Dream Emmy Nominees – Quick Hits 2011

It’s just a few days now until the 2011 Emmy nominations are announced on Thursday morning. If you want to watch – and you know you do – you can check out Emmys.com at 5:35am PDT. They’re being hosted by Melissa McCarthy of Mike & Molly and a personal favorite of mine, Joshua Jackson of Fringe. As for the following choices, I’ll explain again this year that these are my personal choices and therefore not my guesses. Also, I’m a bit of a comedy snob and I don’t watch too many dramas, so you can expect some niche choices in the comedy genre and some pretty broad picks in drama. Let’s get to it!

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Steve Carell, The Office
• Rob Lowe, Parks and Rec
• Joel McHale, Community
• Danny McBride, Eastbound and Down
• Louis C.K., Louie

Reasoning: Okay, listen, I love Parks and Rec to death, and I think that Rob Lowe is just supremely fantastic on that show (“Stop. Pooping!”), but he’s not even close to a lead character. Still, that’s how little I like the other nominees in this category that he made the list anyway. Jim Parsons, defending champ, is noticeably absent here, because I find that show almost unbearable these days in its broad comedy. McBride and C.K. are the true comedian’s choices here, but I can’t deny Steve Carell this win. The man shone brilliantly for years on The Office and his victory lap this year could have been poor but instead he sold the hell out of it comically and emotionally. Goodbye, Michael.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

• Sean Bean, Game of Thrones
• Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
• Jason Clarke, The Chicago Code
• Michael C. Hall, Dexter
• Jon Hamm, Mad Men
• Peter Krause, Parenthood

Reasoning: It’s Coach Taylor, what else can I say? The man is a force of nature in this role. Jon Hamm had a hell of a year on Mad Men playing out the soulless depths of Don Draper’s life, but Friday Night Light‘s Kyle Chandler can out act any of these fine gentlemen without even saying a word. Remember when he chased the creepy T.A. off his lawn with a glare and the handlebar of a tricyle? Eric Taylor, ladies and gentlemen. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

• Courteney Cox, Cougar Town
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Lea Michele, Glee
• Mary Louise Parker, Weeds
• Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Reasoning: Listen, Amy Poehler just needs to win all the awards. Okay, seriously though, I love Cougar Town as much as Abed, but I’m not going to argue for Cox to win. Recognition? Absolutely, but not win. Falco was great again on Nurse Jackie, though I guess this is for last season and not what aired a few weeks ago, right? Or is that totally wrong? Showtime, your schedule confuses me. Mary Louise Parker, a long-time favorite of mine, absolutely deserves and will get a nomination, but that’s enough in my eyes. Last year I was up in arms over Glee‘s Lea Michele being included (I may have used a gif employing that great Fey-scripted line from Mean Girls, “She doesn’t even go here!”), but she a fantastic person and she plays her heart out as Rachel Berry, so join the ranks. Tina Fey has been my homegirl for years, but I have yet to come across more than one person who can watch Poehler’s enthusiasm on Parks and not be totally smitten with her and the show as a whole.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

• Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
• Lauren Graham, Parenthood
• Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
• Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
• Ellen Pompeo, Grey’s Anatomy
• Anna Torv, Fringe

Reasoning: Aside from my winner pick, here’s an instance of my lack of drama producing some competitors that may seem a little bit out of left field. Pompeo and Graham are maybe the most out of their league here. Grey’s really experienced a renaissance this year, and Pompeo’s Meredith had some meaty scenes. And while Lauren Graham is a crazy good comedic actress, she really played the angst and heartbreak of her character this season too. Torv maybe should win this category based on the amount of heavy-lifting she had to do on Fringe this year as she played her own character, Olivia; the alternate universe version, lovingly dubbed Fauxlivia; and also the scientist William Bell, in a spectacular Leonard Nimoy impression. Kid’s got skills. But my FNL love cannot be tamed, and as good as Coach Taylor was this year, Mrs. Coach was even better. Her last two episodes were killers. Tami Taylor for President!

