Emmy Review: Lead Actress in a Drama

By Abe Friedtanzer

Last year’s winner in this highly competitive category – Jodie Comer – is back after her show, Killing Eve, performed much better than most thought it would. This race will surely be close, with a defending champion, three potential new victors, and one dark horse surprise (who I think may just win). 

I’ll try to avoid major plot details in my analysis – but if you'd like more spoiler-filled descriptions, click on the episode titles. Let’s consider each nominee…

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Almost There: Joan Allen in "The Upside of Anger"

by Cláudio Alves

Just as we did last week, today's Almost There was chosen by you, the reader. From a group of 2005 Oscar hopefuls, Joan Allen came out victorious for her work in The Upside of Anger. She got 25% of your votes, beating performances like Zhang Ziyi's watery Sayuri in Memoirs of a Geisha, Maria Bello's steamy turn in A History of Violence, and Scarlett Johansson's arresting Oscar bid in Match Point. All those actresses got closer to the gold than Allen realistically did, but she was still part of the conversation. After all, it's difficult to believe someone could watch The Upside of Anger and not want to shower its leading lady with accolades…

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Shelley Winters @ 100: Bloody Mama (1970)

We're celebrating the centennial of Shelley Winters. Here's Cláudio Alves…

In October 1966, less than six months after her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar win, Shelley Winters appeared in two episodes of the Batman TV show. Winters once again played a villainous mother. Unlike most Batman villains though, Winters' Ma Parker wasn't based on a comic book character but a historical figure. Kate Barker, commonly known as Ma Barker, was the matriarch of a criminal family who terrorized Arizona during the first decades of the 20th century. Boisterous, vicious, merciless, and bad to the bone, this monster mother was, in many ways, a perfect role for Shelley Winters in this period of her career.

It's no wonder then, that four years after the Batman episodes had aired, Winters returned to the iconic part. This time, however, there were no euphemisms or layers of superhero camp between the actress and the character. Roger Corman's Bloody Mama is a biopic of Ma Barker that, more or less, follows the historical narrative. That being said, if you think this is any sort of stuffy Oscar baity prestige picture, you are terribly mistaken...

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"Won and done." The curse of finally winning an Oscar

by Baby Clyde

I recently watched Susan Hayward all but demanding voters hand her the Best Actress Oscar in-movie during 1958's I Want To Live. It got me to thinking about her fellow Academy favourites, whose eventual triumphs were also their Oscar swan song.

If an actor who achieves multiple acting nominations is going to win it’s usually early on. It’s common to bag the statue and then spend the rest of your career chasing another. Bette Davis won on her first 2 attempts and then suffered 8 consecutive losses. Spencer Tracy won on attempts 2 and 3 and then spent the next 30 years and 6 nominations waiting for his name to be called again. Sometimes a veteran actor with multiple nods will finally get the prize and continue on in Oscar good books, like Paul Newman who won on nomination 7 and scored two more in following decades. But a surprisingly high amount of winners who have been made to wait find that their greatest triumph is also their last. 

If you win on your 5th nomination (or later) odds are high that you won't be invited back. Consider...

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Podcast: Emmy Nods & Oscar Worries

with Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl

Hey, it's a wee break from our smackdowning for an old school podcast of rambling conversation!

Index (68 minutes)
00:01 We're back talking about what we've been watching
08:13 Emmy nomination theories and viewing habits. The Mandalorian and more
19:13 Comedy series nominees: Insecure, What We Do in the Shadows, etc...
27:20 Limited Series is what we're both most invested in: Little Fires Everywhere, Unorthodox, Normal People, Mrs America and various acting categories
49:00 Emmy's "creative arts" - why not televised? 
53:00 What kind of an awards season and Oscar race are we heading into? Fall festivals are announcing but not really happening. The movie calendar is in disarray
01:05:00 Critics groups will also postpone their awards

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Emmy Reactions and Oscar Worries