On Thursday the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the top 10 finalists for this year’s Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama and Comedy Series. Now, though ATAS isn’t talking, Gold Derby’s Emmy guru Tom O’Neil is slowly but surely getting his hands on the lists for the acting categories. In the world of TV awards shows, this is akin to O’Neil scoring 50-yard-line tickets to the Super Bowl for all us Emmy aficionados.
These lists are based on the popular vote of all eligible ATAS voters. Now they will watch select episodes of each of their work, rank them, and a combination of the two voting methods will be used to determine the final nominees. We’ll be updating throughout the week as we get more of the top 10 lists. For now, we have Supporting Actor in a Drama and Lead Actress in a Comedy.
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:
Naveen Andrews, Lost
Bruce Dern, Big Love
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal
Ted Danson, Damages
Michael Emerson, Lost
Zeljko Ivanek, Damages
T.R. Knight, Grey’s Anatomy
William Shatner, Boston Legal
John Slattery, Mad Men
Blair Underwood, In Treatment
Jake Weber, Medium
There must have been a tie because this top 10 is actually a top 11, and yet still there are only two actors from Lost, and neither of them is last year’s winner in this category Terry O’Quinn. For that matter, the much-deserving Henry Ian Cusick isn’t there either. The Emmys clearly love Damages, giving it two slots, and the same goes for Boston Legal with past Emmy winners Shatner and Clemenson. I personally love that the much deserving Slattery and Underwood are in there, and hopefully this will inspire people to check out those two great shows. If there is a WTF placement, it’s Weber, who does consistently solid work, but rarely great. As for Dern, Big Love fans know he only appeared in three episodes the whole season, so that’s a bit embarrassing.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives
Eva Longoria Parker, Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program
ABC must be quite happy, taking up six of the 10 spots, though oddly Teri Hatcher was the one Desperate Housewife left out. The rest are about as expected, though it’s shocking to see Silverman there, especially since Emmy favorite Patricia Heaton was back on TV with Back to You.
Read More About Emmy Top 10 Finalists:
Comedy and Drama Series
Drama Supporting Actress
Comedy Supporting Actor and Actress
Drama Lead Actor and Actress
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: Gold Derby
(Image courtesy of ATAS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
