Most Egregious Emmy Slights

[Neil]

I'm accepting nominees.....in THREE categories.

 

1) People or shows that were not even nominated.

 

2) People or shows that were nominated but lost, perhaps to a worthy 'opponent', perhaps not; or maybe to someone who had won enough already.

 

3) People or shows who were not nominated because there wasn't a category for them. 

 

The oversights are complicated by the fact that the categories changed from year to year.   Sometimes Actor/Actress competition was divided into separate Drama/Comedy categories, but several years in the late 50s and early 60s,  the categories were Lead Actor/tress in a Series so you might have Dick Van Dyke competing against E. G. Marshall of "The Defenders".  You did.  Dick won.  

During the first half of the 60s, supporting actresses, drama and comedy, were competing against one another: the sole comedy nominee for several years: RoseMarie.  (Sorry, Bagley)

 

Also Emmys up until the 1958-59 season were for the calendar year so the nominees were represented by two different TV seasons. The 1956 awards were for shows/stars from the last half of the 55-56 and first half of the 56-57 season. 

The 1958-59 awards, by the way, included the 1958 portion of the 57-58 season. 

 

Also you have to take into consideration the competition of the time too.   The Lucy Show got its only nomination for Best Comedy Series in the 67-68 season but not because it was the best season (IM-not-so-HO).  It was just a blah era for sitcoms in general.(Though I'm glad the series got Emmy recognition) which got blah-er before All in Family and MTM in 70-71. 

 

That said, MY nominee for the most criminal Emmy oversight was the absence of I Love Lucy from the Best Comedy Series category in 1955, arguably its best year (by the calendar).  

It started with "Lucy Learns to Drive" in January  and ended with "Passports" in December.

 I have only seen a few episodes of the other comedy series nominated in 1955.  I'm not even sure the episodes I've seen were from 1955. I've never seen any of two of them (Gobel and Caesar).

 Not to take anything away from their entertainment value, could any of these have had a better run of episodes than the gold standard: I Love Lucy at its very peak in 1955?  

Make Room for Daddy,

Caesar's Hour,

George Gobel,

The Bob Cummings Show,

Jack Benny

and the winner The Phil Silvers Show, which went on to win three in a row. 

 

The Academy redeemed itself that year .....just slightly....The 1955 Best Continuing Performance by an Actress was won by Lucille Ball.  If ever there was a year above all others that she deserved it, this was it.

 

Believe it or not, of the seven times I Love Lucy was eligible for the Best Comedy Series category (or variation thereof), it was nominated only FOUR...and won two. 

 

Lucy got some nomination every season of I Love Lucy, sometimes two categories for the same year. A total of 9 nominations but only two wins. Well, I guess they couldn't give it her every year, but, seriously, they could have. 

(For the record, she was nominated 4 out of the 6 Lucy Show seasons and won twice for a total of 13 nominations and 4 wins). 

 

The most outlandish category that she was nominated in, was only used once in 1957.

This one, submitted I'm sure with all seriousness: 

"Series performance by a comedienne, singer, hostest, dancer, MC, announcer, narrator, panelist or any person WHO ESSENTIALLY PLAYS HERSELF (my caps)

They left out chorus girl, bit player or extra! 

losing to someone who at least came close to fitting that strange category: Dinah Shore. 

(Not surprisingly there were no female announcers nominated).

 

Lucy and fellow nominee Gracie Allen (another of my nominations for Most Egregious Oversight) were so GOOD, apparently people didn't believe they were really acting (which was everyone's first impression of Laurette Taylor, considered the best stage actress of her day.)   It was Lucy's only 1957 nomination.  That year, the series actress category was for comedy and drama and the nominees were: Eve Arden for the one season Eve Arden Show, Ida Lupino in Mr. Adams and Eve, Spring Byington for December Bride, Jan Clayton for Lassie (?!?) losing to Jane Wyatt in Father Knows Best, the first of three she would win.  Nothing against Jane Wyatt because she played the part beautifully, but  THREE wins??

 

And if they had only had Best Guest Actor/Actress in a Comedy Series back then, the 66-67 winner could have been a tie between Iris Adrian and Jody Gilbert. 

