Tag Archives: Matthew Fox
2010 Emmy Award Predictions: Lead Acting in a Drama Series
Lead Acting in a Drama Series
The Lead Acting awards on the Drama side this year are polar opposites: one has a clear frontrunner and a slightly tired set of nominees, while the other category has a ridiculously packed lineup of potential winners where no clear frontrunner exists and where I'd be happy with anyone winning the trophy.
Filed under Emmy Awards
Tagged as 2010, Connie Britton, Damages, Dexter, Emmys, Friday Night Lights, Glenn Close, House, Hugh Laurie., January Jones, Jon Hamm, Julianna Margulies, Kyle Chandler, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Lost, Mad Men, Matthew Fox, Michael C. Hall, Nominations, Nominees, Predictions, Television, TV
And Your Winner, by Submission…: Analyzing 2010's Emmy Tapes
Last week, I wrote a piece for Jive TV which described the next step in the Emmy Awards process, and the ways in which this post-nomination period is honestly more interesting for me than the pre-nomination period: as my Twitter followers have noted, I'm a bit obsessive about the submissions process, where the nominated series and performers choose episodes to represent their work over the past season.
It fascinates me because of how unnatural it is: performers can't simply put together a reel of their strongest moments from throughout the season, they need to find a single representative episode (which, for supporting players, is cut down to only their scenes), and so what they choose is incredibly telling. For example, the cast of Glee have very clearly been instructed to submit episodes which feature big musical performances: Chris Colfer submitted "Laryngitis" because of the show-stopping "Rose's Turn," while Lea Michele submitted "Sectionals" based on her take on "Don't Rain on My Parade." These might not be their more consistent episodes in terms of overall material, but musically they are character-defining performances, and Glee has decided that this will be its Emmy focus. And yet, for Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch, their submissions don't work as well when oriented around their most show-stopping musical performances, and so sometimes a series' approach doesn't match with each performer.
It's a delicate balance, and one which I think best captures the equally maddening and addictive nature of this process, which is why I will now take a closer look at the submissions strategy from a number of series: for a look at how they look as categories, and for more submissions I don't talk about here, check out Tom O'Neill post at Gold Derby.
Tagged as 2010, 30 Rock, Aaron Paul, ABC, Alec Baldwin, AMC, Amy Poehler, Analysis, Andre Braugher, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, Burn Notice, Chris Colfer, Christina Hendricks, Edie Falco, Elisabeth Moss, Emmy Tape, Emmys, Eric Stonestreet, FOX, Friday Night Lights, Glee, HIMYM, House, Hugh Laurie., James Tyler Ferguson, Jane Lynch, January Jones, Jim Parsons, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Kyle Chandler, Lea Michele, Lost, Mad Men, Matthew Fox, Matthew Morrison, Men of a Certain Age, Michael Emerson, Modern Family, Monk, NBC, Neil Patrick Harris, Nominations, Nominees, Parks and Recreation, Sharon Gless, Steve Carell, Submissions, Television, Terry O'Quinn, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, Tina Fey, Toni Colette, Tony Shalhoub, TV, Ty Burrell
July 8, 2010 · 12:18 pm
The Trick is to Actually Watch TV: The 2010 Emmy Nominations
The Emmy nominations (which you can find in full here) are less a sign of what's truly great on television and a more a sign of what the Emmy voters have actually been watching.
Series and performers are nominated for Emmys for one of two reasons: either the Academy members watched episodes carefully and saw them deserving of an award, or they looked at their ballots and chose a familiar name, a much buzzed-about series, or the first name on the ballot. And, frankly, most years the latter seemed to be their modus operandi, to the point where I've started to disassociate voters with any notion of television viewership – I'm not even convinced most of them own televisions.
However, for once, I'd say that the 2010 Emmy nominations seem to have been made by people who actually enjoy the medium, with plenty of evidence to demonstrate that voters actually watched many of the shows they nominated and discovered not only the most hyped elements of that series but also those elements which are truly deserving of Emmys attention. There are still plenty of examples where it's clear that Emmy voters didn't truly bother to watch the series in question, and all sorts of evidence which indicates that the Emmy voters suffer from a dangerously selective memory and a refusal to let go of pay cable dramedies, but the fact remains that this is the most hopeful Emmy year in recent memory.
It isn't that every nominee is perfect, but rather that there is evidence of Academy voters sitting down in front of their television and watching more than a single episode of the shows in question, making them less like soulless arbiters of quality and more like actual television viewers – it might not stick, but for a few moments it's nice to finally see some nominees that indicate voters aren't so much different from us after all.
Tagged as 2010, 30 Rock, Aaron Paul, Amy Poehler, Analysis, Andre Braugher, Andrew Braugher, Archie Panjabi, Bear McCreary, Big Love, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, Burn Notice, Cat Deeley, Choreography, Chris Colfer, Christina Hendricks, Conan O'Brien, Connie Britton, Credits, Damon Lindelof, David Simon, Dean Norris, Ed O'Neill, Edie Falco, Elisabeth Moss, Elizabeth Mitchell, Emmys, Eric Stonestreet, Friday Night Lights, Glee, HBO, How I Met Your Mother, How to Make it In America, January Jones, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jim Parsons, Julianna Margulies, Katey Sagal, Kyle Chandler, Lost, Mad Men, Matthew Fox, Men of a Certain Age, Michael Emerson, Michael Giacchino, Mike O'Malley, Modern Family, Monk, Neil Patrick Harris, Nick Offerman, Nominations, Nominees, Nurse Jackie, Parks and Recreation, Reality TV, Sharon Gless, Showtime, So You Think You Can Dance, Sons of Anarchy, Television, Terry O'Quinn, The Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, The Pacific, Tony Shalhoub, Tracy Morgan, Treme, TV, Vince Gilligan, Voters, Zach Gilford
Handicapping the 2010 Emmys: Drama Acting
On the drama side of things, there's fewer trends that we can follow through to the nominees than there are in comedy. There, we can look at Glee and Modern Family and see some logical directions the awards could take, but in Drama there's really only one new contender (The Good Wife), and the other variables are much more up in the air in terms of what's going to connect with viewers. Lost could see a resurgence with voters in its final season, or it could be left in the dust; Mad Men could pick up more acting nominations now that its dynasty is secure, or it could remain underrepresented; Breaking Bad could stick to Cranston/Paul, or it could branch out into the rest of the stellar cast.
That unpredictability isn't going to make for a shocking set of nominations, but I do think it leaves a lot of room open for voters to engage with a number of series to a degree that we may not have, so it's an interesting set of races where I'm likely going out on some limbs.
Tagged as 2010, Aaron Paul, Analysis, Andre Braugher, Anna Gunn, Archie Panjabi, Award Show, Big Love, Bob Odenkirk, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, Cherry Jones, Chloe Sevigny, Chris Noth, Christina Hendricks, Christine Baranski, Clarke Peters, Connie Britton, Damages, Dean Norris, Dexter, Drama, Elisabeth Moss, Emilie de Ravin, Emmys, Evangeline Lilly, Friday Night Lights, Fringe, Giancarlo Esposito, Glenn Close, Henry Ian Cusick, House, Hugh Laurie., January Jones, John Goodman, John Noble, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Josh Charles, Julianna Margulies, Justified, Katey Sagal, Khandi Alexander, Kyle Chandler, Lauren Graham, Lisa Edelstein, Lost, Mad Men, Matthew Fox, Melissa Leo, Men of a Certain Age, Michael C. Hall, Michael Emerson, Nestor Carbonell, Nominees, Parenthoo, Peter Krause, Predictions, Ray Romano, Robert Sean Leonard, Scott Bakula, Sons of Anarchy, Television, Terry O'Quinn, The Good Wife, Timothy Olyphant, Treme, TV, Wendell Pierce, Yunjin Kim
Series Finale: Lost – "The End"
"There are no shortcuts, no do-overs – what happened, happened. All of this matters."
[For more of my thoughts on "The End," check out my analysis of the critical response to the episode, which expands on some of the points I raise here while bringing up arguments that I didn't get to.]
I don't know where to begin.
I know how I feel about "The End" because I have notes which capture my intense emotional responses to the action onscreen. I also know many of the points I want to make about the episode as a whole, and how it fits into the sixth season, and how it works with the remainder of the series. In fact, I could probably write every other part of this review but the first sentence, and I'd probably be able to fill it in just fine after the fact.
However, that would be dishonest: it would make you think that I, the moment I sat down at my desk after the finale finished airing, knew precisely the topic sentence which would boil this finale down, the words that would unearth its secrets and solve its mysteries. I may know the things I want to say, and I may have my opinions about the quality of this finale, but I don't know what I can really say to get it all started.
As the quote above indicates, and as I believe the finale embodied, there are no do-overs: what happened, happened, which is why you're reading a short meandering consideration rather than a definitive statement. "The End" lacks any definitive statements: we learn nothing about what the island really is, we get no new information about the Dharma Initiative or any of the people involved, and the episode leans towards spiritual conclusiveness rather than any resolution of the series narrative. Lost doesn't try to end in a way which closes off its plot holes or pieces together its own meandering qualities, but rather creates an episode that says the journey was worthwhile, that the time these characters spent with each other and the time we spent with these characters was all worth it.
