Spring Poolies Watch- Comedy

With only two months left in the Poolies season, it's time to take another look at how things are shaking out before the final ballots are released on June 1st. Here's your chance to agree or disagree with the chairman in order to give whatever show or character tickled your fancy this year a shot at glory. Next up are the comedy awards, let's take a look around the pool...

The Seinfeld Award For Best Comedy Series

Definites
Community, The Office, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, 30 Rock, and The League. Pretty great core group of seven shows right there. With no Curb Your Enthusiasm on during this year's voting season, a lot of awards are up for grabs.

In For Now
Perfect Couples, Eastbound and Down, and Sonny With a Chance. What is NBC thinking? I'm fine with bringing The Paul Reiser Show into the Thursday lineup, but why are you putting it in for Perfect Couples over Outsourced? Are people actually watching Outsourced? It is still terrible right? Eastbound and Down and Sonny are hanging on by a thread. The former because of a down season and only six episodes, and the latter because it hasn't been on in forever because of Demi's forced hiatus.

Outside Looking In
Cougar Town, Bored to Death, Traffic Light, Rules of Engagement, Family Guy, and Mr. Sunshine. At the end of the day, none of these shows are cracking that top seven so it hardly matters, but we shall see how the end of the season plays out for these bubble series.

The Cory Matthews Award For Best Lead Character in a Comedy Series

Definites
Michael Scott (The Office), Phil Dunphy (Modern Family), Chris Henkel (Big Lake), and Jeff Winger (Community). Big Lake? That's what you may be asking yourself, but Chris Parnell got the job done on that slightly terrible Comedy Central comedy.

In For Now
Here's where things get tough. None of these guys definitely deserve a nod, and there are so many that may deserve one. Dwight Schrute (The Office), Andre Nowzik (The League), Dennis Reynolds (Always Sunny), Kenny Powers (Eastbound), Jack Donaghy (30 Rock), and Cam Tucker (Modern Family). Again, it's tough to leave discern between some of the guys on The League and Always Sunny, but Charlie definitely had a down season and Andre kinda proved himself to be one step ahead of the others to garner a nod.

Outside Looking In
Vance (Perfect Couples), Charlie Kelly (Always Sunny), Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death), Justin Russo (Wizards), Mac (Always Sunny), Kevin McArthur (The League), Jay Pritchett (Modern Family), Tom Haverford (Parks and Rec), and Mike (Traffic Light). I could see a spot for almost any of these guys. At the very least, they deserve some recognition right here!

The Arthur Spooner Award For Best Supporting Character in a Comedy Series

Definites
Frank Reynolds (Always Sunny), Troy Barnes (Community), Taco McArthur (The League), Chris Traeger (Parks and Rec), Tracy Jordan (30 Rock), and Pierce Hawthorne (Community). I know my choice of five out of those six is going to be extremely difficult. Stacked category we have ourselves here.

In For Now
Luke Dunphy (Modern Family), Adam Rhodes (Rules of Engagement), Kevin Malone (The Office), and Ray Hueston (Bored to Death). The Modern Family's that have been great this season have highlighted Luke, those that weren't good...he was usually missing. Adam continues to be tearing it up as the punching bag for Patrick Warburton and David Spade on Rules. In a couple of months I probably will have forgotten how much I loved Ray on Bored, and Kevin seems to be making a comeback the second half of this Office season.

Outside Looking In
Andy Dwyer (Parks and Rec), Manny Delgado (Modern Family), Ryan Howard (The Office), George Christopher (Bored to Death), Abed Nadir (Community), Ben Wyatt (Parks and Rec), and Andy Bernard (The Office). A bunch of nominees from last year in the mix here, including the runner-up in Manny. Still some time to make a final run at some of those last few spots.

The Phoebe Buffay Award For Best Female Character in a Comedy Series

Definites
Sonny Munroe (Sonny With a Chance), Miley Stewart (Hannah Montana), Erin Hannon (The Office), Gloria Pritchett (Modern Family), Lilly Truscott (Hannah Montana), and Dee Reynolds (Always Sunny). Sonny is still my far and away number one choice. If you haven't seen Demi Lovato's performance on this show, you need to do so ASAP. Last year's winner, Erin, has continued to impress with small amounts of screen time this season.

In For Now
Jenna Maroney (30 Rock), Laurie Keller (Cougar Town), Leigh (Perfect Couples), and Annie Edison (Community). A couple of newcomers in the mix here with Laurie and Leigh. All of the females on Perfect Couples could vie for a spot, although there's really only room for one of them. Annie has been surprisingly absent from much of the recent Community episodes, so let's hope that changes soon.

Outside Looking In
Alex Russo (Wizards), April Ludgate (Parks and Rec), Holly Flax (The Office), Claire Dunphy (Modern Family), Britta Perry (Community), Amy (Perfect Couples), Lisa (Traffic Light), and Leslie Knope (Parks and Rec). Don't worry, I'm just giving Holly time to fester. Once a month or so passes, I'm sure her performance will take effect and she will steal a spot on the ballot just like she stole Michael Scott's heart. Alex Russo schtick kind of wore off on me throughout this season of Wizards. David Henrie stealing the show didn't help her out either.

The Lily Finnerty Award For the Character You Love to Hate in a Comedy Series

Definites
Gabe Lewis (The Office), Lydia Dunfree (Party Down), Josh Franklin (Big Lake), Beverly Lincoln (Episodes), Ben Parr (Mad Love), and Zora Lancaster (Sonny With a Chance). Gabe hasn't even been in The Office much as of late, and he still is the front runner for this award. If anyone other than me watched Episodes, I'm sure you would agree that Matt Lablanc and I aren't the only ones who hated Beverly. And what would a “love to hate” list be without the presence of Jason Biggs?

In For Now
Zeke Beakerman (Wizards), Stevie Janowski (Eastbound), Ellie Torres (Cougar Town), and Gabe Duncan (Good Luck Charlie). I find it harder and harder to type Zeke's name on this list when I think about how good that “smooch sesh” line was a few months back. Oh Stevie Janowski how you may have been one of the main reasons season two of Eastbound didn't live up to the first. Why did you go from loveable annoyance to utter disaster?

Outside Looking In
Toby Flenderson (The Office), J.D. Lutz (30 Rock), Roman Cohen (Mr. Sunshine), Meredith Palmer (The Office), Travis Cobb (Cougar Town), and Adam (Traffic Light). Roman and all of his idiocy is climbing his way up the charts, while many on the outside suffer from lack of screen time. If there were more Toby or Lutz this season, I'm sure I would hate them just as much as those on the ballot right now.

The "The Dealership" Award For Best Comedy Episode of the Year

In For Now
Sonny With a Chance 210-211 - "Falling For the Falls"
The Office 711 - "Classy Christmas"
Community 214 - "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"
The League 209 - "The Expert Witness"
30 Rock 504 - "Live Show"

Outside Looking In
Party Down 207 - "Company Picnic"
Hannah Montana 409 - "I'll Always Remember You"
Bored to Death 207 - "Escape From the Castle"
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia 601 - "Mac Fights Gay Marriage"

The Office has had so many stand out eps this season ("Threat Level Midnight" and "Garage Sale" come to mind) that anything is still up in the air, while a great show like Parks and Recreation has yet to have a single episode stand out from the pack. Still plenty of finales to go before the ballot is set so this all could change.