Emmy Spotlight: Oh, the Drama

The Emmys are coming! The Emmys are coming! This week the Nice Girls will preview some of the contenders for Emmys in a variety of categories, focusing on our faves.

Outstanding Drama Series:

Mad Men (AMC)

The cast of Mad Men

Though, I never find the time to talk about how this show moves me each week, it goes without saying that Mad Men has captured the attention of the critics. In the show’s sophomore season, the audience saw that while some things changed around Sterling Cooper (Peggy’s absence and later rise to more than a junior copywriter), most things stayed the same (Don’s philandering ways). In between all of that, more about the lives of the rest of the company came into focus—Pete and Trudy’s baby woes, Peggy’s family issues—all of which ended with the season looking at the Bay of Pigs confrontation. Only time will tell before we know how the critics really responded to the second season. -Louise

Also nominated: Big Love, Dexter, Breaking Bad, Lost, House, Damages

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series:

Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)

Don Draper—the man men want to emulate women want to sleep with—continues  captivate the  audience. Most of the second season found Don trying to find himself, and reconcile the man he is to everyone with the man he was (Dick Whitman). Throughout the season Hamm worked with Don’s flaws, allowing the audience to empathize with a man we should all detest. -Louise

Simon Baker – The Mentalist (CBS)

Simon Baker is Patrick Jane in The Mentalist

In its debut year, The Mentalist scored a major Emmy nomination for its lead, Simon Baker, who was nominated for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.” The Mentalist is a television series based on a fictional California Bureau of Investigations which enlists the aid of a former fraudulent psychic, Patrick Jane (played by Baker). Jane is a valuable asset to CBI as his keen intellect and powers of observation often allow him to pinpoint the culprit of crimes quicker than through conventional crime-fighting techniques. Jane also has a personal motivation, as in quid pro quo for his unique talents, he is given the aid of CBI in tracking down the serial killer, Red John, who killed his wife and daughter. As portrayed by Baker, Jane is playful, cocky and yet endearing all at once. Watching Baker so fully embody such a rich, diverse and fun character is riveting and he has full earned the Emmy nomination. -Tiffany

Also nominated: Hugh Laurie (House), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series:

Holly Hunter – Saving Grace (TNT)

Previously nominated in the “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series” in 2007 and 2008, this year marks the 3rd consecutive nomination for Holly Hunter, star of the TNT series Saving Grace. In Saving Grace, Hunter plays Grace Hanadarko, a police detective in Oklahoma City who balances the challenges of her grueling professional life against her hard-living and hard-loving lifestyle, while under the protection and guidance of her last chance angel, Earl. Hunter is riveting as she effortlessly slides between Grace’s free-wheeling personal life and tough-as-nails, no-holds barred professional life. One minute she is carefree and the next she has flipped the villain on his back. Hunter’s portrayal is fearless and makes her the perfect match for such a complex and intriguing character. -Tiffany

Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer (TNT)

Kyra Sedgwick is Brenda Lee Johnson in The Closer

One of the nominees in this category is Kyra Sedgwick, who stars as Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson in TNT’s acclaimed series The Closer.  As one of a handful of “older” actresses in a lead role in a prominent hit cable series, Kyra and her fellow nominees – which include Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters), Glenn Close (Damages) and (youngster) Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men) – will be in a tough “battle” for the golden statuette.  It is anyone’s guess who will receive the honor of this award, but I sure wouldn’t want to be an academy voter, as this category is simply too difficult to choose just one. -Rueben

Also nominated: Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters), Glenn Close (Damages), Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men)

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series:

John Slattery – Mad Men (AMC)

Roger Sterling is an ass, but one that somehow it’s impossible to look away from as he does something stupid. In the second season, we watched as Roger had one last boys’ night with a departing member of the company before ending his twenty-plus-year marriage and wanting to marry one of the girls from the secretarial pool. -Louise

Also nominated: William Shatner (Boston Legal), Christian Clemenson (Boston Legal), William Hurt (Damages), Michael Emerson (Lost), Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series:

We don’t watch any of these series, so by default our vote goes to the always wonderful Dianne Wiest (In Treatment). -Melissa

Also nominated: Cherry Jones (24), Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), Rose Byrne (Damages), Hope Davis (In Treatment)

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series:

Mad Men – “A Night To Remember” (AMC): Robin Veith, Matthew Weiner
Mad Men – “Six Month Leave” (AMC): Andre Jacquemetton, Maria
Jacquemetton, Matthew Weiner
Mad Men – “The Jet Set” (AMC): Matthew Weiner
Mad Men – “Meditations In An Emergency” (AMC): Kater Gordon, Matthew Weiner

The writing of Mad Men weaves a series of tapestries where some small string from early in the season will pay off into the larger piece through a collection of carefully dropped lines in each episode. With the help of the rest of the writers, Matthew Weiner has managed to work the myriad storylines into a season that takes all thirteen episodes to fully understand. -Louise