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

• Fred Armisen, Portlandia
• Ty Burrell, Modern Family
• Donald Glover, Community
• John Krasinski, The Office
• Danny Pudi, Community
• Adam Scott, Parks and Recreation

Reasoning: When I made my initial list of candidates here, there were 13 names, so any of these fine fellows could win and I would be happy. My first cut from 13? NPH. That’s how much I love the rest of these performances. We’re left with six very strong contenders. At the bottom of this list has to be Krasinski, but if he submitted the episode where he plays the intensely tortured Jim after Dwight suspensefully threatens him with a snowball to the face all day, he could win. Armisen’s performance on IFC’s Portlandia was so, so fresh that I almost want to give him the prize. Burrell is a constant source of laughter on Modern Family, as is the duo of Glover and Pudi on Community. But I can’t deny the pure joy that I had watching Adam Scott interact with the staff at the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation this year. He was sweet, and hilarious, and cute, and tortured, and defeated, and elated, and so perfect.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

• Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
• Aiden Gillen, Game of Thrones
• Joshua Jackson, Fringe
• John Noble, Fringe
• Denis O’Hare, True Blood
• John Slattery, Mad Men

Reasoning: No one, on any show, on any network, has ever had as much fun as Peter Dinklage had playing Tyrion Lannister this year in HBO’s epic adaptation, Game of Thrones.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

• Gillian Jacobs, Community
• Christa Miller, Cougar Town
• Aubrey Plaza, Parks and Recreation
• Naya Rivera, Glee
• Amy Ryan, The Office
• Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie

Reasoning: This category is even worse than the male counterpart. There were 17 names on my initial list. Roll your eyes all you want, but Naya Rivera was a f—ing queen on Glee this year. She played her witty one-liners and take downs perfectly, as any viewer would expect, but what we didn’t see coming was the truly incredible emotional depth she imbued the bitch cheerleader, Santana Lopez, with this year (and let’s be honest, this character could have been seriously one-note. There’s a reason her name is nearly Satan). As she struggled to come to terms with her feelings for her best friend, Brittany (another great performance, from Heather Morris), she brought the house down with her raw emotion. Just google “Glee Hurt Locker scene” and you’ll understand. Still, I have mad love for Jacobs, Plaza, Miller, Ryan, and Wever, who were all beyond spectacular in their own regard this season. Just wow. These are funny and talented ladies. (If you need further proof of Rivera’s chops, look no further than Exhibit A: Ten Minutes of Santana Sass)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

• Kristin Bauer van Straten, True Blood
• Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter
• Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
• Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
• Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy
• Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men

Reasoning: Another weak category for me. I love Hendricks to death, but I think that Bauer ran away with the prize this year as the eternally sassy and uninterested vampire, Pam. Clarke was a great newcomer, and Shipka’s elevated role was great too. Carpenter and Oh are probably more of a legacy thing for me, as they’ve both been better in the past.

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

• Matt Damon, 30 Rock
• Zach Galifianakis, SNL
• Cheyenne Jackson, Glee
• Kyle MacLachlan, Portlandia
• Jim Rash, Community
• Ben Schwartz, Parks and Recreation

Reasoning: It’s hard to deny the humor of Schwartz’s douchey playboy Jean Ralphio, or the adorable enthusiasm of Matt Damon on 30 Rock, but Jim Rash steals every single scene he’s in on Community.

Outstanding Guest Actor in a  Drama Series

• John Corbett, Parenthood
• Michael Emerson, Parenthood
• James Frain, True Blood
• Zach Gilford, Friday Night Lights
• Jason Ritter, Parenthood
• Andre Royo, Fringe

Reasoning: Just, this: “Watch how fast I type, motherf—er!”

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

• Elizabeth Banks, 30 Rock
• Mo Collins, Parks and Recreation
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 30 Rock
• Megan Mullally, Parks and Recreation
• Gwyneth Paltrow, Glee
• Reese Witherspoon, After Lately

Reasoning: Another super difficult category. Witherspoon’s cameo on the mockumentary-ish After Lately was superb, as is every appearance by either of the Parks and Recreation ladies. Banks stayed strong as Jack’s baby mama, Avery Jessup, this year as well. The genius of the 30 Rock live show was made possible by Louis-Dreyfus standing in for Tina Fey in the show’s signature cut-away flashbacks, explained away as the fact that Liz’s memory has “Seinfeld money.” But the boundless enthusiasm that Paltrow showed in her three appearances on Glee this year was just beyond infectious. As the free-spirited substitute, Holly Holliday, Paltrow sang some great songs and dispensed some pitch-perfect advice “So, just remember, whenever you have sex with someone, you’re having sex with everyone they’ve ever had sex with…and everybody’s got a random!” Paltrow, Witherspoon, and Mullally all fully committed to their roles and went all-out, but Gwyneth is the winner in my eyes.

