Thursday, July 8, 2010

'True Blood' breaks the Emmy vampire curse - LA Times

One of the biggest shocks among Emmy nominations was the breakthrough bid by "True Blood" for best drama series.

TV academy members — like all Hollywood award voters — usually refuse to be seduced by vampires. Back in the 1990s, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was acclaimed by critics and millions of fans, but it never reaped an Emmy nomination in a lead category. Year after year, there was deafening media outrage over its failure to make the Emmy list, but the snubs continued like stakes through the heart. Finally, after the show went off the air in 2003, the TV academy aimed to make things up to its cast and crew by staging a tribute event at its headquarters in North Hollywood, but Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, didn't show up.

At last year's Emmys, some pundits dared to hope that the newest hit vampire series, "True Blood," might break through based on the usual Emmy muscle of HBO plus the Oscar pedigree of its star (Anna Paquin won best supporting actress for "The Piano" in 1993), but it only earned a few minor nominations in crafts categories.

This year, it scored four nominations in the crafts categories in addition to its bid for best drama series: art direction, casting, makeup and editing. However, Paquin wasn't nominated for best drama actress. That's odd. It's not as if voters have anything against her. She was nominated for the miniseries "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" in 2007. And it's not as if her role on "True Blood" hasn't been acknowledged in the past as being award worthy. She won best drama actress in 2009 at the Golden Globes and was nominated again this year.

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