With last year’s winner, “Everybody Loves Raymond” (CBS), no longer around, the battle for top sitcom shapes up as a likely showdown involving perennial favorites and 2005 nominees “Desperate Housewives” (ABC) and “Will & Grace” (NBC) and a pair of innovative NBC upstarts, “My Name Is Earl” and “The Office.” But despite some signs of life in the state of TV comedy, experts still take a dim overall view.
Matt Roush, senior TV critic for TV Guide, described the comedy contenders as “a much weaker field than the drama categories, as usual” but did find reason for hope: “There’s some new blood to consider, which could make the race more exciting than it has been in a while.”
Added panelist Ray Solley: “TV comedy has become more sophisticated over the past couple of seasons.”
TVWeek’s Emmy Panel
Panelists’ predictions
My Name Is Earl (NBC)
“A true feel-good show about an underdog’s redemption, with vividly portrayed oddball characters you instantly love-even the hateful ones like Joy.” -Matt Roush
“Could be seen as a little blue-collar, which is bad for votes, but to the extent that it mocks blue-collar, that is good for votes.” -Tim brooks
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
“Because it’s still so popular and noisy, it will get nominated-even though the show is way
too uneven to deserve it.
Classic Emmy tradition is to keep rewarding a show regardless of the quality of a specific season.”
-Matt Roush
Will & Grace (NBC)
“Final-season sentimentality.”
-Diane Gordon
“Smart, sassy and a sentimental favorite.”
-Tim Brooks
The Office (NBC)
“Pioneering a new type of sitcom, the ‘improv-com.'”
-Tim Brooks
“The only must-see TV comedy on the air. The show got better and better as the season progressed.”
-Diane Gordon
Entourage (HBO)
“Smart and inside-Hollywood, which insiders may like.”
-Tim Brooks
TelevisionWeek staff picks
2005 contenders
Winner: Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS)
Other nominees: