Emmy FYC: Supporting Actress (Comedy) - Constance Zimmer in UnREAL
Friday, June 10, 2016 at 9:30PM Emmy nomination voting begins Monday. For the next week or two we'll be sharing FYCs of some kind. Here's Anne Marie...
If you've watched TV in the last ten years, you've seen Constance Zimmer. She was the snarky hot chick in Entourage, the snarky hot campaign spokesperson in The Newsroom, and the snarky hot secret agent in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Constance Zimmer has made a career using her trademark wit, smoked-three-packs-of-cigarettes voice, and deadpan delivery, but it took a role as a cruel, cold, and possibly murderous TV showrunner on Lifetime's surprise breakout hit UnREAL to show audiences Zimmer's full potential as a character actress.
If you haven't seen UnREAL yet (in which case you should head to Hulu right now and finish this article later): Constance Zimmer plays Quinn King, the executive producer of a reality dating show called Everlasting a la The Bachelor. While most of the season revolves around the poor life choices of Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby), Zimmer steals scenes with so-awful-they're-fun lines like:
Alright people! You get cash bonuses for 9-1-1 calls, nudity, catfights! Go!
It would be easy to dismiss Quinn King as yet another snarky supporting character. However, as the season progresses and Quinn's relationship with her co-producer Chet disintigrates, Zimmer shades in the power-grabbing executive. Little backstory is given on Quinn, but she doesn't need large speeches to explain her actions. She's angry, she's amoral, she's desperate to be the best, and she's devastatingly good at making bad television. If this was a different show, she might be called an antihero.
In Zimmer's best scene of the season, Rachel storms into Quinn's office planning to ruin the show. Quinn, just off of a breakup with Chet that involved several lawsuits, blackmail, and sabatoge, shows Rachel a wedding magazine she'd been saving, proof that she almost bought the lie she sells on TV every week.
"I mean, it's humiliating, right? Quinn as the pretty pretty princess with her drug-addict married prince."
In a television year where women are still judged on whether they're "relatable" and female newscasters back down from fights against sexism, Quinn King feels like the avenging avatar of the post-feminist working woman. She's racist, she's homophobic, she slut-shames and caters to gender stereotypes to get her way, but she also refuses to "lean in" or "have it all." Quinn isn't a feminist icon or possibly even a feminist; instead she's fully-rounded, fully screwed up woman. You don't have to like Quinn King to appreciate how good Constance Zimmer is in UnREAL. Just consider how much duller TV would be without people like her.
Constance Zimmer, Emmy, FYC, Supporting Actress, TV
Reader Comments (9)
Um girl,UnReal is drama, definitely not comedy.
Other than that, I also think that Zimmer deserves at least a nom this year, afterall she won Best Supporting Actress in Drama Series at the Critics Choice.
And she was also the snarky hot co-worker in House of Cards!
The show is funny, but it's definitely a drama. And Zimmer and Appleby are marvelous.
I think UnReal is a dramedy that could be in either category (then again, I think OITNB should be a comedy), but it appears it's being campaigned in the drama category for the Emmys.
That said, I definitely think Zimmer deserves a nomination. I wish that whole category would get an overhaul - there are so many good supporting actresses in drama series but many of them do not get Emmy attention.
Yeah, given it straddles the line sometimes but is 60 minutes I think it's classified as a drama.
Either way, she's entirely deserving. As is the show.
Unreal is one of my favorite shows and it's recent returns only further proves Zimmer and Appleby NEED to be at the Emmys this year. I even wrote a similar article about it on Awards Circuit http://www.awardscircuit.com/2016/06/01/circuit-consideration-unreal-finds-social-commentary-reality-tv/
This is one of the smartest, most unique shows on television right now.
UnReal Drama competes in Drama Series, so Constance Zimmer compete in Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She won the Critics' Choice TV in a category that included Ann Dowd (The Leftovers) Regina King (The Leftovers) Helen McCrory (Penny Dreadful) Hayden Panettiere (Nashville) and Maura Tierney (The Affair)
The best thing of this TV-being-awesome period is that is giving a career to actresses like Constance Zimmer.
I LOVE UnReal, and adore Constance Zimmer both in general and on the show. She's so great at unrepentant douchebaggery that the vulnerability, when it comes, hits even harder. She was great and totally deserving of a nomination, but.... Did they really successfully appeal to have this considered a Comedy? Because that would be even stranger than the Shameless debacle.
As great as Constance Zimmer was playing the role of Quinn King on UnREAL she would be nothing without Shiri Appleby. Shiri gets a gold star as well. This was her coming out party. She’s still not a household name just yet but give her some time and that will all change. She’s been working in the business for 30+ years and hopefully all that hard work will have paid off. Shiri was absolutely brilliant. This was the role she was born to play. Best role of her career for sure. I could not see anyone else playing the role of Rachel Goldberg other than Shiri Appleby. They both put 110% into UnREAL and it shows. They made me forget they were acting. I also don't need an award to know how good UnREAL was. Best show of 2015. In my opinion of course.
P.S. while UnREAL can be very funny at times it's still an hour long Drama.