The Dawn of Film Music, Part I: Max Steiner

I thought for quite a while yesterday about how to talk about history of film music on the screens. I thought about jumping straight to my favorite score ever, or talking about the TV theme I’ve been listening to on YouTube on repeat for about two straight days and how it’s a fascinating example of the seldom-seen morphing of a TV theme as a show progresses through a number of seasons, but none of this would have been possible without what I’m going to talk about today, the dawn of modern film music.

Film music has always composed a huge portion of the complete experience on the big screen. Strangely, however, the standardized film score, a film score written specifically for a film that was played as background at every screening of a given film, was not commonplace until the dawn of the sound era, and even few years after that, really. Charlie Chaplin was one of the few filmmakers to utilize such a film score before the sound era, and he even went so far as to compose them himself, though many times his music didn’t necessarily fit the action taking place on the screen. Even in instances in which the two are in sync, a modern listener would have trouble figuring out how the industry got to the powerful themes of John Williams’ work in Star Wars and Indiana Jones or to Ennio Morricone’s magnificently simple, yet indescribably beautiful and descriptive poems from what Chaplin was creating. Chaplin didn’t fully understand the power of instrumentation and of sentiment. No body composing the hard-to-come-by film music of the time understood that a film required, no, deserved a symphony. Around 1930, however, this was changed forever.

Just like many of the founding fathers of the Hollywood film industry, the majority founding fathers of modern film music came from abroad, mostly central and eastern Europe. Max Steiner, born in Vienna, was lucky enough to be born to the godfather of Johann Strauss, the composer of the ubiquitous “Blue Danube,” to be the godson of Richard Strauss (“Also sprach Zarathustra”) and to study under Gustav Mahler before he turned fifteen. Classical music was his future, but it certainly did not correspond to the time in which he was born. Eventually, at age 32, Steiner made his way to Hollywood and began composing. And like his co-founders of film music, his deep background in classical music informed virtually every notable score he ever composed. Many call Steiner “the founding father of film music,” and while I might disagree and say, as I have mentioned in passing, that he was one of a group of four or five composers that founded the genre, I cannot deny that Steiner is the composer of the first truly modern film score.

Released in 1933, King Kong was huge, to put it bluntly. It defined big budget for the time, and the special effects methods used were state-of-the-art and huge leaps forward. Sometimes forgotten about the film, however, was Steiner’s score:

If the chords of this, the main theme, sound familiar, it’s because they’re so incredibly formative for the genre that most every film composer worth his weight in anything has utilized much of the same chords at least once, even Steiner himself. The music perfectly combines the size, the fear, the importance, and the majesty of the film’s central plot in the same notes, in those opening 90 or so seconds. Throughout the middle of the theme, Steiner made excellent use of his string section, weaving a fascinating melody and counter-melody that conveyed both the beauty and the uncertainty of Skull Island, before finally dropping us near the end with soft, eerie single woodwinds, backed only by the foreboding pluck of the strings. Importantly, he avoided the pitfalls that so many composers of the studio era seemed incredibly prone to: lack of complexity when it’s needed. His luscious string theme in the middle is backed by great submelodies, and his foreboding, foreshadowing chords are piano or mezzo-piano at the loudest. He never even thinks to shout in your face, “Oh shit, there’s going to be a gigantic ape in this film that’s going to climb the Empire State Building and swat biplanes out of the sky. Be scared!” (The chord held out around 2 minutes in, if resolved differently, becomes Jurassic Park, in case you were wondering)

Steiner’s career took off. Over the next several decades he would compose some of the best and/or most recognizable film scores ever created. Gone with the Wind and Casablanca, The Lost Patrol and The Informer, Now, Voyager and The Caine Mutiny, Since You Went Away and The Searchers: these are just some of the many excellent scores he composed during his career.

I’m having trouble finding artful ways to introduce the videos, so I’m going to quit trying and instead just post a bunch of them with short comments.

Gone with the Wind:

It’s only fitting to list this one first. It is undoubtedly Steiner’s most celebrated work, and rightfully so. “Tara’s Theme” is what you think of when you think of the movie’s music, and I think there’s a simple explanation for that. Steiner manages to create something so effortlessly majestic that you can’t help but be spellbound (just like the monster-of-a-film itself), while somehow also making it incredibly personal. It's almost like he's talking directly to you.

Casablanca:

This is, of course, the second film that comes to mind when Steiner's name comes up. "As Time Goes By" is probably the most famous and iconic song with lyrics in film history. And while Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa Lund never actually said, "Play it again, Sam," Dooley Wilson's rendition of the song will last forever. That being said, Steiner wrote 0% of the song. He only composed the score, which I think is a example of variations on a theme at its best. Much of the sweeping melodies found in the film are simply variations on the melody of "As Time Goes By," and yet, I know I always felt like what the music I was hearing was something very original, if not completely so. This, the main theme, just shifts effortlessly between themes and musical strands. It's simply wonderful to witness.

Now, Voyager:

This is a great ending of a great movie. Besides the famous line about the moon, what always strikes me is, aside from how uncharacteristically tolerable Paul Henreid is, Steiner's gorgeous music. His score is of the sweeping romantic genre, but it never comes across that way. It's quiet and loud at the same time. It says so much, but allows the film to speak for itself instead of drowning it out with brash, unrepentant, unoriginal string-based concoctions. The crowning touch on that scene for me is that final chord. The camera quickly pans upward to the starlit sky, and just as the stars come into view, there's a musical flutter that makes it seem almost as if you can hear to stars.

Since You Went Away:

This is simply lovely. It's both reflective and progressive. Simply an absolute joy to listen to.

The Caine Mutiny:

This is just a fun as hell march. Plain and simple.

The Searchers:

What some argue to be the greatest western of all time (usually in competition with Once Upon a Time in the West and the Dollars Trilogy), certainly has a great score, though I would argue that all four of the scores of the other four great westerns, all of which were composed by Ennio Morricone, are better. The music is great and can certainly be seen as a paving of the way for the new style of composition of westerns that would come about in the 1960s. I do find it interesting that Steiner goes to great lengths to exude the Native American elements found in the film, and yet he does so in a relatively non-racist manner, strange considering the reputation the film itself has for having an incredibly racist lead character (who also happens to provide John Wayne the perfect avenue to exercise his limited acting abilities to greatest effect and give probably his best screen performance).

Here's a medley of some of the scores I've listed as well as some others:

When I began this particular post, I meant for it to include at least a bit about the other founders of film music, but this turned out to be far longer than I expected. As such, I will finish up the beginnings of modern film music tomorrow with snippets regarding all of the other founders of film music.

P.S. Writing all of this and finding all of the videos, I came across two great videos that are excerpts from an interview held on The Dick Cavett Show on November 18, 1971 with my favorite actress of all time, Bette Davis. The first video is an hysterical description of Davis' about kissing on screen. The second is a wonderful view into what her feelings about some of her Now, Voyager costars as well as what made her love actors in the character-driven old Hollywood versus the individual-driven new Hollywood, sentiments that would only be more pronounced today. The full interview is available and is really quite interesting if you want to listen to it.

The Music of the Screen Media

Since I’m unlikely to see many movies in theaters before Oscar season rolls around in September or October, I’m going to start a series all about what I consider to be great film scores and great TV theme songs. Now, when I say TV theme songs I don’t mean “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” by Gary Portnoy from Cheers, though that is an admittedly great song, nor do I refer to The Rembrandts’ catchy “I’ll Be There for You” from Friends, nor do I call attention to The Friendly Indians’ “I Know You Know,” just one great part of the always underrated Psych. No I mean the instrumental themes that catch your attention just as they capture the essence of the show or the mood of the times in which the show is broadcast. If you don’t know what I mean, I’d keep reading and then stay tuned if I were you. (I will be taking one or two days to talk about some great TV themes with lyrics just in case you were afraid I wasn’t going to.) Some TV themes I love are just plain catchy and that’s why I love them, but some are just astonishing in their brilliance. The exact same goes with the film scores. Their success, however, goes far more hand-in-hand with their ability to evoke honest emotion at just the right time or to lay a strong foundation for a truly fun or exciting scene. A film score somewhat defies the norms of filmmaking. A bad one can hurt a movie, but it can’t really ruin it in the same way poor cinematography or atrocious editing can. On the other hand, a brilliant film score can transcend a film. Listening to a brilliant film score after having viewed the film brings you back to the emotions you felt while watching. I’ll share some of my favorites and why I think they’re great. I’m going to be mixing up chronology of release and broadcast years and interweaving film and TV as well as writing up every single one differently depending on what clips musical segments I can find. Sometimes I’ll have a single article for a great, but lesser known, composer and his work. Other times I’ll have multi-part, multi-day articles on celebrated composers such as John Williams and Max Steiner and the work of his I find particularly good, as well as the work of lesser known (at least outside of the realm of hardcore screen media followers) film and TV composers who deserve may have received their fair share of acclaim, but to whom far less public attention is paid than they wholeheartedly deserve (such as Ennio Morricone and Mike Post).

