Emmy FYC ~ Supporting Actresses
Tuesday, June 21, 2022 at 7:15PM by Nathaniel R
Parker Posey in "The Staircase", Natasha Rothwell in "The White Lotus", Sydney Sweeney in "Euphoria", and Sheryl Lee Ralph in "Abbott Elementary"
Have you ever actually gazed at those gargantuan Emmy ballots? No matter how much TV you're watching you will know, looking at the options, that you won't be able to give every acclaimed performance a fair shake. Some shows you may not have even heard of. This is why Emmys definitely need rounds of voting or juries or some winnowing process to help voters (and by extension the public) to discover great work beyond just listing all the names from the shows they do watch each year, whether or not the actor had a good season. Imagine the Oscars if there weren't all those critics awards all over the place, multiple precursors, and top ten lists and the like pointing people to performances and the result was regulary 3-5 actors from 2-3 films taking up most of the 20 slots.
We know that that happens consistently at the Emmys. For example, just last year The Handmaid's Tale filled literally half the ballot in Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and three years back Game of Thrones made up more than half of the nominated shortlist...
This should be a wake up call to the Emmys that the current system just doesn't work. There's no conceivable way, with hundreds of shows on air, that half (or more) of the best performances all come from the same exact show. As an experiment I looked at all the Supporting Actress ballots to see who I'd consider and throughout I felt terrible about assuming these were all better then the women from the shows I don't watch or hadn't heard of. Even narrowing it down to 8 would be a painful task.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Narrowed that down to 16 (from the shows screened) with apologies to a handful of other women. Still it feels incomplete and fuzzy since I haven't finished some of these seasons so maybe someone else would stand out by the end? Hannah Einbinder is genuinely great in Hacks but given our lifelong crusade against category fraud we just can't with something that egregious. But narrowing it down further would be so difficult. We also left off all sketch show performers as they really should not be competing in this category --it's just a different kind of acting altogether and we wish the Emmys would push them back to the category they used to be in. It would free up so much room from lazy voters checking Saturday Night Live on multiple boxes in FOUR supporting and guest categories.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
For Supporting Actress Drama we were able to squeeze it down to 20 without too much hair-pulling but note how Euphoria and Yellowjackets are all over the place. This is why Emmy needs juries. People just vote for everyone within their favourite shows. But moving on...
20 of these actresses were either dramatically impressive or found the exact right tone and performance register for more stylized shows. But there are a lot of shows we don't watch. Or no longer watch (Outlander is still on?!?). We did watch The Gilded Age but honestly given our deep affection for about half of the cast from previous roles and/or Broadway stages, the acting wasn't exactly stellar on season 1. We blame the writing/direction.
As for the Emmys, the absence of Emmy-giants like The Crown and The Handmaid's Tale should make this category far more interesting. In fact, from the last THREE YEARS of nominations in this category only three women are eligible again for 2022: Sarah Snook in Succession, Julia Garner in Ozark, and Fiona Show in Killing Eve. In short, it's a wide open race for those 8 slots.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
This is the category we wish there were more hours in the day for. We haven't finished Conversations with Friends or WeCrashed and have yet to start The Dropout or Maid (the latter two being quite buzzy for Emmys) so take this with a grain of salt.
Particularly loved these 12 performances though we wouldn't vote for Jenn Colella since we still don't think filmed stage shows should actually be eligible for acting at the Emmys (the Hamilton Emmy year was quite frustrating, blocking out many worthy performances). Colella already received a well deserved Tony nomination for that performance.
As for the Emmys we'd love a Parker Posey surprise nomination though we aren't expecting it. And if Natasha Rothwell is not nominated for her half of that imbalanced indelible tragicomic duet with Jennifer Coolidge in White Lotus, we will be furious; In an ideal world, they'd tie for the win.
YOUR TURN.
Who are you rooting for in these categories and if you've perused the ballots did you notice any shows you've been meaning to watch or actresses you assume are great in shows you don't? And who do you love that's not on these selections list. In other words... RECOMMEND YOUR FAVOURITE SHOWS.
Reader Comments (13)
Comedy Series Supporting Actress
Bebe Neuwirth in Julia
Nobody does the delicate mix of snarky and vulnerability as well as Neuwirth. As Avis DeVoto, Neuwirth plays a deeply withdrawn widow who finds her way back to life aiding her best friend Julia Child battle the various men who stand in the way of her dream. In episode seven, Neuwirth has me laughing out loud as she witheringly delivers a lethal dose of contempt to Julia’s whining husband before sharing her depth of loneliness. Superb acting.
Drama Series Supporting Actress
Sally Field in Winning Time
Field dominates the screen as the ailing mother of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Field brings her expert comedic timing to the role of Jessie Buss who acts as Jerry’s clever accountant. Jessie endears herself to the audience till her declining health catches up to her. The best performance in a fine ensemble.
Limited Series Supporting Actress
Jennifer Coolidge in The White Lotus
Coolidge seems so beloved at the point that a riot may erupt if another name is called.
My plugs:
Comedy:
Janelle James (Abbott Elementary) and Jessica Lowe (Minx) both have such megawatt charisma they upstaged their respective leads. To be new in TV and just killing it like them is amazing.
