Emmy nominations are announced. This year is no exception.
The Emmy powers that be seem to be missing channels on their television sets. It’s always the usual suspects. Come on, Will & Grace getting 15 nominations? But at least Debra Messing‘s name was left off the list this year.
The most obvious snub is Desperate Housewives‘ Eva Longoria. Even though the show scored 15 nominations, including the nods for the other three Housewives—Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher—Longoria‘s Emmy dreams will have to wait another year. Let’s just hope she doesn’t turn into Sex and the City‘s Kristin Davis, who only received one nomination during the entire run of the HBO series, while her three lovely co-stars were nominated repeatedly.
The WB’s Gilmore Girls is on a five year streak of being virtually ignored by Emmy voters, despite its rather avid following, particularly of its star, the vivacious Lauren Graham. She should have been on the list from the get go. Other snubs from the network include Christine Lahti in the now defunct Jack and Bobby, as well as the family drama Everwood. It’s not their fault, though; the WB is still like a red-headed stepchild no one pays any attention to.
Another entire channel that has gone unnoticed is F/X, despite their hilariously well-made breakout series’ Rescue Me and returning champ Nip/Tuck. At the very least, Denis Leary‘s performance of as a stressed out firefighter post-9/11 in Rescue Me merits some attention. But alas, no. Nip/Tuck has had a little taste of glory, having been nominated in lesser categories such as main title design. And the show about plastic surgeons actually won an Emmy for makeup, natch. But, unlike the Golden Globes, which has awarded Nip/Tuck with a best drama series award earlier this year, the Emmys aren’t as forthcoming with their accolades.
Speaking of dramas, although Lost got a nod in the best drama category, most of its cast was snubbed. Granted, it is hard to pick the best performances from a large ensemble cast of really good actors. As it stands, only Naveen Andrews as the stalwart former Iraqi solider Sayid and Terry O’Quinn as the mysterious former paraplegic Locke received nods–and deservedly so. Still, if we were the ones doing the nominated, we would have at least added Jorge Garcia, as the affable, nonplussed Hurley and Matthew Fox, as the do-gooder but tortured Jack, to the list.
UPN’s Veronica Mars, a Nancy Drew update about a girl who’s an ace at cracking mysteries, also joins the list of the forgotten. Just because UPN airs shows such as Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, it doesn’t mean the Emmys should discredit the shows that are actually good on the network.
And unbelievably, even with one of its best season yet (and a finale directed by none other than Quentin Tarantino), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was overlooked. Wow. This is the first year the show didn’t receive an nomination. Are the Emmys finally over the whole let’s-dissect-a-dead-body-and-solve-the-murder scenario? Maybe so. If Tarantino can’t score the show a nod, that’s saying something.
And what about all those ultra-cool sci-fi shows on the ultra-cool SciFi Channel? Sure, the likes of Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis get nominations in the visual effects and makeup categories, but these are really excellent shows, with top-notch casts (especially Battlestar). It’s a shame these shows are always relegated to special effects.
All is not lost, though. NBC’s Scrubs finally received some of the recognition it justly deserves. The medical comedy finally gets its first shot at best comedy series, while its star, Zach Braff, got a nod in lead actor in a comedy series. Arrested Development, last year’s surprise winner for best comedy series, is back to defend its title, along with the show’s star, Jason Bateman, who gets his first crack at lead actor in a comedy series. Let’s see if they can pull it out again.
