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| Emmy voters can have the Modern Family ladies, just leave me ALISON BRIE! & Gillian Jacobs. |
Before i get to my thoughts on our first category, Supporting Actress in a Comedy, it bears mentioning once again that Emmy voters are people who work, or worked, in the industry (actors, directors, writers, etc.) hence many of them don't have the time to watch a broad variety of shows. I, on the other hand, have plenty of time! So while their choices may get tons of publicity, including here, I'd argue mine may well be more valid. Of course really I think TV critics should be in charge, since it's their job to judge television, so here's a professional's opinion.*
I freely admit that I'm ripping off Alan Sepinwall's Emmy gimmick. As for the similarities between many of our picks, as will be extremely evident in the next category, I would merely say we both watch a lot of TV & have good taste.
It's important to also not that like actual Emmy voters I'm restricted by whether or not an actor submitted themselves & where they chose to do so, so while I may think someone's a lead character if they submit in supporting I'm bound to honor that (I'm also not nominating anyone from shows I didn't watch at least a few episodes of, sorry Downton Abbey). Click here for the actual Emmy ballot. As for the actual Emmys two years ago the voters & I agreed on two of the nominees & the winner, last year we agreed on two again, this year however we have not one common nominee. You be the judge of who did a better job.
Emmy Nominees
Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah Fowler, The Big Bang Theory)
Kathryn Joosten (Karen McCluskey, Desperate Housewives)
Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy, Modern Family)
Sofia Vergara (Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Modern Family)
Merritt Wever (Zoey Barkow, Nurse Jackie)
Kristen Wiig (various characters, Saturday Night Live)
My thoughts on their nominees, besides my obvious disagreement? I don't watch BBT & I absolutely am judging you if you do. The recently passed Joosten was wonderful on The West Wing & the two seasons of Housewives that I watched, but those were the first two seasons & her role then was small. I'd have nominated Bowen & Vergara last year but the writing on Modern Family really let them, & the rest of the cast this year, down this year & they didn't overcome it. I've never seen an episode of Nurse Jackie. Wiig is hilarious but I hardly watch SNL & even if I did I'd still likely favor nominees from scripted shows.
My NomineesWhile I don't have the same trouble narrowing this field down as I do the one for their male counterparts the ladies I have nominated stood tall & gave performances that could rightly be listed as the best & funniest of the past year, regardless of gender, despite what Adam Carolla might think.
Alison Brie (Annie Edison, Community)-Alison Brie earns her 3rd straight nomination from me, which may not be surprising considering how often she's brought up on the blog*, but that's only because she's extremely deserving, even if she didn't chloroform anyone this year. The third season continued what Brie's described as the devolution of Annie as she continues to become a, slightly, less controlling & uptight person & moved in with Troy & Abed. That combination proved to be extremely beneficial as Brie shined in episodes where Annie broke Abed's special edition The Dark Knight DVD (seen below), giving us a hilarious Christian Bale as Batman impression, &, especially, her trip into the Dreamatorium with Abed which was a highlight of the season. Of course "Teach Me How to Understand Christmas" doesn't hurt either.
*"Alison Brie" is second all time for search keywords that have led to this blog-make of that what you will.
Elisha Cuthbert (Alex Kerkovich, Happy Endings)-Cuthbert's big break was as Jack Bauer's perennially endangered daughter Kim on 24, where she was often considered a weak link on the show (though the writers deserved as much blame for this as she did*). Then in season 1 of Happy Endings Cuthbert was once again a weak link. Something weird happened in season 2 though, Cuthbert's Alex became one of, if not the, highlight of the show. As opposed to their 24 counterparts the Happy Endings writers deserve credit for discovering & writing to Cuthbert's strengths but even then she had act out & deliver the jokes & over the last year she knocked them out of the park in a variety of ways whether she was being mistaken for a drag queen, becoming overly obsessed with the history of Valentine's Day, pretending to be a lesbian (see below), or the recurring gag of her eating copious amounts of food. This one season changed my entire perception of her as an actress.
*As evidenced by "Happy Endings" having fun with one of the worst Kim Bauer storylines.
Allie Grant (Lisa Shay, Suburgatory)-Suburgatory proved to be one of the best new additions of last year & that was in large part thanks to Grant's scene stealing performance as Tessa's outcast best friend. Grant has an exceptional delivery & whatever storyline Lisa was thrown into-avoiding wearing an Amish dress for Thanksgiving, briefly being part of the cool clique, performing an exorcism, her relationship with Malik, or hoping she was adopted Grant always elevated the material.
Gillian Jacobs (Britta Perry, Community)-Like Cuthbert's Alex, Britta was considered a weak link on the show during its first season, but once the writers figured out the character worked better as someone the rest of the group mocked rather than admired Jacobs shown. In season 3 Jacobs continued to dive head first into the crazy scenarios Britta found herself in be it finding love with a guy who'd sold his identity to Subway, impersonating Michael Jackson at a Bar Mitzvah, or being the AT & T of psychiatrists. On a show filled to the brim with hilarious actors Jacobs had arguably the funniest season of them all. I can only hope Jacobs gets to continue in the role for another 3 seasons & a movie.
Kaitlin Olson (Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)-Olson, & the rest of the cast, have been doing hilarious work for 7 years now on what some have dubbed "Seinfeld on crack" & last season was no exception. As the Elaine of the group Olson's Sweet Dee may be slightly more intelligent than most of her male cohorts but she's equally narcissistic & depraved & Olson, never afraid to act & look pathetic, excels at playing these traits. This year she certainly got to show of those comedic skills with Dee getting audited by the IRS & the fantastic two-part finale where she attempted to ingratiate herself with the cool clique at the gang's high school reunion. Sunny's most underrated performer certainly deserves recognition for her fine work.
Aubrey Plaza (April Ludgate, Parks and Recreation)-Brie & Plaza are the only actresses I've found deserving in this category for three consecutive years. There's a reason for this, Aubrey Plaza is a weird person. Watch or read any interviews with her or here someone else talk about her & this becomes immediately clear but hers' is such a dry, hilarious, weirdness that whatever role she finds herself in she undoubtedly elevates the material. Of course Parks & Rec is among the best comedies on TV so when she elevates it she's sending comedy into the stratosphere as when April was the representative of the moon at the model U.N. Beyond the humor she rings from every scene (especially with her eyes, no one gets more comedy mileage based solely from their eyes then her, even my mom says this) Plaza has teamed with the writers to continue to broaden April's emotional depth as her marriage to Andy matures & she's slowly realized that she does hate everything about her job, even when she has to try. Another banner year from Plaza on both the big & small screen.*
*Plaza has a starring role in the fantastic Sundance film "Safety Not Guaranteed" which is currently in theaters. If you're in the mood for a comedy rather than watching Batman battle the foreign cast of "Inception" again that's the movie to see this weekend.
Honorable Mention: If she'd chosen to submit herself Yvonne Strahovksi would have joined the three consecutive nomination club for her great work on the final season of Chuck. Yvette Nicole Brown may be the only Community actress not to make my list but that's not to belittle what an integral part of the show she is. Girls was my favorite new comedy of the year & Zosia Mamet was the funniest part of it, & she deserves extra credit for keeping her more sitcommy character grounded within the show's world. You could make a strong case Eliza Coupe & Casey Wilson were every bit as strong as Cuthbert on the fantastic ensemble that is Happy Endings. Suburgatory sometimes struggle during the half of the show dedicated to the adults but this was never the fault of Cheryl Hines whose performance was perfectly calibrated between cartoon & reality.
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