Emmy Finalists (sigh)

I'll keep this brief since this isn't The TV Experience. What can be done about the Emmy Awards? Who are the people who think Two and a Half Men is the best that the creative community in Hollywood can come up with in terms of laughs? And yet there it sits each year in the Emmy comedy zone.

Grey's Anatomy is a big hit, we can give it that. But as dramas go, it's not that well written. The lead character is tremendously annoying and whiny. The plots are repetitive. The medical stuff is lazy. I've watched enough episodes (friends love it) to know. Just one example: I sat their flabbergasted that a hospital show would pretend that a character could survive drowning and going braindead for a long stretch of time with absolutely no side effects and look not much worse for the wear and carry on long emotional conversations without even a hitch in their voice mere moments after being revived. It's a silly show. Even Katherine Heigl, willing to bite the hand that feeds her, doesn't think it's all that. And yet there it is on the shortlist for Best Drama and the challenging, emotionally potent and increasingly complex Battlestar Galactica --regularly considered by critics and TV geniuses (like Buffy's Joss Whedon) to be the very best thing on television -- isn't even considered finalist material? Nor is Brothers & Sisters. It's histrionic sure but still more entertaining than Grey's Anatomy plus it's got Sally Field doing her best work since the late 70s/early 80s. UGH.

This is why I could never write about the Emmys the way I write about the Oscars. There would be so few happy turns of events to enjoy. Here are the finalists...

Pushing Daisies: Whimsical, inventive and sweet whilst somehow avoiding
sugar coma or non-intentional repetitiveness AND it appeals to the masses!?! (wow)

Comedy Finalists: (my favorites in bold) Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, The Office, Pushing Daisies YES, 30 Rock, Two and a Half Men, Ugly Betty and Weeds

Drama Finalists: (my favorites in bold) Boston Legal, Damages, Dexter, Friday Night Lights YES, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Lost, Mad Men, The Tudors and The Wire

The actual nominations are announced on July 17th. Here's how the voting works.
Are your favorites still in the running?
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