Last Minute Emmy Wish List in the Comedy Categories

Here are some last minute predictions for the Oscars in the comedy categories using only shows I've seen. Seven shows get nominated in the comedy category and in the writing and directing categories the shows generally go to specific episodes. In this case, I listed overall writing and directing and then picked twelve episodes I really liked in hopes of picking them up. On the drama side, I don't really have many hopes except hoping that Bates Motel gets honored and that Aubrey Plaza gets a supporting nod in Legion.

Credit: Deadline.com

Best Comedy

Good Place

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Trial and Error

The Real O’Neals

Lady Dynamite

Schitt’s Creek

Those Who Can’t

BoJack Horseman

Directing

The Good Place

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Trial and Error

Dirk Gentley’s Whollistic Detective Agency

I Love Dick

Brockmire

Writing:

Dirk Gentley’s Whollistic Detective Agency

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The Good Place

BoJack Horseman

Trial and Error

Brockmire

Lead Actor:

Hank Azaria, Brockmire

Randall Park, Fresh off the Boat

Pete Holmes, Crashing

Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek

John Lithgow, Trial and Error

Andy Daly, Review

Lead Actress:

Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Maria Bamford, Lady Dynamite

Kathryn Hahn, I Love Dick

Constance Wu, Fresh off the Boat

Kristen Bell, The Good Place

Amanda Peete, Brockmire

Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Supporting Actor:

Danny DeVito, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Fred Melamed, Lady Dynamite

Sam Waterson, Grace and Frankie

Kevin Bacon, I Love Dick

Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Ted Danson, The Good Place

Supporting Actress:

Martha Plimpton, Real O’Neals

June Diane Raphael, Grace and Frankie

Lauren Lapkus, Crashing

Mary Steenburgen, Last Man on Earth

Jayma Mays, Trial and Error

Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek

Guest Actor:

Adam Scott as Trevor, The Good Place

Daveed Diggs as Perry, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Ray Liotta as Paulie Fiuccillo, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Stephen Tobolowsky as Jack Barker, Silicon Valley

Aasif Mandvi as Parshwall, Another Period

John Gemberling as John Hancock, Making History

Guest Actress:

Cheri Oteri as Cattie Goodman, Those Who Can’t

Annie Mumulo as Jill Kwatne-Adelman nee Kwatne, Lady Dynamite

Christine Rose as Josie Davis, Trial and Error

Ramona Young as Allison, The Real O’Neals

June Dianne Raphael as Eleanor Roosevelt, Another Period

Sandy Martin as Mac's mom, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Revolving Door of TV Openings: 2011-2012 Edition

Here's my annual look back at which  TV and movie stars have come back to TV in the 2011-2012 season. The idea of this list is to show how expansive the revolving door is and just how many familiar names and faces make it back to our airwaves every year. The list is created by looking at the rosters of all the TV shows to debut every year and all the additions to existing casts and adding any names to the list that I personally recognize. Of course, that makes this all very subjective. I recognized Annie Potts and Leslie Bibb from the GCB cast list because I recognized them from Ghostbusters and Talladega Nights, respectively, but you might recognize Jennifer Aspen from her role on Rodney or a 4-episode stint on Glee (which I didn't).

If they're a movie star and primarily known as that (Anjelica Huston, Dustin Hoffman, and Jessica Lange were making their TV debuts but there was no way I was leaving them off this list), I label them as such and if they're known only for one movie (again, that's subjective), I list that one movie with an (M) around it.

I try to note when their last project was and the year beside the project means when they're last show went off the air. A * means recurring role, an (A) means animated, a (TR) means a talk or reality show, and a (C) means creator. An animated role is far-less demanding then a live action role and often doesn't preclude them from further projects. Also, keep in mind, a person doesn't have to have left a previous show project to work on a new show like Stephen Merchant and Rickey Gervais adding "Life's Too Short" to their talk show on HBO.

I try to document just when their last TV gig was too:

Amanda Peete, Bent (Studio 60 2007)

Amber Head, Playboy Club (Hidden Palms, 2007, Zombieland [M])

Annie Potts, GCB (Ghostbusters (M), Dangerous Minds, Law and Order SVU* 2009)

Anjelica Huston, Smash (M)

Ashton Kutcher,  Two and a Half Men (Movies, That 70s Show 2006)

Brittany Snow, Person of Interest (American Dreams 2004)

Catherine Tate, The Office (Catherine Tate Show 2004 [C])

Chelsea Handler, Are You There, Vodka? (Chelsea Lately [TR])

Christina Ricci, Pan Am (M)

Claire Danes, Homeland (My So-Called Life 1995, Temple Grandin 2010)

Colm Meany, Hell on Wheels (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1999)

Connie Britton, American Horror Story (Spin City 2000, Friday Night Lights 2011)

David Hornsby (A), Unsupervised-Creator (It’s Always Sunny*)

Dylan McDermott, American Horror Story (The Practice 2004, Big Shots 2008)

Debra Messing, Smash (Will and Grace 2006, The Starter Wife 2008)

Dennis Farina, Luck (M)

Dianne Ladd, Enlightened (M)

Diedrich Baker (A), Napoleon Dynamite (Drew Carey Show, Outsourced 2011)

