Preliminary SAG Predictions: Best Actress in a Comedy Series

The following represents some preliminary thoughts on Screen Actors’ Guild Awards contenders for the given category. Predictions will be revisited following the announcement of the Golden Globe Awards nominations, which often indicates how well new shows will fare. This category combines performance in the lead and supporting categories for an odd assortment of nominees which really varies from year to year.

Last year’s nominees:
FELICITY HUFFMAN, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
JAIME PRESSLY, MY NAME IS EARL
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, OLD CHRISTINE
AMERICA FERRERA, UGLY BETTY (winner)
MARY-LOUISE PARKER, WEEDS
MEGAN MULLALLY, WILL & GRACE (show ended)

This year’s top contenders:
MARCIA CROSS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Cross has yet to be nominated for a SAG award for her performance as the immutable Bree. She was off the show for a good portion of this year due to her real-life pregnancy and I do not know about the reception to her performance since she has been back. I think her time has passed, at least in regards to SAG, and she may fare better with a strong episode submission at the Emmy awards.

FELICITY HUFFMAN, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Huffman has been nominated now two years running, winning in 2005 for her role as Lynette on the ABC dramedy. I feel like she could easily stick around for a good long while despite my continuing contention that Eva Longoria is the strongest actress on the show at this point (though this season does not look good for anyone, except Cross, who has had one powerful episode).

JAIME PRESSLY, MY NAME IS EARL
Ick. She won the Emmy, why not the SAG? I only hope, as I do with every other awards guild, that the nonexistent buzz for the show will translate to people realizing that this is not a good show and none of its performers deserve any awards of any kind.

JENNA FISCHER, THE OFFICE
Did I mention in my Actor in a Comedy Series predictions that I will never give up on certain people? This is actually my first time predicting Fischer for the SAGs despite placing her on every list for every other award out there. To be both pessimistic and realistic, I am not convinced that Fischer will make it in simply because she often fades into the ensemble, despite some truly brilliant episodes this year. REVISE THAT STATEMENT – after looking at all the contenders, I am left with no choice but to put Fischer’s name on my list because voters should really spice it up somehow.

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, OLD CHRISTINE
I actually typed “Seinfeld” by accident as the title of this show. I think SAG voters are making the same mistake. Louis-Dreyfus is nails-on-a-chalkboard awful on her new show, but voters may want to continue rewarding the actress they once showered with five consecutive nominations and two wins for an infinitely better role and show.

KRISTEN CHENOWETH, PUSHING DAISIES
Chenoweth has not had any experience with SAG to this point and I think “Pushing Daisies” may be a bit outside their comfort zone. Chenoweth is the brightest and most enthusiastic on the show, which could work well for her, but performers rarely get nominated in this category without a corresponding nomination for another performer on the show.

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE, SAMANTHA WHO?
Applegate is bright-eyed and fresh on the show, but it hardly seems like something worthy of an award from the Screen Actors’ Guild. Then I remember that Charlie Sheen somehow earned a nomination from SAG three years ago. Applegate certainly puts a great deal more effort into her portrayal of an amnesiac, but can she beat out a bunch of showier comedians?

TINA FEY, 30 ROCK
SAG seems least likely of any awards guilds to nominate performers who focus more on the creative development of their shows. Larry David did earn a nomination two years ago, but I think Fey still plays the “straight man” a bit too much to be noticed by voters. Her Emmy nod, even though I predicted it, came as a surprise, and I think this is a stretch.

AMERICA FERRERA, UGLY BETTY
Ferrera is without question the best thing about her dismal, overrated series. I do not mind Ferrera returning to the list as much as I do the obnoxious presence of her show’s ensemble cast. I see no reason why she should be booted from the list so early, especially when there is relatively little competition from new shows to take her spot.

MARY-LOUISE PARKER, WEEDS
Parker just finished, in my opinion, her best season yet as the pot-dealing single mother of two in the suburb of Agrestic. Parker has two nominations to go with two seasons of the show; a third seems entirely likely. Internal competition should not be too much of a problem – Elizabeth Perkins, while she was great in this season, had a fairly limited role, and has never managed to earn a SAG nomination for “Weeds”.

Current predictions:
FELICITY HUFFMAN, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
JENNA FISCHER, THE OFFICE
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, OLD CHRISTINE
AMERICA FERRERA, UGLY BETTY
MARY-LOUISE PARKER, WEEDS