OUTSTANDING MAIN TITLES THEME MUSIC

Alias Grace

The Deuce

G.L.O.W.

Godless

Mindhunter

AND THE WINNER IS:

MINDHUNTER

This is the first win and nomination for Jason Hill for his original main titles theme music for Mindhunter.

OUTSTANDING CASTING FOR A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Courtney Bright & Nicole Daniels for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Elizabeth Barnes & Jennifer Euston for G.L.O.W.

Cindy Tolan & Meredith Tucker for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Matthew Maisto for The Tale

Krista Husar & Johanna Ray for Twin Peaks

AND THE WINNER IS:

COURTNEY BRIGHT & NICOLE DANIELS FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY

This is the second win and nomination for both Courtney Bright & Nicole Daniels. They previously won for casting The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016).

Yet again the casting department did a great job for their telling of the Andrew Cunanan murders of the late 1990’s. This season found us following characters who due to their tragic murders we weren’t fully familiar with and because of the casting done by this two women, the perfect choices were made for characters including Andrew, David & Jeffrey. I never would’ve thought of Darren Criss as a possible choice to play a character so dark and Cody Fern not familiar at all to me prior to watching a show was a great casting discovery.

OUTSTANDING HOST OF A REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM

Tom Bergeron for Dancing With the Stars

RuPaul Charles for RuPaul’s Drag Race

Cat Deeley for So You Think You Can Dance

Tim Gunn & Heidi Klum for Project Runway

Phil Keoghan for The Amazing Race

AND THE WINNER IS:

RUPAUL CHARLES FOR RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

This is the fourth win and tenth nomination for RuPaul Charles for his hosting of RuPaul's Drag Race. This is his fourth consecutive win after six previous year’s nominated.

OUTSTANDING VOICEOVER PERFORMANCE

Jon Hamm as Narrator in “LEGION”

Jessica Makinson as Heidi Turner in “SOUTH PARK”

Wendie Malick as Beatrice Horseman in “BOJACK HORSEMAN”

Anthony Mendez as Narrator in “JANE THE VIRGIN”

Justin Roilland as Rick Sanchez / Morty Smith in “RICK AND MORTY”

AND THE WINNER IS:

WENDIE MALICK AS BEATRICE HORSEMAN IN “BOJACK HORSEMAN”

This is the first win and nomination for Wendie Malick.

Malick has been an actress of great comedic talent for decades now and perhaps her greatest role ever might be her voice work as BoJack’s mother Beatrice. Whether it be in flashback where we see a fierce women show no love to her child or as the older aged mother who can hardly remember her life it’s great work. Malick has a standout voice that makes the character of Beatrice stand out even when there are many actors doing great work featured in the series.

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED PROGRAM

American Dad! (“Death by Dinner Party”)

Bob’s Burgers ("The Bleakening: Parts 1 & 2")

BoJack Horseman ("The Old Sugarman Place")

Rick and Morty ("Pickle Rick")

South Park ("Put It Down")

AND THE WINNER IS:

BOJACK HORSEMAN (“THE OLD SUGARMAN PLACE”)

This is the second consecutive win for BoJack in this category and fourth straight nomination.

BoJack does both comedy and tragedy better than a lot of shows out there can even hope to do. This season’s standout episode is a great example of this as we cut back to a deeply upsetting story of BoJack’s mother’s childhood where we see that the seemingly tortores time she put her son through can come from how horrible a time she had as a child. The episode does contain some humour but it’s mainly upsetting when we revisit the flashbacks because there is nothing there that uplifts us. BoJack is the little show that could and every year we get a season of it I’m happy for it still to air.

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL MUSIC AND LYRICS

Black-ish ("We Built This")

Bob’s Burgers (“Twinkly Lights”), Bob’s Burgers

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ("The End of the Movie")

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ("Let's Generalize About Men")

South Park ("Put It Down")

AND THE WINNER IS:

CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND (“LET’S GENERALIZE ABOUT MEN”)

This is the first win and nomination for Aline Brosh McKenna. Jack Dolgen earns his second win receives his 3rd/4th nomination Adam Schlesinger earns his third win receiving his 5th/6th nomination. Jack receives his 3rd/4th nomination. Rachel Bloom wins for the fifth time with a total of 7 nominations. All three were nominated for co-writing two songs in 2017 and 2018. Adam was also nominated for writing for The Colbert Report (2008). Bloom won as well for acting and main title theme music in 2017. Adam and Rachel also won for writing “You Stupid Bitch” for the show’s first season.

