Ted Lasso, Rom-Coms, and Emotional Vulnerability

Why is it important that a show about men who play soccer did a rom-com homage?

Dickinson Behind-the-Scenes: An Interview With the Artisans

Meet the artists who brought the Apple TV+ series to life!

If You Like This, Watch That

Looking for a new TV series to watch? We recommend them based on your preference for musicals, ensemble shows, mysteries, and more!

Thursday, July 22, 2021

The Flash 7x17 Review: "Heart of the Matter, Part 1" (Hey Kids) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]


“Heart of the Matter, Part 1”
Original Airdate: July 13, 2021

Previously on The Flash: Nora and her heretofore unknown brother arrived from the future, just in time to stop Barry on his downward “Iris is in a temporal crisis, Godspeed might have messed up the future, there’s a chance I’ll never be a father” spiral. So now Team Flash has two bonus speedsters to help out with the Godspeed war going on in Central City, Barry probably feels a little bit better about the future of his children, and we get to know newcomer Bart. 

All in all, it promises an interesting start to the two-part season finale that I had no idea was the first part of a two-part season finale, since I’m used to the 20+ episode slog this show usually foists upon me. Also, “Heart of the Matter, Part 1” is the 150th episode of the show, so it’s extra special!

NOT THE TORNADO TWINS BUT CLOSE ENOUGH

The episode starts in 2049, with Nora as XS lightning-lassoing Original Flavor Godspeed. He’s not terribly fazed by it, but then Bart — superhero name Impulse — phases through him (ha!) and it knocks him out. Even though her enemy is primed for arrest, Nora gets distracted by yelling at her brother for the risky phasing-through-a-speedster move and Godspeed escapes. He heads to the Flash museum, then through time to 2021.

Which brings us to the present, where Nora and Bart are getting to know the past versions of the people they grew up knowing. I get that weird stuff is a given in their lives, but they’re remarkably blasé about this whole time travel thing. Considering that they have a family rule about protecting the timeline at all costs, I guess they travel through time a lot? Also, I was briefly proud of Barry apparently growing enough as a person to set such a strict non-interference rule for his time traveling brood, but that pride evaporated when he immediately decided Bart and Nora could ignore the rule and help out with the Godspeeds. It’s always special circumstances with you, huh, Barry?

Chester has developed a “solar encryption engine” from his father’s blueprints in order to help drain the Godspeed clones of their energy and get them out of the way. I’d explain how it’s supposed to work, but every time I listen to the technobabble on this show it sounds like when adults talk in Charlie Brown cartoons. Just know that “machine does thing to stop Godspeeds, but machine needs battery charge to work” and we can move forward. Some UV light from Allegra would really help Chester out with the SEE device, but Allegra has been MIA to Team Flash. So I guess they don’t know her cousin’s dead.

Barry and the kids go out to stop a Godspeed attack and then split off, hoping to break the Godspeed packs down to more manageable chunks for each of them to fight. But all the Godspeeds follow Bart instead, repeating the phrase “kill the adversary” while they go. Hmm, that’s probably important.

After they escape and are back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry asks his son what’s up with the whole “kill the adversary” situation and Bart loses his temper over the interrogation. He finally just yells that, in the future, Godspeed is “[his] Thawne.” Bart doesn’t go into details, but suffice to say that Godspeed kills someone Bart loves in the future and they’ve been nemeses ever since. Wait, so then why was Bart so casual when he and Nora were fighting Godspeed in 2049? Shouldn’t he have been single-mindedly focused on throwing Godspeed in jail instead of cheerfully bickering with his sister?

As Barry is consulting with Gideon about other speedsters to call for help with the Godspeeds (he’s trying to get into contact with Wally, who’s apparently too busy meditating) Iris appears, good as new despite her dire temporal situation last episode. She also knows everything that’s been happening with Barry while she was gone, and she’s taking the sudden arrival of her adult children in stride. I guess if it happens once, it’s hard to be surprised the second time around.