I hope you enjoy because I certainly know I’ll have an absolute blast doing these write-ups. I might get something up today, but I probably won't.

Emmy Nomination Predictions for Comedies

I don’t have time to do a lengthy write-up for the Comedy categories, so here are some much shorter explanations for them.

Comedy Series:

It seems to me that 4-5 of these are locks:

1.      Modern Family (ABC)

2.      Girls (HBO)

3.      The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

4.      30 Rock (NBC)

5.      Louie (FX)

I’ve heard that 30 Rock isn’t going to make it on, but I think that’s ridiculous. In my opinion, it’s the most consistently funny series on television. The first 3 are locks. Louie has been a favorite in the past to make it on the ballot, and this year seems to be the year it finally breaks into the category. The contenders for the final spot essentially boil down to Arrested Development, Veep, and Parks and Recreation. Out of those, Arrested Development seems the most likely, but don’t count Veep out. It surprised last year and could do it again. Parks and Rec is really a long shot, but I absolutely adore the series, so go die in a hole if you don’t like seeing it there.

There are a bunch of missing series here (I’m only going to list the ones that I gather are worth it, not just the popular ones):

-Archer (FX) starring voices of H. Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler, Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, and Amber Nash

-Awkward (MTV) starring Ashley Rickards

-Community (NBC) starring Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Gillian Jacobs, Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Chevy Chase, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jim Rash, and Ken Jeong

-Enlightened (HBO) starring Laura Dern

-Episodes (Showtime) starring Matt LeBlanc

-Happy Endings (ABC) starring Eliza Coupe, Elisha Cuthbert, Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans, Jr., and Casey Wilson

-Nurse Jackie (Showtime) starring Edie Falco

-Suburgatory (ABC) starring Jeremy Sisto, Jane Levy, Ana Gasteyer, Rex Lee, Carly Chaikin, Allie Grant, Chris Parnell, Alan Tudyk, and Cheryl Hines

-The Middle (ABC) starring Patricia Heaton, Neil Flynn, and Eden Sher

-The Mindy Project (Fox) starring Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina

So my final predictions are:

1.      Modern Family

2.      Girls

3.      The Big Bang Theory

4.      30 Rock

5.      Louie

6.      Arrested Development

First One In: Veep

Lead Actor in a Comedy:

There are 3, okay 4, locks:

1.      Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock

2.      Louis C.K. as Louie in Louie

3.      Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory

4.      Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth in Arrested Development

This leaves 2 spots open. The race seems to be down between 3 or 4 people. Don Cheadle looks like he’s in decent to repeat last year’s nomination as Marty Kaan in House of Lies. I don’t see Jake Johnson getting onto the ballot as Nick Miller in New Girl. I just don’t. That leaves one spot for either Matt LeBlanc or Jon Cryer to wrangle. Now I’m hoping beyond all hope that LeBlanc takes the spot. Two and a Half Men was never all that funny, and it’s just plain ridiculous and stupid and unnecessarily vulgar now that Charlie Sheen is gone (which is just plain weird). Here’s my obligatory sentence stating how much I absolutely hate The Big Bang Theory, think it’s an incredibly unfunny show and how much I resent Jim Parsons for having had so much success saying the names of legitimate physics stuff. Everyone involved in the making of that show as well as in its deification should be taken out behind a building and shot until unrecognizable. Baldwin, fortunately, looks like he could take home the win this year since he’s almost assuredly going to submit his fantastic performance in the double-length series finale. I couldn’t be happier for what is one of my top 5 favorite comedic characters of all time.

Other deserving players:

-Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt in Parks and Recreation

-Jeremy Sisto as George Altman in Suburgatory

-Joel McHale as Jeff Winger in Community

-Neil Flynn as Mike Heck in The Middle

-Rob Lowe as Chris Traeger in Parks and Recreation

Once again:

1.      Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock

2.      Louis C.K. as Louie in Louie

3.      Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory

4.      Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth in Arrested Development

5.      Don Cheadle as Marty Kaan in House of Lies

6.      Matt LeBlanc as Matt LeBlanc in Episodes

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:

There are, I hope, 5 locks here:

1.      Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer in Veep

2.      Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath in Girls

3.      Tina Fey as Liz Lemon in 30 Rock

4.      Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation

5.      Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day in New Girl

Now I wish that Deschanel weren’t the lock and that there were really 6 locks in this category, but what can you do. The perfect category would also include Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie and Laura Dern in Enlightened in place of Deschanel, whose little act is getting quite annoying, at least for me. Falco looks to be the most likely to get in, followed by Dern and Melissa McCarthy, an incredibly funny woman, in the disgustingly unfunny Mike and Molly.

Other deserving ladies:

-Ashley Rickards as Jenna Hamilton in Awkward

-Jane Levy as Tessa Altman in Suburgatory

-Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance in Raising Hope

-Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin in Weeds

-Mindy Kaling as Dr. Mindy Lahiri in The Mindy Project

-Patricia Heaton as Frankie Heck in The Middle

-Portia de Rossi as Lindsay Bluth Fünke in Arrested Development (why she chose this category is beyond me)

-Sutton Foster as Michelle Simms in Bunheads

Once again:

1.      Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer in Veep

2.      Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath in Girls

3.      Tina Fey as Liz Lemon in 30 Rock

4.      Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation

5.      Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day in New Girl

6.      Edie Falco as Nurse Jackie Peyton in Nurse Jackie

Supporting Actor in a Comedy:

This a ridiculous and stupid category. I love and hate this category. All of the Modern Family men deserve recognition here, except for O’Neill because he ends up just wasting his nomination on terrible episode submissions. That being said, there are absolutely no concrete locks, though Eric Stonestreet and Ty Burrell in Modern Family seem quite sure, as does Jeffrey Tambor in Arrested Development. I’m going to go ahead and pick Will Arnett in Arrested Development and Simon Helberg in The Big Bang Theory. This leaves the single remaining spot open to O’Neill or Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and I’m going to go with Ferguson. I just don’t see, Max Greenfield of New Girl or Bill Hader of SNL repeating nor do I see Adam Driver of Girls getting in.

Other deserving men:

-Alex Karpovsky as Ray Ploshansky in Girls

-Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation (not as much as in past years, but whatever)

-Chris Messina as Dr. Danny Castellano in The Mindy Project

-Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation (far more than in the past)

-Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir in Community

-Donald Glover as Troy Barnes in Community

-Jack McBrayer as Kenneth Parcell in 30 Rock

-Jim Rash as Dean Pelton in Community

-Michael Cera as George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development

Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation

-Seth Meyers as various characters (mainly Weekend Update anchor) in Saturday Night Live

-Tony Hale as Gary Walsh in Veep

-Tony Hale as Buster Bluth in Arrested Development (he didn’t submit himself for consideration for this)

-Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan in 30 Rock

Once again:

1.      Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker in Modern Family

2.      Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy in Modern Family

3.      Jeffrey Tambor as George Bluth in Arrested Development

4.      Will Arnett as Gob Bluth in Arrested Development

5.      Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory

6.      Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett in Modern Family

Supporting Actress in a Comedy:

There are 3 locks here by my reckoning:

1.      Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy in Modern Family

2.      Jessica Walter as Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development

3.      Allison Williams as Marnie Michaels in Girls

Beyond that, it’s somewhat of a crapshoot. I don’t see Merritt Wever of Nurse Jackie repeating her surprise nomination from last year, and white Betty White is always a threat to get a nomination given her stature as a 17-time nominee and 5-time winner, I don’t see the 91-year-old getting the nod. That really leaves 3 spots for 5 women. The one I hope immensely will get in is Jane Krakowski in 30 Rock, who is one of my top 10 favorite TV comedy characters ever. She was snubbed awfully last year, and I hope that doesn’t keep her off in this her final year of eligibility. Sofia Vergara looks like she might be in a position to be upset for a nomination this year, especially given her absolutely terrible episode submission choices in past years, but I doubt that will happen. The final spot comes down to being between Zosia Mamet in Girls, who I just don’t think has received enough buzz and the two ladies from The Big Bang Theory: Mayim Bialik and Kaley Cuoco. Bialik got a nod last year, but evidently she had far less to do this year while Cuoco had more. Therefore, I’m going with Cuoco in the final spot.

