Small Talk: And The Winner Will Be...

[Bort]

The Awards Small Talk topic is for awards-generated chatter such as:

• What you vote for in a category and/or why
• Favorite categories
• The eligibility window and the shows that missed out this time
• Commiserations when your favorite show loses/celebrations when your favorite show makes the final and/or wins
• Awards related queries
• You get the idea...

No in-depth show/character etc discussions in here please; use the show forums/topics for that.

Happy Awards Small Talking!

[Bastet]

I assume we'll get the usual three nominations per category again, and I already have nearly a dozen nominations battling it out in my head for the Christmas Episode category.  The Closer/Major Crimes franchise alone gives me oodles to choose from, so I think I'll go with my favorite from each of those, and then my third is going to be a game time decision.

For the regular categories, other than thinking The Fall of the House of Usher should win something in damn near every (positive) category, I'll have even fewer shows to nominate than usual as hardly anything else I watch aired during the eligibility window; damn AMPTP forcing two strikes.

[JustHereForFood]

I have a question about the difference between categories Favorite Christmas Special and Favorite Christmas TV Episode. UK series often have Christmas specials released separately from the rest of the season (like, the season is just 6 episodes in the middle of the year and then there is a special several months after that). Should those be nominated as specials or episodes?

[Bort]

If it’s part of a tv series, it should be in the tv episode category.

[paulvdb]

So many great new characters in season 2 of Wheel of Time. Three nominations is not enough to nominate them all.

[Ohiopirate02]

How are we handling The Crown? Do we have to wait until this summer to nominate or can we nominate based on the 4 episodes that already dropped?  

[Bastet]

It's a shame the excellent four-episode documentary Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop can't be nominated anywhere; I know the general categories are focused on episodic television, but I was hoping to see the specific "TIL (Today I Learned): Favorite Limited Series Documentary, Non-Fiction or True Crime Show" category from the last awards appear again.

[Bort]

6 minutes ago, Bastet said:

It's a shame the excellent four-episode documentary Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop can't be nominated anywhere; I know the general categories are focused on episodic television, but I was hoping to see the specific "TIL (Today I Learned): Favorite Limited Series Documentary, Non-Fiction or True Crime Show" category from the last awards appear again.

That category performed rather spectacularly underwhelmingly, so it was dropped.

[Bastet]

1 minute ago, kariyaki said:

That category performed rather spectacularly underwhelmingly,

Figures -- that's mostly what I watch.

[Bort]

Just an FYI for everybody, there are more categories on page two.

[Bastet]

On 11/30/2023 at 3:22 PM, Bastet said:

I assume we'll get the usual three nominations per category again, and I already have nearly a dozen nominations battling it out in my head for the Christmas Episode category.  The Closer/Major Crimes franchise alone gives me oodles to choose from, so I think I'll go with my favorite from each of those, and then my third is going to be a game time decision.

Quoting myself to say:  I was pretty confident I could count on someone to nominate "So-Called Angels" (the Christmas episode of My So-Called Life) if I didn't pick that as my third; it made my short list, but while the things I love about it I really love, there are things I don't like, so I went with episodes I have no mixed feelings about, but had my fingers crossed that one would be nominated by another poster.  Yay!

I also considered picking "In Excelsis Deo" from The West Wing as my third, but there was no doubt in my mind that would get nominated, and indeed that has already happened as well.

[Lady Calypso]

Ok, quick confirmation because I THINK it's eligible but not 100%: because Silo fell right in the middle of Spring 2023 Awards, the last 5 episodes aired after June 1st (its first five episodes obviously aired right before). So it IS eligible to be nominated this time around, yes?

[Bort]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

Ok, quick confirmation because I THINK it's eligible but not 100%: because Silo fell right in the middle of Spring 2023 Awards, the last 5 episodes aired after June 1st (its first five episodes obviously aired right before). So it IS eligible to be nominated this time around, yes?

Yes it is, nominate your heart out!

[shapeshifter]

On 11/30/2023 at 6:22 PM, Bastet said:

I assume we'll get the usual three nominations per category again, and I already have nearly a dozen nominations battling it out in my head for the Christmas Episode category.  The Closer/Major Crimes franchise alone gives me oodles to choose from, so I think I'll go with my favorite from each of those, and then my third is going to be a game time decision.

