My Emmy Ballot: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama

Tatiana Maslany should own this category for "Orphan Black"

The Emmy nominations will be announced tomorrow and we’re down to our last acting category and it’s somewhat fitting that we should end with the category that typically sees the most change every year: Lead Actress in a Drama.  It’s actually kind of amazing how many different women have gotten recognition in this category over the years.  Lead Actress in a Drama has had ten different winners since 2000 and no woman has won more than two trophies.  Twelve different women have been nominated in the last three years.  Even traditional stalwarts often have had trouble maintaining nominations in recent years.  Mariska Hargitay had earned eight consecutive nominations and a win before being shut out the last two years.  Julianna Marguiles won in 2011 but wasn’t nominated in 2013.  There has been a lot of turnover in this category recently and last year’s surprise nominees could mean the same for 2014.

A couple of caveats before we start.  First, I’m working from the actual Emmy Performer Ballot, so I can’t move somebody from lead to supporting (Woody Harrelson), nor can I call True Detective a miniseries or Orange Is the New Black a drama, nor can I nominate somebody who didn’t submit themselves (like Alan Cumming in The Good Wife).  Also, I’m only including actors from shows I watch regularly, so if your favorites from House of Cards, Parenthood, The Good Wife, or Scandal aren’t here, that’s why.

My 2013 Choices:

Claire Danes (Homeland)

Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)

Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)

Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs)

Keri Russell (The Americans)

Katheryn Winnick (Vikings)

Actual 2013 Nominees:

Connie Britton (Nashville)

Claire Danes (Homeland) – 2013 Emmy Winner

Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey)

Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel)

Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)

Kerry Washington (Scandal)

Robin Wright (House of Cards)

The first thing to note about last year’s nominees is that there were seven of them.  There is a quirk in the nominating process that allows for a seventh nominee if the person is within a certain percentage of the sixth place nominee, so while it’s possible we could see seven again next year, it’s unlikely.  That already leaves us with one fewer spot to deal with and only one clear favorite to return.  Despite my rantings about Homeland in previous Emmy articles, Claire Danes is a lock.  It’s the biggest role on the show and she’s consistently given the most to do, even if her good performance is in service of crappy storylines.  Britton, Farmiga, and Washington were all somewhat surprising nominations last year and could easily stay or go.  Dockery and Moss are both great actresses on shows with fading cultural profiles.  And, while Wright will likely return, the mantle of “Prestige Netflix Series” may be shifting from House of Cards to Orange Is the New Black. 

Not only were there a lot of new actresses and surprising actresses nominated last year, there are a number of women with great performances looking to replace them.  Lizzy Caplan was amazing in Masters of Sex last fall.  Julianna Marguiles seems certain to return after a strong year for The Good Wife.  Then there are critical favorites like Tatiana Maslany and Keri Russell who might be able to score nominations after increasing cultural discussion around their strong sophomore seasons.  This category is wide open and it feels like anybody could win.

I’m going to start with the actress who probably has the least chance of scoring a nomination, Sleepy Hollow’s Nicole Beharie.  Sleepy Hollow was the surprise hit of the fall, succeeding both commercially and critically and most of that success was thanks to the wonderful relationship between Beharie’s detective Abbie Mills and Tom Mison’s Ichabod Crane.  The show itself was a rather straightforward supernatural drama, but the relationship at the center held everything together.  I couldn’t find a spot for Mison in my Lead Actor piece, but Beharie has no problems earning a nomination here.

My favorite new show of 2013 was Masters of Sex and Lizzy Caplan was the best part of that show.  It’s still far too uncommon to see a career-minded, socially liberated woman on television, so to have this woman in a show set in the 1950s and 1960s is all the more strange.  Caplan seems born for this part, sliding effortlessly into the role.  She’s capable of playing the harried mother, the ambitious student, and the Siren.  This feels like the kind of role that is built to earn Emmy nominations and Caplan is more than up to the task.

I’ve been down on Downton Abbey recently, but one of the highlights of last season was Michelle Dockery’s Lady Mary and her attempts to enter the world of men, overseeing and maintaining the estate in the wake of her husband’s death.  It was a slow build and she was still burdened with a potential love triangle late in the season, but Lady Mary and Dockery were at their best when allowed to think and act for themselves.  I may have a soft spot for women seeking power in a man’s world (as this list no doubt shows), but Dockery plays that part well.  Were she not burdened with all of the love stuff, which she appears bored with at this point, I’d consider this performance even more highly.