Other deserving ladies:

-Alia Shawkat as Mae “Maeby” Fünke in Arrested Development

-Alison Brie as Annie Edison in Community

-Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer in Veep

-Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate Dwyer in Parks and Recreation

-Carly Chaikin as Dalia Royce in Suburgatory

-Casey Wilson as Penny Hartz in Happy Endings

-Cheryl Hines as Dallas Royce in Suburgatory

-Eden Sher as Sue Heck in The Middle

-Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry in Community

-Kate McKinnon as various characters in Saturday Night Live

Once again:

1.      Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy in Modern Family

2.      Jessica Walter as Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development

3.      Allison Williams as Marnie Michaels in Girls

4.      Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney in 30 Rock

5.      Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in Modern Family

6.      Kaley Cuoco as Penny in The Big Bang Theory

That’s all there is. There ain’t no more. I’m not going to do the guest positions because they’re a waste of my time as somebody that had received 0 buzz gets on while the absolute favorite to get a nomination gets left off. Nominations come out one month from tomorrow, so I’ll be doing some recap toward the beginning of the month and toward the middle of the month.

Emmy Nomination Predictions for Dramas

Emmy nominations are announced on the 18^th of the month and the ballots were mailed yesterday, so here is my lengthy discourse on Emmy nomination predictions:

Before We Begin in Earnest, However: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: currently, we are witnessing the Golden Age of Television, or at least the Golden Age of the Drama Series. 1939 is inarguably the greatest year in film. Because series run for multiple years, one single year obviously can’t be the greatest year in television history. Instead, a specific period of time is needed. Every decade has a halfway-decent argument for the title, with the 1950’s and 1970’s being the more talked about. But no, simply no. Both decades boasted many of the prototypical sitcoms ever made. I Love Lucy, Make Room for Daddy, Father Know Best, All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Odd Couple, Sanford and Son, M*A*S*H, Taxi. The list of “classic” comedies that aired during these 2 decades about equals the number that aired in the other 4 decades since the dawn of the small screen, a list that includes such juggernauts as The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Get Smart, Cheers, The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, Seinfeld, Frasier, and Friends. The decade we completed about 3 years ago had some great comedies, but I venture to say not one of them will live on as a “classic” comedy, though I have my hopes about 30 Rock. The drama series has been reasonably strong since the dawn of serial-style storytelling, which really began in the 1960s with The Fugitive and, to some degree, Run for Your Life and Route 66. This style, which became prevalent in such 1970s series as The Waltons, Upstairs, Downstairs, and Family and continued into the 1980s with primetime soaps Dallas, Dynasty, and Knots Landing and the two series that pretty much created their genres: Hill Street Blues (crime/police) and St. Elsewhere (medical). With 1990, the 20 year preamble to the golden age of today began. Law & Order, then NYPD Blue, then ER, all 3 of them incredibly successful series that ran more than 10 seasons (20, 12, and 15 respectively) dominated the Emmy nominations in the 1990s, though not the wins, all the while supported by underseen series such as Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, Quantum Leap, thirtysomething, Picket Fences, The X-Files, Chicago Hope, and Homicide: Life on the Street. At one time, though, no more than 7 or 8 shows would be deserving of an Emmy nomination, and  for 3 consecutive years not really even a 7^th series could compete with the 6-some of Chicago Hope, ER, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, and The X-Files, and brilliant, but never-nominated Homicide: Life on the Street. The Sopranos and The West Wing sparked a creative dramatic genius previously unseen in the industry. Dramas, both awarded and unsung took off, and cable television along with it. The West Wing, The Sopranos, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, 24, The Shield, Six Feet Under, The Wire, early CSI, Deadwood, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, early Grey’s Anatomy, Mad Men, Damages: the list is beyond extensive, but no more so than today. Indeed, that is why I just wrote those almost 550 words giving a pea-sized view of the history television. Just contemplate this information as you read about the dramas in this, our small-screen’s dramatic golden age.

Here we go. This is extremely long, just FYI.

Drama Series: Instead of the 6 series vying for the now 6 Emmy nomination slots, there are upwards of 12 that have a decent shot at landing one, and more like 20 or so that are deserving. The San Antonio Spurs aren’t perennial title contenders because they have Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, both Hall of Famers, but because they have such a fabulous wealth of bench talent. This depth has given them a golden decade, and the depth of TV’s dramatic lineup is what makes this its golden age.

Here are the most probable contenders:

--Breaking Bad (AMC)

--Downton Abbey (PBS/ITV)

--Homeland (Showtime)

--Mad Men (AMC)

These four are virtual locks, unless Emmy voters stop being snobs and Downton fails to make the cut (simply not going to happen) or decide that they don’t like Mad Men at all anymore as it set the record for most nominations in an 0-for-17 shut-out last year (likewise extremely unlikely to happen).

Now what about the other 2 spots? HBO’s Game of Thrones seems like a lock as it’s received nominations in the category each of the last 2 years, but you can never consider a science-fiction series or a fantasy series (which Game of Thrones is, of course) a lock for this award. The X-Files is the most Emmy-decorated sci-fi/fantasy series ever, but it didn’t begin garnering the awards until it hit mainstream culture and 15 million-or-so weekly viewers in its 2^nd season. That being said, Game of Thrones, having won a TCA Award a couple of years ago and having won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Drama today in a tie with Breaking Bad, making that Thrones’ 2^nd win in a row for the award, I’d say the show is all but a lock.

That leaves 1 spot for a plethora of series. The contenders seem to be House of Cards (Netflix), The Americans (FX), The Newsroom (HBO), Boardwalk Empire (HBO), and The Good Wife (CBS). At the moment, and not being a fan of The Newsroom at all and being lukewarm on what I’ve seen of and fed-up on seeing nominations for The Good Wife, the 5 are now 3. Boardwalk Empire has been having far less success than in the past and will most likely be the only nominee from last year not to make this year’s lineup. It hasn’t performed very well at in the critical awards arena, and it just seems like Emmy voters fear they will have a stale taste in their mouth if they nominate it. So House of Cards or The Americans it is. Both series are quite good from what I’ve heard. House of Cards has been the front-runner for the final slot for a while now, even though the two series have fared entirely evenly in terms of award nominations from major groups. I don’t know why exactly, but I’m going to go with The Americans, though that might change between now and next Tuesday.

All that being said, a number of other series had great seasons this year (from what I’ve heard as I only religiously watch Downton Abbey and NCIS) and deserve mention even though they’re not in the nomination conversation. I’m only going to list them, and you can read about and watch them for yourself:

--Bates Motel (A&E) starring Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga

--Damages (DirecTV) starring Glenn Close and Rose Byrne

--Dexter (Showtime) starring Michael C. Hall

--Elementary (CBS) starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu

--Hannibal (NBC) starring Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, and Laurence Fishburne

--Hell on Wheels (AMC) starring Anson Mount and Colm Meaney

--Justified (FX) starring Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins

--Nashville (ABC) starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere

--NCIS (CBS) starring Mark Harmon (I’m completely serious)

--Orphan Black (BBC America) starring Tatiana Maslany

--Parenthood (NBC) starring Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, and Craig T. Nelson

--Shameless (Showtime) starring William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum

--Sons of Anarchy (FX) starring Charlie Hunnam and Katey Sagal

--Southland (TNT) starring Regina King, Ben McKenzie, and Michael Cudlitz

--The Walking Dead (AMC) starring Andrew Lincoln

--Treme (HBO) starring a massive ensemble cast

So as a recap, here’s my predicted 6 nominees:

--The Americans (FX)

--Breaking Bad (AMC)

--Downton Abbey (PBS)

--Homeland (Showtime)

--Mad Men (AMC)

Lead Actor in a Drama Series:

3 men are locks for a nomination:

--Bryan Cranston as Walter White in Breaking Bad

--Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody in Homeland

--Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood in House of Cards

Jon Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men is also pretty much a lock, but the relatively waning success of his series calls the possibility of nomination into question. Nevertheless, I would consider him to be a lock.

That leaves 2 spots, spots that I currently have filled by Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy in The Newsroom and Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire. Daniels is a pretty solid bet as I found him to be great in the 3 episodes I watched, even if the series was annoyingly preachy. Buscemi’s chances all depend upon the level to which the Academy shuts out Boardwalk. His most obvious and likely replacement would be Hugh Bonneville as Lord Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey, but even as a huge fan of Downton, I don’t think Bonneville had a single episode that is nomination-worthy, at least not when up against such a tremendous group of talented men. Matthew Rhys as Phillip Jennings in The Americans and Timothy Olyphant as Marshal Raylan Givens in Justified are the other two best bet alternates. For the moment I will stick with Buscemi, but Rhys is looking better and better every day.

