In case you are new to this, the idea is pretty straightforward. I go through the Emmy nomination ballot for a bunch of categories and put together the strongest group I can among what wasn't already nominated for the Emmy. I call this group my B-Team. I then compare the Nominees to my B-Team and choose a winner based on which is a stronger group of performers/shows/etc. The idea is to see how badly chosen the nominees actually are. This serves two purposed:
1) To see how bad the nominees really are. The first year I did this, my theory was that, as a very informed TV viewer, it would be easy for me to find 5-7 names that the Emmy voters missed. I'll go ahead and say now that the Emmy voters, especially outside the Comedy and Drama categories, tend to do a pretty good job picking most of the best options in a category.
2) To highlight some other great work from the last year. With the explosion of new content over the last few years, 5 or 6 nominees just isn't enough to cover all the great work being done, especially on lesser seen shows that have trouble putting together enough support to be nominated.
As far as who I pick for my B-Team, please disagree with me. I watch a lot of TV, but I miss much more than I see. My B-Team is exactly that: My B-Team. In other words, I'm stacking the deck in the B-Team's favor. If I'm picking the 5-6 shows that I like the best and the B-Team still loses, that means the Nominee list is pretty damn strong.
The Variety categories have settled down after the host turnover of last year and the category split the year before that. The Daily Show's DNA is still all over the talk series category, the sketch category has shifted back to more traditional powers (namely SNL), and the variety special nominations feature an eclectic mix. It was easier to come up with good B-Teams in many of these categories than I expected.
(Final Note: I'm sure that I'll mention this more than a few times, but all my picks are based on who is submitted and in which category. For example, I would've considered the Halt and Catch Fire episode "The Threshold" a lock for my writing and directing by B-team, but it wasn't submitted. Thus, I can't include it. Similarly, Ted Danson would be a great supporting actor in a comedy contender on The Good Place. However, he submitted himself as a lead, so that's all I can consider him for)
Previously:
2014 Edition | 2015 Edition | 2016 Edition
Why You Should Dismiss the Emmys
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
# Full Frontal With
Samantha Bee
# Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight
With John Oliver
* The Late Late Show
With James Corden
# The Late Show With
Stephen Colbert
# Real Time With Bill
Maher
B-Team
@ Midnight with
Chris Hardwick
# Conan
* The Daily Show with
Trevor Noah
* Late Night with
Seth Meyers
* The Tonight Show
Starring Jimmy Fallon
* Throwing Shade
Thanks to the
splitting of the Variety categories, there's not as much competition here as
there could be. Conan can reasonably match up against Jimmy Kimmel Live.
I'm giving Kimmel the edge because of the touching monologue about his
son's birth. Late Night with Seth Meyers is a smarter show than The
Late Late Show with James Corden. It's a wider gap between The Late Show
and The Tonight Show in the former's favor. Throwing Shade gets a
moral high ground over Real Time with Bill Maher. As improved as Trevor
Noah's Daily Show is, Last Week Tonight is still the class of the
category and the likely overall winner. Full Frontal and @ Midnight
don't easily compare. I prefer @ Midnight, but I'm willing to cede the
victory to Full Frontal.
Winner: Nominees.
It's closer than I thought it would be. Last Week Tonight and making up for the Full Frontal snub last year has me leaning toward the nominees.
It's closer than I thought it would be. Last Week Tonight and making up for the Full Frontal snub last year has me leaning toward the nominees.
Variety
Sketch Series
* Billy On The Street
* Documentary Now!
* Drunk History
# Portlandia
Saturday Night Live
B-Team
* Maya & Marty
The Meltdown with
Jonah and Kumail
* Mystery Science
Theater 3000: The Return
* The President Show
Tosh.0
* Tracey Ullman's
Show
This is a much
weaker category with Inside Amy Schumer and Key & Peele gone.
SNL is having a banner season. Portlandia is pretty embedded at
this point. Drunk History has a strong following, as does Billy on
the Street. I've been saving Documentary Now! for when I've seen
enough of the documentaries the episodes are based on. The B-Team is weak. It's
a little surprising that MST3K: The Return couldn't make the cut. I
liked The Meltdown but understand why it was overlooked. The rest of the
B-Team is weak. Tracey Ullman is a Variety favorite, but I've heard nothing
about this show. Maya & Marty was a summer throwaway. Tosh.0
is popular and a little under-credited for its solid writing. I'm not sure what The
President Show even is, which should give you an idea of how hard it was to
fill this roster.
Winner: Nominees.
There's not enough depth in the category to go with the B-Team or a signature series that was overlooked to rally behind.
There's not enough depth in the category to go with the B-Team or a signature series that was overlooked to rally behind.
Variety
Special
* Carpool Karaoke
Primetime Special 2017
* Full Frontal With
Samantha Bee Presents Not The White House Correspondents' Dinner
Louis C.K. 2017
* Sarah Silverman: A
Speck Of Dust
* Stephen Colbert's
Live Election Night Democracy's Series Finale: Who's Going To Clean Up This
Sh*t ?