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

• Cara Buono, Mad Men
• Randee Heller, Mad Men
• Adrienne Palicki, Friday Night Lights
• Jessica Pare, Mad Men
• Melissa Rauch, True Blood
• Evan Rachel Wood, True Blood

Reasoning: Two words, “Alaska, Tim?”

Predictions & Prophecies – The 83rd Academy Awards, pt. 2

Tuesday I gave you some picks for a few of the smaller categories. Today I’m here to crown my hypothetical victors for the performance & directing categories and overall Best Picture. Just about three more days until the festivities!

Actor in a Leading Role

(Javier Bardem in “Biutiful,” Jeff Bridges in “True Grit,” Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network,” Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech,” James Franco in “127 Hours”)
Who I think will win: Firth
Who I hope will win: Franco
In this category, I haven’t seen Bardem’s performance, but my personal favorite is James Franco. I’ve been a fan since he played Daniel Desario on Freaks and Geeks, and I thought he was terrific in 127 Hours. The film is pretty much all Franco, with plenty of long stretches with no dialogue at all but his performance was captivating. As for whom the Academy will pick, history from this awards season suggest it will go to Colin Firth as The King’s Speech has really pulled ahead overall. Bridges, the pick in this category last year, was fantastic, but the Academy is unlikely to pick this performance.

Actress in a Leading Role

(Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right,” Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole,” Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone,” Natalie Portman in “Black Swan,” Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”)
Who I think will win: Portman
Who I hope will win: Portman
In this race, I’ve yet to see Blue Valentine and most likely won’t see Rabbit Hole, but I don’t think seeing those movies would change my opinion here. I didn’t like a whole lot of anything in TKAAR, and Bening was a large part of that for me. Jennifer Lawrence was pretty great in Winter’s Bone, but Natalie (admittedly a long, long-time favorite of mine) just had so much more to work with and really played the hell out of the role. Also, I want more clips of her dorky laugh to be looped by the internet.

Actor in a Supporting Role

(Christian Bale in “The Fighter,” John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone,” Jeremy Renner in “The Town,” Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right,” Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”)
Who I think will win: Bale
Who I hope will win: Bale
There’s no denying that Bale stole the show in The Fighter. As for the rest of the field, Hawkes was haunting in Winter’s Bone and Rush surely played his role with enthusiasm, but I don’t think they can top Bale. I’m happy to see Renner pick up a nom for another Boston-set movie, The Town. As for Ruffalo, I don’t think he was as good as this nomination suggests, but he was the most enjoyable part of The Kids are All Right for me.

Actress in a Supporting Role

(Amy Adams in “The Fighter,” Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech,” Melissa Leo in “The Fighter,” Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit,” Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”)
Who I think will win: Leo; Steinfeld for the upset
Who I hope will win: Steinfeld
I’ve seen all but Animal Kingdom, so I can’t speak to that. I know Leo has been the frontrunner, but I didn’t think her performance was all that great and she’s gone a little off the rails with her recent success, so this race could be back up in the air. I thought Adams was better in The Fighter, and as for King’s Speech & Bonham Carter, I thought she was believable and well-cast, as it’s not really what you would think of for her but it worked. But I’m definitely in the Steinfeld camp here, as the young Hailee was just spectacular in this role. I caught the original True Grit on AMC this weekend and was able to see just how much Steinfeld sounded and acted like Kim Darby and yet was able to come off so much more likable and interesting.

Directing

(“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky, ”The Fighter” David O. Russell, ”The King’s Speech” Tom Hooper, “The Social Network” David Fincher, ”True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
Who I think will win: Fincher
Who I hope will win: Fincher
Not that I’ve necessarily given you my Best Picture prediction yet (spoiler alert: it’s the next category!), but it’s unusual for the Directing and Best Picture awards to be split, but I think this is the year. Fincher managed to direct one hell of an exciting movie despite the fact that major portions of the movie involve legal proceedings and website coding as “the action.” This could also go to Aronofsky for utilizing thriller and horror aspects to tell the story of a ballerina’s mental breakdown. I don’t think Hooper will win this, even if TKS picks up the Best Picture.

Best Picture

(Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Winter’s Bone)
Who I think will win: The King’s Speech
Who I hope will win: The Social Network
First things first, I do not hate The King’s Speech. However, I did see if after it had picked up it’s Golden Globes and SAG awards and I fear I may have viewed the film within that greater picture instead of on its own merits. Still, I honestly can’t understand the logic that places this film above at least three of the other nominees. After much internal debate, I finally settled on The Social Network. To be fair, I’m a fan of the subject matter and the writer, but I truly believe it told the story well, in a way that was both very interesting, suspenseful, and satisfying. And I even knew the whole story already. So much of it was just perfect, like the Henley racing scene, (to quote the script) the Winklevi’s meeting with President Summers in Mass Hall, and even the oddly fascinating legal meetings. The other movies I was torn about include 127 Hours and True Grit, both movies which I didn’t expect to love as much as I did. Black Swan and Inception were also very enjoyable movies that kept me interested throughout, despite any flaws or holes that were apparent later. Winter’s Bone took a while to get my attention, but by the last half I was fully invested in the story. Toy Story 3 probably shouldn’t be nominated for Best Picture, after all there is a separate category specifically for animated features. I’m also not big on The King’s Speech, The Fighter, and The Kids Are All Right, as I thought they would all better than they were.

And finally, should you have any doubt about how Franco and Hathaway will perform on Sunday, worry no more:

Predictions & Prophecies – The 83rd Academy Awards, pt. 1

Welcome to the final week of Awards Season 2011! The 83rd Annual Academy Awards are just a few days away and so far it’s been fun; we even have adorable Lego recreations of the Best Picture Nominees! (dubbed LEGOscars, naturally) This is the second year of the 10-deep Best Picture field, and it’s not quite clear what that means for the movies nominated yet. We also have another double-host show, with Anne Hathaway and James Franco enthusiastically taking up the reins this year. I’m pretty pumped for the broadcast this Sunday, and I’ve finally seen all the Best Picture Nominees so now I feel ready to predict! What follows is who I think will win, who I think should win, and some brief reasoning. I haven’t included all the categories, just “the big ones” and others I found interesting or had something I wanted to say. Today’s categories are not the most popular ones, but they are the spots were some fun nominees find a way in. Tomorrow will be the heavy hitters, including all of the performance categories and Best Picture. Hereeeeee we go!

Cinematography

(“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique, “Inception” Wally Pfister, “The King’s Speech” Danny Cohen, “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth, “True Grit” Roger Deakins)
What I think will win: True Grit
What I hope will win: True Grit
Inception was pretty, and I did love TSN, but this has got to go to True Grit, which was just magnificent. The King’s Speech was memorable for its wide shots (think of the wood paneled foyer at Lionel’s, the speech at Wembley, the argument in the garden) but not exceptional. And while Black Swan was tense and exciting, many aspects shouted at the audience instead of whispering, like Nina’s wardrobe as a sliding spectrum from whites to greys to black and the trippy horror and hallucination sequences. To see more about True Grit’s cinematography, check out this great video.

 

Music (Original Score)

(“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell, “Inception” Hans Zimmer, “The King’s Speech” Alexandre Desplat, “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman, “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
What I think will win: The Social Network
What I hope will win: 127 Hours
It was a toss-up for me on my personal favorite, with 127 Hours winning due to the fact that I could immediately recall the feelings I had during the film when I heard it. This was not apparent with TSN’s score, though it was fantastic. You know what was better though? That really haunting version of Creep they used in the teaser trailer.

 

 

Music (Original Song)

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″ Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
What I think will win: “Coming Home”
What I hope will win: “If I Rise”
Perhaps the most fun part of this category for me is hearing Zachary Levi, Chuck, singing “I See the Light” from Tangled. As for the rest, Newman’s song sounds like a lot of the same and not particularly strong and I can’t tell if “Coming Home” is good or terrible, which leaves it to “If I Rise” from 127 Hours, which is slowly becoming my favorite film of the season. Still, I think the Academy is going to hand Country Strong’s song the win.

 

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

(“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy, “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “Winter’s Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini)
What I think will win: The Social Network
What I hope will win: The Social Network
The Social Network was adapted from Ben Mezrich’s semi-true book “The Accidental Billionaires,” and boy was it adapted. King of smart television, Aaron Sorkin, put his pen to this screenplay and emerged with a masterpiece. Very few thought it could be done, making an interesting movie about Facebook, but Sorkin knocked it out of the park. Sure, there was a conspicuous absence of walk&talks, but this was classic Sorkinese spewing from the mouths of Cantabrigians and it was beautiful. True Grit definitely deserved the nod, as it was both very similar and much better than the original. Winter’s Bone didn’t have a whole lot of dialogue, but the overall plot was enthralling.

 

Writing (Original Screenplay)

(“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh, “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan, “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg, “The King’s Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler)
What I think will win: The King’s Speech
What I hope will win: Inception
I have a problem with pulling for The King’s Speech to win a writing award, as it did a very poor job of developing peripheral characters, such as the odd Winston Churchill and the static family of Lionel. That being said, I practically hated The Kids Are All Right and didn’t see Another Year. The Fighter wasn’t brilliant, and I feel that it wouldn’t have been as big of a hit without Bale’s performance. I guess for my pick, I’m going to have to go with Inception, for creativity’s sake, despite supposedly main characters (such as Ellen Page’s Ariadne) existing solely to deliver exposition.

 

Animated Feature Film

(“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet, “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich)
What I think will win: Toy Story 3
What I hope will win: Toy Story 3
Let’s be real, TS3 is nominated for Best Picture AND Animated Feature Film and it will be walking away with one of them for sure.

Art Direction

(“Alice in Wonderland,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” “Inception,” “The King’s Speech,” “True Grit”)
I don’t know anything about this category, but Harry Potter was beautiful and it should receive ALL THE AWARDS. ALL OF THEM.

 

Part 2 coming up tomorrow!

Mad Men – “I hope she knows you only like the beginnings of things.”

Pete: “We’re the scrappy upstart.”
Don: “You don’t say that to the clients do you?”

What can you say about this magnificent show that hasn’t already been said? It’s consistently the best show on television every week it’s on, and there’s no way to deny that. There was a stretch around the middle this year where it seemed that each week the show as a good as it could possibly be, only to be usurped the following week with another masterpiece.

The real stars of Season Four were Don and Sally. Don’s single life led to drinking problems, industry awards, shamed secretaries, a great relationship (for the most part) with Faye, several trips to California, and finally a spontaneous engagement to his very young secretary, Megan.

Sally had a tumultuous year as well. From having to deal with her parents’ split and the worsening of Betty’s mothering skills to her creepy relationship with sketchy Glen Bishop, Sally was growing up with no one to show her the ropes. When the ladies of the office, and Megan especially, started to take care of her, Don recognized deep down something that he wanted in his wife, the actual ability to be a mother.

The rest of the season was just phenomenal as well, with the Lucky Strike fiasco, Joan and Greg’s marriage and Joan and Roger’s tryst, Peggy’s confidence skyrocketing, Roger dictating his memoirs, Pete’s struggle to balance his marriage to Trudy with his business relationship with her father and Vick Chemicals, and the state of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce overall. This season was filled with more action, or at least more things happening, than the seasons prior, and it only added to the fun. It’s going to be a long wait until next summer to see if Don and Megan can really live in wedded bliss…

Grey’s Anatomy – “Shoot me”

“Yes or no. In or out. Up or down. Live or die. Hero or coward. Fight or give in. I’ll say it again to make sure you hear me. The human life is made up of choices. Live or die. That’s the important choice. And it’s not always in our hands.”
- Derek Shepherd

Grey’s Anatomy is not the most consistent of shows, and certainly hasn’t been without its flaws over the years. There was the Izzie/George misfire, the Izzie is banging a ghost storyline, the Izzie leaves and won’t return her husbands calls for months storyline…okay, well, you can see my bias forming here…. For all the faults of the previous seasons, the last two have really clicked. Perhaps the integration of all the characters not in the original season finally started to go smoothly, or maybe it was Katherine Heigl all along…No, I’ll stop now, I promise.

The core of the show from day one, the initial intern class, has whittle down to just Meredith, Cristina, and Karev now, and Cristina’s not quite Cristina at the moment. Derek, Bailey, and the Chief are still around too, as well as other relative veterans, Callie and Sloan. But as the last part of Season Six and the beginning of Seven have shown, the new guys can hang just as well. Teddy, Owen, Lexie, Jackson, and Arizona (I pretend Kepner doesn’t exist) have all been very enjoyable to watch. I actually dug the Teddy-Owen-Cristina triangle, as well as the Jackson/Cristina flirting. I love Callie and Arizona as much as the next person (“I came back from Africa!”) and even Lexie has come to be a favorite of mine. But the real standout things to me have been the 1) the Season Six finale and 2) the documentary episode.

