Emmys 2018: My Comedy Nominee Picks

I've been away from this blog for a couple weeks, and I apologize for leaving you hanging.  Soon I will be writing about what I've been watching this summer (Big Brother, Downton Abbey, The Great British Bake Off, Pose), but first I need to finish off my Emmy series by sharing my thoughts on the Comedy nominees and my picks to win.  So without further ado...

OUTSTANDING COMEDY (2017 Winner: Veep)
Atlanta
Barry
Black-ish
Curb Your Enthusiasm
GLOW
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Silicon Valley
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Quick Take: Wow 8 nominees!  I was not a fan of Mrs. Maisel or Kimmy Schmidt, and I haven't seen any of the other shows on this list besides GLOW.  Veep has won the comedy award for the past several years in a row but wasn't eligible this year, and Modern Family was left off this list for the first time ever (as it should have been).  With those spots left open, it would have been nice to see some recognition for the final season of The Middle or some of my quirky lesser-known comedy favorites like Baskets, American Vandal, or The Good Place.  The Big Bang Theory is also pretty consistently funny even after 11 seasons. 

My Pick: For the reasons mentioned above, I'd have to go with GLOW.  Although I'm picking it by process of elimination, it would still be a worthy choice.  The first season took a long time to get going, but it introduced viewers to a hilarious group of female wrestlers led by Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin.  The show was silly, outrageous, but also heartwarming at times.  I expect to see it on this list for many years to come. 

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY (2017 Winner: Donald Glover, Atlanta)

Anthony Anderson (Black-ish)

Ted Danson (The Good Place) 

Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)

Donald Glover (Atlanta)

Bill Hader (Barry)

William H. Macy (Shameless)

Quick Take: I'm happy to see some recognition for The Good Place, but I feel like perhaps Danson wasn't the most deserving choice from the show.  The supporting cast, although lesser known actors than the experienced Danson, are much more thrilling to watch.  William H. Macy and Larry David seem like tired choices.  In their places, I definitely would have included Keir Gilchrist (Atypical) and Jimmy Tatro (American Vandal) for their amazing work on their little-known Netflix shows. 

My Pick:  I've only seen a few episodes of Barry, but I'd have to go with Hader.  His character (a hitman who develops a love of acting) is bizarre and crazy, but he pulls it off effortlessly.  It's definitely a long way from his skilled but sometimes one-note work on Saturday Night Live.

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY (2017 Winner: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep)

Pamela Adlon (Better Things)

Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

Allison Janney (Mom)

Issa Rae (Insecure)

Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish)

Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie)

Quick Take: Louis-Dreyfus is ineligible this year because Veep didn't air (due to her cancer diagnosis).  Grace and Frankie is terrible and I found Brosnahan more shrill and annoying than endearing.  There are several much better actresses that were left of this list: Krsiten Bell (The Good Place), Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), and Alison Brie (GLOW).

My Pick: Based on who was nominated, I would easily pick Janney.  She started off as kind of a supporting character but was wisely moved front-and-center in Mom's 2nd season.  Her repartee with her onscreen daughter Anna Faris is comedy gold and reminiscent of some of the best comedy duos ever.  And I think that she WILL easily walk away with the award. 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY (2017 Winner: Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live)

Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta)

Henry Winkler (Barry)

Louie Anderson (Baskets)

Alec Baldwin (Saturday Night Live)

Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live)

Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

Titus Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)

Quick Take: Baldwin's Trump impression is starting to get kind of old, and Thompson has done decent work on SNL for many years, but in my opinion not Emmy-worthy work.  Winkler has turned into a solid supporting comic actor with his roles on Barry and Arrested Development.  I would have included Marc Maron (GLOW) and Pete Gardner (Crazy Ex Girfriend) on the list in place of Baldwin and Thompson.

