This year's collection of nominees
can't compete with the level of marquis names that were present last year
(Meryl Streep wasn't nominated; Carol Burnett is ineligible) but this field is
in its own way just as remarkable, if not more so.
As with Outstanding Lead Actress, this
category is all majority-minority which is even more impressive considering it
has seven nominees. Four of them were nominated last year but if you've seen
their work – and I have – no one would dare argue this is laziness on the Emmys
part. We also have another comedy icon to make up for the absence of Burnett
this year as well as another undervalued genius. On the surface this should be
an ultra-competitive race, except as with almost every other category there's
an overwhelming favorite. Problem is, she was an overwhelming favorite last
year too but… We'll get to that.
Liza Colon-Zayas, The Bear. For
Playing: Tina, the new
sous chef at The Bear. Pro: Of all the actors this season, the only one
who managed to get through Season 3 with her reputation unblemished was
Colon-Zayas: she was the sole acting nominee for the show at the Critics Choice
Awards. And the reason was because she was the center of the one unquestioned
masterpiece of Season 3: 'Napkins' in which we finally learned how she met
Mikey and got her job at the sandwich shop years earlier. The sole episode
nominated for directing and writing this year, Colon-Zayas revealed the
emotional depth and inner kindness we've always seen in her and that we see
could be reached in the start, demonstrating why her work is the beating heart
of the show. Con: Let's not kid ourselves: the moment Colon-Zayas
managed her surprise win last year, the true backlash against The Bear really
begun and has never truly gone away. Much as I love Colon-Zayas she would have
been at the bottom of my choices to win that year had Einbinder lost. Even
given the Emmys capacity to let history repeat itself, I'm relatively certain
they're not going to let lightning strike twice here.
Hannah Einbinder, Hacks EXPERTS
PICK, MY PICK. For Playing: Ava
the head writer for a new late night show, coming into more conflict then ever
before. Pro: For Einbinder and myself, this is déjà vu all over again.
Last year she was the favorite in this category too and the moment that Liza
Colon-Zayas became the surprise winner there was outrage, particularly from
Einbinder's mother who argued 'The Bear is not a comedy' in minutes. Larraine
Newman is wrong about The Bear (at least that season) but she was more
than right to be outraged. Einbinder has by this point won almost every award
but the Emmy for her work: three Astras, last year winning at the Critics
Choice Awards, two Dorian Awards (including this year) and she's once again the
overwhelming favorite. And she is more than overdue a win in this category as
each season she keeps getting better. This was just as true in Season 4, after
she spent most of the year in open conflict with Deb, first having blackmailed
her to get the job she wanted, then openly combatting with her about the
direction of the show in the inevitable conflict between art vs. conflict. The
final two episodes once again showed Einbinder at the top of the game, as she lost
her job, watched Deb resign and then in the finale face the very real
possibility that Deb might be gone. I suspect it is that finale that will
finally push Einbinder over the top and at this point, it's really getting hard
to deny her. Con: There is the possibility that Einbinder's politics,
occasionally controversial, might spill over into working against her along
with one more real issue that I'll get to below.
Kathryn Hahn, The Studio. For Playing:
Maya Mason, the head
of publicity at Continental Studio. Pro: Okay this totally makes up for
Hahn being ignored for Agatha All Along. For the first time in a long
time we see Hahn back into the kind of wild comedy that we've seen her
demonstrate to such affect in Parks & Rec and the Bad Moms franchise.
Playing Maya, the character who knows what great for box office and how movies
work (something that annoys the hell out of Mike) Hahn is looser and far less
restrained than she's been on Peak TV in a while. Whether she's mocking the
idea of how to pronounce Steve Buscemi's name (while acknowledged she'd love to
screw him) trying to figure out the money shot for a horror film about diarrhea
or wondering about whether there's something racist about Ice Cube playing the
Kool-Aid man, she is always on, always hysterical, always with the greatest
lines. And considering that Hahn has yet to get a win from the Emmys (even though
she's been in television far longer than some of the other nominees) she's
really due. Con: For whatever reason the buzz in the Supporting Actress
category for The Studio seems to have been primarily for her co-stars,
and if there is someone in The Studio who'll win in this category it likely
won't be Hahn. I have my issues with that, but…as I said we'll get there.
Janelle James, Abbott Elementary. For
Playing: Ava Colman,
the principal dealing with increasing new challenges in her tenure. Pro: The
general tenor of Season 4 was 'it was
the season of Ava'. And I can't really argue with that. It's not just that
James was her usual hysterical, every line out of her mouth wonderful, as
always - we're used to that. No, it was
the depth of James's work that was remarkable. We learned more about her family
and her conflicted relationship with her father. We saw her take a bullet for her
staff to protect them and lose her job. We saw her not only land on her feet
but actually thriving away from the principal's office and then somehow the
faculty still rallied behind her getting her job back anyway. (That
would have been unthinkable in Season 1.) We saw her spend the entire season in
a healthy relationship with someone working-class – even more unthinkable. And
then in penultimate episode we saw everyone – the students, the faculty, the local economy,
even people we considered her sworn enemies – rally for her getting her job
back. James more than deserves a win in this category and I would be fine with
her getting it this year. Con: It's a tribute to the overwhelming array
of talent in this category every year James has been nominated that every time
she lost, it was to someone who was just as good, if not better than here. Hard
it is to outshine Ava on Abbott, it is very easy to do so among her
fellow nominees and that's likely to happen this year. It's not because she's
not incredible, it's that they're just better.
