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| (AMC) |
Emmy
season is briefer, far less gluttonous and blessedly less predictable than the
four-month Oscars slog. Preceding the Emmy nominations announcement are
independent selections from only two groups: the Broadcast Television
Journalists Association (BTJA), a large group of mainstream TV writers who
confusedly name their award the Critics’ Choice (they’re more of an
intermediary between industry and critic); and the Television Critics
Association (TCA), the high-brow, long-standing critics’ circle for television
whose awards more accurately represent the tastes of critics than the BTJA.
In
impact and quality, between the TCA, the BTJA and the Emmys, we’re provided a
lasting and intriguing picture of the TV season that was. It’s why I prefer
Emmy season: with film, you have the Oscars, and a bunch of groups either
consciously voting predictively, or consciously not voting predictively.
Perhaps it’s because the Emmy doesn’t have as much stature, or because neither
BTJA nor TCA have much to gain by emulating the industry’s standard TV award,
but when the TV season comes to a close you wind up getting true, independent
consensus from three distinct and relevant groups.
Last
year, the three only agreed on a trio of dramatic series, all of which could
boast big ratings and critical acclaim: Breaking
Bad, Game of Thrones and True Detective (which, for the record,
competed as a miniseries at TCA). The BTJA and TCA – as in, those groups out of
the industry – both lobbed for The Good
Wife and The Americans, the
former of which actually took Best Drama at TCA. Meanwhile, the
stuck-in-their-ways Emmys went for Downton
Abbey yet again, but also were the only ones to stand behind Mad Men for a seventh consecutive cycle.
Finally, while the Emmys and TCA threw a bone at House of Cards, the final BTJA slot went to Showtime’s
acclaimed-but-low-rated Masters of Sex.
If
all that read a bit jumbled, here’s a handy comparison (winners bolded):
EMMY TCA BTJA
Breaking
Bad Breaking Bad* Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones Game of Thrones Game of Thrones
True Detective True Detective* True Detective
Downton Abbey The Good
Wife The Good
Wife
Mad Men The Americans The Americans
House of Cards House of Cards Masters
of Sex
[The
asterisks make note of 1) Breaking Bad
winning TCA’s Program of the Year award, and likely losing the Drama Series
award as a result, and 2) True Detective
competing as a miniseries with TCA.]
The
snapshot of last year illustrates a burgeoning divide between critical and
industry preference. Both The Americans and,
ironically, The Good Wife – as in,
the one broadcast show that could (and ultimately didn’t) compete for Best
Drama at the Emmys – did very well with both BTJA and TCA, but were passed over
by the Television Academy. Both shows, as I’ll discuss in a moment, remain
critical juggernauts in the 2014-15 landscape. But by holding onto Downton Abbey and treating House of Cards – a show critics like but
don’t take all that seriously – as a mainstay, the Emmys have certainly
established a fair distance from their lesser awards counterparts.
Of
course, the Emmys six selections work as a pretty solid aggregation of the most
impactful/quality shows of the season; it’s a fair fusion, even if the BTJA has
conjured up a better one by dropping Downton
for Masters of Sex. In their own way,
Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, House of
Cards, Downton Abbey, Mad Men and True Detective have all been culturally-penetrating, and more to
the point, have enjoyed (at least during some of their respective runs) solid
critical acclaim (all have been a TCA nominee for Drama Series). So if a
conservative six, it’s not an unsurprising one, nor is it in any way egregious.
But collectively, these three bodies provide those six mainstays along with
under-rewarded critical darlings (Americans,
Good Wife and Masters).
***
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| (CBS) |
If
the results of the 2014 season were plenty illuminative, this year’s should be
even more-so: expect chaos in a year plenty-filled with fascinating narratives
and qualitative milestones in regard to hour-long drama series. Last year, Breaking Bad marched to victory with all
three groups; True Detective was the
one-and-done phenomenon that probably belonged in miniseries; the House of Cards and Game of Thrones crazes were starting to subside; and The Americans and The Good Wife were too good to ignore… until they were, in fact,
ignored. Oh, and The Good Wife was
single-handedly keeping critical interest in the broadcast drama alive.
In
2015, we’ve got a lot more to talk about. Firstly and most importantly: who the
hell is out front? With both Breaking Bad
and True Detective ineligible, only Game of Thrones returns having been
recognized by all three groups. But given the source material, it’s expected to
have its weakest season; and more to the point of Emmy recognition, it hasn’t
pulled out a win yet and its peak has passed. The same goes for House of Cards, while Downton Abbey should resume its bubbling
along at the back of the pack.
Then
things get interesting: we’ve got a four-time winner approaching the end of its
run, a television phenomenon as we haven’t seen in decades (seriously!), a
spinoff that’s actually good and interesting (and popular), an upcoming Netflix
drama suffering from prestige overload, the equivalent Golden Globe winner on a
network that’s great at campaigns and is itching to get back in the race, and,
yes, The Good Wife and The Americans still exist in critics’
minds, as does the return of Sundance’s magnificent Rectify. Things are happening, and the field for what might
get recognized is blessedly chaotic.
