The Untold Story of Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth

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68th Emmy Awards - Nominees - Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series

The Korner is providing reflections on the 68th Emmy Award nominees. Feel free to comment at the end of this post about your favorites or who doesn't deserve the nomination.

The top pick here is for "The Americans" for the episode "Persona Non Grata," written by Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg (FX Networks). This is a spoiler-free post so all that can be said is that it is the best example of how the team that creates each episode for this intense drama series and executes it perfectly each time. The suspenseful nature of a clandestine meeting is told with meaning by deeply emotional characters. The outcome for the main characters is full of metaphors and the rollercoaster of their story is hovering at the top, readying them for the dive of their lives. Writers Joseph Weisberg and Joel Fields are enjoying their first ever Emmy nomination for "The Americans," which is a longtime coming and so well-deserved.

The Korner cannot speak for the nomination of "Downton Abbey," episode 8 (PBS) written by Julian Fellowes, based on the fact that it is not a show that has been watched by The Korner. It can, however, appreciate the work by Julian Fellowes, a writer who won the Oscar for the screenplay of Gosford Park (2002). Fellowes won the Emmy for writing Downton Abbey in 2011. Fellowes has a talent for detail in the character development. We're sure that Fellowes will be a top vote for many of the Emmy voters.

Many times nominated, one-time winners in 2015 for Outstanding Writing, both David Benioff and D.B. Weiss share the nomination again in 2016 for "Game Of Thrones" for the episode "Battle Of The Bastards" (HBO). Indeed, this is a tremendous feat, writing an epic battle for the end of season 6. Scenes with the key characters are not overwritten and their actions speak much louder. It is an exhausting episode and ends in a victory for the victims. The Korner would not disagree that these writers deserve the Award for Outstanding Writing.

Writers Robert King and Michelle King are facing their second Outstanding Writing nomination for "The Good Wife" and this time for the series finale, "End" (CBS). While The Korner followed this series faithfully, this wasn't the best written episode of "The Good Wife," but perhaps it made an OK finale for the series because of the outcome for the main character. So much had to be packed into this episode. The Kings were previously nominated for the series's pilot episode and as executive producers for Outstanding Drama. The voters could strongly favor them due to the fact that the series has ended and also there is a spin-off on the table, expectedly for the characters played so well by Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo. We expect that they'll have other guests including Carrie Preston playing Elsbeth Tascioni. (In a future post, we'll talk about supporting actor nominations covering Preston and others). We just hope it means a return of the character played by Archie Panjabi. The Korner would be shocked that it would win the top Outstanding Writing vote by the Emmy voters.

Sam Esmail is a newer writer and producer, most famous for the show for which he is nominated, "Mr. Robot" and its pilot, "eps1.0_hellofriend.mov," (USA). Regrettably, The Korner didn't make time in its schedule to watch "Mr. Robot," but appreciates and understands this newcomer being an underdog in the competition, however is not sure it can top the votes against the above list. Maybe in 2017 after it has at least two seasons behind it. (Edit: The Korner will watch Season 1, perhaps even Season 2, before The Emmy Awards air).

The other tough-to-win contender is for Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro for "UnREAL" and the episode "Return" on (Lifetime). Noxon is well-known to The Korner for her work on Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" from 1997-2002. Definitely she's overdue for an Emmy win and this is her first Emmy nomination, but do the voters watch "UnREAL"? It is an interesting concept of how reality shows get made. I think Noxon and Shapiro have a hard battle to win this Emmy, just as much as perhaps "Mr. Robot," but it is a key nomination as the third season of "UnREAL" is being developed.

Teechip Baits You and Scams You

"A special design for all the true fans! (lb.1))" -- was the title of the Teechip sponsored ad that appeared in my newsfeed soon after I loaded Facebook 13 days ago. I was using my tablet, which doesn't have the ad blocker feature that I use in a browser on my laptop. If I hadn't seen that ad, I wouldn't have made a mistake of buying the product. I filed a claim and their response was typical of what I've read others have received in filing a claim:

We have reviewed your claim and unfortunately we will be unable to offer you compensation for the following reason(s):
We were able to confirm that the artwork printed is the artwork advertised. Per our Terms of Service, we are only able to send replacements for items that are materially flawed. This is a result of our products being custom-printed and unique to each campaign. As the product does not deviate from what was advertised we do not consider your received item materially flawed. Please see the attached image detailing the advertised campaign.
Your claim has now been closed. We apologize that there is nothing more we can do at this time. Please let us know if you have any other questions, and we hope to see you on TeeChip again soon!

