I have more leeway in this
category then the previous two as the Emmys as they have in past year have room
for seven nominees in this category. And I have some freedom because last
year's winner Jeff Hiller (hooray) isn't eligible as well as Ike Barinholtz for
The Studio. Bowen Yang, a perennial favorite for his work in SNL, will
have difficulty considering he left the show mid-season.
This leaves some openings for new
faces or in a sense faces from older shows. And while there's another
overwhelming favorite in this category he was the overwhelming favorite last
year too.
Paul
W. Downs, Hacks
I have no way of knowing if when
Downs created Jimmy at the start of Hacks he had any idea how important
his character was going to be by the end of the series. I think he and his
beloved wife Lucia Aniello just thought he was going to be there solely for
comic relief, end of story. But like so many things about Hacks Jimmy
has become just as important to the show by the final season to the point that
he and Kayla's stories are nearly as fun to watch as the main action involving
Deb and Ava, to the point that many want there to be a spinoff of the two.
Downs has done a huge amount to
show character growth with each new season. This was just as true in the final
season as in the first. He is perennially put upon, always misreading
situations, listening to much to Kayla, always being pressured by his clients
and taken for granted. But by now the average viewer loves him as much as all
the other characters and is rooting for him to succeed. And Jimmy has become
more savvy, finding a way to make a place for himself with the Fatty Arbuckle
movie he's been producing (with his mom filming a role), finding a way to
brainstorm a pilot with Ava, working to put together a club with Deb and in the
final episode making it clear just how vital Ava was to Deb and Deb to Ava.
Downs, to be clear, has gotten his
share of awards for writing and producing Hacks over the years and he
doesn't need to win a Supporting Actor award in my book. He's done enough. But
he more than deserves a nomination and
he's almost certainly got one locked up. And come on, I want to see him and Meg
Stalter hosting the Emmys in the not so distant future. Cause that would be
awesome.
Harrison
Ford, Shrinking
It
might be a bit much to say that this award is Harrison Ford's to lose. I did
think this last year and I was surprised (delightfully I admit) that Jeff
Hiller prevailed. But considering that Ford is now at the age when the Lifetime
Achievement Awards are coming in – he did receive one from SAG-AFTRA this past
March – you do get the feeling it's about time to give him some kind of actual
award. Ford has been, as they say, a supergiant among movie stars: one of the
greatest actors in terms of box office draw even before you include his
legendary creations of Han Solo and Indiana Jones. That he remains so
incredibly humble even at this point is astonishing.
And
that is before you get to just how incredibly funny he has been as Paul
on Shrinking from day one.
Considering that some of the greatest comic actors of the 21st
century were in this cast from the start, many of whom are doing some of their
work in this show, it's astonishing that Ford has the innate ability to with a
single line delivered completely deadpan, make you laugh longer and harder then
any of them without seeming to try. Ford has been underappreciated because he
is such a naturalistic performer for whom everything he does just seems so easy
and watching him in every scene you know it.
That's
before you consider the dark, if inevitable turns that Season 3, takes as Paul
finds the progression of his Parkinson's becoming harder to deal with. We knew
this from the start of the season, Paul's known just as long, but that doesn't
make it any easier to bear. Like the village around him we are devoted to Paul,
even as he denies that he deserves it.
Much of the greatness of this show has been how Paul, in the twilight of
his years, is trying to rebuild everything he pushed away for his career and
how he's hoping its not too late. We're glad to find it isn't, not yet anyway.
Ford
starts the Emmy race for this year as he did last year: the prohibitive
favorite for Best Supporting Actor. There are no guarantees he'll win and I
suspect both Ford and the character he plays would be fine with it, saying the
work is all that matters. But damn your modesty. I want this for you and I
think the whole world does.
Ebon
Moss-Bachrach, The Bear
I
made it clear that for The Bear I was going to ignore it from the
consideration mainly because the majority of the awards shows have done the
same. However I don't think they'll make that exception for Moss-Bachrach. His
Richie, who started the show as an out-of-touch anachronism, has within the run
of the series become the character who has by far made the most progress, far
more than Carmy who if anything has been moving backwards ever since the series
debuted in terms of character growth. Of
all the characters Richie has become the one who wants to rid the burden of
being a screw-up, whose trying so hard to success and who can never forgive
himself for what happened to Jimmy all those years ago, something he made clear
in the season finale. He's the only person going into the final season whose
noticeably less broken then when the series began.
The
season finale is a tour de force for the core four and Moss-Bachrach
demonstrates that he is going somewhere. When you throw in the immense
publicity for the surprise episode of 'Gary' that was dropped last month I
think Moss-Bachrach will survive the purge.
Nick
Offerman, Margo's Got Money Troubles
There was a time when the Emmys
had no idea Nick Offerman existed despite his iconic work as Ron Swanson.
Fortunately in this decade they've been making up for lost time. He deservedly
won his first Emmy for acting in the iconic 'Long, Long Time' episode of The
Last of Us two years ago. Now he has a chance to be nominated for
Supporting Actor in two different categories. He definitely will for his work
in Jinx in Margo's Got Money Troubles.
Jinx was the pro-wrestler father
who was so absentee Margo was stunned when he ended up on her doorstep not long
after she'd given birth to Bodhi. We already knew Jinx was getting out of rehab
for heroin when we met him which is why it took him so long to respond. He was
more than willing to show up for his daughter, something his birth mother
didn't like at all. Jinx then had to deal with multiple problems one after
another. To his credit he took Margo's doing work on OnlyFans in stride (better
then her mother did) and wanted to be protective. Like most dads he took it too
far (though the baby daddy deserved worse then getting his hand crushed) and
then he helped Margo stage many of her early scenes involving the Hungry Ghost
for wrestling moves which was both fun. He was there for Margo when things went
bad and then spectacularly he screwed up, destroying almost everything he'd
built.
