Emmy Dream Ballot: Outstanding Guest Actor and Actress in a Drama Series (2012-2013)

 I decided to separate these categories from the writing and directing this year.  All I can say is that The Good Wife could fill all twelve spots on these lists.  The Good Wife's use of their recurring/guest stars is handled better than any other television series on the air.  Wife seamlessly blends together the guest with their main characters.  Whether you are watching Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston) a lawyer who often work with Lockhart Gardener, or is sometimes represented by them, or Clarke Hayden as Lockhart Gardener's trustee.  These are just two of the many memorable guest performances from this past television season.

What makes a memorable guest performance?  Hard to say, but these twelve people do a great job, and represent some of the best I have ever seen in these categories.  William Daniels is a person on few people's radar, but as Dr. Craig Thomas a mentor to Christina Yang he made your heart melt as someone Christina finally believed in without sleeping with him.  Game of Thrones has so many moving parts, but Diana Rigg who played Lady Olenna Tyrell stood out as a larger than life character in the few scenes she has had.  While Daniels was on Grey's Anatomy for several episodes, and Rigg has had only a few scenes their impact on the season has been important, and they have made an impressive showing.

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama

Jim Beaver-Justified

William Daniels-Grey’s Anatomy

Rupert Friend-Homeland

Nathan Lane-The Good Wife

Ray Romano-Parenthood

Ray Stevenson-Dexter

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama

Alison Brie-Mad Men

Jane Fonda-The Newsroom

Margo Martindale-The Americans

Martha Plimpton-The Good Wife

Carrie Preston-The Good Wife

Diana Rigg-Game of Thrones 

ABC puts together a Brand New Tuesday led by Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and Creates One Solid Schedule

Overall, and I have to say this begrudgingly because ABC axed Happy Endings, but they have the Fall 2013 line-up for so far.  Most of their new programming looks promising, and will do well because of fan favorites.  I still am baffled (pissed off) that ABC kept The Neighbors and let go of Happy Endings.  With that said ABC has kept most of their shows on the same night, smart move.  Moving shows around can be jarring.  This network has done well with their shows where they are.  While Sundays are difficult for Once and Revenge the shows have massive followings, so changing them to change them makes no sense.

One of the most interesting things about this line-up is the way Tuesday is brand new!  ABC has started off wisely with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, which will probably be one of the highest rated shows of the season.  Putting two comedies on after this, which may not get huge numbers was smart!  Well played ABC.  

The mid-season replacements are the returning comedy Suburgatory and the new comedy Mixology,The dramas are all and they are Killer Women, Mind Games, and Ressurection.

Listed below is the fall schedule, with the new shows in caps, the descriptions of the new shows are listed below the schedule.

MONDAY
8/7c Dancing With the Stars
10 pm Castle

TUESDAY
8 pm MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D
9  pm THE GOLDBERGS
9:30 pm TROPHY WIFE
10 pm LUCKY 7

WEDNESDAY

8 pm The Middle
8:30 pm BACK IN THE GAME
9 pm Modern Family
9:30 SUPER FUN NIGHT
10 pm Nashville

THURSDAY
8 pm ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND
9 pm Grey’s Anatomy
10 pm Scandal

FRIDAY
8 pm Last Man Standing
8:30 pm The Neighbors
9 pm Shark Tank
10 pm 20/20

SATURDAY
8 pm Saturday Night College Football

SUNDAY

7 America’s Funniest Home Videos
8 pm Once Upon a Time 

9 pm Revenge
10 pm BETRAYAL

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (Drama)

WHO | Clark Gregg (reprising his Avengers role), Ming-Na (ER), Elizabeth Henstridge (Hollyoaks), Iain De Caestecker (Coronation Street), Brett Dalton (Killing Lincoln), Chloe Bennet (Nashville)

WHAT | The adventures of the agents of a covert, quasi-military peace-keeping organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. (or the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), which was featured in last summer's Avengers movie.

