The Emmy B-Team: Comedy Series

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.

I know I've been promising this every day, but I finally mean it. Get ready for some competition (I hope). I watch more comedy series than anything throughout the year. With comedy being so fragmented in general, I must be able to build some B-Teams with the strength capable of outshining some Nominees. Then again, the Emmy voters seem to like Veep and Master of None as much as I do.

(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
Variety Series and Special
Limited Series and TV Movie

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

Comedy Series

Nominees:
blackish
Master of None
Modern Family
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Veep

B-Team
Fresh Off the Boat
Girls
The Middle
Review
Casual
Brooklyn Nine Nine
The Jim Gaffigan Show

As I said, I watch much more Comedy than anything else. So, I've seen everything Nominated and in my B-Team. That's means I'm feeling comfortable with my choices.
Fresh Off the Boat is at blackish's level of humor but lacks the ambition. Both do a phenomenal job of showing different sides of familiar sitcom stories. Fresh Off the Boat simply lacks a showcase like "Hope" (the "black lives matter" episode of blackish).
I love Girls, which had a real return to form season. "The Panic in Central Park" or Shoshanna's Japan episode are among the best the series has ever produced. Master of None is the New York show of the moment now. I was stunned by how good this Aziz Ansari-led series was. While "Parents" gets all the attention, that series had a half dozen episodes that were just as good.
I've long argued that The Middle is underappreciated, and at the very least, it has aged better than its stablemate, Modern Family, by staying focused on the central family and never overextending itself.
 While I enjoy Casual's looseness, Transparent wins the battle of Los Angeles families full of self-centered asses. If nothing else, there's no performance in Casual at the level of Jeffrey Tambor's in Transparent.
It's a toss-up between the shows produced by the creators of my favorite NBC showrunners of 5 years ago: Brooklyn Nine Nine (from Mike Schur of Parks & Rec) and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (from Tina Fey of 30 Rock). If pushed, I prefer Brooklyn Nine Nine's ensemble over Ellie Kemper's infectious smile and Titus Burgess' - um - theatricality.
That leaves HBO's two headed monster - Veep and Silicon Valley - against basic cable outliers - Review (on Comedy Central) and The Jim Gaffigan Show (on TV Land and, I think, Comedy Central too). I love how good spirited The Jim Gaffigan Show is. It's almost inventive in its straightforwardness. Silicon Valley had a strong season, but was almost never the best thing on that night.
Approximately 18 people have seen Review and it has been a treat for all of us. There's no comedy or series quite like it. It is a dark, silly, hilarious show that more people should be watching.
Veep is the funniest show on TV. I don't know how, but it keeps getting better, even without creator and showrunner for the first four seasons, Armando Iannucci.
Winner: Nominees. If I'm making a ballot. 4 of my 7 are in the Nominees list and that includes #1 (Veep), #3 (Master of None), and #4 (Silicon Valley).*

*In case you were wondering: #2 - Review, #5 - blackish, #6 The Middle, #7 Brooklyn Nine Nine.

Lead Actress – Comedy

Nominees:
Tracee Ellis Ross (blackish)
*Laurie Metcalf (Getting On)
#Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie)
#Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer)
Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep)

B-Team
Michaela Watkins (Casual)
Constance Wu (Fresh Off the Boat)
#Aya Cash (You're The Worst)
Lena Dunham (Girls)
#Emmy Rossum (Shameless)
Sharon Hogan (Catastrophe)

The depth of this category continues to be both absurd and delightful. The B-Team could probably even beat the dream ballot for Lead Actor. It's that imbalanced.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus has earned what is certain to be her fifth consecutive Emmy. She's just that good. Ellie Kemper made it into the field after a baffling snub last year. Few shows rely on the lead performance as much as Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Tracee Ellis Ross does great work on blackish, which had an especially good second season. The Emmys love Laurie Metcalfe more than I do, but I'm she she's great on Getting On, which I didn't even know was still on the air. Lily Tomlin is rightfully a legend. I'll just say that Grace and Frankie isn't my taste and leave it at that. For a stand up, Amy Schumer is surprisingly diverse as a sketch performer.
So, the Emmys took Ellie Kemper off my "How are you not seeing how good she is?" list. Sadly, Emmy Rossum is on her 6th snub. Aya Cash and Constance Wu are ignored for a second year as well. Every time I think of Wu, I start getting Jane Kaczmerek flashbacks (7 nominations, never a win), except even more ignored. Michaela Watkins shows more depth on Casual than I would've even guessed after watching Trophy Wife. Sharon Hogan does a great job of mixing jokes into more serious or banal topics in Catastrophe. I get the feeling that Lena Duhnam is having more fun giving the best material to her costars, but she still makes Hannah Horvath one of the more frustratingly funny characters on TV.
Winner: Nominees. This is the longest I've had to debate my choice so far. In the end, I settled on perhaps a faulty argument: Who's funnier? Technically, the award is for "outstanding performance in a comedy", not "outstanding comedy performance", but I'm pretty tired of good comedy acting being looked at as lesser. All twelve actresses have impressive range, but from Julia Louise-Dreyfus to Amy Schumer, the Nominees landed more laughs.

Lead Actor – Comedy

Nominees:
Anthony Anderson (blackish)
Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth)
Aziz Ansari (Master of None)
William H. Macy (Shameless)
Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley)
Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent)

B-Team
*Fred Savage (The Grinder)
*Rob Lowe (The Grinder)
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat)
Andrew Daly (Review)
Rob Delaney (Catastrophe)

The Lead Actor field isn't as bare as in past years, but I still wouldn't call it strong. Examining why that is, is a project for another day. It does mean there's room for the B-Team to make some noise.
There's aren't a lot of strong one to one comparisons to make. Anthony Anderson is a better TV dad than Randall Park, who happily takes the backseat to Constance Wu most of the time. Of the Amazon comedies, Jeffrey Tambor has the meatier role than Rob Delaney. Aziz Ansari is effectively filling the Louis C.K. which has never been easy to place. I love that voters finally realize that Thomas Middleditch is actually giving a performance in Silicon Valley (i.e. he's not really like that). I don't love The Last Man on Earth, but I admire Will Forte's commitment. I think the William H. Macy nomination is just there to remind me that Emmy Rossum continues to be snubbed. I most regretting not watching The Grinder from this last Broadcast TV Season. I have no trouble believing that Savage and Lowe are as good as people say. It's crazy to think that Jim Parsons isn't the golden child anymore, but I'm ok with that. He has enough Emmys. Andy Daly is my overall top pick for his work on Review. No one watches the show, but he's doing something special in that role. It's a layered performance that appears slight at first, then reveals great depth and sadness to go along with the silliness.
Winner: Nominees. Even with Macy holding the nominees down (I like Macy, but it's barely a lead performance and not quite as good as many others in the list) and my clear favorite (Daly) in the B-Team, the lack of depth in the lead actor field is hard to overcome. Essentially, my #2-#4 picks are all in the Nominees. The B-Team has a lot of replacements, not snubs. That's a key difference. Basically, if the Emmy voters picked this B-Team, I would not be happier about it than the actual nominees they chose.