There are a number of deserving men not in contention here as well:

--Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead

--Anson Mount as Cullen Bohannan in Hell on Wheels

--Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy

--Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander VI in The Borgias

--Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes in Elementary

--Kelsey Grammer as Tom Kane in Boss

--Kevin Bacon as Ryan Hardy in The Following

--Mark Harmon as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in NCIS

--Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan in Dexter

--Peter Krause as Adam Braverman in Parenthood

--Tom Selleck as Frank Reagan in Blue Bloods

--William H. Macy as Frank Gallagher in Shameless

As a recap, my 6 are:

--Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad

--Damian Lewis in Homeland

--Jeff Daniels in The Newsroom

--Jon Hamm in Mad Men

--Kevin Spacey in House of Cards

--Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire

Lead Actress in a Drama Series:

There are either 3 absolute locks in this category:

--Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland

--Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick in The Good Wife

--Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley in Downton Abbey

The 4^th and 5^th spots are both pretty firmly in place, though not locked in. Elisabeth Moss, barring the same Mad Men backlash that would keep Jon Hamm out of his race, is a virtual lock as Peggy Olson in Mad Men. Glenn Close seems poised for another nomination as Patty Hewes in Damages, but her position is precarious.

Once again, that just leaves the 6^th spot as completely unsure. I currently have Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings in The Americans, but she most certainly does have competition, though her recent nominations for the role are helpful. Vera Farmiga could provide a shocker nomination as Norma Louise Bates in Bates Motel given her recent Critics’ Choice and TCA nominations. With her Critics’ Choice win today and her TCA nomination, Tatiana Maslany as Sarah Manning/Alison Hendrix/Cosima Niehaus/Helena/Katja Obinger/Rachel Duncan in Orphan Black made a huge statement and cemented herself in the conversation for a nomination. In the few episodes I've seen (meaning 2), she is astonishing. The first 4 characters I listed are the 4 she portrays the majority of the time. With those, and I'm assuming with the others as well, she creates 4 distinct characters with impeccable accents (even in her original role as Sarah, who is British, while Maslany is Canadian). She deserves the nomination hands-down. Connie Britton is also a threat as Rayna James in Nashville, as is Robin Wright as Claire Underwood in House of Cards. Britton got a Globe nomination, but those are far from assuring an Emmy nomination. Both have missed out on valuable award nominations elsewhere, with Wright’s snub at the hands of both the Critics’ Choice and the TCA being especially harmful to her chances. Kerry Washington is also a favorite for a nomination as Olivia Pope in Scandal, but I just can’t see it happening. Shonda Rhimes’s leads have always had an awful time with the Emmys, with neither Ellen Pompeo nor Patrick Dempsey receiving the nominations they deserved for any of the first few Grey’s Anatomy seasons. Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer and Mariska Hargitay in Law & Order: SVU are long shots as they haven’t been nominated for a couple of years, but they’ve both once won before and have been nominated for those roles a combined 13 times.

Just a few women not in contention deserve to be:

--Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse in True Blood

--Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher in Shameless

--Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller Morrow in Sons of Anarchy

I’m going to go out on a limb here for my pick:

--Claire Danes in Homeland

--Elisabeth Moss in Mad Men

--Keri Russell in The American

--Julianna Margulies in The Good Wife

--Michelle Dockery in Downton Abbey

--Vera Farmiga in Bates Motel

Top Alternate: Glenn Close in Damages

Second Alternate: Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black
Bear in mind that if Maslany shocks and gets a nomination, she automatically becomes my frontrunner for the win as her possible submission tapes are lights out.

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:

This is a stacked category. There are really only 2 locks for nominations:

--Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad

--Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones

Both have won before and have no reason why they shouldn’t be nominated. Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson in Homeland is a virtual lock, especially since he was so egregiously snubbed last year in favor of the undeserving Downton Abbey men (whom I love, but who had no business being nominated). Jonathan Banks and Corey Stoll as Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad and Peter Russo in House of Cards respectively are also quite likely, especially Stoll because of his scene-stealing status. Interestingly, Banks was nominated 24 years ago in 1989 for Wiseguy.

Assuming both Banks and Stoll get their nominations, this leaves just 1 spot. The hopeful voice inside of me is shouting Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, so that’s who I have right now. This means nothing, however. Coster-Waldau has a couple of award nominations for this season, so that’s working in his favor, but name recognition isn’t. Name recognition is working in the favor of Jack McCoy, or rather Sam Waterston, however, who is a strong contender as Charlie Skinner in The Newsroom. Noah Emmerich is also a strong possibility as Agent Stan Beeman in The Americans. Alan Cumming was nominated as Eli Gold in The Good Wife 2 years ago, but another nomination is incredibly unlikely, as is a 5 nomination for John Slattery as Roger Sterling in Mad Men, also coming off a 1 year hiatus from the nomination pool. Bobby Cannavale as Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire is quite unlikely with Boardwalk Empire as a series nomination lock much less on the cusp of not being nominated so he’s pretty much out of the question. Rob James-Collier as James Barrow or Dan Stevens as Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey could nab that 6^th spot if the Academy gets British fever again like last year. The two represent the definite best supporting male performances on the series. I prefer James-Collier to Stevens on the whole, though Stevens does have 1 or 2 great possible episodes.

With all that sorted out, here’s some deserving men not in contention:

--Ben McKenzie as Ben Sherman in Southland

--Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad

--David Morrissey as The Governor in The Walking Dead

--Dean Norris as Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad

--Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates in Bates Motel

--Jim Carter as Charles Carson in Downton Abbey

--John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop in Fringe

--Kit Harrington as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones

--Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing in Dallas

--Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal

--Michael Cudlitz as John Cooper in Southland

--Michael Shannon as Nelson Van Alden in Boardwalk Empire

--Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell in Mad Men

--Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder in Justified

To predict this wide-open category:

--Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad

--Corey Stoll in House of Cards

--Jonathan Banks in Breaking Bad

--Mandy Patinkin in Homeland

--Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Game of Thrones

--Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:

This category is only slightly easier to predict. There are what essentially amount to 4 locks, though really only 3 of them are done deals.

--Maggie Smith as Lady Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey

--Anna Gunn as Skyler White in Breaking Bad

--Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris in Mad Men

I’m going out on an extremely tenuous limb here by predicting that neither of the two main female supporting players from The Good Wife, Christine Baranski and Archie Panjabi, will be nominated. They have both been nominated each of the last 3 years, with Panjabi winning 3 years ago. In their place, a number of women could get a nomination. With the 2 Good Wife women gone, the remaining 3 nomination slots are being vied for by what essentially amounts to 4 or 5 actresses. The 4 main contenders are Morena Baccarin as Jessica Brody in Homeland, who was egregiously snubbed last year and definitely deserves to be nominated; Elizabeth McGovern as Lady Mary Crawley, Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, who received a nomination in the lead category for movie/miniseries 2 years ago but missed out last year in the lead category; Monica Potter as Kristina Braverman in Parenthood, a wholly deserving performance the completely that is reportedly receiving the bulk of NBC’s campaigning funds for drama; and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, as she takes the place of Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark as Thrones’ frontrunner for the series’ first female acting nomination. Hayden Panettiere as Juliette Barnes in Nashville, Joanne Froggatt as Anna Smith Bates in Downton Abbey, and Kate Mara as Zoe Barnes in House of Cards are all also reasonably strong contenders, but they seem out of the race for the time being.