The Goldbergs (Comedy)

EP | Adam Goldberg
CAST | Wendi McLendon-Covey (Bridesmaids), Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm), George Segal (Don’t Shoot Me), Hayley Orrantia (The X Factor), Sean Giambrone and Troy Gentile (Good Luck Chuck)
This ’80s-set series revolves around an overbearing, hyper-emotional shopaholic with no sense of boundaries and a big mouth. Nonetheless, she’s a very dedicated mom.

Trophy Wife (Comedy)

WHO | Malin Akerman (Suburgatory), Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), Marcia Gay Harden (Damages), Michaela Watkins (Saturday Night Live), Natalie Morales (90210), Ryan Scott Lee (Super 8), Albert Tsai (How I Met Your Mother), Gianna LePera (Modern Family)

WHAT | They say the third time's the charm and reformed party girl Kate (Akerman) is hoping that's true when she becomes Pete's (Whitford) third wife. She fell into his arms (literally) at a karaoke bar and a year later, Kate's got an insta-family complete with three stepchildren and two ex-wives.

Lucky 7 (Drama)
EPs | David Zabel (ER), Jason Richman
CAST | Isiah Whitlock, Jr (The Wire), Matt Long (Private Practice), Stephen Louis Grush (Detroit 1-8-7), Lorraine Bruce (Eden Lake), Anastasia Phillips (Stoked), Summer Bishil (Towelhead), Luis Antonio Ramos (The Ruins), Christine Evangelista (The Joneses)
A show about seven employees of a service station in Queens whose lives are changed in many unexpected ways when they win a lottery jackpot.

Back in the Game (Comedy)

WHO | James Caan (Las Vegas), Ben Koldyke (How I Met Your Mother, Big Love), Maggie Lawson (Psych), Griffin Gluck (Private Practice), Lenora Crichlow (Being Human)

WHAT | When Terry Gannon (Lawson), a recently divorced, single mother, temporarily moves in with her estranged father (Caan), a beer-swilling former baseball player, she reluctantly starts coaching her son's Little League team and is drawn back into the world of sports she vowed to leave behind.

Super Fun Night (Comedy)

EPs | Rebel Wilson, Conan O’Brien, John Riggi
CAST | Wilson (Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect), Lauren Ash (Lost Girl), Liza Lapira (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23), Kelen Coleman (The Newsroom)
Three nerdy female friends embark on a quest to have super fun every Friday night in the single-cam project (which was originally developed as a multi-cam comedy last spring at CBS).

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (Drama)

WHO | Sophie Lowe, Peter Gadiot, Michael Socha (the UK's Being Human), Emma Rigby (Hollyoaks), the voice of John Lithgow (Third Rock from the Sun)

WHAT | In Victorian England, the young and beautiful Alice (Lowe) tells a tale of a strange new land that exists on the other side of a rabbit hole. An invisible cat, a hookah smoking caterpillar and playing cards that talk are just some of the fantastic things she's seen during this impossible adventure. Surely this troubled girl must be insane and her doctors aim to cure her with a treatment that will make her forget everything. Alice seems ready to put it all behind her, especially the painful memory of the genie she fell in love with and lost forever — the handsome and mysterious Cyrus (Gadiot). But deep down Alice knows this world is real and just in the nick of time, the sardonic Knave of Hearts (Socha) and the irrepressible White Rabbit (Lithgow) arrive to save her from a doomed fate. Together, the trio will take a tumble down the rabbit hole to this Wonderland where nothing is impossible.

Betrayal (Drama)
EP | David Zabel (ER)
CAST | Hannah Ware (Boss), Stuart Townsend (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) , James Cromwell (American Horror Story), Henry Thomas (E.T.), Chris Johnson (The Vampire Diaries), Wendy Moniz (Guiding Light), Elizabeth McLaughlin (The Clique), Braeden Lamasters (Men of a Certain Age)
A beautiful but unhappily married female photographer begins a torrid affair with a lawyer for a powerful family. When he turns out to be defending a murder suspect who is being prosecuted by her husband, the relationship and the case begin a spiraling series of betrayals with cataclysmic results for everyone involved.