The finale, “Death and All His Friends,” with the crazed shooter in the hospital, felt like a really grown up version of the post-Super Bowl episode with the bomb threat, “It’s the End of the World.” It was suspenseful and truly terrifying, but also incredibly emotionally strong. And it wasn’t some idle finale drama that is all undone within the opening scene of the next season. We are still feeling the effects, as we should. Cristina has quit the program, people have begun to see how reckless Meredith is with her life, and even Derek was heading out of control with his speeding for a while. It was high-stakes mayhem last spring, and it’s totally legitimate for it to still be impactful.

The other thing I loved was the documentary. It was like a real documentary, not something in the style of The Office, and it used the medium perfectly to show us the characters as full people. We saw Callie and Arizona fighting and then stopping for the camera, we saw Jackson lashing out in frustration when he thought the cameras were off of him, and we saw a really interesting dynamic between Meredith and Cristina. That’s probably the one thing I’ve missed this winter, is the “dark and twisty” sisters relationship. But, it’s for the greater good to have them apart because it’s creating really good storylines! So while this show isn’t often on the Best Of lists, I thought it definitely earned a spot this year and I am happy to reward the recent turn to greatness, for whatever reasons that may be!

But seriously, the reason is Izzie peacing out…

Fringe – “Fauxlivia”

“I understand the facts. I know that she had reams of information about me and about my life and about the people that were close to me. And I understand that if she slipped up that she would have a completely reasonable explanation for it. And I guess to expect you to have seen past that is perhaps asking a bit too much. But when I was Over There, I thought about you. And you were just a figment of my imagination. But I held onto you. And it wasn’t reasonable, and it wasn’t logical, but I did it, so… why didn’t you? She wasn’t me. How could you not see that? Now she’s everywhere. She’s in my house, my job, my bed, and I don’t want to wear my clothes anymore, and I don’t want to live in my apartment, and I don’t want to be with you. She’s taken everything.”
- Olivia Dunham

Fringe is something you either love or you hate, but anyone who has watched it this year can’t help but appreciate the world-building, character development, and incredible acting. Once criticized as the worst thing about the show, Anna Torv’s performances have been truly Emmy-level recently, joining the ranks of colleagues John Noble and Joshua Jackson. As an efficient and often cold FBI agent investigating freakishly weird crimes in the Fringe Division, Torv’s Olivia Dunham didn’t have a reason to be good for a while. On the other hand, the effortless cool and intelligence of Jackson’s Peter Bishop as well as the insane machinations and adorable genius quirks of Noble’s Walter Bishop were the main show and well-established. But after the big reveal at the end of Season 1 and the incredible journey that ends Season 2, Olivia and her Altverse doppelgänger, Fauxlivia, have taken center stage.

But wait a minute, Fauxlivia? Walternate? Altverse? These are just some of the amazing names that have sprung out of this season of Fringe. As the episodes from the beginning of 2010 and the end of season 2 ramped up, we learned that not only does the other universe exist, but it “our very own” Peter was stolen from the other side after the original Peter of this side died, and the Altverse believes we are at war with them. In the final episodes of Season 2, “Over There, pts. 1 & 2,” we saw the team cross over to the other side and unknowingly return with Fauxlivia, a plant from the Altverse who was up to no good. Walternate, Walter’s other, is no longer a scientist but now the Secretary of Defense and in charge of the militant Fringe Division. As the third season unfolds, our Olivia is convinced that she is really from the Altverse, but has some doubts, and everyone on this side accepts Fauxlivia as if she is really the right one. If that’s confusing to read, that’s the point! The writers have been fantastic though, with strong visual cues as to which world we are in, including the presence of the Twin Towers in the altverse and the differing opening titles depending upon which universe the episode is set in. The last two or three episodes of 2010 were both brilliant and heart-wrenching, as Peter discovers that he’s fallen into what Walter calls Fauxlivia’s evil “vagenda” and the real Olivia fights and finds her way back, but not without consequences.

Perhaps the best part of Fringe is that for all the serial drama, there is plenty of comedy. And the cases they solve each week don’t feel forced, but rather it is their job, and we get to learn more and more through what happens. The show is also very visually arresting, with excellent effects and masterful camera shots. While it’s almost definitely too sci-fi to ever get Emmy recognition, the show has evolved from monster of the week procedural to a complex and intelligent drama. Unfortunately it’s been moved from Thursdays and given the “Friday Night Death Slot” starting in 2011. The writers seem to be taking in stride, however, aptly titling the first Friday episode “Firefly” in honor of Joss Whedon’s beautiful space-western masterpiece that languished and died on the same channel at the same time on the same day. But Fox knows too, and they made up for it a little bit with this great promo: