The Emmy B-Team: Variety Series and Special

I'm back with another year of the Emmy B-Team. The idea of the B-Team is simple. I look and the Emmy submission ballot and make the strongest list of actors/shows/episodes that were not nominated for the Emmy Award. Then, I compare the nominees with the B-Team and decide which I think is stronger. This started as a way to determine if the Emmy voters were as bad at making their picks as everyone thinks. Quickly, I realized that the Emmy picks are pretty strong when compared with the available replacements. The idea now is more about highlighting the "snubs" that are worth mentioning.


It's a whole new ball game in the world of variety. With all the late night turnover in particular, there's a changing of the guard that's left a whole new generation of B-Team-ers hoping to be recognized. The fragmenting of the Daily Show juggernaut was inevitable and has left a lot of intriguing match ups. The sketch category is still trying to find its identity and the Variety Specials continue the pull between ceremonies and stand up.

(Final Note: I'm sure that I'll mention this more than a few times, but this is based on who is submitted and where. For example, Hugh Dancy did not submit for Hannibal, only submitting his name for The Path, so I cannot include him in the B-Team for Hannibal, even if I want to. Similarly, even though it aired episodes in the eligibility period, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was not submitted and won't be considered. Finally, there's the Rob Lowe Rule. Rob Lowe always submits for the lead role. Even when he was on Parks & Rec. he submitted as a lead, so that's the only thing I could consider him as.)
 
Previously:
The Scruff
Reality Shows

* Indicates a show that I haven't watched this season.
# Indicates a show I've seen before, not this season.

Variety Talk Series

Nominees:
*Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
*The Late Late Show with James Corden
#Real Time with Bill Maher
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

B-Team
@ Midnight
CONAN
*The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
*Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
*Late Night With Seth Meyers
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Comedians in Cars is a surprise but welcome nominee. It compares favorably to @ Midnight. The Late Late Show upended Stephen Colbert's Late Show, which is notable, but not the reason to panic that most stories are reporting. CONAN and Real Time are the grandfathers of the group that no one really remembers or wants to get rid of. Unlike on CBS, The Tonight Show has earned its alpha status over Late Night. There's no direct comparison for Jimmy Kimmel Live. I'd probably pick Full Frontal ahead of it though. That leaves Last Week Tonight and Trevor Noah's Daily Show. I don't dislike the new Daily Show regime, but Last Week Tonight is, so far, the rightful heir to Jon Stewart's show.
Winner: Nominees. Without a proper counter to Last Week Tonight, the B-Team lacks the strength to win.

Variety Sketch Series

Nominees:
*Documentary Now!
*Drunk History
Inside Amy Schumer
*Key & Peele
#Portlandia
Saturday Night Live

B-Team
*Adam Devine's House Party
*Billy on the Street
The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail
*Nathan for You
*Not Safe with Nikki Glaser
*W/ Bob and Dave

I applaud the TV Academy's realization that Sketch and Talk series are different enough to warrant separate consideration. The only problem is that neither really has enough shows to be all that competative with six nominees. Just look at the B-Team for Sketch series. All those shows are fine. If you're being honest though, it would be hard to find more than two Nominees you'd drop for a B-Teamer. And the Nominees aren't that strong to begin with. The Nominees have the top options though, in Inside Amy Schumer and Key & Peele. SNL is underrated these days, and I hear great things out of fans of Documentary Now! and Drunk History. At best, anything in the B-Team would be considered a "capable alternative".
Winner: Nominees. The B-Team needs to include more improvements than alternatives.

Variety Special

Nominees:
*Adele Live in New York City
Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo
*The Kennedy Center Honors
*The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Prime Time Special
*Lemonade

B-Team
*AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Steve Martin
*Brian Regan Live From Radio City Music Hall
John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid
*Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping
*Ferrell Takes the Field

This is really a question of how much you like stand-up. The largest group of alternatives to the Nominees is the assorted stand-up specials. The Kennedy Center Honors is the king of the category. People love Carpool Karaoke. Adele would be the Beyonce of this category if Beyonce's Lemonade, which dominated pop culture for a while, wasn't also nominated. And the Emmys love Amy Schumer. The B-Team lacks that kind of category diversity no matter how I assemble it.
Winner: Nominees. All the power-players are already nominated. It's got all demographics covered.

Writing – Variety Series

Nominees:
*Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Inside Amy Schumer
*Key & Peele
Last Week Tonight
#Portlandia
Saturday Night Live

B-Team
@ Midnight
CONAN
*The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
*The Late Late Show with James Corden
*Late Night with Seth Meyers

Samantha Bee and John Oliver beat Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert resoundingly. James Corden is more about showmanship than writing. Inside Amy Schumer and Key & Peele and the two best written from the sketch side of things.
Winner: Nominees. Even if you want to call SNL the weakest written of the nominees (I wouldn't), it's the only Nominee that is even marginally worse than anything on the B-Team.

Writing – Variety Special

Nominees:
Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo
John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid
*Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping
*Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted
*Triumph's Election Special

B-Team
*Hannibal Burgess: Comedy Camisado
*Brian Regan Live From Radio City Music Hall
*Marc Maron: More Later
*Demitri Martin: Live (At the Time)
*Garfunkel and Oates: Trying to Be Special

I love this category becauise it's all about the stand-up. John Mulaney beats Demitri Martin in the battle of meticulous writing. Patton Oswalt and Marc Maron are a toss up among the grizzled Alt-verterans. I'll take Tig's personal angle over Brian Regan's classic approach. Another tossup between rising stars, Amy Schumer and Hannibal Burgess. I'm a bigger fan of Garfunkel & Oates over the abrassiveness of Triumph.
Winner: Nominees. I'm giving the Nominees the edge for having my overall pick: The Comeback Kid.

Directing – Variety Series

Nominees:
*Inside Amy Schumer ("Madonna/Whore")
Last Week Tonight ("Episode 303")
*The Late Late Show with James Corden ("Post-Super Bowl Episode")
Saturday Night Live ("Hosts: Tina Fey & Amy Poehler")
*The Tonight Show ("Episode 325")

B-Team
*The Late Show With Stephen Colbert ("Post Super Bowl Episode")
*Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee ("It's Great That Garry Shandling Is Still Alive")
*w/Bob & Dave ("Episode 4")
*The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Jimmy Kimmel Live ("After the Oscar Show")

Of the talk series, The Tonight Show and The Late Late Show are what I consider the best directed. SNL is certainly the most directed of the sketch series.
Winner: Nominees. Given the aforementioned superlatives.

Directing – Variety Special

Nominees:
*Adele Live in New York City
Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo
*Grease: Live
*The Kennedy Center Honors
*Lemonade

B-Team
*2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
*Ferrell Takes the Field
*58th Grammy Awards
John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid
*The Wiz Live!

I'll admit, I don't see a difference in the direction of a stand up special, so that cancels Schumer and Mulaney out. After Grease: Live what I heard the most praise for was the direction and ambition, while The Wiz was NBC doing more of the same. Lemonade is a kind of singular program with no direct comparison but definitely deserves the recognition here.
Winner: Nominees. Because, Lemonade.

Just like the years before, the Nominees dominated the B-Team. The field is just too thin to mount much of a competition. These first few days have just been a primer though. Now I'm ready to get to the big dogs: Drama series, Comedy series, and the increasingly deep Limited Series/TV Movie categories.
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