Some other deserving women not in contention include:

--Connie Nielsen as Meredith Kane in Boss

--January Jones as Betty Draper Francis in Mad Men

--Jessica Paré as Megan Draper in Mad Men

--Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Schroeder in Boardwalk Empire

--Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper in Mad Men

--Lauren Graham as Sarah Braverman in Parenthood

--Lena Headey as Queen Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones

--Michelle Fairley as Lady Catelyn Stark in Game of Thrones

--Regina King as Lydia Adams in Southland

--Rose Byrne as Ellen Parsons in Damages

To recap my predictions:

--Anna Gunn in Breaking Bad

--Christina Hendricks in Mad Men

--Elizabeth McGovern in Downton Abbey

--Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey

--Monica Potter in Parenthood

--Morena Baccarin in Homeland

First One Out: Elizabeth McGovern

First One In: Emilia Clarke in Game of Thrones

Guest Actor in a Drama Series:

Nobody in the guest categories is ever a lock, so here we go. Nathan Lane as Clarke Hayden in The Good Wife is as close as you can get considering guests have fared well on The Good Wife Emmy-wise and he’s Nathan Lane, which is really what these categories are all about. Michael J. Fox is probably the most secure for a nomination considering he’s been nominated each of the last 2 years for playing the exact same role, Louis Canning, in the exact same series, The Good Wife. Dylan Baker is also a pretty solid bet as Colin Sweeney in The Good Wife. He’s been nominated for the role in this category both last year and 3 years ago, and he didn’t make an appearance in the series 2 years ago to be eligible. Jimmy Smits has been nominated for various series 12 times and won for his perennially nominated supporting work on L.A. Law back in 1989 or 1990. He then received a handful of lead nominations for NYPD Blue and was probably #7 or 8 out of 6 for a supporting nomination as Matt Santos on The West Wing in 2006 if not 2005 as well. His 12^th nomination was a guest nomination as the main villain of one of the seasons of Dexter, getting the nomination in 2009. Sons of Anarchy is far from a favorite of the Academy, but Smits’ history as an Emmy darling makes him an attractive possibility as Nero Padilla. Matthew Perry, eligible as Mike Kresteva on The Good Wife, has 4 prior nominations, and is a well-known, well-liked, well-respected TV actor and is another likely bet. Ray Romano as Hank Rizzoli on Parenthood is looking to follow in the footsteps of Jason Ritter, who was awarded a surprise guest nomination for the series last year. Romano, though, has been a frontrunner since the beginning due to his name and his 3 Emmy victories in 16 nominations. Robert Morse is never to be counted out as Bertram Cooper in Mad Men, but with the possible decline in Mad Men’s popularity with the Academy and his year-long hiatus from the nominee list, Morse looks to be fading from the race. Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn in Homeland is another strong contender, but his name just isn’t big enough to garner to sort of support he would need to get on the nomination list. Jason Ritter as Mark Cyr in Parenthood seems strong, but his nomination last year was most likely just a fluke, though the idea that people thought they were voting for John Ritter of Three’s Company fame is ridiculous and stupid considering John Ritter died 10 years ago. Jim Beaver, who’s biggest role was as Whitney Ellsworth on Deadwood, is probably the next closest anybody’s going to come to cracking the top 6 and snatching a spot away from one of the first 6 I mentioned, as Shelby Parlow on Justified. Mike O’Malley has a long shot as Nicky Augustine on Justified as does Andre Braugher as Bayard Ellis on Law & Order: SVU, but SVU’s power in the guest categories was never on the male side and its power on the female side has waned significantly in the last several years to boot.

A couple of other notable possibilities:

--Bradley Whitford as Abraham Paige in Shameless

--Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder in Game of Thrones

--Edward Asner as Martin Schultz in Law & Order: SVU

--Harry Hamlin as Jim Cutler in Man Men

To recap:

--Dylan Baker in The Good Wife

--Jim Beaver in Justified

--Jimmy Smits in Sons of Anarchy

--Michael J. Fox in The Good Wife

--Nathan Lane in The Good Wife

--Ray Romano in Parenthood

Guest Actress in a Drama Series:

I lied when I said that there are no locks in these categories.

--Shirley MacLaine as Martha Levinson in Downton Abbey

--Jane Fonda as Leona Lansing in The Newsroom

Both MacLaine and Fonda have enormous amounts of sway with the voting base of the Academy just by virtue of who they are. When you then add the fact that MacLaine is utter scene-stealing brilliance and Fonda is excellent as well. Stockard Channing is another famous name and should be all but guaranteed a nomination as Veronica Loy in The Good Wife. The final 3 spots seem, as best I can tell, to be reserved for 5 actresses. Martha Plimpton as Patti Nyholm in The Good Wife won the Emmy last year for the role and her inclusion seems incredibly likely. Joan Cusack in looking for her 3^rd consecutive nomination as Sheila Jackson in Shameless, and while it’s likely, I’m not going to predict it. She hasn’t won yet and her competition has never been all that great, so I see no reason to think she’ll be back. Diana Rigg is not at all a sure thing to make it in as Lady Olenna Redwyne in Game of Thrones, but the 5-time nominee and 1-time winner has a great shot at making it on veteran status and respect alone. That leaves the final spot for two women. Margo Martindale won a supporting Emmy 2 years ago as Mags in Justified with a tremendous submission tape that launched her ahead of the competition after a shocking nomination. As Claudia in The Americans, she has a good chance to get a second nomination this year. Finally, Carrie Preston has received several critics’ award nominations for her performances as Elsbeth Tascioni in The Good Wife, and this could be the year she finally gets a nomination.

There are a number of notable women not in contention, but I want to be done with this, so I’m not going to list them.

To recap:

--Diana Rigg in Game of Thrones

--Jane Fonda in The Newsroom

--Margo Martindale in The Americans

--Martha Plimpton in The Good Wife

--Shirley MacLaine in Downton Abbey

--Stockard Channing in The Good Wife

Overall Predictions for Dramas (in order of likelihood):

Drama Series:

1.      Homeland

2.      Breaking Bad

3.      Downton Abbey

4.      Mad Men

5.      Game of Thrones

6.      The Americans

Next One In: Boardwalk Empire

Drama Actor:

1.      Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad

2.      Damian Lewis in Homeland

3.      Kevin Spacey in House of Cards

4.      Jon Hamm in Mad Men

5.      Jeff Daniels in The Newsroom

6.      Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire

Next On In: Matthew Rhys in The Americans

Second One In: Hugh Bonneville in Downton Abbey

Third One In: Timothy Olyphant in Justified

Drama Actress:

1.      Claire Danes in Homeland

2.      Julianna Margulies in The Good Wife

3.      Michelle Dockery in Downton Abbey

4.      Elisabeth Moss in Mad Men

5.      Keri Russell in The Americans
6.   Vera Farmiga in Bates Motel

Next One In: Glenn Close in Damages

Second One In: Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black

Drama Supporting Actor:

1.      Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad

2.      Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones

3.      Mandy Patinkin in Homeland

4.      Jonathan Banks in Breaking Bad

5.      Corey Stoll in House of Cards

6.      Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Game of Thrones

Next One In: Noah Emmerich in The Americans

Second One In: Sam Waterston in The Newsroom

Drama Supporting Actress:

1.      Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey

2.      Anna Gunn in Breaking Bad

3.      Christina Hendricks in Mad Men

4.      Morena Baccarin in Homeland

5.      Monica Potter in Parenthood

6.      Elizabeth McGovern in Downton Abbey

Next One In: Emilia Clarke in Game of Thrones

Second One In: Christine Baranski in The Good Wife

Third One In: Archie Panjabi in The Good Wife

Drama Guest Actor:

1.      Michael J. Fox in The Good Wife

2.      Nathan Lane in The Good Wife

3.      Ray Romano in Parenthood

4.      Dylan Baker in The Good Wife

5.      Jimmy Smits in Sons of Anarchy

6.      Jim Beaver in Justified

Next One In: Matthew Perry in The Good Wife

Second One In: Robert Morse in Mad Men

Drama Guest Actress:

1.      Shirley MacLaine in Downton Abbey

2.      Jane Fonda in The Newsroom

3.      Stockard Channing in The Good Wife

4.      Martha Plimpton in The Good Wife

5.      Diana Rigg in Game of Thrones

6.      Margo Martindale in The Americans

Next One In: Joan Cusack in Shameless

Second One In: Carrie Preston in The Good Wife

Tomorrow I will do the comedies. Oh, God. Help me.

Quick Recap of the Last Few Months

I’m finally posting again on this blog. I’ve been either too busy or too lazy to finish up and post all of the stuff that I’ve almost finished or am halfway through finishing. I’m not going to lie to myself and say that I will finish, so here’s a quick rundown of what you’re not going to see. First of all, you’re not going to see any more TV series write-ups. Those things are just too damn lengthy and almost literally gobble up the hours, and I just don’t have that much time to devote.

--The one new release I’ve seen since my last post is Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, which I went to semi-willingly. I was pleasantly surprised, but not blown away in the least. Korine’s social commentary in the first half of the film, the half without the concrete plot, was quite good and well-handled. The second half, the part with the plot, is dull and unfortunate. Selena Gomez is the only character you care about at all, and she’s the first to leave the picture. The film quickly becomes uninteresting and dull, and the gunshot sounds Korine uses to mark story segmentation, an effect that worked so well in the first half, just grates more and more on the nerves. James Franco is great and very entertaining in delightfully over-the-top, but decidedly not-too-complex performance. Overall a decent, but by no means a great movie: 3.5/5

--The West Wing’s final seasons were, as expected, excellent, with Season 7 rivaling any one of the first 3 in terms of quality. I would give them both a 5/5 (season 6 is more like a 4.75/5 but still) and the series still stands as my favorite ever.

