Dream Emmy Ballot 2013: Lead Actor in a Drama

Bryan Cranston - "Walter White", Breaking Bad
Hugh Dancy - "Will Graham", Hannibal
Jon Hamm - "Don Draper", Mad Men
Peter Krause - "Adam Braverman", Parenthood
Damian Lewis - "Nicholas Brody", Homeland
Clarke Peters - "Albert Lambreaux", Treme
Matthew Rhys - "Phillip Jennings", The Americans

In each successive season of Breaking Bad, Walt's adversaries feel less like villains and more like markers on an irreversible path away from his humanity. Sometimes I find the show hard to watch because Cranston lays the grasping core of Walt's boundless ambition so bare. He makes the journey into nihilism feel unnervingly fearless. Dancy's work is intensely physical, but restrained - he looks like he feels Will's hauntedness in his bones, like it's eating away at him from the inside out. In past seasons, I've been impressed with the way Jon Hamm marks differences between Dick Whitman and Don Draper. Here, the circumstances of life conspired to create situations where he couldn't stop Dick from showing through Don's cracks, and Hamm made that dissembling a disconcerting facet of this season. The maximum is supposed to be six, but I couldn't choose between Krause and Peters so I just put both. They're characters on different sides of a cancer diagnosis, and both have some king-of-my-castle, control freak tendencies. Adam tries to hold it together and be supportive as a spouse in a situation without a playbook, and Albert copes with an illness that threatens to derail his hard-won authority while he refuses to relinquish the stubborn energy that makes it feel like he will outlive everyone. Lewis holds different Brodies all together in one man, not only shrouding his intent but showing how at sea he is in trying to figure out which has primacy. Rhys presents a bit of a contradiction, as a spy whose heart constantly threatens to appear ever-stronger on his sleeve, then overwhelm his mission. 

Honorable Mentions: Andre Braugher, Last Resort; Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire; Jonny Lee Miller, Elementary; Timothy Olyphant, Justified; Wendell Pierce, Treme; Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Kevin Bacon, The Following; Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey; Michael Chiklis, Vegas; Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom; Michael Emerson, Person of Interest; Nathan Fillion, Castle; Kelsey Grammer, Boss; Michael C. Hall, Dexter; Jeremy Irons, The Borgias; Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead; William H. Macy, Shameless; Eric McCormack, Perception; Jeremy Piven, Mr. Selfridge; Dennis Quaid, Vegas; Tom Selleck, Blue Bloods; Aden Young, Rectify

Dream Emmy Ballot 2013: Supporting Actress in a Drama

Troian Bellisario - "Spencer Hastings", Pretty Little Liars
Jessica Capshaw - "Arizona Robbins", Grey's Anatomy
Anna Gunn - "Skyler White", Breaking Bad
Annet Mahandru - "Nina ", The Americans
Monica Potter - "Kristina Braverman", Parenthood
Bellamy Young - "Mellie Grant", Scandal


Honorable Mentions: Morena Baccarin, Homeland; Christine Baranski, The Good Wife; Laura Carmichael, Downton Abbey; Joelle Carter, Justified; Erika Christenson, Parenthood; Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones; Kristen Connolly, House of Cards; Caroline Dhavernas, Hannibal; Kim Dickens, Treme; Natalie Dormer, Game of Thrones; Michelle Fairley, Game of Thrones; Miranda Hart, Call the Midwife; Lena Headey, Game of Thrones; Christina Hendricks, Mad Men; January Jones, Mad Men; Melissa Leo, Treme; Kelly MacDonald, Boardwalk Empire; Kate Mara, House of Cards; Susan Misner, The AMericans; Gretchen Mol, Boardwalk Empire; Olivia Munn, The Newsroom; Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy; Hayden Panettiere, Nashville; Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife; Jessica Pare, Mad Men; Morgan Saylor, Homeland; Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men; Maggie Siff, Sons of Anarchy; Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey; Mae Whitman, Parenthood; Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Rose Byrne, Damages; Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter; Linda Gray, Dallas; Laurie Holden, The Walking Dead; Anjelica Huston, Smash; Regina King, Southland; Mary McDonnell, The Closer; Debra Messing, Smash; Annie Parisse, The Following; Alison Pill, The Newsroom; Abigail Spencer, Rectify; Madeline Stowe, Revenge; Lauren Velez, Dexter

Dream Emmy Ballot 2013: Guest Actress in a Drama

Kate Burton - "Sally Langston", Scandal
Laura Fraser - "Lydia Rodarte-Quayle", Breaking Bad
Abby Miller - "Ellen May", Justified
Debra Mooney - "Verna Thornton", Scandal
Carrie Preston - "Elsbeth Tascioni", The Good Wife
Allison Wright - "Martha Westerfeld", The Americans


