Dream Emmy Ballot 2013: Lead Actress in a Drama

Claire Danes - "Carrie Mathison", Homeland
Julianna Margulies - "Alicia Florrick", The Good Wife
Tatiana Maslany - "Sarah/Beth/etc.", Orphan Black
Elisabeth Moss - "Peggy Olson", Mad Men
Keri Russell - "Elizabeth Jennings", The Americans
Kerry Washington - "Olivia Pope", Scandal

Claire Danes' season on Homeland is about both little moments - that smile erupting in flickers across her face after Carrie's market chase, her reaction to Brody's suicide video - and the broad emotional arc. If the first season showed Carrie at both her hyper-efficient best and her unmedicated worst, the second rested in the shaky middle, with Danes showing Carrie's fragility, uneasiness, and the cracks created by betrayal and electroshock therapy. The journey of Alicia Florrick is one of subtle shifts made visible by Margulies. The woman who once appeared as a naif in the world of corporate law has transformed into someone savvier at working the system, but Margulies showed the constant note of disappointment in everyone around her simmering under Alicia's titular facade. Critics have been praising Maslany over and over in the past few months, but her achievement across only ten episodes of television was so astounding that it doesn't even feel hyperbolic. It's not just the multitude of distinct, specific characters she played, but the nuance involved in something like marking the difference between Sarah pretending to be Alison and Alison pretending to be Sarah. Thinking back on Elisabeth Moss' performance in this season of Mad Men, I keep landing on Peggy's initial rejection of Don's offer to leave in "Shut the Door, Have a Seat." That suspicion that her relationship with Don would become an anchor, that apprehension of his making her a target for his own disappointment with himself. Even more than the series of events that lead to her deciding to leave SCDP in the first place, this season showed those fears made manifest. Moss shows Peggy's enduring disappointment warring with the professionalism she has fought so hard to acquire and maintain. In a television landscape that seems unsure of how to define the female opposite number to the male antihero, the stern pragmatism of Elizabeth Jennings immediately felt bracingly different. Russell's performance shows the different parts of Elizabeth she has locked away to be able to function within her double life - she knows and shows the difference between Elizabeth the spy and Elizabeth the reserved woman determined to scorn sentimentality and romanticism even in her daily lfie. The expansion from the brief seven episodes of Scandal's first season really showcased the depth and shading in Washington's performance. The "good at her job, shaky in her personal life" figure is somewhat of a cliche, but Washington excels at both the professional hyper-competence and caring that draws people to Olivia, as well as the emotional spiraling of her relationship with the President.

Honorable Mentions: Khandi Alexander, Treme; Connie Britton, Nashville; Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey; Lucy Liu, Elementary; Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy; Jessica Raine, Call the Midwife; Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy; Robin Wright, House of Cards

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Glenn Close, Damages; Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel; Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit; Mary McDonnell, Major Crimes; Anna Paquin, True Blood; Emmy Rossum, Shameless; Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer; Emily Van Camp, Revenge

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: Guest Actor in a Drama

Jim Beaver - "Shelby Parlow", Justified
William Daniels - "Dr. Thomas", Grey's Anatomy
Rupert Friend - "Peter Quinn", Homeland
Gregg Henry - "Hollis Doyle", Scandal
Derek Luke - "Gregory", The Americans
Patton Oswalt - "Bob Sweeney", Justified


Honorable Mentions: Dylan Baker, The Good Wife; Raymond J. Barry, Justified; Dan Bucatinsky, Scandal; Jere Burns, Justified; David Costabile, Suits; Ron Eldard, Justified; Scott Foley, Scandal; Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife; Walton Goggins, Sons of Anarchy; Harry Hamlin, Mad Men; Eddie Izzard, Hannibal; Nathan Lane, The Good Wife; Matt Lauria, Parenthood; Norm Lewis, Scandal; Gerald McRaney, House of Cards; Mike O'Malley, Justified; Harold Perrineau, Sons of Anarchy; Matthew Perry, The Good Wife; Jesse Plemons, Breaking Bad; Nick Robinson, Boardwalk Empire; Stephen Root, Boardwalk Empire; Jimmy Smits, Sons of Anarchy; Richard Thomas, The Americans