Supporting Actress – Comedy

Nominees:
*Niecy Nash (Getting On)
*Allison Janney (Mom)
Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)
Judith Light (Transparent)
Gaby Hoffmann (Transparent)
Anna Chlumsky (Veep)

B-Team
Allison Williams (Girls)
Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live)
Claudia O'Doherty (Love)
Sarah Sutherland (Veep)
Noel Wells (Master of None)
Eden Sher (The Middle)

No trouble filling up a B-Team here. I even had alternates for a couple. Kate McKinnon is the strongest female performer on SNL right now, so I'd pick her over Aidy Bryant (or Cecily Strong, who I thought about including). Veep continues to find hilarious ways to use Sarah Sutherland as President Selina Meyers' put-upon daughter. She tends to be more of an accessory than a character though, so I'll go with the wonderful Anna Chlumsky instead. I'm glad to see the nomination for Judith Light, and Gaby Hoffman is fine on Transparent. I'd rather go with the pair of Netflix actresses though. Noel Wells is every bit Aziz Ansari's match in the episodes she does show up in on Master of None. Claudia O'Doherty is the definition of a scene-stealer in Love. She is a complete delight and has the ability to land a devastating punchline without even seeming aware that she's done it. I haven't seen Getting On. I assume Niecy Nash's consecutive nominations for a show no one watches probably means she's pretty good in it. I'd prefer to see one of the other Girls finally get a nomination though. I chose Allison Williams for how she was able to make me not hate Marnie in her spotlight episode, but I easily could have chosen Zosia Mamet for her Japan adventures. And that leaves me with putting Eden Sher against the Emmy-winning juggernaut they call Allison Janney. Janney is pretty great any time I've seen Mom. I have to pick her over Sher. That said, Eden Sher is a force to be reckoned with. While The Middle is filled with a lot of quality performances, Sher's ability to play the hyper-positive Sue not as a joke while also adding  depth to the character is pretty amazing.
Winner: B-Team. Wells and O'Doherty impressed me enough to push the B-Team over. Ask me tomorrow, and I might pick the Nominees.

Supporting Actor – Comedy

Nominees:
*Louie Anderson (Baskets)
Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine Nine)
#Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele)
Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
Titus Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
Tony Hale (Veep)
Matt Walsh (Veep)

B-Team
T. J. Miller (Silicon Valley)
Zach Woods (Silicon Valley)
Gary Cole (Veep)
Timothy Simons (Veep)
Adam Driver (Girls)
Kevin Dunn (Veep)
Sam Richardson (Veep)

And I didn't even leave HBO for my B-Team. Veep is overflowing with fantastic supporting performances. Timothy Simons has gone from an annoyance to the actor who has made me laugh more than anyone over the last year. Sam Richardson is a close second. They have taken one-note characters and found countless new ways to get laughs out of them. Kevin Dunn and Gary Cole are almost reflexive in their roles. For them, it's the small moments and the general fatigue. T.J. Miller is certainly the loudest actor on Silicon Valley. He comes dangerously close to being insufferable and always know when pull back and humanize Erlich. Zach Woods is just delightful. He has so much fun making Jared the biggest sad-sack in the world. (Note: The only reason I didn't include Martin Starr and Kumail Nanjiani is because they are such a duo that I couldn't split them) Adam Driver is still great on Girls. I appreciate the he's sticking with the show despite his now much busier schedule.
The Nominees have plenty of people I like too. Tony Hale and Matt Walsh are two of the more noticeable performances on Veep, but it still feels like a roll of the dice when choosing who to nominate from that deep ensemble. If I'm going to nominate someone from Modern Family still, I guess it would be Ty Burrell. I have no problem with Keegan-Michael Key's nomination even if he wouldn't've made my cut. Andre Braugher is inarguable and from what I hear, Louis Anderson is remarkable on Baskets. I tire quickly of Titus[s Burgess] on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, so I'm not a huge fan of that pick.
Winner: B-Team. What it lacks in diversity of shows, it makes up for in quality.

Guest Actress – Comedy

Nominees:
Laurie Metcalf (The Big Bang Theory)
Christine Baranski (The Big Bang Theory)
Tina Fey & Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live)
Melissa McCarthy (Saturday Night Live)
Amy Schumer (Saturday Night Live)
Melora Hardin (Transparent)

B-Team
Becky Ann  Baker (Girls)
*Ellen Burstyn (Mom)
Anna Camp (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
Tina Fey (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
Claire Danes (Master of None)
Megan Fox (New Girl)

Good for Melora Hardin, breaking through the wall of Big Bang and SNL. My only issue with the Nominees is that Barnaski and Metcalfe are there more because Emmy voters love them than for anything they really did on The Big Bang Theory. The assorted hosts of SNL were the right picks though.
Similar to Baranski and Metcalfe, you really have to nominate Ellen Burstyn no matter what, or so I thought. Becky Ann Baker always gets plenty to do on Girls, including the spa weekend this year. It's nice to see a non-Homeland Claire Danes, who is refreshingly relaxed. Megan Fox blended right in with the rest of the New Girl cast while she filled in for Zooey Deschanel. Tina Fey is having fun with her Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt appearances without the pressure of being the lead. The biggest snub though has to be Anna Camp on UKS as well. She plays that character as big as she can in order to mask some very subtle notes.
Winner: B-Team. Unless the SNL performances blow me away, that feels too easy. Most of the B-Team had characters who were given enough time to get fleshed out rather than get in their standard lines and get out.

