THE 2015 TOOBITS AWARDS (PART FIVE)

2015 TOOBITS AWARDS

It's that time of year again, when we all make lists and think back over the past year, in whatever field of interest concerns us, and chronicle the high points and the lows. For the past few years I've been presenting this compilation as an awards show, the Toobits, which of course celebrates my two bits about Toobworld.

As it is with any such list you'll find in TV columns across the country these last few weeks, these are my opinions. You're welcome to your own and I hope you'll share them, but I'm sticking to my weapons of choice. (It could be you won't see something that was a favorite of yours because I just never got around to seeing it. There's only so much time in the world - even for a do-nothing-else-anyway sort like me! - and I've only got the two eyes, even if they do operate independantly of each other at times.)

Unlike the Emmy Awards which will just keep handing out trophies to some shows forever, only shows, characters and what-not that debuted in 2015 can be considered. (And by "debuted", I mean that which I first came in contact with in 2015. It could be a few years old, but if it's my first time seeing it, it's new.)

This one-time-only rule includes characters who have been recast; those are still the same characters who already exist in Toobworld. (But there were a few notable appearances that deserved honorable mention, and they get it.)

So without further ado, let's have at it:

WORST NEW SERIES TITLE

'Best Time Ever'
It would be tough to live up to such a title.  And they didn't.

BEST EPISODE TITLE

"12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer" - 'Inside Amy Schumer'

BEST BINGE-WATCHING EXPERIENCE
'Transparent'
I don't count my lunch-hour viewing of other shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime as binge-watchinng.  I'm talking about the definition as it was meant to be - one after the other in a single sitting.  (I was taking advantage of the free use of Amazon Prime to watch the show after it won the Golden Globes awards.)

WORST CLASH BETWEEN TOOBWORLD & THE REAL WORLD

'The Good Wife'
Governor Peter Florrick's campaign to get the Democratic nomination to run for President.  It started out with him trying to get considered for Clinton's Veep and that could remain believable.  But I think everybody in the viewing audience knows that Florrick isn't even in the running for the nod and yet now the show has him in first place in the Iowa polls.

WORST TV EXPERIENCE

Any Republican debate.  Take your pick.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN A SHOW
Imported

'Broadchurch' (Second Season)
Domestic
'How To Get Away With Murder' (Second Season)

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN A NETWORK

For shame, NBC - for backing down on your stand against Donald Trump appearing on the network in the entertainment division so that you could get him to host an episode of 'Saturday Night Live'.  My revulsion at this idea extends to Lorne Michaels for going along with this.  I just wish there were cast members brave enough to sit the week out in protest, as Nora Dunn did when Andrew Dice Clay hosted (even if it did damage her remaining time on the show, maybe even her career.)

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE GENERAL AUDIENCE

'Forever' was canceled at the end of its first season back in May.  It was too good to deserve that fate.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN MYSELF

I just couldn't continue with 'Y Gwyll' ("The Hinterland") after seeing the first episode.  The problem may have been that I had just seen that same storyline used the night before in the final episode of 'Dicte'.  I don't have the same disappointment in myself for not continuing with 'Shetland'.  I couldn't even finish the first episode.  I like the writer's previous series and I like Doug Henshall, but the series lacked crackle of 'Vera' and Henshall as Perez was not as compelling or interesting as Brenda Blethyn as Vera Stanhope.  (The only female detective in Toobworld who could stand against Columbo in comparison.)

BEST CRITIQUE BY AN ONLINE COMMENTER

Ray Brizzi:

If they're not splitting series up the last season into two seasons a year apart, they're making shorter seasons on the others. Where are we, England? Steam came out of my head when i went to watch Better Call Saul this morning.

WORST ANALYSIS BY AN ONLINE COMMENTER

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-11-21/these-doctor-who-fans-cant-cope-with-evil-david-tennant-in-jessica-jones

Fans can't tell the difference between the Tenth Doctor and Killgrave.  Just a notch below those people who cant tell the difference between the characters and the actors who play them. 

BEST O'BSERVATION OF A TV SERIES
“Thank you for being my family,” he said. “I love you both and really, nothing else matters, does it?”


And that made it easier to see him go. One look at Harry at that awkward-can't-make-eye-contact stage and how his Father lit up like a Christmas tree, of course he needs to go spend more time with his family. Good for you Dave. Good for your family. It was a perfect ending. - Amy Chen O'Connell (about the last 'Late Show with David Letterman')

BEST TELEVISIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
So this weekend Amanda and I watched the Lifetime movie about the girls in Cleveland who were kidnapped and held hostage for over a decade. They were chained up, raped... I have watched some full on crazy ass messed up movies. This was made for TV and even keeping it safe for TV it was one of the most disturbing movies I've seen. Jumping off from that, I was floored and baffled that someone would choose to buy ad time in this movie for 50 Shades Of Grey. Really???? You want to advertise your movie about the fun of bondage and S&M in a movie about woman facing real degradation and abuse? Classy. - Thomas Holbrook

BEST CONTRIBUTION TO TOOBWORLD
'The Librarians' - the Fictionals
The splainin of living characters stepping out of BookWorld to become three-dimensional in Toobworld served to bring 'Once Upon A Time' and 'Once A Hero' a reasonable background for why their characters also came from another fictional universe.