Emmy Confidential: The Ingenue

This is the final entry in our 2017 Emmy® Confidential series. Publishing this week, the Emmy Confidential series allows Emmy voters the opportunity to anonymously discuss what they voted for and why in major Emmy categories.

In our final Emmy Confidential post for the 2017 season, ingenue has been making quite a name for herself on television for the last two years. She’s made appearances on both newer streaming shows (like Netflix’s GLOW) and on comedies on broadcast networks (way too many to name here). The most refreshing thing about our ingenue is that she devoted as much time as possible to voting honestly. Since this was the first time voting as a member of the acting branch, she even made an earnest effort to check out shows she was unfamiliar with. She didn’t partake in the Limited Series races because she felt like she didn’t see enough of the nominees to cast a vote.

As a first time voter, she wanted to make sure she was handling the process the best way. Our ingenue came up with her own system when deciding between performers.

“When everyone in the category is so good, I went with the people who really bared their soul or who moved me the most. I also voted for people who I really empathized with. They don’t give you any criteria of how to rank or choose them, so you have to come up with your own system. When they are all remarkable, I really went with what my heart said.”

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Robin Wright, House of Cards

Evan Rachel Wood is so good on Westworld. It’s so complex how she goes from her robotic state and then back to her more real self. I loved her on that. I just started watching Claire Foy and The Crown, but I think she may have played nervous a lot. I would have just liked to have seen more emotional range from her–at least from the first episode. At the time that I voted, I had only seen the first episode, but I have now seen more. I love Viola Davis in everything, but, for me, How to Get Away with Murder is not at the same level as the other shows. She shines in all of her film work, but I don’t think I should vote for her because she’s great in her movies.

Robin Wright is just so strong and captivating and consistently great. She just owns every scene that she’s in. I feel like people are saying, “The show has gone so downhill” and I’m just like, “No it hasn’t!” It’s always been strong.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series – Sterling K. Brown, This is Us

How do you choose between these guys? I had never seen Better Call Saul until I voted, and I thought Bob Odenkirk was great. I want to watch more of that. Huge fan of House of Cards, and I have huge respect for Kevin Spacey. Milo is so lovable, of course, but I ended up voting for Sterling. He poured his heart and soul into each episode, and he showed so much vulnerability. He’s trying to play this character that’s trying to hold it together, and people don’t expect him to break down like he does. He was just so moving in every episode. I met him at an event once, and he’s also just a very likable person. He deserves it for This is Us.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series – Ron Cephas Jones, This is Us

He was so real and he’s such a beautiful character. When his character dies, it just breaks your heart. I wouldn’t be surprised if John Lithgow won for The Crown, because he transformed himself.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Chrissy Metz, This is Us

Millie Bobby Brown was so magical. She doesn’t even need to speak to captivate you, so she could definitely win. With Handmaid’s Tale, I had only seen the first episode. I hadn’t seen enough of them yet by the time I voted. It’s interesting that Chrissy is in the Supporting category, because she feels more like a lead. Thandie Newton was wonderful on Westworld. Both her and Evan Rachel Wood impressed me with the real self vs. the programmed self, and it’s all so cool.

Chrissy just shows so much raw emotion and vulnerability. People falling in love with her speaks volumes to the writing of that character and her performance. Sometimes with overweight performers they become the joke in the show or people think they’re lazy or whatever. She shows her struggles in a way that people can connect and empathize with. I think she’s so award-worthy.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Aziz Ansari, Master of None

I love Master of None, and this season was so poignant and heartfelt. His performance is always so funny, but at the same time you could really feel his pain for this love that he couldn’t have. There were so many interesting moments. There was one long, unique shot that I love where he was sitting in the back of an Uber. You could just see all the emotions that he was going through. You also have to give him credit as the creator. He probably thought of that shot.

I liked Atlanta, but I think people might have propped it up so much before I got around to it. Maybe my expectations were too high? I didn’t laugh a lot, and this is the comedy category. It was more dramatic than I had hoped. I know a lot of people think that about Transparent, too—like it kind of doesn’t belong there.

I know a lot of people love Shameless, and I just don’t love William H. Macy in that role. I had never watched Baskets until I voted, and I was laughing the entire time! Zach was playing two different characters, and I thought about voting for him. But then my heart came back to Master of None.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

You see why she wins every year. I kind of paused when I was voting and thought, “She wins every year. Does someone else deserve it? Well…no!” If you really want to vote fairly, you have to give it to the right person, you know? I fell in love with Pamela Adlon when I watched her on Louie, and Better Things is good and it’s real. But it doesn’t blow you away. She’s good! Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt always has fun performances, and you have to have huge respect for Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda for Grace and Frankie. It’s just an OK show, so it’s hard to shine when the show’s not as good. I’ve seen Allison Janney as a live studio audience member for Mom, and she was so great! She did a lot of improv on set.

But I always come back to Veep. It has such strong writing and with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, it all comes together in a way that you can’t deny her. It’s comedy gold! The writing lets her shine, but she’s just brilliant.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – Tony Hale, Veep

Louie Anderson is so great, and I can see why he won last year. I got to watch one episode of Baskets before voting. Modern Family is, you know, not as award-worthy as its been in this category before. I went to a Kimmy Schmidt event, and Tituss seems like a lovely person. He’s so fun on the show, but I’m not sure if he blew me away this season. Alec Baldwin was funny as Trump, but I don’t think the Saturday Night Live sketches belong in this category.

I love both Veep guys. I met Matt at an event, and he’s so nice. I almost voted for him, but then I thought I can’t let that impact my decision. I went with Tony Hale, because he’s so consistently funny. Especially with this season of Veep he showed more sides of his character. You could see how hurt he was that his birthday became another Selina event. I thought it was a more complex and layered comedic performance compared to the others.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live

I did vote a lot for Veep, but Anna Chlumsky hasn’t been one of the funniest people on the show. But I know a lot of people feel differently. I’m not as familiar with Transparent as I should be, and I feel like I should watch more to really dig into their performances. Even though I don’t think the SNL people really belong here, I had to give it to McKinnon. Vanessa and Leslie are great too, obviously, but Kate stands out the most. She’s so versatile and she made it every week. It’s almost the Kate McKinnon Show.