DRAMA
THE NOMINEES:
* Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)
* Jim Carter (Downton Abbey)
* Jon Voight (Ray Donovan)
* Josh Charles (The Good Wife)
* Mandy Patinkin (Homeland)
* Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)
SURPRISE HE'S NOT NOMINATED: Dean Norris (Breaking Bad)
SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire)
MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:
* Peter Dinklage has always been outstanding as Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones, and his three prior Emmy nominations and one win in this category means the Emmy voters agree. What really separates Dinklage as an actor from everybody else on Game of Thrones is how powerful he can be when he's not saying anything. However, Peter Dinklage is going to win his second Emmy in 2014 for his work in "The Laws of Gods and Men". This is the episode where Tyrion is officially put on trial for murder. Dinklage's acting was pretty great as he's forced to listen to a laundry list of witnesses testify against him. However, what really sealed the Emmy for him was the speech that he gave at the end of the episode. If you watched this episode when it first aired, you knew immediately that the Emmy was his.
* I'm conflicted on Josh Charles' nomination. On one hand, I'd rather see Jeffrey Wright or Dean Norris here instead. On the other hand, Charles was really, really good in his Emmy submission episode "Hitting The Fan", and it's not Charles' fault that Emmy voters are dumb and snubbed other people but not him. Plus, with The Good Wife getting snubbed in the Outstanding Drama Series category, Charles' nomination here is a great way to honor both the show and the actor. At the end of the day, Josh Charles was great in "Hitting The Fan," he was great throughout all of Season 5, and his nomination here is well deserved.
* Before I re-watched the final eight episodes of Breaking Bad, I didn't think that Aaron Paul deserved a nomination, and I would have rather seen Dean Norris and Bob Odenkirk finally get some Emmy love this year. However, I did go back and re-watch the AMC drama recently, and unequivocally, Aaron Paul is the second best male actor on that show behind Bryan Cranston. Paul is a two-time winner in this category, and now a six time nominee, so it won't be any shame when he loses to Peter Dinklage on August 25th.
* I only watched the first few episodes of Season 3 of Homeland because the writing and the show itself are just atrocious, but Mandy Patinkin is great as always. I'm sure Patinkin did the best with the terrible story lines and unnecessary plot twists that were assigned to him.
* What a joke that Jim Carter was nominated this year. From what I've been told by Downton Abbey fans, he was barely in this past season of the show. I would bet you a lot of money that the only reason Carter was nominated this year was because he was nominated last year and Emmy voters were too lazy to watch this past season of Downton Abbey to know what a downturn the show took this year.
* I haven't seen Ray Donovan and I'm OK with that. I make no apologies for not having seen Jon Voight's performance. I'm going to let you in on a little secret- Jon Voight is not that good of an actor. Sure, he's charismatic, loves to chew on scenery, and probably did things to make Emmy voters fall in love with him, but I'm skeptical that Voight was really one of the six best supporting actors this year.
WHO WILL WIN: Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)
WHO SHOULD WIN (ACTUAL NOMINEES): Peter Dinklage
WHO SHOULD WIN (ENTIRE ELIGIBLE FIELD): Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire)
THE NOMINEES:
* Adam Driver (Girls)
* Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
* Fred Armisen (Portlandia)
* Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
* Tony Hale (Veep)
* Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
SURPRISE HE'S NOT NOMINATED: Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)
SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Keegan-Michael Key/Jordan Peele (Key & Peele)
MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:
* For the longest time I believed that the four adult actors on Modern Family were all essentially the same. No one inherently did a better acting job than the other. However, this was easy when all four were earning Emmy nominations. Now that both Eric Stonestreet and Ed O'Neill both failed to earn nominations yet Ty Burrell and Jesse Tyler Ferguson have, I've changed my tune. I think if I were to rank the four it would go: Burrell, Stonestreet, O'Neill, and Ferguson. I have no problem with Ty Burrell earning a nomination, but Ferguson earning one when Stonestreet and O'Neill do not doesn't sit well with me.
* Andre Bruagher should probably win an Emmy just for having to repeat the phrase "Kwazy Cupcakes" over and over again. Braugher has 7 Primetime Emmy nominations and two wins. He's an Emmy darling which is why he's my pick to win this year. Plus, his deadpan delivery and humor is phenomenal on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and his win would be well deserved.