Next we see that Jay Garrick still exists, which I’m pretty sure he shouldn’t if there’s no multiverse. Not only that, but he’s on Barry’s Earth and he’s such a part of the West-Allen family in the future that it turns out his death is what turns Godspeed into Bart’s arch-enemy. This is why the Godspeeds end up kidnapping Jay, so they can lure Bart out and finally deal with “the adversary.”

Chester has finally tracked down a sullen Allegra and pulled her in to help charge the SEE device, but Allegra’s failing to get the battery past ten percent. Barry is in a hurry to get rid of a bunch of Godspeeds, so when he comes in to check on the SEE progress and Chester tells him it’s not ready, Barry blasts it with lightning to charge it up. This turns out to be a bad idea because the energy from speed lighting just powers the Godspeeds when Team Flash later uses the SEE on them, giving them a chance to blast our heroes with cartoonish white spirals. Nora gets knocked out in the fight, which leads Barry to banning her from fighting anymore Godspeeds.

The kidnapping of Jay Garrick comes back into play when the Godspeeds announce who they’ve captured to Team Flash. Of course, Bart goes after his uncle and is immediately captured by Godspeeds, who hold him up in the air with their cartoonish white spirals while he screams the whole time. Barry and Nora show up and, despite hearing the screams of their beloved family member, just stare dumbly at the Godspeeds and Bart for like... way too long. You guys know you have super speed, right? Your reaction time should be significantly faster than this. 

Eventually they do react, with Nora going for Bart and Barry going for the main Godspeed. Barry phases through him the same way Bart does in the future, which knocks Godspeed out and releases Bart. The Godspeeds all spring back up, surrounding the West-Allen family and Jay, who declares that they should “give [the Godspeeds] heck” because he’s a product of 1940 and he doesn’t gosh-darn swear. 

It looks like it’s going to be a losing battle for the non-evil speedsters until a surprise guest appears: Cisco! He provides just enough of a distraction to get everyone out of danger and they manage to cart Bart’s still-unconscious body back to S.T.A.R. Labs for further examination. It turns out that Bart is in a coma and severely low on speed; the only reason why he’s not dead is because what little speed he has left is keeping him alive.

The team sets up what they’ll be doing when the season finale airs next week: Chester will keep working on the SEE, Cisco will try to make a synthetic replacement for the temporal trap that was broken last week, and Barry wants to climb into August Heart’s mind to figure out a way to stop him from becoming an evil speedster in the first place. You know. Normal stuff!

At the end of the episode, Barry is hooking himself up to a still-docile August Heart while Cecile plays brain wave conductor and sends his consciousness over. When Barry finds himself in Heart’s mind, it consists of a cathedral and an obelisk throne and August Heart making broadly villainous statements about how cool he is. Man, I really was right about Godspeed being a tool.

Other Things:

  • Kramer’s lack of death in that failed mission is indeed important, since Joe mentions it to her during their little micro-plot this episode.
  • Did I miss something about Jay Garrick being around? He’s definitely supposed to be on another Earth, right? And the multiverse isn’t supposed to exist anymore? Although, I caught a little bit of Superman and Lois after this episode and there’s someone from a different Earth on there, too, so two questions: 1) is anyone going to explain this? And 2) how much of it is Barry’s fault? 

Monday, July 12, 2021

And Now… Your 6th Annual Golden Trio Award Winners!

Each year, we love honoring our favorite actors, actresses, and shows in our Golden Trio Awards. What started as a fun social media game (#Top3) by our assistant editor, Chelsea, turned into a yearly ceremony where you choose the three winners in each category. Even if your favorite show or performer doesn't get nominated for an Emmy this year, they’re still worth celebrating. Never stop loving what you love!

So without further ado, let's get to your 2021 winners!

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES

Your votes for the top two were neck-and-neck until the very end, proving you all really love Apple TV+ ensemble comedies.

GOLD: 

Mythic Quest

SILVER: 

Ted Lasso

BRONZE: 

A Black Lady Sketch Show

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

Between intense character studies in chess and solving mysteries, these shows brought all the drama in 2021 – and you loved them too!

GOLD: 

The Queen’s Gambit

SILVER: 

I May Destroy You

BRONZE:

Mare of Easttown

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

What does an optimistic coach, a video game creative director, and a morning show host have in common? They’re your favorite funny men this year!

