It has been difficult to be on the internet in the last couple of days and not hear an opinion about the latest list of Golden Globe nominees. As always, brilliant shows and films have been snubbed, fans have bemoaned their favourites’ lack of a nomination and the whole concept of award shows have been questioned. In amongst this predictable media coverage is deep anger surrounding Emily in Paris and a more interesting question about the future of TV.
Lily Collins starring as Emily in Emily in Paris, Variety.com
For those who have yet to see the Netflix show, Lily Collins stars as a somewhat unlikeable and perky marketing expert who lands a dream job in Paris, despite speaking no French, and seemingly just stumbling into one good fortune after another. I think we are meant to like Emily, but I just found myself wishing she’d fall into the Seine on one of her many, many runs.
Emily on one of many runs throughout the show, Huffpost.com
Yet when I watched it all in the third month of quarantine back in June, I almost liked it. The supporting French characters were charming and so stereotypically French that they almost became funny again, and I will always love looking at pretty clips of Paris. I had also just spent three months with only my parents for company, my taste and judgment may have been a little off. By the final episode, I am not ashamed to say that I did not hate it.
It is hardly glowing praise, and in the face of groundbreaking shows like Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You being snubbed, the anger at the show receiving a nomination is understandable. It is the epitome of lazy writing, an over-reliance on a pretty location and overused characters that were outdated even in the 1990s.
I May Destroy You, NPR.org
So why did it receive a nomination? More importantly, why does it even matter?
As pointed out already, every year brilliant shows get snubbed and substandard TV and films go on to win. It is no secret that award shows are heavily political and good PR and a campaign team mean more than talent a lot of the time. It is rare, however, for a show that was so universally panned to be nominated.
Think of Emily in Paris as a modern-day Jersey Shore, popular and good viewing figures, but hardly quality TV. In many ways, the Darren Star show, of Sex and the City success, is an indicator into the future of TV. A fairly worrying one at that.
The beauty of Netflix, and streaming services as a whole, is the limitless options of films and shows. By allowing people to watch whatever they want whenever they want it, Netflix creates a lack of urgency. You can try out a new show without having to give up your favourite or miss the premiere of a new critically acclaimed Scandi thriller. We have complete personal freedom in our TV consumption and with that, we can try out Emily in Paris without risking missing out on anything good.
Netflix is not at risk of losing us to another channel or service, their only competition, once you log in, is their own content. The more they have, the more we feel we are receiving good value for money and buy into their brand.
The danger? Quickly produced and lazy TV that does not challenge its audience and the world we live in. For every good show Netflix produces, they greenlight another five Emily in Paris. By rewarding low-quality TV with nominations and awards, here’s hoping it does not win for best comedy, the Hollywood Foreign Press is celebrating a culture of lazy writing and cheap entertainment.
Emily in Paris, Glamour.com
Whilst low-brow and trashy TV serves a beautiful point, there needs to be a standard of art that television is trying to reach. As Deborah Copaken, writer on Emily in Paris, pointed out in her article in the Guardian this week criticising the nomination of her own show, we need to give awards to shows “that deserve them”.
The nominations for Emily in Paris matter because they show an acceptance and celebration of TV that we would probably have turned off if we weren’t stuck in a pandemic with little else to do. Brilliant TV was produced this year, but if the people in charge of Hollywood think that Lily Collin’s prancing around Paris is what we really want, then it might be time to change the channel.
So well said! Netflix cancelled "Spinning Out," one of the best TV shows I've ever watched, because they refused to promote it in favour of promoting whatever other "lazy" and "cheap" writing they had just come out with at the same time. It's been over a year and we're still trying to get it back.