On May 30, the sixth and final season of The Americans wrapped up on FX. Featuring the now married couple of Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, the show told the story of 2 Soviet spies raising a family in 1980s Washington while reporting back to their homeland.
This will go down as one of the better works of the decade, and I look forward to seeing how it ends once I watch the final four episodes. Any day now.
Tonight’s the night for the Emmy Awards, so it’s time to finish off my predictions for the awards. Today, we’re focusing on the awards for Dramas. I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
House of Cards
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld
I watched two of these, but I don’t expect either of them to win. With Westworld being HBO’s only entry, my guess is it will take home the prize.
Viola Davis, How To Get Away With Murder
Claire Foy, The Crown
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Keri Russell, The Americans
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld
Robin Wright, House of Cards
If it were up to me, I’d give the award to either Keri Russell, but I assume that Viola Davis will take home the prize.
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Anthony Hopkins, Westworld
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us
Some new blood in this category. I’m assuming that Brown and Ventimiglia will split the vote and leave Sir Hopkins to claim victory.
Tonight’s the night for the Emmy Awards, so it’s time to finish off my predictions for the awards. Today, we’re focusing on the awards for Dramas. I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.
The Americans
Better Call Saul
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
House of Cards
Mr. Robot
As much as I would like to see The Americans take home the trophy, I’m assuming that the love affair with Game of Thrones will continue.
Claire Danes, Homeland
Viola Davis, How To Get Away With Murder
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Keri Russell, The Americans
Robin Wright, House of Cards
If it were up to me, I’d give the award to either Keri Russell or Tatiana Maslany, but I assume that Viola Davis will take home the prize.
Kyle Chandler, Bloodline
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Some new blood in this category. I’m going with the long shot and picking Matthew Rhys.
It’s Hump Day. Time to take a look back at my thoughts on the midweek offerings for the fall season.
7:00
Arrow – After a stellar second season, Arrow returns for more angtsy fun. On tap for this season are DC stalwarts Ra’s Al Ghul and Ray Palmer.
Considering the main character was killed in the winter finale last month, the show will have to jump through a hoop or two to bring him back.
The Mysteries of Laura – Quite possibly the worst pilot I’ve seen ever. What a waste of good talent.
I did not go back for any future entries after having suffered through the pilot.
8:00
Modern Family – The comedy, entering its sixth season, is starting to show its age. It’s still fun, but the plots are starting to get a little out there.
I think it is safe to say that we are much closer to the end of this shows run than we are to the beginning.
Criminal Minds – The show returns for its tenth season with a new team member, the lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt.
I don’t know what else there is to say about this show at this point. It is what it is.
Red Band Society – My initial instinct was to give this one a pass, but a few good reviews, plus an early premiere, made me decide to tune in.
With the Emmy Awards scheduled for Monday night, it’s time for day three of my predictions for the awards. Today, we’re focusing on the awards for Dramas. I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
House of Cards
Mad Men
True Detective
Well, so much for having seen most of these. True Detective was the only one of these nominees that I’ve seen. This is a tough call, but I imagine that the final season of Breaking Bad takes home the prize.
Lizzy Caplan, Masters of Sex
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianne Margulies, The Good Wife
Kerry Washington, Scandal
Robin Wright, House of Cards
This past season of The Good Wife was spectacular, and a lot of that was due to Julianne Margulies. She should definitely take home the trophy, especially since Tatiana Maslany was overlooked again for her work in Orphan Black.
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Woody Harrelson, True Detective
Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
My guess is that this is a person race, between Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey and Bryan Cranston. I think this will be Breaking Bad‘s night once again, which means that Bryan Cranston will have another trophy to lord over the Adam Carollas of the world.
It’s Hump Day. Time to take a look back at my thoughts on the midweek offerings for the fall season.
7:00
Revolution – NBC’s lone hit from last fall moves to Wednesdays. This show struggled mightily once it returned from the winter hiatus, and it will need to start strong if I’m going to stick around for long.
Well, this one didn’t even make it to the second season premiere. Once again, bad reviews and a need to clear room off the DVR helped me realize once again that life is too short to watch shows I am not really enjoying.
Arrow – Surprisingly, the CW kind of hit it out of the park with this tale of Green Arrow. Season 2 will be offering an arc featuring Summer Glau, so I, for one, am excited to see where things go.
Arrow has basically turned itself in to the anti-Smallville, learning from the mistakes of its DC-based predecessor.
8:00
Criminal Minds – Another show heading into its ninth season. This one is getting a little tired, but it is still good more often than not.
No surprises here, but the show continues to be mostly entertaining.
Modern Family – This continues to be a funny show, even if most of the characters have become caricatures of themselves at this point. But that is to be expected in comedies entering their fifth season.
The show continues to chug along, although puberty has not really been kind to the youngest member of the Dunphy clan. Continue reading →
With the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, it’s time for day three of my predictions for the awards, today focusing on Drama shows. I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
House of Cards
Homeland
Mad Men
This is a tough one, as I can see either Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, or Game of Thrones taking home the prize. Given the amount of press it is getting in its now airing final season, my guess is that Breaking Bad takes home the prize.
Connie Britton, Nashville
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Kerry Washington, Scandal
Robin Wright, House of Cards
I think Claire Danes will take this for the second year in a row.
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Damian Lewis took this award last year, but I think this will be Breaking Bad‘s night, which means that Bryan Cranston will have another trophy to lord over the Adam Carollas of the world.
It’s Hump Day. Time to take a look back at my thoughts on the midweek offerings for the fall season.
7:00
Animal Practice – When the best thing about your pilot episode is the monkey that played Annie’s Boobs on Community, that’s a good sign that your show is in trouble. When you keep cutting to the monkey because you know it’s the best thing about your pilot, that’s just sad. There is some promise here with Justin Kirk and JoAnna Garcia, but I don’t plan to stick around in the off chance they find it.
It’s hard to imagine that a show centered around a monkey did not become a huge hit and was instead the first show to be yanked off the air.
Arrow – The CW tries to give the Smallville treatment to Green Arrow. I’m willing to give it a shot and hope for the best.
A decent enough show, but nothing spectacular. I could see this following the Smallville path and lasting for years, with my interest waning somewhere along the way.
7:30
Guys With Kids – Having watched the first episode, which premiered last week, I can only say that this feels like a comedy that could have been on 20 years ago. And that is not a compliment.
I couldn’t even tell you if this show is still on the air.
The Neighbors – I only saw a brief clip of this show, but it was enough to tell me that I am not the target audience for this show. I’m not even sure who that target audience may be.
So I took one for the team and watched the pilot episode and, as I thought, this was not for me. Some people actually seem to enjoy this show, so more power to them.
8:00
Criminal Minds – Jeanne Tripplehorn joins the team for season 8, replacing the departing Paget Brewster.
The wrinkles are starting to show more and more. They’ve tried to introduce something of an arc for this season, but it really hasn’t been done all that well.
Modern Family – The family is expanding, as last season ended with Gloria revealing she is pregnant. This continues to be a consistently funny show.
Still bringing the funny, although most of the news about Modern Family this season has been about off the set drama involving Ariel Winter and her mother.