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How do you feel about the snub? Do you think 'drama' should be reserved for the ultra-serious shows? Do the Emmys need a new category for light drama or dramedy? Let us know your thoughts!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
And This is Why I Don't Pay Attention to the Emmys . . .
How do you feel about the snub? Do you think 'drama' should be reserved for the ultra-serious shows? Do the Emmys need a new category for light drama or dramedy? Let us know your thoughts!
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9 comments:
Should they really make categories at all ? I get why they do, cause most sitcoms don't have the qualities of dramas, but problem with categories is that as soon as you categories, so many things don't fit anywhere. White Collar is very well written and the acting is stellar. Do we need brooding characters for the actors to get recognitions ?
I think a show like WC actually asks particularly talented actors, because they need to find the fine balance between serious scenes and comic relief.
And all in all, White Collar does have very intense moments where you can see the broad acting range of its 2 lead actors.
And yes, I'm all for White Collar nominated in the drama category.
I think the "drama or comedy" question is not really the problem. I have the feeling that the phrase "bly sky TV" has burned itself in the mind of the people responsible there, and that a certain kind of show has lesser chances from the get go, especially is they are from USA Network. Instead of taking a good look what those shows are about, people consider them "light fare", unless they are nominated in the comedic category, because comedy IS suppose to be "light fare". I doubt that I will be satisfied with any of the winners this time around, and not just because the actors of White Collar will most likely be overlooked again. It's crazy the MB has a better chance to win for his guest appearance in Glee than for his work in White Collar. And I bet that Grimm wont win the price for Cinematography, even though the show derves it four times over. I mean, I would get White Collar being overlooked if it had to go up against high quality TV like Sherlock, but I don't think that the shows on other Networks are better than what USA has to offer.
My current favorite shows are things like "White Collar", "Castle", "Leverage", and "Burn Notice", which seem to be categorized as "not-serious-enough-for-Drama-awards-but-not-funny-enough-for-Comedy". Most of the stuff I see on "mainstream" TV and getting nominated for such awards is fairly crappy, IMO, especially as far as characterization.
They really need a Dramedy category! Evident that they shoe horn in Nurse Jackie as a comedy (it's not) so it can get noms. Neal Caffrey is one of the best new characters on tv in the last 10 years owed largely to Matt Bomer. One of the few tv characters where one could not imagine anyone else ever playing the role and the show would fold without him in the role. Supberb acting on his part and he gets ignored. Another solution is once you win an Emmy, your out of the running for that character. You could be nominated 10 times, but if you win, you are done as that character and Emmy.
If we make enough categories we can give every show an award. I hate categories. I hate awards. All of it is way too arbitrary.
But given that there are such things as awards, White Collar doesn't deserve them until the quality of the writing and direction is more consistent across the season. It's still in the "category" of shows that you only need to watch for the premieres and finales (or mid-season premieres and finales). The rest is often filler -- substandard filler. We get a great episode (or semi-great; I still contend they've never come close to the level they achieved in the pilot) but then we get something like the cutesy meet-the-inlaws-Mozzie-as-house-pet-yet-another-lame-Neal-and-Sara episode or the ditzy-Elizabeth-as-FBI-agent-strip-club episode and you just hope anyone with the power to give out awards is on vacation or in a coma. There are too many episodes where the plot hinges on a WTF moment (or moments -- usually they have to string several together to get the plot to make some sort of sense).
I would love to see Matt and Tim get more recognition for what they do -- they lift this show above the level of the writing so often. Their awards should say something about "above and beyond" and "valor" -- "splendid" is a good word, too, for all their inspired performances.
I think it's one thing to overlook "white Collar". It is another thing to overlook the actors,
The actors get overlooked because they're in a show that never allows its actors to step too far into reality -- there's nothing dark here, nothing deep, very little subtlety. It's fun. It's predictable. It's feel-good stuff. Neal is a good guy and always will be. He's not a serious character -- there's not much nuance. There's no edginess or sense of danger. The few times Neal has truly fascinated me as a character have been the moments when it suddenly hits me that maybe, just maybe, he's been scamming Peter the whole time -- that he's a dangerous and complex character. But in the end he isn't, and I know he isn't and is never going to be, and in that sense he's kind of boring. And after three seasons, I'm not sure I'd believe it if he suddenly turned into a more complex character. The writers, in their attempts to "explain" Neal -- have dumbed him down, made him average, killed the mystery.
That's not to say that "good guy" characters can't win awards -- it's just that there are so many characters out there now that are multi-layered, complex, deep. I don't see that in Neal. He had that possibility in season one, but as time has passed, the writers have not developed the character to any realistic extent; they've softened him, taken the edge off. They seem to have drawn a line somewhere and he must never step over it. And too often they turn what could have been edgy, mysterious, dark sides to his character into something that can be explained away. Too often they go for the shirtless Neal or the handsome Neal rather than for the man himself, with all his demons and terrors and flaws and confusion. You know you're never going to see the dark, complex side of anything in this show, least of all in an important character.
Keller, for instance, is a joke to me. I'm not scared of him. There is no sense of reality about him as a bad guy. He and Neal fighting with their garbage can lids and "swords" -- ridiculous. Laughable. It's what Peter said to start with: You look like a cartoon. This show too often does not reach past that level. No matter what abilities you have as an actor. unless you can consistently display them in some meaningful context, I don't think you're going to be winning awards.
I truly believe Tim and Matt are fine actors, and I love the relationship between Peter and Neal but as long as the writers are not willing to take real chances with their characters, with their story -- then I don't see how they can be considered for awards.
Nobody can tell me that Peter's reaction to El's kidnappeing isn't great acting. Or the scenes in which Neal ponders his fate. This shouldn't be about how "edgy" the characters are, it should be about how the actors sell the roles they are given. And MB can express a whole myrad of feeling with just a look.
All award shows are out of date, old, and stuffy crap. So, I never place my faith in them.
Dmk0064
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