Alabama Liberal’s First Annual Underrated Awards! [And the Overrated Awards]

In the past few weeks, it seems like everybody and their brother has had an awards show. The Grammys, the Golden Globes, The Screen Actor’s Guild Awards, The Director’s Guild Awards, the Producer’s Guild Awards, the Teamster’s Best Awards, the Catering Services Awards, etc. And then of course the Oscars. Well fuck that noise.

This will be Alabama Liberal’s First Awards Show and we’ll be celebrating the most underrated in television, movies, and books. While also singled out some that are overrated. Without further ado…

Part One: Television, Comedy

The Most Underrated Supporting Actress, Comedy: The female cast of Community! It may be a cheat to give the first award out to THREE different actresses but I just couldn’t chose between Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Gillian Jacobs. The fact that none of these three have ever been nominated for a Golden Globe, Emmy, SAG, etc. is criminal.

The Most Overrated Supporting Actress, Comedy: Sofia Vergara, Modern Family. I love boobs as much as the next guy, but someone winning an Emmy for having them is overkill.

Most Underrated Supporting Actor, Comedy: The male cast of Parks and Recreation. Just like with Community’s female cast, I couldn’t pick just one here. The peerless Nick Offerman (STILL never nominated for any awards), Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, and even Adam Scott in the less flashy role are all aces here.

Runner-Up: Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live. I realize that some will think I’ve lost my mind to include anyone from SNL these days, but to me Samberg steals every skit he’s allowed to be in. After nearly a decade on the show, he’s still under-utilized but has me in stitches with his panicky Santorum impression, his digital videos, and his brilliantly deranged Nicolas Cage. A nice guy that will do anything for a laugh, he’s one of the only ones on the show free from the too-cool-for-school vibe that has run wild over the last half decade.

Most Overrated Supporting Actor, Comedy: This is a tough one since, by definition, supporting actors are underrated but I have to go with Kurt Colfer from Glee. He’s not exactly bad per say, it’s just that it was either him or the entire male cast of Modern Family (which hogged up FOUR slots in last year’s Best Support Actor Emmys).

Most Underrated Lead Actress, Comedy: There’s not one that’s truly underrated but I have to go with Amy Poehler in Parks and Recreation. She may always be nominated for Golden Globes, Emmys, etc. but she never actually wins when everyone else (Tina Fey many times, Edie Falco a couple, even Laura Linney) does.

Most Overrated Lead Actress, Comedy: Julie Bowen, Modern Family. I hate to keep picking on Modern Family when there are plenty of horrible sitcoms on CBS, but none of those women have won Emmys, Julie has. But she’s an actress I really like in the right role.

Most Underrated Lead Actor, Comedy: Bill Maher, Real Time with Bill Maher. I know, I know, he’s not an “actor” and doesn’t belong in this category, but he makes his show the finest way to learn current events every week. Bill Maher for President, or, even better, Bill Maher for Pope.

Runner-Up: Danny McBride, Eastbound and Down. He may have been nominated for an Emmy in season one, but his performance has been largely ignored since, even if he makes this the most lovable, amoral bastard on television.

Overrated Lead Actor, Comedy: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory. Sorry, but you know it’s true.

Most Underrated Comedy: Community! On any given week, the most wildly versatile cast on television (and I include SNL in that description) can be found doing paintball war, claymation, swapping horror stories that actually reveal deep truths about the characters, or using a game of Yahtzee to explore alternate timelines. And the show has never even been nominated for any best series awards.

Runner-Up: Curb Your Enthusiasm. Although the show was nominated many times in its first couple seasons, its since fallen off most critic’s radars even as the show has only gotten better in recent years.

Most Overrated Comedy: The Big Bang Theory or Two and a Half Men or Two Broke Girls or How I Met Your Mother or ANY comedy on CBS.

Part Two: Television, Drama

Most Underrated Supporting Actress: Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad. Although she’s been nominated once, she’s never actually won anything for her subtly complex work as a housewife warming up to the idea of being a drug kingpin’s wife.

