July 24, 2000
Emmy 2000: A look at the nominees - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- Last Thursday morning at 5:38 AM, Academy Chair Meryl Marshal, along with Emmy winners Edie Falco and Michael Badalucco, announced the nominees for the 52nd Annual Emmy Awards. As is Emmy custom, there were erroneous omissions and the dumbest of selections made by the Academy. For the first time, since the ‘60s, the Academy has changed its voting system. In previous years the Emmy selections were made by a blue ribbon panel of judges, say 10-20 folks who would sit in a committee that would meet during some weekend in August to decide the winners. They’d be locked up in a room, screen all the nominees and amongst themselves vote for the winners. Some say that system was faulty in that, the panel was made up of mainly retired TV professionals who would skew the results to their taste. For example: Helen Hunt winning for the staid Mad About You over Ellen DeGeneres during the season of her coming out?
The system was also lauded in that it was a truer form of judging excellence. For example: George C. Scott, upon winning the Oscar for his brilliant performance in Patton, refused the Oscar, citing the Motion Picture Academy’s voting process. Scott felt that the entire voting membership regarded their voting for the winners as a mere popularity contest. Wouldn’t you believe after refusing the Oscar, he accepted an Emmy a month later. (Incidentally, it’s a voting system that was implemented during Rod Serling’s term as Academy President. Serling, of course is the late creator of the program The Twilight Zone.)
So the nominees are out and I don’t really see much of a change. The Sopranos, last year got the majority of nominations, except this year they tie with The West Wing. The choices aren’t that shocking, although what shocked me the most was Ally McBeal’s omission from the Comedy Series category, a category that it won last year.
With Ally McBeal’s omission from the list, it’s about time that Will and Grace be nominated for the Comedy Series Emmy. Snubbed last year, (this year it got the most Emmy’s for a Comedy,) it’s up against 5-time winner in this category Frasier, Friends (which deserved to win last year,) Sex and The City and Everybody Loves Raymond. I am surprised to see Frasier on the list. As I said in Thursday’s column, I’ve felt that it was high time that the Academy stopped honouring that show. It’s become stale and indication of that is through NBC’s removal of it from its Thursday night line up.
Perhaps it’s the new populous system in place that Jerry Orbach gets a nomination for his Lead Actor work on the drama Law and Order. He joins four-time winner (in this category,) Dennis Franz from NYPD Blue, The West Wing’s Martin Sheen and James Gandolfini from The Sopranos. Sam Waterston, who was in the category last year is also from Orbach’s show Law and Order.
In Lead Actress for a Drama, last year’s nominees: Lorraine Bracco and Edie Falco, both from The Sopranos and Julianna Margulies from ER are joined by newcomers Amy Brenneman from Judging Amy and Sela Ward from Once and Again. Margulies, whose last year it was on ER, puzzles me why she got the nod. Her work was lackluster at best as she gave birth to twins at sweeps in November and married George Clooney in February sweeps. Perhaps Sarah Michelle Geller of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer fame would have made the other critics happy, if she’d have gotten a nod.
Jane Kaczmarek, the mom on Malcolm in the Middle got a nomination in the category of Lead Actress in a Comedy. She joins Jenna Elfman (Dharma and Greg), Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond), Debra Messing (Will and Grace), and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City.) Messing and Kaczmarek are new to the category, while all 5 nominees have never won yet. This is the first time 20 years, this category has five nominees which have never won Emmy’s previous. If we consider the last 10 years or so’s record of winners, the winner this year will surely win more Emmy’s in the years to come.
Other notable nominees include Eugene Lee, who’s up for his set design of Saturday Night Live’s 25th Anniversary. John Stamos, husband of Rebecca Romijan, and a formerly of the sitcom Full House has gotten his first Emmy nod for producing the Beach Boys miniseries: The Beach Boys: An American Family.
Tyne Daly, of Cagney and Lacey fame and winner of 5 Emmy’s in dramatic acting the most of any actress, is nominated in the category of Supporting Actress-Drama for her turns on Judging Amy. She’ll find herself up against, my personal fave to win, Nancy Marchand of The Sopranos.
Rachel on Friends (the future Mrs. Brad Pitt if we’re to believe some British tab,) Jennifer Aniston is nominated alongside Phoebe, Lisa Kudrow. Their category of Supporting Actress in a Comedy is also joined by Kim Cattrall of Sex and The City, Doris Roberts of Everybody Loves Raymond and Megan Mullally of Will and Grace.
Annie, the mega musical staged by ABC is nominated for best Made for TV Movie, up against Oprah Winfrey’s Tuesday’s with Morrie. I was pleased to see nominated, Brian Dennehy for Death of A Salesman. Showtime had the ingenious idea of filming his Tony-winning performance on Broadway, thus this nod.
Bruce Willis, a past winner of the Emmy for his work on the series Moonlighting, is nominated for his guest work on Friends. Also nominated is Tom Selleck for Friends, as well and the legendary Carl Reiner for his guest on the Showtime comedy Beggars and Choosers, a show shot in this fair town.
The legendary Kirk Douglas is nominated for his guest on Touched By An Angel, as is multiple Emmy winner and M*A*S*H star, Alan Alda who guested on ER. Billy Crystal has been nominated for his hosting duties on the 72nd Annual Academy Awards, an award he won for his hosting duties for the 70th show.
The nods are in and the punditry will end for this column. Back in a future edition with more Emmy stuff.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .