Emmy Reactions Pt 2: What We Do in the Shadows, Unbelievable, Mrs America...
Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 12:19PM We polled Team Experience yesterday with several questions on the brand new Emmy nominations. In part one we explored fav nominations and anger-inducing snubs. Here are four more pressing questions -- and please provide your own answers to compliment our teams in the comments!
- What We Do in the Shadows surprised with a big nomination haul but none for its actors. Who you think is most deserving from that hilarious show?
- What happened to Unbelievable? Only 4 nominations and only 1 acting nod.
- Mrs America landed three Supporting Actress nods: Uzo Aduba, Margot Martindale and Tracey Ullman. Were those your three favourite from that series?
- Which acting category is the sexiest?
Our individual answers are after the jump...
Which actor on What We Do in the Shadows most deserved a nomination?
SPENCER COILE: Mark Proksch’s dryness to the energy-sucking Colin Robinson is the perfect antidote to the show’s general kookiness. He should’ve cracked Supporting Actor.
NATHANIEL: Nominations all around. But if forced to choose it would be a three-way dead heat between Harvey Guillen as the underestimated and much-abused familiar, Mark Proksch's inspired deadpan glee as the energy vampire Colin Robinson, and Natasia Demetriou as Nadja (though she has the misfortune of being the always stacked Best Actress in a Comedy race). Oh and Vanessa Bayer 1000% deserved a Guest Actress in a Comedy Emmy (not just nomination) for her inspired performance as emotional vampire "Evie". This is exactly the kind of performance that category is ideal for but always denies. I was laughing so hard my face hurt I watched the episode three times tp not miss any comic beat. This hasn't happened to me since the heyday of 30 Rock.
GABRIEL MAYORA:It’s such a finely tuned ensemble that I’d have been happy with all five principals being singled out. If I had to choose, I’d go with Harvey Guillén because he has the most surprisingly fun moments in the show and he’s such a badass in the action sequences.
What happened to Unbelievable?
ERIC BLUME: I think the first episode of Unbelievable is such a difficult sit (watching Kaitlin Dever retell her story over and over and over and over again) that many viewers opt out early. Of course, that retelling is crucial to the narrative and the power of the piece, and Dever is superb, but I've talked to a lot of people who find the first episode "tedious" and they don't wish to continue. It's criminal that at least one of the leads (Dever or Wever) didn't make the cut over a few of the less inspired choices.
JUAN CARLOS OJANO: I am furious about this. Doesn't make any sense. Wever is a two-time Emmy winner and Dever's showcase is the gripping pilot episode. If you watch this show (and it seems like they did), you cannot separate those three performances. The impact of the acting trio is how they differ in acting styles, intensities, and characterizations and how those beautifully come together.
EUROCHEESE: I'll be honest - Collette was the stand out in the show, especially because we've seen such a range of parts from her so recently. She's so unsung for her lovely work (her incredible Hereditary performance, her Gooped Knives Out showing, and now this - three women who have almost nothing in common), and I hope we're building up momentum to an eventual "she doesn't have an Oscar yet?" run in coming years. I'm just happy she made it in.
MURTADA ELFADL: The lead actress category was stacked and the show premiered a long time ago. Happy Colette managed to stick in voters’ minds.
BEN MILLER: The Emmys only love misery porn when men are involved (ahem...Chernobyl). When you spotlight a woman and the terrible things that are happening to her, they could care less.
SPENCER COILE: I’d rather not discuss the glaring omission of Kaitlyn Dever or Merritt Wever. I need more time to grieve.
Who were the three best Supporting Actresses in Mrs America?
ERIC BLUME: Azuba, Martindale, and Ullman all inhabit their characters beautifully, and it's great to see them all in there, but all three are Emmy darlings, so no big surprises. I'd have gone with Rose Byrne (finding some comic resignation to Gloria Steinem), Ari Graynor (tracking a complicated sexual awakening with sharp precision), and Sarah Paulson (who is required to make quicksilver transitions in her big episode). But Mrs. America was graced with probably the most superb acting across the board of any show this year.
SPENCER COILE: I’m not upset with the three who made it, but I prefer Aduba, Byrne and Paulson. The Paulson-centric episode is one of the highlights of the year so far.
EUROCHEESE: Azuba and Ullman blew my socks off. Martindale was great, but she's always great. I think I'd give her slot to Paulson, who I loved so much in her drunken stumble through the women's conference, leading to accidental enlightenment.
