OUTSTANDING SOUND FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE

The Ameircans (“Baggage”)

Daredevil (“Condemned”)

The Flash (“Out of Time”)

Game of Thrones (“Hardhome”)

The Legend of Korra (“Old Wounds”) 

AND THE WINNER IS:

THE AMERICANS (“BAGGAGE”)

This is the first win for John Bowen, Jay Fisher, Alexander J. Nobbs, James David Redding III & Richard Topham III for their sound work for The Americans Season 3 episode “Baggage”. This is also all their first nomination.

Really this sound award was won by The Americans for many reasons throughout their entire third season but if their is one piece of excellence of sound done by the show it occured in the second episode when dispossing of a dead body. The Suitcase is really all I can call this sequence as our two central characters have to pack a dead female body into a suitcase and being the non nonsence people they are they have no problem breaking every bone to fit the women into the suitcase. Every sound they add in as the bones break is so horrifying and really made my back chill added to why I thought this feet of sound was as great as it is. This team of sound artist really did a spectacular job in creating the devestating sequence that was such a standout moment on television this season.

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Kaitlyn Dever as Loretta McCready for (“Burned”) in “JUSTIFIED”

Julianne Nicholson as Dr. Lillian DePaul for (“Blackbird”) in “MASTERS OF SEX”

Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper for (“The Forecase”) in “MAD MEN”

Lois Smith as Betty Turner for (“Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?”) in “THE AMERICANS”

Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Karsi for (“Hardhome”) in “GAME OF THRONES”

Cicely Tyson as Ophelia Hartness for (“Mama’s Here Now”) in “HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER” 

AND THE WINNER IS:

JULIANNE NICHOLSON AS DR. LILLIAN DEPAUL FOR (“BLACKBIRD”) IN “MASTERS OF SEX”

This is the first win and third nomination for Julianne Nicholson for her performance as Dr. Lillian DePaul in the episode “Blacbird” on Masters of Sex Season 2. She was previously nominated for Masters of Sex (2014) and The Red Road (2014).

Continuing on the tragic story of Dr. Lillian DePaul Nicholson in season 2 of Masters of Sex gave yet another great performance up until the sad departure of the character in the episode “Blackbird”. Nicholson always played this character with strength which is why the ending of this characters life was as devestating as it was. Nicholson in giving this performance made the bond between Lillian and Virginia so strong that when it came to Virginia letting her friend go it felt so satisfyinf and this is what makes the Nicholson performance as great as it. Another note for Nicholson is because of the strength of her work when her character departed the show something was missing and that was Nicholson’s potrayel of Dr. Lillian DePaul. 

OUTSTANDING HAIRSTYLING FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE

The Americans (“I Am Abassin Zadran”)

Game of Thrones (“Mother’s Mercy”)

Mad Men (“Person to Person”)

Olive Kitteridge

Transparent (“Best New Girl”)

AND THE WINNER IS:

THE AMERICANS (“I AM ABASSIN ZADRAN”)

This second win Peg Schierholz for and first win for Ruth Carsch, Elena Roulenko & John Quaglia for their hairstyling work for The Americans Season 3 episode “I Am Abassin Zadran”. Peg Schierholz previously won for Mildred Pierce (2011). This is the first nomination for Ruth Carsch, Elena Roulenko & John Quaglia.

Ever since the first season of The Americans when we were introduced to these characters who wear wiigs for their career as KGB spies deep undercover the hairstyling of the show has been one of the strong aspects because easily not much attention could be paid to these multiple disguises. In this third season we get once again some great wiigs and the styling of them are just great from ones like Philip’s many looks that are quite creepy to Elizabeth looks that really make her look like a different character from scene to scene. Also the hairstyling in particular was shown very much in this standout episode where the moment Philip removed his wiig and revealed himself to Martha and the time the show used was just great and really was able to show how great the hairstyling is on this show.

OUTSTANDING MAKEUP FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (“Aftershocks”)

American Horror Story: Freak Show (“Blood Bath”)

Game of Thrones (“Hardhome”)

iZombie (“Dead Rat, Live Rat, Brown Rat, White Rat”)

Olive Kitteridge

AND THE WINNER IS:

OLIVE KITTERIDGE

This is the first win and nomination for Gerald Quist, Christien Tinsley and Marleen Alter for their makeup work for Olive Kitteridge.

