It's looking like last year was an aberration seeing so much, as I've barely seen any of these nominees. Normally, that's a good indicator that any of the TV-movies or limited series that did get nominated include the worthy winners.
Previously:
The Scruff
Reality Shows
Variety
* Indicates a show that I haven't watched this season.
# Indicates a show I've seen before, not this season.
Limited Series
*American Crime
*American Horror Story: Freak Show
*The Honorable Woman
*Olive Kitteridge
*Wolf Hall
B-Team:
*The Casual Vacancy
*Gracepoint
*Houdini
*The Red Tent
*24: Live Another Day
Of things that people actually watched, Freak Show outweighs 24. Of things no one watched, I'll go with Gracepoint edging ahead of American Crime. It worries me that I've heard nothing about The Casual Vacancy, which is surprising due to being based on a J.K. Rowling novel. I haven't heard of Wolf Hall or The Red Tent. The Houdini picture that keeps popping up on my Netflix mostly just makes me laugh. The Honorable Woman and Olive Kitteridge are probably the cream of the crop.
Winner: Actual Nominees. They are more prestige than the B-Team.
TV Movie
*Agatha Christie's Poirot: Curtain, Pairot's Last Case
*Bessie
*Grace of Monaco
*Hello Ladies: The Movie
*Killing Jesus
*Nightingale
B-Team:
*BoJack Horseman: Sabrina's Christmas Wish
*Derek Special
*Drumline: A New Beat
*Sharknado 2: The Second One
*Whitney
All I could find for the B-Team is two TV specials, a made-for-TV sequel to a better than it should be movie, a Lifetime Original Movie, and the Sharknado sequel. The B-Team does all the work for the Actual Nominees' argument.
Winner: Actual Nominees. In general, go with the HBO Original movies.
Lead Actress - Limited Series or Movie
*Felicity Huffman (American Crime)
*Jessica Lange (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Queen Latifah (Bessie)
*Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Honorable Woman)
*Frances McDormand (Olive Kitteridge)
*Emma Thompson (Sweeny Todd)
B-Team:
*Lauren Ambrose (Deliverance Creek)
*Anna Gunn (Gracepoint)
*Nicole Kidman (Grace of Monaco)
*Britt Marling (Babylon)
*Christina Ricci (The Lizzie Borden Chronicles)
Allison Williams (Peter Pan Live!)
Look, I know there's more to it than this, but hear me out. All of the Actual Nominees have an Oscar nomination. Combined, they have Oscar 17 nominations and 4 wins. The only Oscar credentials in the B-Team come from Nicole Kidman, and she's on the B-Team for name recognition, not her completely critically derided performance in Grace of Monaco.
Winner: Actual Nominees. There's simply more talent there.
Lead Actor - Limited Series or Movie
*Timothy Hutton (American Crime)
*Ricky Gervais (Derek Special)
*Adrien Brody (Houdini)
*David Oyelowo (Nightingale)
*Richard Jenkins (Olive Kitteridge)
*Mark Rylance (Wold Hall)
B-Team:
*Nathan Lane (The Nance)
*Stephen Merchant (Hello Ladies: The Movie)
*Evan Peters (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*David Suchet (Agatha Christie's Poirot: Curtain, Pairot's Last Case)
*Kiefer Sutherland (24: Live Another Day)
*David Tennant (Gracepoint)
I don't know. Can I do the Oscar argument again?
Winner: Actual Nominees. Yeah, I'm using the Oscar argument again.
Supporting Actress - Limiter Series or Movie
*Regina King (American Crime)
*Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Angela Bassett (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Kathy Bates (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Mo'Nique (Bessie)
*Zoe Kazan (Olive Kitteridge)
B-Team:
*Rosemarie DeWitt (Olive Kitteridge)
*Melissa George (The Slap)
Taylor Louderman (Peter Pan Live!)
*Janet Mc Teer (The Honorable Woman)
*Emma Roberts (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Yvonne Strahovski (24: Live Another Day)
I haven't heard anyone cry foul over the wrong person from Bessie or Olive Kitteridge being nominated the way I did for Behind the Candelabra last year. American Horror Story has always been good about giving people flashy roles, so the same goes for Freak Show. Regina King is also underrated in general. As much as I like Yvonna Strahovski, I can't imagine she's even as good as she was in Chuck for Live Another Day (which is simply too close to sounding like a Die Hard sequel for me to be OK with).
Winner: Actual Nominees. This looks more like cherry picking than oversight.
Supporting Actor - Limited Series or Movie
*Richard Cabral (American Crime)
*Denis O'Hare (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Michael Kenneth Williams (Bessie)
*Billy Murray (Olive Kitteridge)
*Damian Lewis (Wolf Hall)
B-Team:
*Jonathan Banks (The Lizzie Borden Chronicles)
*John Boyega (The Whale: Revenge From the Deep)
*Benjamin Bratt (24: Live Another Day)
*Michael Chiklis (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Neil Patrick Harris (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Nick Nolte (Gracepoint)
Lord, did just everyone submit for Freak Show? How big is this cast? I'll call Bill Murray and Nick Nolte about a tie. The Two Freak Show nominees beat the B-Team counterparts. Omar for Bessie over the Storm Trooper for The Whale: Revenge From the Deep. I have to believe that what Richard Cabral and Damian Lewis bring to their parts is more substantive than what Jonathan Banks and Benjamin Bratt did for theirs.
Winner: Actual Nominees. It has a deep roster.
Directing - Limited Series or Movie
*"Monsters Among Us" - American Horror Story: Freak Show
*Bessie
*The Honorable Woman
*Houdini
*The Missing
*Olive Kitteridge
*Wolf Hall
B-Team:
*Agatha Christie's Poirot: Curtain, Pairot's Last Case
*American Horror Story: Freak Show - Any other Episode
*Derek Special
*Grace of Monaco
*"Episode 10" - Gracepoint
*"10:00pm-11:00pm" - 24: Live Another Day
*American Crime
Look, I don't see anything beating the awesomeness of "Bitchcraft" as far as titles go from last year. Much like the overall awards, I'm calling Olive Kitteridge the class of the category with Bessie and The Honorable Woman not that far behind.
Winner: Actual Nominees. All the front runners are actually nominated.
Writing - Limited Series or Movie
*"Episode One" - American Crime
*Bessie
*Hello Ladies: The Movie
*The Honorable Woman
*Olive Kitteridge
*Wolf Hall
B-Team:
*Agatha Christie's Poirot: Curtain, Pairot's Last Case
*"Monsters Among Us" (American Horror Story: Freak Show)
*Derek Special
*Grace of Monaco
*"Episode 1" - Gracepoint
*Houdini
I'm sure Olive Ketteridge was very well written, as was The Honorable Woman and Bessie. Hello Ladies and Derek come from the brain trust that brought us the British Office (Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais respectively). Gracepoint wasn't written so much as it was copied. American Horror Story is almost always more of an achievement in direction than writing, so that was a smart omission.
Winner: Actual Nominees. It stands to reason that today's results will stay the same.
Casting - Limited Series or Movie
*American Crime
*American Horror Story: Freak Show
*Bessie
*Olive Kitteridge
*Wolf Hall
B-Team:
*Grace of Monaco
*Gracepoint
Peter Pan Live!
*Sharknado 2: The Second One
*24: Live Another Day
This is closer than it looks. I don't think the casting of Nicole Kidman as Grace of Monaco is a bad move. Gracepoint got a solid group as well, smartly returning David Tennent and wisely bringing in people like Anna Gunn and Nick Nolte. Sharknado 2 even understands who they need in that movie as well as any other movie/limited series. Allison Williams as Peter Pan...ok, that wasn't great, but I really like Allison Williams and she tried so hard. Still, Freak Show, Bessie, and Olive Kitteridge is a Murderer's Row of casting.
Winner: Actual Nominees. Wins for both quality and quantity.
I truly thank you for sticking with me this long. These first four days have been about guessing and unsurprisingly, it's been a bloodbath. All the Actual Nominees won again today. It'll start evening out once I get to the shows I know more about.
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