Cultural Cuisinart

I declare "Shenanigans!" on the following Emmy nominations:

Best Drama:
It's not that I have a problem with House overall, but it feels like a pretty formulaic show to me. Mysterious medical aliment of the week gets solved by bickering staff and dickhole (but funny) Dr. House. The other nominees are great - innovative, well acted and well written works that really feel like something special.

Should have been nominated instead: Battlestar Galactica. For the love of God, people... how can something this great not get a single freaking nomination in its entire 4 season run? Also snubbed acceptable alternates include the delightfully soapy True Blood and the much-beloved Friday Night Lights.

Best Comedy:
Oy vey, what a disaster. Entourage? I guess Emmy voters enjoy rewarding a show about a foursome of douchebags who hang out all day and do... stuff. HATE. And Family Guy? I mean, yes, it's a guilty pleasure to me, but this was by far the weakest season of this show.

Should have been nominated instead: if you want an animated cartoon that's truly edgy and topical, give the nomination to South Park, which delivers amazing social commentary peppered with scatalogical humor week after week. And why not reward more deserving show like the freshmen Better Off Ted ("Racial Sensitivity" alone should have been enough to garner a nomination), or the brilliant Pushing Daisies?

Best Actor (Drama):
No real complains, though I'd swap out the fluffy (if charming) Simon Baker and reward one of the guys from Battlestar Galactica instead.

Should have been nominated instead: Hell, James "Craterface" Olmos managed to make me swoon with his romantic and heroic performance as Admiral Adama, and that's got to be worth something, right?

Best Actress (Drama):
Props to the Emmy voters for singling out Elizabeth Moss for her amazing performance last season on Mad Men. While I still think that Glenn Close's Patty Hewes is simply the finest piece of acting by a lead female in television today, I wouldn't complain if Moss stole this one. However, Mariska Hargitay has been hitting the same dull note as Olivia Benson for years now, and I just don't think she belongs in this group.

Should have been nominated instead: Mary McDonnell, who deserves not just a nomination but a win for her intense performance as Laura Roslin on BSG.

Best Supporting Actor (Drama):
Look, I love The Shat as much as the next gal, but come on. TWO nominations for stupid Boston Legal?

Should have been nominated instead: Nelsen Ellis, who's performance as LaFayette on True Blood was so fierce, they had to deviate from the books and keep him alive, lest the fans riot and burn down the studios in protest. I thought that James Callis has always deserved a nod for his equally fierce (and queeny) performance as Gaius Baltar.

Best Supporting Actress (Drama):
First things first: Rose Byrne needs someone to hold her down and force a cheeseburger down her throat. Girl is WAY too skinny for my taste. And while I'm a huge fan of Damages, Bryne is truly the lightweight on that show (physically and acting-wise). Maybe it's just because she's surrounded by some true titans of acting, but Bryne could disappear from the show forever, and no one would notice or care.

Should have been nominated instead: You know why I started caring about Sawyer again on Lost? Because Juliet humanized him and made me love him again. Elizabeth Mitchell deserved a nomination for giving us a female character who was probably the only sane person left in that gang of motley fools.

I'm actually fine with the Supporting Actor/Actress nominations for the Comedy category, so I have nothing to say there.

Overall, big props for recognizing that 30 Rock's third season was probably only 90% as funny as past years, but that still makes it better than almost any other show on television. Also major props for recognizing Mad Men's achievements.

Big BOOOOO! to the Emmy voters snubbing the sci-fi genre yet again. Sometimes I think these people just vote for names they recognize and that they don't even watch television (or enjoy good programming).