GOLD: 

Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso)

SILVER:

Rob McElhenney (Mythic Quest)

BRONZE: 

Kenan Thompson (Kenan)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

They broke your hearts and they brought all the drama this year… these are your top three winners for leads in a drama!

GOLD: 

Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian)

SILVER: 

Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton)

BRONZE: 

Chris Evans (Defending Jacob)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

You all showed up for these funny leading ladies, and we couldn’t have been prouder of all the nominees. In an ideal world, everyone would walk away with a medal but this year you chose three incredible women as your favorites!

GOLD: 

Charlotte Nicdao (Mythic Quest)

SILVER: 

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever)

BRONZE: 

Robin Thede (A Black Lady Sketch Show)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

So many women gave nuanced, powerful performances in dramas and limited series this past year. But only three of them could win, so let’s celebrate them!

GOLD: 

Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown)

SILVER: 

Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit)

BRONZE: 

Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

When we narrowed down this category, we knew it would be difficult to choose our favorite! But you all showed up in the polls for your favorite comedic performers in streaming and network shows (and Danny Pudi stans really showed up)!

GOLD: 

Danny Pudi (Mythic Quest)

SILVER: 

Alex Newell (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist)

BRONZE: 

William Jackson Harper (The Good Place)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

They were battling the supernatural, teaching chess, and fighting literal and physical bad guys this year. Here are your picks for outstanding supporting drama actors!

GOLD: 

Bill Camp (The Queen’s Gambit)

SILVER: 

Michael K. Williams (Lovecraft Country)

BRONZE: 

Chase W. Dillon (The Underground Railroad)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Each and every woman listed here is so talented and made us laugh this year. Whether it was a sketch show, an ensemble comedy, or a show about love and friendship, we adore these supporting comedic actresses – and you do too! (Also, who still has “Agatha All Along” stuck in their heads? Anybody?)

GOLD: 

Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso)

SILVER: 

Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision)

BRONZE: 

D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Each woman in this category made us feel deeply this year, delivered standout performances, and we are honored to crown them with internet awards!

GOLD: 

Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Easttown)

SILVER:

Reign Edwards (The Wilds)

BRONZE: 

Mae Whitman (Good Girls)

OTP OF THE YEAR

When it comes to winning polls, Julie and the Phantoms fans are already seasoned veterans, and this category was no exception! Everyone else battled it out for the second and third spots and we’re happy to see just how much you all love... well, love!

GOLD: 

Luke/Julie (Julie and the Phantoms)

SILVER: 

Roy/Keely (Ted Lasso)

BRONZE: 

David/Patrick (Schitt’s Creek)

BEST NEW SERIES 

We’d say this one was close, but the Julie and the Phantoms fans really dominated this category! But the truth is that each of these new shows have captivated and entertained us all.

GOLD: 

Julie and the Phantoms

SILVER: 

WandaVision

BRONZE: 

We Are Lady Parts

GUILT-LESS TV PLEASURE

Around here, we don't believe that you should feel guilty for loving the things you love. Not everything you watch has to be Emmy-nominated television... and that should be celebrated! And you honored these guilt-less TV pleasures well.

GOLD: 

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

SILVER: 

Teenage Bounty Hunters

BRONZE: 

Nailed It!

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE

TV shows wouldn't work without the strength of their ensembles. And these shows demonstrated that (hello, Bridgerton and your array of complex characters!) and shone in 2021.

GOLD: 

Bridgerton

SILVER: 

Outer Banks

BRONZE: 

Ted Lasso

Well, there you have it everyone! Thanks so much for contributing to this year's Golden Trio Awards this year and we can’t wait to return again in the summer of 2022 for another celebration! :)

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

The Flash 7x16 Review: "P.O.W." (Something About Jammed Signals) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]


“P.O.W.”
Original Airdate: July 6, 2021

This week on The Flash: more Godspeeds! So many Godspeeds! I’ve never seen a show go for quantity over quality quite so spectacularly as The Flash is with their multiple Godspeeds. Seriously, I know I harp on this but... this character is nothing. It’s a nothing character full of nothing. Godspeed has no menace, no compelling history... he’s got mystery, I’ll give him that. But it’s the “what’s the point of all this?” kind of mystery and not the “What will happen next?” kind of mystery. In its own way, the show’s stubborn refusal to add anything of weight to Godspeed and his many, many alternative selves — whether they be robot duplicates or clones — is bizarrely fascinating.

