We watch... so you don't have to.
Best Hour Actress: A Cranky Addendum
Since our annual TeeVee Awards For Excellence in Televisual Excellence were posted, we've received an absolute flood of four or five emails complaining that Kristen Bell didn't win Best Hour Actress, since we chose instead to give it to, um, nobody.
In at attempt to forestall any future emails, let me first say that we appreciate the apparently-fanatical devotion with which you are following our goofy, meaningless awards. If you could see the literally minutes of thought and debate we put into them, you'd be appalled. Really. And don't you think Kristen Bell has gotten enough plaudits without the praise of a website of which she has undoubtedly never heard? The woman got to sing at the Emmy Awards! And she lost to Donald Trump and that squeaky woman from Will and Grace, which seems like a greater outrage.
Now, to the subject at hand: why didn't we give Kristen Bell the award? Well, speaking just for myself, I hadn't watched her show yet, so I felt more qualified to vote on categories like Best Cartoon (incidentally, Justice League Unlimited just started its new season, and if you liked the cavalcade of random heroes as much as I did, be sure not to miss the Legion of Doom arc, which promises to drag villains out from even greater depths of obscurity). But you're thinking, "Hey! Isn't there someone who writes for you who really likes Veronica Mars, even to the point where we're all getting a little sick of the running gag where his name is linked with it?" Well, yes. But, um, he didn't have a vote yet. He does now (as does Laurel Krahn, who watches more hours of Actual Television than half the rest of us combined), but a fat lot of good that does anybody, what with there being nothing to vote on at the moment.
My point is this: We can only reward the shows we see. And with an increasing number of the staff becoming parents, you're just lucky we're not subjecting you to essays comparing Bear in the Big Blue House and Spongebob Squarepants in their ability to keep toddlers from wrecking up the house. But at least a couple of us will be watching Veronica Mars when it debuts on Wednesday, September 28 on UPN, and if Kristen Bell continues to be great, we'll do our best to remember that in the byzantine awards nomination process.
Now quit emailing us.
