 |
| Parker Young can't to recite the plot to "Toy Story 3" without crying in "Enlisted" |
The Emmy nominations will be announced in less than thtree
weeks, so it feels like the right time to take a look at this year’s ballots
and highlight what I thought were the best performances and shows on television
this season. I’m hoping to run an
article every few days covering one or categories each day. First, we’ll start with the candidates for Outstanding
Supporting Actor in a Comedy.
Last year I wrote of television comedy’s recent lull
(at least compared to drama), but the 2013-14 season changed all of that. This was the year of the comedy. It started last July when Orange Is the New Black burst out as
Netflix’s first consensus hit. It
continued into the fall as a half-dozen comedies debuted to some measure of
critical success. None were breakout
ratings hits like Modern Family or New Girl a few years ago, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine ended up shocking the
pundits by winning the Golden Globe for best comedy, Mom found a niche as a weird comedy featuring a couple of amazing
performances (including that of Allison Janney who, in a just world, would walk
away with the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress for her role in Masters of Sex), and Trophy Wife charmed the pants off of the
few people who managed to watch it. The
comedy revival continued into the winter and spring as Enlisted and Review hit
to critical adoration and minimal audiences.
I don’t know if this wave of new comedies will find their way onto Emmy
ballots (especially given how many of them were canceled), but it’s nice to be
able to talk about new, great comedy again.
A couple of caveats before we start. First, I’m working from the actual Emmy Performer Ballot, so I can’t put leads who submitted as supporting (Amy
Schumer) or supporting actors who submitted as leads (Rob Lowe) in their proper
category, nor can I put shows that probably should be in drama (Orange Is the New Black) or comedy (Key & Peele) into their appropriate
categories, nor can I nominate somebody who didn’t submit themselves (like anybody
on Enlisted not named Parker Young). Also, I’m only including actors from shows I
watch regularly, so if your favorites from The
Middle, Nurse Jackie, Veep, or
Raising Hope aren’t here, that’s why.
Supporting Actor
My 2013 Choices:
Max Greenfield (New
Girl)
Nick Offerman (Parks
and Recreation)
Damon Wayans, Jr. (Happy
Endings)
Bill Hader (Saturday
Night Live)
John Krasinski (The
Office)
Keegan Michael-Key (Key
& Peele)
Actual 2013 Emmy
Nominees:
Ty Burrell (Modern
Family)
Adam Driver (Girls)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern
Family)
Bill Hader (Saturday
Night Live)
Tony Hale (Veep) –
2013 Emmy Winner
Ed O’Neill (Modern
Family)
I never said my selections were particularly predictive, as
the differences between my choices and the actual nominees last year make
clear, just that they’re my selections. The Emmy voters’ continued refusal to
recognize Nick Offerman’s performance as one of the all-time great comedic
characters is still infuriating, but it’s tough to really argue with any of
their choices last year. Obviously, Modern Family is going to continue to
rake in the nominations even if they didn’t collect any acting awards last year
and despite the relative drop in quality over the last few years. There’s no reason to think that the group of
six we saw last year is going to be any different this year, with the exception
of the retiring Bill Hader likely being replaced by the returning Eric
Stonestreet.
My selections, on the other hand, are going to be
significantly different. Krasinski,
Wayans, and Hader are all off the ballot and the glut of new, great comedies is
bringing a new wave of potential nominees to the ballot. Unfortunately, the large number of new faces
also created a problem of filling these few slots so I had to be particularly
judicious in selecting the supporting nominees.
I’ve tried my best to avoid those characters who may have had a few
great moments or even great episodes (I’m looking at you, Lamorne Morris and
Albert Tsai) for those who really had greater impacts on their shows.
Andre Braugher is
the most likely newcomer to earn a nomination in this category. We already know the Emmy voters love him; his
seven nominations and two wins prove just that.
I’m not certain that Brooklyn
Nine-Nine’s Golden Globe win for Best Comedy means much in terms of Emmy
voting, but it certainly can’t hurt. Nine-Nine was a tough comedy for me to
grab on to at first. Andy Samberg’s
man-child Jake Perrera was a bit grating.
But around midseason, the show really turned around and, throughout,
Braugher was phenomenal as the straight man, Captain Ray Holt. Braugher isn’t given the most outlandish
comedic routines: those typically go to Samberg or his two fellow supporting
actors Terry Crews and Joe Lo Truglio.
But when he’s asked to be funny, such as at Holt’s birthday party or
when the captain becomes addicted to a Candy Crush-like game that forces
Braugher to repeatedly utter the phrase “Kwazy Kupcakes,” he’s more than up to
the task.
I normally try to limit myself to one nominee from any given
show, but for this category it’s almost impossible, not least because Nick Offerman and Chris Pratt are so great
at what they do. Pratt had the lesser
role this season, owing to his spending most of the fall shooting Guardians of the Galaxy, but as soon as
he returned, he fell right back into being the Andy Dwyer we know and
love. Nick Offerman, meanwhile, was
killing it as usual as pantheon comedy character Ron Swanson. This year, Ron got to show some depth, taking
on family life, marriage, and parenthood and pushing Leslie to finally move on
from the parks department in Pawnee.
Their stories paralleled this season as Leslie embraced an uncertain
future in the federal government and Ron did likewise, marrying Diane and
thrusting himself into life as a father.
Even without such a deep, emotional storyline, Offerman would have been
worthy of a nomination based solely on his discovery of the iPod.
Another pair I’m glad to have room for are the stars of Key & Peele, Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan
Peele. Last year, I had this pair
slotted in as numbers six and seven on my list and flipped a coin to choose
one. This year, with three slots vacated
by actors from canceled shows, I’m more than able to fit the pair in for
nominations. Key & Peele is one of my very favorite comedies on television,
though its continued listing under the variety category still boggles my
mind.* There’s also a bit of category
fraud here as both actors could reasonably list themselves as leads. No matter the categories, however both Key
and Peele are more than deserving of accolades.
They manage to hit both dramatic and comedic beats while demonstrating
an incredible ability to create lively characters in brief sketches. Modern sketch comedy may be a unique beast
that the Emmy voters aren’t quite ready to recognize outside of SNL, but these two are at the top of the
genre.
* Sketch comedies very
often nominate themselves in the variety category as you can see this year with
Key & Peele, Inside Amy Schumer, Portlandia, and Saturday Night Live. I’m wondering how long that will last,
however, since the category is so often dominated by the late night shows
(Leno, The Daily Show, Colbert, etc.)
and no comedy series other than SNL
has managed a nomination since Da Ali G Show in 2005.
No comedy surprised or infuriated audiences this year quite
like Enlisted. They were surprised by the fact that it was
so good and so quickly found its comic footing and infuriated by the callous
treatment it received from Fox. Buried
on Friday nights, Enlisted never had
a chance to find an audience, but those few who did see the show were treated
to a wonderful performance by Parker
Young. What made Young such a great
presence was his ability to change gears from silly and stupid to emotional
center. Randy was such an over-the-top
character that it would have been easy for Young to push him into parody, but
he straddles that line perfectly, managing to be funny without becoming a
cartoon.
Others meriting consideration: Jason Biggs, Ty Burrell, Adam Driver, Max
Greenfield, Taran Killam, Ryan Lee, Joe Lo Truglio, Lamorne Morris, Albert Tsai
So those are the first of my Emmy choices. Agree?
Disagree? Let me know in the
comments or on Twitter @TyTalksTV.
No comments:
Post a Comment