Who was merely good and who truly gave a performance for the ages?
With the voting period over with and the nominations coming on July 12, the 2018 Emmy Awards are rounding into shape. There will be no doubters and choices that could have been released the minute that a particular episode concluded, but there are others that I truly believe in. I don't care what the experts and majority of critics say; I'm breaking bad here and simply telling you who was marvelous this past year in television.
More and more with each year, television is giving movies a run for its money, in both worth and skill. Television shows branching more into cinematic storytelling or simply providing better escapes and powerful themes. Something is changing and it's not a bad thing. Without further delay, here are ten actors/actresses that I think should be nominated in no particular order.
10) Mandy Moore for NBC's This Is Us
Anyone who watches this tearjerker knows that the show centers mostly around Milo Ventimiglia's Jack Pearson, and for good reason. The way that he died powers both of the show's time frames, the past and present. However, Jack wouldn't be as noteworthy or memorable without Moore's Rebecca. If Ventimiglia is the heart and soul of the show, Moore is the rock. It is easily the actress' best work, and something that she poured passion into for it to be right. While she wears a lot of makeup to play the older Rebecca, Moore's best work comes in the younger years, when she was reeling from the loss of Jack and coping. Moore never dips into melodrama with her portrayal, and that's saying something.
9) Ed Harris for HBO's Westworld
While Season 2 of the epically complex drama has been all over the place and distracting with its time format and subplots, Harris' tragic figure, The Man in Black otherwise known as William, has dominated the show, acting wise. An imperfect man in reality who breaks bad in the world of make believe that is the theme park, Harris doesn't quiver when showing us the darkness. William decided a long time ago what kind of man he was going to be, and Harris leans into every bad deed and morally ambiguous moment. He's a gem on a show that tries way too hard to mean everything.
8) Jonathan Tucker for DirecTV's Kingdom
Tucker is the epitome of a chameleon. He slips into a character's skin like he's lived there for years before the script was even written. There's something about him that just rings true when he appears on screen. While his future is bright, he will never play someone with more depth, charisma, and tragic capabilities than Jay Kulina. The gifted yet troubled son of a former MMA legend, Jay turned down the dirt road instead of riding the smooth highway to success. The downtrodden ways of this addict of many kinds allows Tucker to go wild with emotion and ambition. Just look at his eyes during a scene; they tell a much bigger story. The Emmy voters have been avoiding this masterpiece for three years, which is due to the fact that DirecTV doesn't market the show at all. That's too bad. I'll just have to do it all myself.
7) Maggie Siff for Showtime's Billions
While Paul Giamatii and Damian Lewis chew scenery and make the floor of Showtime's high-caliber drama shake, Siff is the true power of Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Andrew Ross Sorkin's multi-faceted tale of power, corruption, and lots and lots of money. Married to Giamatti's U.S. State's Attorney while working as the wicked mind of healing for Lewis' hedge fund genius, she has a foot and say in each world of high stakes power brokering-and Siff mesmerizes by using restraint and sheer calm. She was fine on FXX's Sons of Anarchy, but here she has a whole warehouse to play with when it comes to possibilities and ability to turn shade and play the heel. Plus, there's something deviously sexy about her sitting in a chair with the legs crossed and the smile of knowledge buckling men's knees. They say every great man has a woman standing behind them. Billions blows that up like a blimp and hangs it over our Sunday nights.
6) Hank Azaira for IFC's Brockmire
Give me another actor who can talk poetically about pleasuring a woman while providing the details of an at-bat in a baseball game and pounding rye whiskey. Azaria created the beast that is Jim Brockmire, a talented voice of the game who revels in blowing up his own career with epic rants that only the minds behind Funny or Die could come up with. Acerbic and dripping with dirty wit, Brockmire doesn't hang its hat on the sleaze of its central character's worst traits, but instead pays tribute to a game that can save a soul. Without baseball, this guy would be dead, but he challenges the theory for 18 episodes, which are now all available. Azaria dedicated the character to voices he grew up listening to, and then added a thick layer of comedic filth that never wears on you. You'll laugh a lot at this philosopher with a heart of gold, even when he wakes up with two sexually transmitted diseases on top of a pool table in his underwear and proceeds to reach for a glass of whiskey.