 

We'll put your nominations before our blue ribbon committee and see if we can come up with a winner.   You can submit as many as you like.  Just don't OVERDO IT: our committee's indulgence has its limits. 

[upperco]

I also agree that I Love Lucy was probably at its peak in 1955, but so was The Phil Silvers Show, the writing for which was always highly praised. Also, I Love Lucy had won twice in that category already, so it's likely there was some desire to give other shows due credit. (As for The Phil Silvers Show winning twice more after that, I think it speaks mostly to a lack of comedic competition in the latter half of the decade.) I actually think it's more surprising that Make Room For Daddy, always a second-tier entity in my opinion, won the year prior over shows much more meritorious, like ​I Love Lucy, The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show, and even Mister Peepers, which had just married off its title character in what was then a Must-See-TV moment. 

 

As for snubs, the lack of appropriate categories for the 1965 ceremony probably screwed Elizabeth Montgomery from ever being properly acknowledged for her work on Bewitched, but I think her next best chance of winning was in '67, and we know how that turned out. (I personally think Ball deserved the award in '63 over Shirley Booth -- but probably not in '67 or '68, the latter of which could have very nicely gone to Marlo Thomas after a solid season of work on That Girl or to my beloved He & She's Paula Prentiss, which would have acted as a nice reinforcement of how stupid CBS was to cancel the show before even attempting to help it find an audience.) Also I never understood why Hope Lange won for both seasons of The Ghost And Mrs. Muir. Seriously, she's charming, but outstanding? I suppose it's another matter of competition -- all the most deserving (Ball, Thomas, Montgomery) were not in their primes. 

 

In the '70s, on the other hand, there was no shortage of talent. One major show that that was totally lost in the shuffle was The Bob Newhart Show, with a scant two nominations for its fifth season (after the show had passed its prime, in my opinion). There were so many good comedies at the time, but it still deserved more shine -- for writing, for Newhart, and, most importantly, for Pleshette. Speaking of '70s actresses, Ruth Gordon should not have been able to win as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy for a guest shot on Taxi in 1979; that award should have belonged to Soap's Katherine Helmond, who was nominated all four years on the show but never won (losing to Jean Stapleton, Gordon, Cathryn Damon, and Isabel Sanford -- the latter two of whom I do believe were deserving at the time). 

 

And one more: I think Bea Arthur should have won for the first season of The Golden Girls over Betty White, whose character took the longest to get defined but benefited from scoring a pair of big juicy episodes that managed to be the year's best. Oh, well, at least they all won eventually... 

[Freddie2]

If there had been art direction Emmys from the 50s to the 70s I would've liked to have seen Lucy's people win.

 

Newhart (the 80s show, not the 70s) should have won SOMETHING over its eight year run. Tom Poston's performance was especially brilliant.

 

Rue McClanahan should have won more than once for GG. No offense to the others, because of course they're terrific, but I think Rue by far took her material and ran with it.

 

A weird one, but I think Elizabeth Ashley should've won for Evening Shade. Unfortunately she was kind of lost in a sea of great character actors and bad writing. Fun fact: in her only nomination for the show, for the 1990-91 season, she lost to Bebe Neuwurth for the dead rat episode of Cheers, one of my all time favorites.

 

Peter Boyle on Raymond. No further explanation.

 

Steve Carrell should've won for playing Michael Scott. One of the most incredible comedic characters put on the screen, IMO.

[Freddie2]

1971:

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series goes to Carole Cook as Ma Parker.

[Neil]

1971:

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series goes to Carole Cook as Ma Parker.

HA!   You have to applaud her for throwing herself into this WRETCHED script and giving it all she had.

 

Another Here's Lucy nominee in the same situation: Guy Marks in "Burglar Alarm". 

 

If they had had the guest actor/actress in a comedy series category going all the way back to the 50s, who would the likely nominees be?