I was going to offer to nominate your favorite Closer and/or Major Crimes episodes so you could use your 3 on others, but I see the Snuggle Season: Favorite Christmas TV Episode category is already full. 

I guess it's too late for this year, but maybe next year it could be broken up into 2 or 3 categories, maybe by date or other category, but that does seem like a lot of extra work for the mods to keep straight.
Categorizing by Comedy or Drama is already hard enough, but Christmas episodes tend to lean into one or the other in ways that are a-typical of the rest of the series, right?

Maybe someone else can suggest a simpler breakdown?
I suppose alphabetically by title would be easiest, like: A-M and N-Z?

[Bastet]

17 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I guess it's too late for this year, but maybe next year

I think it's a one-off, like the best summer-themed episode category, rather than something that will be an ongoing list, like the GOAT and Christmas movies categories. 

[joanne3482]

To quote the kids, today I learned that I haven't watched all the episodes of shows I watch. I do not remember the Halloween Baking Show smash thing and I must have missed like half of Ashoka. And I didn't know that Shazz had died on Only Murders in the Building. 

[Bastet]

Did the Favorite Friends Thanksgiving Episode category just get added, and they're all nominated (so there was no need to have it listed during the nominations period)?  I didn't watch the show other than a few episodes here and there, so this is mere curiosity to make sure I didn't somehow miss even seeing, never mind opening, a category.

[Bort]

Yeah, there’s a definitive list of all the thanksgiving episodes of Friends, so there was no need to have a nomination for it.

[shapeshifter]

Would Bluey have qualified for nomination for "Favorite Animated Show"? 
Why yes, I have a toddler grandchild. Why do you ask?

 

Due to a lot of other real life things, I was glad the Writers Strike meant there weren't too many shows for me to consider, but I failed to notice the "Strange New Worlds: Favorite Scripted Or Reality Show Discovered During Strike" category.
I see it didn't quite meet its 25 maximum.
I would've perhaps contributed some 1970s shows I've been watching for the first time, due to living off the grid when they originally aired, including Ironside and Kojak. 
But they probably wouldn't have made to the finals anyway.

Edited December 14, 2023 by shapeshifter

[festivus]

Yeah, I didn't even think of that. I should have nominated Emergency! which I did not watch back in the day, (I basically watched what my mom watched and this show wasn't a show she watched) but I love it now. But you're right it probably wouldn't make it to the finals.

[Bort]

20 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Would Bluey have qualified for nomination for "Favorite Animated Show"? 

No, it wasn’t in the eligibility window.

[SoMuchTV]

I’ve only gotten through about half a dozen categories so far, but I have to say I’m shocked! (in a good way) that I’ve not only heard of, but actually watched, most of the finalists, and had to really think about my choice rather than just vote for the one option I’m vaguely aware of. I know that can’t continue through the whole list, but one can hope. 

[Bastet]

I didn't think I'd have anything to vote for other than The Fall of the House of Usher (which I'm thrilled to see made it to the finals in most of the categories in which it was nominated, as that's the most compelling television I've seen in years), so I was ridiculously pleased to see my nomination of Murphy Brown's "Jingle Hell, Jingle Hell, Jingle All the Way" is a finalist for favorite Christmas episode.

And I love that The Lion in Winter is a contender in the non-traditional Christmas movie category.  (In its partner, the traditional Christmas movie category, I was not expecting to cast a vote as that is so not my genre, but National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation cracks me up.)

[paulvdb]

I feel like this time there are more categories than ever where I haven't watched a single nominated show. And I could probably count on one hand the number of categories where I watched more than one of the nominations. The Friends Thanksgving category was the only one where I have watched them all.

[SoMuchTV]

2 hours ago, paulvdb said:

I feel like this time there are more categories than ever where I haven't watched a single nominated show. And I could probably count on one hand the number of categories where I watched more than one of the nominations. The Friends Thanksgving category was the only one where I have watched them all.

