How did my Saturn Awards television submissions fare? O.K., I guess

The nominations for the 2018 Saturn Awards were announced on March 15th, so it's well past time for me to compare my Saturn Awards television submissions for 2017-2018 with reality.  Besides, after a week of serious posts, it's time for a Sunday entertainment feature.

I begin, as I did in my late February entry, with my suggestions in the fantasy category.

Fantasy Series

"American Gods"
"Game of Thrones"
"Lucifer"
"Once Upon A Time"
"Outlander"
"The Good Place"
"The Leftovers"

"American Gods," "Game of Thrones," "Outlander," and "The Good Place" earned nominations.  While I did not submit "The Magicians," I expected it to be renominated.  I also expected "Lucifer," which was the show I voted for last year, to return as well.  Nope.  It and "Beyond" were replaced with "Knightfall" and "The Librarians."  I can't get too upset, as I had been complaining about "The Librarians" being miscategorized as an Action show for two years.  Also, "Knightfall" is not a bad choice at all.  It's definitely not "The Leftovers," which I knew would be a long shot, but it looks like a good show, just not good enough for my vote in this category.  That's going to "The Good Place," which is the only television show to be nominated for both a Nebula and a Hugo.

Score: 4/7, 5/7 based on my predictions.

Science Fiction Series

"12 Monkeys"
"Colony"
"Falling Water"
"Orphan Black"
"Star Trek: Discovery"
"The Expanse"
"The Orville"
Alternate: "The X-Files" in case "Star Trek: Discovery" is categorized as New Media.

"Colony," "The Expanse," "The Orville," and "The X-Files" all made it.  So did "Star Trek: Discovery" but as a New Media series.  I also considered "The 100" and should have included it among my suggestion, as it was nominated again.  "Doctor Who" and "Salvation" earned spots instead of "12 Monkeys" and "Orphan Black."  Again, I can't get too upset, as "Doctor Who" may have been better than "Orphan Black" this season and "Salvation" is better than "12 Monkeys."  Besides, I submitted the Doctor Who Christmas Special under presentations and thought it might also deserve to be here, too, so I'll count it here as well.

Still, I'm almost as displeased at Tatiana Maslany getting snubbed as I was at Eva Green and "Penny Dreadful" being ignored for three consecutive years.  Humph.  I'll plan on writing a post about how these awards would look if the entertainment professionals were in charge of them instead of two people on the Television Committee.  I'll critique the acting nominations there.

As for my vote, it will probably go to "Colony" unless a enough "Doctor Who" fans convince me otherwise.  The latter is the one show in this category that earned a Hugo nomination.  Come on, convince me in the comments.

Score: 5/7.

Horror Series

"American Horror Story"
"Fear the Walking Dead"
"Grimm"
"Sleepy Hollow"
"Supernatural"
"The Walking Dead"
"Twin Peaks"
Alternates: "Channel Zero" or "Z Nation" in case "Twin Peaks" is categorized as one of Fantasy, Thriller, or Presentation and "American Horror Story" is properly categorized as Presentation.  Last year, it was considered a series.

I only got three of my suggestions for this category in this category, "American Horror Story," "Fear The Walking Dead," and "The Walking Dead."  However, one of my suggestions for this category, "Twin Peaks," ended up nominated as a presentation, another suggestion, "Grimm," earned a nomination for Best DVD/BD Television Series Release, and one of my predictions for fantasy, "Preacher," ended up here where I thought it really belonged.  I'll count that one.

As for the other nominees, I'd forgotten about "The Strain," which is probably better than the final season of "Sleepy Hollow," and "Teen Wolf" is a recurring nominee that might actually be a higher quality show than "Supernatural," which has been going on so long that I've lost count of how many times the Winchesters have saved the world.  Oh, and "Ash vs. Evil Dead" returned.  I'm not sure it's better than "Grimm," but never underestimate the power of cheese.  As for my vote, it goes to "The Walking Dead."  The entertainment professionals would vote for "American Horror Story," but they're not part of the Saturn Awards electorate.  I am.

Score: 3/7, 4/7 based on my predictions.

Superhero Series

"Arrow"
"Black Lightning"
"Gotham"
"Legion"
"Supergirl"
"The Gifted"
"The Flash"

I got five out of seven, "Arrow," "Black Lightning," "Gotham," "Supergirl," and "The Flash."  As I wrote two months ago, I am not upset about "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." making the list over "Legion."  The first season was already nominated, even if the second half was technically eligible.  I'll submit the second season next year.  On the other hand, I still think "The Gifted" was a better show than "Legends of Tomorrow."  As for my vote, it's going to "Gotham."

Score: 5/7.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominees compared to my submissions.

Now for the shows that are either not live-action speculative fiction or aren't series on regular television.

