In case you are not aware, it’s had it’s plaudits and I think well deserved. Rolling Stone gave it best show in the 2010-20 decade (-2019?).
Endangering kids with drugs is not funny.
We could (should?) have an entire thread about how much the Emmys suck. Not that they give awards to BAD shows/performances particularly (although I’m sure they sometimes do)… but that the tend to anoint one good show as THE BEST show and give it all the awards. And they usually pick the wrong one.
And I like Jennifer Coolidge, and she’s excellent in White Lotus. But she is just not better in that than Rhea Seehorn is in BCS.
(Although I don’t think that’s as egregious as 2013’s lead actor in a drama, in which Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Jon Hamm (Mad Men) both lost to… Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom).)
Not just Rhea Seehorn; Better Call Saul received 53 nominations over six seasons and never won any.
This year it was Succession and The Bear- I only watched one epi of the Bear, but it is NOT a comedy.
Was Succession any good? Did the Bear get better? (not that I thought it was bad, mind you, just not my cuppa tea, and not funny in the tiniest bit).
I enjoyed The Bear, though note that what aired most recently was the second season and the awards were for the first season, which aired in 2022.
It seems to be a trick this year that a drama, The Bear, has taken the prize in the wrong category. I’ve watched all episodes, and it has less laughs than Succession, or Breaking Bad, and while Better Call Saul could be rated as that, The Bear really is not. It’s as if they said “well, we’ve no chance against Succession, so let’s pretend to be something else”.
The Emmys are a joke though, and I thought there was already a thread about that. I mean Modern Family was ok as a comedy, but winning 5 years in a row? It seems as if they’ve got a favourite, and once that one wins, it will win most of the time. I think Game of Thrones also won in its worst years too.
Did you watch the episode?
Of course he didn’t.
No. I just watched the first epi.
Look, lots of things arent funny- hurting animals, rape, and endangering kids.
I think all awards anywhere, not just entertainment but sport too, should have a three-win limit. After you have won a particular category or match or tournament three times, you are not allowed to be nominated in it again.
Which yes, means most tennis players can’t win as many trophies or bajillions of dollar prizes, but what’s important is that gives up-and-comers a real chance to win, instead of never getting a chance to even reach the finals because they are immediately knocked out of round one when they are drawn to play against Serena Williams.
Anyway, the same should apply to the TV awards. Once Kelsey Grammer wins three times, bugger off and give someone else a chance.
The Emmys changed their rules to use that rule of thumb after Orange Is The New Black (an hour-long show) won Best Comedy and people started griping.
Googling, they set that rule in 2015 but in 2021 the rule changed again so that it’s up to the producers to choose whether to enter a show as a drama or a comedy.
Succession is a fantastic show… but it’s “one of the best shows of the year” good, as opposed to BB/BCS which are (imho) “one of the best shows of all time” good.
Succession’s main drawback, imho, is that the overall plotting is scattershot. There will be some business maneuver that two or three episodes are very intently focused on, with a massive and gripping denouement as that maneuver either succeeds or fails… and then it is never mentioned again, and has zero impact on ongoing storylines or character development. That said… the characters, acting, dialog and production values are absolutely top notch.
And cigarettes. Don’t forget cigarettes.
I’m shocked!
New series, Death and Other Details, starring Mandy Potemkin. I watched the first two episodes (all that has been released) think of it a little as a TV series attempt on Knives Out/Glass Onion with just a touch of Wes Anderson styling.
Yeah, it is a trick. But it does say something interesting about how the show works.
The Bear and Succession are both dramas that borrow heavily from the tropes of comedy to create their drama.
The Bear uses comedy scenarios and plots but uses them as instigators for drama: e.g. one character tells another something secret then the wall behind them immediately falls down to reveal everyone else listening; it’s family Christmas and mum is cooking a super complex meal!;
Summary
top chef gets trapped in his own fridge on opening night and his girlfriend hears him say something she shouldn’t!
but all of these things have serious consequences and more importantly they are all instigators for character growth and change - which is drama, not comedy.
By contrast, Succession is built on an absolutely major sitcom trope, which is that change is impossible. Sitcoms trap people in a situation and leave them there - an office, a bar, an asteroid mining ship 30 million years in the future - and no matter what happens, that’s where people stay. That’s why after all these dramatic congressional hearings and mergers and boardroom coups nohting really changes. And because nothing really changes, we get to keep watching these characters bounce of the walls that trap them, to our considerable entertainment. These people are stuck, and that’s their tragedy. It’s not till the last season that change is forced upon them, and that of course breaks them.
I was surprised that Beef won awards, but then I looked at the ‘limited series’ category and it made more sense. It wasn’t terrible, just nothing special. It wouldn’t have scored big if it was an ongoing series.
I had never heard of it before. I was looking for something new to watch and just happened to come across it. It sure keeps me guessing!