 

And as this category is today: "guest stars" as opposed to standout supporting players-----sorry Iris, Jody and Barb-(Morrison)

[Neil]

I agree that the screwed up 64-65 Emmy process probably robbed Elizabeth of a real solid change at winning for Bewitched.  You can thank Academy high mucky-muck Rod Serling for that.  Nothing against Mary Tyler Moore but I would have given it to Elizabeth in 65-66.   After that, Elizabeth's performance became much broader.  Marlo Thomas?  Sure, I guess.  Though I don't think the role required much of a range.  "That Girl" was hardly the ground-breaker Marlo seems to think it was.  Ann Marie acts like she's about 12 years old---and not knocking the show or her.     One of the Antenna-Me-Decades-Get channels has been running "Ghost" and I agree about Hope.  One Emmy for being charming is fine, but TWO for a show that was cancelled TWICE?? and judging by the episode I saw, no great loss either time.  

 

Going down my list of Egregious Oversights:    after my #1 omission (1955's I Love Lucy), here's #2

1962-63  Bea Benedaret in her supporting role as Cousin Pearl in the first season of 'Beverly Hillbillies'.  The category that year lumped drama and comedy and the nominees were all for single performances (I think) in heavy dramatic vehicles, Kate Reid, Nancy Malone, Davey Davidson, and winner Glenda Farrell in a Ben Casey episode.  The sole nominee who was a series regular was Rose Marie, the only nod to comedy in this category. 

 

I like the fact that Lucy won two in a row for The Lucy Show, something she did not accomplish in I Love Lucy.  

I agree, wholeheartedly with her 66-67 win.  She's great in the first half of the season and most of those episodes "meet with my approval" (he said, imperiously), a few duffers ("Mooney/Monkey") notwithstanding.  After her tour d' farce performance in "Substitute Secretary" (again, WHO ELSE could have pulled this off?) , things go rapidly down hill to the nadir "Tennessee Ernie/Bank Hoedown".   I don't know who insisted Agnes Moorehead be nominated for lead actress instead of supporting that year (which may have cut into Elizabeth's votes).

 

Which makes me wonder:  what qualifies as "lead" and who decides?   In my mind, it's when there are plenty of episodes that revolve around you independent of the real star of the show.  I don't remember shows where Endora was the focus of the plot to the exclusion of Sam and Darrin.  

 

If you tally up on-screen time, I think Vivian Vance in the first season of The Lucy Show is as much of a "lead" as Mary Tyler Moore in The Dick Van Dyke Show.  (Would have been interesting if Lucy and Viv were both nominated in 62-63 and Viv had won!)   Ditto Rob Reiner/Sally Struthers in "Family".  

When your character is the significant other to the real star of the show, that seems to put you into lead category by default:  Barbara Feldon, Dick York, Ted Bessell, Suzanne Pleshette to name a few.

[Freddie2]

Aggie should have won for Bewitched!

 

Also, it's asking too much, but it would've been cool if Gavin McCloud and Georgia Engel had won for MTM. Still, six out of eight ain't bad.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Great topic Neil!

 

Of all the aforementioned actors I think that above everyone else (but I'll admit my total bias here as I'm almost as big a fan of hers as I am of you-know-who) Miss Elizabeth Montgomery was "robbed" at least 5 or 6 times, as she should have won at LEAST once, but preferably 2 or 3 times for BW (Agnes Moorehead too but she should NEVER have been placed opposite/against Liz in the Leading Actress category -- she wasn't even in every episode and certainly didn't "carry" the show!), not to mention other, later egregious loses for exemplary work in TVMs like "Lizzie Borden" and "Case of Rape", just to name a few ...but I digress.  Picture it: the TV Academy stage, circa 1966-- oops, where am I??

 

I do hate to slight anyone who did have the great honor of winning (even the late great Hope Lange, whom I also liked but as with many others scratch my head over how she won this coveted honor TWICE for such a "so-so" show), so in many cases, what would have been so terrible about a tie?? I would never take anything away from my beloved Shirley Booth, and as with TLS the first season of her "Hazel" was arguably better than those that followed if/when Ball and Booth were (or should have been) nominated in the same year I'd be hard-pressed to choose one over the other.  (An aside: in discussing and thinking about all these historical happenings, has anyone else noticed that in most cases, we seem to point out -- which many of the nominations if not wins seem to bear out -- that in most of these examples the first seasons in black & white (ahem) seem to be a common denominator i.e. in superiority, if not popularity? Coincidence?

Hmmm... I wonder.)

 

I too have always been puzzled how such a critically-lauded and beyond popular groundbreaking show such as ILL is so woefully short in its total number of Emmy-winning statues, despite the competition, however well deserved the competition may have been, I don't see how you could not --again, even if a tie were required --award this program for each and every honor it was nominated for. 

Unbelieveable!

[Mr. Wilson]

The Emmy Awards were kind to Lucy but could have been a lot kinder.  Lucy definitely should have won best actress during the 1962-63 season instead of Shirley Booth.  Vivian Vance was overlooked for best supporting actress and the series and writers were too.  During the 1963-64 season they didn't even nominated Lucy, instead, they nominated Inger Stevens for The Farmer's Daughter and Patty Duke.  Mary Tyler Moore won that season for Dick Van Dyke Show but Lucy should have been nominated.  The awards in 64-65 were all screwed up so I won't go there.  During 1965-66 Lucy was nominated and lost again.  Mary won again and would become the darling of the Emmy's for years to come along with Betty White.   These two actresses were overrated in my opinion.  I digress, in 1965 Lucy should have won the best actress comedy because the fourth season is one of the funniest seasons of The Lucy Show along with season one.  Finally, the Emmys awarded Lucy Best Actress In A Comedy Lead for the 1966-67 season and she did deserve to win (other nominees were Marlo Thomas for That Girl, Elizabeth Montgomery for Bewitched and Agnes Moorehead for Bewtiched).  Lucy's 66-67  performances for Lucy's Substitute Secretary, Lucy Flies To London and Lucy and John Wayne were classic.  Gale Gordon was nominated that year for Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy and the director Maury Thompson was nominated.  Lucy surprised everyone in 67-68 and won again.  The competition was a little more stiff with Marlo Thomas, Paula Prentiss (He & She), Barbara Feldon (Get Smart)  and Elizabeth Montgomery being the other nominees.  The Lucy Show was finally nominated for Best Comedy Series along with Best Supporting Actor (Gale Gordon) and Best Writing (Milt Josefsberg) for Lucy Gets Jack Benny's Bank Account (a classic).

 

Elizabeth Montgomery should have won the Emmy in 1968-69 but lost to Hope Lange (?) for The Ghost And Mrs. Muir which was not only not successful but not funny and cancelled by NBC in 69 and ABC in 1970.  Other nominees in 68-69 were Diahann Carroll for Julia which was more a comedy-drama and totally unrealistic even though it was considered relevant for its time.  Barbara Feldon was the other nominee for Get Smart and Marlo Thomas was not even nominated.  Marlo should have won the Emmy during 69-70 season but lost to Hope Lange (?) here second Emmy win in a row and still a mystery to me.  Elizabeth Montgomery was also nominated that season.

 

In 1970 the Emmys ignored Lucy's performance in Here's Lucy for "Lucy Meets The Burtons" and nominated Mary Tyler Moore for ner new show, Marlo Thomas for That Girl and Jean Stapleton for All in the Family.  Jean won but Lucy's performance for that episode deserved the Emmy.  They nominated the writers Bob Carroll, Jr. and Madelyn Davis for Lucy Meets The Burtons and Gale Gordon for Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy.  I think the Emmys had it out for Lucy during the 70's and didn't want to nominate her for Here's Lucy because comedy was changing on TV.  I always believed that if the writers get nominated the show should also, but Here's Lucy did not receive a Best Comedy nomination.

 

During the 1971-72 season Lucy was still riding high in the nielsen ratings for Here's Lucy but the Emmy's ignored her again and nominated there Emmy darlings Mary and Jean.  Jean won for the second year in a row.  The third nominee was Sandy Duncan (lol) for Funny Face which was only a hit because it followed All in the Family and preceded The New Dick Van Dyke Show, but because she had a tumor behind her eye CBS had to cancel the show.  I'm sorry that she lost sight in one eye but one should not get a nomination because of being ill.  Sandy returned the following year in The Sandy Duncan Show and it was cancelled after 13 episodes.  During the 1972-73 season Lucy was still a nielsen champ but not an Emmy darling.  Bea Arthur (Maude), Mary Tyler Moore and Jean Stapleton were nominated.  Jean won again.