Olive Kitteridge was a miniseries that takes place over 25 years and transforming the central characters of Olive and Henry Kitteridge over the decades was simplisticly done where I was never distracted by the choose to age these characters. The believability from the episodes really was overwelming because while younger characters were recast once they became older the two central characters and others featured in this universefrom the beginning were aged because of the makeup being done in small amounts really worked so effectively.

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Lou Eyrich for (“Monster Among Us”), American Horror Story: Freak Show

Ellen Mirojnick for (“Mr. Paris Shoes”), The Knick

Janie Bryant for (“Severance”), Mad Men

Jenny Eagan for Olive Kitteridge

Gabriella Pescucci for (“Séance”), Penny Dreadful

AND THE WINNER IS:

JANIE BRYANT FOR (“SEVERANCE”), MAD MEN

This is the fifth win and eleventh nomination for Janie Bryant for her costume design of Mad Men Season 7 Episode “Severance”. Bryant previously won for Mad Men (2009-2010, 2012-2013). She was previously nominated for the costume design of Deadwood (2004-2005, 2007) and Mad Men (2008, 2011, 2014).

Janie Bryant has been one of the staples of Mad Men since the very beginning creating the beautiful costumes seen every week on the show and yet again in the final seven episodes she proofed her brillance creating incredible costuming. In the first of the final seven episodes the evolution of the costumes from late sixties to early seventies was so perfectly captured where the clothing was looser and more colourful. Bryant really look advantage of time throughout the show where the costumes elevated as we went through time and seeing her experiment in seventies costumes was a sight to behold. The cotumes on this show told a story for many of the characters and this episode Joan’s clothing is a healing exercise for her and by doing this we see some beautiful work by Bryant who yet again did incredible costuming for this show.

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED PROGRAM

American Dad (“Holy S… Jeff’s Back”)

Bob’s Burgers (“Father of the Bob”)

BoJack Horseman (“The Telescope”)

The Legend of Korra (“Enter the Void/Venom of the Red Lotus”)

South Park (“#HappyHolograms”)

AND THE WINNER IS:

THE LEGEND OF KORRA (“ENTER THE VOID/VENOM OF THE RED LOTUS”)

This is the third win and nomination for The Legend of Korra for animated program. The show won previous times in 2012 and 2014.

The Legend of Korra surprised many like myself airing it’s final two seasons in the same tv season and while I was glad to get more Legend of Korra I was also sadened by it coming to an end. The episode in particular I felt was the show at it’s best from both seasons was the combination of the final two episodes from the third season “Enter the Void/Venom of the Red Lotus”. The episode featured highly dramatic action, quiet devestating deaths and one of the most heartbreaking final shots where the Korra we all know is gone and is broken as a person after going through such a traumatic experince. The animation of the episode flows as we see these elements beautifully fighting aganist one another and then the episodes really killed me when we see an Avatar completly devestated a show like this being able to do this was shocking and great and giving this show animated program of the year for me as a farewell feels right for me.

OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Production Design by Bill Groom; Set Design by Carol Silverman for (“Eldorado”), Boardwalk Empire

Production Design by Deborah Riley; Set Design by Rob Cameron for (“Hardhome”), Game of Thrones

Production Design by Howard Cummings; Set Design by Regina Graves for (“Method and Madness”), The Knick

Production Design by Dan Bishop; Set Design by Claudette Didul for (“Lost Horizon”), Mad Men

Production Design by Julie Berghoff; Set Design by Sophie Neudorfer for Olive Kitteridge

AND THE WINNER IS:

PRODUCTION DESIGN BY DAN BISHOP; SET DESIGN BY CLAUDETTE DIDUL FOR (“LOST HORIZON”), MAD MEN

This is the second win for Dan Bishop and first win for Claudette Didul for their art direction of Mad Men Season 7 Episode “Lost Horizon”. Dan Bishop previously won for Mad Men (2009). This is Dan Bishop’s sixth nomination being previously nominated for Mad Men (2010-2013). This is Claudette Didul’s fourth nomination being previously nominated for Mad Men (2011-2013).

2015 for me marks the end of the greatest television show with Mad Men coming to an end and just as the show came to an end so did SC&P and in the episode Lost Horizon we saw the physical end of the offices featured from the beginning of season 4. Dan Bishop and Claudette Didul have been doing work together for Mad Men since season 4 and showing the rotting offices of SC&P must have been hard for the pair to do but their work in taking away the life of this set was a masterful work. Seeing the walls and ceiling ripped apart and small amounts of furniture throughout the offices was heartbreaking as a fan of the show and really shows how well art directed this episode and the season was overall by these two being able to cause me to have an emotional reaction the destruction of these offices once filled with life and people we all loved.

