2013 Primetime Emmy Awards

[east side story]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 6:26pm

...are this Sunday. Anyone else jazzed?

I am hoping to see double nominee Elisabeth Moss win for "Top of the Lake." She will most likely never win for her work on "Mad Men" at this point, and the girl is on her 6th nomination. It is her time.

And if anyone is curious, here is the presenting batting order for the telecast:
1. Comedy Supporting Actress
2. Comedy Supporting Actor
3. Comedy Writing or Directing
4. Comedy Actress
5. Comedy Writing or Directing
6. Comedy Actor
7. Movie/Mini Actress
8. Drama Supporting Actress
9. Drama Writing or Directing
10. Reality-Competition Program
11. Drama Supporting Actor
12. Drama Actor
13. Drama Actress
14. Drama Writing or Directing
15. Variety Writing
16. Variety Directing
17. Choreography
18. Variety Series
19. Movie/Mini Writing or Directing
20. Movie/Mini Supporting Actor
21. Movie/Mini Writing or Directing
22. Movie/Mini Supporting Actress
23. Movie/Mini Actor
24. Movie/Miniseries
25. Drama Series
26. Comedy Series

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 7:52pm

Moss, objectively, picked a really great screener and her whole plot-line did not feel as nearly exhausting if in another world from the Don-centric season. But I think even in the randomness of six other actress nominations in the category that she'll not win. I still find it amazing Mad Men has never yet won in any acting category. I think Hamm actually has the best chance. Spacey will have support because, Movie Star(!), Cranston winning a 3rd has been prevented in consecutive years by first time winners and his stuff in first 8 episodes of Season 5 did not have those moments you can pinpoint like previous seasons of the show, and Damien Lewis got stuck with some really bad material on Homeland. There are votes to be split. Plus, Hamm's submitted episode is devastating. Back to Moss, I think something like Top of the Lake being nominated is kind of amazing but I think Lange wins.

I think Breaking Bad takes it for Drama. I think Cranston and Paul get more Emmys. I really want Anna Gunn to win. Her episode still stays with me and really, Maggie Smith sent the Season 3 premiere of Downton as her episode. She is not going to show up, and it seems that she is not sending in what could be used as her best work. I can also see Breaking Bad winning in writing and directing (Michelle MacLaren is da bomb) but some people really want to toot the horn for the 'Q&A' Homeland episode (Yeah, Brody confesses but the Dana hit and run story begins **there**) and also David Fincher winning for the House of Cards pilot. In Fincher's case I really don't think he is the director TV people throw awards to like they do with Martin Scorsese. But the fact Fincher directed the pilot is probably what helps it win if it does than who directed it. For some reason the Emmys love giving an award to a good pilot in both writing and directing.

For Comedy, I weirdly think either 30 Rock will get a nice, classy send-off or everybody except Alec Baldwin leaves without a trophy. I find all of the Comedy categories up in the air. Modern Family could win again but I think the wealth of awards is going to be spread out. Like Louis CK, could have the most awards of stuff to his name by the evening's end.

Updated On: 9/20/13 at 07:52 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 8:00pm

I don't think Moss has ever been better than she was on this past season of MAD MEN, but I still don't see her taking the prize. I feel like Danes is going to repeat, and failing her, Washington.

Likewise, Moss SHOULD win for TOP OF THE LAKE, but I think Lange will easily win. Moss seemed to have early momentum, but now all signs point to Lange.

I just finished a rewatch of HOUSE OF CARDS today and found it so much more skilled than when I binge-watched it back in February. It was always entertaining, but the layers showed themselves the second time around. Spacey deserves to win, and I wish Corey Stoll had been nominated.

I really, really, really hope Krakowski is finally recognized for her consistently brilliant work throughout seven seasons of 30 ROCK, but I fear the Julie Bowen juggernaut will make it three in a row. A shame, since Bowen was the weakest link this past season--lazy story lines from the writers coupled with lazy acting in return.

