Amanda's Picks

This is the time of year when I would normally write my column on the Emmy awards which are normally held in September. However due to strikes by the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America, the Emmys have been postponed to January 15, 2024 on FOX. That means nominated shows like The Bear and Only Murders in the Building will be competing for previous seasons with their current seasons eligible for the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, also airing in January. Confused? I know I am.

Meanwhile, I still have opinions on the nominations that I want to share, and with all this time to kill as most productions are on hold, you can catch up on some shows you may have missed. And even though House of the Dragon, Succession and Yellowjackets racked up buckets of nominations, I personally cannot offer guidance on these programs as I have no interest in them. 

Jury Duty (Amazon Prime) is a bit of a surprise nominee for Best Comedy Series, but it deserves the nod. This very original series takes us behind the scenes at a jury trial but it’s not really a jury trial. Everyone involved is an actor, except a guy named Ronald, who is a real person and has no idea that the whole trial is fake. If it wasn’t for the “disclaimer” at the beginning of each episode and the fact that I recognized one actor from Parks and Recreation, I’d believe this was just a bunch of offbeat jurors. You sort of feel bad for Ronald, until you don’t. Oh, and real actor James Marsden plays real actor James Marsden, alternate juror #2. 

Also nominated for Best Comedy Series and a slew of other awards is season one of The Bear (FX/Hulu). Jeremy Allen White plays Chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, who leaves his position in an acclaimed restaurant to run his family’s sandwich shop in Chicago. The Bear will make you feel like you’re in the back of the house with Carmy and his staff. It’s noisy, frenetic, stressful and very, very sweary. White is a strong contender for Best Actor and Ayo Edebiri is fabulous and deserving of her nomination, as Sydney, a talented chef who helps Carmy run the kitchen. As I noted earlier, season two is also available on Hulu.

If you like old school anthology mysteries like Columbo and McCloud, you might get a kick out of Poker Face on Peacock. Natasha Lyonne is nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Charlie, a woman on the run who can tell when people are lying and encounters an alarming number of lying murderers in her travels. Lyonne is funny even though the show isn’t exactly a comedy. It’s more of a murdermy, where you see the killer commit the crime and then learn how Charlie is involved. Guest stars include Tim Meadows, Judith Light, Adrien Brody, Chloe Sevigny and Benjamin Bratt. 

I just saw and highly recommend Still: A Michael J. Fox Story, which is the current favorite for Best Documentary Special. It is an intimate, moving and insightful look at the acting and advocacy career of the popular actor who went from starring in blockbuster movies to a very public battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Still Fox tells his personal story, enhanced by archival footage, film clips and the occasional reenactment. It’s inspiring and moving and you can see it on AppleTV+

That network had a very good year but its shows did not get the Emmy love they deserved. Sharon Horgan scored a much-deserved nomination for Best Actress in a Drama for Bad Sisters, but the AppleTV+ show got snubbed in the drama series category. The “Bad Sisters” are actually pretty awesome, it’s the husband of one of them who is unbelievably bad. The show follows how the sisters deal with the brother-in-law from hell and puts forth some of the sharpest and smartest writing of any of the hundreds of shows that hit last year. While it did score one nomination each for writing and directing, the show and cast deserved more. 

An even bigger and inexcusable snub was passing by Harrison Ford for his stellar performance in Shrinking, also on Apple TV+. I feel Ford delivers some of the best work in his career as Dr. Paul Rhodes, a therapist dealing with needy colleagues and Parkinson’s Disease. Ford is gruff but sweet and very funny and basically perfect. I can’t fathom how his work was not recognized.