SubscribeComedy series acting races: By the numbers
While the women contending for lead performer in a drama series far outshine their male counterparts when it comes to award hardware, the comedy contenders are more evenly matched. Before today's nominations, the five men up for lead actor in a comedy series counted 12 performance Emmy nominations among them with 3 wins (albeit all by Tony Shalhoub, who now has six successive nods for "Monk.")
Alec Baldwin, the sole Oscar nominee of the bunch, is a five-time Emmy performance nominee as well as a 2001 producing nominee for the miniseries "Nuremberg." He picked up his second consecutive nod for "30 Rock" today. Both Steve Carell ("The Office") and Charlie Sheen ("Two and a Half Men") earned their third consecutive lead nominations today. Newcomer to the pack is Lee Pace, a first-time nominee for the freshman season of "Pushing Daisies."
While Emmy has proved to be a fickle mistress for these actors, they have had much more luck with the Golden Globes, winning four of 17 nominations. Sheen is one for three at the Globes with a 2002 win for "Spin City" and two losing bids for "Two and Half Men." Shalhoub won the first of his four Globe nods for "Monk" back in 2003. Steve Carell won the first of his three consecutive Globe nods for "The Office" in 2006 and Baldwin, a five-time Globe TV nominee, won for the first season of "30 Rock" in 2007. Pace is a two-time Globe nominee, with a 2004 nod for the telefilm "Soldier's Girl" and a bid for "Pushing Daisies" last January. (By the way, the winner then was the Emmy-snubbed David Duchovny for "Californication.")
Before today's nominations, the five women up for lead actress in a comedy series already counted 17 performance Emmy nominations and five performance wins among them, with only Tina Fey ("30 Rock") not having at least one performance Emmy on her mantle. But don't feel too bad for Fey –- while she lost this acting race last year, she won an Emmy for producing best comedy series "30 Rock" and already had an Emmy for writing "SNL" in 2002. (And Fey is a quadruple nominee this year with nods for starring in, writing and producing "30 Rock" as well as hosting "SNL.")
Julia Louis-Dreyfus had seven successive nominations in the supporting category for "Seinfeld" (1992 to 1998) with one win in 1996. This year marks her third consecutive nod for "The New Adventures of Old Christine" with a win in 2006. She was bested last year by America Ferrera for the freshman season of "Ugly Betty" who returns to compete again this year.
Also edged out by Ferrera last year was the versatile Mary-Louise Parker for "Weeds." Earlier that evening, she lost her bid for lead actress in a movie or miniseries ("The Robber Groom"). Her sole Emmy win came in 2004 for supporting actress in a movie or miniseries for "Angels in America" while her first nod was in 2002 for supporting actress in a drama series for "The West Wing."
New to the race this year for her freshman series "Samantha Who?" is Christina Applegate. While she was never nominated for her decade long run on "Married With Children," Applegate did win an Emmy for her guest spot on "Friends" in 2003 and got another nod for that role the following year.
At the Golden Globes, these women are five wins for twelve nominations. Parker is two for four with wins for "Angels in America" and "Weeds" in 2006. Ferrera won a Globe for her first season of "Ugly Betty" in 2007 and was also a nominee last winter when Fey won her sole Globe for "30 Rock." Louis-Dreyfus is one for three at the Globes with a 1996 win for "Seinfeld" while Applegate is winless after two nods -- last January for "Samantha Who?" and in 1999 for her short-lived sitcom "Jesse."
Duchovny not even getting a nomination is a total joke! I've only been following these awards shows for a couple years now, but from what I've seen so far I think the Golden Globe voters do a much better job than the Emmy voters.
Posted by: Kevin | July 20, 2008 at 04:52 PM