Sunday night marked the broadcast of the only WGA-approved awards ceremony, the Screen Actors Guild awards. Although I did a little better than in my dismal Golden Globes performance, I’m still left with one huge, unanswered question:
What, exactly, is the big deal about The Sopranos?
They won every television drama award it’s possible to win. Now, I watched the first season of the show, so I know it’s pretty damn good, but I didn’t enjoy spending an hour each week with remorseless killers and neurotic gangsters. Got issues, Tony? Here’s a tip: stop killing people. You might feel better.
I stopped watching, even though everyone kept trying to convince me that it was the greatest hour of television ever put to film. Eventually, in order to shut them up, I watched another episode sometime in the fourth season…and it was still an hour with a bunch of thuggish hit men who enjoyed ogling naked women in a strip club. Now, there’s a time and a place for that, I’m sure, but my television set was not one of those places.
This is an acting award, and so does not necessarily signify the best show, but even the ensemble award is suspect. Is this really the best cast on television? Maybe I’m taking this a bit too seriously. After all, The Wire was not even nominated but Boston Legal was, which could be taken as proof that there is no interventionist God. At the very least, it proves that some of the voters were high when casting their ballots.
I know the show is over now, but maybe someone can explain to me just what I missed. Is The Sopranos on your list of the greatest, most awards-deserving shows of all-time, and why? And what would you have picked in the following categories?
Keep reading for the winners.
The winners:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
JAMES GANDOLFINI / Tony Soprano – The Sopranos (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
EDIE FALCO / Carmela Soprano – The Sopranos (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – 30 Rock (NBC)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (NBC)
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
THE SOPRANOS (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
THE OFFICE (NBC)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
KEVIN KLINE / Jacques – As You Like It (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
QUEEN LATIFAH / Ana – Life Support (HBO)
What do you think about these results?
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January 29th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I saw ‘The Sopranos’ once. It was okaaay.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
The Wire wasn’t nominated for best cast? I can’t even.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
My dad loves The Sopranos. My dad is a very intelligent and open-minded guy who spent many years shunning television. You know the sort: “Television is for sheep!” he says. “Read books!” he says.
The Sopranos convinced him that television could be cutting and creative and smart. And that’s the main virtue of the show, I think. I’m embedded deeply enough in popular culture to know that there’s lots and lots and LOTS of good TV out there, much of which is much wittier and more intense and more smartly-paced than The Sopranos. But you need to look for that stuff. The Sopranos is sort of the “default” edgy show, designed for people who aren’t aware that TV can be edgy. It’s the Aveeno of cable TV.