Sons of Anarchy showrunner Kurt Sutter has much to be proud of when it comes to Sons of Anarchy, one of FX’s best thriller series, according to fans, but awards attention was never really the show’s strong suit.
The SOA cast was brimming with talents like Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman, and it’s not like it never received any credit in the industry, but it was more successful in winning over fans than statues, and Sutter has an idea why, and it weirdly has to do with the best superhero movies ever made in his eyes.
A tattooed, bike-riding, Jax Teller-looking dude himself, Sutter thinks it has to do with the characters’ gruff appearance and the overall image of the series — although, it did win one special award: being on our best TV series list.
He told Deadline, “We are the dirty white boys people are afraid of, and so what you say may be true. I can laugh about it now, but after a first season of The Shield where we were recognized as being ground-breaking, all we heard on the awards circuit were crickets.”
“To bring back the Batman analogy, we’re not an art series, we’re perceived as the big action violent series. And the same way Batman never gets the Oscar love because it’s that summer blockbuster, we fall in the same category.”
“They say forget Batman, let’s look at the art stuff,” he continued. “My rabid fan base would tar and feather you for limiting us to that, but there is a similar perception. I’m not comparing myself to Chris Nolan [Christopher Nolan], but we’re “that” show.” Sutter concluded.
Awards aren’t everything, and there are plenty of hidden gems (or amazingly popular ones devalued precisely because of their mass appeal) to prove that.
For more underseen TV worth a spin, see what we think are the best drama series, best horror series, and best comedy series.