Wouldn't be surprised to see: Andre Braugher, Law and Order: SVU; Ciaran Hinds, Game of Thrones; Hal Holbrook, Monday Mornings; Lennie James, The Walking Dead; Gerald McRaney, Southland; Chris Messina, The Newsroom; Dallas Roberts, The Walking Dead

Dream Emmy Ballot 2012: Lead Actress in a Drama

Claire Danes - "Carrie Mathison", Homeland
Michelle Dockery - "Lady Mary Crawley", Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies - "Alicia Florrick", The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss - "Peggy Olson", Mad Men
Madeleine Stowe - "Victoria Grayson", Revenge
Kerry Washington - "Olivia Pope", Scandal

I've liked Danes for a long time*, but I don't think I realized that she had a character like Carrie in her. Her nervy energy made Carrie immediately distinctive and showed very early on in the season that the terrorist mystery wasn't Homeland's only draw. Mary Crawley might be my current favorite television character - I'm fascinated by her continual inability to act in favor of her own self interest, and I like how Dockery lets Mary's frustration with herself simmer just under her restrained surface. Margulies helped give more shape to the world of The Good Wife as Alicia took a step back to evaluate her relationships with her friends, family and coworkers. Moss' performance in the fifth season of Mad Men was a great slow burn, showing not only Peggy's growing discontent but her attempts to sweep it under the rug to keep up appearances and to try to save her relationship with Don. I keep using the phrase "classic soap" when I talk about Revenge, but that's just because it felt somehow refreshing to see that actors like Stowe could still embody that mode of melodramatic serial storytelling and produce a real diva turn. Washington made Scandal's claims of Olivia's power and capability feel like they weren't hyperbolic, and the show's puzzle pieces of people and relationships fell into place around her strong center.

*This is a digression, but as I first observed some time ago, repeat viewings of the 1994 version of Little Women at a young, impressionable age undoubtedly have an impact here. I sort of alluded to it in the unsubmitted post, but recent viewings have really made me appreciate Danes' work as Beth March and how much it avoids stereotypical sentimentality.

Honorable Mentions: Glenn Close, Damages; Emily Deschanel, Bones; Mireille Enos, The Killing; Katie LeClerc, Switched at Birth; Vanessa Marano, Switched at Birth; Jessica Pare, Mad Men; Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy; Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy; Anna Torv, Fringe; Emily VanCamp, Revenge

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Kathy Bates, Harry's Law; Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU; Marg Helgenberger, CSI; Taraji P. Henson, Person of Interest; Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey; Debra Messing, Smash

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 Actor in a Drama

Jack Huston - "Richard Harrow", Boardwalk Empire
Vincent Kartheiser - "Pete Campbell", Mad Men
Gabriel Mann - "Nolan Ross", Revenge
Neal McDonough - "Robert Quarles", Justified
Nick Nolte - "Walter Smith", Luck
Mandy Patinkin - "Saul Berenson", Homeland

Huston's performance is mesmerizingly quiet in a show full of big personalities. He made the act of simply flipping through a scrapbook seem like the saddest thing I'd ever seen, and makes Richard's mask feel like a part of him instead of a prop. Kartheiser has long been one of my favorite members of the Mad Men ensemble - this season, he made Pete's discontent so deeply felt that it could've been an extra character. I'm not the sort of viewer who particularly needs to like a character to enjoy watching them, but I really liked Nolan a lot. Mann is a supporting player in the best sense, letting Nolan function as a friend and sidekick to Emily, as a distinctive, droll character but not one who overshadows. McDonough gave a great single-season villain performance (a new-ish archetype in light of the rise of cable drama?), particularly in devolving over the course of the season from highly controlled to no control at all. I never really felt like I understood horse love until I watched Luck, and the warmth at the core of Nolte's performance was a big part of that. I hope whatever hype carried him to his Oscar nomination this year brings some attention to his work on Luck. I think Patinkin was fundamental to Homeland's success in its first season, a still point for the action to move around. He shows Saul as someone who deeply wants to trust Carrie, but remains wary so as to avoid being drawn into a folie a deux with her. 