My Pick: Louie Anderson all the way!  He already won once, but he deserves ALL the Emmys for his mesmerizing and hilarious performance as Mama Christine Baskets (yes, a woman!).  He makes the character feel like a real person rather than a caricature or a man in drag.  He has said that the role is a tribute to his late mother, which just makes me love him even more.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY (2017 Winner: Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live)

Zazie Beetz (Atlanta)

Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne)

Betty Gilpin (GLOW)

Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live)

Leslie Jones (Saturday Night Live)

Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)

Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

Megan Mullally (Will and Grace)

Quick Take: This is going to be quite a competitive category.  I'm a bit surprised that there were so many nominations for SNL.  Bryant and McKinnon are deserving, but I'm baffled at the nomination for Jones.  She's a great stand-up comic and her appearances as herself on Weekend Update are hilarious, but in sketches she consistently flubs her lines and comes off as stiff.  I'm also a bit surprised that there were any nominations for Roseanne, after the implosion of the show caused by its star.  Metcalf is a skilled comic actress, but she was given little to do in this funny but failed revival.  I would include Eden Sher (The Middle), Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), Claudia O'Doherty (Love), and D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place) instead of Metcalf and the SNL actresses.

My Pick: It's a tough choice, but I'd go with Betty Gilpin from GLOW.  Her character's feud with Alison Brie's character felt believable and never forced.  Brie was supposed to be the lead actress on the show, but Gilpin stole the spotlight more often than not.  I know we're not judging season 2 here, but her work became even more nuanced and skilled in the recently aired season. 

Emmys 2018: My Drama Nominee Picks

This past week saw the announcement of the 2018 Primetime Emmy nominations.  After giving my dream picks for the nominees, I thought that I would now share my picks for the winners in each major category, based on the actual nominees, as well as my quick take on who and what was nominated.  Most of it I got wrong, but there were still a few pleasant surprises and many deserving nominees.  I'll do this in 2 parts, starting with the drama nominees:

OUTSTANDING DRAMA (2017 winner: The Handmaid’s Tale)
The Americans
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld

Quick Take: Most of these are predictable but deserving picks, however I have found Stranger Things to be a highly over-hyped and overrated letdown.  This is an extremely unpopular opinion, but so be it.  Not many people watch it due to being on mostly-unknown streaming service CBS All Access, but I would add The Good Wife spinoff The Good Fight in its place; it's smart, sharp, and highly engrossing tv.

My Pick: I'd call it a tie between Game of Thrones and The Handmaid's Tale.  The penultimate season of Thrones raised the stakes both in terms of storytelling and visual spectacle, finally bringing its many characters and stories together and setting things up for an amazing finish next year.  Handmaid's is much more quiet in its storytelling but no less effective.  The acting is amazing across the board, and it effectively offers commentary on the modern world with its depiction of a fictional, nightmarish dictatorship.


LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA (2017 winner: Sterling K. Brown)
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Ed Harris, Westworld
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us
Jeffrey Wright, Westworld

Quick Take: I don't watch many of these shows, but I can't argue with the caliber of any of the actors on the list.  I would add Delroy Lindo from The Good Fight, the strongest male actor on the show.  He's a tough but likable boss.  Lindo showed his skills this season as his character took center stage.

My Pick: Sterling K. Brown won last year, and I would pick him to win again.  He's the best actor on This Is Us and half of the most believable fictional couple on tv.  He's the glue that holds this show together, and his story about taking in a foster child this season was moving when it could have been hokey, thanks mainly to Brown.


LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA (2017 winner: Elisabeth Moss)
Claire Foy, The Crown
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Keri Russell, The Americans
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld

Quick Take: I'm happy to see Sandra Oh nominated for the little-watched BBC America drama Killing Eve, but I would add Oh's costar Jodie Comer, who played her rival Villanelle and stole every scene that she appeared in.  I would also add Mandy Moore for This is Us, who had an amazing season as her character mourned the death of her husband Jack.  She handles the show's multiple time-jumps believably and better than any other actor on the show. 

My Pick: I would have to repeat Elisabeth Moss on The Handmaid's Tale.  Her character went through the wringer even more in season 2, and Moss more than lived up to the physical and emotional challenges of her role.


SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA (2017 winner: Ann Dowd)
Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid’s Tale
Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things
Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Vanessa Kirby, The Crown
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale

Quick Take: I'm happy to see all of the talented Handmaid's actresses getting nominations, as well as the first nomination for the alluring Vanessa Kirby from The Crown.  However, it's a shame that Susan Kelechi Watson wasn't recognized for This is Us in her role as Beth, Randall's (Sterling K. Brown) wife.  She holds her own against the best actor on the show.

My Pick: Ann Dowd is incredible and deserved her win last year, but her evil character Aunt Lydia played a somewhat smaller role in the show's second season.  I would pick Alexis Bledel, known to viewers for years on Gilmore Girls as Rory but here playing a tortured young woman driven to murder by her circumstances.  Bledel's character Emily became unhinged by repeated rape, torture, and slavery, and the actress effectively portrayed a woman on the edge in her increased season 2 role.


SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA (2017 winner: John Lithgow)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Joseph Fiennes, The Handmaid’s Tale
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
David Harbour, Stranger Things
Matt Smith, The Crown

Quick Take: I can't agree with many of these nominations.  Dinklage is great and deserved his past wins, but his character Tyrion didn't really do all that much during season 7.  In addition, Smith is one of the weaker actors on The Crown.  I would add Jeff Perry for his character's evil turn on the final season of Scandal, as well as Max Minghella for his subtle work on The Handmaid's Tale, the only main actor on the show who DIDN'T actually receive a nomination. 

My Pick: Based on these nominations, I would have to go with Joseph Fiennes of Handmaid's Tale.  Normally I don't like one show to rack up so many major awards, but in this case I believe it's deserved.  Fiennes turned his character Commander Waterford from sympathetic to pretty evil and irredeemable in season 2.  He never took his character over-the-top, which he easily could have done.

Dream Emmy Ballot: Supporting Actor, Comedy

Periodically this summer I'll be sharing my picks for the primetime Emmy awards, which will take place this September.  Up this week, Best Supporting Actor in a comedy series.  Click the links below each description for videos of the actors in their roles.  Of course, there are SPOILERS in the descriptions and the videos, so please don't read or watch if you haven't caught up on the shows.

1.  Pete Gardner (Crazy Ex Girlfriend): As Daryl Whitefeather, the boss at the law firm central to the show, Gardner looks like a regular middle-aged guy, but he's anything but.  He's sweet and meek, letting his employees, especially the unstable Rebecca (the show's central character) get away with anything and everything.  Even though the show is a musical comedy, he's not one of its best singers, but he generates laughs from his line delivery and goofy facial expressions.  Daryl's divorce and reveal as a bisexual man, along with his relationship with the much-younger "White Josh", has become one of the show's most compelling storylines. 

Daryl song

2.  Marc Maron (Glow): Maron is pretty much the only male presence on this show about female wrestlers in the 1980s.  His character Sam, the director of the wrestling show within the show, is a brash and sometimes mean alcoholic.  But he truly cares about the women under his charge and the success of Glow.  He's really a feminist at heart, but someone like Sam would never admit this.  Maron strikes the right balance to make Sam a tough guy without ever becoming unlikable; in fact, he's probably the most likable character on the show.

Glow recap

3.  Manny Jacinto (The Good Place): On this strange and wonderful sitcom about the afterlife, Jacinto plays Jason, a small-town gangster and drug dealer who aims to become a better person even after death.  He's incredibly dumb and naïve about just about everything, but Jacinto plays him like an amazed young child marveling at the world around him.  His quasi-relationship with robot Janet was also one of the strangest yet funniest things on tv last year.

