foolish watcher

The Emmy nominations came out this morning and honestly? They aren’t terrible! This is thanks to several factors:

1. TV is just a lot better now. Between the sheer number shows to choose from, the removal of the stigma that used to taint TV and the creative boom we are in the middle of, TV is better than ever. This is not an exaggeration: I came up with 10 more series that could have been nominated for Outstanding Comedy than the seven that actually received nods.
2. At the same time, this was a quiet year for drama. In part, I think everyone tried to stay out of the way of the final season of Game of Thrones, believing that it was going to drown out everything else, and in part, dramas have found a new home in the limited series category. As a result, I didn’t feel like too many shows were overlooked in this category and am relatively happy with the nominees.
3. But back to that limited series thing: at some point when we weren’t looking, miniseries became the prestige format for television. I suspect the limited series has gained in popularity for creators and actors for the same reason: the word “limited.” It’s a project that they can commit to without having to potentially spend 8 to 10 years of their life doing, and it is by nature a project that has a concrete end — something storytellers are fond of. It’s created some memorable and important TV.

While I have a few quibbles with some of the nominees (The Kominsky Method is just taking up valuable real estate, guys), and some snubs — HER NAME IS D’ARCY CARDEN, DAMMIT — overall? It’s not a terrible list. Let’s examine it together, and maybe do just a tiny bit of screaming.

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