I wish Community had gotten some love. At the very least one nomination, as Modern Warfare is the best 22 minutes I've seen in a long time.
Damn. Stuff like this always makes me realize how few popular current TV series I ever watch. Hell, the Emmys make me feel even more out of touch than the Oscars. I've watched a little bit of Glee. I like the music. And when it's being funny, it's absolutely Wonderfallsian in its wit. But it's really hard for me to sympathize with any high school drama. In particular, Rachel reminds me so much of all the insufferable divas that I had to deal with back in high school drama club. I can't stand The Office. I like dry, subtle comedy but this is just way too dry for me. Plus, Steve Carrell lacks the poignant, self-loathing tragedy of Ricky Gervais. I've hardly seen anything else here, but here are a couple choices of people I've actually seen: Best Lead Actress (Drama) Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Best Supporting Actress (Comedy) Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live. Most of these actresses only play one character. Wiig has to play at least half a dozen different ones every week. Biggest disappointment: No Outstanding Animated Program nomination for the underrated, quickly forgotten Sit Down Shut Up.
Which just goes to show, an sf show wouldn't have to be the greatest quality to get a nomination. Being buzz-worthy, high-profile and popular is probably more important. But it can't be an embarassing stinker like most sf on TV is nowadays. Ditto. I eventually watch most if not all major Oscar contenders, but most of the Emmy nominated stuff just bores me. Maybe I should get with the program and catch up with Glee on DVD? I don't know who Rachel is, but I'd imagine that your reaction is just what they were going for.
Sometimes I think you're right and sometimes I'm just not sure. While her unlikability would seem to be a deliberate character choice, she's often treated far too much like a sympathetic protagonist, despite my complete lack of sympathy for her. Not that the two characters have much in common, but it's kinda like if they'd made Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Cordelia as the lead character (and I'm talking uber-bitch Season 1 Cordelia).
She has a mix of sympathetic and unsympathetic traits. On the former, she's generally a very good person (one of the better people on the show), and she's taken a lot of crap over the years; conversely, she has a desperate need to be famous, and when status is at stake she develops severe tunnel-vision.
"Unlikable"* main characters are all the rage nowadays. *They may seem unlikable but the successful ones - Dexter Morgan, Jax Teller, Walter White, Bill Henrickson, Don Draper, et al - are carefully crafted so that the audience never loses sympathy for them. That's the whole trick.
I haven't watched any of the comedy series, but I'm familiar with most of drama ones. I actually hope "True Blood" wins, I think it's awesome, but the competition is pretty tough and I believe that it's more likely that "Dexter" or "Lost" will win an Emmy.
And I'm often a big fan of some of the most abrasive, unlikable characters on TV shows-- Eric Cartman on South Park, Arnold Rimmer on Red Dwarf, Dr. McKay on Stargate Atlantis, etc. However, I don't even like Rachel in an unlikable way. Hell, I have more sympathy for that bitchy cheerleading coach than I do for Rachel. Maybe it's because most of TV's assholes use their arrogance to mask deeply hidden insecurities, whereas Rachel wears her insecurities on her sleeve and doesn't even seem aware of it. Wheras Dr. McKay seems to geniunely believe that he is infinitely smarter than everyone else on Atlantis and will deliberately try to put people in their place, Rachel doesn't seem to realize how unkind she is to everyone else. Furthermore, I lose a lot of respect for Schue every time he puts up with one of her tantrums, particularly since I think she diverts too much of his time & attention away from the rest of the kids. (This was something else I hated dealing with in high school-- teachers who have their obvious favorites and don't apologize for it.)
First, I'm not really sure I see the distinction here. Rachel genuinely believes that she's the most talented (and, frankly, she is; that's why everybody puts up with her in her diva moments), and says so; how's that different from McKay? And she has admitted on several occasions that she can be difficult to be around. Besides which, she isn't "unkind" 24/7; when singing parts aren't at stake, she's generally one of the most good-hearted people in the group. I also don't see this. Schuester tries to manage her as best he can, and he's never let one of her fits of ego outright take something from one of the others. In fact, he quite pointedly stood her down in episode 4 when she wanted to sing "Tonight" instead of Tina.
Now that I've figured out that Lea Michele plays Rachel, yall will be amused to learn she's the apparent fan favorite to play The Wicked Witch of the West. I genuinely like the idea of having her cast opposite Amanda Seyfried as Glinda. I'd watch that flick.
Short gave probably the performance of his life this season in Damages and I'd count him one of the favourites to win his category. I'd take Emerson out of the running this year to make room for someone else.