The song “Let’s Generalize About Men” featured in the season 3 premier of Crazy Ex wasn’t written as a sort of anthem for what followed but the week it premiered everything about the Weinstein scandal came out so the song became even more important reflecting on the stories that were secretive coming to light. The song is a catchy pop song with a beat you can dance to while laughing hard at the lyrics. Every season now there has been one standout song that usually wins my original song category. The show now going into its last season is both a positive and negative thing as I never would’ve expected it to get past it’s first season.

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY

Kathryn Burns for (“First Penis I Saw”), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Shauna Duggins & Chavo Guerrero Jr. for (“Pilot Fantasy Sequence”), G.L.O.W.

Mark Kanemura for ("Call Me Mother"), So You Think You Can Dance

Al Blackstone for ("The Man That Got Away"), So You Think You Can Dance

Christopher Scott for ("Perm"), So You Think You Can Dance

AND THE WINNER IS:

MARK KANEMURA FOR (“CALL ME MOTHER”), SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE

This is the first win and second nomination for Mark Kanemura. He was previously nominated for choreography “I Am the Best” on So You Think You Can Dance.

Mark Kanemura is probably one of the most exciting choreographers to originate from So You Think You Can Dance during its entire run. He’s worked with Gaga during her peak fame tours and has returned to the FOX series which discovered him to create dances for both single contestants and this season even a group performance. He’s dance set to RuPaul’s “Call Me Mother” when I first saw it stood out to me because for a show that hasn’t fully embraced the LGBT community has openly as it should have seeing dancers of many styles delivering such an entering package that embraced so much of what I value I was thrilled. From the sight of seeing previous contestant Robert beginning the number and feeling his feminine and masculine ways I was in love with the creation and all the congrats go to Kanemura for continuing to up his game.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES/SPECIAL

Andre Allen for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

David Leveaux & Alex Rudzinski for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert

Paul Pennolino for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Nathan Fielder for Nathan for You

Glenn Weiss for The Oscars

AND THE WINNER IS:

DAVID LEVEAUX & ALEX RUDZINSKI FOR JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE IN CONCERT

This is the first win and nomination for David Leveaux. This is Alex Rudzinski’s second win and third nomination. He previously won for directing Grease Live! (2016) and was nominated for directing Hairspray Live! (2017).

Not really much to say that I’ve not already said. Brilliant work from these two in creating this wonderful tv event.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES/SPECIAL

Samantha Bee, for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Brandon Victor Dixon for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert

Trixie Mattel for The Trixie & Katya Show

Kate McKinnon for Saturday Night Live

John Oliver for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

AND THE WINNER IS:

BRANDON VICTOR DIXON FOR JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE IN CONCERT

This is the first win and nomination for Brandon Victor Dixon.

While many came to the NBC telecast for celebrity singers John Legend and Sara Bareilles just about everyone after the broadcast was looking into Dixon and blown away by him. Being familiar with the show I was not surprised that whoever played Judas would run away with the show. He certainly did that and more. Dixon a regular broadway star proved he has the chops to perform in many medias. His rendition of Superstar at the end of show was a sight to behold and a standout moment in this tv season. I hope that Dixon continues to grow from more people seeing his work and maybe return to future live musical productions if they will have him.

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES/SPECIAL

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The Oscars

The Trixie & Katya Show

AND THE WINNER IS:

FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE

This is the second consecutive win and third nomination for the writing staff of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.

In my opinion in terms of late night shows it’s a close battle between Daily Show allums Samantha and John. Until Bee’s show started airing on TBS I would’ve chosen Oliver always but I just prefer the work that Bee has been doing recently. In rewarding this staff I do want to say that the recent controversy concerning her use of the c-word is something that I object to. As a person who comes from a location in the world where that word is commonly used I just laughed along because I found the joke funny. I do hope that Bee and her team still feel okay pushing the limit on their humour because I would hate if they sort’ve retreat and play it safe.

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES/SPECIAL

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Nathan for You

The Trixie & Katya Show

AND THE WINNER IS:

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE IN CONCERT

After the competitive success that was Grease Live NBC had a lot of prove when they set out produce another live musical event. This production of Superstar was more of an event than any of the previous productions combined. The inclusion of an audience really upped the experience as we got to hear an audience react to musical moments which we hadn’t gotten in the previous NBC musicals. I’m not the biggest Webber fan but I appreciated this television event for how it made me listen to the score when performed by this wonderful cast.

19th "An Irish Person" TV Awards ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Welcome yet again to my rundown of what I consider to be the best in television of the 2017-2018 season. I watch and love a lot of tv so my nominees usually cover a variety of different shows. I will be starting to announce nominees and winners in all categories for the next while leading up to the actual Primetime Emmy Awards. I will start first tomorrow with "Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series/Special". Feel free to read along for the next while.