This is where my job gets
infinitely harder. Considering I now have to assess between a lot of movies
that, with few exceptions, I haven't seen, along with the vast array of limited
series makes this series impossible to handicap accurately. Add to this, the
fact that they might try to well revisit some old favorites (Benedict
Cumberbatch and David Duchovny are just the most obvious) along with almost
everything on HBO and PBS, and picking six nominees seems impossible.
Nevertheless, once more into breach go I.
Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Now really, Cranston
is in no need of Emmys by this point in his career. And giving him an award for
recreating his Tony-winning performance would seem a bit superfluous. But the
fact remains, his portrayal of LBJ in the first and most successful year of his
Presidency was just as riveting to watch on screen as it was on stage. In a
year that has already been filled with political excesses, watching a
politician whose mission was to compromise seems more relevant than ever.
Idris Elba, 'Luther'
Compared to some of the more
histrionic performances, Elba 's traditional work of
underplaying one of the most mesmerizing characters in British medium might get
lost in the shuffle. But watching him play the troubled cop against his most
heinous villain was riveting nonetheless. Add to the fact he has a SAG Award
and a Critic's Choice, and even given the level of talent in this category, one
would be hard-pressed to ignore him.
Tom Hiddleston, 'The Night Manager'
For those of us who only knew him
as Loki, 2016 has been a revelation for admirers of Hiddleston as an actor. And
watching him play the soldier-turned hotel clerk turned spy was by far his
crowning achievement. As he layered false identities across his cover stories
trying to get into Richard Roper's inner circle, watching his body shift was so
subtle that it was hard to tell who he was for sure. And what made it more
memorable is that maybe sometimes he didn't know either.
Timothy Hutton, 'American Crime'
As the troubled high school
basketball coach whose team is devastated by the sexual assault and fallout
from it, Hutton's quiet rage at the faculty and everyone around him, especially
as his own family was implicated, was one of the most brilliant things I've
seen all year. And his scenes with Felicity Huffman as the icy prep school dean
determined to protect the school, were master classes in acting.
Courtney B. Vance, 'The People V.
O.J. Simpson'
There were many brilliant lead
performances in this series, but by far the most magnificent was the ones of
the brilliant character actors embodiment of the most memorable attorney on
Simpson's dream team, Johnnie Cochran. It was more than an imitation, as he
took a character that had been caricatured time and again, and turned him into
a complex, bragging, and sometimes emotional soul.
Patrick Wilson, 'Fargo'
Forget the fact that this version
of the one holdover from Season 1 had an accent. Watching the younger Lou
Solverson play one of the few characters in this world - or, for that matter,
anywhere in this age of television - who was unequivocally good. A brave
lawman, a winsome war-veteran, a loyal husband and father. Wilson
gave a truly humble performance - also notable in the age of showiness. And he
made that uniform look like he was born in it.
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