Guest Actor – Comedy

Nominees:
Bob Newhart (The Big Bang Theory)
Tracy Morgan (Saturday Night Live)
Larry David (Saturday Night Live)
Bradley Whitford (Transparent)
Martin Mull (Veep)
Peter Scolari (Girls)

B-Team
Corey Stoll (Girls)
Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live)
Mike Carlsen (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Mindy Project)
Fred Melamed (Casual)
Ravi Patel (Master of None)

I wanted to choose Ryan Gosling for when he hosted SNL just for being in the room for my favorite sketches in several seasons, but his constant breaking ruined it. I'm fine with Armisen hosting the finale then. He's an old pro at the SNL thing, so the episode played very smoothly. I'm throwing in JGL just because I like him. Ravi Patel and Fred Melamed had good moments on the shows that featured them. Corey Stoll helped give Andrew Ranneells' character his best arc to date on Girls. I even liked how UKS attempted to change Mike Carlsen's construction worker into a real character.
It's hard to argue with the Nominees though. Bob Newhart earns nominations just by breathing. Tracy Morgan and Larry David were solid hosts on SNL. Bradley Whitford's recurring role on Transparent is always a treat. Martin Mull on Veep was the running gag that never got old. Peter Scolari is a last second replacement for Peter McNichols when the Emmys realized that he was ineligible for his role on Veep. Just as well. Scolari's work as Hannah's recently out father is both funny and tough.
Winner: Nominees. You'd think that the Guest actor fields would be deep with options. It turns out, that with such large and talented casts to begin with, most shows can't afford to spend time with one-off and occasional characters. So, Emmy voters got most of the best choices.

Writing – Comedy Series

Nominees:
Catastrophe ("Episode 1")
Master of None ("Parents")
Silicon Valley ("Founder Friendly")
Silicon Valley ("The Uptick")
Veep ("Morning After")
Veep ("Mother")

B-Team
Black-ish ("Hope")
*The Carmichael Show ("Fallen Heroes")
Review ("Buried Alive; 6 Star Review; Public Speaking")
Transparent ("Man on the Land")
The Middle ("The Rush")
Girls ("The Panic in Central Park")

Two Veep episodes and two Silicon Valley episodes are hard to argue with. "Parents" was pretty much a lock as soon as Master of None premiered and it's delightful to see that Emmy voters noticed the Catastrophe pilot.
The B-Team is much more diverse. The biggest surprise of Emmy announcement day was that "Hope" didn't get a writing or directing nomination. I don't know what to make of that. In terms of critical chatter, "Fallen Heroes" (aka "The Cosby episode") probably deserved consideration. Any Review love I can give is welcome. They only submitted one episode and it's a great one. I didn't love Transparent season 2 the way a lot of people did, but "Man on the Land" is absolutely in the top tier of episodes over the last year. "The Panic in Central Park" is Girls as a mini-movie and possibly the best episode in several seasons. I'm going to stump for The Middle again. "The Rush" does a great job, specifically with the titular story about Sue rushing for a sorority and the fallout from that.
Winner: Nominees. Veep and "Parents" were my required nominees and they all made the cut.

Directing – Comedy Series

Nominees:
Master of None ("Parents")
Silicon Valley ("Daily Active Users")
Silicon Valley ("Founder Friendly")
Transparent ("Man on the Land")
Veep ("Kissing Your Sister")
Veep ("Morning After")
Veep ("Mother")

B-Team
blackish ("Hope")
Review ("Falsely Accused; Sleep with Your Teacher; Little Person")
Casual ("Bottles")
Transparent ("The Book of Life")
Girls ("The Panic in Central Park")
Love ("The Date")
Modern Family ("The Party")

You'll notice that both the nominees and B-Team look very similar to the writing groups. That's because no one is all that great at distinguishing writing from directing when something is a good episode. And that includes me. Just remember, I may not be knowledgeable, but I am honest (That's should probably be my slogan).
It's really hard to argue with that murderer's row of Nominees. Three Veeps and two Silicon Valleys feel like a bit much, but I'm having a hard time coming up with one of those to exclude. "Parents" was as much of a lock for directing as writing. "Man on the Land" really was the most notable episode of Transparent this season and one of the more difficult directing jobs of any episode.
"Hope" again is a stunning snub, although the writing is the more important aspect of the episode. I'll continue my praise of the same episodes of Girls and Review as well. "The Book of Life" is not "Man on the Land" but still impressively directed. I give Modern Family a lot of crap for being the most transparently directed comedy on TV. When it works, like in "The Party" it is still very impressive to see how they juggle all the stories. "The Date" and "Bottles" are both here because of tense dinner scenes. "The Date" has the cringe-inducing date between Paul Rust and Claudia O'Doherty's characters. "Bottles" has the full family dinner, complete with the story of why Thomas Dewey used to pee into bottles at night (Hint: It's not a happy reason).
Winner: B-Team. I feel like a lot of the Nominees are there as bleed over from writing more than anything having to do with the directing. And, I chose the B-Team off my best understanding of direction.

Casting – Comedy Series

Nominees:
Modern Family
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Veep

B-Team
blackish
Brooklyn Nine Nine
Catastrophe
Master of None
Girls

My best understanding of casting is essentially, the casting of non-regulars. I really don't have a great sense of that. I'll give it a try though. Modern Family tries going to bigger names than blackish does with mixed results. While I love the Carrie Fisher of it all on Catastrophe, Transparent has it beat. Brooklyn Nine Nine did more with their casting than Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. This was the season that gave us Andre Braugher v. Nick Offerman, after all. And I'll take the Master of None and Girls carousel of actors over Veep and Silicon Valley's.
Winner: B-Team. But it would be different if this was about the main casts.

As I expected, today was an even 5-5 split and many were very close. As long as Veep keeps getting this much love, it's hard to see how I'll dispute the Nominees too much. Of the overlooked shows, Review in particular, I never had any hope that I'd see them with nominations.

Movie Reaction: The Light Between Oceans

Formula: The Switch * (The Longest Ride / The Notebook)

On occasion, I've brought up what I call my "one big leap" principle for movies. In short, it's the one big conceit, plot contortion, or coincidence I'll give a movie before I start picking at it. It's very useful. Most stories need something to get the story going: an asteroid hitting the earth, being a character in a novel still being written, two undercover assassins get married to each other, or in the case of The Light Between Oceans, a baby washes up in a boat and a couple takes it in as their own. It's a little more than that though, which is where I start have trouble with it.

The film is based on a popular M.L. Stedman novel. For the purpose of this Reaction, I don't care. In my mind, the story in the novel is perfect and doesn't matter at all to the movie. It was written and directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines). He makes the shift to period work very well, not that it's very hard with a cast of Oscar collectors like Alicia Vikander (1 win), Rachel Weisz (1 win), and Michael Fassbender (2 nominations). And those three are why I saw the film. Weisz and Vikander can cry with the best of them. Fassbender is pantheon-level too, with his stoicism. The range of their performances is not in the variety of emotions displayed but the size of the few emotions they display. It's a melodrama. If you come into this expected anything else, I don't know what to tell you. The same goes for if you need me to assure you that all three leads are up to the task.