[east side story]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 9:13pm

Lange is outstanding on AHS, and she gave on hell of a performance in the last installment of American Horror Story. Having won last year, I'm still hoping the Academy throws Elisabeth Moss a bone in the form of an Emmy.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 9:39pm

I can't wait until next year when ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK sweeps every category.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 9:44pm

I haven't checked what tapes each actor submitted, but if Damian Lewis submitted Q&A that's a hell of an episode to have to contend with. And, for the record, Cranston has only lost out once for his 4th Emmy (he has three to date for BB)... Kyle Chandler's win was for the year during which Breaking Bad aired no episodes.

--

Ok, I went and looked at the episodes submitted. Lewis did indeed select Q&A, because of course, and Cranston picked a great ep as well (Say My Name). If Hamm hasn't won by now, he won't win while either of these men are eligible. That's my story, I'm sticking to it.

In the less heralded but amazing category of Lead Actress in a Comedy, while I will be happy if just about any of them win goddamnit Amy Poehler needs an Emmy, people. Steve Carell never won an Emmy for Michael Scott, and if Leslie Knope suffers the same fate it will be just as unfortunate. Plus, she got to submit a two-parter... strategically, that always helps (damn you Tina Fey and 30 Rock's final season! Don't steal Amy's Emmy with your own double-tape!) That said, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' pick is tremendous physical comedy which always gets love, so who the hell knows. But seriously, if this comes down to Leslie Knope's wedding vs. Selina Meyer walking through a glass door accidentally, we all win.

And probably the closest category to me, Supporting Actor in a Drama, I can't even decide. Mandy Patinkin was by far the bright spot of Homeland's second season. Aaron Paul submitted the episode with Jesse's incredible awkward dinner with the Whites. Peter Dinklage got to be drunk, crude, indignant, and also incredibly moral and upstanding by the end of his submission. Voters love that kind of grandstanding. I did, too.

So many deserving nominees; we all win!

[east side story]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 10:56pm

Damian Lewis did indeed submit "Q&A" as his episode submission for the panel. The episode is also Claire Danes' submission, as well as a nominee in the writing and directing categories. I fully expect the script to win, as well as Danes. I think Lead Actor in a Drama is between Lewis and Bryan Cranston. Cranston is a year away from Breaking Bad's final year at the Emmys, but he is most likely a slam dunk for a win then. I'm hoping Lewis takes his second consecutive Emmy, but I would love for Jon Hamm to pull off a surprise victory, but it seems unlikely.

This is what I love about the Emmys! The uncertainty. You can call 90% of the winners at the Oscars due to all the precursor awards shows.

Oh! And Julia Louis-Dreyfus is also likely to repeat her win for Veep. She is a comedic GENIUS, and has never been better. So richly deserved. Although Amy Poehler, similar to Elisabeth Moss and Jon Hamm, is always a bridesmaid. A win for Poehler would be wonderful.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/21/13 at 8:02am

Best actress drama. I can't decide whether I'm on Team Farmiga or Team Wright.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/21/13 at 8:46am

The Emmy voters always seem to be on autopilot when it comes to comedy (and Parks and Rec always gets shafted).

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/21/13 at 7:05pm

I feel Homeland is hedging its bets on 'Q&A' perhaps a little too much. It got in for writing and was the two acting submission episodes and in direction. Last year Mad Men had three actors submit the same episode that was also in contention for writing, "The Other Woman". I think that might have been a case of putting too many eggs in one basket, because that episode was pretty divisive despite it being in many people's all-time favorite episode. I'll again point to the most polarizing Homeland story-line of Season 2 took form in that episode, Dana's hit-and-run sub-plot with the Vice President's son.

""I haven't checked what tapes each actor submitted, but if Damian Lewis submitted Q&A that's a hell of an episode to have to contend with. And, for the record, Cranston has only lost out once for his 4th Emmy (he has three to date for BB)... Kyle Chandler's win was for the year during which Breaking Bad aired no episodes.

Ok, I went and looked at the episodes submitted. Lewis did indeed select Q&A, because of course, and Cranston picked a great ep as well (Say My Name). If Hamm hasn't won by now, he won't win while either of these men are eligible. That's my story, I'm sticking to it."

