The Silver Age of Television and The Shows That Defined It

TV critic Alan Sepinwall wrote elegantly about The Golden Age of Television in his book The Revolution Was Televised. It’s a phenomenal read for any television junkie, and while it doesn’t explicitly detail The Golden Age (the book purposefully leaves out comedies), it’s a great overview of the era.

I would recommend reading the nuances and specifics about the era in Mr. Sepinwall’s book, but the basic tenants of the revolution were an increase in prestige programming (which in turn led to more serialized series) which also led to an increase in networks. At the very beginning you had the three basics, ABC, CBS, and NBC. Over time the number of networks grew. The Golden Age saw an expansion of networks and having those networks get into the original programming game. HBO started to produce great original television content which led other networks like FX, AMC, and Showtime to do the same. That in turn led to great dramas such as The Shield, Dexter, and the aforementioned Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

I know many people would argue that we are still in The Golden Era of Television. We still have amazing television programming and television has become more serialized over the procedural nature that it used to be for decades. The Golden Era has changed things in television and that change is moving at a rapid pace. Further, what we used to know as television has almost disappeared.

Predicting the 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Television Show

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Breaking Bad (AMC)
* Downton Abbey (PBS)
* Game of Thrones (HBO)
* House of Cards (Netflix)
* Mad Men (AMC)
* True Detective (HBO)

SURPRISED IT'S NOT NOMINATED: Masters of Sex (Showtime)

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: The Good Wife (CBS)

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

5 Emmy Battles We're Looking Forward To Watching

True Detective vs. Breaking Bad

Easily, the most compelling battle of the Emmy ceremonies will be the final season of AMC's Breaking Bad vs. the rookie season of the HBO mini-series True Detective. In my humble opinion, Breaking Bad is the greatest television show that has ever existed, and it took Emmy voters (as well as actual fans of the show) a little while to get on board. After four great seasons of Emmy failure, Breaking Bad finally won Outstanding Drama Series in its fifth attempt. After AMC aired the final 8 episodes of the show, it seemed inevitable that Breaking Bad would repeat at the 2014 Emmy's. But then True Detective came along and declared itself eligible in the drama categories as opposed to the mini-series categories. I think the two shows will legitimately go head-to-head in four major categories: Outstanding Writing ("The Secret Fate of All Life" vs. "Felina"), Outstanding Direction ("Who Goes There" vs. "Felina"), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Matthew McConaughey vs. Bryan Cranston), and Outstanding Drama Series. History tells us that True Detective is going to come out on top because great rookie shows have had great success in the past, but there's just no precedence for Breaking Bad finally winning its fifth eligible season either. I think we live in an age will voters will honestly vote based upon which one they legitimately liked more. But that's a coin flip. 

Taylor Schilling vs. Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Rookie Taylor Schilling from Orange Is The New Black is competing against the heavyweight Julia Louis-Dreyfus from Veep in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, and I think Schilling is going to come out on top. There is a lot of precedent at the Emmy's for a great rookie show to dominate the main categories. Most recently, Homeland did it when it beat out incumbent Mad Men for Outstanding Drama Series and Damien Lewis beat out Bryan Cranston and Jon Hamm for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series back in 2012. Further, it's also extremely difficult to win an acting Emmy three times in a row. Both Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Claire Danes from Homeland are eligible to do that in 2014, and the odds of BOTH of them doing it are very slim. It's possible that Danes loses and Louis-Dreyfus wins, but my gut instinct tells me otherwise. On the other side, Taylor Schilling did incredible work for Orange Is The New Black. While her character Piper Chapman may not always be likable, that doesn't mean Schilling is doing bad work. On the contrary, that means she's doing an excellent job. I think 2014 is the year of Orange Is The New Black, and I believe that Emmy voters are just as big of OITNB fans as the rest of us are.

10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2014 Primetime Emmy Nominations

1) Modern Family

Holy cow, I don't think anyone saw this coming as Modern Family took a huge blow this year (or at least a huge blow according to its expectations). Again, two-time winner Eric Stonestreet fails to earn a nomination, but Sophia Vergara and Ed O'Neill join him. Only Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Julie Bowen earn a main acting nomination for their work on the show. The show also only earned one Outstanding Direction nomination (see, high standards, it normally gets at least two), and failed to earn any writing nominations. While the show itself was still nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, it lost a lot of nominations in 2014, and I suspect Modern Family is going to come up lame come award time.

