emmy viewing - 5

The DVD's for the next panel arrived and I have watched them all, very carefully. This category---the last one I will be judging---is Outstanding Drama Series and the nominees are:

"GREY'S ANATOMY"
"HOUSE"
"THE SOPRANO'S"
"24"
"THE WEST WING"

Another very challenging category for me to judge. Each of these shows gets to pick two episodes for our viewing which seems like a very fair way to do this, since you are judging the entire show....and one episode might not be enough to give you a real sense of the sweep of any series. Two may not either but it is better than just one, for sure.

Okay. So here we go, in alphabetical order:

"GREY'S ANATOMY" is for me a strange mixture of things. A Hospital Drama dealing with sometimes very serious and painful things, and then it is a comedy, too. Not just a Drama Series With Humor, and that's where I have my problem. I feel like sometimes it doesn't know what it is and so therefore, neither do I. My understanding of the reality of this series puts me into "suspension of disbelief" mode here to a point where I almost have trouble with suspending my disbelief because the other side of that coin is/are some very real problems that are dealt with....I find mixing these two things in this hospital setting isn't for me, I guess. Interns doing Heart Surgery in a stuck elevator??? I cannot believe that. And there is at least one or two of these kinds of things in every episode. It is beautifully acted and very well written and the production values are excellent---I just have a lot of trouble with the plot points being too unbelievable.


"HOUSE" is another 'medical' show, but this one revolves around one particular eccentric fantastic diagnostician who also happens to be somewhat of a drug addict...as played by Hugh Laurie, this character is not only believable, but lovable with all his warts! Now here is a Drama Series with Humor! This I 'get' and I found it fascinating and riveting. House is like a Detective Doctor....trying to figure out these very difficult mystery's that confront this special "Clinic Staff"....and all the actors are wonderful as is the writing. This is a super series! This is another show with a wonderful ensemble of actors...All of who are perfect in their roles. And then we have the actor who plays Dr. House, Hugh Laurie. He is an exceptionally talented man who's work has always been superb...He "makes" this series work, like gangbusters!


I love "THE SOPRANO'S" and have always found this show to be one of the Best Ever on Television. The writing, the acting, the direction....the whole premise of this show was and is unique to television in almost every way...but let's start with the premise...the story is about the head of a Mafia type family who is having heavy duty emotional problems and begins to go to a psychiatrist...and now, in it's 6th season, Tony Soprano is still doing this. To have a series where the hero is a terrifyingly powerful criminal that shows us his vulnerability---this has never before been seen on television. The two leads, James Gandolfini and Edie Falco (who plays Tony's wife Carmella) are utterly sublime talents---that neither of them received Emmy Nominations this year is a travesty and to me, that means there is some breakdown in this 'new' voting process that this could happen. But be that as it may....this is a brilliant heartfelt drama series that also falls into the category of a Drama Series with Humor. Another very special series that I will be very very sorry to see leave the airwaves when it ends it's long run, after eight more new episodes go on the air beginning in January 2007.


"24" is nominated this year in this category.
This is a kind of "perils of pauline" show---for those of you who don't get this reference, this was a "serial" shown in the silent movie days where each week people were left with some horrific unsolved problem that kept them panting and wanting to come back to see the outcome---"will the train run over Pauline or not?....Come back next week to see"....This is kind of what '24' is like, only there is something happening like this every hour of each day, which means every episode each week! You could get exhausted just going through what Jack Bauer and his cohorts go through in every episode. This show, too, asks you to put your "suspension of disbelief" into High Gear! It is action packed and is a beautifully filmed and produced show. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and if this is your cup of tea---this show is for you! Wonderful performances by all the actors---particularly it's star, Kiefer Sutherland.


And last, but by no means least, we have "THE WEST WING". It is a testament to this series that in it's final year it was once again nominated in this category having been nominated every year of it's television life.
Superb writing, acting and direction....fantastic production values, and a show that made you feel---right or wrong---there was hope for America. No easy feat, and, on top of that, this show survived a huge 'changing of the guard' when it's writer/originator Aaron Sorkin left, along with his creative partner, Director Tommy Schlamme---the men who made this series what it was---to somehow rise like the phoenix with the fine hand of John Wells at the helm, and to remain one of the top top drama shows on television. This was a refreshingly different series when it arrived on the scene. And it had this wonderful ensemble cast of actors who made it all completely believable. It is missed by many...me, among those very many.

So, there you have this category. Many many people vote on this category---in fact there are two panels...the "A" panel and the "B" Panel....The difference is that each panel has different episodes so that all together four separate episodes are viewed. And, of course, what all of us are trying to do is to pick the Outstanding Drama Series for the 2005-2006 television season. And as with the other three category's I have had to judge, this one is a mother-bear, too.

Stay tuned, as they use to say....



More To Come....