 

In 1973-74 Lucy quit Here's Lucy, was overlooked for another Emmy (Mary won) and didn't even receive a special salute at the Emmy Awards for all her years on TV, but when The Mary Tyler Moore Show was cancelled in 1977 the Emmy's saluted Mary and the gang.  

 

The dumbest category the Emmys ever had was back in the 1974-75 season when they had the category for Actor and Actress of the year.  The winner for Best Comedy Actress was Mary Tyler Moore and the Best Dramatic Actress winner was Michael Learned for The Waltons.  Of course actress of the year went to Mary.

 

I don't enjoy watching the Emmy Awards any longer.  The nominees are becoming more obscure to me and actors/actresses truly deserving of awards are overlooked.  I just don't get it.

[Luvsbway]

I'm not sure what category this would have fell in in its respective year but what about Lucy for her work in What Now Catherine Curtis? The writing is not that hot but it's a good dramatic turn I and she did so little drama on TV.

[Neil]

It's very hard for me to be objective about Lucy's non-Lucy performances (AND a lot of LUCY when we get into the 70s)---except for two of them*----Had the scripts for "Catherine" and "Stone" been better, that would have helped.  It was hard for me to get past her appearance in Pillow.  I applauded her for having the guts to appear so unattractive and OLD on TV.  The scene I remember specifically is the bare shoulder shot when she's taking a shower and the shot reveals loose hanging skin on her upper arms.  I assumed our Lucy would have avoided that aging factor.   By the time of Catherine, her voice had lost a lot of its timbre and range which makes more of a difference than I realized.  Lucy was never able to make that deep, gruff-ish voice work FOR her like, say Colleen Dewhurst.   But if only for bravery alone, she should have, at least, been up for the 1985 Emmy for Pillow. 

 

*I'm referring to her most successful movie Yours Mine and Ours and, what I consider her greatest screen acting, Critics Choice, a wonderfully understated, but beguiling screen performance  (try being LUCY and do both) in a rather dull movie that comes to life only when she's onscreen.  And I've seen Mame so many times, I have lost all objectivity about her in that one. 

[Neil]

My pick for most egregious oversight #3:  Overlooking  Lucy and The Lucy Show among the 1963-4 Emmy nominations.  

To really appreciate the 2nd season of TLS, you have to consider the quality of the dozens of sitcoms on during that season.  One can't argue with the winner Dick Van Dyke, and I don't know anything about That Was the Week That Was, but I take exception to McHale's Navy, The Famers Daughter and most of all, The Bill Dana Show.  (Anyone else get the DVD release and scratch their heads?)  

I'm not knocking McHale but was it really among the top 5 comedies on the air that year? Or among the top THREE in the previous 62-63 season?  I haven't seen a Farmers Daughter in years but its success seemed to have been based solely on the considerable charm and innocent beauty of lovely Inger Stevens.   But let's see Inger (or Mary or Shirley or Irene) demonstrate Lucy's 2nd season range----from the rather sophisticated, perfectly believable comedy of the restaurant scene in "Meets a Millionaire" one week to an all-out silent movie comedienne turn in "Conducts a Symphony" the next. (and yes I know they didn't actually run back to back).   Of the nominees, I would have given it to Patty Duke on a silver platter.  Her perfect delineation playing those two characters makes you forget you're looking at the same actress.   

 

#4: "The Andy Griffith Show" for Best Situation Comedy (AND its wonderful, under-appreciated writers) for the 62-63, 63-64 and 64-65 seasons.   Of all the 60s sitcoms, TAGS has remained the most enduring; and its really because of these three seasons, probably about 100 episodes.  The last year with Don Knotts 1964-65 is among the finest comedy TV ever produced, with one or two episode exceptions: a stellar season from start to finish.   It didn't surprise me to learn that many of the same writers were responsible for Mr. Peepers a decade before.  