2) Game of Thrones

While Modern Family is trending downwards, Game of Thrones is trending upwards. For those who said the Emmy's hate Game of Thrones is just absurd, considering the show had three Outstanding Drama Series nominations and Peter Dinklage is a former winner from the show. Not only does the show itself and Peter Dinklage earn another nomination this year, but this time they're joined by Lena Headly. Last year, Emilia Clarke earned a nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category, and this time it's Headley. It's nice to see other actors other than Dinklage get rewarded for their work on the show. Game of Thrones also earned an Outstanding Direction nomination for Neil Marshall for his work on the penultimate episode "The Watchers on the Wall" (although I would have preferred if it went to Alex Graves) and creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss earned a writing nomination for their work on the finale "The Children" (although I suspect it's for their work on the show as a whole).

Grading The Best TV Shows of the Year (So Far)

2014 is only halfway over, yet there have been a litany of great television shows that have aired. Many of them I've seen, a good a majority I have not. We live in an era of television that is classified by quantity over anything else, and seeing as I am just one man, I can only watch so much. But I have watched a buttload of shows, and here are my thoughts on every television show I've seen this year.


Community (NBC)
Season: 5
Created By: Dan Harmon
Original Start Date: January 2, 2014
Grade: A

Brief Description: While I was in the minority feeling that Dan Harmon deserved to get kicked off of his own show after the atrocious Season 3, I'm glad he was brought back for Season 5. Season 4 show runners Moses Port & David Guarascio did their best Dan Harmon impression, but easily came up short creating a soulless monster. Harmon dialed back the insane extremes he took his characters to in Season 3 (mainly Abed) in this new season, and in turn created one of the smartest and funniest sitcoms around. #RIPCommunity.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
Season: 1b
Created By: Dan Goor & Michael Schur
Original Start Date: January 7, 2014
Grade: A

Brief Description: Brooklyn Nine-Nine was one of the smartest and funniest sitcoms of 2014 and is competing against Community for the best comedy of the year. Like most sitcoms, it took a little bit to get its bearings and its voice straightened out, but those stumbling blocks came in 2013. What the FOX sitcom aired in 2014 was a well-defined and hilarious work of art filled with three-dimensional characters. Based upon how strong Season 1 was, I have no qualms with the rookie comedy wining the Golden Globe last year for Best Comedy Show, and I hope it gets a handful of Emmy nominations in a few weeks.

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Outstanding Drama Series

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Drama Series category. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the series isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life, then it's not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

DRAMA

WHO I THINK WILL GET A NOMINATION:

- Breaking Bad (AMC)
- Downton Abbey (PBS)
- Game of Thrones (HBO)
- House of Cards (Netflix)
- Mad Men (AMC)
- True Detective (HBO)

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Best Writing

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Writing in both the drama and comedy categories. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the series isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life, then it's not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

DRAMA

WHO I THINK WILL GET A NOMINATION:

- Erin Levy (Mad Men) "The Monolith"

- George Mastras (Breaking Bad) "To'hajiilee"
- Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) "Waterloo"
- Nick Pizzolatto (True Detective) "The Secret Fate of All Life"

- Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) "Felina"

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Best Direction

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Directing in both the comedy and drama series categories. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the director isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life (a la Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron for directing the Believe pilot), then he or she is not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

DRAMA

WHO I THINK WILL GET A NOMINATION:

- Alex Graves (Game of Thrones) "The Children"

- Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) "Who Goes There"

- Rian Johnson (Breaking Bad) "Ozymandias"

- Tim Van Patten (Boardwalk Empire) "Farewell Daddy Blues"

- Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) "Felina"

2014 Emmy Power Rankings (Drama)

Last Monday, the Emmy's released their nomination ballot for their voters to vote on. It's a comprehensive list of every single person and show that is eligible in each particular category. This list right here is a Power Rankings of the top contenders in each particular category and how I believe the nominations will play out in a month. Who do I think will get a nomination? Who do I think is in the running but will come up just short? How many major nominations will your favorite show get? Find out when you check out our 2014 Emmy Power Rankings for Drama Series:


OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

1) Breaking Bad (AMC)
2) True Detective (HBO)
3) Mad Men (AMC)
4) Downton Abbey (PBS)
5) Game of Thrones (HBO)
6) House of Cards (Netflix)
_______________

7) Masters of Sex (Showtime)
8) The Good Wife (CBS)
9) Homeland (Showtime)
10) Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR

1) Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
2) Matthew McConaughey (True Detective)
3) Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom)
4) Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
5) Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)
6) Kevin Spacey (House of Cards)
_____________________

7) Woody Harrelson (True Detective)
8) Martin Sheen (Masters of Sex)
9) Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire)
10) James Spader (The Blacklist)
11) Damien Lewis (Homeland)


