*Remember, a show, person,
or episode can only be nominated if it is submitted. Even if you want every
episode of Game of Thrones to be nominated for writing, that won't happen,
since they only submitted one episode there.
**You'd be surprised how
often that actor you thought was snubbed wasn't even on the official ballot or
had listed himself as a lead instead of a supporting actor.
I don't do every category. I don't pretend
that I've seen everything or that I fully understand all the categories. I'm a
one-man operation talking about hundreds of shows. I'm doing the best I can.
And now it's time for all those appropriately-named variety categories.
* Indicates a show that I haven't watched this season.
# Indicates a show I've seen before, not this season.
Nominees
Documentary Now! – “Waiting For The Artist”
(IFC) (Alex Buono, Rhys Thomas)
*Drunk History – “Are You Afraid Of The
Drunk?” (Comedy Central) (Derek Waters)
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver –
“Psychics” (HBO) (Paul Pennolino)
#The Late Show With Stephen Colbert – “Live
Midterm Election Show” (CBS) (Jim Hoskinson)
Saturday Night Live – “Host: Adam Sandler”
(NBC) (Don Roy King)
*Who Is America? – “Episode 102” (Showtime)
(Sacha Baron Cohen, Nathan Fielder, Daniel Gray Longino, Dan Mazer)
B-Team
*At Home With Amy Sedaris – “Thanksgiving”
#CONAN – “Episode 1188”
#Drunk History – “Drugs”
#Full Frontal with Samantha Bee – “Christmas
On I.C.E.”
*I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson –
“Thanks for Thinking They Are Cool”
*Late Night with Seth Meyers – “Episode 0741”
For Variety directing, I tend to look for
non-talk shows and degree of difficulty. No matter how bad a season of SNL
is, it's still the gold standard for Variety direction as far as I'm concerned.
Pair that with Documentary Now! and you have a tandem that's nearly
unbeatable. To be honest, this B-Team is just all the shows I recognized from
the nominating ballot. Maybe At Home With Amy Sedaris did some
impressive stuff, but that's about all I'm seeing there.
Winner: Nominees
(Comfortably)
Outstanding Directing For
A Variety Special
Nominees
*Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (Netflix)
(Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Ed Burke)
*Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: Norman
Lear’s ‘All In The Family’ And ‘The Jeffersons' (ABC) (James Burrows, Andy
Fisher)
The Oscars (ABC) (Glenn Weiss)
*Springsteen On Broadway (Netflix) (Thom
Zimny)
B-Team
*Conan Without Borders: Japan
Ellen DeGeneres: Relatable
The 61st Grammy Awards
*The Lonely Island Presents: The Unauthorized
Bash Brothers Experience
*Wrestlemania 35
My rule of thumb for Variety Specials is
"Stand-Up for Writing, concerts for Directing". The Nominee list has
both a Beyonce and a Bruce Springsteen concert. There's also that live Norman
Lear special that gets points for difficulty. The only B-Team selection that
stands out to me is Wrestlemania 35, because I don't think people
appreciate how hard those wrestling pay-per-views are to put together.
Winner: Nominees (Dominant)
Outstanding Writing For A
Variety Series
Nominees
*Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
*Late Night With Seth Meyers (NBC)
*The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
B-Team
*CONAN
*The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
*Desus & Mero
*I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
*Jimmy Kimmel Live!
*Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj
It's a little weird that The Daily Show
with Trevor Noah failed to get nominated here. Emmy voters are
unsurprisingly slow to pick up on what Desus & Mero is doing. I Think
You Should Leave has some ardent fans. Even though SNL has dipped a
little the last couple years, it's hard to pick against a group that includes Documentary
Now!, Last Week Tonight, Full Frontal, Late Night, and
The Late Show. Those are some heavy hitters.