Honorable Mentions: Debbie Allen, Grey's Anatomy; Gillian Anderson, Hannibal; Linda Cardellini, Mad Men; Stockard Channing, The Good Wife; Anna Chlumsky, Law and Order: SVU; Lisa Edelstein, Scandal; Jane Fonda, The Newsroom; Beth Grant, Justified; Marin Ireland, Homeland; Sylvia Jeffries, Nashville; Shirley MacLaine, Downton Abbey; Margo Martindale, The Americans; Julia Ormond, Mad Men; Bernadette Peters, Smash; Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones; Kacey Rohl, Hannibal; Meg Chambers Steedle, Boardwalk Empire; Jess Weixler, The Good Wife

Wouldn't be surprised to see: Patricia Arquette, Law and Order: SVU; Kristin Chenoweth, The Good Wife; Joan Cusack, Shameless; Hope Davis, Law and Order: SVU; Jenna Elfman, Damages; Marcia Gay Harden, Law and Order: SVU; Judith Light, Dallas; Marlee Matlin, Switched at Birth; Janet McTeer, Damages; Liza Minnelli, Smash; Yvonne Strahovski, Dexter; Maura Tierney, The Good Wife; Rita Wilson, The Good Wife; Alfre Woodard, True Blood; Constance Zimmer, House of Cards

Dream Emmy Ballot 2012: Lead Actor in a Drama

Steve Buscemi - "Nucky Thompson", Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston - "Walter White", Breaking Bad
Jon Hamm - "Don Draper", Mad Men
Dustin Hoffman - "Ace Bernstein", Luck
Damian Lewis - "Nicholas Brody", Homeland
Timothy Olyphant - "Raylan Givens", Justified

Honorable Mentions: Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey; Charlie Hunnam, Sons of Anarchy; Dan Stevens, Downton Abbey; David Strathairn, Alphas

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Patrick J. Adams, Suits; Ted Danson, CSI; Michael Emerson, Person of Interest; Kelsey Grammer, Boss; Michael C. Hall, Dexter; Jeremy Irons, The Borgias; Hugh Laurie, House; Denis Leary, Rescue Me; William H. Macy, Shameless; Ray Romano, Men of a Certain Age; Kiefer Sutherland, Touch

Dream Emmy Ballot 2012: Supporting Actress in a Drama

Jamie Anne Allman - "Terry Marek", The Killing
Anna Gunn - "Skyler White", Breaking Bad
Lena Headey - "Cersei Lannister", Game of Thrones
Christina Hendricks - "Joan Holloway Harris", Mad Men
Gretchen Mol - "Gillian Darmody", Boardwalk Empire
Maggie Siff - "Dr. Tara Knowles", Sons of Anarchy

I think Allman's performance rescued The Killing a bit, maintaining a continuity of character and performance that worked even when the overly twisty journey to the story's denouement strayed too far afield. Both Gunn and Siff played roles valuable to a practical appraisal of how shows like Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy depict their outlaw protagonists, exposing the way that "I'm doing all this for you" quickly becomes just another rationalization for bad behavior. It might be cheating a bit to judge based on possible future events, but I loved the way Headey's performance laid groundwork for Game of Thrones to follow Cersei's future path down the rabbit hole. There weren't many better single-episode performances this year than Hendricks in "The Other Woman," but the whole season she did great work as Joan dealt with new motherhood, the dissolution of her marriage and the intangible nature of her power in the office. Mol's role - the terrible, clinging mother, the Lady Macbeth figure - has become somewhat of a cliche in antihero-driven television, but she maintains a balance between the sadness in Gillian's past and the horror of her more recent actions to shape a truly distinctive character.

Honorable Mentions: Morena Baccarin, Homeland; Christine Baranski, The Good Wife; Betsy Brandt, Breaking Bad; Rose Byrne, Damages; Joelle Carter, Justified; Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones; Kerry Condon, Luck; Paz De La Huerta, Boardwalk Empire; Michelle Fairley, Game of Thrones; Megan Hilty, Smash; Anjelica Huston, Smash; Kelly McDonald, Boardwalk Empire; Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy; Aleksa Palladino, Boardwalk Empire; Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife; Morgan Saylor, Homeland; Caterina Scorsone, Private Practice; Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men; Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey; Darby Stanchfield, Scandal; Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones; Karine Vanasse, Pan Am

I Wouldn't Be Surprised to See: Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter; Michelle Forbes, The Killing; Mary McDonnell, The Closer