Sunday, August 14, 2011

AFT Awards: Best Writing for a Drama Series

This is the fourteenth category of the 5th Annual AFT Television Awards, my personal choices for the best in television this past season. For the directing and writing categories, I’ve included only honorable mentions rather than semi-finalists and finalists. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order.

Best Writing for a Drama Series


Last year’s nominees: Breaking Bad (Full Measure), Dexter (Hungry Man), Flash Forward (No More Good Days), Justified (Pilot), Mad Men (Shut the Door, Have a Seat)

Emmy nominees: Friday Night Lights (Always), Game of Thrones (Baelor), The Killing (Pilot), Mad Men (Blowing Smoke), Mad Men (The Suitcase)

Honorable mentions: Boardwalk Empire (Anastasia), Boardwalk Empire (Nights in Ballygran), Dexter (Teenage Wasteland), Mad Men (The Good News), Mad Men (Waldorf Stories), Mad Men (The Beautiful Girls), Nikita (Pilot), Undercovers (Pilot), The Walking Dead (Pilot)

The nominees:

The Chicago Code (Pilot)
Game of Thrones (Fire and Blood)
The Good Wife (VIP Treatment)
Justified (Brother’s Keeper)

A corrupt Chicago was brilliantly set-up in the premiere of FOX’s short-lived series, while “Game of Thrones” set up its second season with plenty of intrigue. “The Good Wife” tackled a high-stakes case without ever showing the defendant, and “Justified” conveyed a terrifying realization by a child and how it played out rather tragically.

The winner:

Mad Men (Blowing Smoke) turned one of this show’s central themes on its head as it took a surprising turn put forth by its main character for solely selfish reasons.

Next up: Best Directing for a Comedy Series

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Richter Scale said...

Dexter has never been nominated for writing and it wasn't nominated this year either. The nominees are Friday Night Lights, Game of Thrones, The Killing and two episodes of Mad Men. I'm thinking The Suitcase will probably win (of the Mad Men episodes), although it could be the series finale of Friday Night Lights (I just started watching the show, and I love it so far, I can't believe it took me this long to start watching).

Movies with Abe said...

I think we have a spammer on our hands with that previous comment. I didn't love the FNL pilot and only decently appreciated the episodes I've watched over the past few years. My close-to-last step in my Emmy episodes screening process includes the final six episodes of the show, so I'll see how I enjoy those.