Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire
Friday Night Lights
Dexter
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife, SHOULD WIN
Mad Men, WILL WIN
I love the balance of this line up and even though my beloved True Blood didn’t make it in, this is the most pleased I’ve been about the nominees in a while. The Good Wife would be my pick because it manages to make a compelling narrative out of something that could easily have fallen apart. Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones have the glitz of being new heavyweight HBO shows and BE could easily win, but Mad Men is still the altogether best show on TV and will win the Emmy, by the skin of its teeth.
Comedy Series
Modern Family, WILL AND SHOULD WIN
30 Rock
Glee
The Office
The Big Bang Theory
Parks and Recreation
So…there was no room for Cougartown, Family Guy, or Louie, even when half the nominees had average to bad seasons? oh. Ok. Well…Modern Family will and should win.
Actress-Drama
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife, WILL WIN
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men;
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Kathy Bates, Harry’s Law;
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights, SHOULD WIN
Mireille Enos, The Killing.
Who on earth does Mariska sleep with to keep getting nominated for Emmys?! With her and Kathy’s nominations this category makes for some head scratchers. While I’d love to see Connie win for years of great work on FNL, this is Julianna’s award to lose. She’s consistently great and shows great depth each episode.
Actor-Drama
Jon Hamm, Mad Men, WILL WIN
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Kyle Chandler,Friday Night Lights
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Timothy Olyphant, Justified, SHOULD WIN
Thank God for the fact Bryan Cranston is not nominated so Jon Hamm can take this award he should have won ages ago. However, he has some tough competition from Olyphant and Buscemi, whose powerhouse network HBO might propel him to the upset.
Actor-Comedy
Steve Carell, The Office; WILL WIN
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory; SHOULD WIN
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Louis C.K., Louie
Johnny Galecki, Big Bang Theory
The Steve Carell send off train is primed and ready to go, but it would be great to see Jim repeat or Louis CK get the win.
Actress-Comedy
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation; SHOULD WIN
Laura Linney, The Big C; WILL WIN
Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope
Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly
Two of these things aren’t like the other, those two things being Falco and Linney, whom while great actresses, are not given funny enough work to warrant this nomination. But that won’t stop the voters from voting for Linney, over the much more deserving Plimpton or Poehler.
Supporting Actor-Drama
Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age;
John Slattery, Mad Men;
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife; SHOULD WIN
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones; WILL WIN
Josh Charles, The Good Wife;
Walton Goggins, Justified
One should NEVER underestimate the awards power of Andre Braugher, but with such great performances in this category, he won’t win. Alan Cumming is such a delight on The Good Wife, but I have a sneaking suspicion Emmy voters won’t want Game of Thrones to go away empty handed, so look out for Peter Dinklage’s impressive performance to be rewarded here.
Supporting Actress-Drama
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife; WILL WIN
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Michelle Forbes, The Killing
Margo Martindale,Justified
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men, SHOULD WIN
I love all of the nominees in this category so it makes picking quite difficult. Archie’s Kalinda is one of the best TV characters currently on the small screen BUT what Christina Hendricks has been able to do on mad Men is genius level work. Which will prob go ignored…again.
Supporting Actor-Comedy
Ty Burrell, Modern Family; SHOULD WIN
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family
Ed O’Neill, Modern Family; WILL WIN
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Chris Colfer, Glee
I love Chris Colfer, but bless his heart, he doesn’t belong in this category, let alone being a threat for the win. His work is just not that funny. And is Jon Cryer sleeping with same people Mariska is? His nomination is inexplicable. My vote would go to Ty Burrell, whose well meaning dad is the highlight of every episode, but I think Ed O’Neill will win for his DECADES long overdue status.
Supporting Actress-Comedy
Julie Bowen, Modern Family; SHOULD WIN
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family;
Jane Lynch, Glee;
Betty White, Hot in Cleveland; WILL WIN
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live;
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Another category where Modern Family should win, but one should never count out Betty White or Jane Lynch.