Now, the one big leap. This is a story that requires a lot of positioning. It begins with Tom Sherbourne (Fassbender) taking a job maintaining a remote lighthouse. A while after taking the job, he marries a local girl, Isabel (Vikander) who lives with him at the lighthouse after that. They want a child by she keeps having miscarriages. Shortly after her second miscarriage, a small boat washes up with a dead man and his infant daughter in it. Instead of reporting this, the couple takes the child as their own and buries the man's body. Four years later, they find out that the child belongs to a local woman, Hannah (Weisz). Tom is racked with guilt but Isabel can't imagine being torn from the child. You can guess how it develops from there, but it's not a movie about twists beyond the one I mentioned already, which is a reveal that the trailer covers too. There's a lot of heavy lifting to get this story set up and the film is in no hurry to get there. You spend a lot of time with Tom alone at the lighthouse, then Tom and Isabel as newlyweds, then Tom, Isabel, and the daughter as a family, and so on and so forth. That's fine as long as it stays true to the characters, which it does.

There's some major structural problems with the story. In order to have the reveal about who the child's actual mother is, it has to keep us away from Weisz for a very long time. As a result, she isn't nearly as developed and Vikander and Fassbender. The film attempts to cover this with some flashbacks, but it's not enough to overcome the fact that the audience doesn't understand her situation as well. Her husband (the man in the boat) gets about 10 lines in the movie and one of them is the inspiration for one of the biggest decisions in the film and it comes very late. That's a problem. I liked the version of the movie that was just about Vikander and Fassbender's characters. As good as Weisz is, trying to add her into the last half confuses who the movie is actually about.

The Light Between Oceans is fine. As a romance, it's lovely and tragic. As a story about parental love, it's heartbreaking and taps into some base level emotions. The balance of story and characters isn't perfect, and it can't stop itself from stepping on a few beats (the final scene should've had me bawling and certain decisions prevented that). With lesser actors, this could've been a complete snore. What most surprised me is that despite all the big emotions and plotting, it never betrayed the characters at the center, which is pretty remarkable.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

The Emmy B-Team: Limited Series and TV Movie

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.

Thanks, FX.
I don't know if I'm being sarcastic when I say that or not. You see, back in 2012, FX used a sort of loophole in the Emmy rule book to submit American Horror Story in the then-named Outstanding Mini-Series or Movie category. While it is an ongoing series, they used the self-contained story argument to get in. By moving from Drama Series, where it would've been shut out*, it led the Emmys with 17 nominations. While this strategy had been used for years by British co-productions**, networks hadn't gamed the system like that before. Since then, the category has been renamed to Limited Series and other networks have gotten in on it. Just 4 years later, the field is as competitive as ever.

*Except maybe for Jessica Lange.

**The same year that AHS broke the system, the series Luther earned 4 nominations as a Mini Series and has somehow stayed there for every season since. The year before, the first season of Downton Abbey dominated the Mini-Series category before moving to Drama series the next year. That's just two immediate examples that come to mind.

(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
Variety Series and Special

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

Limited Series

Nominees:
*American Crime
Fargo
*The Night Manager
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Roots

B-Team
American Horror Story: Hotel
*11.22.63
*The Girlfriend Experience
True Detective
Show Me a Hero

It's amazing that we've reached a point where there's even enough competition for something as good as Show Me A Hero to be snubbed. It doesn't match the top tier of the nominees, but really should've made the cut. I wasn't impressed with Hotel and True Detective was a complete mess. 11.22.63 and The Girlfriend Experience were both sturdy series. In the Nominees, on the other hand, Fargo and The People v. O.J. Simpson were two of the best shows of the year, no qualifiers required. American Crime had a resurgent season and Roots managed to separate itself from the classic original mini-series. Even The Night Manager was fun and pretty to look at, with good performances.
Winner: Nominees. At best, you could argue two of the B-Team belong in the Nominees, maybe (Show Me A Hero definitely, and take your pick for the other). I'm not sure over what Nominee though. This is a B-Team in the truest sense.

TV Movie

Nominees:
*All the Way
*Confirmation
*Luther
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
*A Very Murray Christmas

B-Team
*A Deadly Adoption
*Descendants
*Funny of Die Presents Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie
*Sharknado 3
*Special Correspondents

While the Mini-Series is experiencing a renaissance as a result of the Limited Series shift, TV Movies are still lagging behind. It's too easy to release a film to a theater, and there's just not the money in it the way TV is watched now. A Deadly Adoption and Sharknado 3 are jokes, not hiding that they aren't any good. The Funny or Die Donald Trump movie is as well. Descendants is a popular, but unspectacular Disney Channel Movie. I'm not sure what Special Correspondents is. At least the Nominees have a pair of HBO movies. I don't know what Luther is doing there, but the Emmys' treatment of that series has never made sense. The Abominable Bride wasn't peak Sherlock, but it was still good. A Bill Murray Christmas at least had some big names in it.
Winner: Nominees. The Emmys have a real TV Movie problem. They can't join it back with Limited Series, but there's just not enough being made to stand by itself. HBO can only do so much.

Lead Actress – Limited Series or Movie

Nominees:
*Felicity Huffman (American Crime)
*Lili Taylor (American Crime)
*Kerry Washington (Confirmation)
Kirsten Dunst (Fargo)
*Audra McDonald (Last Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill)
Sarah Paulson (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story)

B-Team
Lady Gaga (American Horror Story: Hotel)
Rachel McAdams (True Detective)
*Kristen Wiig (A Deadly Adoption)
*Julianne Hough (Grease: Live)
*Lily James (War & Peace)
*Riley Keough (The Girlfriend Experience)

The B-Team isn't strong, but it is interesting. I'm still surprised that Lady Gaga didn't pull off a nomination (Maybe she should've submitted as Supporting). She was the best thing about Hotel though. Rachel McAdams was far from the biggest problem with the second season of True Detective. Riley Keough impressed a lot of people in The Girlfriend Experience. Wiig, Hough, and James are mostly included because I needed to fill out the team. I'm sure they all did fine.
Sarah Paulson will win the Emmy and will deserve it. That alone probably trumps the B-Team. I wouldn't trade those six performances combined for hers. And that's just the beginning. I'd call Kirsten Dunst more of a supporting role. She's great though. Lili Taylor and Felicity Huffman do fine work in American Crime. Kerry Washington and Audra McDonald represent the TV Movies strongly.
Winner: Nominees. And it's not that close.

Lead Actor – Limited Series or Movie

Nominees:
*Bryan Cranston (All the Way)
*Idris Elba (Luther)
*Tom Hiddleston (The Night Manager)
Cuba Gooding Jr. (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story)
Courtney B. Vance (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story)
Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock: The Abominable Bride)

B-Team
*Timothy Hutton (American Crime)
Oscar Isaac (Show Me a Hero)
Malachi Kirby (Roots)
Patrick Wilson (Fargo)
*James Franco (11.22.63)
Rege-Jean Page (Roots)

Finally! A close match.
The Nominees are strong, although there is one weak spot. Cuba Gooding Jr. didn't have enough to do to be called a lead and he never seemed right for O.J. Simpson. I understand the desire to get a big name for the role, but he wasn't right physically and the it was too detached. Courtney B. Vance was incredible though and the favorite to win. Benedict Cumberbatch and Idris Elba gave exactly the performances you'd expect for these characters they've been playing for years. Hiddleston brought some movie star charisma to The Night Manager and Cranston is Emmy royalty who they are always happy to nominate.
Then there's the B-Team. Show Me A Hero aired a full year ago so I almost forgive voters for forgetting how good Oscar Isaac was in it. Now, Partick Wilson, given all the Fargo love in the other categories, I don't know how he got snubbed for his excellent work. Wilson, Isaac, and Vance are easily the top three in the field and the B-Team has two of them. Malachi Kirby and Rege-Jean Page were fine in the Roots remake. I didn't hear anyone talk about Franco's work on 11.22.63. He's the kind of actor who people would be ready to tear apart if he wasn't any good though, so I'll assume that means he was fine in it. In general, I assume Hutton is always good as well.
Winner: B-Team. It's simple math. The B-Team has two of the best three performances and lacks someone like Cuba Gooding Jr. to weigh it down. It's close.

Supporting Actress – Limited Series or Movie

Nominees:
*Melissa Leo (All the Way)
*Regina King (American Crime)
Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story: Hotel)
Kathy Bates (American Horror Story: Hotel)
Jean Smart (Fargo)
*Olivia Colman (The Night Manager)

B-Team
Angela Bassett (American Horror Story: Hotel)
Cristin Milioti (Fargo)
*Vanessa Hudgens (Grease: Live)
*Jennifer Hudson (Confirmation)
Catherine Keener (Show Me a Hero)
Wionna Ryder (Show Me a Hero)

Regina King should really be a double nominee for her work on American Crime and The Leftovers. Paulson and Bates gave the big performances you'd expect for American Horror Story. I'm sure Melissa Leo was good in All the Way. I heard a lot of reviews for The Night Manager, and no matter how tepid the review was, as soon as the reviewer got to Olivia Colman, they gushed about her.
Angela Bassett sizzled on the screen whenever she showed up. It was a smaller, better part than the two Nominees from Hotel. I love Cristin Milioti and want her in all the things I watch. She has a small role that didn't ask for her to do as much as Smart's did in Fargo. I liked Keener and Ryder in Show Me A Hero, especially Keener, who goes through an interesting transformation throughout the six episodes. I assume that Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson was good in Confirmation. As far as Vanessa Hudgens goes, at lot of people said "She did a good Skockard Channing" and she gets bonus points for her dad dying.
Winner: Nominees. Smart, Coleman, and King beat any three on the B-Team and the rest are all comparable to the B-Teamers.

Supporting Actor – Limited Series or Movie

Nominees:
Jesse Plemons (Fargo)
Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo)
*Hugh Laurie (The Night Manager)
Sterling K. Brown (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story)
David Schwimmer (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story)
John Travolta (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story)

B-Team
Alfred Molina (Show Me a Hero)
Forest Whitaker (Roots)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Roots)
Evan Peters (American Horror Story: Hotel)
Ted Danson (Fargo)
Nick Offerman (Fargo)

Sterling K. Brown and Bokeem Woodbine's nominations were required to take the Nominees list seriously. It's nice to see Jesse Plemons get noticed. This might be Hugh Laurie's best chance to win that elusive Emmy and I'd have no issue with that. Schwimmer and Travolta have taken a lot of heat about their roles on American Crime Story. Schwimmer goes through a transformation throughout the season that can only be appreciated when taken as a whole. Travolta went big. He didn't fit with the rest of the cast, but I think that was a decision he made, not an unintended consequence.
There were a lot options for the B-Team. There's a couple American Crime actors who could eaily be there and it's strange to not include Martin Freenman for Sherlock. I'm happy with the six I chose. Alfred Molina and Jonathan Rhys Meyers made me dislike both of their characters as well as anyone on TV in the last year. Evan Peters and Nick Offerman were having a great time with their roles. Forrest Whitaker gave Roots a beating heart early on. And, Ted Danson grew a beard, so...
Winner: Nominees. I'd maybe drop Travolta or Schwimmer and there's no one from the B-Team who I would replace them with who would be in the discussion to win the Emmy. In short, the best of the actors were nominated.

Writing – Limited Series, Movie, Special

Nominees:
Fargo ("Loplop")
Fargo ("Palindrome")
*The Night Manager
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story ("From the Ashes of Tragedy")
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story ("Marcia, Marcia, Marcia")
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story ("The Race Card")

B-Team
*American Crime ("Episode Seven")
Show Me a Hero ("Part Six")
*Confirmation
Fargo ("Did You Do This? No, You Did It!")
Roots ("Night One")
Roots ("Night Two")

I don't understand how all of The Night Manager can be nominated. That feels like a cheat. One that works in the Nominees' favor though. Every submitted episode of American Crime Story was nominated and two of three Fargo episodes. That is tough to beat.
The B-Team is a better mix than the Nominees. Most years, it would be a good group of nominees. Show Me A Hero should've made the cut. I'm surprised that American Crime was edged out as well.
Winner: Nominees. Fargo or The People v. OJ Simpson would be my pick to win and the episodes chosen were all great.

Directing – Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special

Nominees:
*All the Way
Fargo ("Before the Law")
*The Night Manager
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story ("From the Ashes of Tragedy")
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story ("Manna From Heaven")
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story ("The Race Card")

B-Team
*American Crime ("Episode Eight")
*Confirmation
Fargo ("Fear and Trembling")
Fargo ("Loplop")
Roots ("Night Two")
Show Me a Hero

I do not understand the writing and especially directing rules for this category. Again, The Night Manager gets a single nod for its entirety, while Fargo and American Crime Story are split. Show Me a Hero was snubbed for directing as a whole but had to submit a single episode for writing. It just doesn't make sense.
I have no issue with "Before the Law" being the chosen episode from Fargo, although both "Loplop" and "Fear and Trembling" could replace it without any complaints from me. I'm considering All the Way and Confirmation as more or less similar in the direction. American Crime had two possible submissions that I could've chosen. Roots had four. I made the best guess I could.
Winner: Nominees. Too many of the B-Teamers were better written than directed. And, again, I'm all on the People v. OJ Simpson bandwagon.

