Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Emmy Winner Predictions: Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series


Nominees are pictured in alphabetical order.

John Slattery and Ted Danson shouldn’t factor into this race too prominently, despite playing important roles on monstrously popular new shows. Slattery’s “Mad Men” episode is a heartbreaking one, but his performance overall has the least impact. Danson was good on “Damages” but he won’t win this, especially due to internal competition (keep reading). William Shatner has already won, so I think he won’t repeat, but his episode submission from “Boston Legal” does demonstrate why voters nominated him in the first place, and it’s a compelling argument for another win. Michael Emerson has been playing ambiguous evil on “Lost” for two years, and now that his “Lost” competition Terry O’Quinn is out of the way, victory should be pretty easy, especially with a killer submission (“The Shape of Things to Come”). But watch out for Zeljko Ivanek, whose surprise nomination for “Damages” shows just how popular that show is and that this could finally be a chance to reward the hard-working Ivanek. His episode submission is spot-on, but as I’ve mentioned before, his accent isn’t, and voters might not feel comfortable jumping from Danson’s episode, where Ivanek barely plays a part, to Ivanek’s, where he suddenly takes the spotlight. If Blair Underwood was here, I’d think he could beat Emerson, but I’m not confident Ivanek will upset.

Who should win (based on entire season): Michael Emerson
Who should win (based on individual episodes): Michael Emerson
Who will win: Michael Emerson (alternate: Zeljko Ivanek)

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