Let’s
start with Mad Men, which would
become the first show in history to win back Drama Series after losing three
years in a row. If this short season of Mad
Men were against the end of Breaking
Bad, it would lose. Against the first season of Homeland, lose. Against any of Mad
Men’s first four seasons, lose. But the spot is open, and Mad Men has a narrative to drive home if
there ever was one. Though the critics rather disappointingly backed away from
it, there’s no real perception of the show dropping in quality, and the
significance of Mad Men’s conclusion
has been well-entrenched weeks before the season has even started to air. AMC
is effectively rebuilding the Mad Men
Emmy narrative, and they also, fortunately, have a new kind of TV Academy: though
they used to be averse to rewarding shows in their last seasons, both The Sopranos and Breaking Bad went out on an Emmys high-note. Granted, those seasons
generated big ratings and a lot of chatter – not quite as Mad Men’s swan song will. But Mad
Men was never especially popular, but beloved was it ever among the
industry. The show has been steadily dropping in nominations, so a comeback in
major categories (writing, actors like John Slattery or Elisabeth Moss, etc.)
would signal a changing tide.
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| (FOX) |
Aged,
long-respected Mad Men will begin to
mark the end of the TV season just as its definer, the FOX phenomenon Empire, comes to a close. As the subtle
AMC period drama exits after seven graceful, award-winning years, there’s a new
scene to take its place – and it is loud, soapy, delirious fun. Empire, which comes from Oscar nominee
Lee Daniels and Emmy winner Danny Strong, has earned ratings of stunning
magnitude all while keeping critics comfortably on its side. It’s been
revolutionary for more reasons than the obvious – its predominantly black cast,
a landmark in TV representation and the cornering of nonwhite markets – as this
has been the greatest success story for network television in decades.
It’s the kind of show that, despite its pedigree, probably would get skipped
over by Emmy considering the show’s soapy, hyperactive nature. But the ratings
(and cultural conversations) are too substantial to ignore, and with a pair of
Oscar-nominated actors in leading roles – Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson
– the show might make a serious dent in this year’s race. Moreover, considering
the brilliance (and intensity) of Henson’s performance, the fact that Best
Drama Actress could come down to a pair of African Americans – Viola Davis is
the clear frontrunner for How to Get Away
with Murder – is a rather remarkable leap forward.
Better Call Saul,
meanwhile, may have seemed like an exercise in regression – but it’s anything
but. With excellent ratings, solid reviews (that actually seem to get better by
the episode), the show has effectively built on the mammoth success of Breaking Bad while also maintaining its
own identity. But how will the Academy treat it – and how will critics treat
it? While Mad Men is sure to be
re-embraced by critics, and Empire should
fare well across the board, Better Call
Saul occupies a strange space. It feels like an Emmy show, both in
production and quality, but its status as a spinoff doesn’t help it. It’s not a
clean label, nor a flashy one. It’s that fan-service-thing that Vince Gilligan
did – and look, it turned out well! Of course, it’s more than that, but the
climate this year is just ridiculously competitive, and I’m not sure it has the
grit to stand out beyond its Breaking Bad-ish
identity. We’ll see. In any case, it’s a success story in its own right, and
we’ll see to what degree that holds up come awards time.
There’s
another show whose premiere is still a week out, and who could really dismantle
this whole “structure” that’s been established. Bloodline, sure to get a
heavy push from Netflix, is higher on pedigree than just about any newcomer: it
comes from the creators of Damages, a two-time Emmy nominee for Outstanding
Drama Series (it received a TCA nomination, but aired before the establishment
of the BTJA), and features a juicy cast. In leading roles are Emmy winner Kyle
Chandler (Friday Night Lights), Emmy
nominee Linda Cardellini (Mad Men),
Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (The Good
Wife) and, said to be the standout, Starred
Up actor Ben Mendelsohn. And competing in supporting, among others, will be
Oscar winner Sissy Spacek, nominee Sam Shepherd and Golden Globe winner Chloe
Sevigny. Plus, it’s on campaign-savvy Netflix, and advanced reviews from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have been more than favorable. Set in the
sun-soaked Florida Keys and fashioned as a twisty family thriller, the show seems
like an Emmy show, and it’s slow-burn and tightly-structured narrative should
help it greatly given the binge-watching release strategy from Netflix. It
could be a real game-changer in a category looking for a frontrunner, assuming
the acclaim holds up and viewer response is positive.
But,
of course, it’s too early to tell – how can Bloodline
be evaluated when the fate of shows airing right now such as Empire and Better Call Saul is so up-in-the-air? And these shows don’t begin
to comprise the list of contenders in Drama Series. Showtime, after losing out
its Drama Series placement (which had been in-tact since 2008) last year, is
back in the game with Showtime’s The
Affair, a psychological drama which already won the Golden Globe for Best
TV Drama. Take that with a significant grain of salt, however, considering the
Globes’ affinity for new shows and the muted critical response to the season’s
second half. It won’t be as big a player on the critics’ circuit, and
viewership numbers were quite low – if the Emmys wouldn’t go for Masters of Sex, it’s hard to see The Affair figuring in. But it has
hardware, prestige and acclaim to boot. And, for that matter, neither The Good Wife nor Homeland, the quickly-forgotten 2012 winner which is fresh off a
creative resurgence, should be overlooked either, in a category that could go
any number of directions.
I’m
eager to see how these three distinct groups size things up. There will likely
be more variety between the nominations slate, which is a great way of
acknowledging the boom in quality TV drama this past season. These aren’t Breaking Bad-level shows, and
consequentially, the landscape is more chaotic. There’s much to choose from and
little to agree on. But that’s a captivating narrative to explore as reflection
on the season that was begins. What compels recognition? What shook us, what
captured the nation – and, more importantly, what was great? Between the
BTJA, TCA and TV Academy, you get a sprinkle of it all – and a surprisingly
holistic salute to what continues to be the era of too-much-good-TV.