Casting – Limited Series, Movie, or Special

Nominees:
Fargo
*Grease: Live
*The Night Manager
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Roots

B-Team
*All the Way
*American Crime
American Horror Story: Hotel
Show Me a Hero
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

I'll say this a few times. I don't understand what exactly is meant by casting. With that admitted, it's hard to argue with either the Nominees or the B-Team.
Fargo and The Night Manager have the stars. The People v. OJ Simpson and Roots have the star-turns. Grease: Live did a good job too of casting for that show.
American Crime had a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces and a lot of young talent. All the Way featured HBO's traditionally strong casting for movies. Hotel mixed familiar talent with exciting newbies (Lady Gaga in particular). Show Me a Hero had Oscar Isaac, so...you know. Sherlock always dips into the British/BBC well nicely.
Winner: Nominees. Is it possible to be both pretty close and an easy decision? I wanted to sneak in a win for the B-Team, but I couldn't do it.

At 8-1, the Nominees clearly had the edge, which shouldn't be a surprise. As a macro assessment, there's not quite enough depth in the field year. The micro assessment: Fargo and American Crime Story can't be stopped. Thanks FX!

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.
7-0

The Emmy B-Team: Reality Shows

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.

I'm not a fan of Reality TV. Some of it is just plain bad. Even the good stuff doesn't interest me much. I never dig all that deep into why. The best I can figure is that I like writing over editing more. Or maybe I prefer fake characters being played honestly over real people with varying levels of honesty. Regardless, I'll admit that my B-Teams are mostly a collection of guesses, second-hand chatter, and how much I like the titles. This is a situation where I would love to hear a dissenting opinion so I can get a little clarity.

(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

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

Structured Reality Program

Nominees:
*Antiques Roadshow
*Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives
Lip Sync Battle
#Mythbusters
*Shark Tank
*Undercover Boss

B-Team
*The Briefcase
*Property Brothers
*Ghost Hunters
*Little Big Shots Starring Steve Harvey
#Monday Night Raw
*Who Do You Think You Are?

The reality series categories are pretty stable. That normally means that the best shows have been repeatedly nominated (See: Variety Series, 2003ish-2015) or the voters have gotten too lazy to look elsewhere (See: Reality Competition). I'm not sure, but when I look at the B-Team (I included Raw simply because I think it's funny and fitting that it's categorized here), there's nothing that's exciting enough to displace stalwarts like Shark Tank, Mythbusters, and Antiques Roadshow. Seriously, there's an episode of Frasier about Antiques Roadshow. How long has that show been on?
Winner: Nominees. If I could locate even a single member of the B-Team worth fighting for, that would likely be enough to tip the scale.

Unstructured Reality Program

Nominees:
*Born This Way
*Deadliest Catch
*Gaycation with Ellen Page
*Intervention
#Project Greenlight
*United Shades of America

B-Team
*Alaska: The Last Frontier
*Catfish: The TV Show
*Naked and Afraid XL
*Mike Rowe: Somebody's Gotta Do It
*Million Dollar Listing New York
*Wahlburgers

A lot of shakeup in the Unstructured Reality field after a couple of quiet years. As far as I can tell, it's mostly for the best. Project Greenlight is always an interesting watch. United Shades is a good use of W. Kamau Bell. Born This Way, I assume is inspirational. Intervention and Deadliest Catch are stalwarts. On the B-Team, there's a bunch of former nominees that probably fell out for a reason. Catfish is a one trick pony, but it's a good trick. I'm a big fan of Mike Rowe, even if I never remember to watch his show(s).
Winner: Nominees. Gaycation with Ellen Page. I like everything about that. Even the preposition.

Reality Competition

Nominees:
*The Amazing Race
American Ninja Warrior
*Dancing with the Stars
*Project Runway
*Top Chef
*The Voice

B-Team
#American Idol
#RuPaul's Drag Race
*Hollywood Game Night
*Penn & Teller: Fool Us
*Dating Naked: Playing for Keeps
Team Ninja Warrior

A lot of stalwarts in the category too. This is a category that tends to age well. Shows spend a while figuring out the format before they really start working, so the shows' ages shouldn't factor that much for all of them. American Ninja Warrior is the only show I watch, thanks to its summer time slot and, I guess, good timing. The B-Team is propped up by the annually overlooked Drag Race. I like Penn & Teller, so I'd like to back Fool Us. I had a hard time filling the B-Team though, and it's hard to argue with the likes of Top Chef, The Voice, and The Amazing Race, even with uneven seasons.
Winner: Nominees. The B-Team is too top-heavy.

Reality Host

Nominees:
#Ryan Seacrest (American Idol)
*Tom Bergeron (Dancing with the Stars)
*Jane Lynch (Hollywood Game Night)
*Steve Harvey (Little Big Shots)
*Heidi Klum & Tim Gunn (Project Runway)
#Rupaul Charles (RuPaul's Drag Race)

B-Team
*Erin Andrews (Dancing with the Stars)
*W. Kamau Bell (United Shades of America)
*Jeff Probst (Survivor)
*Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance)
#Jamie Hyneman & Adam Savage (Mythbusters)
*Padma Lakshmi & Tom Colicchio (Top Chef)

Every year I complain about RuPaul getting snubbed. Not this year. He's a Nominee. Even if it came at the expense of Cat Deeley, that's enough to keep the Nominees ahead.
Winner: Nominees. After complaining this long about RuPaul's snub, I'd feel hypocritical to change my mind now.

That makes the Nominees 4-0 today. The greater lesson though is that I'm not an authority on this topic at all. If I wasn't so neurotic and/or narcissistic, I'd skip this day altogether. Again, I'll extend out a plea for anyone with an actual opinion to let me know how I'm wrong or who I forgot.

September Movie Preview

So many movies this September. Five weekends and most of them throwaway. It's fitting for September this year to be disappointing looking as this whole year has been an exhale from 2015. There's potential that some of these will be pretty good. I'm not holding much hope though.

2016
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | Jul | Aug  
2015

Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | Jul | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec 

2014

Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2013

Mar |  Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

9/2

The Light Between Oceans
Working For It: Trios don't get much stronger than Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender, and Rachel Weisz. It's about a couple who finds a baby and years later learns who the mother is. It's some high drama and sure to have a lot of emotions. Those three can surely pull it off. From the director of Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines.
Working Against It: It looks like this leans more into melodrama than I care for.
Verdict: I may see it if the options in theaters are slim enough.

