The other winner in the Awards isn't really "Fast As I Can," although Will Ryan won Best Actor for that category, but actually "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show." Why? Because it came second in every category it was nominated in (Best Sound, Best Script, and Best Overall Episode). In contrast, "Fast As I Can" didn't even end up in the top five for Best Script and Best Overall Episode. Why "Broken Pencil" was such a clear runner-up is up for debate (this episode was pretty divisive because of its wacky feel, but "A Thankstaking Tale" was for the same reason and that one didn't receive much attention from voters), but it seems like enough listeners remember enjoying that show for it to have received such a good placing.
But the "obvious winner" in these Awards isn't one episode, but actually one writer/ director. And that's Paul McCusker, who wrote and directed both "Clock Tower" and "Broken Pencil." Apart from an appearance from Marshal Younger (whose episodes "The Owlnapping," "Square One," and "Fast As I Can" didn't perform particularly well in the Awards, save Will Ryan's performance in the latter), none of the episodes in the fall season were written by pre-1997 writers. As I see it, these results are a vote for "classic Odyssey," as embodied by Paul McCusker's scripts.1 Why do these shows hearken back to older Odyssey?
- Both of McCusker's shows included the "big three," Whit, Connie, and Eugene. That's not to say that the inclusion of those three characters in an episode is a guarantee of making an episode successful: just take a look at "Grandma's Christmas Visit" (which included the "big three"), which not only placed badly in all categories it was nominated in, but tellingly got last place in the Best Script category. And despite not being considered a classic AIO character, having Wooton in "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show" didn't hurt.
- "Clock Tower" and "Broken Pencil" were good at what they attempted to do. Just like a majority of pre-1997 shows were. The two-part mystery, while admittedly not up to the standard of Paul McCusker mysteries like "The Case of the Secret Room" or "The Mysterious Stranger," was as good a mystery as you were going to get in 2010. In the year of mysteries with the Jones and Parker Detective Agency, as two ten-year olds were busy chasing after ants and arguing about what the mystery should be called, "Clock Tower" shines as the only smart mystery of 2010. People like shows that reach their potential, and I'd wager that many AIO fans thought that "Clock Tower" did.2 "Broken Pencil" was going for more comic gold, and whether it was successful in getting that depends on the listener. I would argue that "Broken Pencil" was a good AIO comedy, actually thoughtful for a change. The show achieved what it was going for, and made lots of listeners laugh in the process (and if a comedy makes lots of people laugh then is that not some sort of sign of success?).
- Paul McCusker knows how to incorporate a message into his shows without sounding like he's talking down to the listener. I doubt this third point has anything to do with how well his episodes fared in the voting, but I think it points to an intelligence that isn't present in a lot of new AIO shows.
And for the record, here's how I voted and why:
Best Sound: "A Thankstaking Story" (Actual Winner: "Clock Tower")
This is always a tough category to vote in, but I went with the Thanksgiving show because it really put me into the fairytale story. The sound designer must've faced a lot of decisions when it came to portraying the Dr. Seuss-like world, and I think most of them were the right ones.
Best Scene: "Good News and Bad News Song" (Actual Winner: "Clock Tower Meetings")
I almost voted for the incredibly well-done scene from "The Mystery of the Clock Tower," but I decided to go with a scene that I just thought was really fun. :-) In some ways I'm not sure if you can count either of those two choices as scenes (because one "scene" is actually a song and the other is kind of going back and forth between two scenes), but I completely understand why "Meetings" won: it deserved to. :-)
Best Actor: Will Ryan in "Fast" (Actual Winner: Ryan in "Fast")
There was so much talent in the Best Actor category that it was hard to choose, but I went with Ryan because I thought he did well in "Fast As I Can" and he was the only actor that has been around for more than just the last two seasons. For me that gives Will Ryan an instant advantage over the rest of the actors, even though someone may have actually done a better acting job than him (yes, I know that's not the way you're supposed to vote, but none of the five nominated actors stood out to me so I went with my gut).