[LittleRickyII]

I agree with Freddie2 about Steve Carrell.  That man was most deserving of an Emmy.  Michael Scott was one of the funniest, best performed, characters ever.  But for the biggest Emmy slight of all time, I have to say Jackie Gleason.  He was showbiz personified.  He did it all: comedian and comedic actor, singer, songwriter, writer, director, producer, master of ceremonies.  And Ralph Kramden is one of the greatest, and most iconic, sitcoms roles in all of television history.  It is UNBELIEVABLE that Gleason was never awarded a single Emmy.  That one slight, for me, undermines the entire credibility of the organization.

[Neil]

Well at least he wasn't ignored.  He did get 5 nominations and the show got several, surprisingly only one for the 60s version in 66-67 when the Honeymooners was brought back in an hour-long musical format.  He was nominated for the Honeymooners series in 1955 but lost to Phil Silvers.

AND his 1949 version of "Life of Reilly" was named "Best Filmed Series".  Granted there wasn't much competition (Lone Ranger? and several I've never heard of).  Stars of variety shows rarely had a category of their own and were placed in odd ones, if at all.  For his 50s variety show, he was up for Best Actor and Best Comedian (losing to Donald O'Connor and Danny Thomas for Actor; Jimmy Durante as Comedian)

Gleason's one solo award was his 1959 Tony for Take Me Along, a musical he walked out of when he had the chance (and was a notorious performance miss-er.)  Plus an Oscar nom for "Hustler".  In my opinion he should have gotten a supporting Oscar nomination for his late-in-life movie with Tom Hanks "Nothing in Common" released the year before he died.  He was brilliant.  

Also surprising was that "The Honeymooners" series did not get a Best Comedy nomination in either year it was eligible 1955 and 1956 since it's the only 50s sitcom other than Lucy that has had enduring popularity.    I had always assumed the one season of 39 "Honeymooners" was a ratings smash but it only placed #19 whereas the previous season in the variety format was #2 right behind I Love Lucy. 

[Freddie2]

Well at least he wasn't ignored. He did get 5 nominations and the show got several, surprisingly only one for the 60s version in 66-67 when the Honeymooners was brought back in an hour-long musical format. He was nominated for the Honeymooners series in 1955 but lost to Phil Silvers.

AND his 1949 version of "Life of Reilly" was named "Best Filmed Series". Granted there wasn't much competition (Lone Ranger? and several I've never heard of). Stars of variety shows rarely had a category of their own and were placed in odd ones, if at all. For his 50s variety show, he was up for Best Actor and Best Comedian (losing to Donald O'Connor and Danny Thomas for Actor; Jimmy Durante as Comedian)

Gleason's one solo award was his 1959 Tony for Take Me Along, a musical he walked out of when he had the chance (and was a notorious performance miss-er.) Plus an Oscar nom for "Hustler". In my opinion he should have gotten a supporting Oscar nomination for his late-in-life movie with Tom Hanks "Nothing in Common" released the year before he died. He was brilliant.

Also surprising was that "The Honeymooners" series did not get a Best Comedy nomination in either year it was eligible 1955 and 1956 since it's the only 50s sitcom other than Lucy that has had enduring popularity. I had always assumed the one season of 39 "Honeymooners" was a ratings smash but it only placed #19 whereas the previous season in the variety format was #2 right behind I Love Lucy.

All I remember from that Nothing In Common movie was that it took place in Chicago, and there was an oddly shaped parking garage featured in the opening credits, which I somehow recognized in real life as we went by it in a taxi about four years ago.

 

And #19 isn't bad; nowadays a sitcom ranking that high would get a seven year contract!

[Neil]

#5 Gale Gordon Best Supporting Actor for The Lucy Show.

I would have given it to him for season 2.  That's when the writing was still sharp and his character more defined.  But the supporting actor category that year combined comedy and drama with NO nominees in the comedy field. 

