Ern's Picks - Tubey Award Finals Round Two

Favorite actor - Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Hmm. This says “favorite,” not “best.” Acting is part of what makes favorite actors for me though, I’m not gonna lie. I don’t watch Sherlock, The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons has gotten enough recognition, Ian Somerhalder and Alexander Skarsgard whisper too much, Jon Hamm has never impressed me, and Timothy Olyphant doesn’t have to pull off much on Justified (although good accent, Tim). So we’re down to Jensen Ackles, John Noble, and Peter Dinklage. I’m eliminating Jensen first, because while he is both hot and a Christian in real life (and that’s rare/I’m one too), the others are just better. I almost voted for Jensen because lots of people say he’s bad, and I don’t think he’s bad/I want to defend him. Peter Dinklage gets enough attention for Game of Thrones, and rightly so. I want to give this to John Noble because he seems to go unrecognized constantly, and he’s the best part of Fringe. But I can't rightly say that I prefer him to Peter. 

Favorite actress - Nina Dobrev, The Vampire Diaries

Nearly anyone listed in this category could win, and I’d be happy. This is a solid mothereffing list. I love them all. I’m gonna eliminate Anna Torv first because she comes off sort of bland. Naya Rivera is next because I don’t think what she does is hard, acting-wise. The singing and dancing are amazing, but I’m going off of acting here. Emily VanCamp was surprisingly good in Revenge, but I actually wish it were someone else playing that part. I like Mayim Bialik as a person, but there’s no way she’s going to top an actress on a show I actually like. Maisie Williams is good on Game of Thrones, but there are better female actors on the show and, once again, Maisie doesn’t have super-challenging material. She’s a lot better than Danaerys, I’ll give her that. Alison Brie is perfect. Too perfect. Due to my jealousy, I cannot like her, and therefore she cannot be my favorite. I am a small, small person. Claire Danes, Amy Poehler, and Christina Hendricks are great. I think Nina Dobrev is my favorite though, just because she takes what could have been a boring character and makes me feel for her. Plus, she’s Katherine too.

Favorite Character - Abed Nadir, Community

I note that Damon Salvatore and Dean Winchester are on this list, but Stefan Salvatore and Sam Winchester are not. Look, just about everyone prefers Dean to Sideburns Sam, but some people actually like Stefan the best. I wish he were on here. Once again, I must eliminate Sherlock, but I’m going to have to make that my next show to catch up on. Raylan Givens doesn’t interest me enough, but he is bad ass. The Dowager Countess is freaking amazing, but not my favorite character on this list. Schmidt reminds me too much of someone I know in real life which then reminds me of an annoying life event that brought us together. They are the same freaking person. Dean and Damon get enough love (and were they here, I would give them more, literally). Arya Stark is great, but I’ll pick her later. She gets cooler than what we’ve seen on the show. Tyrion is my favorite Game of Thrones character, as you all probably know. Abed Nadir is a stereotype breaker for Muslim television characters. See, Ryan Murphy? You want to make a Muslim character around Aylin, but you’re missing the point when you make everything about how they are Muslim. Abed’s identity is based on his friendships, his big heart, his love of pop culture, and his Asperger’s. Likewise, Leslie Knope is so loveable, and there’s really no one on TV like her. This was a tough decision, but I think I love Abed the most.

Least Favorite Character - Joffrey Baratheon

Carl and Lori from The Walking Dead suck, but so does almost every character on The Walking Dead. I genuinely like Rachel Berry on Glee. I still think Chang can be funny on Community. Sometimes. Rarely. I love when Betty is on Mad Men. It can’t be my least favorite character if I love to hate them. Ellis on Smash was a jerk, but he didn’t incur my wrath. I didn’t care enough. Fake Amanda can be useful on Revenge, as can Emma Swan on Once Upon a Time. They fill their roles. I wish Emma Swan were played by a different actress though. I only liked her on House. Finn has good moments. Joffrey has none. He is literally the worst, most evil freaking kid in the history of television. I would shoot him in the face and enjoy it as much as an ice cream cone. When/if he dies (and you know he will, eventually), I may literally throw a party.

Best Almost-Romantic-But-Not-Quite Relationship - Don Draper/Joan Harris, Mad Men

As someone who just caught up on the show, I don’t see how Dean and Castiel are almost romantic. Maybe I need to spend more time on tumblr. It would be hot though. I still need to watch Castle (after Sherlock/when Leeard catches up on Breaking Bad, as per the deal). Nick and Jess will have their day, and today is not that day. Elena and Damon had some great moments this season, but their time is yet to come as well. Plus, I ship Stelena. Klaroline interests me, but he’s still too much of an asshat. Jack impregnated fake Amanda. He’s on my bad list. No awards for you! Jeff and Annie are creepy. Carey is too good and big-hearted for Kalinda. The only reason I didn’t pick Arya and Gendry for this is that she still looks too young for me to comfortably think of her in a romantic relationship. Still, she’ll grow. Don is obviously the only character at the firm who cares about Joan, and they are the two hottest people on the show. How can they not have hooked up by now? Even after that day together and bar scene? They dangle it, and then they snatch it away. There is a mutual respect there that is missing in every other relationship on Mad Men.