--Breaking Bad has been a real treat to watch, though I got bottlenecked with school work and other stuff. I haven’t watched an episode in about a month and a half, meaning that I’m about 3-5 episodes into season 3. The series is spectacular. It’s a slow burn and just keeps getting better and better because of it. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are each excellent on their own and are lightning-in-a-bottle when together, with a palpable chemistry that is simply a wonder to behold. Anna Gunn is consistently great as well, bringing her archetypal wronged woman great depth, making you still hate her, but also hate yourself for hating her because her reasons for acting as she does are often so good. The storylines are complex and interesting and refreshing, while the visual aspect of the series is exceedingly inventive and brilliant in every imaginable way. Every season is a 5/5 thus far, though season 1 borders on a 4.5.

--Desperate Housewives was something I started on a whim and ended up watching a little over 5 seasons of in about 4 weeks. The 4 leads played by Felicity Huffman, Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, and Eva Longoria are all terrific and brilliant. The writing is crisp and incredibly funny and the music is integral and extraordinarily well done. I would give Season 1 a 5/5, Season 2 a 4.5, Season 3 a 5, Season 4 a 4, and Season 5 a 4. Marc Cherry did a great job with the series and I would highly recommend watching the first 5 seasons to literally anyone.

And Now for Something Completely Different

This will not be related to movies or TV in any way, shape, or form. I finished The West Wing about a month ago and have been struggling to finish my write-ups, so I can't make any promises on a timeline for their posting, but I'll say that I hope they're coming soon.

Instead, with the United States Supreme Court making decisions on California’s Proposition 8 today and the Defense of Marriage Act tomorrow, I’ve jotted down my argument about same-sex marriage. This is a Facebook post I just posted on my wall. In my opinion, same-sex is the single most important issue facing my country right now and should be treated as such.

I consider myself a moderate conservative, and anybody who knows me halfway decently knows that. (I'm probably more conservative than I'd probably admit, though.) Nevertheless, I feel like I'm in an interest position. I'm neither gay nor a flaming tea-partier (obviously liberal is completely out of the question). I also like to think myself more levelheaded about social issues than most people out there. I completely understand both sides, and therein lies the dilemma. There are good arguments to be made on both sides, but each side also had a number of points with which I disagree wholeheartedly. Let's talk it out and reach a conclusion that makes everybody at least halfway happy.

Being from the right, I'll start there, first. I find the complete lack of respect for human rights present in the argument appalling. I don't think I'm even acquainted with, much less know, a single person who still thinks that sexual orientation is a choice. I mean, seriously! With all the crap gays get these days from the right, why the hell would anybody choose to be gay? So there, gays are born gay. Live with it. Even if they weren't inherently batting for the same team, the argument that a common law marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman is fine, and is indeed what I believe, but that doesn't mean it's okay. We live in a country founded upon a laundry list of civil rights, the list of which has only grown longer since the country's foundation. If we value human rights so much, then why can't we find it within ourselves to accept everyone, and I mean everyone, not just white males, not just white people, not just people of all races, but gays too? I think it's inherently anti-American, not to mention anti-constitutional, to deny people the right to live and love, whomever they so choose. If someone says, but the Bible says that homosexuality is wrong, then yes, you're right, well sort of, screw you and read my response to the liberal argument.

Now for the left. I've already pretty much solved for the civil law of same-sex marriage, so religion is what's left. The Bible does indeed call homosexuality an abomination (Leviticus 18:22), but there are a number of things that are outdated. Biblical literalists are some of my least favorite people, not because they are sometimes ridiculous in what they believe (everybody should be free to interpret the Bible and its message pretty much, though not entirely, how they want), but because they are so uncompromising in the their opinions and viewpoints. The Bible is free to be interpreted, not free from interpretation. Personally, I do not believe gay marriage is right. Scratch that, I don't believe religious same-sex marriage is right, but that doesn't mean that another Christian might think that verse is out of date. (If you think the entire Bible is up to date, then you're as dumb as they come. We've done just a handful of things in the last 4-10 thousand years as I recall.) Yes, marriage existed outside of Jewish and Christian law during and before Leviticus was written, but I'm a Christian secure in my faith and beliefs, I believe that passage from Leviticus still holds pretty much true today, and if I were a priest, I would absolutely refuse to carry out a same-sex marriage. Shoot me, but that's what I believe. That being said, however, anybody who makes any sort of civil law at the city, state, or national level has absolutely no right to legislate on any law involving what goes on inside a sanctuary, a chapel, a synagogue, a mosque, etc. I don't think I know anybody who legitimately thinks that freedom of religion is a bad nor anybody who thinks that freedom of religion doesn't also mean freedom from government interference in religion. If the state, the voting public included, starts going around voting on propositions (looking at you California) and legislating on the legality of same-sex marriage. The church should. Plain and simple. The right seems to think that religion should play some huge role in what things should be legal and illegal, but that simply should not be the case. Constitutionality should be the be all and the end all. In other words, state, stay the hell away from the church and leave the each and every church to make its own specific decision as to whether it will carry out same-sex marriages.

In summation, my views can be boiled down into two main thoughts and one clear solution: civil same-sex marriage should be legal and whether religious marriage should include same-sex marriage should be completely and totally up to the discretion of every church in its own right.

If you've made it this far, bravo! I didn't realize how damned long this would turn out to be when I started. I'd love to hear everybody else's opinions on the issue, too. Please don't use this as an opportunity to troll. This is the single most important social issue facing our country since the 1960s and to cheapen the argument surrounding it in any way does nothing but soil the name of this great nation, this beacon of light and hope and human rights and liberties the world over.

The West Wing Introduction

Man: Governor Bartlet, when you were a member of Congress, you voted against the New England Dairy Farming Company. That vote hurt me sir. I’m a businessman. That vote hurt me to the tune of maybe, 10 cents a gallon. I voted for you three times for Congress. I voted for you twice for Governor. And I’m here sir, and I’d like to ask you for an explanation.

Bartlet: Yeah, I screwed you on that one.

Man: I’m sorry?

Bartlet: I screwed you. You got hosed.

Man: Sir, I…

Bartlet: And not just you. A lot of my constituents. I put the hammer to farms in Concord, Salem, Laconia, and Pelham. You guy got rogered but good. Today, for the first time in history, one in five Americans living poverty are children. One in five children live in the most abject, dangerous, hopless, backbreaking, gut-wrenching poverty, one in five, and they’re children. If fidelity to freedom and democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely, the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says ‘We shall give our children better than we ourselves received.’ I voted against the bill ‘cause I didn’t want it to be hard for people to buy milk. I stopped money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that. But if you expect anything different from the President of the United States, I suggest you vote for somebody else. Thanks very much. Hope you enjoyed the chicken.

-exchange during flashback in In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I

So I thought I’d get one or two articles worth of thoughts out there on the first five seasons of The West Wing. Before I get into praising literally everything about my favorite show ever, I consider myself a moderate conservative. I’m a practical idealist. So is Jed Bartlet (the practical idealist part). While I don’t agree with all of his policies on the show, he would be the first person I would vote for in an election. He is principled and sometimes romantic, but beyond brilliant and sometimes harshly realistic. I direct you to Bartlet’s final, lengthy remark in the quote above. Outside of all of the political platforming going on, he says what I find to be the most important thing of all: “I stopped money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that. But if you expect anything different from the President of the United States, I suggest you vote for somebody else.” He is such a stand-up guy. He’s not going to lie to you just to get you to vote for him. I love that.

I love Aaron Sorkin, and once I see Studio 60, I’ll have watch at least one episode of every single one of his shows. Sports Night is a brilliant show, too, but The Newsroom, not so much (I’m not even going to go into my opinion on the show). Outside of his oftentimes unnecessary preachiness, he is, by my reckoning, the most talented writer working today. He may not tell the best or most ambitious stories (The Sopranos and The Wire did that best when they were around), but his dialogue is always excellent, brilliantly mixing short comedic interludes in with the always prevalent dramatic elements of the show.

I think what I admire most about the series is that, for all of Aaron Sorkin’s exceedingly liberal viewpoints and preachiness in so many of his television series, The West Wing, a show centered on a Democratic White House, was his least liberal. Every time the majority of the cast voices a liberal opinion on the main political issue of a specific episode, there are always one or two, maybe three, characters who voice a more conservative opinion. It does wonders for evening out the show and I admire him greatly for doing it.