* Tony Hale doesn't seem to have very much range as his Gary Walsh character on Veep is almost identical to his Buster Bluth character on Arrested Development. But that character he does is really funny, so it's hard to be too upset with his nomination. Hale won this award last year and Veep has huge fans in both the Emmy branch as well as among TV critics, so I would not be surprised if he won again this year. However, I think Bruagher is just better and I truly believe Hale's work on Netflix's Arrested Development in 2013 propelled him to a win, something he doesn't have going for him this year.
* Adam Driver is becoming a huge movie star. After having a bit parts in the Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis, he's slatted to star in This Is Where I Leave You and What If. Oh, and he's currently filming the next Star War where he's rumored to be playing the main villain. Driver is developing the kind of buzz that would have guaranteed him an Emmy nomination if he wasn't already a fan favorite on HBO's Girls.
* I really can't stand Fred Armisen's style of humor, and there's only so much Portlandia I can watch before Armisen plays a character that I want to punch in the face. The same was true whenever I was watching an Armisen sketch on SNL. But I applaud the Emmy's for taking a stand and nominating Armisen. I don't think anyone in their right mind would have predicted that Fred Armisen would be an Emmy nominee. While I may not like Portlandia, I can see how others would. I like the fact that a large group of Emmy voters got together to honor a little known show that they like.
WHO SHOULD WIN (ENTIRE ELIGIBLE FIELD): Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire)
COMEDY
THE NOMINEES:
* Adam Driver (Girls)
* Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
* Fred Armisen (Portlandia)
* Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
* Tony Hale (Veep)
* Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
SURPRISE HE'S NOT NOMINATED: Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)
SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Keegan-Michael Key/Jordan Peele (Key & Peele)
MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:
* For the longest time I believed that the four adult actors on Modern Family were all essentially the same. No one inherently did a better acting job than the other. However, this was easy when all four were earning Emmy nominations. Now that both Eric Stonestreet and Ed O'Neill both failed to earn nominations yet Ty Burrell and Jesse Tyler Ferguson have, I've changed my tune. I think if I were to rank the four it would go: Burrell, Stonestreet, O'Neill, and Ferguson. I have no problem with Ty Burrell earning a nomination, but Ferguson earning one when Stonestreet and O'Neill do not doesn't sit well with me.
* Andre Bruagher should probably win an Emmy just for having to repeat the phrase "Kwazy Cupcakes" over and over again. Braugher has 7 Primetime Emmy nominations and two wins. He's an Emmy darling which is why he's my pick to win this year. Plus, his deadpan delivery and humor is phenomenal on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and his win would be well deserved.
* Tony Hale doesn't seem to have very much range as his Gary Walsh character on Veep is almost identical to his Buster Bluth character on Arrested Development. But that character he does is really funny, so it's hard to be too upset with his nomination. Hale won this award last year and Veep has huge fans in both the Emmy branch as well as among TV critics, so I would not be surprised if he won again this year. However, I think Bruagher is just better and I truly believe Hale's work on Netflix's Arrested Development in 2013 propelled him to a win, something he doesn't have going for him this year.
* Adam Driver is becoming a huge movie star. After having a bit parts in the Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis, he's slatted to star in This Is Where I Leave You and What If. Oh, and he's currently filming the next Star War where he's rumored to be playing the main villain. Driver is developing the kind of buzz that would have guaranteed him an Emmy nomination if he wasn't already a fan favorite on HBO's Girls.
* I really can't stand Fred Armisen's style of humor, and there's only so much Portlandia I can watch before Armisen plays a character that I want to punch in the face. The same was true whenever I was watching an Armisen sketch on SNL. But I applaud the Emmy's for taking a stand and nominating Armisen. I don't think anyone in their right mind would have predicted that Fred Armisen would be an Emmy nominee. While I may not like Portlandia, I can see how others would. I like the fact that a large group of Emmy voters got together to honor a little known show that they like.
WHO WILL WIN: Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
WHO SHOULD WIN (ACTUAL NOMINEES): Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
WHO SHOULD WIN (ENTIRE ELIGIBLE FIELD): Adam Pally (The Mindy Project)
WHO SHOULD WIN (ENTIRE ELIGIBLE FIELD): Adam Pally (The Mindy Project)
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