7/19/2012

Emmy Nominations

Mad Men deserves its 5th Emmy, and Christina Hendricks deserves her first win
The nominations for the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy nominations have been announced. I'm very happy to say that Mad Men leads the field with 17 nominations including Best Drama Series. Mad Men is looking to break its record for most consecutive Emmy wins in the category and it could, given that the fifth season is arguably the best so far. Also nominated for Mad Men are actors Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks (for the win!), Jared Harris (rest in peace Lane Pryce), and guest stars Julia Ormond and Ben Feldman. It's too bad that Canada's Jessica Pare did find her way in, but Moss and Hendricks are the show's two best female performers so it's hard to complain. And Canadians weren't shut out entirely, either, with co-writer Semi Chellas receiving one of Mad Men's three writing nominations for the season's best episode "The Other Woman" (pictured) and the National Film Board of Canada's animated production Flawed by Andrea Dorfman was nominated in the News & Documentary Emmys in the New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming: Documentaries category.


Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens in Downton Abbey
Nipping at the heels of Mad Men is another show I love, Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey scored big last year at the Emmys in the miniseries/TV movie categories, but it's switched categories and brought on the heat. (Season 2 of DA is not as strong as season 1, so I'm confident that Mad Men will keep on trucking.) Among the nominees for Downton is heavyweight Maggie Smith, who steals the show as the Crawley family matriarch (but Hendricks deserves to win) and surprise nominees Michelle Dockery (leading actress) and Joanna Froggatt (joining Smith in supporting), who I think gives the show's best performance as Anna the maid.

Other favourites in the nominees include Game Change in the TV movie category (Julianne Moore has that in the bag) and returning nominees and winners like Breaking Bad, Modern Family, and Game of Thrones.

Major nominees via Awards Daily:
  • Actor, drama: Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire; Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad; Michael C. Hall, Dexter; Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey; Damian Lewis, Homeland; Jon Hamm, Mad Men.
  • Supporting actor, drama: Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad; Giancarlo Esposito, Breaking Bad; Brendan Coyle, Downton Abbey; Jim Carter, Downton Abbey; Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones; Jared Harris, Mad Men.
  • Actress, drama: Glenn Close, Damages; Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey; Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife; Kathy Bates, Harry's Law; Claire Danes, Homeland; Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men.
  • Supporting actress, drama: Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad; Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey; Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey; Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife; Christine Baranski, The Good Wife; Christina Hendricks, Mad Men.
  • Actress, comedy: Lena Dunham, Girls; Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly; Zooey Deschanel, New Girl; Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie; Amy Poehler, Parks And Recreation; Tina Fey, 30 Rock; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep.
  • Supporting actress, comedy: Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory; Kathryn Joosten, Desperate Housewives; Julie Bowen, Modern Family; Sofia Vergara, Modern Family; Merritt Weaver, Nurse Jackie; Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live.
  • Actor, comedy: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory; Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Don Cheadle, House of Lies; Louis C.K., Louie; Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men.
  • Supporting actor, comedy: Ed O'Neill, Modern Family; Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family; Ty Burrell, Modern Family; Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family; Max Greenfield, New Girl; Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live.
  • Actress, miniseries or movie: Connie Britton, American Horror Story; Julianne Moore, Game Change; Nicole Kidman, Hemingway & Gelhorn; Ashley Judd, Missing; Emma Thompson, The Song of Lunch.
  • Supporting actress, miniseries or movie: Frances Conroy, American Horror Story; Jessica Lange, American Horror Story; Sarah Paulson, Game Change; Mare Winningham, Hatfields & McCoys; Judy Davis, Page Eight.
  • Actor, miniseries or movie: Woody Harrelson, Game Change; Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys; Bill Paxton, Hatfields & McCoys; Clive Owen, Hemingway & Gellhorn; Idris Elba, Luther; Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock.
  • Supporting actor, miniseries or movie: Denis O'Hare, American Horror Story; Ed Harris, Game Change; Tom Berenger, Hatfields & McCoys; David Strathairn, Hemingway & Gelhorn; Martin Freeman, Sherlock.
Full list here