That's how I feel every time around!  This time, I guess the stars aligned.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, paulvdb said:

I feel like this time there are more categories than ever where I haven't watched a single nominated show. And I could probably count on one hand the number of categories where I watched more than one of the nominations.

This👆 used to be my normal. But after Game of Thrones was over, a lot of shows I watch started making it to the finals. I'm not gonna tell you "your time will come," but having some lean years of voting doesn't mean it will always be that way.

This would've been a really lean Awards voting session for me if not for Only Murders In The Building (on Hulu). 

There were So. Many. Categories for OMITB that I listed them on the show's media thread in hopes of getting some help deciding which to vote for when there were 2 nominations for OMITB in a single category, of which there were 8 categories, not to mention 11 more categories in which OMITB placed once!
There are A LOT Of Categories! 
That's a LOT of work! 
Thanks!

1 minute ago, shapeshifter said:

• It Just Wouldn’t Be The Same Without You: Favorite Lead Character
  • Only Murders in the Building - Charles-Haden Savage
  • Only Murders in the Building - Oliver Putnam

Oy. Which one to vote for?

More OMITB toss-ups in:

• LMFAO: Funniest Scene From A Scripted Show
• One & Done: Favorite Short-Term Guest Character
  Another tough choice!
  • Trixie, the sewing circle leader at Snitches Get Stitches
  • Matthew Broderick
• The Newbie: Favorite New Character on an Established Scripted Show
  Still on the fence:
  • Ben Glenroy
  • Loretta
• No Ro-Mo: Favorite Platonic Pairing
  • Charles and Oliver
  • Mabel and Charles
• Straight Off The Runway: Character With Best Wardrobe
  • Mabel
  • Oliver
• Not Just A Prop: Favorite Performance By An Inanimate Object
  • Only Murders in the Building - The Death Rattle cookie
  • Only Murders in the Building - The sewing circle's memorial quilt to Ben Glenroy
• Music To My Ears: Favorite Musical Moment
  • Only Murders in the Building - Loretta (Meryl Streep) singing the nanny's lullaby "Look for the Light"
  • Only Murders in the Building - Charles singing the patter song "Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did it?

[kickingnames]

Been dealing with real life stuff and missed the early rounds; I am shocked the Klingon moment during the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode didn’t make the favorite musical moment cut. Felt like I heard about it the most when that episode released.

[shapeshifter]

21 hours ago, kickingnames said:

Been dealing with real life stuff and missed the early rounds; I am shocked the Klingon moment during the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode didn’t make the favorite musical moment cut. Felt like I heard about it the most when that episode released.

Is this it?
https://youtu.be/xN--U-nilrE?si=5aIlAXOnd6_OtfBW&t=27

 

[kickingnames]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Is this it?
https://youtu.be/xN--U-nilrE?si=5aIlAXOnd6_OtfBW&t=27

 

The K-Pop style in the actual episode:

 

[Spartan Girl]

Now that the forums are back, when do we get the winners?

[Bort]

We couldn’t get any awards work done anymore than you could see the board while it was down, and now it’s almost Xmas. So not likely to have the results up until after.

[ProudMary]

I'm very happy to hear that we'll actually be getting results. 👏 When doesn't matter. I was concerned that our votes might have been lost during the upgrade!

To the Mods, who put in a lot of extra work so all of us can have this extra bit of fun--now twice a year!--sit back, relax and enjoy your holiday. 🎉

[Meredith Quill]

16 hours ago, ProudMary said:

To the Mods, who put in a lot of extra work so all of us can have this extra bit of fun--now twice a year!--sit back, relax and enjoy your holiday. 🎉

Not only do they do so, but they do so voluntarily, which some may say makes them gluttons for punishment, but in my book it makes them doubly amazing! #awardsteamappreciation

[The Crazed Spruce]

A hearty cheer to the team of mods that run the awards!

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

but they do so voluntarily,

Wait, what? 

[Bort]

3 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

Not only do they do so, but they do so voluntarily, which some may say makes them gluttons for punishment

Or the chance to makes lists and count things fulfills the mild to moderate OCD symptoms some of us probably have.

[ProudMary]

5 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Or the chance to makes lists and count things fulfills the mild to moderate OCD symptoms some of us probably have.

