Hulu Awards Week 7: Sam Christopher's List

Another week of busy, busy, busy. Christmas parties to plan, family to see and management to throttle. Anyway, on with the picks for this week…

Round 3 Nominations:

Best Movie Comedy:
This was not a difficult choice at all, given these competitors. Raising Arizona was okay, but Three Amigos, for me, is easily the worst film these three people ever made. Men in Black was just silly and Eddie Murphy: Raw had all the nasty of Richard Pryor with none of the insight (other than the gay Honeymooners bit which was only funny because it was so nasty). All of this left me with my original choice. “Who ya gonna call?”:

Ghostbusters!

Best Comedy TV Show:
Another pretty easy choice, although I can see how someone could have a problem with it. 30 Rock is an immediate non-starter for me due to the presence of Alec Baldwin, who I cannot look at anymore without thinking of his appearance on the short-lived Whoopie Goldberg interview show in which he came off sounding like Alex Jones (excepting, of course, the stellar Ghosts of Mississippi, which should be seen by everyone). Arrested Development and The Office are all right, but nothing special. SNL hasn’t been relevant since the ‘70s as far as I’m concerned; I understand they do funny bits on occasion but clips don’t generally beat shows, in my opinion. If you vote for The Simpsons I can see that; I don’t really think much of the last few seasons but it has been a stellar sitcom for two decades now. But my choice for Best TV Comedy might be my choice for best tv show of the last couple decades. I don’t understand it being in comedy—I would’ve put it in drama—but I’ll roll with it:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Best Comedic Short:
How does Stricteternum not make this finals list?!? The ones that made it were all right but I really thought S was the cream of this entire crop. I let it go with The Search for the Next Elvira but I am very tempted to cast a protest vote here. Very tempted. However, three others that I really liked made the finals. Dentally Disturbed is the first to go; I liked it but it doesn’t measure up to the final two. So I’m left with Kurt Cobain dead and wandering around town or Kurt hiring the ninja—one of Ra’s al Ghul’s finest, we can be sure. “And if you wouldn’t mind I would like it Blew, And if you wouldn’t mind I would like to Lose, And if you wouldn’t care I would like to Leave, And if you wouldn’t mind I would like to Breathe” (Nirvana, Blew, from Bleach). Dead people walking around always make the best horror movies but ninjas are better comedy (excepting Shaun of the Dead, and, maybe, Return of the Living Dead). My choice:

How to Cope with Rejection

Best Short Format Series (Non Comedy):
I really wanted Satacracy 88 to be here, although I don’t feel as strongly about it as Stricteternum or TSftNE; I just really liked it. I’m not a big 30 Days of Night guy, although I will admit that Niles’ take on vamps suits me very well. Gemini Division is very well done but when I watch it it looks as though it was made by NBC so I wonder why they didn’t make it into a regular show to compete with Fringe. My choice here was fairly easy as I have a soft spot for female assassins—I liked Elektra, unlike virtually everyone I know—so:

Pink: The Series


Some of these non-finals categories will be made without comment.

Round 2 Nominations:

Best Dramatic TV Series:

1. Bones
2. K-Ville
3. Picket Fences - I was never really into this but it was a good show.
4. House - Another show I rarely watch but it’s always good when I do.
5. Chicago Hope - Never an ER fan, this was the show that reminded me of St. Elsewhere.

Best Dramatic Movie:

1. Deathwish
2. In the Heat of the Night
3. Lost Highway
4. The Great Train Robbery
5. Moby Dick- The only reason this wasn’t on my original list is because I really would rather read the book.

Best Short Format Comedy Series:
I still don’t understand the omission of Back on Topps.

1. Mister Justice and Powerful Girl
2. Gaytown
3. The Writers Room
4. My Long Distance Relationship - The kind of sappy thing I usually hate but this was all right.
5. Carpet Bros. - I loved this! “Rugs, not Drugs”

Round 1 Nominations:

Best Family Movie:

1. Hercules in New York - If you haven’t watched this, you really should. Set the stage for all the bad but cool acting we’d get from Arnold later.
2. Speed Racer: The Movie - A favorite ‘toon from my youth (as you’ll see later in this column).
3. The Karate Kid Movie - Because nothing else grabbed me.

Best Anime Series:

1. Speed Racer - What’d I tell you? The adventures of Speed, Trixie, Spritle and Chim-Chim were a staple of my childhood. Still fun to watch now.
2. Astro Boy - Cool, more modern anime.

Best Cartoon Series (non-anime):

1. Casper the Friendly Ghost - Harvey made some really cool comics and toons, from Richie Rich to Wendy the Good Little Witch to this piece of classic Americana.
2. Pink Panther - The smoothest mute on the planet.
3. The Simpsons - 20 years. I don’t know what else to say.
4. Futurama - Just don’t understand the thinking at Fox in not giving this creation of their single greatest creator every chance to succeed. Kind of like what WB did to Joss Whedon’s Angel after BtVS migrated to UPN. Just dumb.

Best Animated Short:

1. Kontrol-Eskape - Really cool little short in the Metropolis vein.
2. Carnivore Reflux - Interesting short that was funny and mildly thought-provoking at the same time.

(Editor's Note: The general public can participate in the nominations as well. Go to the links above for any or all of the categories you are interested in and cast your vote for the shows you think should win. All of the general votes will be tallied up and count as one panelist in deciding the final winners. PSW)