Emmys 2014 Post-Mortem

Another year, another Emmys, and another mixed bag of results. On the plus side, this is the best I've done picking in a while and many of my incorrect picks were ones I was happy to miss. As I do every year, it's time for me break it down into some broad categories.

The Good

Breaking Bad Repeating
To paraphrase what everyone has said since the end of last year's Emmys, of course Breaking Bad was going to win. There was a brief moment when True Detective had all the buzz, but momentum does build for the Emmys the way it does with the Oscars. There's too much time for things to cool down, so Breaking Bad peaked again for one of the all-time great final seasons. The field is open for anyone next year, but this was the year for Breaking Bad. Anyone who believes otherwise is trying to hard to fight the hype.

The Writing Wins
They don't always get them right, but it's hard to argue with the picks for writing this year. "Ozymandias" is one of the great TV episodes ever. "So Did the Fat Lady" was one of the strongest written Louie episodes to date and a much better representative for the series than his 2012 win for "Pregnant". It's even hard to argue with Stephen Moffat's win. Sure, I'd've rather seen Fargo win, but I can live with an award, essentially for the season of Sherlock, although it's technically for the one episode.

Familiar Faces.
Cranston, Paul, and Gunn deserved their farewell trophies. Julia Louis-Dreyfus continues to somehow be a level above the rest of the field in the insanely strong Lead Actress in a Comedy category. Based on what I hear from others, it sounds like Jessica Lange, Allison Janney, and Julianna Margulies all deserve to add to their collections. Given the weakness of the category, I'm even pleased with Jim Parsons winning for a fourth time, if only to make sure Don Cheadle didn't win.

The Bad

Modern Family Repeating
The Emmy voters are a more mysterious group than the Oscar or Golden Globe voters. They are in a bubble and you can only base their voting off how they've voted in the past. Given how much success Frasier had, it shouldn't surprise me that Modern Family, a worse, but similarly structured show has dominated like this. It's hard to forgive the number of great shows that haven't won because of this love affair. I thought the field was strong enough and Modern Family weak enough to finally bet on the field to win. Seriously though, five is enough. Stop this madness.

Sherlock (sort of) Dominating
I like Benedict Cumberbatch. I like Martin Freeman. I like Stephen Moffat. This past season of Sherlock was pretty good.  Had these wins not come at the expense of the far superior Fargo and The Normal Heart, I'd be happy to see them. But, no. Mini-Series and Movie had too much strength to be this singly dominated. Somehow, it frustrates me even more that Sherlock gets all these wins yet still loses to The Normal Heart for TV Movie. Come on Academy. At least be consistent.

Monday Night
What the hell was that about? Sunday has breathing room. Red carpet coverage isn't cut out for local news specials and people don't have to worry about sneaking dinner and errands in after work before it comes on. I'm ok with making it a month early, but if you are going to go to that trouble, keep it on a familiar night of the week.

The Meh

Orange is the New Black Not Winning
I've never been a huge Orange fan. I think it's a find show, that has received an out pour of love that doesn't match my own for it. The Emmys have a long history of bridesmaids that they like to nominate more than award (Six Feet Under immediately comes to mind). More than anything, it was the Great Orange Hope to finally bump Modern Family off and I'm a little annoyed how much of a tease it was.

The Directing Wins
"Ozymandias" wasn't nominated and that's a laughable offense. The True Detective win was certainly the best available. A Fargo episode did win for Mini-Series/Movie, although it was the lesser of the two. Modern Family's "Las Vegas" is an achievement in comedy direction. I just wish it was one that didn't require me to ignore the sub-par writing featured in it.

Seth Meyers
That wasn't painful, was it? It'll be hard to come up with a more vanilla host than Meyers. He was funny without being distinctive and in control without being memorable. He was kind of perfect for a year in which the ceremony seemed determined to be forgotten as quickly as possible once it ended.