Emmy Winner Predictions: Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Nominees are pictured in alphabetical order.

I really can’t see any of these people winning. With Rose Byrne, January Jones, Connie Britton, and Yunjin Kim out of the running, I hardly think any of these actresses are deserving – and more importantly, could pull off a victory. Dianne Wiest is a respected actress and could manage a win like Blythe Danner a few years ago for “Huff” – an older actress on a show no one’s ever heard of in a small supporting role. Wiest does do great work on “In Treatment”, and her submitted episode could make voters believe she is on her show just as much as other nominees in this category, rather than only nine times during the season. Sandra Oh, nominated since year one of “Grey’s Anatomy”, chose a rather poor episode to submit in which she’s barely a player and not a good one at that. She had a better chance the past few years. Candice Bergen, a multiple Emmy award winner for previous work on other shows, is nominated this year for “Boston Legal” with an impressive episode submission but a devastatingly overrated performance. She may win simply because of the respect she’s accrued over the past. I think it’s down to two actresses, but I can’t get over the fact that neither of them are terribly impressive. Rachel Griffiths is far and away the best actor on “Brothers and Sisters”, and her plotline is a moving one. If she couldn’t win for her stunning work on “Six Feet Under”, I can’t imagine she’d be able to for this lesser role, but I know that awards don’t work that way. There’s no set precedent, but rather a case-by-case basis. If there’s no one better, there’s no reason she can’t prevail. Her only real obstacle is Chandra Wilson, whose performance on “Grey’s Anatomy” has never really impressed me, but whose storyline in her episode rivals Griffiths’ for dramatic impact. And her performance was enough to win her a SAG two years ago, and this year she has no real internal competition, with Oh effectively out of the race with a poor submission and Heigl ineligible because she didn’t submit herself. I really don’t know what will happen here; I think this is the most unpredictable race.

Who should win (based on entire season): No one
Who should win (based on individual episodes): Dianne Wiest, I suppose
Who will win: Chandra Wilson (alternate: Rachel Griffiths)