2012's Best and Worst in Television: The Episodes

Best Television Episodes

Community “Basic Lupine Urology” How do you spoof Law and Order by paying homage to the show while making fun of the procedural, ask Community, because they are the master.  I may be a bit biased because to me this is the funniest show on the air, but this show is of the hook.  From a hilarious cross examination by Annie to Abed and Troy switching from good to bad cop, there is no reason to stop this show.

“Troy: How did we get the short straw?

Abed: It's not a short straw. It's a hot potato.

Troy: Yeah, well, it looks pretty cold to me.

Abed: Cold or dead?.

Troy: Survey says...

Abed: We can't both do the zinger.”

Game of Thrones “Black Water” One of the best directed episodes of the year, and that I have ever seen in television history.  The battle mixed with the genuine brilliant story telling is so well done.  Game of Thrones had a solid season, but this episode catapulted the season into greatness.  How this episode was ignored by the Emmy Awards in the directing category is beyond me.  From the action to Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey’s great on screen acting chemistry this was off the hook.

Mad Men-“The Other Woman”- Mad Men had its weakest season (which is not saying much), but there were some episodes that were out of this world amazing.  “The Other Woman” highlighted one of the most difficult stories as Joan gave up her body to help land the Jaguar account, and become a partner.  Joan steals the episodes and her scenes with Pete, Roger, Don, and Lane are brilliant.  Peggy also completes her growth as she steps out of Don’s shadow on her own.

Homeland- Q&A-Cat and mouse finally catch up to one another.  Carrie is finally justified on her opinion when everyone at the CIA finally finds out that Brody was a terrorist.  This episode takes place almost entirely in the interrogation room, and its brilliance is sealed in the final moments when Carrie confronts Bordy.  If you take out Brody’s daughter’s storyline, this is one of the most perfect episodes.

Revenge “Reckoning” The best season finale of last year!  Revenge knows how to ramp up the drama, while this year the show is a bit more like Alias (good and bad thing), the season ender was one of the most exciting episodes of a television series.  With twists and turns, cliffhangers about major deaths, and Emily finally being challenged, there was a lot of good here.

Parks and Recreation “The Debate” -Leslie Knope versus. Bobby Newport in a debate to hilariously end all debates.   This is not the end of her campaign, but one of the funniest moments where these two go toe to toe on the stage.  While this remains the main story, the best side story involves Andy reenacting his favorite films because their cable is out and they can’t watch the debate.   This episode proves this ensemble fires on all cylinders.

Worst Television Episodes

Grey’s Anatomy-“Flight” Enough already Shonda!  Stop needlessly killing your characters in these awful tragic accidents.  Losing both Lexie and Mark has proven to set your show in a downward spiral (no pun intended).  You continue to use major plot devices to drive the story rather than let natural character development occur.  Your fans are getting fatigue with this crazy episodes.

How I Met Your Mother “The Autumn of Breakups”-Wait didn’t Ted and Victoria break up in season one over Robin, and wait didn’t Ted tell Robin he loved her last season, and things ended incredibly bad for Ted?  Don’t we already know Robin ends up with Barney?  Why are writers wasting their time and their fans time with retread story lines over and over and over again.  Pick the mother!!

Glee “Dynamic Duets”- Thwap! Bam! Pow!  Blaine and his super hero club came off and cloying, and odd, rather than a cute way for him to get over Kurt.  Couldn’t they have just had him going through a crisis rather than dress up in spandex in order to be tempted back into the world of the Warblers.  I am tired of this shows absolutely poor character development, and storyline progression.  This episode proved this show needed to pick a steadier direction rather than fracturing the direction of the show to NY, Ohio and wherever else folks may be.  This episode stands as something beyond camp, but just an awful train wreck.