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Scott Glenn as Stick for (“Stick”) in “DAREDEVIL”

Mark Hamill as James Jesse / The Trickster for (“Tricksters”) in “THE FLASH”

Wentworth Miller as Leonard Snart / Captain Cold for (“Rouge Time”) in “THE FLASH”

Richard Schiff as Occeam for (“The Pironer’s Dilemma”) in “MANHATTAN”

Jonathan Tucker as Boon for (“Burned”) in “JUSTIFIED”

Courtney B. Vance as Clarence Parker for (“The Lawn Chair”) in “SCANDAL”

AND THE WINNER IS:

JONATHAN TUCKER AS BOON FOR (“BURNED”) IN “JUSTIFIED”

This is the first win and nomination for Jonathan Tucker for his performance as Boon in the episode “Burned” on Justified Season 7.

Jonathan Tucker first came to my attention as Mayor Bob Little on Parenthood then a guest stint as a killer on Hannibal last season but with his work on this final season of Justified he finally made a lasting impression on me. Introducing a new character to a show’s final season 4 episodes before it’s finale could be questionable but with Boon Justified made the perfect call by introducing this character you quickly fall in love with and when he comes to his end you feel sad for this new character. In his introduction episode Burned from his flirtation with Lorette to his henchmen work for Avery Markham Tucker creates such a great and interesting villianess character. Tucker took such joy in this performance and it really became an unforgettablee guest performance this tv season because of the performance given by Jonathan Tucker.

OUTSTANDING EDITING FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Amanda Pollack for (“Baggage”), The Americans

Monty DeGraff for (“Speak of the Devil”), Daredevl

Chris Figler for (“Lost Horizon”), Mad Men

Jeffrey M. Wener for Olive Kitteridge

Shannon Mitchell for (“It Was the Change”), Orange is the New Black

AND THE WINNER IS:

MONTY DEGRAFF FOR (“SPEAK OF THE DEVIL”), DAREDEVIL

This is the first win and nomination for Monty DeGraff for his editing of Daredevil Season 1 Episode “Speak of the Devil”.

Netflix’s Daredevil was the dark and violent comedic book show that me and many wanted and of the many strong points of the show one of it’s strongest points was the editing of the show. Throughout the season and especially in this episode the editing was clean and watchable where ever punch, kick or cut was felt. The episode’s great editing comes from the cross cutting between the fight at the beginning of the episode and the build up to the fight with each cut between the two being very tensefilled to watch. DeGraff does his job greatly in constructing this episode so well and never making the episode slow and instead driving up the tension with only the best payoff at the end when Foggy finally learns the identity of Daredevil his friend Matt Murdock.

OUTSTANDING CASTING FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Meredith Tucker for Boardwalk Empire

Jonathan Clay Harris & Alyson Silverberg for Jane the Virgin

Camille H. Patton for Justified

Laura Rosenthal for Olive Kitteridge

Jennifer Euston for Orange is the New Black

AND THE WINNER IS:

JENNIFER EUSTON FOR ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

This is the first win and second nomination for Jennifer Euston for her casting of Orange is the New Black Season 2. She was previously nominated for casting Girls (2012).

Again in Season 2 Orange is the New Black proved to have the best ensemble featured on television. In this latest season Jennifer Euston had many new roles to fill from the devlish villian Vee, the annoyingly cute Brook and the golden girls gang of Taslitz, Irma and Frieda. Each of these roles no matter how big or small were filled perfectly by Euston and her casting department from the more established actress Lorraine Toussaint to less established Kimiko Glenn. Even introducing all these new characters the casting from season 1 and this season is so strong that each character is so well defined in this universe and helps to create this brillant show.

16th "An Irish Boy" TV Awards ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Now that the emmy nominees have been announced and all my tv shows have ended their seasons that aired in and outside the 2014-2015 tv calender I feel good about starting my countdown to emmys with announcing my winners and nominees. This year I have nominations and winners in 52 categories which is a couple up from previous years. If anyone wants to check my winners and nominees from the previous 15 times I voted for the best in television they are posted right here.

Tomorrow I will start posting my nominees and winners starting as always with OUTSTANDING CASTING FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE.