Writers Guild Awards for Television Nominees Announced

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

With so many awards and nominations being handed out at this time of year, it's sometimes hard to distinguish which groups made the best choices or even the right choices.

Award campaigns can be more about politics than about what is really best. But one thing is certain around awards time is that the Writers Guild of America nominates some deserving candidates. This year is no different with the release of the WGA’s nominees for television writing.

I have no problems with the drama category, which is utterly stacked this year with “Breaking Bad,” “Dexter,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Lost,” and “Mad Men.”

Any of these shows would be deserving of the award, but I would love to see “Lost” win for its trippy, time-traveling fifth season. It also is great that "Friday Night Lights" is nominated for a season that found the show debuting on DirectTV and re-airing on NBC. Based on this, the show could be lame, but instead it manages to bring out some emotional drama from realistic situations that the characters cope with every week.

In comedy there’s the critical darling, "30 Rock," along with "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Glee," "Modern Family" and "The Office."

This category is stacked as well. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is creative and absolutely hilarious, while “Modern Family” is the best new comedy on television. Don’t even get me started on “The Office,” which in my opinion should bring home this award. The writers on that show (including stars B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling) are just genius and write some of the best episodes on television. Hopefully, someone other than “30 Rock” wins the award, because although it’s a great show, it’s time to share the wealth.

The WGA also has an great category for Best New Series, with "Glee," "Modern Family," "The Good Wife," "Nurse Jackie" and "Hung" battling it out.

I could easily see “Glee” walking away with this award, because it must be quite a task to write a show that involves so much singing. Having said that, I’m still hoping either “Modern Family” or “Hung” pulls the upset, because both of those shows were great this season.

The Writers Guild Awards will be handed out on February 20, 2010.