Honorable Mentions: Dylan Baker, Damages; Raymond Barry, Justified; Sean Berdy, Switched at Birth; Christian Borle, Smash; Jim Carter, Downton Abbey; Brendan Coyle, Downton Abbey; Henry Czerny, Revenge; Jack Davenport, Smash; Guillermo Diaz, Scandal; Seth Gabel, Fringe; Walton Goggins, Justified; John Goodman, Damages; David Harewood, Homeland; Jared Harris, Mad Men; Joshua Jackson, Fringe; Joel Kinnaman, The Killing; Kevin McKidd, Grey's Anatomy; Joseph Morgan, The Vampire Diaries; Michael Mosley, Pan Am; John Noble, Fringe; Jeff Perry, Scandal; Nick Searcy, Justified; Brent Sexton, The Killing; John Slattery, Mad Men

Particular props to the ensembles of: Boardwalk Empire (Michael Pitt, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Shea Whigham, Michael Kenneth Williams); Breaking Bad (Jonathan Banks, Giancarlo Esposito, Dean Norris, Bob Odenkirk, Aaron Paul); Game of Thrones (Alfie Allen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Richard Madden); The Good Wife (Josh Charles, Alan Cumming, Matt Czuchry, Chris Noth); Luck (Ritchie Coster, Kevin Dunn, Dennis Farina, Jason Gedrick, Ian Hart, Richard Kind, Tom Payne, Gary Stevens); Sons of Anarchy (Dayton Callie, Ryan Hurst, William Lucking, Ron Perlman, Theo Rossi)

This category is my bete noire every year. (Yes, I know. Someday, when I have enough patience, I'll go hunt down the appropriate symbols for all this errant French.)

I Wouldn't Be Surprised to See: Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age; Robert Sean Leonard, House

Miscellaneous (Now Kind of Old-ish) TV Links

Getting this business back on track after the schedule-warping time drain of my Valentine's Day party last week.

- A Grantland piece on Skins upon the beginning of the sixth series in the UK - I particularly like that this essay credits the show for its unique handling of a played-out soap trope in Tony's recovery from his accident in the second series. I'm hoping that the fact that the fourth and fifth series have reached these shores without making a pit stop on BBC America means that it won't be too long before the sixth is available on Netflix or iTunes or somewhere. I wonder if they're sticking with the penultimate episode death for this generation of characters - the arc works with Chris' story in the second series, but Freddy's death in the fourth is one of the more absurd TV twists I've ever seen.

- An A.V. Club retrospective on Homeland - after I saw that the whole season was still available On Demand while I was home for winter break, I ended up watching all twelve episodes in about three days and loved it. I picked the interview segment with "The Weekend" because it was easily one of the best episodes of TV drama I saw all year. This is the first show that's ever made me want to subscribe to Showtime instead of just recording Showtime shows on my parents' DVR and watching episodes haphazardly whenever I'm home. (I'll also include a link to the fourth part of the interview because it has such a great picture of Carrie's rainbow timeline on her conspiracy wall. Maybe I'm over-identifying with  her crazy self, but I think there's probably an apt comparison to be made between academics and fictional characters attempting to unravel major conspiracies. Like, I've never had a corkboard wall, but I definitely have enough paper to fill one.)

- And another A.V. Club piece from Todd VanDerWerff on the pacing of watching seasons of television - particularly in speeding through shows versus watching week-by-week. Looking ahead to March, I started intermittently watching Mad Men over again from the beginning and on this rewatch I've become convinced both that Adam Whitman is more important to the show's mythology than most fans give him credit for, particularly in how Don relates to his kids in wanting to remain an active presence in their lives (which in turn is a major factor in the whole "Why is Betty still around when she's such a horrible person?" debate), and that he's also an easy character to overlook if you're watching the show too quickly.