So I would have given it to Gale for his first nomination for The Lucy Show, which would have been season 5.  The other nominees: Werner Klemperer and the winner Don Knotts, his 2nd in a row for a guest episode returning as Barney Fife for one episode.  I've never seen one episode of Hogans Heroes so I can't speak to Klemperer (but from clips I've seen, he seems rather one-note).  I'm a big Don Knotts/Barney Fife fan, but this was his FIFTH win (2nd in a row  for guest shots) and so enough already!  It would have been nice for Gale to get one.  He was never less than solid, even when the material wasn't. 

Gale was nominated four times: twice for The Lucy Show, once for Here's Lucy and once for Our Miss Brooks.  

From 1951-52 to 1973-74, Gale was represented every season as a regular or semi-regular on some TV sitcom---and for one brief season, the STAR (of "The Brothers").  By my count (trusting imdb), he was in 476 episodes of various comedies as a regular.  This isn't counting one-time guest shots, like the Donna Reed ROberta Sherwood pilot episode.  

This has to be some kind of record. 

 

#6 Judith Lowry-Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series 76-77 season   It would have been a posthumous award.  She was responsible for the most hilarious half-hour of the entire decade in the 2nd season Phyllis episode "Mother Dexter Gets Married-part 2".  As good as Cloris Leachman is/was, Judith Lowry was the ONLY reason to watch "Phyllis". (IMO, of course)

 

#7-Nancy Walker Best Supporting Actress for 'Rhoda'....Though nominated for every year she was in 'Rhoda' (except for that last aborted season), Nancy lost to worthy winners (Betty White, Julie Kavner).  But to watch her as Ida Morgenstern is to watch an artist bring together a lifetime of polished technique to a role she was born to play.   Nancy Walker was the glue that held the troubled "Rhoda" together.

[Freddie2]

Mother Dexter would be a great choice! The MTM shows always had TERRIFIC supporting actresses.

 

Another snub IMO would be John Mahoney on Frasier. He was nominated for seasons 6 and 10 and should've gotten it for six, when one of the submitted episodes was the terrific "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz", where he's in rare comedic form, going from yelling to crying with the same verve as Lucy at her best. He lost to DHP, for doing some great physical comedy in "Three Valentines", another highly reccomended episode.

[Neil]

#8 Kathryn Card--Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy 1955.  

Who knew that "Minnie Finch" could put her teeth in and sink them into the role of Mrs. McGillicuddy?

 

Lucy's mother was introduced, not- I'm thinking- because they wished to expand their roster of regulars, but just to have a way of getting Little Ricky out of the way of the plots....and they could hardly take Mrs. Trumble with them to Hollywood.  They got much more than they ordered  in Card, a consummate comic actress who held her own with the established cast, and then some.  She was rarely given the spotlight all to herself, but when she was, she ran with it.   I'm speaking of the Ricky/Rudolph Valentino laugh (the whole thing criminally cut down in the edited versions) perhaps one of the top ten funniest scenes in the entire series.  My favorite little Mrs. McGillicuddy moment was during the dialogue between Lucy and Ricky subsequent to the laugh.  She's so into the character and the moment that she can't stifle a little additional chuckle to herself as they're talking.

After her stellar performance in "Hedda Hopper", I don't know why she wasn't used more.  To liven up that tepid 6th season, why not have Mrs. M move in with the Ricardos?  

Like Doris Singleton (and Charles Lane later), Kathryn made such an impression that I assumed she was in more episodes than she was.  (according to imdb, only 9--10 counting her one LDCH) ; Doris Singleton: 10; Charles Lane as Barnsdahl: 4) Post Hollywood, she's got that one little scene in "Italian Birthday Party" and then it's 3 more years before she pops up again, all too briefly, in the "Japan" LDCH. 

 

What would be a good appropriate first name for Mrs. McGillicuddy?  Any suggestions?

(If one was ever mentioned, I don't recall)

[JoeySanJoaquin]

#8 Kathryn Card--Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy 1955.  

Who knew that "Minnie Finch" could put her teeth in and sink them into the role of Mrs. McGillicuddy?