LONG TIME NO DIGGLE

The episode starts with Barry dreaming of Nora again, but unlike his last dream she’s bearing bad news and dire warnings instead of comforting words about how everything’s going to be okay. When Barry wakes up, the city is trapped in the middle of the Godspeed war, which has the added wrinkle of making Central City into a kind of Faraday cage. No communications can go in or out of the city. We learn this when Cecile asks the team if anyone’s heard from Joe, who was last seen in an exploding car with Kristen Kramer.

(Joe and Kramer are having their own little adventure, also with jammed cell phone signals and limited communication. They’re being hunted, “The Most Dangerous Game”-style, by Kramer’s old friend-turned-sociopathic mercenary, Adam. Once again, their plotline is small and virtually insignificant and they manage to get the upper hand on Adam by the end of the episode, but I felt really sorry for repeatedly cutting them out of the main review so I’m giving them a little aside paragraph. Also, Adam seems to believe the explosion that killed Kramer’s whole team should have killed Kramer as well, implying that her survival was miraculous bordering on impossible. That’s at least a little intriguing.)

So no one can call for help, Barry’s so outgunned he’s essentially limited to just evacuating civilians and hoping for the best, and Team Flash has no ideas. What could possibly help them? Why, John Diggle bearing a technical doohickey from none other than Cisco Ramon, of course! That’s right, this episode is a very special guest star kind of episode.

The technical doohickey from Cisco is an entropy trap, which Dig personally volunteered to deliver so that he could do his part helping Central City through their most recent metahuman crisis. Chester is overjoyed because he’s apparently a Team Arrow fanboy, but also because the entropy trap is cutting-edge technology that literally freezes time. The team wants to capture one of the Godspeeds and Barry wants to find a way for them to communicate so he can ask what they want. After Barry makes his plan, Dig briefly makes an expression like a Victorian governess about to die of consumption.

The entropy trap is immediately successful, which tells us that the main plot of the episode will not be about finding and trapping a Godspeed. With a silent Godspeed locked in one of the S.T.A.R. Labs cells, they try to figure out how to talk to him while Allegra somehow uses her UV light powers to jam his communication to the Godspeed hive mind. That’s three references to jammed communications in this episode now — am I missing a metaphor?

If I am, I suspect it’s something about limited communications being overcome by good planning, because the Godspeed that Team Flash has captured is clearly not bothered by his inability to talk to his brethren. In fact, Team Flash gets some information out of him — the Godspeeds are looking for the original Godspeed, August Heart, who is from the future but in the past — but he escapes when Barry’s unwillingness to kill August Heart in order to stop the Godspeed war makes him an enemy of the captured Godspeed. Which, since the other half of the warring Godspeeds wants to steal Barry’s speed and the “good” half just wanted to keep them from doing it, means Barry’s now on the wrong side of both Godspeed factions. This is somehow very confusing and very uninteresting all at the same time.

Also, Barry really needs to learn some subterfuge. He could have very easily agreed to help the Godspeeds without agreeing to kill August Heart, then worked on pushing them away from the killing plan over the course of their truce. So on the list of things Barry Allen sucks at, let’s add “strategy” in there right after “teaching” and “not destroying the universe via time travel.”

So Team Flash wants to find August Heart, who has been displaced in time, before the Godspeeds can kill him. Barry’s angry because he’s worried about his future-daughter Nora, who’s from the same year as August Heart. Yeah, it’s not so fun when people play around with time travel and your kid’s existence is on the line, huh, Barry? Speaking of which: does Dig know you briefly erased his daughter? I guess no harm, no foul, but that was kinda messed up.

