EMMY Predictions: Comedy

The Emmys are coming up this Sunday so I decided to make some not so bold decisions on who would take home the big awards.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
Chris Colfer (Glee)
Jon Cryer (Two and A Half Men)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)

Jon Cryer just may repeat as champion. He has some great lines with Sheen and I love when he does physical comedy. The series hasn't been as funny as usual but Jon Cryer is still hysterical. I actually wish that NPH had won the award last year but sadly it was not to be. The character regressed back to his old form, which is actually for the better, but unfortunately so did the writing style of the show. Barney's chance of winning has come and gone.

Frankly Ferguson doesn't deserve to be on the list, it should be Ed O' Neil. As the straight man in the series, ala he uses a dryer humor, he is not even the funniest part of the episode that he submits for consideration.

Ty Burrell as the father of the nucleus family is fantastic and endearing in the series. While there is no actual lead in the series he may be up there. He feels genuine in his compassion and love for his family and I love his goofy nature. But he is usually outshined, as is the entire cast by the loveable and flamboyant Cam. He is submitting the episode Fizbo which probably is the episode he is known best for but for the voters who have watched the entire series, as I hope most of my readers have, he has some of the best laugh out loud moments of the series. The whole cast is tender so there is no point in pointing out his softer side as that is not what singles him out from the cast and what may eventually give him the win.

But with three members from one show competing for one award it may split the voters. And that is why I love the endearing Christopher Colfer to win the award. Originally he wasn't even supposed to be in the series but after auditioning for the part Ryan Murphy wrote a part specifically for him. Talk about a muse. I love his bitchy attitude towards Lea but the moments that capture him this award is when he confronts his father and his sexuality. Later in the post I will talk about how submitting dramatic moments in this category works against you, I think in this example it works for him. The people voting in this category are very gay friendly and while Eric Stonestreet's character is also gay (as is Fegurson's character and Harris in real life) the story arc rarely deals with the conflict that Colfer faces. He gets to show off an array of emotion and his take on Rose's Turn is fantastic. A well done performance of the song has already bequeathed many actresses gold; Broadway royalty Tyne Daly, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone all won for their performances in Gypsy. His performance in this episode should be enough to get this rookie actor his first award.


Please note that the last video I posted of a Glee character was of Mike O' Malley who also deserved an EMMY but was beaten out. So maybe this was a bad idea to post the video but he does it so well.



Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Julie Bowen (Modern Family)
Jane Krakowski (30 Rock)
Jane Lynch (Glee)
Holland Taylor, (Two and a Half Men)
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)
Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live)

Jane Lynch. Shoo In



Outstanding Actress in a Comedy
Toni Collette (United States of Tara)
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine)
Lea Michele (Glee)
Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)

Full disclosure, I don't watch "The New Adventure of Old Christine" or the "United States of Tara" which may hurt my prediction seeing as Toni Collette won the award last year and is a serious contender this year.

Lea Michele probably doesn't deserve to be on the list as she simply has some work to be done before she is considered the best in her craft. Her character was a riot in the pilot but she submitted the episode Sectionals. And while she does deliver a stand out performance that had Barbara take notice she doesn't show off any of her comedic chops and her dramatic moment aren’t anything spectacular.

With the down year for 30 Rock it may be a tough race to win; she has been better.

In my mind this leaves it down to two actresses with Amy Poehler and Edie Falco. Already an Emmy winner, Edie Falco is the favorite to win which would make her only the second actress to win an Emmy for comedy and for drama. Emmy would love to make this happen and her acting on the show is why the series got nominated for the big award. But my heart belongs to clueless Leslie Knope she is able to bounce off of anyone in the cast and if anyone’s acting or comedic chops deserved to get it nominated for best series it was Parks and Rec. Instead what it got was a spring debut. The series deserves better and that is why I am going with my heart and saying that Poehler comes out with the win.



Outstanding Actor in a Comedy
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Steve Carell (The Office)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Matthew Morrison (Glee)
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Tony Shalhoub (Monk)

Someone get Morrison to stop rapping, tell him to stop and never do it again. Larry David has never been known for his acting as much as his writing and this character is probably not too far off from himself but the academy loves the series so he'll get a couple votes. I love Carell and Baldwin both but Baldwin submitted ‘Don Guise, America and Hope’ for his episode and it doesn't come anywhere near as good as past episodes that he has submitted. Carell has been the heart of "The Office" the whole way and has had to do even more heavy lifting ever since Jim and Pam got together but his episode, ‘The Cover Up’, doesn't contain any of those moments of cringe inducing hilarity that I really love about his character. I wish he had submitted Scott's Tots. But sadly it was not to be. Hopefully in his final season he will finally get the award.

This race is down to two men, three time award winner Tony Shalhoub and Jim Parsons of "The Big Bang Theory." The academy is still not entirely behind Big Bang yet which is a shame as the show continually gets funnier and funnier. The episode Parsons submitted is about him accepting award while intoxicated which had me rolling. But working against him is a man who has already won the award and the academy tends to like rewarding strong finales. This was a series that you could pop on and never have to pay too much attention to as it always followed the same formula. It was definitely not one of my favorite series but I really liked the first half of the finale. But Parsons deserved recognition last year and his show deserved to be nominated for best series so I think this will be the validation the whole series deserves.



Best Comedy Series
30 Rock
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie
The Office

First things first let’s just scratch "The Office" out of contention. Simply put the series has had better seasons, and while it had a couple of big moment episodes such as the wedding and the pregnancy, the quality that used to be in the series is not quite there anymore

"Nurse Jackie" had a quality season but for a freshman comedy there may be a little too much drama in the series and not enough of a public outcry to be a serious contender. Edie Falco is great but that won’t be enough to win it all, frankly the series should just be glad it got nominated.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" had quite possibly one of their best seasons ever and if it was ever going to win it would have to be this year. I loved the Seinfeld callback and I thought that Jason Alexander was absolutely hysterical. It however lacks nominations in the writing and directing category and since those are major parts of putting together a best series it would be tough to do, but Curb is definitely the series I am pulling for.

However really this is a three horse race between "Modern Family", "30 Rock", and "Glee." I haven't seen this kind of support for a new show since "Lost" or "American Idol." Simply put it has taken pop culture by storm and is almost as big as those Jersey D-bags. Almost. I love the series, love getting their songs stuck in my head, and am in love with Lea Michelle who has taken over as my celebrity crush. The quality in the series definitely went down after they took their long break. The second half of the season featured episodes that were based around the song, not the song helping to propel the plot. The new structure has also featured a theme which goes back to my last point of choosing the songs over the story, this tactic got annoying. While the male characters were fantastically written from Kurt and his dad to Artie, the women of the show still need a lot more definition. There were some standout episodes in the series such as each finale and the Madonna episode but the producers did not include their six best in the packet they sent to the academy and that may be what costs them.

"30 Rock" is the three time winner and arguably the show to beat as the writing speaks to the business and it is impossible not to love Tina Fey, but much like "The Office" the series has seen better days. Producers this year have selected great episodes to present but on a whole the series definitely took a step back. Even in a down year the show is smarter than a lot of the other garbage on TV but this year it faces a big opponent.

"Modern Family" is a family sitcom with a call back to the days of old with a great twist. All the adults are fantastic in the series with five out of six receiving a nomination in the supporting cast and with Ed O'Neil being one of the biggest snubs of the whole nomination process. The series on a whole is very endearing and you could tell there is serious chemistry between all the actors. Plus the women are smokin hot ala Sofia Vergara, old Happy Gilmore flame Julie Bowen, and of course Cam in a cuddly sort of way. Early on it was considered "Arrested Development" lite which also won the big award in its freshman year. As the show has gotten stronger you see a bigger call back to core family values told in a modern day perspective and I have a feeling older voters will connect with, giving "Modern Family" the edge and the win.