The 2017 Emmy Awards

[Chris L]

The results from Sunday night's Emmy Awards. The ones where I agree most strongly are the multiple awards for The Handmaid's Tale, which was a stunning adaptation of a novel both @AmyG and I found unreadable, and the two awards for the "San Junipero" episode of Black Mirror, which was one of the two or three best episodes of a show that has impressed me over and over since Amy and I began watching it a couple of years ago. Also, I'm glad to see John Oliver's writing staff get an award, because they've been doing the best investigative reports I've ever seen on a comedy program (which is damning their work with what sounds like faint praise but really isn't). This Is Us, which we enjoyed last season, at least managed to pull off a couple of acting awards. Some of the others, like Atlanta and The Crown, we haven't seen yet, though we gave up early on with Veep, which maybe we should revisit.

Best Comedy: "Veep" (HBO)
Best Drama: "The Handmaid's Tale" (Hulu)
Best Limited Series: "Big Little Lies" (HBO)
Best Actress, Comedy: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep" (HBO)
Best Actor, Comedy: Donald Glover, "Atlanta" (FX)
Best Actress, Drama: Elisabeth Moss, "The Handmaid's Tale" (Hulu)
Best Actor, Drama: Sterling K. Brown, "This Is Us" (NBC)
Best Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie: Nicole Kidman, "Big Little Lies" (HBO)
Best Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie: Riz Ahmed, "The Night Of" (HBO)
Television Movie: "Black Mirror: San Junipero" (Netflix)
Supporting Actor, Drama: John Lithgow, "The Crown" (Netflix)
Supporting Actress, Drama: Ann Dowd, "The Handmaid's Tale" (Hulu)
Supporting Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin, "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
Supporting Actress, Comedy: Kate McKinnon, "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie: Alexander Skarsgard, "Big Little Lies" (HBO)
Supporting Actress, Limited Series or a Movie: Laura Dern, "Big Little Lies" (HBO)
Variety Sketch Series: "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
Directing for a Comedy Series: Donald Glover, "Atlanta" ("B.A.N.") (FX)
Variety Talk Series: "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" (HBO)
Reality Competition Program: "The Voice" (NBC)
Writing for a Comedy Series: Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe, "Master of None" ("Thanksgiving") (Netflix)
Writing for a Drama Series: Bruce Miller, "The Handmaid's Tale" ("Offred (Pilot)") (Hulu)
Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Drama: Charlie Brooker, "Black Mirror: San Junipero" (Netflix)
Directing for a Drama Series: Reed Morano, "The Handmaid's Tale" ("Offred (Pilot)") (Hulu)
Directing For a Limited Series: Jean-Marc Vallée, "Big Little Lies" (HBO)
Directing for a Variety Series: Don Roy King, "Saturday Night Live" ("Host: Jimmy Fallon")
Writing for a Variety Series: "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" (HBO)
Structured Reality Program: "Shark Tank" (ABC)
Unstructured Reality Program: "United Shades of America With W. Kamau Bell" (CNN)
Guest Actress, Drama: Alexis Bledel, "The Handmaid's Tale" (Hulu)
Guest Actor, Drama: Gerald McRaney, "This Is Us" (NBC)
Guest Actress, Comedy: Melissa McCarthy, "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
Guest Actor, Comedy: Dave Chappelle, "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
Animated Program: "Bob's Burgers" (FOX)
Reality Host: RuPaul Charles ("RuPaul's Drag Race")

[Gordonb]

Wow snub the Queen and her family why don't you? In fact not much (any?) Brit Emmy success this year.

[KathyB]

Can anybody tell me what an "unstructured reality program" is?

(Not trying to be snarky; really want to know.)

[Chris L]

Can anybody tell me what an "unstructured reality program" is?

(Not trying to be snarky; really want to know.)