Dammit, knew there was a gap of BrBa seasons where they were not Emmy eligible. That was when the FNL finale won over "The Suitcase" (again both Moss and Hamm submitted the same episode, there is a lesson to be learned there) in writing. But "In Care Of" is a perfect showcase for Hamm. The issue was that episode, the season finale, aired around the time of when the submission process for nominations ended and I still think the lack of writing nods is the industry turning on Matthew Weiner than the actors. Moss also chose "The Better Half" which probably portrays Peggy in the best light of any episode this past season.

I am in the minority and think Homeland was kind of a disaster in its second season and that 'Q&A' was a turning point in the wrong direction. I even think Cranston felt a little too broadly evil and that his fellow ensemble did a lot of heavy lifting having to carry nuances to a scene like Banks, Paul, and Gunn all did whereas this season he is not in such broad strokes and the writing had him have to play to nuances. 'Say My Name' is an episode where that whole character walks a bridge too far in hubris which I think for people who vote and only occasionally watch the show if only just watch Emmy screeners of the show might not hit as well as a regular viewer who saw the whole trajectory. Then again that somehow scored a writing nomination. How "Fifty-One" got neither a directing or writing nod (especially when Rian Johnson won a DGA for that episode) seems weird to me but at least the show finally got 2 writing nods.

I know people may read too much into Emmy submissions but Giancarlo Esposito probably picked the worst episode to submit in Season 4 of Breaking Bad (the episode that Esposito spoke mostly in Spanish in his origins story episode) while Aaron Paul chose a great Jesse episode. For me, that did kind of matter in the end.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 9/21/13 at 9:48pm

You're absolutely right that Q&A starts Dana's subplot, for which there are not enough headshakes in the universe, but Lewis is not to be blamed for that. His acting in the interrogation scene was probably the single most memorable performance in any of the submitted episodes, and he is mostly silent through that scene! Incredible, indelible work.

And I'm with you, strummer, on the importance of submissions. More often than not, the upsets (for better or worse) come from either brilliant or terrible episode choices.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/22/13 at 1:31pm

Lewis is fine in 'Q&A' but people calling it the best submission episode of the bunch is a bit much. To me this sounds like a potential redux of "The Suitcase", except swap Moss and Hamm for Lewis and Danes.

This could be me looking back and finding the endurance of that episode waning with what happened afterward that to me was just one too many leaps of fate. Breaking Bad seemed to know how crazy its train robbery episode was and then in following episodes step by step took down its protagonist a peg while going forward, acknowledging how consumed Walter White by hubris and power. Homeland just kept having to tell us Brody is always in the right place at the right time with immaculate cell phone service and where there is not a single security camera along with everybody saying Carrie was the best of the CIA while seeing both make mistakes that wouldn't fly on network procedurals. That episode had great moments of acting, no doubt, but it made me think the show got the wrong idea of what it could do after that. The whole CIA HQ blow-up, the Cobra Commander-like mass assassinators who popped out of nowhere, and Abu Nazir being in the US the whole time and being the one kidnapping Carrie felt like a few bridges too far. That said, as a one-off it is a great choice as a screener for voters who are not regular viewers. But also, so was "The Suitcase" in presenting what Mad Men was all about for those two characters.

I think Banks loses to Paul in the screener wars too. Not just because "Say My Name" is also Cranston's submitted episode which may make it difficult for him to stand out but his character exit probably won't have the same impact as it had for regular viewers like it will for voters who will just watch that one episode with that character. Banks laid the groundwork seasons before with a subtle performance where he was not merely playing a tough guy who ran his mouth. But I don't think voters will see that subtlety in the performance when it is just among a handful of Breaking Bad episodes they have seen.

Updated On: 9/22/13 at 01:31 PM

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/22/13 at 2:00pm

"I can't wait until next year when ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK sweeps every category."