Revolution “Pilot” One of the worst pilots I have watched in years, this show had no charismatic characters and never made me invested in the mystery nor did I care about the journey.  Now I often give most pilots the benefit of the doubt because they are establishing the story, and building at something bigger.  This show looked like all of the most recent Lost wannabe shows like Alcatraz, the re-make of V, etc.  Stop trying too hard!

The Office “Here Comes Treble” This show has fallen so far from grace, and even fans know this show is no longer relevant or even funny (most of the time).  This season’s Halloween episode entitle “Here Comes Treble” is proof.  Trying to combine four or five entertaining stories can be provide even a mess with longer dramatic episodes, so why add this element to a comedy.  No storyline seemed to hit its groove.

Unlikable Television Characters Part 2: The Annoying

Yesterday I was watching two television shows that made me think to expand this post: Grey's Anatomy, and Community. The focus of unlike ability here that one character who just annoys the piss out of you, they grate on your nerves, you scream at your television "Why did that character not die?" or you ponder how someone even thinks to call them their favorite characters.

While watching Grey's Anatomy last night in one of their most painful moments, the episode where they all sing, which was one of the worst episodes of television ever I still found myself most annoyed with the April character.  I left Grey's Anatomy behind a few seasons ago, but watch sporadic episodes here and there, like the hospital shooting, and this seasons most recent finale with the plane crash.  After the plane crash I decided to go back and re watch the entire series.  I must say re watching this show has given new meaning to many different characters, and there have been many annoying characters on this show.  Izzie played by Katherine Heigel is the first to come to mind, the story with Denny, the deer, and mainly most of her poor me routine bugged me.  I was glad she was written off.  While Izzie was almost my pick, I could not walk away from think Dr. April Keppner is by far the worst character Shonda created for this series.

April is played by a talented actress named Sarah Drew.  Drew is not a bad actress but this character is just plain annoying.  April walked in with the Mercy West folks in season 6, forgot to check women's throat for smoke inhalation and the chief fired her.  When the chief resigned Derek brought her back for some reason, which was never been explained.  April is a virgin which is an admirable thing, but the way she stomps around pouting, or drooling over Derek, freaking then freaking out about losing her virginity to Avery or failing her test, why was she renewed?  Shonda writes her to be this shaky doctor who lacks confidence, and I'd be frightened to have her as my doctor.  This character never took off, and I look forward to the moments she is not on screen.

After walking away from the drama on Grey's Anatomy I strolled on over to Greendale Community College where I watched the Greendale Seven chase down a criminal who destroyed their yam a la Law & Order.  During season two of this show Dan Harmon did something to Pierce Hawthrone played by Chevy Chase which changed the dynamic of the group too much.  Yet Pierce has slowed his role on the show, and became more of background fixture making him a lot more tolerable, plus Chevy is pretty funny.  Enter Ben Chang played by Ken Jeong.

Ken is hilarious, and has made me laugh a lot in many other projects; he was also hilarious in the shows first season, but he has become a novelty, and I feel many people use him to perpetuate bad stereotypes.  Ben Chang has worn out his welcome on this show; he started out as a terrible Spanish teach, who turned out to not be qualified to teach, then went to being student Chang, but as security guard Chang, and now felon Chang I have say that this man has worn out his welcome, and is more of a pest when I see him on screen than anything else.

What makes these characters part of this spectrum of unlike ability?  These characters drag down their shows sometimes.  Community is one of the funniest shows on television, and while I under the point for the character he takes away from the dynamic of the show.  Drew's character breaks up the flow as well, and never has seemed to fit into the group at all.  Both characters are at a cross road they both could have been removed from their perspective shows, but the show runners have decided to keep them.  I am intrigued to see how they try to change both of them for the better, but I doubt my opinion will change.

