Re: OT: emmy nominations?

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

I believe the nominations are for September-to-September, with the show
usually taking place in October. 

(Btw, the DVDs were only in the subscription copies of Variety. And
here I thought living in LA might pay off. Oh, well.)

So here are my suggestions for Season 6/3 nominations from "Buffy" and
"Angel".  

Outstanding Actress: Sarah Michelle Gellar, for "Normal Again"  

Not a very good year for Sarah, but she did a fine job with the asylum
scenes, particularly wailing Willow's name and the slow turn over to
Joyce as clarity sets in, and then the final apology. The fact that the
arc later had them piss on the idea of this ep as Buffy's turning point
doesn't take away from the fact that Sarah was able to sell it as such. 

Also possible, "After Life" for the slow build as Buffy comes to grips
with her reality, leading to the last scene. But the completely
out-of-it early scenes would hold that back. "Life Serial" won't do,
since SMG would be nominated for drama, not comedy. And the finale was
just awful: "Willow, you have to stop. Stop, Willow, stop. Please
stop. This is a recording. Willow, this has to stop. If you'd like to
make a call, please hang up and dial again." So very flat.

Outstanding actor: David Boreanaz, for "Forgiving"

>From the icy Angelus-stare when torturing Linwood, to the near-murders
of Lilah and Wesley, to the fake "worry" as he, Fred, and Gunn hunted
for Wes, David captivated me the whole show. Also possible,
"Benediction", for the final scene with Holtz.

Outstanding supporting actress: Alyson Hannigan, for "Bargaining"

Aly's really screwed if they don't actually let you submit a two-hour
ep, because all the high-strung determination in Part 1 (I love how
she's practically bouncing out of her skin as she says goodbye to Giles
at the airport) pays off in the grief of Part 2. Everything else has a
problem. I love her in "Once More With Feeling" for the body language
as she talks to Buffy during the Giles/Tara duet and the reaction shot
on "Heaven", but this isn't "Hush" so I wouldn't nominate her for what
is basically silent work. She did a fine job with the over-the-top,
rolling-in-the-dirt, scenery-chewing stuff in "Wrecked", but it's a
too-hammy part. I liked her in "As You Were" and "Normal Again", but
she was limited to just being Support-o-Gal, and Villow only worked for
me in "Two to Go" and even then I really don't feel like rewarding the
screech and the "only Tara ever loved me" speech, neither of which she
was able to sell me on (even though I know part of the fault is in
Petrie's writing). So "Bargaining" it is.

Outstanding Supporting Actress: Emma Caulfield for "Hell's Bells"

This is easy; it's Emma's ep and she hits every note: excitement, joy,
love, anxiety, bitterness, heartbreak. And the wonderfully inscrutable
look at the end, which kept the unspoiled wondering about her response
to D'Hoffryn's offer for weeks.

Outstanding Supporting Actor: Alexis Denisof for "Billy", and
"Couplet", and "Sleep Tight".

Yeah, "Billy" is a "Shining" ripoff, but Denisof creates such wonderful
soft-voiced menace. And he sells the misogynistic dialogue so well, I
was cringing at the part of me that was agreeing with him. (It's a
small part and I knew it was just as crazy as the part of Wesley that
was talking, but that's called making the audience feel your character,
which is damn hard to do when you're playing a psycho.) And the shame
on his face at the end was powerful.

"Couplet" is heartbroken Wes; supporting Angel and telling him how
important he is while he's dying over a Fred/Gunn romance that we later
("Double or Nothing") find out Angel never even noticed. His scene with
Gunn where he replies to "What are you, her brother?" with an
exquisitely pained "apparently", was just beautiful. And then there was
the last scene, with Angel realizing he still has something in Connor
and Wesley horrified by the prophecy. Marvelous work.

"Sleep Tight" is dangerous Wes; the tension crackles in his
confrontations with Holtz and Justine, the mad determination when he
realizes that Lorne has tipped to him, the hellish anxiety as he tries
to get Connor out of the hotel before Angel finds out the truth. The
reluctant need to trust as he finds Justine battered, and the shock as
she turns on him and slits his throat.