Before I begin, I thought I'd give you an idea of exactly how revered the series is:
Season 1: The first season showed exactly how the rest of the show was going to be rewarded. The season garnered 17 Emmy nominations, winning 9 of them, a record for a freshman series of any genre. The series won for Drama Series, Supporting Actor (Richard Schiff), Supporting Actress (Allison Janney), Writing for a Drama (Sorkin and Rick Cleveland for In Excelsis Deo), Directing for a Drama (Thomas Schlamme for the Pilot), Main Title Theme Music (Snuffy Walden), Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series Episode, Casting for a Drama, and Art Direction for a Drama. In addition to its remarkable amount of Emmy success, the season garnered numerous awards elsewhere. The first won a Peabody Award, possibly the most prestigious award given in television. It was nominated for 3 Writers Guild Award, for Enemies (Patrick Caddell, Rick Cleveland, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ron Osborn, and Jeff Reno), In Excelsis Deo (Sorkin and Rick Cleveland), and Take This Sabbath Day (Sorkin, Lawrence O'Donnell, and Paul Redford), with Sorkin and Cleveland winning for In Excelsis Deo. Other than that, the Golden Globes, Directors Guild Awards, Producers Guild Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards are hard to categorize by season because of their timeline, so I'll address those at the end of all of the seasons.
Season 2: The second season continued the strong trend, with 18 Emmy nominations and 8 wins. The wins were for Drama Series, Supporting Actor (Bradley Whitford), Supporting Actress (Allison Janney), Directing for a Drama (Thomas Schlamme for In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Parts I & II), Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series Episode, Casting for a Drama, Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Series Episode, and Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Series Episode. In addition, this season also won a Peabody Award just like the first season. It was also nominated for 2 Writers Guild Awards, for Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail (Sorkin and Paul Redford) and Two Cathedrals (Sorkin).
Season 3: The third season added another 21 Emmy nominations and 5 wins. It won for Drama Series, Actress (Allison Janney), Supporting Actor (John Spencer), Supporting Actress (Stockard Channing), and Special Class Program (The West Wing: Documentary Special). It was also nominated for 1 Writers Guild Award, for Game On (Sorkin and Paul Redford).
Season 4: The fourth and final of Aaron Sorkin's seasons as showrunner resulted in 15 Emmy nominations and 2 wins. The 2 wins were for Drama Series and Directing for a Drama (Christopher Misiano for Twenty Five). It was also nominated for 1 Writers Guild Award, for Disaster Relief (Alexa Lunge and Lauren Schmidt).
-Season 5: Despite Sorkin's departure, the fifth season didn't actually suffer a noticeable decline in awards recognition, with 12 nominations and 1 win. The win was for Actress (Allison Janney). It was also nominated for 2 Writers Guild Awards, for The Supremes (Debora Cahn) and Memorial Day (John Sacret Young and Josh Singer), winning for The Supremes.
-Season 6: The sixth season ended up with a noticeable decline in awards recognition, but still nothing to be ashamed of, with 5 nominations and no wins. It was also nominated for 2 Writers Guild Awards, for Overall Drama Series Writing and for A Good Day (Carol Flint).
-Season 7: The seventh and final season was rewarded with 6 Emmy nominations and 2 wins. The wins were for Supporting Actor (Alan Alda) and Multi-Camera Sound Mixing for a Series. It was also nominated for 1 Writers Guild Award, for Election Day, Part II (Eli Attie).
-The Golden Globes: Due to the timeline of the Golden Globes, assigning Globe nominations to specific West Wing seasons is literally impossible. That being said, the series received 20 total Globe nominations and 2 wins, both of which it won in 2000 for Drama Series and Actor (Martin Sheen) (that would be for work both in Season 1 and in Season 2). Overall, the series was nominated 5 times for Drama Series, Sheen was nominated 5 times, Rob Lowe 2 times, Allison Janney 4 times, Bradley Whitford 3 times, and John Spencer 1 time.
-The Directors Guild Awards: While the years don't exactly mesh with the seasons of the series, I'm going to split this up by season. Season 1 received 1 nod from the Guild for In Excelsis Deo (Thomas Schlamme). Season 2 was recognized with 3 nominations, for The Portland Trip (Paris Barclay), Noël (Thomas Schlamme), and for Two Cathedrals (Thomas Schlamme), with Thomas Schlamme winning an award for Noël in 2000. Season 3 received 2 nominations, for The Indians in the Lobby (Paris Barclay) and Posse Comitatus (Alex Graves). Season 4 also received 2 nods, for Debate Camp (Paris Barclay) and Twenty Five (Christopher Misiano), with Misiano winning an award for Twenty Five in 2003.
-The Producers Guild Awards: The series received 6 nominations for Producer of the Year for an Episodic Drama, winning 2 times. The numbers and years don't mesh though.
-The Screen Actors Guild Awards: The series was nominated for 6 awards for Best Cast in a Drama, winning 2 of them. Additionally, individual cast members received 14 nominations, winning 4 of them. Those 4 victories were split evenly between Martin Sheen and Allison Janney. Both Sheen and Janney each received another 3 nominations on top of their wins. Stockard Channing received 2 nominations while Lily Tomlin and Alan Alda each received 1.
-Overall: The series was monstrously successful, raking in 94 total Emmy nominations with 27 wins, with Allison Janney winning for awards than anyone else on the entire production team with 4. In addition, it was won 2 Peabody Awards and was nominated for 12 Writers Guild Awards, winning 2. It received 20 Golden Globe nods with 2 wins, 8 Directors Guild Award nods with 2 wins, 6 Producers Guild nods with 2 wins, and 20 SAG Award nods with 6 wins.

Anyway, I thought for a long time about how I wanted to review the first five seasons, the first four of which are as close to perfect as you can get and the fifth of which is still great. I haven’t seen most of the series in 5-8 months, so I’m not going to go through each season episode by episode. Instead, I’m going to go through each season and give you 8-to-10 excellent episodes, many of which are perfect. After that, I’m going to go through and do short, two-to-three-sentence profiles of all of the main cast members and their character personalities, etc.

Season 1: The first season has eight main cast members: Martin Sheen as President Josiah “Jed”  Bartlet; Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, the Deputy White House Communications Director; Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg, the White House Press Secretary; Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler, the White House Communications Director; John Spencer as Leo McGarry, the White House Chief of Staff; Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff; Dulé Hill as Charlie Young, the Personal Aide to the President; and Moira Kelly as Mandy Hampton, a Media Consultant working for the presidency. Janel Moloney and Stockard Channing recur as Donna Moss, Josh’s assistant, and Dr. Abbey Bartlet, the First Lady. Some other notable names also appear at various points. There are so many, in fact, that I’m just going to leave it at that rather than list some of them.

Notable Season 1 Episodes (Okay I’ve just decided not to give short summaries, because it’s just too hard to do concisely. So much happens in every single episode that to try to do each one justice would simply be, well, an injustice.):

-Pilot

-The Crackpots and These Women

-In Excelsis Deo

-Take This Sabbath Day

-Celestial Navigation

-The White House Pro-Am

-Let Bartlet Be Bartlet

-What Kind of Day Has It Been

General Thoughts on Season 1: This is a perfect season of television, with at least 8 pretty much perfect episodes. A great place to look for great episodes for The West Wing is the Emmy submissions the show gives for Best Drama, and the 8 that they submitted for the 1999-2000 TV season are the 8 you see listed above. Pretty much every episode has some sort of great aspect to it. In my opinion, the two best episodes are In Excelsis Deo and the Pilot, followed by (in rough preferential order): Take This Sabbath Day, Celestial Navigation, Let Bartlet Be Bartlet, The Crackpots and These Women, What Kind of Day Has It Been, and The White House Pro-Am.

Season Score: 10/10

Season 2: Every main character save Moira Kelly (good riddance) returns in their roles. Janel Moloney joins the main cast, while Stockard Channing spends one more season riding the recurring character train. Numerous recognizable faces once again appear.

Notable Season 2 Episodes:

-In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I

-In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II

-Shibboleth

-Galileo

-Noël

-The War at Home

-17 People

-Two Cathedrals

General Thoughts on Season 2: Talk about repeat perfection, this season outdoes its perfect predecessor in essentially every way. It takes on a wider-ranging scope of legislative issues and is the better for it, never sagging under the added narrative weight, a weight also increased by the revelations of several important developments first introduced in the first season. It also offers arguably the greatest episode of television episode produced, Two Cathedrals, by far my favorite episode of the series. The episodes listed about above are, once again, just the episodes nominated for the Emmy Award. I’ll think about updating the list once I rewatch it. When that will be I honestly have no idea. I’d rank the episodes thusly: Two Cathedrals, Noël, In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II, In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I, Shibboleth, 17 People, Galileo, and The War at Home.

Season Score: 10/10

Season 3: The exact same main cast returns once again this season, plus Stockard Channing joins the regular cast, though she only appears in the opening credits for episodes in which she appears.