Drama:
Carmen Moyo (The Good Fight) brings an intrigue back to the Good Wife-iverse not seen since Archie Panjabi left. Quiet, composed and full of secrets. And it would be great to see one member of The Expanse get some love, who are uniformly fantastic -- I'm rooting for Cara Gee, but I'd settle for the better known Shoreh Aghdashloo.
Limited Series:
Station Eleven was my favorite thing I've seen on TV in the past six months. I read a review that said Matilda Lawler gives the best child performance since Kiernan Shipka, and I 100% co-sign that.
My dream picks in comedy: Florence Pugh, Hannah Waddington, Juno Temple, Ana Ortiz, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Drama: Jung Ho-yeon, Maya Hawke, J. Cameron Smith, Nika King, and Sydney Sweeney.
Limited Series: Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Coolidge, Natasha Rothwell, Melanie Lynskey, and Kaitlyn Dever.
I thought Christina Ricci was going supporting?
Sarah Goldberg was just amazing on Barry this season.
I’d love all three Abbott Elementary ladies to get in.
Christina Ricci for Yellowjackets.
This will never happen, but Ann Dowd nailed Mrs.Garrett in LIFOASA.
Chloe Sevigny in The Girl from Plainville.
Jennifer Lewis in I Love That for You.
Coolidge, Rothwell, Posey, Lynskey. I could go on…
comedy
kristen cheonweth - schmigadoon!
sarah goldberg - barry
janelle james - abbott elementary
jennifer lewis - i love that for you
lennon parham - minx
juno temple - ted lasso
hannah waddington - ted lasso
rebecca wisocky - ghosts
I haven't checked the list. Is ‘This Is Going to Hurt’ eligible in America?
I'm Team Sweeney with every fiber of my being.
Jenifer Lewis has a great episode in I Love That for You
As a long Anika Noni Rose fan you should start Maid today.
So.Much.Good.TV. And so many female performances are off-the-charts amazing.
Love Finbar's suggestion of Bebe Neuwirth in JULIA. My gawd, that whole cast is sublime. Also impressed with Brittany Bradford, as Alice, in her first on-screen role. Fiona Glascott is perfect as editor, Judith Jones, especially in a few delicious scenes with scenery-chewing Judith Light.
Agree that Einbinder in Supporting is definitely category fraud, but she holds her own and then some against Jean Smart.
I will follow Florence Pugh to the ends of the Earth. Those scenes with Hailey Steinfeld in HAWKEYE were so delightful.
If Emmy voters weren't so lazy (I mean, Julia Louis Dreyfus won how many Emmys in a row?), they would give the award to Juno Temple, who deserves it as much as Waddington in TED LASSO.
My favs:
Comedy - Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary), Sarah Kameela Impey (We Are Lady Parts), Paulina Alexis (Reservation Dogs), Juno Temple (Ted Lasso), Jessica Lowe (Minx), Zosia Mamet (The Flight Attendant)
Drama - Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), Sarah Snook (Succession, tho I really consider her a lead), Lydia Leonard (Gentleman Jack), Danielle Brooks (Peacemaker)
Limited - Natasha Rothwell and Jennifer Coolidge (White Lotus), Kaitlyn Dever (Dopesick), Andie MacDowell (Maid), Matilda Lawler (Station Eleven)
Must-sees with great female performances: We Are Lady Parts, Reservation Dogs, Ghosts (BBC version), Maid, Minx, Dickinson, Julia, The Good Fight, Gentleman Jack, Pachinko
There are still shows I haven't seen (perhaps most notably Dopesick and Russian Doll) but with that said, for me Limited Series/Movie is Jennifer Coolidge and that's that, and for Drama I don't have a much longer list - I'm pulling for J. Smith-Cameron for Succession and Ella Purnell for Yellowjackets (although maybe you could talk me into Samantha Hanratty or Alanna Ubach - but I really, really like Smith-Cameron and Purnell).
But Comedy, Comedy is just a bloodbath these days. Sheryl Lee Ralph is my favorite, but Pugh, Temple, Ortiz, Chenoweth - and like I said I haven't see Sevigny or Ashley but I usually love both of them - and okay yeah she's doing something different but I still like Cecily Strong a lot, and then there are lower profile (in these conversations) people like Meg Stalter and Paula Pell - so many great possibilities! There's so much good work being done I'll likely be a fan of at least half the nominees. But I hope Sheryl Lee Ralph is among them.
Justice for Rhea Seehorn.
Thank you for pointing out that the Emmy nomination/win system is long over-due for a re-structuring. The Emmy's started in a time when there were only 3 networks and a few token nominations for some PBS productions. So there were only 30-40 programs of high quality to consider. No doubt you are laughing at this puny amount of programs to be considered.
Some sort of multiple jury system is needed to winnow things down.
As for my favourite performers, there is simply too much to choose from. You are reminding me of how many series I haven't watched.
Some great ones I haven't noticed mentioned:
Danielle Deadwyler in Station Eleven
Lisa Gay Hamilton in The Dropout
Zoe Chao in the Afterparty
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