Barry wants to go forward in time (what metaphorical Faraday cage blocks the signal between Barry Allen’s brain and the concept of “do not time travel”?) to check on Nora, but when he attempts the run through the Speed Force his way is blocked by a Red Rover line of Godspeeds. Boy, I sure wish there were a row of Godspeeds waiting to clothesline Barry every other time he’s attempted time travel. 

He gets knocked into nowhere, where Deon finds him and shares some bad news: the Godspeeds are running amok, “feeding on pure speed force energy,” and the Speed Force is having a real time keeping them at bay. Deon’s worn thin as well, but not because of the Godspeeds. It turns out, Iris is suffering from some sort of destabilization that keeps her jumping through timelines. Deon’s putting everything he has into keeping her stable, but he has no concrete way of stopping it. Before Barry can say much to Iris, Deon has to snap her to some other timeline.

Frost, Dig, and Cecile have found a location associated with August Heart. Cecile senses a scared person nearby and they find a guy huddled by a dumpster. They ask for his name and he says he doesn’t know, then he says that the location he’s at is important. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin manages to get the guy to confirm his name is August but his memory is too fried for anything else. Also, Dig has spent this whole episode experiencing the sci-fi version of the Victorian consumption cough (i.e., screaming headaches of portentous Green Lantern-ing to come) and decides to deal with that once he leaves Central City.

At the end of the episode, just when Barry’s feeling real down about everything going on and needs a pep talk from Cecile, Nora suddenly appears to show Barry she’s fine and dandy. Also, she now has a brother.

Other Things:

  • The plot relegated to the bullet points of afterthought this week: Ultraviolet’s new lease on life is short-lived, as she immediately goes out to hunt Black Hole and dies. Allegra holds her as she dies (and inexplicably burns to ashes) and regrets sticking to her Team Flash family instead of Esperanza, her “real” family. This show’s inability to square away the found family vs. blood family argument continues.
  • Why is Nora able to get through the Godspeeds lurking in the Speed Force?

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

The Flash 7x15 Review: "Enemy at the Gates" (Gotta Get Godspeed) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]


“Enemy at the Gates”
Original Airdate: June 29, 2021

We welcome back Godspeed on this week’s episode, and by “welcome back,” I mean whatever the opposite of that would be. Last time he was on the show, I think I called him something along the lines of — paraphrasing, here — “a forgettable tool with terrible taste in catchphrases.” He’s only scoring two out of three on that front this week because he doesn’t actually say anything all episode, just screams like he’s possessed by dial-up internet. It’s not an improvement.

SPEEDING THROUGH THIS STORY

At the start of the episode, Barry is having a dream: Nora (the daughter from the future, not the mother or the Speed Force mother lookalike — boy, they sure get a lot of mileage out of that name, huh?) visits him and tells him everything is going to be okay. They hug, and Barry wakes up with the revelation that Iris must be pregnant, because why else would he have a dream like that? Certainly couldn’t be because the future-daughter he wants has been on his mind a lot. Barry, I know your life is full of a lot of weird, but I’m pretty sure prophetic pregnancy dreams aren’t on the list.

But Barry is full-tilt into “we’re gonna have a baby” mode and tells Iris (who — speaking of weird — is not on screen this entire episode, even when people talk to her) he’s going to do the tests to prove it himself. Barry’s bizarre behavior catches the attention of everyone who sees him, which means the secret of Iris possibly being pregnant is out in no time at all. Thanks to her empathy powers, Cecile is the first to figure it out but her excitement is interrupted by an explosion in the lab where Barry is working.

The explosion turns out to be caused by the arrival of Godspeed. Funnily enough, even the characters have a general vibe of “we don’t know who this villain is or where they came from or what we’re supposed to do about him even though he’s shown up multiple times now — and also, remember those robot clones of him? That was odd.” It doesn’t give me a lot of hope for this storyline evolving into something compelling or interesting.

After a bit of a chase with multiple Godspeed, Barry ends up back at S.T.A.R. Labs with a forcefield up to keep the Godspeeds out. The Godspeeds are trying to punch their way into the lab, which sends shockwaves through the whole building. This is bad because Caitlin happens to have scheduled Ultraviolet’s throat surgery during the Godspeed invasion just so there’s a bit more tension in the episode than generic speedster villains punching things.