Catherine O'Hara, The Studio. For Playing: Patty Mill, the
ousted head of Continental Studios now working as a consultant for the man who
fired her. Pro: A normal actress would have waited after leaving the iconic
role of Moira Rose that finally won O'Hara her first Emmy at the start of the
decade. O'Hara has been everywhere since. This year she is nominated in two
different series for two completely different roles. Even those philistines (I'll
get to it in next week) who have been degraded Season 2 of The Last of Us never
had anything bad to say about O'Hara's incredible work as the therapist of both
Joel and Ellie who knew they were both lying to them about how they felt after
traumatic events but had no choice but to let them go out into the world. To
imagine that O'Hara could play the clearly traumatized, basically drunk and
still brilliant performance in The Last of Us and then turn around and
play the no-nonsense studio executive here is… pretty much par for the course
for this astounding actress, actually. And as someone who has little patience
for Matt and either his love of film or his business ethic, she's a pleasure to
watch. Her victory for Best Supporting Actress at the Astras shows just how well
she has and why she's rising in the odds as the most likely candidate to upset
Einbinder. Con: Of the three female regulars in the cast (Hahn, O'Hara
and Chase Sui Wonders) O'Hara has appeared in the fewest episodes and has significant
less screen time then her co-stars. (She basically disappears for four episodes
after The Note'.) I'm not saying that O'Hara isn't brilliant when she's
onscreen but my personal preference would be for Hahn. Throw in the fact that
O'Hara has an Emmy already and it's a lot harder to argue she deserves
to win again this quickly.
Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary.
For Playing: Barbara,
trying to settle into new patterns at Abbott. Pro: There weren't a lot
of significant storylines for Barbara the same way there were quite a few other
cast members this year: she just went on being the usual quiet tower of
strength viewers have loved of her ever since the series began. We saw her
trying to deal with new traditions with Melissa, saw her building her
friendship with Ava, saw her having a Christmas dinner, saw her try to learn how
to teach music part time. Ralph's work has never been as showy as some of her
other extraordinary co-stars, but that's where a lot of the humor comes in. She
tries to find a way for her methods to work in the new generation, tries to serve
as a mentor to those who want it, deals with the fact she's getting older. That's
why we love Barb and that's why she's the beating heart of the show. Con: Ralph
has by this point gotten more than her share of recognition from the Emmys and
other awards shows. I have no problem with her winning again but I think like
the character she plays, Ralph is fine with new faces sharing the spotlight.
Jessica Williams, Shrinking. For
Playing: Gaby, facing
new challenges in her home life along with work life. Pro: Of all the
characters on the show this series Gaby was far more professionally stable then
before, which meant we got to spend this season dealing with her backstory. We
spent much of the season dealing with the complicated relationship she has with
both her sister and her mother, seeing progress with one and a back-and-forth
with the other. We saw how she keeps putting everyone else's needs first and how
that has hurt her over time. We saw her move on from her relationship with
Jimmy and into a relationship with a Derek, which was one step forward, two steps
back – until the finale when it seemed like everyone was working out. And like
everyone else in the cast, every step of the way she was hysterically funny,
warm and full of good humor. Williams has been one of my favorite performers since
she debuted on The Daily Show and I want her to win someday. Con: I
just don't think it'll be this year. Williams did get her second consecutive
nomination for two seasons but I'm not convinced its her time anymore than it really
is Shrinking's.
Prediction: I'm not going to say it this year
because I don't want to jinx it. You know what I said above, I'm just not going
to say it here.
Now to deal with the four other major
awards.
Guest Actor and Guest Actress in a
Comedy.
Jon Bernthal and Jamie Lee Curtis,
last year's more than deserving winners, are back but I don't think anyone
thinks they'll repeat.
In Guest Actor in a Comedy, it's a
question of which guest role on The Studio we'll win. Bryan Cranston is
the favorite, but honestly I think he's gotten enough awards from the Emmys at
this point. I'm actually going to give the edge for Ron Howard for The Note,
which was a comedy classic by any standard. As for Guest Actress, this one goes
to Hacks and much as I loved Robby Hoffman I'm going for Dance Mom, aka,
Julianne Nicholson.
So that's one apiece there.
Now on to directing and writing.
Writing is for me a no-brainer. Hacks
has won in this category two of the three seasons it's been nominated and
considering the significance of the episode even before recent events, I think
it wins in a landslide. If there's an upset, I don't think it'll come from The
Studio but rather Bridget Everett for writing Somebody Somewhere. She
managed a win at the TCA for Outstanding Comedic Performance this week over the
performers in Hacks and The Studio. She wasn't nominated for
acting but given the love for the project among critics the Emmys might honor
it here. I don't think they will but they might.
As for directing I think this one does
to 'The Oner' for The Studio. I know it’s a gimmick but its one that the
director's branch goes in for. And lest we forget Christopher Storer did win only
Emmy for direction for 'Review' which used the exact same gimmick in the show's
first season.
Overall I think we will see a scenario
much like last year: The Studio will more Emmys overall but Hacks
will win the big prize.
Next week, I start dealing with Drama
which started looking like a runaway and may be getting closer by the minute.
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