And for all of the questions that we may still have – and trust me, I think all of us still have questions – I firmly believe that the quality of this series finale and the overall quality of the series simply cannot be among them. Beautiful and heartwrenching, "The End" captures more than any other series finale I've watched the sum total of the series' experience, awakening in viewers the same power of recall which pulls together half of the series' narrative.
Lost was more than our experience, featuring a complex plot which goes beyond those powerful and emotional moments so lovingly punctuated by Michael Giacchino's stirring music, but I feel "The End" paid respect to the series that's been: it may have taken shortcuts, and it may have prioritized certain questions differently than some viewers, but at no point did it feel like the series was making that argument that what we saw tonight was the only thing that mattered.
All of this matters, for better or for worse, and by wearing its heart and soul on its sleeve Lost has gone out the same way it came in: presenting a very big world with some very big ideas through the eye(s) of those who live their lives within it.
Filed under Lost
Tagged as Aaron, ABC, Analysis, Bernard, Carlton Cuse, Charlie, Damon Lindelof, Daniel Faraday, Desmond, Eloise, Entertainment, Episode 18, Evageline Lilly, Finale, Flash-Sideways, Island, Jack Shepard, John Locke, Juliet, Kate, Lapidus, Love, Man in Black, Matthew Fox, Metaphor, Michael Emerson, Michael Giacchino, Penny, Purgatory, Review, Rose, Sawyer, Season 6, Series Finale, Sideways, Television, Terry O'Quinn, The End, TV, Vincent, Widmore
Lost – "The Candidate"
For the first half of its running time, "The Candidate" felt like the show was going through a list of the ways in which this season has somewhat struggled with its competing narrative foci. The Flash Sideways structure is thematically interesting, but it feels as if the initial "what's going on" dynamism has been replaced by a sort of meandering structure as Jack stumbles upon connections that we made weeks ago, and reveals elements of the story which bear emotional weight but which get saved until the episode's conclusion. This might be fine, perhaps, if there was anything happening on the island to compare it to, but through the first half of the episode the show's action seemed borderline illogical, leaving me pondering just how cranky this review was doing to sound.
And then, at a certain point in the episode, all hell broke loose, and the stakes of the season went up by roughly ten thousand percent. Life becomes a commodity, trust becomes more important than perhaps life itself, and the show's poetic style gets turned on its ear like perhaps it's never been turned on its ear before. "The Candidate" is not an exemplary hour of television, struggling mightily to set up its eventual conclusion, but that conclusion ends up being such a rollercoaster that it leaves the show in perhaps the best shape its been all year while leaving us emotional wrecks.
It's something the show hasn't really accomplished thus far this season, which means that we're officially in the home stretch.
Tagged as ABC, Analysis, Anthony Cooper, Bomb, Candidate, Claire, Death, Desmond, Episode 14, Flash-Sideways, Helen, Hurley, Jack Bender, Jack Shepard, Jin, John Locke, Kate, Katey Sagal, Matthew Fox, Michael Giacchino, Mirrors, Music Box, Review, Sayid, Season 6, Smokey, Submarine, Sun, Surgery, Television, Terry O'Quinn, The Candidate, Theories, TV
Lost – "Lighthouse"
"I guess we weren't looking for it…"
When Lost adds new elements to its world, acts of expansion that have been quite common early in the show's sixth season, there's always a question of why we've never seen it before. Why did they wait so long, for example, for us to meet Benjamin Linus, and why did we never learn about the Man in Black until the fifth season finale? They're questions that have some merit, certainly, but which perhaps miss the point: the reality is that sometimes things sneak up on you, and things that have existed for centuries are only able to be found when you know where to look (and sometimes Michael Emerson blows away the producers and becomes part of the show's expansion).
"Lighthouse" is a cross-reality investigation of this idea, of what people are able to "see" with the right information and how those viewpoints change those characters. For some, their perspective is clouded by an infection taking over their mind and body, while for others their perspective is clouded by a life filled with self-doubt and personal struggle. And while we've yet to be given the proper coordinates to full interested what the show's flash-sideways structure represents, it continues to offer a unique perspective on who these characters could have been, which remains a compelling counterpoint to the characters they are and – perhaps more importantly – the characters they are destined, or not destined, to be.
Tagged as Aaron, ABC, Chopin, Christian, Claire, David, Desmond, Dogen, Emilie de Ravin, Entertainment, Episode 5, Father, Hurley, Infection, Jack, Jorge Garcia, Kate, Lamp Post, Lighthouse, Man in Black, Matthew Fox, Mirrors, Music, Others, Piano, Review, Sayid, Season 6, Smokey, Son, Television, TV