Sunday, May 20, 2018

'Twin Peaks' vs. 'Doctor Who' at the Saturn Awards

I mentioned "Twin Peaks: The Return" was the other television show with five nominations.  I'll examine it and the other nominees for Best Presentation on Television tomorrow.  Stay tuned.
So I concluded 'Star Trek: Discovery' vs. 'Stranger Things' and 'Black Mirror' at the Saturn Awards and so I shall proceed today.

"Twin Peaks: The Return" tied "Star Trek: Discovery" with five awards, the second-most of any television show at the Saturn Awards behind only "The Walking Dead."  Those nominations are for Best Presentation on Television, Best Actor on a Television Series for Kyle MacLachlan, Best Supporting Actor on a Television Series for the late Miguel Ferrer, Best Guest-Starring Performance on Television for David Lynch, and Best DVD/BD Television Series Release.  Of its competition for Best Presentation on Television, only "Doctor Who" has more than one nominiation; its other recognition was for Best Science Fiction Television Series.  I'll get to that category in a future entry.  For now, here are all the nominees for the Saturn Awards version of Best limited series or movie for television from File 770.
Best Presentation on Television:

"Channel Zero" (SyFy)
"Descendants 2" (Disney Channel)
"Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time" (BBC America)
"Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Return" (Netflix)
"Okja" (Netflix)
"The Sinner" (USA)
"Twin Peaks: The Return" (Showtime)
I begin my comments by being a good environmentalist and recycling what I wrote about this category from How did my Saturn Awards television submissions fare? O.K., I guess.
[T]hree 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 all of these, I think "Twin Peaks" is the favorite.  There are a lot of "Doctor Who" fans out there, but I don't know how many of them have paid for memberships.  On the other hand, I'm pretty sure a lot of already paid members are "Twin Peaks" fans.  The show that probably deserves more attention is "Okja," which won for Feature Film at the 2017 Environmental Media Association Awards for film and television.  On the other hand, "The Sinner" might get more attention at the Emmy Awards.  Here, I don't know if it has enough speculative fiction elements for this electorate.


As for me, I wrote in April "out of this group, I'd probably vote for the Doctor Who Christmas Special unless I get more excited about 'Okja.'"  That's still true, even if I think "Twin Peaks: The Return" has the inside track.


The other category in which the show itself is nominated is under home entertainment.  Unlike Best Science Fiction Television Series, which I'm saving for later, I'm posting this category now.
Best DVD/BD Television Series Release:

"American Gods" (Season 1) (Lionsgate)
"Grimm: The Complete Collection" (Universal)
"The Rockford Files: The Complete Series" (Mill Creek)
"Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series" (Paramount)
"The Vampire Diaries" (The Complete Series) (Warner)
"Westworld: Season One: The Maze" (Warner)
This is a good field, even with "The Rockford Files" as the odd nominee out, although it does qualify as an Action/Thriller television series with high entertainment and nostalgia value.  As for the favorite, I'm not sure.  I suspect it will be "Twin Peaks," but I'm voting for "Westworld."


Follow over the jump for the acting nominations for "Twin Peaks: The Return."

Here are the relevant categories along with my comments from 'The Walking Dead' vs. 'American Horror Story: Cult' plus Saturn Awards for the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.  As I did for the movie nominees, I'll only add a comment if I didn't say anything about any of the presentation nominees.  Otherwise, I'll just quote and move on.

Best Actor on a Television Series:

Jon Bernthal "Marvel’s The Punisher" (Netflix)
Bruce Campbell "Ash vs. Evil Dead" (Starz)
Sam Heughan "Outlander" (Starz)
Jason Isaacs "Star Trek: Discovery" (CBS All Access)
Andrew Lincoln "The Walking Dead" (AMC)
Seth MacFarlane "The Orville" (Fox Television)
Kyle MacLachlan "Twin Peaks: The Return" (Showtime)
Ricky Whittle "American Gods" (Starz)
Kyle MacLachlan would be the entertainment insiders' choice, but I'm voting for Andrew Lincoln again.  His closest competition would be either Bruce Campbell, who won two years ago, or Sam Heughan, who has the support of an organized "Outlander" fandom.
Best Supporting Actor on a Television Series:

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau "Game of Thrones" (HBO)
Miguel Ferrer "Twin Peaks: The Return" (Showtime)
Kit Harington "Game of Thrones" (HBO)
Doug Jones "Star Trek: Discovery" (CBS All Access)
Christian Kane "The Librarians" (TNT)
Michael McKean "Better Call Saul" (AMC)
Khary Payton "The Walking Dead"(AMC)
Evan Peters "American Horror Story: Cult" (FX)
Michael McKean is probably the entertainment professionals' choice followed by Evan Peters, but I'm voting for Khary Payton.  "And yet I smile!"
The late Miguel Ferrer was a very good character actor who was probably under-recognized during his life.  I'm sure he'll get votes because of that.  Unfortunately, one of them won't be mine.

Best Guest-Starring Performance on Television:

Bryan Cranston "Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams" (Amazon / Sony Television)
Michael Greyeyes "Fear the Walking Dead" (AMC)
David Lynch "Twin Peaks: The Return" (Showtime)
Jeffrey Dean Morgan "The Walking Dead" (AMC)
Rachel Nichols "The Librarians" (TNT)
Jesse Plemons "Black Mirror" (Netflix)
Hartley Sawyer "The Flash" (The CW)
Michelle Yeoh "Star Trek: Discovery" (CBS All Access)
I'm sure Jeffrey Dean Morgan will win for his role as Negan again.  I voted for him last year because he was a guest star according to The Television Academy, performing in less than one-half of one of the seasons under consideration.  This year, he's not; he's really a supporting actor, so I'm not voting for him this year.  While the entertainment professional vote would probably go to Bryan Cranston, I'm voting for Michelle Yeoh, who is much more of a guest actress than Morgan.
David Lynch is not primarily an actor; he's a director and writer.  He also doesn't qualify as a guest performer under Emmy rules.  That won't keep people from voting for him, even though I don't think he'll win.

Time to me to include the updated version of the pitch I make for my readers to become members: "Click here to apply for an affiliate membership.  At $25, one can vote for the best films and television shows.  At $40, one can vote for all categories.  I've already paid my $40.  I hope my readers do, too."  The deadline to vote is May 28.

Tomorrow's post will be about fantasy.  "Game of Thrones" vs. "Outlander" again, anyone?

Previous entries about the 2018 Saturn Awards:
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