 

Lucy's mother was introduced, not- I'm thinking- because they wished to expand their roster of regulars, but just to have a way of getting Little Ricky out of the way of the plots....and they could hardly take Mrs. Trumble with them to Hollywood.  They got much more than they ordered  in Card, a consummate comic actress who held her own with the established cast, and then some.  She was rarely given the spotlight all to herself, but when she was, she ran with it.   I'm speaking of the Ricky/Rudolph Valentino laugh (the whole thing criminally cut down in the edited versions) perhaps one of the top ten funniest scenes in the entire series.  My favorite little Mrs. McGillicuddy moment was during the dialogue between Lucy and Ricky subsequent to the laugh.  She's so into the character and the moment that she can't stifle a little additional chuckle to herself as they're talking.

After her stellar performance in "Hedda Hopper", I don't know why she wasn't used more.  To liven up that tepid 6th season, why not have Mrs. M move in with the Ricardos?  

Like Doris Singleton (and Charles Lane later), Kathryn made such an impression that I assumed she was in more episodes than she was.  (according to imdb, only 9--10 counting her one LDCH) ; Doris Singleton: 10; Charles Lane as Barnsdahl: 4) Post Hollywood, she's got that one little scene in "Italian Birthday Party" and then it's 3 more years before she pops up again, all too briefly, in the "Japan" LDCH. 

 

What would be a good appropriate first name for Mrs. McGillicuddy?  Any suggestions?

(If one was ever mentioned, I don't recall)

SO many inspired ideas, Neil, impressive!

 

How about "Myrtle"?? She looked like a Myrtle to me!!

[HarryCarter]

At one of Lucy's Museum of Broadcasting seminars, a guy in the audience asked Lucy if Mrs. McGillicuddy had a first name and then did his impression of Mrs. McGillicuddy's laugh. Only the audio of this seminar was recorded. I would love to have seen Lucy's reaction to all this.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

At one of Lucy's Museum of Broadcasting seminars, a guy in the audience asked Lucy if Mrs. McGillicuddy had a first name and then did his impression of Mrs. McGillicuddy's laugh. Only the audio of this seminar was recorded. I would love to have seen Lucy's reaction to all this.

So how'd she respond, any idea? Now I'm curious.

 

Aside from Myrtle, I could "hear" it as Hazel or Ruth.

[Neil]

If Mathilda wasn't already taken for Mrs. Trumble, I could see her as a Mathilda.

 

Myrtle may be a little too plain.  She needs something more flighty.....How about Henrietta?  Or better yet Hermoine McGillicuddy has a nice ring.

[Freddie2]

I dig Henrietta.

[HarryCarter]

So how'd she respond, any idea? Now I'm curious.

 

Lucy laughed. She definitely got a kick out of the guy asking the question. She had no idea if there was answer to the question. She said she didn't know Kathryn Card well, but praised her work on the show.

[Neil]

1966-67

"Lucy in London"

but in which category?

"Best Variety Special"?   3 of the 4 nominees may have been entertaining, but were tried and true formulas: "The Bob Hope Christmas Show", "The Dick Van Dyke Variety Special", and the winner: a "Your Show of Shows" reunion, the 4 (Sid Caesar, Howard Morris, Carl Reiner and Imogene Coca) reprising skits from 15 years ago.    The other nominee had the rather condensing title of "ABC Stage 67: A Look at Negro Humor in America".  

 

With the overall tepid reviews "LIL" had little chance of being nominated.  TV critics by and large consistently complained about the "sameness" of TV fare but what did they do when presented with something completely different?  Thumbs down.

For innovation and the guts to go with same, "Lucy in London" deserved industry recognition.  Plus it's a thoroughly entertaining hour (I say with two IMO reservations : one too many sped up exits and Newley's medley being twice as long as it should have been).  The fact that the ratings were stellar (but the reviews were not) did not inspire Lucy to stretch her creative legs for 10 years with lesser results (when we got the 70s dramedy specials).

or

"Best Music Special" 2 of the 3 nominees (the losers) fit the category "Frank Sinatra: A Man and his Music" and "Toscaninni: The Maestro Revisited" but the winner was "Brigadoon" - a play (comedy? drama?) with music.  "LIL" didn't really fit this category.  It was more "play" than music so I'm going with "Best Variety Special".   The presenter of the Best Music Special award was "the apple of the CBS eye: Miss Lucille Ball" as introduced by host Joey Bishop.