Best Actress: Katie Leigh as Connie Kendall in "Clock Tower" (Actual Winner: Katie as Connie in "Clock Tower")
Ben Warren wrote on his blog that this would be "the tightest race, no doubt."3 I raised my eyebrows when I read that, wondering if I'd missed something in the AIO fan community. If the spring Avery Awards are anything to go by, the post-hiatus episodes of AIO have made Katie Leigh more popular than ever. Taking 48.8% of the spring vote when the runner-up has only 20.5% of the vote is not tight. And it's not tight either to take 47.7% of the fall vote (with Sydney [Camilla] once again as the runner-up, but hopelessly behind at 18.8%). In fact, the winner of this category was the most comfortable of all six Avery winners. All this success seems to say that Katie's either really doing a great job, that the other actresses (or characters, more than likely) aren't very good, or that Katie won simply because she was playing such a well-loved character. I would tend to believe that, perhaps not unlike Will Ryan's win in the Best Actor category, Katie won because of Connie. The episode she was nominated for doesn't matter (I'm sure she would've won even if she had been nominated for "Christmas Visit" instead of "Clock Tower"), it's simply because everyone loves the character she's playing.4 The reason I voted for Katie is a combination of two things I mentioned why she might have won: the other actresses (read: characters) nominated were much less appealing and I like good ol' Connie. And that's why I predict Katie Leigh as Connie will be winning both Avery awards for this year's episodes--I don't have to hear the shows to know that as long as she's in them and as long as the organizers of the Awards let her in she's going to win Best Actress. No tightest race about it! ;-)
Best Script: "The Mystery of the Clock Tower" (Actual Winner: "Clock Tower")
Overall, the scripts weren't very good this season. Looking through the episode titles only a few stood out to me as viable options, and it didn't take me long before I was clicking back and forth between "Clock Tower" and "Thankstaking." "Clock Tower" had as its disadvantage an ending which let me down a little, but "Thankstaking" also had a disadvantage in that the show was a little over-whelming. I decided to go with the season premiere, simply because the writing was more polished than "Thankstaking." Okay, so I wasn't sure about the plot's direction in part two, but the dialog and the story devices used were signs of good writing. And as implied above, I am partial to Paul McCusker's writing. :-)
Best Overall Episode: "A Thankstaking Story" (Actual Winner: "Clock Tower")
It made me laugh, had lots of good characters in it, and Eugene and Connie sang. Isn't that reason enough? Sure, it may have had its problems, but I think I probably enjoyed that show the most.
Be looking for an overview of the fall season sometime this month, hopefully!
1. And look at the results from Spring 2010, when "The Jubilee Singers" by Dave Arnold (another person involved with AIO since pre-1997) won in three categories.
2. As I stated when "Clock Tower" first aired, I thought part two wasn't a very good conclusion to the mystery, but now it's not as bad as it was on first impression. I would still argue that it didn't reach its potential for me, but it seems that I may be in the minority on that.
3. See http://aio-thechangingtimes.blogspot.com/2011/01/avery-awards-who-should-win-who-will.html. Worth noting is that while Ben did feel that Sydney Shiotani (Camilla) and Christina Pucelli (Emily) has good chances to win, he did predict Katie Leigh as the winner.
4. Okay, so a rising number of fans have been complaining about Connie's character recently. To that I say: so what? The negative opinions about Emily Jones, Priscilla Peterson, and even Abuelita (the bottom three "Best Actresses") have been far more common and consistent.
4 comments:
Haha. I was obviously wrong in saying that the Best Actress race would feature "the tightest race no doubt". If you visit my latest post, you'll see that I admitted as much.
Though I guessed correctly, I sadly underestimated the AIO fan community. Katie Leigh did not deserve to win for her performance in that episode. She didn't even deserve to be nominated, in my opinion. It was such an ordinary supporting role. If you look back, nearly every time Connie has won, its been for emotionally charged lead roles. When hasn't she won? When another actress plays a bigger, more emotional role than she does. For instance, Aubrey won for "Always", beating Connie in "Odyssey Sings". The following year, Aria Curzon won for "Now more than Ever" (a very emotional, serious role), when Connie was nominated for "Around the Block" (little bit less of a serious role). And finally, both Kelly and Mandy beat out Connie, for the same reasons as above.
And sure, Connie won last year for "The Inspiration Station", but who else really had a role like she had? Those who win in this category are only those with the best material. And, frankly, Connie really didn't have the best material this year. Far from it. At the time, it seemed safe to assume that more votes would be thrown at the other categories. Anyway, that was my reasoning.
I mention in the new post I wrote a few days ago: "It's worth noting, too, that Sydney Shiotani and Christina Pucceli still did fairly well considering a lot of listeners dislike Emily Jones while Camilla had a very small role." To my credit (and in my defense) the fact that so many people have threatened to leave the show over Emily Jones' character, 15% of the vote is still quite significant. And I expect it to grow in coming years.
But hey, why am I defending myself? I got it right... :P
I liked the last part the best(of the podcast)!!! BRING MITCH BACK!!
Well, I still like to think mature AIO fans will see Connie as a viable option for Best Actress. And perhaps it's a sign of true talent that Katie easily won despite being in such an "ordinary supporting role." (No, I don't really believe that, but I don't think that any of the five actresses nominated deserved to win anyway.)
I think you make a good argument for Syndey Shiotani, but since she's just another Parker kid in "An Agreeable Nanny" I don't really think she stood out in the fall season (the spring season was different: she had much more of a demanding role in "For the Birds"). With less silly material than she got in "Nanny" we may see her surprise Katie some season in the future.
I also think you have a good point when it comes to Emily. Although it seems unlikely that older fans are going to starting voting for her anytime soon, I think younger listeners may decide that she deserves their vote as they continue to bond with her. But if Mandy, arguably the best AIO girl after the first hiatus, can only win Best Actress once (and she was nominated a number of times) I doubt Emily has much of a chance unless the writers really do something interesting with her character.
And Brittini, I don't think Mitch is the answer to anything. I really disliked what that character did to the character of Connie--sure, Katie Leigh may have been able to give some emotional performances because of her relationships with him, but it didn't end up taking her character anywhere once Mitch left her life. Mitch returning to the show will probably serve to hinder Connie's growth. And will polarize the AIO fan community as Mitch always has. :-)
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