Runner-Up Special Mention: Margo Martindale, Justified. Margo DID win an Emmy for her work in Justified but it’s a testament to just how under-the-radar this show is that that isn’t enough to get her considered for much else. She gave a great, towering performance as a “villain” I actually liked more than the hero, and the actress deserves a better follow-up than the sassy receptionist role in A Gifted Man.

Most Overrated Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith in Downtown Abbey. Really the whole miniseries is wildly overrated but Maggie in particular is winning raves for playing the same character she has in everything else.

Most Underrated Supporting Actor: Giancarlo Esposito, Breaking Bad. Critics love his quietly ruthless drug kingpin hiding in plain sight as a mild-mannered fast food titan but he’s never gotten any awards show love for it. I think this could be his year (and it has to be if there’s going to be one) but if not, he’s won an AL Award for whatever that’s worth.

Runner-Up: John Noble, Fringe. Never received any awards show love whatsoever for playing not one, but TWO versions of the same character.

Special Mention: Walton Goggins, Justified. The daddy of all underrated actors in this category. He got snubbed for seven amazing seasons on The Shield but finally got an Emmy nomination for Justified, which should have been a win.

Most Overrated Supporting Actor, Drama: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones. Dinklage was very witty and cunning in his Golden Globle, SAG, and Emmy winning role, but was it really such a stretch from what he’s done previous?

Most Underrated Lead Actress, Drama: Regina King, Southland. A great performance in a show that will never be nominated for anything. This is the type of performance these awards were made for. [And don’t miss Southland’s excellent fourth season now playing.]

Runner-Up: Anna Torv, Fringe. The rare performance that has gotten better every season.

Most Overrated Lead Actress: I have to go with Claire Danes in Homeland.

Most Underrated Lead Actor: Michael Cudlitz, Southland. A very competitive category as there are plenty of fine actors that never get mentioned so Michael C. Hall, Kyle Chandler, and Hugh Laurie can hog up a spot, but Cudlitz deserves to be there every bit as much for his fearless work as a macho gay cop addicted to painkillers for a bad back.

Runner-Up: Ray Romano, Men of a Certain Age. Most will think I’m crazy to include him but the dude was surprisingly strong as a gambling addict struggling to beat his inner loser as he goes after the dream of middle-class mobility.

Most Overrated Actor, Drama: Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire. I could go with Hugh Laurie or Kyle Chandler as stars of two shows I’ve never gotten on board with, but Buscemi is even worse: the weak link in a show I DO like.

Most Underrated Show, Drama: Justified. If you aren’t watching this Kentucky set crime drama, you should be.

Runner-Up: Fringe. With this and Community winning big, some will say I’m catering to the geek audience but Fringe is truly underrated. It’s transporting television that has never even been nominated for any awards.

Most Overrated Show, Drama: Friday Night Lights. Sorry, this show just isn’t worth all the praise it’s gotten over the years. It’s a generic small town family drama, and people talk about it like it’s The Wire-gone-football.

Part Three: Movies

Most Underrated Supporting Actress: Chloe Grace Moritz, Hugo. She was in a movie that was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director as well as a slew of technical awards. She’s been good-beyond-her-years in everything from Kick-Ass to Let Me In, and this was completely different from both of those roles. And yet she wasn’t even in the conversation as an awards contender.

Most Overrated Supporting Actress: You know I have to do it…Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids. Had to do it.

Most Underrated Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, Tree of Life. I know he’s been nominated for Moneyball, but THIS is the movie he should be nominated for. As an alternately loving and raging father who makes life hell for his three sons (and also grounds this cosmic set movie) this is the most different performance I’ve ever seen from him.

Runner-Up: Patton Oswalt, Young Adult. The comedian is almost as good as lead Charlize Theron as her pathetic yet self-aware accomplice/conscience.

Special Mention: Albert Brooks, Drive. It’s criminal he didn’t get nominated for this frightening villain.

Most Overrated Supporting Actor: Jonah Hill, Moneyball. He gets nominated but Albert Brooks doesn’t? No justice. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen all of the supporting actor nominees and none of them deserve to be there as much as Brooks does.

Most Underrated Lead Actress: Stephanie Sigman, Miss Bala. This terrific, under-the-radar Spanish language film got stiffed in the Best Foreign Film category but easily deserves to be there as does Sigman for being the vivid face for a Mexican population unwittingly swept up in the drug wars.