Despite the attempt at adding tension with Ultraviolet’s surgery during an evil speedster attack, there’s only one moment of potential danger and it’s because Ultraviolet’s anesthesia starts wearing off, not because the building is about to fall down around them. This tension doesn’t even last a whole scene, as Cecile steps in to calm Ultraviolet with her empathy powers. There’s a lot in this episode that feels like it was written on the fly.

Chester has the idea to play the Godspeed modem sound over the speaker system in order to confuse them, then Barry could take them all out one by one. Before they can really enact this plan, though, the forcefield goes down and the Godspeeds enter the building. Everyone has fight duty (including Frost and that bartender love interest of hers, whose name I just remembered is Mark) except Chester, who runs to the Time Vault-turned-panic room for cover.

In the Time Vault, Chester asks Gideon for ideas on what to do next, and Gideon offers to go through with his initial plan by playing the Godspeed noise through the intercom system of S.T.A.R. Labs. Thankfully, the show plays “Diesel Power” by The Prodigy instead of the screeching modem noise for the duration of the fight sequence that follows. Unfortunately, one Godspeed finds the source of the sound and breaks into the Time Vault, which I assumed was impossible but okay, fine. The Godspeed destroys the console playing the sound and postures in a way that says Chester is about to die. Just as a side note: the coolness of Godspeed’s costume is seriously wasted on this nothingburger of a character.

Barry launches himself at a few of the Godspeeds and runs out so they’ll follow him and leave everyone else in S.T.A.R. Labs alone. He speeds through the city but gets stopped and is about to be set upon by some Godspeeds when they suddenly start fighting each other. Barry is confused, as am I. Remember what I wrote about how a lot of this episode feels like it was written on the fly? This sort of thing is what I meant.

Later, Barry theorizes that the Godspeeds weren’t compelled to fight each other by any outside force but were just fighting each other to fight each other. Everyone looks around in shock and dismay at the prospect of “speedsters against speedsters” as if this hasn’t been the modus operandi for every speedster Barry has ever encountered who wasn’t related to him in some way. It’s remarkable we’ve had yet another Godspeed episode on this show in which we learn nothing about him, his motivations beyond stealing speed (which, again, is pretty much what every evil speedster wants), or why he had robot duplicates that one time.

By the end of the episode we learn that Ultraviolet has survived her surgery (maybe I should start calling her Esperanza?) and Barry learns that the pregnancy test he’s been waiting all episode to perform turns out negative. He proves he’s not just a literal speedster but also an emotional one, as this single negative result in light of his seemingly prophetic dream sends him into a “Iris and I will never, ever be parents” funk faster than the speed of light. Barry, stop being so dramatic.

Other Things:

  • Will Joe and Kramer’s subplot ever be significant enough to get a spot in the main review? Well, since their car got exploded at the end of this episode, I suppose there’s a chance.
  • Frost and her bartender non-boyfriend are still boring. I wonder if I’d like this storyline better if Mark weren’t such a bad boy cliche. I liked him more when he first showed up and was pretending to be nice.
  • I know it’s silly of me to try and keep track of what the scientists in this show can do, but I swear Caitlin was a bio-engineer and not a surgeon, so why is she doing surgery on Ultraviolet? Also, why is she doing surgery without any assistance whatsoever?
  • Next week: More Godspeeds. Did someone spill a box of “Oops! All Godspeeds” on the back half of this season?

Monday, July 5, 2021

6th Annual Golden Trio Awards — COMEDY NOMINEES!

Welcome to the Comedy category of our Golden Trio Awards! In case you missed it, you can learn what these awards are all about HERE.

But for now, be sure to vote for your favorite shows and performers in each of these categories. You'll notice some shows missing (we only chose shows that aired at least one episode between 2020-2021 and Schitt's Creek dominated the legit awards circuits so we felt like we'd be kind and keep their noms to a minimum here), but hopefully you see a lot that you love!

And don't forget to vote in our DRAMA and SPECIAL CATEGORY posts too!

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES



OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR




OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR



OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS



Welcome to Your 6th Annual #GoldenTrioAwards!

