The nominations have been announced for The 71st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. So now, it's time to speculate on who will and should win in each major category. Next up for analysis is Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.The Nominees Ranked By Which Should Win:
- Stephen Root for HBO's Barry - "berkman > block"
- Alan Arkin for Netflix's The Kominsky Method - "Chapter Two: An Agent Grieves"
- Henry Winkler for HBO's Barry - "What?!"
- Anthony Carrigan for HBO's Barry - "Past = Present x Future Over Yesterday"
- Tony Hale for HBO's Veep - "Veep"
- Tony Shalhoub for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - "We're Going to the Catskills!"
Stephen Root is having an absolute blast playing into the villainy of his role on Barry. He is truly a monster who always finds a way to survive and manipulate his way into disrupting the plans the lead character wants to embrace. He is selfish and destructive. And yet, he's insanely but dryly funny as well. That stands in sharp contrast to Anthony Carrigan who is such an upbeat and outrageously funny guy who also happens to be a mobster eager to expand his criminal enterprises. And then, Henry Winkler completes the trifecta as a man consumed by grief but still feels just enough inspiration in order to get up and go about his day. They are all such perfectly calibrated performances that compliment each other even when they are destroying each other's lives in some pretty stunning ways. Root probably had the best overall season but they were all tremendous. Elsewhere, Alan Arkin was given a tremendous singular performance as well. He too was a man consumed by grief and trying to understand how to move on with his life once this significant part of it was gone. It was tragic but uplifting as well. Meanwhile, Tony Hale and Tony Shalhoub do such a great job mining laughs as people who want things to be done a certain way even though the world around them constantly throws them curveballs that basically end up destroying whatever sanity they may have left. They may be the two most outwardly comedic performances amongst the nominees this year - though both deal with some dramatic beats as well.
The Nominees Ranked by Which Will Win:
- Henry Winkler for HBO's Barry - "What?!"
- Alan Arkin for Netflix's The Kominsky Method - "Chapter Two: An Agent Grieves"
- Stephen Root for HBO's Barry - "berkman > block"
- Tony Hale for HBO's Veep - "Veep"
- Tony Shalhoub for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - "We're Going to the Catskills!"
- Anthony Carrigan for HBO's Barry - "Past = Present x Future Over Yesterday"
Once again, it is absolutely staggering to see three actors from Barry nominated in this category. That was a show that saw a clear and concise boost in nominations from the Emmy voters this year. It already had a very warm welcome for its first season. Bill Hader and Henry Winkler did win after all. As such, that momentum may very well be maintained when it comes to announcing the winners this year. Of course, there was a groundswell of support for giving Winkler the award last year simply because it was stunning that he had never won an Emmy before. That just didn't seem right for someone of his stature in the industry. And now, he has one. The urgency of rewarding him again may be lessened this year. He certainly deserves to have more than one career Emmy. This is still a deserving performance as well. Plus, his chances may be bolstered by his co-stars. He is doing such different things than Stephen Root and Anthony Carrigan as well. They are three distinct performances that somehow make a cohesive and magical whole on that show. As such, it's hard to judge them opposite each other. Stephen Root could win because this is somehow his first Emmy nomination despite also having a lengthy and well-regarded career. However, the true spoiler in the race may actually be Alan Arkin. Sure, one can question if it really is a supporting performance considering he's basically the co-lead opposite Michael Douglas. But it was also just a tremendous performance from an actor known for delivering incredible work. The Kominsky Method could really be a show the voters embrace fully. This and lead actor are the major races in which they could do so. Of course, we can't rule out a farewell victory for former winner Tony Hale or awards favorite Tony Shalhoub. It may actually be easy to make the argument for why each of these performers deserves to win. That makes this an insanely competitive race.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my predictions? Let me know in the comments below!
