Michelle Forbes, "The Killing"

Nomination Status: Well, she *was* nominated last year.

In Her Favor: Emmy voters are complacent. They aren't opposed to nominating new and fresh faces, but the tendency is to let nominated talent carry-over nominations year-to-year. And, to her credit, Forbes was very deserving last year and she continued to do very strong work on "The Killing" in Season 2, whenever the writers happened to remember she was there.

Working Against Her: The degree to which the writers on "The Killing" squandered Forbes as an asset this past season boggles the mind. She went off on a spiritual quest to... a hotel somewhere. And she met... a young woman. And... nothing. For the love of Pete, Veena Sud! Michelle Forbes was an Emmy nominee. If she fails to repeat, it will not be her fault.