Winner: Nominees
(Dominant)
Outstanding Writing For A
Variety Special
Nominees
*Amy Schumer Growing (Netflix)
*Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney
Live From Liverpool (CBS)
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (Netflix)
*Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (Netflix)
*Wanda Sykes: Not Normal (Netflix)
B-Team
*Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward
*Demitri Martin: The Overthinker
Ellen DeGeneres: Relatable
Iliza Shlesinger: Elder Millenial
Jim Jeffries: This Is Me Now
*W. Kamau Bell: Private School Negro
I never realize how much stand-up I watch in
a given year until I make my B-Team lists. I've seen a decent number of these. While
my B-Team is all stand-up, which has the advantage in the writing categories,
my clear overall winner, Nanette, is a nominee.
Winner: Nominees (Barely)
Outstanding Variety Talk
Series
Nominees
*Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)
*Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
*The Late Late Show With James Corden (CBS)
*The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)
B-Team
*CONAN
*Desus & Mero
The Jim Jeffries Show
*Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj
*Real Time With Bill Marr
*Late Night with Seth Meyers
Since splitting variety series into two
categories, the options have be pretty sparse here. While it would've been nice
to see Late Night nominated, all the other heavy-hitters are nominated.
Winner: Nominees
(Dominant)
Outstanding Variety Sketch
Series
Nominees
Documentary Now! (IFC)
*Drunk History (Comedy Central)
*I Love You, America With Sarah Silverman
(Hulu)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
*Who Is America? (Showtime)
B-Team
*Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents
*Historical Roasts
*I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson
*The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale
*This Week At the Comedy Cellar
*Tracey Ulman’s Show
There are some good stand-up showcases in the
B-Team. I Think You Should Leave has a passionate fanbase. Tracey Ulman
seems to always have a show, even if I don't hear about it until I'm looking
through the nominating ballots. I'd like to pick against the Nominees simply
because I hate Sasha Baron Cohen's [Who Is America?] shtick. Alas, Documentary
Now! is a brilliant little gem on IFC and SNL of a titan in the
field.
Winner: Nominees
(Comfortably)
Outstanding Variety
Special (Live)
Nominees
The 61st Grammy Awards (CBS)
*Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: Norman
Lear’s ‘All In The Family’ And ‘The Jeffersons' (ABC)
The Oscars (ABC)
*RENT (FOX)
*72nd Annual Tony Awards (CBS)
B-Team
*Wrestlemania 35
*2019 Billboard Music Awards
*The 25th Annual Screen Actors
Guild Awards
*2018 NBA Awards
*Christmas at Rockafeller Center
*Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks
Spectacular
Splitting Variety Special between live and
pre-recorded took all the fun out of this. My B-Team is really scraping the bottom
of the barrel. Did I really put the NBA Awards shows in there? Dear god.
Meanwhile, the nominees have all the big awards (Golden Globes, Grammys,
Oscars, Tonys) and that Live Norman Lear special. That more than makes up for
the mess that was "live" RENT.
Winner: Nominees
(Dominant)
Outstanding Variety
Special (Pre-Recorded)
Nominees
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (Netflix)
*Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (Netflix)
*Springsteen On Broadway (Netflix)
*Wanda Sykes: Not Normal (Netflix)
B-Team
Ellen DeGeneres: Relatable
Iliza Shlesinger: Elder Millenial
Jim Jeffries: This Is Me Now
*The Kennedy Center Honors
*Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia
The pre-recorded side is replete with many
more good alternatives, since it's not so hard to find concerts, stand-up
specials, and one-man shows to record. Ellen, Iliza Shlesinger, Jim Jeffries,
and Trevor Noah all know how to put on a good show. The Kennedy Center Honors
used to be unbeatable in a past iteration of this category*. I'd be a fool to
pick against the one-two punch of Homecoming (best concert special) and Nanette
(best one woman show/stand up special).
*Seriously, it's nuts
trying to trace back some of these awards.Special Class Program, Cultural
Program, etc.
Winner: Nominees
(Comfortably)
---
If you needed any more proof that the Variety categories don't need to be split up, look to this 8-0 victory for the Nominees.
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