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS

1) Claire Danes (Homeland)
2) Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men)
3) Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey)
4) Connie Britton (Nashville)
5) Kerry Washington (Scandal)
6) Robin Wright (House of Cards)
7) Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex)
_________________________

8) Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
9) Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel)
10) Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)

10 Quick Reactions To The 2014 Emmy Nomination Ballot

Throughout the entire month of May, I wrote many Emmy Questions pieces regarding many of the shows eligible and likely to be nominated for an Emmy in 2014 including House of Cards, Mad Men, Modern Family, Breaking Bad and many, many others. You can check out all of my articles here. A lot of the questions for these particular shows were regarding which categories certain actors would be nominated in. The Emmy's helped answer those questions today as they released every single show and person eligible in every single Primetime Emmy category. Here are 10 "Quick" Reaction to the 2014 Emmy Nomination Ballot that was released today.

1) True Detective

Click Here For Our True Detective Emmy Questions Post

The biggest question of all during this "Emmy pre-season" is what category would Woody Harrelson throw his hat into. HBO isn't ashamed to do what they can in order to maximize nominations and prestige, especially considering True Detective is a mini-series yet it's nominated in the Drama Series categories. Matthew McConaughey is a lock to earn a nomination, and is probably the favorite to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, so it was unclear whether Woody Harrelson would also be considered a Lead Actor as opposed to a Supporting Actor. The lead actor category is already crowded, and adding Woody Harrelson into the mix makes it almost impossible for anyone to get a nomination!

However, Woody Harrelson was clearly a co-lead with McConaughey and is eligible as such. Even though HBO probably could have maximized its nominations by submitting Harrelson as a supporting actor, the network seems so confident in the show, that Harrelson was submitted as a lead.

I was correct that Cary Joji Fukunaga submitted "Who Goes There" with its excellent oner at the end of the episode for Outstanding Directing, but I was incorrect as to what episode Nick Pizzolatto would submit in the writing category. I thought it would be the show's pilot, but it turned out to be Episode 5, "The Secret Fate of All Life." Since both Fukunaga and Pizzolatto directed and wrote, respectively, all eight episodes by themselves, they're only eligible for one nomination each.

2014 Emmy Questions: True Detective

Click here for the introduction to The Cover 3's "2014 Emmy Questions" series

COLD, HARD LOCK NOMINATIONS: Outstanding Drama Series, Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey), Best Director (Cary Joji Fukunaga for "Who Goes There")

STRONG EDUCATED GUESSES: Best Supporting Actor (Woody Harrelson), Best Supporting Actress (Michelle Monaghan), Best Screenplay (Nick Pizzolatto for "The Long Bright Dark")

QUESTION ONE: Will being eligible for a Drama Series as opposed to a Mini-Series hurt True Detective's nominations?

FX CEO John Landgraf Complains About HBO, Emmys

On Wednesday April 9, 2014, John Landgraf (left), the CEO of the FX Network, told Deadline.com that HBO allowing True Detective to enter the Emmy race as a Drama Series as opposed to a Mini Series is "unfair". Current Emmy rules says that shows like True Detective (and FX's American Horror Story for that matter) can choose which category they fall into, because they can qualify in either. Landgraf also goes on to complain that shows like Shameless and Orange Is The New Black should not be eligible in the Comedy Series categories, because they are an hour long, as opposed to the normal 30 minute sitcom.

I encourage you all to check out the interview as Landgraf makes some interesting points, mainly that the only reason True Detective can get huge stars like Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson is precisely BECAUSE it's a mini series with a limited schedule, but truthfully, Landgraf just comes across as whiny. The Deadline article paints Landgraf in such a light that he sounds like a toddler who's just been told he has to go into Time Out.

Too Early 2014 Primetime Emmy Nomination Predictions

The news for which shows will throw their hat into which ring for the 2014 Primetime Emmys seems to be racking up these days. Recently, HBO stated that True Detective will enter into the Drama categories as opposed to the Miniseries categories (if American Horror Story is any precedent, the show could have done that and swept them all no problem). This news is coming on the heels that Netflix will throw Orange Is The New Black into the comedy specter after it's failed attempts in other award shows, like the Golden Globes, to be a drama. Lastly, Showtime's Shameless has decided that it's 4th season will be a comedy after 3 failed attempts at earning drama nominations from the Emmys. 

With all of this news in mind, here are my predictions for who and what will earn a nomination at the 2014 Emmy Awards. Even though many eligible shows like Mad Men and Game of Thrones haven't even aired yet, I'm still pretty confident in my selections.