Closing Time: Time for May Sweeps and Season and Series Finales

As another school year comes to an end, and I close the doors on another chapter of my life it makes me think about all of the wonderful times I had with the RAs I supervised, and the students who lived in the building I worked in.  There were also some crazy moments, but I am excited for some relaxing summer moments where I do not have crazy students damaging my building.  This is also the time of the year when many shows end their seasons or they end completely.

This time is traditionally referred to as May sweeps.  During this time there are lots of shows that end big, with weddings, graduations, deaths, births, elections, or other momentous life events.  The traditional television season has morphed with non basic cable networks, so they do not fit within this typical model, but here what is going on and what we may find out as the shows seasons/series come to an end.

April 29th

The Good Wife-The season has flown by with Alicia struggling with her relationship with Will, becoming friend with Kahlinda again, and trying to find a nice balance with her relationship with Peter.  This season ender has two of the firms most diabolical enemies Patty Niholme (Martha Plimpton) and Lewis Canning (Michael J. Fox) attempting to bankrupt the firm.  Peter is facing an uphill battle in the gubernatorial race potentially against Matthew Perry's character.  Kahlinda has had to face a lot of challenges as well and tonight she will get a major surprise.

May 6th

GCB-This shows pilot made it seem as though this show had no potential but with the show hitting its rhythm I am happy to say I am hope that this show returns next season.  As the season has progressed Amanda has moved forward to try and create a good relationship with mean girls Carleen and Cricket.

May 8th

The Voice-Does the winner even matter?  This show loses so much steam after the chairs stop turning around.  The show is different from American Idol, but at this point I have lost so much interest and honestly do not care who wins.  I do enjoy watching the judges.  I guess I like Jamar Brooks.

May 10th

Parks and Recreation-Will Leslie Knope win the election?  That's the big question on everyone's mind. This show is pitch perfect and has done something The Office could not do keep the the quality, because they do not try too hard.

May 13th

Desperate Housewives-This is end!  Last summer, I stated that this show should end, and ABC and Marc Cherry listened.  This show ran it's course, and I gave up a couple of seasons ago.  I will tune in to see how the 4 ladies will end their time on Wisteria Lane.

May 14th

How I Met Your Mother-Who is Barney going to marry?  We better find out who the bride is in the season finale.  It will be fun to watch Lilly give birth too.

May 15th

Grey's Anatomy-I gave up on this show the same time I gave up on on Desperate Housewives, but this is going to be an interesting finale.  There are a lot of contracts up on Grey's, a lot of doctor's will have offers to leave Seattle Grace, and someone is going to fail their boards.  Mix this up with another crazy ending like the gunman in the hospital, and you have one crazy cliffhanger ending on your hands.

May 21st

House-After many years on the air this show is coming to an end.  How will it end?  The last episode is called Everyone Dies, this cryptic title has a dark an ominous tone for the series ending episode.

May 22nd

Glee-The kids from McKinley High are graduating.  Where will they all go, and what will their futures bring?  Who will be back next season, and who is gone for good?  I think this will bring the show to an important cross roads that will make or break it for me next year.

May 23rd

Modern Family-Will Mitch and Cam adopt their second child, will Haley go to college?  No cliffhangers on this show, just good ole fashioned fun comedy.

Revenge-Amanda knows who killed her dad, and it's on!  The Grayson's are in even bigger trouble with her.

Characters Welcome...No, Characters Matter!

USA network uses the tagline "characters welcome."  This tagline adheres to the quality of the show and the unique characters they have in their television programs.  I like this tagline.  When viewers watch television shows they get used characters in "their program."  I would add another part or revise this phrase and say that characters matter.