My wife made the perfect argument for Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany during an episode a few weeks ago when she remarked, “I just forget that they’re all the same person.”  That’s really what separates Maslany from the rest of the actresses here.  While Orphan Black may not have been as good of a show in its second season as it was in its first, Maslany may have been better.  It’s not just that she plays five different regular characters, but that she’s capable of distinguishing between all of them in actions and mannerisms beyond even the hair and wardrobe.  And then you have scenes like in the second season premiere where she’s playing Sarah pretending to be Cosima and you can see the subtle differences she adds to distinguish the performances.  It really is a tour de force unlike anything television has ever seen.

Just as I was amazed that Jon Hamm could go this long without an Emmy win, it’s becoming more and more likely that the same fate will befall Elisabeth Moss.  She’s been nominated five times (six if you count her miniseries nomination for Top of the Lake) and been denied every time.  The first half of Mad Men’s seventh season had many more great moments for Peggy, whether she was being despicable (and a complete ass on Valentine’s Day with her secretary’s flowers), loving (watching TV with Julio), or horrified (receiving Ginsberg’s nipple).  The truth is, no Mad Men actor has yet received an Emmy award, a fact that becomes more unbelievable every year.

My final nomination would go to Keri Russell, who put on a stellar performance in the second season of The Americans.  As with Hannibal, The Americans made a huge leap in its second year, transitioning from great drama to must watch television.  What makes the show remarkable is the way it handles its central marriage and family.  The back-and-forth of the Jennings’s relationship took a backseat in the second season as their relationship became stronger.  But that deepening relationship began to cause other problems with their work lives, culminating in the stunning and almost horrifying scene when Elizabeth asks Phillip’s alter ego Clark into bed.  I doubt many Emmy voters even know The Americans exists, but they really should.

Others meriting consideration: Claire Danes, Diane Kruger

Previously: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama

So those are my Emmy choices.  Agree?  Disagree?  Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @TyTalksTV.

Tyler Williams is a professional librarian and an amateur television critic.  You can reach him at TyTalksTV AT gmail DOT com or on Twitter @TyTalksTV.

My Emmy Ballot: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama

Bryan Cranston will have to fight off Matthew McConaughey for his fourth Emmy.

Now we come to the big guns.  Not to disparage the other categories, but the drama lead actors probably have the strongest performances of any individual group.  They may not have the depth of the drama supporting actors or the performance diversity of the comedy lead actresses, but here you will often find the hands-down best performances of the year.  2014 felt like it was going to be the coronation for Bryan Cranston and Breaking Bad, but then, this winter, True Detective happened, throwing everybody for a loop.  Now, it feels as though this once shoe-in category is up for grabs.

A couple of caveats before we start.  First, I’m working from the actual Emmy Performer Ballot, so I can’t move somebody from lead to supporting (Woody Harrelson), nor can I call True Detective a miniseries or Orange Is the New Black a drama, nor can I nominate somebody who didn’t submit themselves (like Alan Cumming in The Good Wife).  Also, I’m only including actors from shows I watch regularly, so if your favorites from House of Cards, Parenthood, The Good Wife, or Scandal aren’t here, that’s why.

My 2013 Choices:

Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

Hugh Dancy (Hannibal)

Michael Emerson (Person of Interest)

Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

Damian Lewis (Homeland)

Timothy Olyphant (Justified)

Actual 2013 Nominees:

Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)

Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom) - *

Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

Damian Lewis (Homeland)

Kevin Spacey (House of Cards)

* I refuse to acknowledge that Jeff freaking Daniels won this award last year over that collection of actors.  And that’s coming from somebody who actually enjoys The Newsroom.

I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen with this category.  History says we can expect to see Cranston and McConaughey here without too much doubt, but the other four spots all appear to be up for grabs.  I can think of a dozen men I’d nominate before Jeff Daniels, but he was last year’s surprise winner; you can’t rule him out.  Homeland was pretty bad last year while Downton Abbey and House of Cards appear to have fallen out of the cultural zeitgeist, but as I said before, you’ll never lose money betting on the Emmys to continue recognizing fading shows for two years too long.  Jon Hamm seems like he should be guaranteed a chance to lose his sixth straight Emmy contest, but it’s entirely possible that the academy has just soured on Mad Men to the point where he doesn’t even get nominated.  That’s what happened at the Golden Globes, where Michael Sheen, Live Schreiber, and James Spader all earned nominations over Hamm.

As for the potential winner: Who knows?  Anything is possible after last year.  Michael Sheen could earn a surprise win for Masters of Sex.  Woody Harrelson could steal the award from his screen partner McConaughey.  Steve Buscemi and Timothy Olyphant are both former nominees who could find their ways back into the field.  And, obviously, anybody mentioned above could walk away with the trophy.  I still think it comes down to Cranston and McConaughey, but I thought it was Cranston’s to lose last year.  Anything can happen.

I generally do these lists alphabetically, but it’s always nice to be able to start with my favorite, and here that is Bryan Cranston.  Breaking Bad will go down in history as one of the all-time great dramas and Walter White as one of television’s great anti-heroes.  I don’t know that the second half of Bad’s final season was its creative peak (I’d probably argue for season three or four), but Cranston was certainly at his peak, portraying a Walter desperately trying to keep his world from spinning out of control.  In particularly, the trio of closing episodes, “Ozymandias,” “Granite State,” and “Felina” were probably his best work in the entire series.  Cranston already has three statues and has a good chance of walking away with a fourth.

Hannibal made The Leap in its second season, transitioning from an intriguing, beautifully-made television show to a true work of art.  And nowhere is this more obvious than in the performances of Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen.  The two waged a season-long game of one-upmanship, constantly bringing deeper and more nuanced performances to the table.  That I would actually believe for even a second that Will Graham could fall under Hannibal Lecter’s spell is a testament to the strength of Dancy’s work.  He was required to play a huge range of emotions this year, from desperate, to vengeful, to resigned, to determined, and even a bit of villainy.  Mikkelsen, meanwhile, maintained his aloof and alien presence.  Stepping up from supporting actor, what consistently surprised me about Mikkelsen’s performance is that you can always see why people fall for his illusion.  He’s a strange figure, but he is alluring in a way, drawing people in and disarming them with his intelligence and his food.  It’s difficult to play a character that both repels and attracts the way Lecter does, but Mikkelsen does so fantastically.

It seems increasingly likely that Jon Hamm will end up playing Don Draper for eight years and have only a single Golden Globe and a couple of critics awards to show for it.  It seems unbelievable that the man who has been such a dramatic force on television for nearly a decade will not have won more awards.  Granted, he’s been going up against Bryan Cranston for much of that time but still, you would think that just once he could have broken through.  The first half of season seven was, perhaps, not the best showcase of Hamm’s talent, as Don was forced to tiptoe around pretty much everybody in his life in order to keep everything from falling apart, but you never once feel like Don is acting out of character because Hamm sells it all so well.  He won’t win the Emmy this year, and may not even be nominated, and there’s something a little sad about that.

Finally, the duo of Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey came out of the box swinging in True Detective.  McConaughey is the favorite here and it’s easy to see why.  He has the showy part, with the existential angst and the minutes-long monologues.  That’s not to say his performance is all the result of Nic Pizzolatto’s writing.  McConaughey had to turn the same person into, essentially, two different characters, as the Rust Cohle of 2012 and the Cohle of 1995 are fundamentally different people.  It really was a marvel to watch him bounce back and forth between the two men in each episode.  Harrelson may not have had the showy part, but he was still just as effective in the more straight-man role.  Because of the nature of the role, Harrelson is required to react to McConaughey much more often than he’s allowed to be active, so it would have been easy for him to submit himself as a supporting actor in order to stay away from McConaughey.  I’m glad to see him submit as lead, however, because it really was a lead performance and it would be great to see him recognized alongside his co-star.  Could the pair submitting as leads steal votes from each other?  Possibly, but I doubt it.  McConaughey was strong and his role so big that he should be able to stand out on his own.

Others meriting consideration:  Demian Bichir, Steve Buscemi, Jim Caviezel, Travis Fimmel, Jonny Lee Miller, Tom Mison, Timothy Olyphant, Matthew Rhys, Michael Sheen

Previously: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy

So those are my Emmy choices.  Agree?  Disagree?  Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @TyTalksTV.

Tyler Williams is a professional librarian and an amateur television critic.  You can reach him at TyTalksTV AT gmail DOT com or on Twitter @TyTalksTV.

My Emmy Ballot: Oustanding Lead Actress in a Comedy

Can Taylor Schilling break through for "Orange Is the New Black"?

My favorite category at the Emmys might just be Lead Actress in a Comedy.  That’s not because it’s necessarily the deepest or has the most great performances.  Instead, it’s because this is the category with the most diverse performances, year after year.  I mean, if you look at the women I suggested last year, how do you compare the soft, motherly affection of Sutton Foster with the insane, titular bitchiness of Krysten Ritter.  Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope might be the best comedic example of competence porn while Lena Dunham’s and Zooey Deschanel’s characters are the complete opposite.  That isn’t even getting into the more dramatic performances of Laura Dern and Edie Falco.  There are a lot of great and different performances among these actresses, which makes choosing the best six all the more fun.

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.

My 2013 Choices:

Zooey Deschanel (New Girl)

Lena Dunham (Girls)

Tina Fey (30 Rock)

Sutton Foster (Bunheads)

Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)

Krysten Ritter (Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23)

Actual 2013 Nominees:

Laura Dern (Enlightened)

Lena Dunham (Girls)

Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)

Tina Fey (30 Rock)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep) - 2013 Emmy Winner

Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)

The Lead Actress in a Comedy submission list is a bit sparse this year and contains a lot of names from shows I don’t watch, so my list is unlikely to look much like the actual nominations, most notably in its absence of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Edie Falco.  There’s also a good deal of attrition this year.  Three actresses from my 2013 list won’t be back because their shows ended.  Likewise, Tina Fey and Laura Dern both saw their shows end last year. 

The battle to fill those two spots actually feels quite open this year.  Zooey Deschanel and Melissa McCarthy are both former nominees looking to return.  Taylor Schilling could ride a critical wave for Orange Is the New Black.  I wouldn’t rule out a nomination for Laurie Metcalf, even.  Getting On might not have been a huge show, but she has seven Emmy nominations and three wins for Roseanne and a variety of guest appearances and you can never sleep on past winners.  And then there’s the classic “movie star coming to television,” Anna Farris.  The competition is wide open this year.

It wouldn’t be a “My Emmy Ballot” post without some pimping for Trophy Wife, so it should be no surprise that Malin Akerman’s name turns up here.  Trophy Wife was originally meant as a star vehicle for Akerman, but as the season progressed, it turned much more into a family sitcom.  But at the center of it all was Akerman, able to vacillate deftly between pure physical comedy and the more emotional, family-based humor.  I’ll miss Trophy Wife, but I would also be stunned if Akerman doesn’t turn up in another prominent role somewhere soon.

I said this last year as well, but I don’t particularly care for Girls as a television show.  It’s well made, sure, but I don’t care at all for most of the characters.  Lena Dunham, however, continues to do fantastic work in the principal role.  She probably didn’t have a single showcase this season like last year’s “One Man Trash,” but overall she managed to continue making Hannah Horvath a completely despicable character which, while infuriating and nearly unwatchable for me, is still a marvel of acting work.

I had a lot of love for New Girl in its second season last year but felt the show took a big step backward this season, and I turned my eye instead to another Fox sitcom in its sophomore season: The Mindy Project and its star Mindy Kaling.  The Mindy Project is still an uneven show, but it improved greatly in its second year, largely because Kaling got a much better grasp on her main character.  Mindy still jumped between several different relationships during the season, but it was much clearer why she was entering into these relationships and what she was getting out of them.  The Mindy Project still isn’t a great show – it’s certainly not going to make my Outstanding Comedy Series list – but Kaling took a big step forward this year.

2013-14 was the season of the great, canceled comedy and while Suburgatory probably never hit the highs that Trophy Wife and Enlisted did, it always managed to make me laugh and Jane Levy was a big reason for that.  Tessa was an insightful, sardonic character unlike any I’ve seen on television before.  But what Levy did so well was to balance the sarcastic New Yorker with the loving, caring woman who is capable of forming close relationships with Chatswin’s other outcasts.

It should be no surprise at this point that Amy Poehler would find her way onto this list.  Parks and Recreation is consistently one of the funniest, most charming shows on television and it just wouldn’t work without her.  Poehler is the emotional heart of the show while also being the source of some of its most hilarious pieces.  She may not get to play the outrageous zaniness that Nick Offerman and others do, but her mania whenever things fall apart is always something to behold.

I’m very curious to see how Orange Is the New Black does its first time at the Emmys.  The show was largely shut out of the Golden Globes, where it was submitted as a drama, with only Taylor Schilling earning a nomination.  Now submitting as a comedy, will Emmy voters find her worthy?  I’d like to think so, though Schilling’s character, Piper, is often unsympathetic and rarely the most interesting aspect of the show.  That’s kind of the point, though.  Piper is meant to be self-absorbed.  But Schilling plays that unlikability perfectly, creating a character who manages to be both despicable and sympathetic.

Others meriting consideration: Courteney Cox

Previously: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy

So those are my Emmy choices.  Agree?  Disagree?  Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @TyTalksTV.

Tyler Williams is a professional librarian and an amateur television critic.  You can reach him at TyTalksTV AT gmail DOT com or on Twitter @TyTalksTV.