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| Community pulls a hat trick in my version of the Emmys. |
*Again these posts are absolutely ripping off Alan Sepinwall's Emmy posts. In fact we even chose 5 of the same actors in this category & the one we did disagree on we just chose different actors from the same show, & that ratio isn't really going to change. So yea... You could just read his stuff, & if you enjoy television criticism than I highly recommend you do, but I hope you'll read mine anyway.
It's important to also note 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 voters & I agreed on two nominees, last year that number shrunk to one & now I'm afraid, as with the Supporting Comedy Actress category, we couldn't find one nominee to agree on. Once again I leave it to you to decide who did a better job of singling out the best performances.
Emmy Nominees
Ed O'Neill (Jay Pritchett, Modern Family)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett, Modern Family)
Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy, Modern Family)
Eric Stonestreet (Cameron Tucker, Modern Family)
Max Greenfield (Schmidt, New Girl)
Bill Hader (various characters, Saturday Night Live)
So do you think Emmy voters like Modern Family? For the second straight year they've nominated the entire, adult, male cast despite the show having clearly regressed over the last year.* To be sure Ty Burrell, who took home the Emmy last year, remains deserving but Ferguson & O'Neill didn't overcome mediocre writing & Stonestreet's performance is no longer avoiding cliche but fully embracing it-his inclusion on this list over the six people I'm going to list is an embarrassment. Even if I don't think he was quite Emmy worthy this year I really like Greenfield & am less than upset to see him make it. Hader's funny & all but, really? He was better than every scripted actor outside of Greenfield & the Modern Family quartet? Now that's a joke.
*While Emmy voters at large may have failed to notice this slip the writers did not. After giving "Modern Family" the win in consecutive years for Comedy Writing they didn't even give it a nomination this year. My hat's off to them for actually paying attention.
My Nominees
Last year I wrote, "No category gave me more trouble to narrow down to six nominees... There are just so many great comedic actors & roles in television that you could pick at least a dozen different actors & be able to make a fine case that they should earn a nomination." That remaines true this year but ultimately these six stood out just a little more than the rest.
Donald Glover (Troy Barnes, Community)-No member of the Community cast has grown as a performer the way Glover has the last three years. Sure he's always been funny, his Derrick Comedy videos are evidence of that, but at this point he's a legitimately good dramatic actor as well. He's been fantastic at demonstrating Troy's maturation into adulthood. This year we got more of that as his leadership was further developed in the air conditioning school arc, he had to confront some of his differences with Abed, & it should be noted the darkest timeline happened when Troy left. Of course Glover's also the most naturally funny person on the show, maybe in all of television, hopefully one day a wider audience will realize this.
Nick Offerman (Ron "F@#$ing" Swanson, Parks and Recreation)-Of course if Donald Glover's unappreciated what is there to say about Nick Offerman? He, & his mustache, have been playing the best/funniest character in all of television for over 3 years & yet he has not one Emmy nomination. If he never gets one it will go down with The Wire's lack of a nomination & Steve Carell's having never won as the greatest failures of Emmy voters (honestly they should be stoned to death). Regardless even if Ron took more of a backseat this season than in previous one's his gruff, Libertarian, manliness is always a highlight & I can only thank God he'll be back on my TV screen tomorrow.
Chris Pratt (Andy Dwyer, Parks and Recreation)-When you're on the same show as Ron "F@#$ing" Swanson, let alone the rest of the Parks' cast, it can be difficult to stand out but damn if Chris Pratt's Andy Dwyer doesn't do it. The over enthusiastic simpleton can be a pretty cliche character but Pratt
makes Andy so genuine & lovable that you never grow tired of his antics, plus he & Aubrey Plaza are truly fantastic playing off each other in a relationship that proves characters getting married doesn't have to make them boring. Doesn't hurt that Pratt also had the highlight of the season 4 bloopers.
Danny Pudi (Abed Nadir, Community)-Pudi's Abed has always been a fan favorite with his absurd pop culture knowledge & ability to detach himself from the proceedings or become an entirely different person depending on what the situation called for. In many ways he defined the show more than lead character Jeff Winger. That continued as Community's third season was darker & weirder than ever, & it was the seemingly benevolent Abed whose cracks were most revealed. Abed's struggle to relate to people has often been played for laughs but in this season the writers & Pudi played it with remarkable pathos, especially in "Virtual Systems Analysis" (an instant classic). Alas Pudi didn't get to make out with Alison Brie this season, but a fantastic seasons nonetheless.
Jim Rash (Dean Pelton, Community)-Finally, some new blood! While the four men listed above made my list last year, & 3 the year before that, this is Rash first nomination from me. Of course this was also the first year he's been a series regular & hence eligible. & thank God he became a regular! While season 3 of Community had its issues more Dean Pelton was not one of them. Despite winning an Oscar earlier this year Rash shows no ego playing the gender confused dean & many of the biggest laughs of the season were courtesy of his outfits or inappropriate interactions with Jeff, & his turn in "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" was a comedy tour-de-force.
Damon Wayans Jr. (Happy Endings)-Wayans Jr. is the one non-Parks/Community actor to make it on the list (he should thank Adam Scott for submitting as a lead) & it was well earned. Happy Endings became one of the best comedies on TV last season & Wayans Jr. was a huge part of that. He has a full repertoire of comedic skills being able to kill with a slight altering of his voice, a single look, or simply going to the dentist (see below). Even in the rare episode that didn't fully work Wayans Jr. was sure to draw multiple laughs & he has wonderful chemistry with Eliza Coupe. Far be it for me to say but Damon Wayans Jr. is even funnier than his father.
Honorable Mention: Girls was one of my favorite new shows of the last year & that was thanks in large part to Adam Driver's work as the most eccentric boyfriend I've ever seen. Adam Polly was essentially Damon Wayans Jr.'s equal on Happy Endings with the most original gay character since Omar Little was walking the streets of Baltimore. Charlie Day, Glen Howerton, & Rob McElhenney continued their ridiculously funny work on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. As mentioned before Ty Burrell is the one actual nominee I have no problem with as he Nolan Gould saved the third season of Modern Family. New Girl's ads were dominated by Zooey Deschanel (& understandably so) but it was very much an ensemble comedy & Max Greenfield & Jake Johnson deserve much of the credit for making it the best new network comedy of last year. The last season of The Office varied from mediocre to downright bad but John Krasinski was the one main cast member to continue to shine. Lastly Aziz Ansari may have been saddled with a relationship with Anne that never worked in the latter half of Parks and Rec's last season but he was otherwise great, especially with the Entertainment 720 arc. Whew! See I told you this was a deep category, & I didn't even watch most of HIMYM so for all I know NPH & Jason Segel should be on this list as well.
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