The Cutties Awards - 2016

[Mara]

Good afternoon, cool cats and lady birds! Welcome back to the greatest and most accurate television awards in the world, The Cutties! As usual Match Cutters have the greatest taste on the internet, and as always I found a list of new shows I should definitely check out. Thanks so much to everyone who participated.

I'm on vacation in lovely, sunny, cool Santa Barbara, California, so I will post what I can now and then I'm not sure when I'll be on again. Due to the odd nomination process this year, it was far too much word to go through every single nominee in this final thread, so instead I'm going for a "bridesmaid and the bride" presentation, where I will run through all the shows/people who received a final nomination before giving the winner (or winners, as there are several ties as always.) I'm also not going to include the winner in the "nominees are" post to save some time on hunting down pictures. So it will just be "the finalists" and "the winner(s)."

So without further ado, here we go! Comments, arguments, disagreements and wholehearted approval welcome.

As always, I will not even pretend to be impartial to the proceedings.

[Mara]

BEST COSTUMES

The Finalists are:

Hannibal

Hannibal was the greatest wearer of suits in television history; Donald Draper be damned.


Outlander


And this dress gets its own picture because I am in charge here; and also, rawr.

[Mara]

And the winner is:

Game of Thrones

[Mara]

BEST OPENING CREDITS:

The Finalists Are: (Part One)

Daredevil


Game of Thrones

[Mara]

(Part Two)

iZombie


Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

[Mara]

And the Winner Is:

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend


She's so broken insiiiiiiiide!

[Mara]

For the record, Hannibal and Daredevil have essentially the same opening credits and I don't like either of them. I'm not sure why; they just don't jive with me.

[Mara]

CANCELLED TOO SOON

And the finalists are:

Person of Interest


The Grinder

[Mara]

And the Winner is:

Hannibal

[Mara]

No surprise there for me; the cancellation of Hannibal was a gut punch. I can't remember the last time I was so upset about a cancellation. The first two seasons were great, but the third was remarkable and challenging and beautiful and I still can't believe it's gone.

HANNIBAL

[Mara]

BEST NEW SHOW

And the Finalists are:

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee


Jessica Jones

[Mara]

And the winners are:

A three-way tie!

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend


Master of None


Mr. Robot

[Mara]

I heartily approve of all those winners. Great crop of new shows this year.

[Mara]

The next category contains a spoiler for season 6 of Game of Thrones, so if you're not caught up...

...you should maybe get on that; it's been a few weeks, chop chop.

[Mara]

BEST GUEST STAR (LONG FORM NARRATIVE)

And the finalists are:

Bella Ramsey, Game of Thrones


John Carroll Lynch, The Walking Dead


Max Von Sydow, Game of Thrones


Rory McCann, Game of Thrones

[Mara]

And the winner is:

Richard Armitage, Hannibal

[Mara]

I didn't vote for Bella Ramsey (Armitage was beyond extraordinary in his role) but she exemplifies what I think a guest star should be: someone who through deft writing, a strong performance, and sheer charisma can become a fan favorite in ten minutes (less?) screen time. Lyanna, we love you.

[Mara]

BEST GUEST STAR (SHORT FORM NARRATIVE)

The finalists are:

Christopher Abbott, Girls



Megan Fox, New Girl


Shoukath Ansari, Master of None

[Mara]

And the winner is:

Jason Mantzoukas, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

[Mara]

Not to be a grouch, but for the record I don't find Megan Fox to be a compelling performer. I feel like I don't really "get" her.

[Peng]

Normally I'd agree with you, but she's utilized pretty well in New Girl though, using her off-ness for comedy and sparking some good interactions with the remaining cast. I enjoyed her arc so much that I was disappointed when we return to the same-old-same-old with Zooey's return (and Sam's arc with her, ugh). At least until Zooey was given great material finallly near the end of the season.

[dreamdead]

I'm betting that not many MCutters watch Outlander. The movement between opulence and simplicity in the French and English sections is a marvel and while GoT often engineers magnificent costume design (specifically for Cersei in her final scenes this season), Outlander just far and away delivered this year.

Having not seen Richard Armitage in anything (or, more likely, recognized him as anything other than an ensemble player in features), his work in Hannibal was stellar and altogether convincing in posture changes, vocal inflection, and facial expressions.

As someone who tired of The League after the third season, I generally can only take Jason Mantzoukas in small doses. On B99, however, he showcases new range and also provides Rosa with new dimensionality as well. That's what a guest star should do, expand and illuminate new areas of a character.

[Mara]

Normally I'd agree with you, but she's utilized pretty well in New Girl though, using her off-ness for comedy and sparking some good interactions with the remaining cast. I enjoyed her arc so much that I was disappointed when we return to the same-old-same-old with Zooey's return (and Sam's arc with her, ugh). At least until Zooey was given great material finallly near the end of the season.

She did a decent job-- I didn't dislike it-- but I just have a hard time finding her interesting.

Also RE this season of The New Girl; I feel like I was promised more John Cho (like he was going to be a bigger character) and then he disappeared, and BRING BACK JOHN CHO I love him so much.

[Mara]

BEST EPISODE (LONG-FORM NARRATIVE)

The finalists are:

Better Call Saul, "Nailed"


Game of Thrones, "The Winds of Winter"


Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards”


Hannibal, “The Wrath of the Lamb”

[Mara]

And the winner is:

The Americans, “The Magic Of David Copperfield V: The Statue Of Liberty Disappears”