Offerman perfectly balances the
comedy and drama in Margo as well as any of the cast which makes sense
given his long career. It would have been easy to turn Jinx into the caricature
he could have been but Offerman handled it sublimely at every step, showing the
humanity and the pain behind everything he's done. Of all the characters at the
end of Season 1 his future is the cloudiest but we hope he can win back Margo's
trust because of Offerman's humanity. It's another great performance as
Offerman moves beyond one of the greatest characters in TV history to become
one of the greatest characters in TV history.
Timothy
Simons, Nobody Wants This
As someone who absolutely hated
Simons work on Veep – and yes I know that was kind of the point, his
work as Sascha on Nobody Wants This has been a revelation, even more
than the rest of the cast. Sascha is
just as put upon and frequently subject to as much abuse as Jonah was but
unlike that character he seems perfectly fine with it – and more to the point,
he's a human being.
Sascha spent much of Season 2
trying to deal with the small problem that he had built a friendship without
his wife's approval. And worst of all with Morgan. To be clear there never has
been nor do the writers intend to build up a romantic relationship, not the
least because Jonah is still very much in love with his wife and knows how
lucky he is to have her. But that's part of the fun of this show as well as
Sascha's character. In the hierarchy of the Jewish family the second son is
always ignored until he screws up and despite the fact Sascha is a good husband
and a father – something Noah isn't yet, by the way – his good works will be
underappreciated. But he keeps trying like the good Jewish son he is and he's
more lovable in every scene he's a part of.
There has been some buzz for
Simons getting a nomination this year: he was nominated by both the Critics
Choice Awards and the Astras in Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. With a lot
of the contenders from previous years ineligible his chances have come up
immensely and really both Simons and Sascha deserve it.
Michael
Urie, Shrinking
Urie's Brian ostensibly started Shrinking
as the most shallow character. Like every character on Shrinking it
was deflection as Michael Urie brings the heart along with the over-the-top
humor he shows with every scene he does.
In Season 1 we watched Brian get
married. In Season 2 we saw him focus on the idea of fatherhood, first being
terrified by it and then in classic Brian fashion overcommitting. It paid off
as the surrogate Ava became entranced by them and in Season 3 Brian became a
proud papa. As the show progressed Brian's inability to stop meddling continued
both in good ways and bad, as so many members of the cast faced their internal
struggles include Derek and Paul's health's struggles Jimmy's efforts to move
on, his struggles with his own daughter and eventually Brian's own failings
which I won't go into here. We've always seen Brian as overdramatic, much of
the time we now see it in terms of tears of a clown as someone who laughs so he
doesn't cry.
Urie was nominated for his work
last year and has been a presence in nominations leading up to the Emmys. It's
not clear how much of a chance he has of winning, particularly against his
co-star, but he remains a comic dynamo and I'm glad he's part of it.
Tyler
James Williams, Abbott Elementary
I
was, to put it mildly, irked when Colman Domingo ended up getting nominated
ahead of Tyler James Williams last year. (I was fine with Jeff Hiller being
there, to be clear.) Nothing against Domingo but Williams has been the MVP of Abbott
Elementary for five seasons on facial expressions alone. At this point only
Jack Benny rivals him as a comparison for saying so much with a silent facial
expression.
Williams
continued to a lot during Season 5 both when it came to saying nothing and
saying something. To be clear Gregory has as funny dialogue as anyone else on Abbott
when given a chance. His delivery is hysterical as so much of the time its
deadpan. But its been fun watching him thrive in a productive relationship with
Janine, as they found a way to move into a new place together, then as they
struggled with their first fight, then as Gregory got ridiculously,
hysterically drunk, then as they rebuilt their relationship with less
manipulation then you'd think. (It's remarkable how much good Mr. Johnson can
be on relationships when he needs to be.)
Finally
on the season finale they headed to Miami for vacation and Gregory had perfect
confidence in Janine. He ended up leaving the trip with Abbott reopened and
himself as Assistant principal. And as he confided it's looking like a proposal
is happening down the road.
Williams
should have an Emmy by this point, though let's not kid ourselves the
competition has been kind of stacked during this period. I don't think he'll
win this year but I do think he'll return to the ranks and he'll be happy with
it. (Though of course he'll never show it.)
FYC
William
Stanford Davis, Abbott Elementary
In
five seasons of watching Abbott Elementary I've given love and
appreciation to every single member of the cast in the Emmy nominations – except for William
Stanford Davis. And because I don't want him to call me trash, I'll do it here.
Davis's
Johnson has always been one of the most constantly hysterical characters in the
entire cast, and Brunson's decision to upgrade him to series regular in Season
2 was another in a long line of brilliant decisions. It's always fun watching him, and this was
clear from the start of the season when we learned he couldn't ride a bike
until the end of the season when he chose to repaint the parking places while
everyone was on vacation. In between he lectured us on how the furnace was
going to explode, got into a war with the cafeteria staff, found to his
astonishment women could be janitors just as well as they could be rocket
scientists, got ready to go to the Janitor's ball, tried to get his passport at
the DMV (where he met one of his nemesis), mocked the idea of April Fool's
jokes, and did other more important and funnier stuff. Honestly if they were to
do a spinoff of the world of janitors with Mr. Johnson as the lead, I think
everybody would watch. (My theory is that the Janitor from Scrubs is his
poker buddy.)
Davis
has gotten some award nominations from the Image Awards over the years and we
all saw how funny he could be at the SAG Awards. Isn't it time custodians got
recognized at the Emmys? Representation matters, after all. (Then again, maybe
one of his past jobs was as a network executive.)
Tomorrow
I wrap it up in this week with Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy. I
always have fun with this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment