Category Analysis: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

By Abe Friedtanzer

The Handmaid's Tale hogged the nomination in this category with three of the eight nominees.

This category is once again selected from the most-populated ballot, with 311 eligible men, one of only two acting races that had more than 200 eligible contenders. While there’s one show dominating the nominated field with three of the slots again, this year there are actually six shows represented, up from five. Michael K. Williams won the Critics Choice prize but none of these men were even nominated by the HFPA or SAG, so it’s possible that things are a bit more open and unpredictable this time in terms of a winner.

I’ll try to avoid major plot details in my analysis – but if you’d like more spoiler-filled descriptions, click on the episode titles. Let’s consider each nominee… 

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Introducing the Smackdown Panel for '86

On Thursday August 26th, the next Supporting Actress Smackdown and its companion podcast arrive, with a discussion of the 1986 Oscars and the Supporting Actress nominees. You know what that means. For maximum enjoyment (re)watch Best Picture nominees A Room With a View, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Children of a Lesser God as well as The Color of Money and Crimes of the Heart and send in your votes by Tuesday, August 24th. Let's meet your fellow panelists, shall we? 

PLEASE WELCOME...

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Would you rather?

Would you rather...

• resist pasta with Henry Golding?
• practice hula hoop skills with Catherine Zeta-Jones?
• do yoga with Kerry Washington?
• get tatted with LaKeith Stanfield?
• cosplay Audrey with Illeana Douglas?
• weightlift with Taron Egerton?
• suck on something blue with Yoo Ah-in?
• consider the zucchini with Sutton Foster?
• skinny dip with Orlando Bloom?
• or eat Chris Hemsworth's cake?

Pictures are after the jump the help you decide.

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1986: Straight Best Friends

Before each Smackdown, suggestions for alternates to Oscar's roster... 

Tilda Swinton in "Caravaggio"

1986 was, from the digging I've done, a fascinating year for queer cinema. Some of the films originated in '85 but belatedly hit the US  in 1986, disparate efforts such as Desert Hearts, My Beautiful Laundrette, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, and What Have I Done To Deserve This?!. Meanwhile, Working Girls premiered at that year’s Cannes but didn’t get a US release until February 1987. All of these films showed up in one form or another alongside pure-cut ‘86 releases like Parting Glances and Caravaggio, indicating a shifting tide of indie and mainstream cinema with vested, complex, even sympathetic interests in LGBT themes and characters, often made by queer filmmakers. Not only that, but the films themselves are risky and provocative. Save for the deeply unpleasant Mala Noche, all are worth real engagement, and you couldn’t go wrong checking out any of them.

Still, it must be asked - what about the straight people? What is their contribution here? What about the S.B.F.? Y’know, the Straight Best Friend?

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Category Analysis: Three Outstanding Editing Emmys

by Juan Carlos Ojano

I really loved my experience writing about the Best Film Editing category at the 92nd Academy Awards. I had edited all of my short films when I was in film school, was an assistant editor for a feature-length film once, and continue to edit videos for my podcast. Rarely do I get the opportunity to talk about the craft itself. It is daunting to even try to verbalize it. As an editor, editing is about abiding by the rules and theories but also making choices that just feel right or, even more interestingly, that feel wrong and right at the same time. As a viewer, the impact of good editing is not just about the cuts but also the lack of them. This temporal aspect of storytelling is essential and what makes film and television distinct from other forms of art.

So let's talk about three Emmy categories for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing. I will try to be as candid as I can with my observations and musings per episode submission. Some are even harder to discuss because of shows nabbing multiple spots (hello, The Mandalorian and Hacks), but let’s see how we do...

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