Oscar & Emmy Watch: Musings & Misgivings - I'm Just Wondering
The awards season is now in full swing, with the Emmys coming up on Sept. 18 and the Venice, Toronto and Telluride Film festivals expected to yield high-profile distribution deals and perhaps a few Oscar contenders. Apropos of the Oscars and the Emmys, then, some random thoughts:
I’m just wondering (and have for a longtime) . . . about the peculiar logic of an Emmy system that has nominees using submissions of particular episodes from which voting juries select a winner. It’s no secret that poor submissions can sink one’s chances (the reason Julianna Margulies may have lost last year for The Good Wife), and, conversely, a nominee sending in episodes high on the histrionics meter can prevail. In other words, these series nominees are being judged on a limited number of SCENES, and not on the body of their work during the season. As such, perhaps the names of these drama-series categories ought to be changed more accurately to, say, Best Performance by an Actor in Highly Charged Emotional Moments. I was a voter on a Daytime Emmys panel back in the day, and it made as little sense to me then as it does now.
I’m just wondering . . . apart from Cate Blanchett, is there a better middle-aged actress working in films today than Diane Lane? Her performance as Pat Lowd in Cinema Verite is extraordinary in its subtlety as well as wrenching power, but as Miniseries and Movies have been combined (another dubious Emmy idea), she probably hasn’t a shot in hell of beating Kate Winslet for the multi-part (and far more publicized) Mildred Pierce, which has 21 nominations.
I’m just wondering . . . will Laura Linney, nominated again this year for The Big C, EVER lose an Emmy race? She’s been nominated three times in the past for various roles, and won each time.
I’m just wondering . . . if this, finally, is Jon Hamm’s year for Outstanding Actor in a Drama for Mad Men (the single most nominated series with 19). Probably yes, since Bryan Cranston (winner the last two years) and Breaking Bad aren’t eligible. As for House’s Hugh Laurie, a six-time Emmy loser and maybe the most underrated actor working in broadcast television, expect this year’s loss to be his unlucky seventh. It’s liable to make his character, our favorite misanthrope, even more miserable and disagreeable, if that’s possible.
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