There were also plenty of other fine performances during the year ("That
Old Gang of Mine", "Offspring", "Loyalty", "The Price" and "Tomorrow",
notably). If anyone deserves an award for most consistently good work,
it's Denisof, easily.

Oustanding Guest Appearance, Female: Kristene Sutherland, "Normal
Again"

Joyce, and yet not Joyce, with more pain, more determination. You think
it's easy to pull off that climactic speech to Buffy? KS does it, and
knocks it out of the park.

Outstanding Guest Appearance, Male: Jack Conley (Sahjhan), "Forgiving".

Oh, man, the Sneer that walked like a Demon. After being treated like a
joke for all his appearances until he pulled the Quor'toth out of his
back pocket in "Sleep Tight", the newly corporeal Sahjhan was ready to
kick butt, and Conley gave a performance out of the Gloaters' Hall of
Fame. "Can't put one over on you. Oh, wait--already did." Heh. Just
dandy.

Outstanding Guest Appearance, Male: Vincent Kartheiser (Steven/Connor),
"Tomorrow".

It's amazing; in just one week they taught the kid how to act. In
"Benediction" Kartheiser ping-ponged from one extreme to another;
seemingly learning to love Angel in one scene and pledging eternal
devotion to Holtz in the next. I honestly couldn't tell if the kid was
schizo or if he was supposed to be conning Angel and Kartheiser didn't
know how to show it.

Well, I guess it was the latter, and VK fixed that problem, in spades.
There was a lot of drek in "Tomorrow" (basically, any time Cordelia was
on screen--**sigh**, what have they done to my Cordy??), but Kartheiser
had me riveted. All through the show you could see him playing Angel,
telling him exactly what he wanted to hear (and convincingly) and yet we
could see the wheels turning as Steven (I call him that, because he
clearly thinks of himself as Steven) plotted his revenge. Look at the
scene in the bedroom, where Steven attacks Angel out of rage and grief,
and when King Brood dodges, Kartheiser credibly shows us Steven's
underlying desperation as he covers himself by saying he wants to learn
how Angel defends himself. Then there's the training scene, where Angel
and "Connor" bond, and under "Connor's" enjoyment, you can see Steven
learning Angel, filing things away, eager with anticipation for when he
can use this against him. At the drive-in, the calculation where he
stands up and tells Linwood "my name is Connor!"; the perfect way to
win Angel's heart. And then there's the bit where he tells Angel how
glad he is that Cordelia loves Angel, how he's glad that "she makes you
happy." And you almost actually believe he would be happy for A/C, if
he weren't plotting undying torment for dear old Dad.

Whatever other problems with "Angel", I have a feeling I'll be watching
as long as Steven stays evil. However if Connor ever forgives Angel and
the two fall into a (sincere) hug, the show will have sunk into cliches
and all my dislikes about this whole long story (dating back to "To
Shanshu in L.A.") ultimately only existing to give Angel a teen sidekick
will come back doubled. I really hope they don't do that, though. I'd
like a season of Steven as the Big Bad, with Angel eventually forced to
kill him, thus fulfilling the prophecy, fake though it was. Having to
kill his own son would send Angel nicely through the wringer, too.

And that's my list. Weirdly, although Keith Szarabajka did consistently
good work as Holtz, I couldn't find an ep where he blew me away.
"Lullaby", maybe? But that ending undercut the power of his work,
because it was so unconvincing (even though, as the arc played out, he
DID make Angel suffer by letting him get away).

This isn't to say the other actors didn't do good work (such as Nicholas
Brendon in "Normal Again" [just for the "Willie Wannabite" line] and
"Seeing Red", ASH in "Tabula Rasa", Stephanie Romanov most of the time,
Charisma Carpenter until they sucked her brain in "Birthday" [especially
"Offspring"], David Denman in "That Vision-Thing" [he was much worse in
Skip's two return engagements], Mark Lutz in his last three eps, or Adam
Busch in "Smashed"), but I don't think they leaped out like the ones I
listed did. Oh, and the fact that I couldn't find a guest star from
"Buffy" (except for KS, and possibly Hinton Battle in "OMWF") worth
mentioning, shows how insular this year was. (What a waste of Jeff
Kober [Rack].)

Just my (over-long) opinion,

Dan