Morgan
Working For It: Kate Mara investigates a girl who was made in a lab and kept hidden there. It's essentially Ex Machina meets Lucy and that says all you need to know. Very strong cast, including Mara, Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and others.
Working Against It: Who is Luke Scott? He's somehow related to Ridley and Tony. Probably the son of one of them. Anyway, this is his first feature and it looks just like something that Ridley Scott would do when he's bored. It's hard to see how this film isn't a retread of several other movies I've seen before.
Verdict: Doubtful in theaters. Too much that could go wrong.

White Girl [Limited]
Working For It: Right on cue, Morgan Saylor stars in a movie about young people that's made to scare the shit out of older people. This happens about once a decade (Kids in 1995, Thirteen in 2003). It looks visually very interesting and intense. I liked Saylor in Homeland (for a while), so that'll be enough for me to seek this out.
Working Against It: Elizabeth Wood (writer/director) is new to the scene. That's a little risky, I guess. Sometimes with films like these, the directors get more enamored with all the shocking things they can show than with telling a good story (A distant cousin to the "torture porn" genre). I'll proceed with caution.
Verdict: Too risky for theaters. Perfect for an evening of depravity at home.

Yoga Hosers [Limited]
Working For It: Is Kevin Smith a positive or a negative these days? I'm not sure. I do like that he makes whatever the hell he feels like making. Right now, that means giving his daughter and Johnny Depp's daughter a movie. It interesting seeing how Smith's regular actors have changed over time. People like Genesis Rodriguez, Justin Long, and Haley Joel Osment he's picked up in the last few movies. And Johnny Depp's here thanks to his and Smith's daughters' friendship, no doubt.
Working Against It: This looks [intentionally] like a straight-to-video release. Smith is really embracing the lunacy these days. That's not my preferred flavor of his work even though I dig how he's making whatever he feels like, as outside of the studio system as ever.
Verdict: Unless I get on a major Kevin Smith kick, it's a hard pass.

9/9

The Disappointments Room
Working For It: Kate Beckinsale moves into an old house with a room that isn't on the blueprint. Creepy things happen.
Working Against It: I don't like movies, horror in particular, that have so much riding on a single reveal. There's nothing in the room that could live up to the mystery the movie will build for it. Director D.J. Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye) is moving more overtly into horror with this and that's not the direction I think he works best in.
Verdict: I'm not curious enough to find out.

Sully
Working For It: Tom Hanks is the airplane pilot who landed a passenger jet in the Hudson River. Clint Eastwood is directing what looks like Flight without the alcoholism. Other likable actors including Laura Linney, Anna Gunn, and Aaron Eckhart are there too.
Working Against It: I'm not a huge Clint Eastwood fan. American Sniper was the first movie of his I even saw in theaters. A Hologram for the King reminded me that there is a limit to what Tom Hanks movies I'll track down in theaters. It still seems awful unlikely that I'd miss this.
Verdict: I'm very likely to be there opening weekend.

When the Bough Breaks
Working For It: I love how these Screen Gems movies don't even care if you know the plot from the trailer. It makes the point pretty clearly though. It's essentially Obsessed, except switch out a women at the husband's work with the couple's surrogate.
Working Against It: This isn't my kind of movie and Screen Gems isn't concerned with making it transcend normal genre preferences.
Verdict: Nope

The Wild Life
Working For It: It's an animated movie about Robinson Crusoe landing on an island run by the animals. I swear I've seen the trailer before. I don't remember if it's from an earlier edition of these Previews before it got delayed or if this trailer actually made it to a movie theater.
Working Against It: The trailer is built like it's from at least a decade ago. For obvious reasons, I'm not a fan of the animated movies that are only designed to be enjoyed by children. I need something that works for adults on some level, which this isn't concerned about. It will disappear quickly and quietly.
Verdict: Definte no.

Author: The JT LeRoy Story [Limited]
Working For It: Remember JT LeRoy from back in the late 90s? Me neither, but I'm fascinated by the story of how she duped the literary and pop-culture world into believing the character existed.
Working Against It: The common pitfall of this kind of documentary is if it tries to overstate the importance of the story. Similar docs will get too concerned with proving how big a "con" this was rather than focusing on the interesting character.
Verdict: Maybe on Netflix.

Kicks [Limited]
Working For It: A kid from the streets gets his new shoes stolen and goes on a journey of self-discovery to get them back. It's well established that I'm a sucker for coming-of-age stories, so this on my radar. I believe this is also a Sundance movie: another of my favorite things.
Working Against It: The trailer hints at some visual flair that could get annoying. I don't want to pre-judge, but I can see how that could rub me the wrong way.
Verdict: Eventually, I assume I'll see it. Too much working in its favor.

Other People [Limited]
Working For It: Jesse Plemons is a big city boy who returns to the small town that he grew up in after his mother gets sick. Molly Shannon, as his mother, is supposed to be great in it. Others like Bradley Whitford, June Squibb, Rhetta, and Zach Woods are reliable actors. The continued growth of Maude Apatow is also worth tracking.
Working Against It: "Big city person returning to childhood home" is one of the most pervasive indie movie setups there is. At some point, there needs to be something new about it to still be worth watching. Is Jesse Plemons in a lead role or Molly Shannon in a dramatic role going to be enough?
Verdict: Probably no. It's forgetably similar to too much.

9/16

Blair Witch
Working For It: This is a direct sequel to The Blair Witch Project, about a guy who is searching for his sister who went missing during the events of the original movie. The writer and director don't have a connection to the 1999 movie, but they both worked on segments for V/H/S and V/H/S 2. The easiest way to may heart with a horror movie is to be tied to those two anthologies.
Working Against It: It's more traditionally shot than the original and will lack the surprise factor. I'm rooting for the movie, but I'm not sure what the "special sauce" is going to be this time around. That said, just by not being Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, this it will be an improvement.
Verdict: If I saw The Visit and Unfriended in theaters, I'm seeing this in theaters.

Bridget Jones's Baby
Working For It: Renee Zellwegger is back as Bridget Jones. This time, she's pregnant and it's either Colin Firth or Patrick Dempsey's baby. I was originally going to complain about how Dempsey is too young for the role, but I didn't realize that he's 50. The dude looks good for 50. The tone of the movie seems to be right and it has Emma Thompson, who is one of my favorite people.
Working Against It: This movie came too late in a lot of ways. It's been 12 years since the last movie and the cast just looks too old for a pregnancy story. And, while I like Patrick Dempsey, he isn't a great substitute for Hugh Grant.
Verdict: The lack of Hugh Grant kills my interest too much.

Hillsong - Let Hope Rise
Working For It: It a concert movie for an Australian Christian rock band. I like concert movies as a whole. The Justin Beiber and Katy Perry movies were better than I expected. You can learn some things you didn't know.
Working Against It: Hillsong is a little too far from mainstream for me to get value out of learning about them. One problem that a lot of concert movies have is that they try to edit together some dramatic story out of whenever the camera crew happens to be recording. That almost always feels forced and that seems to be the case with this.
Verdict: Not a chance.

Snowden
Working For It: Joseph Gordon Levitt is Edward Snowden. It's the kind of topic that Oliver Stone can excel at (Somewhat-to-very fictionalized character studies of actual people) and it has an Oliver Stone-level cast (large and very recognizable). Not enough people know about what Snowden actually did, so this could be enlightening to many [including myself].
Working Against It: Is a weird vocal performance going to tank another JGL movie? The silliness of Levitt's french accent no doubt hurt The Walk last year. It's hard to not snicker similarly at his Edward Snowden voice. I hope that isn't a big part of the response to the movie, but I doubt it will be ignored.
Verdict: It's very probable unless reviews are savage.

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years [Limited]
Working For It: I love The Beatles and it's certain to have a good sound track.
Working Against It: How many times do we need to hear the Beatles' British Invasion story? Enough already. There's no worthwhile new footage being found by anyone.
Verdict: In a way, haven't I already seen it?

The Good Neighbor [Limited]
Working For It: Two friends do an experiment on a neighbor (James Caan). They want to see if they can convince him that his house is haunted. They end up discovering that he may be up to something much darker. Everything about this interests me. The trailer looks great, as does Caan. I might even be brave enough to track this down in theaters if I can.
Working Against It: First time directors always worry and excite me in equal measure. Similar to The Disappointments Room, it looks like this is setting up for some big reveal or twist, and those tend to be underwhelming.
Verdict: I'll start looking for it immediately.

9/23

The Magnificent Seven
Working For It: Anthony Fuqua reunites with Denzel Washington after the brutal and fun The Equalizer for a remake of a classic western. Add in Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, and others and that's a movie I'd like to see.
Working Against It: A September release is curious for what looks like a pretty major movie. I'm not sure if the studio is trying to bury it or trying to break into new territory like what's been happening the last few Februaries in the box office.
Verdict: Yes.

Storks
Working For It: It's an animated movie about storks. They no longer deliver babies. Now they work for some sort of "Amazon" delivery company. Andy Samberg works with a human (Jennifer Aniston) to deliver one last baby, brought to them by mistake. It's from the Warner Brother's Animation studio, which has only done The Lego Movie so far in the CGI branch.
Working Against It: I could confuse this with a dozen forgettable Dreamworks Animation or Blue Sky or Illumination movies. It doesn't stand out at this point.
Verdict: I can't formulate the circumstance in which I'd see this.

The Lovers and the Despot [Limited]
Working For It: It's a documentary about a South Korean actress and director who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-Il back in the 70s. It looks to use the story of their abduction and, I assume, escape to tell a larger story about the Korean film industry and the rule of Kim Jong-Il. Fascinating stuff.
Working Against It: This will be such a low profile release that the biggest thing working against it is that I'll forget about it.
Verdict: Eventually I'll see it, if I remember it.

The Queen of Katwe [Limited]
Working For It: Based on the true story of a Ugandan girl who becomes a world Chess champion. It has Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo. I like that. Disney knows how to do an inspirational sports movie (even if the movie isn't about a sport). That it's starting with a limited release is odd for a Disney movie. I wonder if that means they think this has awards buzz.
Working Against It: It's fascinating tracking the evolution of this niche of Disney movie. It's been a while since one looked interesting enough for me to actually watch it though. I passed on Mcfarland USA and Million Dollar Arm. I'm not feeling great about this either.
Verdict: Unlikely to ever see it.

9/30

Deepwater Horizon
Working For It: Remember the BP Oil Spill? That's an action movie now. Just imagine The Perfect Storm but on an oil rig. It's a Peter Berg movie. Yes, that's a filmography that includes Battleship and Hancock. It also includes The Rundown and Lone Survivor. This can go a lot of ways. Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez, and John Malkovich is a good, if not completely expected cast.
Working Against It: You know, this doesn't have to be based on a true story. Just make a disaster movie on an oil rig. I hate playing the guessing game of what's actually true about a story when it's clearly been given a Hollywood facelift.
Verdict: It's possible that I see it, not probable.

Masterminds
Working For It: It's a Zach Galifianakis bank robbery movie that's been in release hell for a while. I vaguely remember it originally being slated for Winter 2015 and here it is, finally showing up September 2016. Except for Galifianakis, who I've never been able to connect with, I love the cast, including Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones (I swear this isn't Ghostbusters), Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, and others.
Working Against It: Jared Hess hasn't had a movie that's worked since he debuted with Napoleon Dynamite (a movie that hasn't aged well). Even though the trailer got me to laugh a couple times, it looks like the type of movie that spends too much time annoying me for me to be able to appreciates the jokes that work.
Verdict: I don't see it happening.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Working For It: Based on a popular children's book, this is essentially "Tim Burton presents Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters". There's no Johnny Depp, which, sadly, at this point is a blessing for a Tim Burton movie. Eva Green is quickly becoming Helena Bohnam Carter 2.0. I haven't been this genuinely interested in a Tim Burton movie in several years.
Working Against It: Between A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Spiderwick Chronicles, there's not a long history of having reasons to expect this to be very good. "Enjoyable" is probably the ceiling for it.
Verdict: Maybe, leaning toward no.

American Honey [Limited]
Working For It: Young people, uh, go on a road trip, or something. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and could mark a "return" for Shia LaBeouf. And, Riley Keough. She's showing up everywhere these days.
Working Against It: The trailer I saw was awful and may have killed my excitement for the film. The pull-quotes are probably overselling the importance of the film, so I need to make sure to lower my expectations going it.
Verdict: I don't have enough of an idea about what it is to figure out if I want to see it.

Denial [Limited]
Working For It: Rachel Weisz plays Deborah Lipstadt, who was sued for libel after denouncing a prominent Holocaust denier. It's crazy to think that the burden of proof was on her.
Working Against It: The trailer tries to build it as some kind of thriller. I figure the actual movie will be more subdued. At they end of the day, this may be better served as a Wikipedia read.
Verdict: I think I got everything I needed from the trailer.