My Dream Emmy List

Here's who I think should be nominated &/or win Emmy's this year. I'm not totally sure some of these are even eligible but really who cares? Here's my Dream Emmy List.

I don't watch The Good Wife or Breaking Bad or Mad Men or Game of Thrones (which is apparently really good & I need to start watching it but there you go) so if you don't see certain shows or actors listed, it's because I've never seen them. Not that I don't think they are worthy, although, that could totally be the case. Preemptive ramble abort.

Best Drama:

• Fringe - this show is AMAZING, mind blowing ideas & totally grounded performances.
• Justified - can do no wrong, as strong in its second season as its first.
• Terriers - short-lived but intense & funny & riveting drama.
• Friday Night Lights - it's last season, never been nominated for Best Drama that I know of, throw it a bone!
• Southland - the move to TNT made a good show even better. Amazing cast, willing to shock you.

Best Comedy:

• Community - I'd say it's underrated but it seems to be a critical darling. All the cool kids watch it. Why don't you?
• Cougar Town - People put off by the admittedly lame title are missing out on a hilariously funny show
• Archer - sure it's animated but it's still one of the best & funniest comedies on TV right now
• Louie - funny but squirm-inducing. Makes you think about what you're laughing about.
• Modern Family - consistently makes me laugh. What more could you want?
• Park & Recreation - adding Adam Scott & Rob Lowe seems to have rounded out the cast perfectly instead of adding unnecessary bulk. It's literally a laugh out loud show. Leslie Knope!

 Best Actor, Drama:

• Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights - if I thought it's help him win, I'd leave the rest of the ballot blank or put his name five times. He IS Coach Taylor & he is SO deserving of the Emmy. Again, last season!
• Timothy Olyphant, Justified - sigh, love him. Love his conflicted character.
• Ben McKenzie, Southland - OC? What OC? He's totally left his teeny-bopper past behind him & grown into this fully realized adult role.
• John Noble, Fringe - Probably will be shut out due to snobbery over the SCI-FI elements of the show but he made you believe he was two different versions of the same man. Each was impressive & flawed, one was funny, the other terrifying.

Best Actress, Drama:

• Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights - see Kyle Chandler's entry above, insert Mrs. Coach.
• Regina King, Southland - her detective is the best character on a very strong show. She is a force to be reckoned with but not in an intimidating way.
• Anna Torv, Fringe - see John Noble's entry above, change pronoun to she!
• Mary McCormack, In Plain Sight -I don't know that I'd quantify IPS as a straight-up drama, because it makes me laugh a lot, but I'd love to see some different cable shows get some Emmy love & she's great as the good at her job but lousy with people witness protection US Marshal.

Best Actor, Comedy:

• Joel McHale, Community - I love this show & I love every actor on it. I'd nominate them all if I had the power. "I've got the power!"
• Louie CK, Louie - Sure he's basically playing himself but he can't be this funny in real life, can he? Actually, he probably could but props for being so unflinchingly honest.
• Matt LeBlanc, Episodes -I seriously doubt the Matt LeBlanc played by Matt LeBlanc is a carbon copy of the real guy, but holy crap, he is a funny bastard. I wish more people had seen this show when it originally aired on Showtime so we'd get more eps of Episodes but I'll savor the few gems we did get.
• Garret Dilahunt, Raising Hope - he's so funny? Who knew? I knew he was a great actor from seeing him on Terminator: Sarah Connors Chronicles & Life & Deadwood & a bunch of other shows but I never knew he could be so damn funny.

 Best Actress, Comedy:

• Courteney Cox, Cougar Town - when the show first premiered, people (mainly TV critics & disgruntled forum posters) gave CC flak for being the weakest link in an otherwise strong cast. I think that's crap, I think she's the crazy glue that holds the Cul de Sac Crew together. If not for her, who would bring Ellie & Laurie together? Or Grayson & Bobby? Or any of the other characters in any permutation?
• Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope - I was sure about this character in the pilot but she has grown as the show progressed & while some of that is surely due to the writers, a lot of it is due to MP's sexy, funny, grandmother, Virginia.
• Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation - she took what could have been a one-note character & imbued her with so much hope & optimism & just enough crazy to be believable.

This post is getting away from me, length-wise & also the amount of time I've put into it. If anyone responds to this, I'll post my Supporting Actor/Actress in Comedy & Drama picks later.

Whatever happened to Chandra Levy?

I'm reading a collection of essays & short stories by Chuck Palahniuk & in one he's describing watching the media coverage of 9/11 with friends when one asks if they ever found Chandra Levy, that intern that went missing. I can't even remember the senator or congressman's name that she worked for. He's probably a high paid consultant now helping lobby groups or political action groups or something like that. Gary Condit. I think that was his name. I could Google it in five seconds & I probably will when I'm done writing this. I'll read the Wikipedia entry on Chandra Levy & learn some basic facts that are probably mostly true & still not know what REALLY happened to her. That's the world we live in today. Everyone wants to know everything about everyone but no one really knows the truth, only the image of truth that we project to others. Sarah Palin comments about Paul Revere riding to warn the British & the media & the bloggers (myself included) make fun of her but she's really a scarily accurate reflection of America today. We know things, "we hold these truths self-evident" - I think that's a mangled quote from the Declaration of Independence - but what do we know really? Paul Revere didn't even make it the whole way to Lexington or Concord, he got caught by the British. There were at least two other riders that night but the majority don't know their names. That's not even really the point of this post. The point is instead of passively accepting the vagaries & the bias that is constant spewed at us, we need to look deeper. We need to investigate things on our own. "I can't do that, I have 2.5 kids & a mortgage & a DVR full of America's Got Talent to watch." Well, to co-opt a phrase, you get what you pay for, America. & it's a damn shame.