B-Team
* Justin Timberlake +
the Tennessee Kids
Mike Birbiglia:
Thank God For Jokes
Jim Jeffries:
Freedumb
Iliza Shlesinger:
Confirmed Kills
Bill Burr: Walk
Your Way Out
The nominees look
about as expected. 2 specials about Trump/the election. 2 stand-up specials
from the two more recognizable names. And, Carpool Karaoke, just because. I
went pretty predictable with my B-Team. I've heard nothing but great things
about the concert special for Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids (also,
Jonathan Demme's final film). Otherwise, it's a bunch of stand-up specials and
one man shows I've seen. I could've gone deeper too. Hasan Minhaj, Trevor Noah,
Michael Che, and Amy Schumer all had good specials. I preferred Birbiglia,
Jeffries, Schlesinger, and Burr this year.
Winner: B-Team.
C.K.'s special wasn't his best. Carpool Karaoke doesn't need to go on for that long. And, I'm getting a little exhausted by all the Trump. Perhaps the B-Team is getting my pick for the escapism.
C.K.'s special wasn't his best. Carpool Karaoke doesn't need to go on for that long. And, I'm getting a little exhausted by all the Trump. Perhaps the B-Team is getting my pick for the escapism.
Writing - Variety Series
* Full Frontal With
Samantha Bee
Last Week Tonight
With John Oliver
* Late Night With
Seth Meyers
# The Late Show With
Stephen Colbert
Saturday Night Live
B-Team
# CONAN
* The Daily Show with
Trevor Noah
* Documentary Now!
# Jimmy Kimmel Live
* Mystery Science
Theater 3000: The Return
If you check my
variety series rants a few categories up, you can tell that I have no qualms
with this. All the best written variety series were nominated. Maybe an
argument could be made for the Daily Show or Documentary Now!
Winner: Nominees.
It's going to come down to Oliver or Bee to win, but there's not a bad pick to be found.
It's going to come down to Oliver or Bee to win, but there's not a bad pick to be found.
Writing - Variety Special
* Full Frontal With
Samantha Bee Presents Not The White House Correspondents' Dinner
Louis C.K. 2017
* Sarah Silverman: A
Speck Of Dust
* Stephen Colbert's
Live Election Night Democracy's Series Finale: Who's Going To Clean Up This
Sh*t ?
* 70th Annual Tony
Awards
B-Team
Jim Jeffries:
Freedumb
Bill Burr: Walk
Your Way Out
Hasan Minhaj:
Homecoming King
Mike Birbiglia:
Thank God for Jokes
Trevor Noah: Afraid
of the Dark
Most or less the
same nominees here as the overall Variety Special category, except Tony
Awards replace Carpool Karaoke - a lateral movie. I'm more interested
in coming up with the B-Team though. I didn't include Amy Schumer (The
Leather Special) or David Cross (Make America Great Again!), because
frankly, their specials are under-written. They're getting to that point when
the audience is too on board with them and they don't have to write much to get
a laugh (for the record. C.K.'s special got dangerously close to that as well).
Maria Bamford (Old Baby) and Iliza Sclesinger (Confirmed Kills)
milk a lot of their laughs through performance, not writing. I almost included Vir
Das: Abroad Understanding for having to write an act that worked in front
of an American and an Indian audience, but I'm picking for quality, not degree
of difficulty. So, I'm very pleased with the B-Team I did select, especially
Hasan Minhaj and Mike Birbiglia's one man shows.
Winner: B-Team.
I've said in past years what I still hold true. I'm picking whichever one has more stand-up because writing is so much more important to those specials than the other choices in Variety Special. It's a little closer this year, but the stand up specials in the Nominee field aren't as good.
I've said in past years what I still hold true. I'm picking whichever one has more stand-up because writing is so much more important to those specials than the other choices in Variety Special. It's a little closer this year, but the stand up specials in the Nominee field aren't as good.
Directing - Variety Series
* Drunk History ("Hamilton")
* Jimmy Kimmel Live ("The (RED) Show")
Last Week Tonight
With John Oliver ("Multi-Level Marketing")
* The Late Show With
Stephen Colbert ("Episode 0179")
Saturday Night Live ("Host : Jimmy Fallon")
B-Team
@ Midnight with
Chris Hardwick ("Episode 4021") [Election night episode]
* The Daily Show with
Trevor Noah ("Episode 22066")
* Documentary Now!
("Juan Likes Rice & Chicken")
* The Late Late Show
With James Corden ("Episode 0250")
* The Tonight Show
Starring Jimmy Fallon ("Episode 0600")
This is always a
hard one because direction is barely noticed in the Variety talk shows. So,
I've got Documentary Now! propping up the B-Team and the tag team of SNL
and Drunk History for the nominees.
Winner: Nominees.
Mostly because of SNL.
Mostly because of SNL.
Directing - Variety Special
* Full Frontal With
Samantha Bee Presents Not The White House Correspondents' Dinner
The Oscars
* Stephen Colbert's
Live Election Night Democracy's Series Finale: Who's Going To Clean Up This
Sh*t ?
* Tony Bennett
Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet To Come
B-Team
* 2017 Billboard
Music Awards
* Christmas in
Rockefeller Center
* Justin Timberlake +
The Tennessee Kids
Louis CK: 2017
Super Bowl LI
Halftime Show Starring Lady Gaga
I'm pretty sure
that Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids is the only special on this
list with an Oscar winning director. The Superbowl Halftime Show is
always a big feat. And, again, while I know it's not really the fault of the
direction, it's hard to award any group that includes this year's Oscars.
Winner: B-Team.
Because, in the case of a tie, the victory goes to the underdog.
Because, in the case of a tie, the victory goes to the underdog.
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