Notable Season 3 Episodes:

-The Women of Qumar

-Bartlet for America

-The Two Bartlets

-Night Five

-Hartsfield’s Landing

-Dead Irish Writers

-We Killed Yamamoto

-Posse Comitatus

General Thoughts on Season 3: This is definitely the weakest of the Aaron Sorkin-written seasons, but that isn’t to say that it’s a bad season. It is still far better than most anything on television ever. I’m having trouble remembering some of the episodes listed (I really need to rewatch the series), so this list is definitely subject to change at any time. My rankings currently would be: Posse Comitatus, Night Five, We Killed Yamamoto, Hartsfield’s Landing, Bartlet for America, Dead Irish Writers, The Two Bartlets, and The Women of Qumar.

Season Score: 9/10

Season 4: The exact same main cast returns for the 4^th season. Rob Lowe departs the main cast in Red Haven’s on Fire and Joshua Malina joins the main cast as Will Bailey midway through the season.

Notable Season 4 Episodes:

-20 Hours in America, Parts I & II

-Holy Night

-Inauguration, Part I

-Inauguration: Over There

-Evidence of Things Not Seen

-Life on Mars

-Commencement

-Twenty Five

General Thoughts on Season 4: This is a season helped tremendously by a few spectacular episodes. I think this is a better season than season 3 is, but it still isn’t up to the same amazing standards of season 1 or 2. I’d rank the episodes as follows: Twenty Five, Holy Night, Inauguration: Over There, Inauguration, Part I, 20 Hours in America, Parts I & II, Evidence of Things Not Seen, Life on Mars, and Commencement.

Season Score: 9.5/10

 

Season 5: The entire regular cast returns. They are joined later in the season by Mary McCormack in a recurring role. She will become a regular cast member starting at the beginning of season 6.

Notable Season 5 Episodes (I’ve included three extras to make 10 since the number of Emmy episode submissions was decreased by 2 starting for the 2004-05 TV season):

-7A WF 83429

-Constituency of One

-Abu el Banat

-The Stormy Present

-An Khe

-Full Disclosure

-The Supremes

-Access

-Gaza

-Memorial Day

General Thoughts on Season 5: This is not a bad season of television, by any means, but it’s just nowhere near some of the material put out in the first four seasons. The writers had to work themselves out of an awkward story area left by Sorkin at the end of season 4, but they took a really long time to do it. That said, there are still some great episodes to be found here, particularly The Supremes, which, quite frankly, blew me away in comparison to the rest of the fare presented in the season. I’d rank the episodes as follows: The Supremes, An Khe, Gaza, Memorial Day, Access, The Stormy Present, 7A WF 83429, Abu el Banat, Full Disclosure, and Constituency of One.

Season Score: 8/10

Character Profiles:

-President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet (Martin Sheen)—President Bartlet is an interesting fellow. He has tremendous integrity and is absolutely brilliant. He’s funny in his own odd sort of way, and he’s touch but compassionate. There’s so much more to say about him, but I think the show should do it all for you, since it does it so brilliantly. Sheen’s best episode is undoubtedly Two Cathedrals, which also happens to be the best episode of the entire series, but he’s also brilliant is so many others (Take This Sabbath Day, Night Five, and Twenty Five all come to mind).

-Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe)—The Deputy White House Communications Director, Sam is a brilliant speech writer but sometimes struggles on policy issues. His flawed romantic endeavors are highly entertaining. His character is defined by his firm belief in the American political process and the good that government can do for its citizens. He is the most idealistic character. His best episode is probably Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail.

-Allison Janney (C.J. Cregg)—The White House Press Secretary, C.J. is a strong and capable woman. C.J. is such a damn likeable character and Allison Janney, the monumentally underrated actress that she is, plays her perfectly. Let’s just say that there’s a reason why C.J. seems to have more focus episodes than anybody else. As such, it’s nearly impossible to pick Janney’s best episode, though I’d probably say The Long Goodbye (she’s also excellent in Access). C.J. is often kept out the loop on issues, much to her chagrin. She’s also known for taking strong views on certain issues and having a tough time letting go and not letting her emotions get in the way.

-Leo McGarry (John Spencer)—The White House Chief of Staff, Leo is Jed’s best friend and closest confidant (outside of Abbey, of course). There’s a really touching piece of advice Jed gives the Secretary of Agriculture just before delivering the State of the Union. It goes: “‘You got a best friend?’ ‘Yes, sir’ ‘Is he smarter than you?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Would you trust him with your life?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘That’s your Chief of Staff.’” Leo is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, a fact appropriately described by one of the staff members as the worst-kept secret in Washington. He is described as the greatest political mind in the Democratic Party and shows it regularly. The former Secretary of Labor, Leo acts as a father figure to his younger staff members. John Spencer had been doing TV for ages and was one of the most respected unknown character actors in the business. My favorite quote of his comes from Noël and it perfectly explains his father figure role and his best friend role as well as his calm, collected demeanor and brilliance: “This guy’s walkin’ down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey you! Can you help me out?’ The doctor writes him a prescription and throws in down in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘Father, I’m down in this hole; can you help me out?’ The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me, Can ya help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, ‘Are ya stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.’” I just think that’s so perfect. Leo is a magnificently loyal person and, while he’s not my favorite character, I respect him more than any other, even Bartlet.

-Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff)—The White House Communications Director, Toby is a very interesting character. He is so often a cold individual. Perhaps the most appropriate quote for Toby is a quote from Five Votes Down. He is being picked on and responds: “There’s literally no one in the world that I don’t hate right now.” While this may just make Toby come across as a completely negative, completely unlikeable individual, he isn’t, but he very easily be. He isn’t malicious in any way, but he’s just not happy. Tons of credit go to Sorkin and Richard Schiff for molding Toby into the oddly loveable guy he is. He is, however, capable of fantastic bouts of compassion and emotion that surprise even him. His series best performance is in the first season’s In Excelsis Deo, and it amazes every damn time. It’s just incredible how powerful Schiff nails every single one of the many powerful emotional scenes in the episode. Toby is also a brilliant speechwriter and probably the most vehement liberal working on the staff.

-Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford)—The White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh is a brilliant political mind, but he's sort of stuck up. He makes up for his sometimes excessive self-confidence with his boyish charm. His relationship with his assistant Donna is priceless. Bradley Whitford is perfect for the part and does wonders for it.

-Charlie Young (Dulé Hill)—The Personal Aide to the President, Charlie is a driven, responsible 21 year old. Much of his characterization comes from his interactions with the president.

-Mandy Hampton (Moira Kelly)—Chief Media Consultant to the White House, Mandy is by far my least favorite regular cast member of the entire show. She is boring and useless and she never really sparks any sort of interest whatsoever. I am eternally happy that she never appears after the first season.

-Donna Moss (Janel Moloney)—Special Assistant to Josh Lyman, Donna is one of my favorite characters on the show. Her relationship with Josh is absolutely hysterical. She starts out sort of a victim of the dumb blonde stereotype (though not completely), but gradually becomes a force to be reckoned with on and an oftentimes valuable asset to the senior staff. Janel Moloney is so perfect for the role.

-Dr. Abbey Bartlet (Stockard Channing)—The First Lady, Abbey doesn’t appear in every episode, but she starts appearing more and more often starting with the third season, before which she had appeared in maybe 10 episodes or so, if even that many. I never really fell in love with her character, but I never dislike her other. I just don’t feel like she’s in the series enough in any sort of high enough capacity to really form much of an opinion on her.

-Will Bailey (Joshua Malina)—Sam Seaborn’s replacement as Deputy Communications Director, he has considerable political savvy, as shown by his ability to lead a dead Democratic candidate to a victory in a solidly Republican California district. He is a gifted speech writer, though not as gifted as Sam. Relatively soon after becoming DCD, he is offered and accepts a position as Chief of Staff to the VP. I like Joshua Malina. He’s not the most versatile actor ever, but he’s really great in Sorkin stuff. In fact, I’d give him an Emmy for his work in Sports Night. He has great comedic timing. Will is a pretty easy character to like, but like the rest of the characters, he isn’t without his flaws.

Of the first five seasons, I’d rank them as follows:

1. 2

2. 1

3. 4

4. 3

5. 5

Best 10 Episodes of the First Five Seasons:

1. Two Cathedrals (2.22)

2. In Excelsis Deo (1.10)

3. Pilot (1.1)

4. Noël (2.10)

5. In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Parts I & II (2.1 and .2)

6. Twenty Five (4.23)

7. Holy Night (4.11)

8. Posse Comitatus (3.21)

9. Let Bartlet Be Bartlet (1.19)
10. The Long Goodbye (4.13)

Honorable Mentions: Oh my goodness! Like 25 other episodes could fit here.