Thursday, September 15, 2016

Emmy Winner (Post) Predictions: Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series

As I’ve done the past few years, I’m excited to present a detailed look at the Emmy race in each category with a spotlight on every sample episode submitted for consideration to voters. Click on episode titles to read reviews and offer your thoughts in the comments!

Sadly, this isn’t the first year that I’ve been busy during Emmy season and neglected to post predictions for categories given out a full week before the primetime ceremony, thus predicting events in the past. This award has already been handed out – here’s a look at the category anyway.


Ellen Burstyn (House of Cards) – Chapter 41
Allison Janney (Masters of Sex) – Matters of Gravity
Margo Martindale (The Americans) – The Magic of David Copperfield V
Laurie Metcalf (Horace and Pete) – Episode 103
Molly Parker (House of Cards) – Chapter 45
Carrie Preston (The Good Wife) – Targets

This category contains two nominees from Netflix’s political thriller, one who is an awards veteran and the other who’s a still-deserving newbie. Burstyn’s submitted episode shows her being a monster but might not actually have been the strongest sample, while Parker doesn’t have a big role in hers but still impresses with a spirited and angry turn as she tries to stand her ground and finds others less than cooperative. Both Preston and Janney are recent winners in this category for these same roles. Preston’s episode was fun since it introduced Elsbeth’s ex-husband, and Janney’s gave her an interesting new spotlight as she tried romance a different way. I fully expected Metcalf, who scored three separate Emmy nods this year, to take this award home for the opportunity to dominate an hour of television and just talk. Instead, Martindale won for the second year in a row for just one short and unmemorable scene, demonstrating that it’s the performers and not the performances that seem to win over Emmy voters in the guest categories sometimes. I probably would have picked Parker or Metcalf.

No comments: