My Dream Emmy Ballot: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy

Don't look so sad Luke, you'd get my Emmy vote.

The Emmy nominations are once again around the corner (they'll be announced July 18) so I will present my thoughts on who should be nominated seeing as Emmy voters & I so often disagree. In fact last year we agreed on only 21 of 61 nominations, because of a tie there wan an extra Emmy nominee, last year & that gap was especially large in comedy where we found common ground on only 6 of 31. Maybe this year there will be more of an overlap but I'm not getting my hopes up. 

Before i get to my thoughts on our first category, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, it bears mentioning yet again that Emmy voters are people who work, or worked, in the industry (actors, directors, writers, etc.) hence many of them don't have the time to watch a broad variety of shows. I, on the other hand, have plenty of time! So much time that I managed to watch 42 shows last year & I added another 6 in 2013 (seriously). Thus their choices may get tons of publicity I'd argue mine may well be more valid. Of course really I think TV critics should be in charge, since it's their job to judge television, so here's a professional's opinion.*

*I freely admit that I'm ripping off Alan Sepinwall's Emmy gimmick. As for any similarities between our picks I would merely say we both watch a lot of TV & have good taste.

It's important to also not that like actual Emmy voters I'm restricted by whether or not an actor submitted themselves & where they chose to do so, so while I may think someone's a lead character if they submit in supporting I'm bound to honor that (I'm also not nominating anyone from shows I didn't watch at least a few episodes of, sorry The Big Bang Theory*). Click here for the actual Emmy ballot. Last year Emmy voters & I didn't agree on one nominee, come July 18th I encourage you to come back here & decide who did a better job.

*I'm not sorry. 

"The Office" Watch-"New Guys"

Dwight & "Dwight Jr."

The Office was the best comedy on television over its first four full seasons.* It was the first comedy I truly fell in love with.** Then it fell into mediocrity in its 6th & 7th seasons with special events like Jim & Pam's wedding & baby, or Michael Scott's farewell arc serving as reminders of how great the show once was & occasionally could still be. Then came the 8th season. Season 8 of The Office was always going to have a few bumps in the road as the show had to replace its center in Steve Carell's Michael Scott but it didn't just have a few bumps in the road, it was a disaster that led to the show's first truly bad season of television.***

"The Office" Watch-"Turf War"

Did this week's Office bring any surprises?

The Office: "Turf War"

While Community stumbled slightly this week The Office continued its run of ok episodes, it's sad that that now passes as compliment for the show but that is where we're at in season 8.

NBC Comedy Watch

Paul Rudd on "Parks & Rec"

I'm back for week 2 of NBC Comedy Watch & this was an outstanding week.


Community-"Basic Lupine Urology"- Sure it wasn't as deep emotionally as the last few weeks but from a pure laughs standpoint that's the best episode since the Glee parody back in December. It usually is the parody/homage episodes that get the biggest laughs & as soon as I heard they were making a Law & Order episode I expected it to be amazing, & last night delivered from the opening scene when the study group's yam was found "murdered." 


Troy & Abed trying to each do the crime scene zinger was hilarious, as was their entire time as partners (& Shirley was great as their captain as well-a reversal from season one's "The Science of Allusion" when Shirley & Annie were partners attempting to solve a crime & Abed was their "African-American police chief"), & Annie & Jeff were unsurprisingly affective lawyers (another call back to season one when they proved to be a formidable debate team, & a little bit more). Having the eternally decent Todd be the primary suspect was inspired, though not as much as Michael Ironside's appearance (& did anyone else wonder if he was involved in killing Starburns to silence him as a witness?) as Todd's military lawyer, uncle, or anything involving the brilliant Michael K. Williams who was finally used to full potential here getting to deliver his, "A man's got to have a code," line that surely made all fans of The Wire shudder like the Dean around a man in uniform. It also set up another dark & interesting turn to the season with the death of Star Burns or, as he always made a point to tell everyone, Alex.*

NBC Comedy Recap

Annie & Abed in the Dreamatorium. 

Last night marked the return of Parks & Rec, meaning once again NBC was airing the 2 best comedies on TV in one night! Because of this wonderful occurrence I felt the need to give my brief, except in the case of Community, thoughts on the last night's episodes.

1. Community-"Virtual Systems Analysis"-By now it's cliche to say that an episode of Community is unlike anything else on TV, after all they did an episode as Ken Burns documentary only 2 weeks ago, but damn... That was definitely the weirdest thing they've ever done (Not to mention the weirdest, & funniest thing, the Dean has ever worn). I mean that neither as praise or criticism. Ok, maybe a little praise because it's ballsy to go that nuts even after all the other stuff they've pulled. Though being off kilter alone doesn't make a show good (If that were the case Glee would be sensational), what really made the episode work was that beneath all of the wackiness of Abed & Annie playing other members of the study group inside the dreamatorium there was real emotional resonance. 

"Office" Watch-"WUPHF.com"

Before I get to this week’s episode I’d like to do a quick recap of the last two episodes that I’ve thus far neglected.

“Christening”:

My brother watched this episode before I did & told me it was terrible. When I started it I was wondering why he had such a negative opinion, then I finished the episode and felt the same way.

The main storyline deserved credit for keeping Michael’s character arc reasonable. It makes sense that he would get caught up in the church group’s enthusiasm (especially when the other member of the office were being so insufferable, not surprisingly with Ryan leading the way) & volunteer to join them on their trip to Mexico. The problem was that the payoff of Andy & him throwing a tantrum to get off the bus to Mexico wasn’t overly rewarding in either laughs or character development.

Office Watch-"Costume Contest"

This marks the beginning of my weekly (at least through this calendar year) reviews of half of NBC’s comedy Thursdays (sorry "30 Rock" fans, your show’s funny enough but I’ve just never really gotten into it, & anyone who actually watches "Outsourced"). Hopefully I won’t be overly inept, & can provide some insight into "The Office" & "Community" however if you want a professionals take I recommend Alan Sepinwall at hitfix.com, James Poniewozik at time.com, & the reviewers from the avclub.com.

It would be inappropriate for my first review to be off anything but "The Office". It’s my favorite sitcom of all-time (I own each season & have seen each episode from the first 3 seasons, the show’s apex, a half dozen times), & I was one of the early converts (props to Cody Johnson & Alex Van Guilder for being the only people I know to have discovered it before me), having started my weekly viewings in its 2^nd season. Quite simply no show has given me more enjoyment over the years (even you "Lost").