Action/Thriller Series

"Bates Motel"
"Black Sails"
"Designated Survivor"
"Homeland"
"Mr. Robot"
"Riverdale"
"The Americans"

This is the category in which I did my best to influence the committee to choose shows that the entertainment professionals would nominate.  I failed.  Only "Riverdale," which was the most likely of my submissions to this category to be accepted, was renominated.  Not even last year's nominees that I submitted, "Bates Motel," "Designated Survivor," and "Mr. Robot," earned nominations this year.  Sigh.  It's times like these when I need to remember I wrote in Speculative fiction nominees at the 2018 SAG Awards, "the Saturn Awards are about entertainment not art, they don't care for subtle, and they love to stick it to the experts."  The good news is that "The Alienist," which I suggested for presentation, earned a nomination here.  Competing against it are returning nominee "Animal Kingdom," critical favorites "Better Call Saul" and "Fargo," the retrofuturistic "Into the Badlands," and a show I thought about for presentation or streaming series but didn't even write down, "Mr. Mercedes."  I'll take "Better Call Saul" and "Fargo" instead of "Homeland" and "The Americans."  Just the same, I'm voting for "The Alienist."  When the final episode ended, my wife and I applauded.  I can't tell you the last time we did that for a TV show.

Score: 2/7.

Streaming Series

"Altered Carbon"
"Black Mirror"
"Future Man"
"Stranger Things"
"The Handmaid's Tale"
"The Punisher"
"The Tick"

At the other extreme, every single of these submissions were accepted and then some, although it took the Saturn Awards committee splitting new media series into two categories for that to happen.  Joining "Altered Carbon," "Black Mirror," "Stranger Things," and "The Handmaid's Tale" are "Mindhunter," "Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams," and "Star Trek: Discovery," which I submitted as a science fiction series.  I'd heard good things about "Mindhunter" but was completely surprised by "Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams."  This is actually a very high quality category with two Emmy winners in "Stranger Things" and "The Handmaid's Tale," a Hugo nominee in "Star Trek: Discovery," and a show that is both in "Black Mirror."  I could vote for any one of these four.

Best New Media Superhero Series is a new category in which "Future Man," "The Punisher," and "The Tick" earned nominations.  Joining them are "Marvel's The Defenders," "Marvel's Iron Fist," and "Marvel's Runaways."  DC may have the lock on superheros on regular television, but Marvel on Netflix dominates streaming superheroes.  Out of all of them, I'm voting for "The Tick" even though I think "The Punisher" will win.

Score: 8/7(!).

Presentation on Television

Doctor Who Christmas Special: "Twice Upon a Time"
"Genius"
"Happy"
"The Alienist"
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"
"Year Million"
"Bright" (if not nominated as a film)
"Okja" (if not nominated as a film)

I took a bunch of shots in the dark and most of them missed.  However, three of my submissions here got nominated, two in this category, the Doctor Who Christmas Special: "Twice Upon a Time" and "Okja."  In addition, "Twin Peaks," which I nominated for Action/Thriller, ended up here where I thought it really belonged but didn't have confidence that the selection committee would place it properly.  In addition, I was expecting "Channel Zero" to be nominated and hoping it would be classified as a presentation as well.  Joining the four I submitted or predicted are "Descendents 2," "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return," and "The Sinner."  I'd have missed the first, but the latter two are the kinds of shows I might have submitted instead of "Genius" and "Year Million" had I been paying more attention.

Out of this group, I'd probably vote for the Doctor Who Christmas Special unless I get more excited about "Okja."

Score: 3/7, 4/7 counting predictions.

Animated Series

"Adventure Time"
"BoJack Horseman"
"Castelvania" (sic)
"Rick and Morty"
"Samurai Jack"
"Star Wars Rebels"
"Trollhunters"

Here's a category I didn't think would repeat from last year, as it was never listed among the winners of last year's ceremony and wasn't listed on the membership page.  Surprise!  It's back!  This is a case where I'm glad to be wrong.  I'm not so glad to be wrong about my submissions, only three of which became nominees, "BoJack Horseman," "Rick and Morty," and "Star Wars Rebels."  "Trollhunters" didn't make it back from last year, but "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons" did.  Joining them is "Archer" and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs."  Those are surprisingly conventional choices that I did not submit as I wanted to push the nominees into more fantastic territory, the opposite of what I tried to do with the Action/Thriller Television Series category.  It didn't work that well, either.  Still, other than "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," this is a very good field.  I plan on voting for the final season of "Star Wars Rebels," but wouldn't be surprised if "Rick and Morty" wins.  Perhaps I can stir up a rivalry between the fans of the two shows.  Blue milk vs. Szechuan sauce, anyone?

Score: 3/7.

There is one more category for which I could not submit nominees but which ties directly into the shows I did suggest.

Best DVD/BD Television Series Release:

"American Gods" (Season 1)
"Grimm": The Complete Collection
"The Rockford Files": The Complete Series
"Twin Peaks": A Limited Event Series
"The Vampire Diaries" (The Complete Series)
"Westworld": Season One: The Maze

This is where "Grimm" ended up, so I'll claim it as a success, along with "American Gods," "Twin Peaks," and "Westworld."  Score: 4/6.

Total score: 37/62 for submissions (59.7%), 39/62 including predictions (62.9%).  I submitted 60 shows and had 37 of them nominated, for a percentage success rate of 61.7%.  In addition, I predicted two more shows would be nominated that I did not submit for a total of 62.  Both predictions came true for a total of 39 shows nominated that I thought should or would make the cut.  The percentage success rate that resulted was 62.9%.  That's nowhere near as good as my Oscar predictions, but it's better than 50%.  I think I'll do better with my predictions for the awards themselves.  Stay tuned.