 

[Spartan Girl]

I can’t wait to find out who the winners were!

[ProudMary]

What a great New Year's surprise! Once again the gifs are amazingly spot on. I really don't know how you do it. It's just not possible for you--even a collective you--to be familiar enough with all the winning shows to be able to discover a perfect gif. It's moderator magic!

Just one missing item: In the category "We Heart Bad Boys: Favorite Villain," only the winner is listed, not the runner-up. The category appears in Winners: Part III.

Thank you for all the hard work and Happy New Year! 🥳 🎉

 

[Bort]

32 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

What a great New Year's surprise! Once again the gifs are amazingly spot on. I really don't know how you do it. It's just not possible for you--even a collective you--to be familiar enough with all the winning shows to be able to discover a perfect gif. It's moderator magic!

Just one missing item: In the category "We Heart Bad Boys: Favorite Villain," only the winner is listed, not the runner-up. The category appears in Winners: Part III.

Thank you for all the hard work and Happy New Year! 🥳 🎉

Between the six of us mods, there’s someone who watches one of the winners and knows what gif is needed. Google helps too.

Thanks for pointing out the missing runnerup in Fave Villain. It’s been corrected. It was Loki - Miss Minutes, for the record.

[Meredith Quill]

1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

What a great New Year's surprise! Once again the gifs are amazingly spot on. I really don't know how you do it. It's just not possible for you--even a collective you--to be familiar enough with all the winning shows to be able to discover a perfect gif. It's moderator magic!

Just one missing item: In the category "We Heart Bad Boys: Favorite Villain," only the winner is listed, not the runner-up. The category appears in Winners: Part III.

Thank you for all the hard work and Happy New Year! 🥳 🎉

 

We're all tv addicts here 😉, your kind words are appreciated.

[Bastet]

I wish The Fall of the House of Usher had won even more awards (because I think it should win just about everything; I have not been so captivated by TV in years), but I'm only annoyed by it not winning favorite writing and favorite genre show -- it won all the other categories I thought it most deserved.  Most important to me was favorite new show, then favorite adaptation, then most satisfying death (Freddy's) and saddest death (Lenore's), and then favorite villain.

I'm also glad to see so many people discovered the fabulous Schitt's Creek during the strike.

None of the Christmas categories came out the way I wanted, but I was just pleasantly surprised by some of the finalists, so I'm good.

I always find this fun, but I usually have nothing or almost nothing to vote for in the final round and absolutely nothing I watch among the winners.  It's even more fun the rare times I do. 

[DearEvette]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

Most important to me was favorite new show, then favorite adaptation, then most satisfying death (Freddy's) and saddest death (Lenore's), and then favorite villain.

I am glad it won both death scene categories.  Not just because I nommed them (pats self on back) but because the deaths were such an integral part of the narrative.  They were meaningful on a whole story level but on a character level as well.  And yeah, agreed it was my favorite show that aired during the eligibility period.  It is amazing because horror and horror-adjacent is really not my jam. But I ate that show up.

I think the only category I (again biased) think it should have won was diversity.  That Roderick Usher got around! He managed to impregnate women of all races!  And managed to have children that were straight, bi, gay,  and pan. And married a woman with a disability.  All of that in one family!

I was also gratified to see that Reservation Dogs got a lot of love.

 

[JustHereForFood]

I think this was the first time that something I nominated has won and ironically it was the favorite ship category, which I usually don't care much about. 💖

[SoMuchTV]

7 hours ago, ProudMary said:

What a great New Year's surprise! Once again the gifs are amazingly spot on. I really don't know how you do it. It's just not possible for you--even a collective you--to be familiar enough with all the winning shows to be able to discover a perfect gif. It's moderator magic!

I 100% agree with the appreciation for all the time and effort the mods put into this, and I agree that the gifs were spot on, but can I be the only one who sees multiple moving images on my screen and just wants to say, for the love of all that’s holy, make them hold still! 

Every time we’re asked for feedback, I beg for an option/user preference to not autopay gifs. I swear I’ve seen this option on other platforms. 

Okay, I’ll step down off my soapbox until next time.