Dustin Hoffman, Luck (M)

Garrett Morris, 2 Broke Girls (SNL, Jamie Foxx Show 2001)

Hank Azaria, Free Agents (Simpsons [A], Movies, Huff 2006)

Hector Elizondo, Last Man Standing (Monk 2009)

James Spader, The Office (Boston Legal 2009)

James van der Beek, Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (Dawson’s Creek 2003)

Jason O’Mara, Terra Nova (Life on Mars 2009)

Jessica Lange, American Horror Story (M)

Jill Hennessy, Luck (Crossing Jordan 2007)

John Goodman*, Community (Roseanne, Normal Ohio, Damages* 2011)

Jonah Hill (C), Allen Gregory (M)

Jeffry Tambor, Bent (Arrested Development 2006, Welcome to the Captain 2008, Archer* [A])

Jessica St. Clair, Best Friends Forever (Best Week Ever)

Jon Heder (A), Nepoleon Dynamite (M) 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (SNL, Seinfeld, New Adv. Of Old Christine, 2010)

Justin Long (A), Unsupervised (M)

Kat Dennings, Two Broke Girls (Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist [M])

Katherine McPhee, Smash (American Idol [TR])

Kathryn Hahn, Free Agents (Movies, Crossing Jordan 2007)

Kathy Bates, Harry’s Law (The Office 2011)

Kelsey Grammer, Boss (Frasier, Back to You, Hank 2011)

Kiefer Sutherland, Touch (24 2010)

Kristin Chenowith, GCB (West Wing, Pushing Daisies 2009, Sit Down Shit Up, 2010, Glee* 2011)

Laura Dern, Enlightened (M)

Laura Prepon, Are you There, Vodka? (That 70’s Show 2006)

Leslie Bibb, GCB (Talladega Nights [M])

Leslie Mann (A), Allen Gregory (M)

Luke Wilson, Enlightened (Movies)

Maria Bello, Prime Suspect (Movies)

Matt Walsh, Veep (Upright Citizens Brigade, Dog Bites Man 2006)

Mandy Patinkin, Homeland (M)

Maya Rudolph, Up All Night (SNL 2008)

Maulick Pancholy, Whitney (30 Rock 2011)

Nancy Travis, Last Man Standing (Almost Perfect, Becker, Bill Engvall Show 2009)

Nick Nolte, Luck (M)

Rachel Bilson, Heart of Dixie (The OC 2006)

Regnald vel Johnson, Heart of Dixie (Family Matters 1998) 

Ricky Gervais (C), Life's Too Short (Extras, Ricky Gervais Show [TR])

Stephen Merchant (C), Life's Too Short (Extras, Ricky Gervais Show [TR])

Ted Levine, Luck (Monk 2009)

Tim Allen, Last Man Standing (Home Improvement 1999)

Will Arnett, Up All Night (Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Running Wilde 2011)

Will Forte (A), Allen Gregory (SNL 2010)

Zooey Deschanel, New Girl (M)

Getting "Bent": A look at NBC's promising Spring pilot

"Bent" is a sitcom about a womanizing half-baked handyman repairing the home of a high-strung lawyer in sunny California. The high-strung lawyer is played by Amanda Peet who sells the content self-assured woman so well, she could potentially be her own TV show genre. You could almost say "It's a show about a handyman and Amanda Peet" when pitching a sitcom and a network executive would know exactly how to picture that

You could call the show a romantic comedy (and coincidentally that's what the show IS being called) but there's nothing to indicate that the two leads will get together other than our expectations of what should happen in a sitcom if a) the two principal characters are male and female b) within 20 years of each other in age and c) neither character is hideously ugly.

In the pilot episode, Amanda Peet fires the handsome womanizing contractor when he canoodles (60% of the artistry in blogging is finding the best, most appropriate euphemism for sex) the maid. It was a moment in which Amanda Peete's character really established herself as she stood up and said "you're fired" to him.

For the handsome handyman guy (yes, I should look up the character's name or even the actor's name, I suppose), it should have been a big "oh sh--, what have I done" moment before moving onto someone else where the series should ideally start with another contractor who'd hire him with a tempting maid that he'd be making actual effort to resist.

Unfortunately, the plot loses me when she agrees to rehire him. I realize that this was a necessary move so that we'd have an episode two.

But this was the wrong course of action. I'm not suggesting that if it were a real life situation but that's what is truest to the characters.

I understand how this guy's narrative arc is to meet a woman different from him who challenges him but I don't see any glue that would keep them together past the length of the contractor job. Even worse I can't buy that he would even be in her life for said contracting job because a) she fired him and b) his firing was the most buyable moment of the episode and it already cheapened her character to have her relent because he kidnapped her daughter (really not the kind of thing to go over well with an alpha-mom like her) and taught her to play the piano.

I thought maybe they'd get stuck together because the competing contractor would all of a sudden drop out with the work half-done, and she'd be stuck in an emergency and actually need him. Then the balance of each person's needs would shift to the point where there we might get something interesting.

I'm not in any way, shape or form a screenwriter, and I could have already plotted out that episode better than the professionals did so I'd say that's a horrible start.


On a side note, I think it was moderately awesome that they had a character named "Screwsie"