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There's some decent nominations there, and some snubs of shows/people I personally prefer, but what I really take away is that there doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rules as to what is a series, and what is a mini-series. I'm not sure how Treme and Luther, which were both final seasons of shows that had been on before, qualify as mini-series, whereas True Detective, a show that everyone knows was always a one and done entity (in terms of that story and those characters), counts as a series. Why even bother having the categories at all if the networks can just choose as they please (or rather, what's more strategically advantageous)?

I know everyone is over Mad Men, but it's outrageous that Elisabeth Moss was snubbed in a year when she did some of her best work on the show (cf. "The Strategy").

Variety now has all the noms-- Treme got nommed for writing too!

EDIT: And casting! And sound mixing! Four noms? Here's where the "pick your own category" finagling pays off!

SECOND EDIT: Simon's typically Simon-y response

I don't understand why Allison Tolman has been relegated to a supporting nomination for Fargo, but I do hope that works out in her favor.

Also, the Variety forgot to include the Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie category. Here are the nominees for anyone who's interested:
Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story: Coven"
Sarah Paulson, "American Horror Story: Coven"
Helena Bonham Carter, "Burton and Taylor"
Minnie Driver, "Return to Zero"
Kristen Wiig, "The Spoils of Babylon"
Cicely Tyson, "The Trip Bountiful"

Oscar Isaac and Catherine Keener to star in David Simon's six hour miniseries Show Me a Hero (the first installment of which will be directed by-- deep breath-- Paul Haggis)

Mini-series might be the best way to go for Simon now. I think the network was foolish in only allowing him half a season to finish up Treme (despite making the very best of it).

Katie Rife wrote:Life On The Road will begin shooting in 2015, which should give Gervais plenty of time to turn David Brent’s story into a parable about atheism.

Ha! So glad that the rest of The AV Club's newswire writers have fallen in line with Sean O'Neal's brilliant style.

I watched the Bosch pilot today. Very good for a new show, and am so glad it's being picked up. I've been considering getting an Amazon Prime membership, but I think this might be the clincher for me.

Completely off-topic, (actually this probably belongs in the 'Rediculous' thread) but that article caused me to briefly browse some of the other selections offered by Salon, and I found one article entitled "What Stanley Kubrick got wrong about The Shining" by Laura Miller. An excerpt:

You don’t have to dislike Kubrick’s “The Shining” to see King’s point. The two men represent diametrically opposed approaches to creating narrative art. One is an aesthete and the other is a humanist.

Hm. Familiar. (But I think it's safe to say that argument is dead around these parts.)

But regarding TV, has anybody besides warren oates given Impractical Jokers a shot? I'd just like to add to his excellent write-up that I, for one, have gotten completely addicted to watching the interplay between the four friends. It's really like eavesdropping on the interactions of a really closely-knit group, and it makes for an incredibly entertaining show. (I've also taken to listening to the stars' podcasts, which I would recommend highly for those who enjoy the show, but I guess that belongs in another thread.)

After watching four episodes of Guillermo Del Toro's The Strain; I'm bailing on the show. The writing is just terrible. The acting ranges from mediocre to terrible. I will say the visual f/x work is top notch. Between this and Pacific Rim; Guillermo Del Toro seems to be intent on destroying whatever credibility he has as an artist in the pursuit of creating franchises looking for an easy payday. Both projects are easily career lows.

No amount of top-notch flash and bang will take away from Corey Stoll's awful wig.

I'm pretty much the opposite. I'm rather invested in The Strain in seeing where things can possibly go and how this vampire plague works, it's actually fascinatingly detailed.

I'll likely stick with it until the end of the season, but it's pretty dumb. Almost 200 dead bodies are sent to the morgue (for one guy to deal with). Those bodies have gone missing, along with the coroner, and nobody has noticed. Not the families of the victims, not the media, not anybody who has any dealings with the morgue, nor the people who would theoretically work there, etc.

Not to mention the stupidity of the survivors who got gravely ill and didn't think maybe, just maybe, this might have something to do with that mysterious plane full of dead people they just stepped off of.

Bojack Horseman is a very pleasant surprise. Sharp Hollywood satire by way of something out of Animal Farm, and a compelling comedy-drama to boot.

Wow, A&E buys 10% stake in Vice for $250mil. Vice is now getting its own TV channel and is worth $2.5 billion. Man that trashy free fashion rag has come a long way!

On the one hand, I approve of killing Ryan Murphy shows. On the other hand, Anna Torv and Jennifer Jason Leigh as lesbian lovers.

The reasoning is rather terrible. That is, unless what was shot wound up being terrible. I bet there's a great, long and unwritten article about HBO pilots which never made it to air.

warren oates wrote:Speaking of miniseries' and authentic spy stories, ABC is airing The Assets, a U.K. produced miniseries starting tomorrow about the Aldrich Ames case. It's based on a book I've read by the two real life Mayas of that mole hunt, female analysts who painstakingly ruled out other suspects and built a case against Ames over a period of years. I can't vouch for the quality of the TV show yet, but the book is fascinating. And I say this having read every other book about Ames. This is Tinker, Tailor for real.

This is on Netflix now. I actually remember seeing that ABC aired the remaining episodes on either Saturday or Sunday afternoons. May as well have aired them at 3 in the morning.

Not only is the whole series available to stream but it looks like they are also including a special feature: a 50-minute documentary about the real life CIA analysts who caught Ames. Thanks for the heads-up, flyonthewall.

In the UK, Sky is showing The Tyrant, the latest thing by the 24/Homeland creators about the son of a Middle Eastern dictator who's living in the US in self-exile returning to his home country for a wedding, when his father dies. Based on the first episode, this was exceptionally bad; poor acting and cliches aplenty. I can't imagine for a second this improves.

According to AV Club reviews, it does not.

But hey, look at it this way: it saved us all from watching Paul Giamatti as Hoke Mosley! Something no one would have wanted to see, particularly this forum's contingent of Miami Blues fans.