Monday, August 10, 2009

AFT Awards: Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series

This is the first category of the 3rd Annual AFT Television Awards, my personal choices for the best in television this past season. This year, semi-finalists are included to recognize more of the impressive work being done on television today. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.
Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series


Last year’s nominees: Jason Clarke, Michael C. Hall, Jon Hamm, Jason Isaacs, Eddie Izzard

Emmy nominees: Simon Baker, Gabriel Byrne, Bryan Cranston, Michael C. Hall, Jon Hamm, Hugh Laurie

Semi-finalists: Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) possessed the perfect swagger to portray the heir to the throne of a violent motorcycle club.

Finalists: Both Jason Clarke and Jason Isaacs (Brotherhood) turned in fine performances as two very troubled brothers in the final season of Showtime’s underrated and underseen drama. Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica) was fantastic but not very prominently featured as SciFi’s classic series clocked out. Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment) had more problematic patients to deal with than ever before, and watching him fail to hide his own madness was fascinating. Stephen Moyer (True Blood) makes a terrific vampire who’s both fearfully intimidating and caring.

The nominees:

Michael Chiklis (The Shield) was just as good as he was seven years ago when his groundbreaking show premiered, and he played out his exit strategy with heartbreaking humanity. Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Michael C. Hall (Dexter) show stern exteriors to everyone around them, but convey an intense inner sense of feeling which makes them exceptionally layered. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) got deeper and deeper into his drug-cooking plan and exploring his sense of right and wrong as his show got better and better. Denis Leary (Rescue Me) guided his series to a new high, and his meditations on 9/11 and alcoholism were utterly moving.

Next up: Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series

3 comments:

Fabio Nascimento said...

Yay! Really excited to see your award. I'll be traveling this thursday so probably won't be able to comment on everything, but when I come back I will.

About the category, I don't watch The Shield and Rescue Me, so I don't know what to say about them, but Hamm, Hall and Cranston are very deserving nominees. Byrne and Olmos too.

Brotherhood is (finally) debuting here in Brazil and I'll give it a try when it does.

Movies with Abe said...

Glad you'll be following!

Brotherhood is really terrific, and it's too bad that it's not coming back. It was really great all three years it aired, and I can't believe it never got one bit of recognition the whole time it was on.

Bob Loblaw said...

Michael Chiklis before Hamm, Cranston and Hall? He's delivered a good performance, sure, but I don't think he's able to hold a candle to the three heavy weights mentioned above.