First of all, thank you to everyone who submitted suggestions for nomination-worthy episodes. It took me the better part of the past three weeks to review as many as I could get to, but now that all ballots are in the esteemed hands of Ernst & Young, I can finally reveal the episodes for which this Emmy voter finally cast his nomination ballot.

OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A COMEDY SERIES
THE BIG BANG THEORY - "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis"
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER - "The Naked Man"
THE OFFICE - "Stress Relief"
SCRUBS - "My Finale"
30 ROCK - "Apollo, Apollo"

OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A DRAMA SERIES
DAMAGES - "I Lied, Too"
LOST - "The Incident"
MAD MEN - "Meditations in an Emergency"
MAD MEN - "A Night to Remember"
THE SHIELD - "Family Meeting"

For those fans of these episodes, please be warned that my track record for matching my votes with the eventual nominees is abysmal. But I'm just glad to have the chance to throw a vote to these great writers who did such wonderful work this year. Next stop, the nominations. Thanks again for your help, everybody.

Thanks for sharing Helmetz! Do you have a winner in mind from among your choices? Were there any episodes that you had a hard time not nominating?

Interesting choices, helmetz! One thing I love is that you really managed to spread the wealth and even voted for shows that I doubt many other voters watched. In particular, I love the votes for "Stress Relief," "Apollo, Apollo" and "A Night to Remember."

Andf I know you mention having an abysmal track record, but the drama side of your ballot looks like the actual set of nominees.

A la Mr. Burns: Ehhhhxcellent.

MISS: DH 5 season final episode.

Helmets, you couldn't sub out A Night to Remember (or that Damages episode) for BSG's Daybreak, their series finale? That was as electrifying and kickass an episode as TV got last season. Why Damages over BSG?

And what is your opinion, as an Emmy voter, about my idea to base the writing and directing awards on season-long body of work, so as to eliminate monopolies (like one show getting 4 out of the 5 slots, for example?). That way, the wealth is spread out.

Thanks. :-)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PaulHan,

Last night, I almost bumped the original thread, but I hesistated because I thought that maybe you only popped into these forums when you were asking and filling out your ballot. And I wake up and here you are!

Not exactly what I would have picked (I would never take The Big Bang Thory over Flight of the Conchords), but I like your picks. These will be quite Gold Derby forum-pleasing. The drama episode nominees in our Gold Derby TV Awards actually share four out of five picks with yours (Battlestar Galactica's finale in over Damages).

Are you a regular watcher of Lost, helmetz? If not, please tell me what you thought of the finale. Obviously, you liked enough to vote for it, but was it confusing? Do you think that non-regular watchers will understand it and enjoy it enough to nominate it?

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"The Incident" is sooooooo overrated.

Most of Big Love, Breaking Bad and Friday Night Lights episodes were more deserving.

Something from "Friday Night Lights" or "Battlestar" should ahve been in there. "I Lied, too" and "The Incident" are in no way one of the better episodes of their series, yet alone one of the best episodes of the season.

quote:

Originally posted by Brilliance inmorbid:
Something from "Friday Night Lights" or "Battlestar" should ahve been in there.

"Underdogs" from "Friday Night Lights" almost made it. Acts 1-3 were terrific, but Act 4 is mostly football play-by-play, which the story demands but which kept the script from soaring to the heights that it was clearly capable of.

Thanks for sharing, helmetz.

quote:

Originally posted by Carlo:
"The Incident" is sooooooo overrated.

Most of Big Love, Breaking Bad and Friday Night Lights episodes were more deserving.

I'm with you there. I'm a total LOST junkie, but Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are so overrated as television writers that its not even funny. The concept for the show is brilliant, and they have that down pat. As for dialogue, half of it reads like a student-made short, with leading questions, exposition, and overdrawn supporting characters.

Breaking Bad would have been a great choice. I don't know off the top of my head which episode I would pick (they all have great moments), but it would have definitely been on my ballot.

quote:

Originally posted by helmetz:

quote:

Originally posted by Brilliance inmorbid:
Something from "Friday Night Lights" or "Battlestar" should ahve been in there.

"Underdogs" from "Friday Night Lights" almost made it. Acts 1-3 were terrific, but Act 4 is mostly football play-by-play, which the story demands but which kept the script from soaring to the heights that it was clearly capable of.

Football turns you off that much? I thought that slow-mo at the game with the camera glaring at everyone's faces- all the fans and players knowing that they were going to lose before it went down- was heartbreaking.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Brilliance inmorbid,

As always thanks for giving us the scoop on your choices.

Good choice for Damages as that was the only episode worthy of any recognition this season.

Can't speak for Mad Men just yet as I am not caught up with most of the season season. I better get on the ball with that.

Awesome pick for The Shield as well. Let's hope that show has one final push come awards season.

And the Office episode is tops.

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Thank you for putting The Big Bang Theory on your ballot. I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I have to admit, that whole episode had me laughing HARD.

Thanks for sharing helmetz!

Of course, I'm disappointed that you couldn't find room for "Pushing Daisies" over that extremely average "Big Bang Theory" episode or "Breaking Bad" instead of that second "Mad Men" episode. But picking that great "Office" episode and recognizing the "Scrubs" finale almost makes up for it.

G'Day,
thanks heaps for sharing these helmetz, as always.

Of your drama series picks I've only seen the Incident, and whilst I wouldn't have voted for it it is good. Can't wait to watch your other 4 choices.

With Comedy I love the Office, 30 Rock and Scrubs episodes. The other 2 I didn't think were that great. I'm really missing something with the Big Bang theory that everyone else here seems to get and I got a bit tired of the naked man thing so much of it is the same joke over and over. But I'm sure I'm in the minority on those and your list looks really well rounded.

Did you check out It's Alway's Sunny in Philly's Nightman Commeth? I can understand that it wouldn't appeal to everyone but would be interested to see what you thought.

Thanks for taking our suggestions helmetz!!! I'm excited you voted for "My Finale" (Scrubs) and "Family Meeting" (The Shield)! I'm hoping both will eventually become nominees. Once again, thanks!

Personally, I think you did a great job with your picks! Most would be on my favorites list for the year.

I thought it was a great list! There is nothing that I would consider sub-par on there. We need to remember that Emmy-voting is Sotamayor-style- you bring your biases and experience to the table as opposed to Thomas-style where you just vote for the folks that the powerful white men tell you to.