From a 2014 article in the Washington Post:

That decision came down earlier this year when the television academy decided that in addition to the Reality Competition Program race ("Survivor," "Project Runway," etc.), the Outstanding Reality Program prize should be split into two categories. The first is for "structured" reality shows; basically, series with something of a routine, such as MTV's "Catfish," Discovery's "MythBusters" and History's "Pawn Stars."

The second category specifies "unstructured" reality shows. Those are the ones that just follow wacky people around and see what happens: Think A&E's "Duck Dynasty," E!'s "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and Bravo's "The Real Housewives of New York City."

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In movie terms, I guess "unstructured reality shows" are the equivalent of cinéma vérité.

[KathyB]

If that's the definition of "unstructured reality show," I'm surprised they were able to come up with five nominations for an Emmy. 

[Chris L]

If that's the definition of "unstructured reality show," I'm surprised they were able to come up with five nominations for an Emmy. 

They could probably get five just from shows called The Real Housewives of [Fill-in-the-Blank]. 

For the record, the nominees were:

"Born This Way"
"Deadliest Catch"
"Gaycation With Ellen Page"
"Intervention"
"RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked"
"United Shades Of America: With W. Kamau Bell"

[Chris L]

My belated reaction to the list is, Why didn't Better Call Saul get anything?

[KathyB]

If that's the definition of "unstructured reality show," I'm surprised they were able to come up with five nominations for an Emmy.  

They could probably get five just from shows called The Real Housewives of [Fill-in-the-Blank].  

But would those five be worthy of an Emmy (or a nomination)? 
I should shut up, because I don't watch any of the Real Housewives shows, so maybe they're a lot higher quality than I give them credit for. (Somehow I doubt it.) And I don't watch any of the nominees either.   (Maybe I need to get cable.)

[Chris L]

I don't think I've ever seen an episode of anything that would qualify in that category, at least not since An American Family in the 70s.

[valmont]

My belated reaction to the list is, Why didn't Better Call Saul get anything?

THANK YOU!  I think the show is one of the best around.  Great writing and a brilliant cast.  Bob Odenkirk worked in sketch comedy for many years, but this show proves he can hold his own as an actor among the best of them.  He never fails to deliver smart, funny, honest, and thoughtful work in every scene.

[Chris L]

There are times when I think Better Call Saul is too subtle for its own good. Vince Gilligan and his writing staff are brilliant at unconventional narrative, at carefully avoiding cliched plot beats, and I suspect that there are viewers who don't know what to make of it. But the characters are wonderful, both on a writing level and an acting level, and as it draws closer to Breaking Bad (in Jimmy's arc, in Mike's arc, in Fring's arc and in Hector Salamanca's arc) the show is becoming more like a conventional suspense show, but only to the extent that Breaking Bad was ever a conventional suspense show, which is to say not really all that conventional.

[AmyG]

Amen to all the high praise for Better Call Saul. I think it may be my favorite currently running show. As Breaking Bad was my favorite current show when it was on. And it seems to me that Vince Gilligan knows where he's going with every single plot line since the story is so well-crafted, but at least for Breaking Bad, he said that was not the case. They know some big picture stuff about where they want to end up but not the details.

[Chris L]

Amen to all the high praise for Better Call Saul. I think it may be my favorite currently running show. As Breaking Bad was my favorite current show when it was on. And it seems to me that Vince Gilligan knows where he's going with every single plot line since the story is so well-crafted, but at least for Breaking Bad, he said that was not the case. They know some big picture stuff about where they want to end up but not the details.

Yeah, I think Gilligan uses the George R.R. Martin "gardener" approach, which if done well makes it look as though everything was planned in advance. (When I first read Game of Thrones one of the things I loved about it was that I really had the sense Martin knew where he was going -- and I suspect he did, to some extent) Stephen King uses the same approach, but it's often led to novels where, after a great set-up, he seemed to have no idea what to do with his characters (e.g., Desperation, which started out with a bang and then went nowhere interesting). Fortunately, he doesn't seem to do that anymore.