For Your Consideration: Cutties 2015

[Mara]

Time to shake off those winter doldrums, my friends.

Once again, we're gearing up for the most prestigious, relevant, and respected television awards in the world. Voting will be in early June and the awards ceremony will be in late June.

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. Trust me: you're all set.

This is your three week 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 2014 and May 2015.

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. Please don't list every show you watch-- just what you would want to nominate for a category.

I don't have endless time to check each of these so some I'm doing from memory. If something is on the list that doesn't qualify, please let me know!

SHORT FORM NARRATIVE
Big Time in Hollywood, FL S1
Benched S1
Black-ish S1
Broad City S2
Brooklyn 99 S2
Childrens Hospital S6
Community S6
Cougar Town S6
Fresh off the Boat S1
Galavant S1
Girls S4
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia S10
Louie S5
Looking S2
Man Seeking Woman S1
Married S1
Marry Me S1
Modern Family S6
Moone Boy S3
Mozart in the Jungle S1
New Girl S5
Parks and Recreation S7
Scrotal Recall S1
Selfie S1
Silicon Valley S2
The Goldbergs S2
The Heart, She Holler S3
The Jack and Triumph Show S1
The Last Man on Earth S1
The Mindy Project S3
Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories S1
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S1
Togetherness S1
Transparent S1
Undateable S2
Veep S4
You're the Worst S1

LONG FORM NARRATIVE
American Horror Story: Freak Show
Arrow S3
Better Call Saul S1
Boardwalk Empire S5
Daredevil S1
Doctor Who S8
Downton Abbey S5
Empire S1
Game of Thrones S5
House of Cards S3
iZombie S1
Justified S6
Mad Men S7 Part II
Marvel's Agent Carter 1
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S2
Masters of Sex S2
Orange is the New Black S2
Orphan Black S3
Outlander S1
Parenthood S6
Peaky Blinders S2
Penny Dreadful S2
Rectify S2
Scandal S4
Sleepy Hollow S2
Sons of Anarchy S7
The 100 S2
The Affair S1
The Americans S3
The Bridge S2
The Fall S2
The Flash S1
The Good Wife S6
The Knick S1
The Leftovers S1
The Strain S1
The Walking Dead S5
Wayward Pines S1

ANIMATED
Adventure Time S6
American Dad S11
Archer S6
Axe Cop S2
Bob's Burgers S5
Bojack Horseman S1
Family Guy S13
Gravity Falls S2
Major Lazer S1
Mike Tyson Mysteries S1
South Park S18
Star Wars Rebels S1
Steven Universe S1/S2
Superjail! S2
The Legend of Korra S3


TALK SHOW
Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe
Conan
Craig Ferguson
Drunk History
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Real Time With Bill Maher
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show
The Eric Andre Show
The Late Show with David Letterman
The Late Late Show with James Cordon
The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

VARIETY/SKETCH SHOW
@Midnight
Comedy Bang! Bang!
Inside Amy Schumer
Key & Peele
Kroll Show
Portlandia
Saturday Night Live

DOCUMENTARY
Vice
Foo Fighters Sonic Highways

REALITY SHOWS
Gadget Man
Nathan For You S2
Shark Tank
So You Think You Can Dance
The Amazing Race

MINISERIES
The Jinx
Over the Garden Wall
Wolf Hall


Notes:

Reality shows and late night shows are hard for me to look up on Wikipedia because most of them don't follow a traditional season schedule. Please look at them and let me know if they qualify.

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 a terrible show had the best costume design, put it in the pool.

[Winston*]

Rectify!

[Mara]

Rectify!

I can't believe I forgot Rectify. I totally love it, too.

[Mara]

I am most likely to have missed a show that doesn't have its own thread. If you have one you've been talking up in general discussion, check for it!

[ledfloyd]

So much to catch up on. Working plus school has wreaked havoc on my TV time.

I doubt I'll catch up with it myself, but Flash seems notably absent.

[Mara]

It's under "The Flash" because that's how my spreadsheet thinks alphabetizing works.

Also, I hear it's great, but since I gave up a few episodes into season 1 of The Arrow, I don't know how much I'd get out of it.

[Winston*]

It's under "The Flash" because that's how my spreadsheet thinks alphabetizing works.

Also, I hear it's great, but since I gave up a few episodes into season 1 of The Arrow, I don't know how much I'd get out of it.

I only watched one episode of season 3 of The Arrow and didn't find it appealing, but really enjoy The Flash. I think you would like it.

[EyesWideOpen]

Over the Garden Wall (miniseries)
Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories (comedy?)
Nathan For You Season 2 (not sure where?)
Fresh off the Boat Season 1 (comedy)
The Fall Season 2 (drama)
The Jinx (miniseries)

[Lucky]

Scrotal Recall S1
The Jinx
And should Transparent be comedy?

[Winston*]

And should Transparent be comedy?

Orange is the New Black isn't a comedy either.

[Henry Gale]

It's possible I've proposed this in past years, but to settle the ever-increasing "dramedy" (if there is a better word, please replace it in your head) issue, should we just define comedies and dramas by if they're half-hours or hour-longs?

[Mara]

It's possible I've proposed this in past years, but to settle the ever-increasing "dramedy" (if there is a better word, please replace it in your head) issue, should we just define comedies and dramas by if they're half-hours or hour-longs?

Does anyone object to this criteria? OINTB went as comedy last year but we can change it.

[EyesWideOpen]

I think we should just have a dramedy category. I don't consider Girls or Louie comedies either.

[Henry Gale]

I think we should just have a dramedy category. I don't consider Girls or Louie comedies either.

But this is even more confusing to me (aside from just not liking the word). At what point is a half-hour simply without significant laughs and a dramatic series with a lot of jokes in it?

Also, to add / consider:

COMEDY
Big Time in Hollywood, FL - S1
Black-ish S1
The Goldbergs S2
The Heart, She Holler S3 (Even though even I somehow haven't watched it yet.)
The Jack and Triumph Show S1
Looking S2
Married S1
Marry Me S1
Mozart in the Jungle S1
Togetherness S1
You're the Worst S1

DRAMA
The 100 - S2
Doctor Who S8
Empire S1
The Knick S1
The Leftovers S1
The Strain S1

ANIMATED
Adventure Time S6
American Dad S11
Gravity Falls S2
Major Lazer S1
Mike Tyson Mysteries S1 (I feel like like one is way too underseen.)
Star Wars Rebels S1
Steven Universe S1/S2
Superjail! S2

TALK SHOW
The Late Show with David Letterman (Farewell votes, perhaps?)
The Late Late Show with James Corden (It's fun!)
The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore

REALITY
The Amazing Race
Gadget Man (with Richard Ayoade)
Shark Tank
So You Think You Can Dance


I'd weirdly argue for Drunk History in DOCUMENTARY (the core of it is basically re-enactments and there's the real people/location. showcases of each city) and Nathan For You in REALITY (since it's really no more scripted than most in the genre).

[Lucky]

Or shall we do away with comedy/drama subgroups entirely and have ten nominees for the Best Series category? Maybe six nominees for Actor/Actress/Ensemble/etc? Might make the races more interesting for our thinning participant pool.

[Mara]

Sorry to take so long to respond. I can't got in at work and it takes ages to type out posts on my phone.

So, my fear about combining drama and comedy is that I think they're really hard to compare, and I think that the comedies will just be buried.

I think there may be a benefit to splitting into long form (>40 minutes/episode) and short form (<30 minutes/episode). It would certainly make it easier to categorize. That's my vote, anyway.

[EyesWideOpen]

Undateable Season 2 (comedy)

And just to clarify Over the Garden Wall wasn't a Season 1. It's a miniseries.

[Thirdmango]

even though I haven't watched them to add to documentary since they're both episode based docs:

Vice
Foo Fighters Sonic Highways

[Gizmo]

Or shall we do away with comedy/drama subgroups entirely and have ten nominees for the Best Series category? Maybe six nominees for Actor/Actress/Ensemble/etc? Might make the races more interesting for our thinning participant pool.

Sorry to take so long to respond. I can't got in at work and it takes ages to type out posts on my phone.

So, my fear about combining drama and comedy is that I think they're really hard to compare, and I think that the comedies will just be buried.

I think there may be a benefit to splitting into long form (>40 minutes/episode) and short form (<30 minutes/episode). It would certainly make it easier to categorize. That's my vote, anyway.

I like these ideas combined. Why not just best short series (~30 minutes) and best long series (~60 minutes) and not fret over the comedy vs drama. I think I'm more inclined to vote for comedies in the short and dramas in the long, just by nature. Anyway, I never watch enough tv in real time to feel like I've got a solid 5 in any single comedy or drama category as it is, without just voting for the obvious choices (GoT, Breaking Bad, etc.)

[Mara]

Just found out Moone Boy has a season 3, and also remembered I totally meant to watch Wolf Hall.

[Gizmo]

Any headway on any changes to the categories and getting this going? I feel like it's early June now.

[Mara]

Any headway on any changes to the categories and getting this going? I feel like it's early June now.

I'm working on the ballot thread now! I think I'm going with short form and long form narrative for the categories and we'll see how it goes.

[Ivan Drago]

The Jack and Triumph Show S1

What are your thoughts on this? I watched a couple episodes and not sure how I feel about it. But I love that Triumph's circle of friends consists of the Chocolate Rain guy, Joey Fatone and Leonard freakin' Maltin.

[Henry Gale]

What are your thoughts on this? I watched a couple episodes and not sure how I feel about it. But I love that Triumph's circle of friends consists of the Chocolate Rain guy, Joey Fatone and Leonard freakin' Maltin.

Yeah, I'm in a similar boat. Watched and enjoyed the first couple but ultimately fell away from it. I do know people who kept with it seemed to like it more and more as it went.

Might just throw them all on some day this summer, if only for the fantastic real-world, Conan-esque segments (which, let's be honest, are the reason this show got made and what it should've just been for the whole 22 minutes, without the faux-sitcom comeback conceit).

Not sure I need to catch up with it for my ballot, though.