Emmy Nomination Preview 2011 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama
With three-time winner Bryan Cranston out, the field is wide open
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Last Year's Nominees:
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Kyle Chandler, "Friday Night Lights"
Hugh Laurie, "House"
Matthew Fox, "Lost"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Attrition: After three straight nominations and three straight wins, Cranston will take a year off to let somebody else win. With "Lost" departed, Fox is also out. Even if you assume the other four nominees stand a strong chance of returning, that still leaves two empty slots and at least a dozen very real contenders. OK. Fine. It actually leaves one sure-thing addition and a dozen real contenders for the last slot.
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June 21, 2011 at 2:28AM EST Reply to CommentSave for the one season show actors, I actually think all the actors in the gallery have a real shot to be nominated and I think Jon Hamm and Steve Buscemi are the locks for nods. I think Michael C. Hall and Hugh Laurie could be overshadowed with the other veteran actors in contention.
This will be an interesting set of nominees. And this is like the exact opposite of the Lead Actor in Comedy when the competition is light that Matthew Morrison could get another nod for crying out loud haha
dan Forg - *Both* lead acting categories for comedy are ridiculously thin. Only 24 submissions for Lead Actress comedy, total... The ones at the top are pretty great, though...
June 21, 2011 at 11:30AM EST-Daniel
LJA
June 21, 2011 at 2:58AM EST Reply to CommentWow, this category is about as crowded as it gets. I think Hamm's the one to beat this year, it doesn't get much better than The Suitcase.
Besides that, Donal Logue and Sean Bean need to play brothers.
GuyITC
June 21, 2011 at 4:18AM EST Reply to CommentHere's how hard this category is: I considered 12 of the 20 people above. In this case, I'll actually rank the candidates I believe should have a shot.
1. John Hamm (Mad Men)
2. Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights)
3. Peter Krause (Parenthood)
4. Timothy Olyphant (Justified)
5. Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
6. Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire)
7. Donald Logue (Terriers)
8. Holt McCallany (Lights Out)
9. William H. Macy (Shameless)
10. Andrew Lincoln (Walking Dead)
11. Ray Romano (Men of a Certain Age)
12. James Badge Dale (Rubicon)
To be honest, that second group is pretty freaking good.
As much as I love Chandler, I have to give it to the Hammer.
Ryan
June 21, 2011 at 6:12AM EST Reply to CommentJon Hamm should definitely win the award this year with two of the most emotional episodes I've ever seen performed with "The Suitcase" and "Hands and Knees" and Timothy Olyphant deserves the nod over Steve Buscemi if only because I think Boardwalk would still be good without him while Justified would be nothing without Olyphant's charismatic and steely performance. He's the closest thing to an American hero since Jack Bauer went off the air.
mrbilliam
June 21, 2011 at 10:28AM EST Reply to CommentThe Emmys are all about TV: why are the voters so impressed by a movie star slumming it on TV? If anyone DIDN'T share the opinion that movies are automatically superior to television, it should be the Emmy voters.
sepinwall Nearly everyone who works in television wishes they were working in movies. It's illogical, but it's the state of things.
June 21, 2011 at 10:55AM ESTdan MrBilliam - Everybody gets star struck by a movie star, even other movie stars. Sandra Bullock is an Oscar winner because even Oscar voters get a little star-struck sometimes. Emmy voters are no different. They just have a wider range of people to be impressed by...
June 21, 2011 at 11:16AM EST-Daniel
MortalKombat14 There are plenty of actors that prefer to work in television much more these days. Al Pacino basically only does HBO specials in the last decade. Michael C Hall has been on TV for the last decade in Six Feet Under and Dexter instead of going after a movie career. A lot of TV actors know that if they have a great role, great fanbase, nominations for awards and a steady paycheck then theres no reason to do movies all the time. The problem with movies these days is their over reliance on special effects over story and characters. Not to mention getting an award winning or nominating performance in movies is a hundred to one longshot. If you notice all the big movie stars almost never get nominated for an oscar. How long do you want to bet Natalie Portman and Sandra Bullock won't be nominated for another oscar for a long long time. There is also a lot of movie actors out there that think their acting should come at a premium so they barely even do movies except for a large paycheck and those movies they do are never award worthy. Good examples of this are Harrison Ford and Will Smith. No summer movie can hold a candle to Mad Men or Breaking Bad. You would also be hard pressed to find 60 hours of movies that rival the 60 hours of The Wire in the last decade.
June 21, 2011 at 2:24PM ESTLaurie Mann
June 21, 2011 at 11:52AM EST Reply to CommentI think House jumped the shark years ago and Hugh Laurie too (sadly). I'd like to see Game of Thrones get many nominations because it's a very audacious, sophisticated work and and the adaptation, writing, design and direction of the series has been brilliant.
CFHCL
June 21, 2011 at 11:59PM EST Reply to CommentLove Hamm in Mad Men but the most deserving in this category is Chandler. To me there has never been a better played character in all of television. He is a tremendous actor that portrays father/husband/coach so incredibly well that you feel like you are part of the family or the team. I think too often Emmy's are awarded for moments created by producers rather then a season of collective work. Chandler deserves this.
Jaxemer11
June 27, 2011 at 2:05PM EST Reply to CommentI hope Chandler can get his Emmy, as it is the last chance for this amazing character. I also wish the Emmy voters would have rewarded Laurie in the past. He is amazing, but as of late the show has dropped off. I loved Game of Thrones and I loved the Ned Stark character, but I didn't think it was an amazing, innovative performance from Bean (it seemed like every other character he has played), so I actually wouldn't nominate him if I had the chance.
Macy is not the best part of Shameless, though I do think he does a decent job. He should be in the comedy category though.