Martin Short, "Damages"

Nomination Status: Strong candidate and probably nominee

In His Favor: If William Hurt got an Emmy nomination for sleep-walking through the second season of "Damages," Short should be a lock for pretty much taking everything you've ever known and loved about his comedic persona and tossing it out the window with convincing ease. It was an intriguing character, a strong performance and Short actually is an Emmy voter favorite, picking up nominations for oddball performances in "Primetime Glick" and "Merlin," as well as nods (and win) for "SCTV" and his daytime show back in the day. This should be an easy nod, even with the competition in the category.

Working Against Him: Maybe Short was *too* understated at times? Probably not. More likely to hurt him is the decline in "Damages" buzz in Season Three. Viewers had already abandoned the show, but will Emmy voters follow suit?