WELCOME to the 6th Annual Just About Write Golden Trio Awards! 

Sorry we took last year off, but did 2020 even count as a year? (We don't think so.)

You're probably wondering exactly what these award are, and why this is so important to us. Our Golden Trio Awards are named after that famous BFF trio, so that means we actually give away three awards in each category! It's your job to narrow those winners down from the six nominees we've created. (Gold is awarded to the most votes, silver to the next, and bronze to the third highest.)

To give you a bit of a background, my friend and editor Chels is going to explain the Twitter game (see: obsession) that she created a few years ago that has inspired these awards. We run through this every year, but if you're new around here or to the awards, here's a bit of a refresher course!:

So in July 2013 I started this little thing called #Top3 on my Twitter and personal blog as a small scheme to figure out somebody's favorite movie. It quickly escalated into a five-day-a-week competition game with winners and wonderful bragging rights. I'd give people a random Film or TV category and they would respond with their #Top3 choices for the category. No more, no less, and you had to have #RUTHLESSNESS when making your picks. There were three winners because some things just do not compare.   

My Top 3 films (To Kill a Mockingbird, Beauty and the Beast, Lost in Translation), for instance, have nothing in common writing, editing, or directing wise other than the fact that they are films. Honoring multiple pieces shows just how rich we are in quality content. I did this game for about six months before I grew tired of it, but at least once a week since the game ended I've had at least one person ask if I would ever bring it back. It was a fun way to talk about pop culture and get people interested in things they may not have seen.   

I brought the idea of bringing back the game to Jenn a few weeks ago after the Emmy nominations and we brainstormed a way to bring it back in a more self-contained format. We asked all the lovely ladies of this site to fill out their top choices for each category, then Jenn and I compiled all the ballots before narrowing down each category to seven. The overlap in the ballots helped us narrow down and we ruthlessly managed to cut down the rest until we represented as many shows as we could. #Top3 for me was always about showcasing as much great content as possible with all the winners.   

I owe Jenn and the entire Just About Write team a big thank-you for helping me with this elaborate scheme and making me love the idea of #Top3 again. You ladies are amazing and I am proud to be working with you.   

Back to you, Jenn!

When Chels approached me with the idea to combine #Top3 and an awards ceremony a few years ago, I was automatically on board. This year, we compiled nominations together as we always do, and — after barely any difficult compromising except for one section where we invoked math so we wouldn't have to choose ourselves — Chels and I managed to narrow down the nominations in each category!

We're so excited to be doing this again and that you all have responded so positively to it over the past few years. In the posts below, you'll be met with a few different ballots:

COMEDY

DRAMA

SPECIAL CATEGORY

Comedy and Drama are pretty self-explanatory, but our Special Category ballots contain an awesome array of fandom-focused categories from OTP of the Year to Favorite Ensemble and more!

The nominations open today and polls will be closed by 9 a.m. ET on Monday, July 12. By mid-week that week, I'll round up the top 3 people/shows with the most votes in each category and those will be your third annual Golden Trio Award winners!

Did I mention that we're excited? Because we are! Take time and fill out your ballots. You can vote as many times as you would like. Share on social media! But most importantly, have half as much fun voting in these as we did creating them! :)

6th Annual Golden Trio Awards — DRAMA NOMINEES!

Welcome to the category that always brings the drama. That's right, it's time for you to vote for your favorite series and performers who made a dramatic impact on you this year! (For a background on the Golden Trio Awards, check out our introduction post HERE.) Whether it's surprisingly stressful chess, an unflinching look at assault and trauma, or a supernatural 

And be sure to vote in our COMEDY and SPECIAL CATEGORY posts too!

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS


6th Annual Golden Trio Awards — SPECIAL CATEGORY NOMINEES!

Who's ready for some very special awards? We've got a few for you to choose from this year, so whether you're swooning over your OTP or celebrating a new favorite television show, be sure to cast your votes in our Special Category below! Learn more about the Golden Trio Awards here if you should choose.

And vote for your favorite COMEDY and DRAMA categories too! 

OTP OF THE YEAR


BEST NEW SERIES


OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE


GUILT-LESS TV PLEASURE