Tag Archive for 'Chandra Wilson'

Emmy Nominations- 30 Rock Breaks Record-But Not So Great for Women Creatives

Published
by
Melissa Silverstein
on July 17, 2009
in Awards
. 1 Comment

tina-fey-01-afTina Fey’s 30 Rock was nominated for a record 22 Emmy awards yesterday.  She broke her own record of 17 which she got last year.  Fey continues her domination of the comedy world and she scored a nom for her portrayal of soon to be ex-Governor Palin on SNL.

But digging deeper women are not widely nominated in lots of the categories.  Here are some things I noticed.

  • The only women centric show nominated for best drama is Damages starring Glenn Close. 30 Rock and Weeds are nominated for the best comedy Emmy.
  • Two women are nominated for directing a comedy series and two women are nominated for directing a miniseries or movie (both out of six) but NO women are nominated for directing a drama series or a variety, music or comedy series or special.  One woman out of four was nominated for directing a non-fiction special.
  • Even though 30 Rock has the lion’s share of writing nominations not a single woman is nominated in the outstanding writing for a comedy series.
  • Mad Men is nominated for most of the dramatic writing slots and there are two women included on that team.
  • The outstanding writing for a variety, music or comedy series is one of the categories that makes me crazy.  It’s the one that features all the late night shows and those shows have very few women writers.  The nominees are: The Stephen Colbert Show (2 women out of 14 writers- but he does have a female executive producer); The Daily Show (1 woman out of 16); Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NO women out of 16); Late Show with David Letterman (NO women out of 14); SNL (5 women out of 22)

The good news.  The acting categories are beyond outstanding.

  • Chandra Wilson scored two acting nominations.
  • Veteran actresses like Gena Rowlands, Carol Burnett and Elaine Strich get noticed
  • Elizabeth Moss, the heart of Mad Men gets invited to the big ball along with women like Holly Hunter and Glenn Close.
  • Grey Gardens gets nods for the movie and for both Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange as well as Patricia Rozema for the script.

Nominees below:

Continue reading ‘Emmy Nominations- 30 Rock Breaks Record-But Not So Great for Women Creatives’

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Tags: 30 Rock, Chandra Wilson, Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey

Thank You Shonda Rhimes

Published
by
Melissa Silverstein
on May 7, 2009
in TV
. 3 Comments

shondaI’ve been a little hard on Shonda Rhimes this season for some of the decisions she has made on Grey’s Anatomy, most notably the issues surrounding the departure of Brooke Smith.  But as the show celebrates its 100th episode tonight I want to say a big thank you to Shonda for doing what she does each and every day.

For all my problems with the show it is still one of the shows I look forward to each week.  It never sits in my TIVO.  I look forward to all the characters’ craziness and their issues because I love pretty much each and every one of them.  They have depth and real emotions and I am grateful to Shonda for creating these people, especially the women.  I am grateful that I now know Chandra Wilson and I promise to see her in everything she does.  I am grateful for Sandra Oh who is one of the best actresses on TV hands down.

I am grateful that Shonda Rhimes exists and is a showrunner of not one but two shows, and TV is so much better for the fact that she is working in it.  Props go to ABC for giving her the room to be creative.

Chandra Wilson said it best when describing what Shonda Rhimes has done in a business dominated by white guys

I think, to her credit, she is trailblazing without a banner.

I believe this 39 year old woman has changed TV for the better.  That is an amazing feat and one that should be duly noted.

TV is a ‘journey’ for ‘Grey’s’ creator Shonda Rhimes (USA Today)

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Tags: Chandra Wilson, Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy, Katherine Heigl