Jason is tested

4.  Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory): The character of Raj has gotten the short end of the straw for most of this hit comedy's run.  After all, he's the only member of the cast who still hasn't been coupled up, which is a bit sad because Raj is the most hopeless romantic member of the group of nerdy scientist friends.  Still, Nayyar makes the most of his time onscreen, often letting his costar Simon Helberg (as Howard Wolowitz) get most of the big belly laughs.  Nayyar's comedy is more subtle and self-deprecating, but in my opinion even more funny.

The best of Raj

5.  Louie Anderson (Baskets): In all honesty, none of the other actors on my list can compare to Anderson.  He plays the mother of twins Chip and Dale Baskets (Zach Galifianakis), which is funny in and of itself.  Anderson fills Christine Baskets with such heart and authenticity that she has become the unofficial star of the show over the course of its 3 seasons.  She's persnickety and difficult but also lonely and sweet, seeming like a real middle-aged woman that you might know in your life.  Anderson has said that he takes inspiration for the character from his own late mother, which just makes me love the performance even more.  The show itself is just okay, but I am a devoted viewer mainly due to this incredible performance.

Mama Baskets in Costco

Dream Emmy Ballot: Supporting Actor, Drama

Periodically this summer I'll be sharing my picks for the primetime Emmy awards, which will take place this September.  Up this week, Best Supporting Actor in a drama.  Click the links below each description for videos of the actors in their roles.  Of course, there are SPOILERS in the descriptions and the videos, so please don't read or watch if you haven't caught up on the shows.

1.  Max Minghella (The Handmaid's Tale): Chauffeur Nick has it pretty easy on this dystopian drama, at least compared to the women.  He befriended and then seemed to fall in love with handmaid June (aka Offred), fathering a child with her that neither of them will be allowed to raise.  Minghella has a quiet intensity onscreen, expressing more with his eyes than many other actors can with words.  This season he's been given his own storyline, forced to take a child bride while still pining for June.  I couldn't imagine this show without him.

Nick's wedding

2.  Devin Druid (13 Reasons Why): Season 2 of this teen drama was deeply flawed, but still it gave a chance for Druid, as nerdy photographer Tyler, to shine.  After befriending another loner and being viciously bullied by many of his classmates, Tyler went down a dark path that led him to almost carry out a horrible act in the season finale.  The plot was a bit hokey and after-school special-ish, but Druid believably took viewers on a journey throughout the season, showing them what could lead someone to become so angry at the world around him.  He effectively expressed rage mixed with sadness, which made me interested to keep watching the season rather than throw in the towel throughout some other far more boring plots.

Tyler and Clay  

3.  Jack Falahee (How to Get Away with Murder): I've always thought that Falahee was the most underrated actor on this show, which has turned pretty melodramatic and repetitive in its last couple of seasons.  As Connor, a gay law student embroiled in one mess after another with his law professor and classmates, Falahee gives everything to every scene that he's in.  He never makes the character a stereotype, and you can feel his emotions through the screen, both good (when he's expressing his love for boyfriend Oliver) and bad (the other 90% of the time).

Connor and Oliver

4.  Jeff Perry (Scandal): This show got REALLY ridiculous in its final season.  The writers seemingly decided to turn Perry's character Cyrus into an irredeemable villain, but Perry went with it and did his best to still portray his character as a multi-faceted, but deeply flawed, man who stopped at nothing to gain power.  In one of his final scenes, he committed a horrible act to silence an enemy.  Viewers could see on Perry's deeply expressive face that Cyrus was regretting the act and feeling guilty even in the midst of carrying it out.  It was a horrifying thing to watch, but a worthy showcase for Perry's enormous talent.

Cyrus's act

5.  Shawn Hatosy (Animal Kingdom): Admittedly, I gave up on this show after the first 2 episodes of the current season, but the first two summer seasons of the family crime drama were must-see.  As Pope, the creepy member of a band of 4 brothers who commit burglaries and heists together, Hatosy is without question the strongest male actor on the show.  He's creepy and intense, but also vulnerable and emotional at times.  Somehow viewers feel for him and like his sweet relationship with his young niece, even though he himself murdered the poor girl's mom.

Pope and Baz