What an outstanding year 2015 was for television. Veep. Silicon Valley. Better Call Saul. Mr. Robot. Even Game of Thrones worst season was still pretty good.
But no single episode of TV topped “Total Rickall” for me. It represented the pinnacle of what Rick and Morty could be: audacious, inventive, radical in its narrative experimentation yet completely true to the series’ characters. It was the highlight of Rick and Morty’s great Season 2, proving that Rick and Morty is not only the best animated comedy on television, but a genuine masterpiece of science fiction storytelling, expanding the imaginative scope of TV sci-fi. A single episode of Rick and Morty wrestles with more titanic, existential, speculative sci-fi ideas than most entire seasons of genre television.
So when Rick and Morty writer Dan Guterman tweeted Rick and Morty would be shooting for an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, it seemed well-deserved:
Well, today Emmy nominations are out and “Total Rickall” didn’t make the cut. Instead, the nominees for Outstanding Animated Program are:
- Archer, “The Figgis Agency”
- Bob’s Burgers, “The Horse Rider-er”
- Phineas and Ferb, “Last Day of Summer”
- The Simpsons, “Halloween of Horror”
- South Park, “You’re Not Yelping”
(Here’s the PDF with all the nominees)
NBD, it’s just the Emmys, which are dumb (like every awards show except the Hugos and the Python Challenge, with its awards for both most and longest burmese python captured). But damn, guys, why aren’t you nominating Rick and Morty?
Some of the Rick and Morty writers reacted on Twitter:
And that's the way the news goes. #snubbalubbadubdub #Emmys
— Tom Kauffman (@TomKauffman) July 14, 2016
— Tom Kauffman (@TomKauffman) July 14, 2016
Snubbalubbadubdub indeed.