LYNN LEE: Gun to head, I'd swap out Aduba for Sarah Paulson - because Paulson, and because she manages to create a fully developed, even sympathetic three-dimensional character out of a fictional "composite" anti-ERA activist. But I'm 100% on board the Margo Martindale train - hers is my favorite performance in the series - and also really liked Tracey Ullman, whose unlikely casting as Betty Friedan works surprisingly well.
GABRIEL MAYORA:Aduba deserves a spin-off series of her own. I’d have gone with Aduba, Paulson (the emotional cornerstone of the series), and Ari Graynor, who gets the best line reading of the series (“oh my God, did you just make up a case?”)
MURTADA ELFADL: I think the Academy made the right choice give or take Ari Graynor. I loved her performance but when I think about who of the three nominated I would’ve replaced her with I come up empty.
NATHANIEL R: It's hard to argue with their choices as all three were superb. I am that rare person who does not love everything Margot Martindale does and this is my favourite of her performance since Paris Je T'Aime. But honestly, Mrs America should have hogged the whole category, give or take Allison Janney in Bad Education (also weirdly shut out). I'm especially missing Rose Byrne's tired but hugely charismatic Steinem.
Which acting category is the sexiest?
BEN MILLER: I'll use Best Comedy Actress as an excuse to extoll my eternal love for Linda Cardellini, but I'll happily take the other five ladies, including Catherine "I will be 95 and still sexy!" O'Hara
GABRIEL MAYORA: Supporting Actor in a Drama hands down, though I wouldn’t kick the Lead Actor in a Comedy nominees out of bed.
ERIC BLUME: That Lead Actress in a Drama category contains six extraordinarily sexy women, each sexy in her own way across a wide range of ages and looks, but all similar in the steely intelligence they bring to their roles.
JUAN CARLOS OJANO: Limited Series Actor, easily. Anything with Paul Mescal already wins any 'sexiest category', but just look at his company: Jeremy Irons, Hugh Jackman, Jeremy Pope, Mark Ruffalo. That's literally a group scenario fantasy right there. Please excuse my thirst.
SPENCER COILE: Pretty sure I’m preaching to a parched choir when I say Lead Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie. Five brilliant turns from five dreamboats? Winners, all of them!
LYNN LEE: Lead actor in a miniseries/TV movie. I'm showing my age here, but any category that includes both Hugh Jackman and Mark Ruffalo automatically vaults to "sexiest" in my book. Add in the two hot young dudes (Mescal, Pope) and the unmistakable velvet drawl of Jeremy Irons - a bona fide thinking (wo)man's heartthrob back in the day who's still quite the handsome older gentleman - and you've got a panty-dropper for just about anyone.
Your turn, readers, sound off!
Reader Comments (20)
My favorites from Mrs. America would've been Ullman, Byrne and Paulson, give or take Martindale. Aduba didn't impress me any more than Banks did. She was a very good stand-in for Chisolm but felt like little more than a stand-in to me.
Byrne gave a sneakily resonant and specific performance that somehow sticks with me more than the others even though she didn't have big drama to play, and it's a very idiosyncratic take on Steinem. But I think maybe Ullman was the best of the bunch.
What We Do in the Shadows: Every single one of them should have been nominated, including several guest stars like Mark Hamill.
Unbelievable: Eric Blume perfectly described my reaction to the series—I still haven't gotten past the pilot. (And Run may have distracted voters from Merritt Wever's work in this.)
Mrs. America: As I wrote yesterday, Paulson's performance in her showcase episode (and throughout the series) is the best work of her TV career; then I'd pick Ari Graynor and Elizabeth Banks. But you knew it'd be two-time winner Aduba, three-time winner Martindale and five-time winner Ullman. Emmy loves its default nominees.
Sexiest acting category: Helena Bonham Carter, Laura Dern, Julia Garner, Thandie Newton, Sarah Snook, Fiona Shaw, Meryl Streep, Samira Wiley. Need I say more?
Netflix shows have such a short life in the culture, because they're consumed in a weekend and gone. If Unbelievable had premiered in April, or if it had a weekly rollout, it would have been more successful. As it is, I really loved it back when, but I admit, it is easy to forget about it this many months later.
I said that Paulson was the omission that most angered me yesterday. She was my favorite cast member. But I also am really happy Tracy Ullman made the line-up. Casting her as Betty Friedan was a genius move, and it also allowed her to showcase a part of her talent I haven't seen.
