For Your Consideration: Cutties 2012

[Mara]

Once again, we're gearing up for the most prestigious, relevant, and respected television awards in the world. Voting will be in late May / early June and the awards ceremony will be in June. I'm doing some tweaking with the format to hopefully make it more accessible and interesting.

As a reminder, you do not need to have seen all the shows to participate. You just need to have an opinion and a certain amount of arrogance. You already have that. You're on Match Cut.

This is your two-month warning to get caught up on relevant shows that you've been meaning to watch. In order to be considered, the season must have premiered between June 2011 and May 2012.

I am trying to cull the list to shows that might actually be nominated, so please add which shows you think you might want to vote for, and I will add them to the list.

Scripted Series
30 Rock S6
Adventure Time - S3
Alcatraz S1
American Dad - S7
American Horror Story S1
Archer S3
Avatar: The Legend of Korra S1
Awake - S1
Beavis and Butt-Head - S9
Bent - S1
Black Mirror S1
Boardwalk Empire S2
Bob's Burgers - S2
Bored To Death - S3
Boss S1
Breaking Bad S4
Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule - S2
Childrens Hospital S3
China, IL S1
Community S3
Cougar Town S3
Curb Your Enthusiasm - S8
Delocated - S3
Dexter Season 6
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 Season 1
Downton Abbey S2
Eagleheart - S2
Eastbound & Down S3
Enlightened - S1
Family Guy - S10
Fringe S4
Game of Thrones S2
Girls S1
Glee Season 3
Grimm - S1
Happy Endings S2
Homeland S1
How I Met Your Mother S7
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia S7
Justified S3
Key & Peele - S1 (Would this be Best Comedy or Variety?)
Life's Too Short S1
Louie S2 (this is last year's season.)
Luck S1
Luther S2
Mad Men S5
Misfits - S3
Modern Family S3
New Girl - S1
NTSF:SD:SUV:: - S1
Once Upon A Time - S1
Parenthood - S1
Parks and Recreation S4
Person of Interest - S1
Portlandia - S2
Raising Hope S2
Revenge S1
Saturday Night Live - S37
Sherlock S2
Smash S1
South Park - S14 / 15
Spartacus - S2
Terra Nova S1
The Big Bang Theory S5
The Fades S1
The Good Wife - S3
The Heart, She Holler - S1
The Hour S1
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret - S2
The League - S3
The Life & Times of Tim - S3
The Walking Dead S2
Tosh.O Season 4
Treme S2
True Blood - S4
Up All Night - S1
Veep S1

Reality/Documentary Series
An Idiot Abroad S2
Survivor: One World
The Amazing Race 20
Top Gear
Frozen Planet

Miniseries or M4TV Movie (These will be folded in with the scripted series categories)
Game Change
Hemingway & Gellhorn

Late Night Talk or Variety Show
Conan
Craig Ferguson
The Daily Show
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
The Colbert Report

Notes

Don't forget there is a "cancelled too soon" category.

Don't forget that some categories don't reflect on the overall quality of the show. If you think "The Playboy Club" had the best costume design, put it in the pool.

**No season of Doctor Who will qualify this year.
**Sorkin's The Newsroom will not qualify until next year.

[ledfloyd]

ooh, i've been excited for this. what about the second half of doctor who season 6? also, i want to say the majority of season 2 of treme aired prior to voting last year. as it aired alongside season 1 of game of thrones ("baelor" which i think would be a best episode contender, aired after we voted. i have spreadsheets, don't judge)

but to reiterate. yay!

[Mara]

ooh, i've been excited for this. what about the second half of doctor who season 6? also, i want to say the majority of season 2 of treme aired prior to voting last year. as it aired alongside season 1 of game of thrones ("baelor" which i think would be a best episode contender, aired after we voted. i have spreadsheets, don't judge)

but to reiterate. yay!

Yeah, I'm not sure how to handle split seasons. Technically, season 6 of Doctor Who was included last year, even though we missed some of the best episodes. Off-season shows mess us up.

But I could go either way on Treme. The current season will be only a few episodes in when voting starts. We'll go with whatever people deem fair.

[ledfloyd]

Yeah, I'm not sure how to handle split seasons. Technically, season 6 of Doctor Who was included last year, even though we missed some of the best episodes. Off-season shows mess us up.

But I could go either way on Treme. The current season will be only a few episodes in when voting starts. We'll go with whatever people deem fair.
yeah. season 3 of treme isn't airing til fall so if we go with season 2 of treme and season 2 of GoT that would probably work. it's kind of a shame we're missing the season ending episodes of GoT though. i would be for including the second half of doctor who.

[Thirdmango]

For Your Consideration (I don't know if anyone but me actually watched this but I really liked it, especially the last three episodes) China, IL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Pbs_n6OYc

Also I'll go through my list to see if there's stuff you may have missed. The one thing I can think of at the moment is Bob's Burgers S2, it's really good this year.

[Irish]

Is it too early to nominate Community for "cancelled too soon"?

*runs away cackling*

[Winston*]

How about Frozen Planet? You could change reality series to reality / documentary series.

[Henry Gale]

Should we consider creating an animated category for things like Bob's Burgers, Archer and even Legend of Korra to actually have a shot at some recognition?

[EyesWideOpen]

Glee Season 3
Tosh.O Season 4
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 Season 1
Dexter Season 6

[amberlita]

I need a way to watch the second season of Downton Abbey. Anyone have any ideas that don't involve torrents?

[EyesWideOpen]

I need a way to watch the second season of Downton Abbey. Anyone have any ideas that don't involve torrents?

It's been out on dvd/blu-ray for months that's one option.

[Ezee E]

Good time to start American Horror Story I guess.

[Ezee E]

PLAN TO WATCH:
American Horror Story S1
Game of Thrones S2
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia S7
Homeland S1

SEEN:
Breaking Bad S4
Eastbound & Down S3
Mad Men S5


:cry:

[Henry Gale]

Not included in the OP:

Adventure Time - S3
American Dad - S7
Awake - S1
Bent - S1
Beavis and Butt-Head - S9
Bob's Burgers - S2
Bored To Death - S3
Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule - S2
Curb Your Enthusiasm - S8
Delocated - S3
Eagleheart - S2
Enlightened - S1
Family Guy - S10
The Good Wife - S3
Grimm - S1
The Heart, She Holler - S1
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret - S2
Key & Peele - S1 (Would this be Best Comedy or Variety?)
The League - S3
The Life & Times of Tim - S3
Misfits - S3
New Girl - S1
NTSF:SD:SUV:: - S1
Once Upon A Time - S1
Parenthood - S1
Person of Interest - S1
Portlandia - S2
Saturday Night Live - S37
South Park - S14 / 15
Spartacus - S2
True Blood - S4
Up All Night - S1

I don't watch them all, but definitely considering a bunch of them for my ballot. Curb should be a frontrunner as far as I'm concerned.

[ledfloyd]

I need a way to watch the second season of Downton Abbey. Anyone have any ideas that don't involve torrents?
it's on DVD. and it was on PBS's website when it was airing, but i'm not sure if it still is or not.

[EyesWideOpen]

Good time to start American Horror Story I guess.

I really want to watch this but it doesn't even have a dvd release date yet and I don't want to spend $20 to watch it on amazon video.

[Ezee E]

I really want to watch this but it doesn't even have a dvd release date yet and I don't want to spend $20 to watch it on amazon video.
There are other means of acquisition.

[EyesWideOpen]

There are other means of acquisition.

Not one's I use though. Unless there is no other way to watch it.

[Winston*]

Black Mirror season one, because I just watched the first episode and want to vote for it in something.

[Henry Gale]

Guys, I'm really not sure how much watching American Horror Story is going to drastically change what you vote for outside of Jessica Lange and some other supporting performances or guest stars. It's more worth checking out for marvelling at how much of an insane, self-contained piece of television it is, not to mention one that managed to catch on and become as successful as it did.

But if we're adding an award for Hilarious Scenery Chewer of the year, then Dylan McDermott has that shit in the bag.

[Lucky]

Best Drama Series, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy from me. Maybe Best Episode, too, if we go that route this year.

The Globes nominated it for Best Drama, too, I think it's at least a horse in the race. Not a frontrunner, but a horse nonetheless.

[Lucky]

Also, HBO will be unveiling two new comedies in the near future - Girls and Veep which might be worth checking out.

And they have a new made-for-TV-movie with Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman called Hemingway and Gellhorn which will premiere May 28th (riiiiight before the deadline).

EDIT: On second thought, the movie might not be eligible. Mara, can you be more specific with what you meant by your deadline?

[Gizmo]

I think i'm the only one here who still watches, but I thought Dexter had a decent season 6.

Also, Big Bang Theory S5.


Is there a category for shows that you can't believe haven't been cancelled/can't believe are considered top shows? If so, I nominate Two Broke Girls... Holy shit, who watches that crap, I couldn't get through the second episode.

[Mara]

EDIT: On second thought, the movie might not be eligible. Mara, can you be more specific with what you meant by your deadline?

Let's say June 1st, if we have to pick a date. I just want to give people a little breathing room.

[ledfloyd]

The Hour S1
The Fades S1

[EyesWideOpen]

Just finished An Idiot Abroad Season 2. I could watch this show forever.

[Henry Gale]

Some questions / ideas:

- Do episodes that aired outside of the original window of June 2010 to May 2011 now qualify for this year's Best Episodes categories, even if they were a part of previous seasons? For instance, I think Game of Thrones' "Baelor" and South Park's "You're Getting Older" are both standouts of their runs and would probably nominate them, but technically they're a part of seasons that could've already been included last year despite both airing in June of 2011. Plus, this could be people's chances to show their love to certain Doctor Who episodes that aired in the half season.

- Could the Best Episode categories (both Drama and Comedy) possibly have more than 5 nominations? Technically it's already a merging of the writing/directing ones from last year that could have potentially garnered 10 episodes total. But I'm just finding it hard narrowing down exactly what handful of episodes I'd want to nominate without giving more than one slot to things like Breaking Bad and Community.

- I'm still pulling for a Best Animated Series category if anyone else wants it. It'd allow for a lot of variety (even within its own nominees) and would give nominations to some great shows that don't always fit into major categories or many technical awards otherwise. Jon Benjamin managed a Best Comedy Actor for Archer last year right? Well now we can recognize that show and things like Bob's Burgers, The Legend of Korra, Adventure Time, Beavis and Butt-Head, South Park, The Life & Times of Tim, The Ricky Gervais Show, Futurama, and whatever else everyone liked in the last year.

[Mara]

Those are great questions. What do you all think? My instinct is to say that the best episodes have to be from seasons that are competing, but that does put some summer shows in a bad spot.

And this does look like a strong year for animation. I think we could make that a category.

[ledfloyd]

i kind of feel like anything that aired between june 1st, 2011 and may 31st, 2012 should be eligible, at least the episodes if the majority of a season aired outside of that timeframe. "Baelor" would definitely make a potential ballot of mine. which, have we settled on categories yet? i want to start working on a temp ballot. /totalnerd

[Lucky]

Good Lord I've watched a lot of television this past year. The arrivals of Girls and Veep made this year's best comedy category stacked. That's going to be the most difficult for me.

[Ezee E]

I'll definitely elect a push for Jessica Lange in American Horror Story. Everything else can be debated, but she's wonderful in it.