TV Award Picks

The TV shows nominated for awards this year are all over the place.  You have well-respected dramatic series, a Korean take on Hunger Games, a random western and a bunch of other things.  It really left me scratching my head.  With exception the common theme seems to be rich white people with problems.  It wasn’t my favorite year.  But there are a few standouts.  Here are my takes.

Dramas:  Succession has been getting the lionshare of chatter and will probably pull a Ted Lasso or Schitt’s Creek and walk away with most of the hardware.  I only got through two episodes and called it quits.  Ditto Yellowstone.  Mare of Easttown, another uber popular series, was so bleak I just had to say no.  Scenes from a Marriage was also incredibly bleak, as was Squid Game.  Halston had its moments but I just really object to casting a straight actor in an overtly gay role (I couldn't help but think that Matt Bomer could have slayed this role).  The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was downright dour and the first time I wanted to ditch on a Marvel show.

Winners, for me, included old and new.  I adore Handmaid’s Tale and The Morning Show always wins me over for the complexity of the characters.  Maid and Dopesick had me binging the entire series over a day or so, each covering a modern crisis without feeling preachy.  Cynthia Erivo gets major snaps for besting Jennifer Hudson in the battle of the Aretha Franklins, although she had the advantage of a way better script and a longer format.

Comedies:  The White Lotus was listed as drama, which is a mistake.  It’s comedy, albeit and very very dark comedy.  And it’s brilliant.  And sad.  Kind of watching a train wreck.  You really really want to look away but you can’t.  My fave here is The Great and always will be.  It’s smart, fast, and deeply funny – until it’s not.  And that’s why it is brilliant.  A cast effort where every single actor “brings it”.  Loki was a surprise with a sense of freshness and absolutely hysterical dialog.  The Kominsky Method was nice and wrapped up the series perfectly.  The rest of the so-called comedies left me cold which proves that comedy is a very personal thing.  I mean, there is a lot of types of comedy, right?  Do you like slapstick, crude jokes, subtle smart stuff, or a show “about nothing”?  It’s a dilemma.  Many of these are well-liked and feature big-deal actors.  I just didn’t find them funny.  That includes Ted Lasso, Only Murders in the Building, The Chair and Hacks.