I found Ullman absolutely magnificent in MRS. AMERICA, though Martindale, per usual, also rocked.
workingstiff -- OHMY... YES. i'd forgotten how great Mark Hamill was in his guest spot.
jules -- so true about netflix. I had actually doubted unbelievable's staying power but all the tv pundits kept predicting it so i assumed they were right. oops.
WWDITS nominations - IDEK. I don't really watch that show outside of a few minutes here and there.
Unbelievable snub - I'm gonna second Murtada's answer. Seems to be the way the voters were thinking.
Mrs America's Supporting Ladies - If I had a ballot I would've chosen Paulson, Byrne, and Martindale, with Byrne as MVP (aside from Cate The Great). In fact, both Mrs. America and Watchmen filled up Supporting Actress on my ballot, tbh.
Sexiest Category - Can't really answer that lol.
Well, I'm glad at least Regina King is now being considered by most the frontrunner to win Best Actress in A Limited Series. The way some of the TV media were trying to make Cate Blanchett's overrated performance in Mrs America a forgone conclusion, when Regina was so dynamic in carrying the strongest show of the year was almost criminal.
Happiest suprise nomination for me was Paul Mescal for Normal People. Thought he was a longshot, so glad he made it.
The supporting ladies of Mrs America sometimes overshadowed Blanchett
I'd give Byrne the win hands down,
I thought too much happened too quickly in Paulson's episode though it was always going that way for her character
Uzo is magnificent and very specific,I hadn't seen her act in anything before so it's nice when a newbie gets in.
Martindale seemed to be riffing on her own personality rather than the real Bellas.
Banks had little to play and although solid felt slightly miscast.
Ullman was ok but a little too sketch show.
I thought Jeanne Tripplehorn was great in her smaller role.
*slams fists on table* ARI GRAYNOR!!!
wwdits: matt berry [the jackie daytona episode]
unbelievable: my feelings exactly over wever/dever missing
ms america: uzo, rose, ari
sexiest: guest actor in a comedy series
Mark Hamill totally should have got the nod for WWDITS as Jim the Vampire. The entire episode of "On The Run" was art. It's nominated for writing and I REALLY hope it wins! Matt Berry as Jackie Daytona was too notch and I've watched that episode alone 20 times this month. Glad to see that show getting on more radars!
Harvey Guillén was my dream pick so he would've been my easy pick among the cast, but that show is just SO well calibrated ensemble-wise that you really can't go wrong.
As for UNBELIEVABLE, I do think it's a whole bunch of factors that everyone has already mentioned. Tough subject, ridiculously competitive category, vote splitting, etc. Too bad because they were amazing.
And finally, I tried to find a creative answer for the sexiest category, but most of you got it right. Limited Series Actor is a fuckfest.
have to stick up for Chernobyl though. Emmy absolutely got it right: it was the best thing on television last year.
I blame Run for detracting voters for Weaver but there's no excuse for Kaitlyn Dever. I can't believe she was was shut out.
Brittani -- the RUN interference does make a kind of sense so i think that plus how long ago the show aired.
Luckys -- Laszlo is actually my least favourite of the 5 main characters but that episode was *chef's kiss*... now i love Laszlo.
The whole cast of Shadows is just SO GOOD.
I would have nominated Paulson, Martindale and Paulson, but honestly Mrs America should have won everything!
Lead actor movie/mini can wreck me.
Martindale,
Paulson,
Ullman.
Period.
And Byrne alongside Blanchett as leading.
There's something very wrong about Emmy noms:
PAULSON WAS ROBBED!
And I'll never forgive them.
Wever is hardly underrated with two Emmys under her belt, but come on. "Run" was an imperfect show, hence its cancellation because nobody behind the scenes knew where to take it. But that first scene of the pilot when Wever is deciding to go into a store and continue her mundane existence or run off with her former lover is silent acting at its finest. Contrast this with her terrific performance in "Unbelievable," and it's just insane that she didn't make the cut.
Sexiest category is off course Actor in Limited. Mescal will go down as the FIND of 2020. Super easy on the eyes, polite and modest in interviews, and just a knockout performance in "Normal People." Ruffalo, Irons, Pope, and Jackman are icing on the Mescal cake.
Harvey Guillen is the MVP in my opinion, in a perfect ensemble, in What we do in the shadows.I am pissed that no actor from the show would be nominated.. maybe SAG Ensemble in the future?
Aside from Blanchett, Ullmann and Byrne are the standouts for me. Gaynor would be nominated in a potential guest actress in a limited series category