Runner-Up: Charlize Theron, Young Adult. I’ve talked several times about how hers was the best performance by an actor last year (hateful yet vulnerable, pathetic yet sexy, mean yet funny) and even though several critics agreed, she didn’t actually wind up with any significant nominations or awards.

Most Overrated Lead Actress: I’m a big time Meryl Streep fan, but I have to say her performance in The Iron Lady just isn’t her best, and if this is what finally gets her the third Oscar win, the Academy picked the wrong year.

Most Underrated Lead Actor: Woody Harrelson, Rampart. With the possible exception of A Better Life’s Damian Bichir, no one deserves to be nominated for Best Actor this year as much as he does. He bravely played a character that wasn’t easy to like, and somehow made him sympathetic. Along with toxic, dangerous, and riveting. The movie never leaves his point of view, and Harrelson makes that a compellingly complicated place to be.

Runner-Up: Michael Shannon, Take Shelter. Every bit as good as Harrelson, and in a perfect world, he’d be winning the Best Actor of the year trophy instead of…

Most Overrated Lead Actor: Jean Dujardin. Okay, he’s charming, but the Best Actor of the year award should be so much more than that. The fact that he’s won almost every major award for a performance this slight seems like an outrage when you have such excellent performances like Shannon’s and Harrelson’s that weren’t even nominated.

Most Underrated Director: Gerardo Naranjo, Miss Bala. At times it feels like this movie is shot in one long take as it never leaves the point of view of its heroine, a wannabe beauty queen swept up by a cartel that won’t take no for an answer. Absolutely hypnotic.

Runner-Up: Oren Moverman, Rampart. In a way, the perfect companion piece to Miss Bala, as it also never leaves its main character’s head. By layering on close-ups and shooting the entire thing like one fluid take, it makes you feel like you really KNOW the protagonist, something all great movies should do.

Most Overrated Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist. He really deserves to win Best Director over Alexander Payne or David Fincher or Terence Malick? If someone is being sane, the answer is a resounding “Hell no.”

Most Underrated Movie of the Year: Take Shelter. Almost no one saw it, it won no awards minor or major, topped no major critic’s lists, and yet it is excellent in every way. This expertly-crafted movie has a slow moving tension as the dread builds and we’re truly wondering what the next scene will bring, something all great movies should do.

Runner-Up: The Adjustment Bureau. This movie did decent box office, got decent reviews, and has disappeared from the conversation ever since. I’m saying this: DON’T take such original Hollywood filmmaking for granted, who knows how much longer we’ll be getting it.

Most Overrated Movie: Bridesmaids. I had to do it. Had…to…do…it. This movie is ridiculously overrated, a box office and critical behemoth that actually makes everyone who works at Entertainment Weekly wonder why it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture. They aren’t saying “This movie is better than most comedies.” They’re seriously wondering why it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture…unreal…Oh, and The Artist is only the “Best Film of the Year” if you’ve only seen it and Transformers.

Part Four: Books

Most Underrated Book: The Submission. A terrifically timely exploration that wonders what would happen if there was a competition to design the 9/11 memorial and a Muslim won. More honest than most non-fiction books, this novel defies all easy characterizations and never stoops to just finger-pointing. No one escapes this book unscathed and the characters (from the cocky Muslim architect to the upscale 9/11 widow to the black sheep brother of a perished firefighter) really pop without losing their realism.

Most Underrated Ending: Last Man in Tower, Aravind Adiga. I won’t waste time recapping the plot as this will surely be an Alabama Liberal book club selection soon. This slow building novel eventually reads like a great thriller with real, normal people on both sides and the ending is an unforgettable gut punch.

Most Underrated Writing: Charles Frazier, Nightwoods. Although The Submission may be a better book, this one is the most well-written of 2011. Frazier (Cold Mountain, 13 Moons) really knows how to turn a phrase. His prose is clean, deceivingly simple, and addictive.

Most Overrated Books: I can’t say. I could definitely come up with some, but why alienate the publishing industry in any way…until it’s become clear there’s no reason in protecting it (which is about five minutes from now).