Netflix has added a lot of episodes from the fall 2010-spring 2011 television season.  While on call at my job I have been watching a lot of movies, and catching up on television shows that I missed, namely the last season of Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit.  As I started watching this season I realized this was the last 24 episode I would watch with detective Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni).  Law & Order Special Victim's Unit has broken the tradition that most procedural dramas have adhered to.  Most other procedural shows have had a revolving door with their lead characters, but for 12 years fans were able to tune in and watch Benson and Stabler fight crime and their sexual tension in the work place.  This new season's first episode had its first episode without Stabler.  The first episode had Stabler's partner Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) solving a crime with the other cops in the precinct and things just were not the same.  This is where the my tagline, characters matter, means something more.  I think Stabler may be back towards the end of the year, but that is only because I think this will be the last year for this show.

The original Law & Order was guilty of trying to be able to rotate

and juggle their main characters as well, and it worked in the beginning, but when you put a character with no development or back story on the forefront of someone's television the viewer can either lose interest or walk away because there is a lack of buy-in.  Jerry Orbach's Lennie Briscoe who was named one of the best television detectives of all time by TV Guide, before his death he stepped aside from Law & Order to help establish Law & Order: Trial by Jury, but his death prevented him from continuing on.  Soon after Briscoe's sidekick Jesse L. Martin left, and the two's string of replacements never filled their shoes the same way.  The show also tried to replace female ADAs and again none ever seemed to hold a candle to Angie Harmon or Jill Hennessy (the first two).

This has happened in numerous law/cop shows like NYPD Blue, all of the CSI shows, and so on, but many of the more recent medical dramas have also been guilty of forgetting that characters matter.  The two biggest culprits of this crime are ER and Grey's Anatomy.  The difference with these two genres is that medical dramas attempt to develop newer characters better, but still fail to make us care about these newer people as well as they did with the original cast.

ER started as this hardcore gritty drama that followed doctors in an emergency room in Chicago.  To ER's credit this show did a good job of creating new characters and integrating them into the seam of television landscape.  This show understood that we care about the doctors at this hospital and even as many of our favorite characters left, this show brought new ones to fill the void.  Once most of the original characters and most of the replacement characters started to leave and the show got to its third and fourth string of replacements ER lost its groove and fell into a slump.  This show ended well, but if had ended years earlier it would have ended on top with its loyal fans still caring about the show.  I have talked to many ER fans, and there were of course people who watched every season, but numbers don't lie and this show went from from a peak of an average 24 million viewers in its sixth season to about 10 million viewers in its last season, a drop of more than 50 percent.

Grey's Anatomy is another show that is following in the foot steps of ER.  Grey's is currently in its eighth  season, and the show has lost only three of its original cast members, TR Knight, Isaiah Washington, and Katherine Heigl (two of the actors were seen as divas and caused lots of drama.)  The show has also tried out other characters (which failed) and did a spin off with Kate Walsh's character.  Grey's could potentially be at an impetus at the end of this season with Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo (the narrator of the show) wanting to leave.  What does a show do when the main characters including the voice of the show want to leave?  Shondra Rimes who created the show foresaw this and created another character with last name Grey at the end of the third season, Lexie, Meredith's half sister.  I have stopped watching this show, but I have to say this show was created and meant to center around Meredith.  The show centered around Lexie will not be the same show.

If Grey's continues I think this show will fall victim to the thing that has happened to numerous television

 shows in the past, they will flatline.  Grey's Anatomy is already starting do badly in the ratings and without the heart of the show there i think this show will flounder.  So what's the answer?  I say pull the plug (pun intended).  Grey's costs a lot of money, and why not end this show on top rather than have it drag along half ass for another year or two.  When shows last far beyond their prime even the most faithful viewers feel the tired with the writing and characters.  The answer is, characters matter.  When shows try and move on and think character do not they often lose ratings, thus making them less profitable.  I myself do not look at shows as just about ratings, but many producers do, and they let their shows go.  I hope Rimes does the smart thing and either entices Pompeo and Dempsey to stay for one more season and end the show, or if they do decide to leave that she ends the show all together.  i realize I am wishing the cancellation of a show, but I am also putting the value and worth in the characters that drive and entertain viewers above everything.