5) Frank Grillo for DirecTV's Kingdom
There are certain roles that fit an actor like an glove and others that challenge the artist to take his craft to another level, a place that may be uncomfortable yet fulfilling. Alvey Kulina was both for Grillo, a guy who has made his living as an authentic man of action. Here, as the patriarch of a family of fighters, Grillo's Kulina was an analog soul fighting to stay alive in a digital world. His two sons were vastly different tornadoes of opportunity and need, and there was Kiele Sanchez's Lisa, who couldn't tame the beast inside Alvey. If you are a Grillo fan, you love seeing him fight and throw punches. Here, I loved seeing him tear himself apart over grief or indecision. The show's third and final season took Grillo to a whole other level of performance, as his world came crumbling down right as he made a return to the ring. Grillo's work was brutally honest, deviously passionate, and wholly in the moment. It deserves recognition. Again, since the network is content is bury the show, I'll spread the praise.
4) Milo Ventimiglia for NBC's This Is Us
I didn't see this performance coming at all. Ventimiglia had acquitted himself well in Rocky Balboa, Heroes, and Gilmore Girls, but he was always the groomsmen and never the main event. In this powerful and emotional series that spans 40+ years, Ventimiglia's Jack Pearson was the center of the show. The perfect family man on the surface who quietly grappled with addiction, Jack died tragically in a manner that viewers didn't know about until the end of Season 2. In order to make that feasible and reliable for over 30 episodes, you needed an actor who could hold your attention and break your heart. Ventimiglia did that and then some. He has crafted a character who will show us different filters over the course of this show's run, and we will eat every one up like ice cream, because of how good of a performance hs gives. Every line of dialogue and look is legit, leaving us wanting more. An actor is never out of the fight. There's a monumental game changer out there for everyone.
3) Emmy Rossum for Showtime's Shameless
Pardon the pun, but can we please hand Emmy an Emmy award? I mean, finally. I love William H. Macy's human grenade portrayal of Frank Gallagher, but so does the voting committee. Perhaps, they like him a little too much. Rossum has done a lot of heavy lifting in past seasons, but the eighth round saw her Fiona branch out completely on her own in cleaning up and leasing an apartment building, going to war with her brother, and seal off some old wounds. Rossum is a classic beauty and a fierce talent. She seems to get better with every season, so it's about time, award people. Get it right!
2) Claire Danes for Showtime's Homeland
It's not easy playing a bipolar CIA agent, but Danes has made it look easy on the long-running counter-terrorism series. While the show has had its ups and downs in creativity and worthwhile stories, Danes' work has never wavered. You believed in her Carrie Mathison even when the woman herself lost faith. Before the latest season, the creators had tabled her condition and stuck to different methods to ratchet up the suspense. The seventh season made a u-turn and centered it on Carrie's bipolar disorder and how it could wage war not only on her home life, but her job and well-being. Seeing the cause and effect of her work correlating with being off her meds provided a breakthrough for the writers to get back to the core of the series: the feeling of being powerless in the war against terror. As an audience, we were Carrie, stricken by the condition of being civilians in the place of a medical condition-but a feeling all the same. Danes gave everything and deserves attention. She made it all work.
1) Sterling K. Brown for NBC's This Is Us
Randall Pearson doesn't take it easy on himself, and there are reasons for that. A complicated childhood followed by losing your dad before you leave the house can have an effect on one's upbringing, and Brown taps into all of that on the NBC hit series. Playing a man constantly striving for perfection, the St. Louis native doesn't pass up a single moment to make a piece of dialogue sting the heart. Season 2 may have been about Jack's demise, but it also flashed forward into a future where Randall had gotten old and was dealing with problems all too familiar and raw. It gave fans a glimpse of what could be a Randall-centric story line, and Brown can handle it. Armed with a commanding voice and chiseled features, Brown always leaves you wondering what's going on inside Randall's head. He makes you curious. It's a layered performance that should gather more steam. You know what else? Brown injects humor into the dramatic story and doesn't overplay a scene even when it offers the opportunity. He doesn't have a showy role, but he commands your attention. He was great on FXX's The People Versus O.J. Simpson, but he's better on This Is Us.
Honorable Mentions: Rosie O' Donnell for Showtime's SMILF, Thandie Newton for HBO's Westworld, Liev Schreiber for Showtime's Ray Donovan, Molly Shannon for HBO's Divorce.
Can you tell I watch a lot of premium cable? Sorry, network television, but that's a call for you to be better. Pay attention Emmy voters. You don't have to hand every award to Game of Thrones or invent new awards to hand to the show. You can think deeper and step outside the box. Think about the truly impeccable performances that confounded and electrified your small screen palette.
That's all I got. Thanks for reading and stay entertained while I'm gone.
