My Dream Emmy Nomination Wish List

We're still a couple of weeks away from the announcement of this year's Primetime Emmy Nominations on 14 July, but lots of TV sites I follow have been posting their nomination wish lists, so I got excited. Here is my dream list of nominations in a few of the categories, with some categories including only a few, or in one case, a single nominee, and a couple categories with way too many nominees (I couldn't choose!). I have no idea what categories people actually submitted themselves for this year (except for Rob Lowe, who famously [and a little pretentiously?] went for a Best Actor nomination this year), so I've put them in the categories I'd like to see them in, again, in a dream world. What do you think? Anyone you're cheering for this year?

BEST DRAMA SERIES:
Big Love
Friday Night Lights
Fringe
Parenthood
Southland

BEST COMEDY SERIES:
30 Rock
Chuck
Cougar Town
Happy Endings
Parks and Recreation

BEST WRITING, DRAMA:
Big Love: "Exorcism"
Friday Night Lights: "Kingdom"
Fringe: "Olivia"
Fringe: "The Plateau"
Private Practice: "Did You Hear What Happened to Charlotte King?"
Southland: "Code 4"
The Good Wife: "Breaking Up"

BEST WRITING, COMEDY:
30 Rock: "TGS Hates Women"
Chuck: "Chuck Versus the Cliffhanger"
Glee: "Britney/Brittany"
Parks and Recreation: "Harvest Festival"
Parks and Recreation: "The Flu"

BEST LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA:
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
Mirielle Enos, The Killing
Lauren Graham, Parenthood
Regina King, Southland
Julianna Marguilies, The Good Wife
Anna Torv, Fringe
Jeanne Tripplehorn, Big Love

BEST LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA:
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Michael Cudlitz, Southland
Shawn Hatosy, Southland
Joel Kinnaman, The Killing
Peter Krause, Parenthood
Bill Paxton, Big Love
Tom Selleck, Blue Bloods

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA:
Lisa Edelstein, House
Chloe Sevigny, Big Love
KaDee Strickland, Private Practice
Mae Whitman, Parenthood
Grace Zabriskie, Big Love

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA:
Kevin Alejandro, Southland
Michael B. Jordan, Friday Night Lights
John Noble, Fringe
Dax Shepherd, Parenthood
Donnie Wahlberg, Blue Bloods

BEST LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY:
Courtney Cox, Cougar Town
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Patricia Heaton, The Middle
Lea Michele, Glee
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

BEST LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY:
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY:
Rashida Jones, Parks and Recreation
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Heather Morris, Glee
Busy Phillips, Cougar Town
Aubrey Plaza, Parks and Recreation
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY:
Ian Gomez, Cougar Town
Ed Helms, The Office
Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Chris Pratt, Parks and Recreation


BEST ACTRESS IN A GUEST STARRING ROLE, DRAMA:
Mamie Gummer, The Good Wife
Jennifer Love Hewitt, Law & Order: SVU
Martha Plimpton, The Good Wife
Leelee Sobieski, The Good Wife
Evan Rachel Wood, True Blood


BEST ACTOR IN A GUEST STARRING ROLE, DRAMA:
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Seth Gabel, Fringe
Chris Noth, The Good Wife

BEST ACTRESS IN A GUEST STARRING ROLE, DRAMA:
Jennifer Aniston, Cougar Town
Elizabeth Banks, 30 Rock
Mo ("Joan Calamezzo runs this town") Collins, Parks and Recreation
Ruby Jerins, Nurse Jackie
Gwyneth Paltrow, Glee


BEST ACTOR IN A GUEST STARRING ROLE, COMEDY:
Darren Criss, Glee
Matt Damon, 30 Rock
John Hamm, 30 Rock
Mike O’Malley, Glee

BEST COMPETITION REALITY SHOW:
American Idol
Project Runway
So You Think You Can Dance

BEST REALITY SHOW HOST:
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance**

**Not a category I’ve ever been too invested in, except when it excludes the wonderful Cat Deeley without cause every year.

Rewarding Parks and Recreation Fans

You all know I'm pretty obsessed with Parks and Recreation these days, yes? After watching the finale more than once (we'll leave it at that) this weekend, I found myself singing along to Andy's totally awesome Li'l Sebastian ("that magnificent beast") tribute song "5,000 Candles in the Wind" ("Bye, bye, Li'l Sebastian/You're 5,000 candles in the wind". Hehe). A quick Google search later for MouseRat led me here, where free downloads of all of MouseRat's "hits" are available for free. How fun is that?! Man, it's going to be a long, dark summer without new episodes of P&R.

Parks and Recreation: Redifining the Workplace Mockumentary as We Know It

Reader, are you watching Parks and Recreation? Short answer: you should be. Long answer: if you're not, you're missing out on a show that has taken the once-funny Office-style mockumentary and "de-cynicalized" it (no, that's not a real word. Don't use it in essays) to maximum comedic effect.

I just came across this excellent review of the show's current (third) season. Like the reviewer, I didn't really like the pilot of this show very much. It seemed like Amy Poehler (who I love) was playing an unfunny female incarnate of Michael Scott on his more awkward days, only in a different setting. The first season improved upon the pilot, with a couple of really funny moments, but was generally uneven. The second season, however, was a whole other story. From the premiere, it seemed like the writers had a better sense of the ensemble potential, anchored of course by Poehler, as well as a strong sense of how the show works differently from The Office. Where The Office uses (used?) Jim as the cynically comic straight man to Michael Scott's optimistic insanity, Parks and Rec eliminates the need for such cynicism by making Leslie Knope an eternal optimist, but not as cluelessly out of touch as Michael. The result, as the above review says is that "it creates comedy, which is not to be confused with satire, out of workplace optimism".

I could gush for pages about my new favorite TV comedy, but the review says it much better than I could. Let's just say that that Parks and Rec has hit its stride in a major way. I hope you're watching it!