Will it submit itself in Comedy (like Weeds, OITNB creator Jenji Kohan's old show) or Drama? I think it would do much better as a Comedy. If it submits in Drama I think it would run into a buzzsaw in the category as a freshman show, especially when it will be up against Breaking Bad's final season as well as the acknowledged first-half of Mad Men's final season. Not to mention how will Game of Thrones and House of Cards (Netflix spent more than any network on one show during the nomination process, now that money has to be split up) does in addition to if The Americans can make a jump and a few other freshman shows do in terms of buzz.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 9/22/13 at 5:04pm

Banks is not likely to upset Paul, like Esposito could have had he chosen "Salud" or any other stronger episode than "Hermanos" (which as you rightly suggest was a difficult episode to get behind, even though it was the most Gus-heavy episode of his run on the show.)

I still think that race comes down to Paul, Dinklage (he has a trophy here already, plus drunken wedding debauchery/virtue! Very awards-bait scene, there) and Patinkin (who absolutely no one has anything bad to say about, for all the push back against Homeland's second season.)

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 12:27am

I did not see most of the show tonight because I was at a Maroon 5 & Kelly Clarkson concert. I'm glad 'Modern Family' won and I've been a fan of Jeff Daniels for many years, it's great that he win. As terrific as Derek Hough is I was expecting someone from 'So You Think You Can Dance' to win Best Choreography. I do hope that the show itself will win the Emmy for Outstanding Reality Competition one of these days.

[east side story]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 1:23am

The telecast itself was a mess.

Very pleased to see Claire Danes, Tony Hale, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus win their richly deserved Emmys. Very disappointed to see Elisabeth Moss lose again, and this time with two nominations.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 7:38am

Seeing Louis-Dreyfus, Hale and Chlumsky accept her award in-character was the highlight of the otherwise awful telecast.

[Huss417]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 7:48am

Does anyone know what episode was submitted for Merritt Wever? My favorite win of the night.

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 8:39am

The show was so boring I didn't watch the whole thing. I was rooting for Vera Formiga but she didn't win.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 8:54am

Didn't watch but so happy for Merritt Weaver, and love her very Zoe speech.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 9:02am

That was the highlight of the show. Followed by five lugubrious wakes and a lengthy wake montage. I'm always happy to be told by eulogizers that I should be sad but since I didn't know the deceased as well as they did, I have no idea howsad it really is.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 10:07am

I was really rooting for Kerry Washington and am sad she didn't win.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 10:23am

Find it odd that there can be carping about anyone winning this year, at least in the non tv movie/special categories (so many of them were not good - even the horrible Phil Spector got nominated).

The fact is that there is an embarrassment of riches in quality tv programming and performances. So much so that feature films pale in comparison, especially when it comes to writing and the number of standout acting turns. I, for instance, love Game of Thrones more than anything on tv, but I'm not going to be upset if someone legitimately prefers Homeland, which I also love, or any of a healthy handful of other shows which I also love. Also to say that Kerry Washinton, Robin Wright, Claire Danes, Vera Farmiga, several of their co-nominees, the not even nominated Emily Mortimer, among others - is giving the "best performance" is a futile effort - they are all terrific. And there is no reason to complain about Jeff Daniels getting an emmy, even though, among other major competition, Jon Hamm had his standout season, showing more colors to Don Draper than ever before and batting it out of the park, not to mention Lewis, Cranston et al. There are way too many supreme pleasures on tv.



Updated On: 9/23/13 at 10:23 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 10:30am

I agree Henrik- everyone IS so good, so why not spread the wealth around a little bit?

And for the record I'm not saying I'm mad Danes won, just sad Washington (who I find equally deserving) lost.

Scandal is such a wonderful show and Washington in particular is excellent. The Emmys have completely given up on network dramas; comedies are still allowed awards, but the dramas can only be respected on cable tv. Scandal gives hope that network drama is still alive and well, and it would have been nice to see that honored.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 10:45am

Whizzer, got that. My post wasn't inspired by yours (although you are always inspiring), more a reaction to all the buzz this morning. It still shocks me how good tv is right now - good tv that is, there is so much that is pure crap recalling the vision of what home entertainment would be from Network and Fahrenheit 451 - but the opposite side of that spectrum is masterful.