Dream Nominees- Drama Series
- The Americans
- Boardwalk Empire
- Breaking Bad
- Game of Thrones
- Justified
- Mad Men
There are so many quality dramas out there right now, that it's really hard to pick just six. Of my choices, Justified and Boardwalk Empire will probably be snubbed in the actual nominations, but I really thought they had outstanding seasons and deserve to be there. Especially Boardwalk, which is a show that in contrast to its decreasing hype every year, has only gotten better as the seasons have progressed. I know that some feel Mad Men had an off season, but to me that show is still better than almost anything out there, so I wouldn't kick that out either. I did toss last year's winner Homeland out of the mix, and that show will definitely be nominated again. There were some big plausibility issues with the second season, and while I'm never really that hard on spy thrillers in terms of plot stuff (I'm willing to suspend more disbelief than most), there were some really glaring, over the top and wacky moments this year that were just plain ridiculous, and the ever growing screentime of the teenager from hell (fans know who I mean) is like a weight around that show's neck that is just dragging it down into the abyss whenever she shows up, to the point where I started dreading her every moment even before the episodes aired.
The Americans had a really strong debut season and took a different approach to the spy thing than Homeland, eschewing overdramatic plot twists and revelations for a lot of subtlety and internal character drama that I was very surprised by (and the Homeland writers could certainly benefit from watching this show on how to deal with teenage kid characters- please, I BEG of them to take note). Game of Thrones had its best season yet, although I doubt that show will ever win, because of the fantasy genre it's stuck in, and although Justified's best season remains the second, the fourth was an ambitious mystery arc that introduced more great new characters (something this show excels at) while keeping up with the best dialogue on TV, a quality for which it's highly underrated (it's never even been nominated in writing).
Breaking Bad's half-season last year remained astonishingly suspenseful and well-acted, even if it felt unfinished (how could it not?). I choose that to finally win Series this year because I think it's time, and happily, I think it actually will win too, because the Academy is going to realize that it's now or never for that show. The final 8 episodes are airing in August, it's going to be at the top of everyone's radar, and I truly believe with Homeland's dip in quality last season, there's no more appealing alternative for the voters to go with. Other contenders in Series are House of Cards, Downton Abbey (which will probably still be nominated, but I think it's lightweight compared to these other shows) and The Good Wife. But it's Breaking Bad's for the taking this year, and I think they're going to pull it off.