Do you think that the attached image they used (without my markup, below right) with the item I received (below left, without markup) deviates from what was advertised? (click the image to pop open a larger photo):

The artist who created the design in photoshop should not be blamed for what Teechip is sending out. They have a facility assigned to do the printing of the art onto the merchandise. The artist, indeed, has their own page on etsy.com and posted a photo of a print of this same design that got framed by the buyer.

There are two Facebook pages that show other disappointed comments for different merchandise than the above. Teechip is a Scam and Shame on Teechip. Teechip's claims rep is intentionally vague in saying, in his request for an additional photo from me, after my initial photo in filing a claim, "This way I can see if the facility made any errors." Plus, Teechip uses such a flawed and vague Terms and Conditions language:

Cancellations, Refunds, & Exchanges 

Because of the customized nature of Products, we do not allow cancellations, refunds, or exchanges. If, upon receipt of your finished Product, you feel that your order was incorrect due to an error on our part, please email us within fourteen (14) days of your delivery date. Claims are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Clearly, the facility is not able to handle any graphic and accurately print it without a high contrast, i.e., making the blacks intensely black and the whites washed out. The company lacks any transparency on the process. If it isn't a facility's fault, then who is responsible for the quality assurance?

According to the Better Business Bureau:

On at least one occasion, BBB sent mail to this company in an attempt to develop a report. The mail was returned by the Post Office; therefore a complete BBB report at this time is unavailable. If you have information that would assist your BBB in developing a report, please speak with a BBB service advisor.

If you were wronged, do what I did, which is dispute the charge on the card with your credit card provider. If you paid with Paypal, do the same. My dispute is in process with my credit card provider. Do this as soon as you can so that you can get your money back. I paid $21 and change for the mug and the shipping charges. It is the principle that they scammed me and are scamming others. EDIT (8/1/2016) I received a refund from the vendor Teechip within three days of posting this blog.

Please go to the petition below to help get the word to Facebook that Teechip should no longer use Facebook's site to advertise, and that they should be banned from Facebook.

68th Emmy Awards - Nominees - Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance

The Korner is providing reflections on the 68th Emmy Award nominees. Feel free to comment at the end of this post about your favorites or who doesn't deserve the nomination.

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance:

• Chris Pine as Dr. Devizo, Robo-Dino in "SuperMansion" - "The Inconceivable Escape of Dr. Devizo" (Crackle) 

Chris Pine as Capt. Kirk in the Star Trek movies bores me to death. He has two ways to react: normal voice and excited because he's in danger voice. I'm actually quite surprised he is credited as playing these two characters in this Crackle web series, created by Robot Chicken's Matthew Senreich and Zeb Wells. Props to the show for landing some excellent special guest voices who may also deserve the nomination. The late Anton Yelchin plays Dudley, Black Saturn's little brother in the episode "Unfortunate Son".

• Keegan-Michael Key as American Ranger, Sgt. Agony in "SuperMansion" - "Puss in Books" (Crackle)

The multi-talented Keegan-Michael Key gets this well-deserved nomination for playing two key characters in this episode.

Key's previous voice character work in other animated shows, including BoJack Horseman and Archer, needs to be taken into consideration when voting for this category. He has been previously nominated for several other Emmy Awards for Key and Peele.

The competition that Key faces is Seth MacFarlane for "Family Guy". MacFarlane previously won in 2002 for voice-over performance, and later was nominated in 2009, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Trey Parker and Matt Stone each have not been previously nominated for voice for "South Park", but have won previously for Outstanding Animated Program.

I hope Keegan wins this time and we continue to see more episodes of "SuperMansion" on Crackle.