Best Non-Romantic Friendship - Tyrion and Bronn, Game of Thrones.

This is another category where I would be happy with any winner. April and Ron are a romantic relationship. Just a horrible one. Damon and Alaric are great. But I know they were secretly f***ing and you cannot tell me differently. Dean and Castiel were great together in seasons four-six. I’m halfway through season seven, and I don’t think they deserve it this year, unless something big happens toward the end that I don’t know about yet. Again, no Sherlock. So I am left with: Don/Peggy, Emily/Nolan, the New Girl gang, the Pretty Little Liars, Troy/Abed, and Tyrion/Bronn. This is an impossible choice. I cannot eliminate any one of these. They are all such great friends that I enjoy watching. I’m going to pick my favorite show of these and give it some love.

Best Family Relationship - Marshall and Lily, How I Met Your Mother

Because I compared them to everyone else on this list and decided they were better. Behold, the perfect young marriage.

Supporting Actor/Actress Deserving of a Starring Role - Alison Brie, Community

I can’t see Aaron Paul, Retta, or Max Greenfield as leads. These are character actors, made to support. Archie Panjabi needs to show me more. Candice Accola is so blonde, and I don’t think female teenaged audiences support blonde leads as much. I see her as an ensemble actress. The role she’s playing now is perfect for her. Leave her there forever. I’m not nuts about Norman Reedus, possibly because his Irish accent sucked up the Boondock Saints. I love Dianna Agron, but she was “blah” in I Am Number Four. She needs to be a supporting character. I hate myself for writing this, but Maisie isn’t pretty enough to be a lead actress. I like her as Arya. Leave her in that. Of the choices, I think Alison Brie is the one who could most definitely pull it off. She can do both drama and comedy, and she has charisma. Misha Collins would be my second choice.

Best Season Finale - The Vampire Diaries

Didn’t watch Castle or Sherlock. It sure isn’t gonna be Gossip Girl. Community’s wasn’t memorable. Game of Thrones had a better penultimate episode than finale. Once Upon a Time surprised me by bringing magic to Storybrooke. Balls and plot progression. Breaking Bad’s had two cool moments in the middle and one great twist at the end, but I can’t say it topped Parks and Recreation, which was great all the way through and made me cry. Still, you can’t beat The Vampire Diaries for all its surprises and prime entertainment. It hurts to not pick Parks and Rec or Breaking Bad though.

Top of Form

Worst Season Finale - How I Met Your Mother

Man, most of these were bad. Who put TVD on this list? The people who voted for it probably don’t watch the show and just want to diss something that sounds stupid and immature. I liked the Glee finale too. I didn’t watch The Killing, Ringer, Gossip Girl, or The Office, having dropped out of those shows before the finales. True Blood’s finale was alright. At least stuff happened. I hated the events of the Grey’s Anatomy finale and the cliffhanger ending, but at least I enjoyed watching it and was surprised by the death. How I Met Your Mother was predictable and not all that funny. What’s sad is that the show used to be so good.

Worst Single Episode, Drama - "Season Seven, Time for a Wedding", Supernatural

"If/Then" was good, dammit. That was so funny and enjoyable for longtime Grey’s Anatomy fans. Quit hating on Grey’s, people. It’s yards better than most shows in their 8^th seasons. I’m going to have to eliminate the Ringer, Desperate Housewives, and Gossip Girl episodes because while I might have seen them, I forgot them. I’m sure they were bad though, and I wish I could pick one of them. True Blood is not my favorite show, but this wasn’t the worst episode. I mildly enjoyed Smash’s "Bombshell". Singing and dancing make me happy. I’m not hard to please if you have those things. I’ve actually seen both the Supernatural episodes they are talking about, and man are they right to be on the list. Like I’ve said before, this show can go from an A episode one week to an F episode the next. It’s the most inconsistent show of all time, but overall, I love it. I think "Season 7, Time for a Wedding" was worse than "Defending Your Life".

Worst Single Episode, Comedy - "The Burning Beekeeper", How I Met Your Mother

I liked the Glee finale, and the rest of the Glee episodes had singing and dancing. I’ve decided they entertained me, even if some of them were technically bad. I didn’t watch most of The Office this year because that show sucks now. Whitney was terrible, but I think "The Burning Beekeeper" was even worse than that. Not only was it a bad episode, it was boring. It was the worst episode of a poor season.

Best On-Screen Death Scene - Gus Fring, Breaking Bad

Whoa, spoiler alert in this category. Alaric died too many times to get this award. By that time, I was like, “Die. Just die.” I don’t watch NCIS or Sherlock. Olivia and Renly’s deaths were equally, moderately good. I’m not giving it to Revenge’s Sammy. I hate when dogs die. Zombie Sophia’s death was great, but I wasn’t hoping for her to die as much as I was Gus, so it wasn’t as satisfying. Lexie’s death was BALLS. It was unnecessary and I will never be over it. Gus’s death was bad ass. It was just the best. Honorable mention to Big Carl.