Thursday, January 4, 2024

'Succession' vs. 'The Last of Us' split drama guest acting nominees at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards plus Gold Derby predictions


The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be held — finally! — this Saturday, January 6, and Sunday, January 7, 2024. The latter is the same day as the Golden Globes, so it's time to write this season's edition of Guest acting nominations at the 2022 Emmy Awards — Gold Derby weighs in. Here are the acting nominees at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Murray Bartlett – The Last of Us: "Long, Long Time" as Frank (HBO)
James Cromwell – Succession: "Church and State" as Ewan Roy (HBO)
Lamar Johnson – The Last of Us: "Endure and Survive" as Henry (HBO)
Arian Moayed – Succession: "Honeymoon States" as Stewy Hosseini (HBO)
Nick Offerman – The Last of Us: "Long, Long Time" as Bill (HBO)
Keivonn Montreal Woodard – The Last of Us: "Endure and Survive" as Sam (HBO)
Four nominees from The Last of Us and two from Succession — no matter who wins, HBO does as well, which makes it an even more extreme case of HBO dramas and 'SNL' split the nominees for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series at the 2023 Emmy Awards, where only one nominee isn't from an HBO show. Despite the advent of streaming, the guest acting drama nominees reflect the pre-Netflix reality from 1996 to 2009, when "It's Not TV, It's HBO" was the slogan of the cable channel and people accepted it. Some things haven't changed, at least at the Television Academy. That won't be the case for comedy, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I voted for Nick Offerman at the Saturn Awards because he's the professional choice among the nominees, as he was the only one with an Emmy nomination. That made the choice easy. Even in a field with nothing but nominees from The Last of Us, he would still have had my vote. It helps that both the editors and experts at Gold Derby think he's the likely winner with ten of the former and all seven of the latter picking him to win on Saturday. Only one editor dissented, choosing James Cromwell from Succession to walk off with the Emmy.

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Hiam Abbass – Succession: "Honeymoon States" as Marcia (HBO)
Cherry Jones – Succession: "The Munsters" as Nan Pierce (HBO)
Melanie Lynskey – The Last of Us: "Endure and Survive" as Kathleen (HBO)
Storm Reid – The Last of Us: "Left Behind" as Riley Abel (HBO)
Anna Torv – The Last of Us: "Infected" as Theresa "Tess" Servopoulos (HBO)
Harriet Walter – Succession: "Church and State" as Lady Caroline Collingwood (HBO)
Again, a field split between Succession and The Last of Us — no matter who wins, HBO does as well. None of these actresses earned a nomination at the Saturn Awards, which elicits two reactions from me. I'm recycling part of my response to Infidel753 in 'Barbie' vs. 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' for Best Fantasy Film at the Saturn Awards for the first.
They've been snubbing great performances, especially by women, for as long as I've been voting for the awards. I whined for years about how they would not nominate any of the Emmy-winning actresses in The Handmaid's Tale even though they nominated the show, while nominating the actresses in CW superhero shows.
That written, my second reaction is that I would still have voted for Nick Offerman; he was that good.

Both the editors and experts at Gold Derby think Harriet Walter will win for Succession with nine of eleven editors picking her and five of seven experts ranking her first. One editor each chose Melanie Lynskey and Storm Reid from The Last of Us, while one expert each picked Melanie Lynskey and Hiam Abbass from Succession. Previous winner Cherry Jones received no first place votes. On that note, I'm sharing Gold Derby interviewing Dame Harriet Walter ('Ted Lasso' and 'Succession'): 'I don’t want to play the same character twice'.

Dame Harriet Walter ('Ted Lasso' and 'Succession'): 'I don’t want to play the same character twice.' For Apple, she played Deborah Welton, the mother of Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham). For HBO, she played the mother of the three Roy siblings. Gold Derby editor Matt Noble hosts this webchat.
Dame Harriet also has another Emmy nomination, so follow over the jump for the comedy categories I examined in Pete Davidson hosts as 'Saturday Night Live' returns plus a bonus performing category I hadn't examined yet.

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Jon Bernthal - The Bear: "Braciole" as Michael "Mikey" Berzatto (FX)
Luke Kirby - The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: "Four Minutes" as Lenny Bruce (Prime Video)
Nathan Lane - Only Murders in the Building: "Here's Looking at You" as Teddy Dimas (Hulu)
Pedro Pascal - Saturday Night Live: "Host: Pedro Pascal" as host (NBC)
Oliver Platt - The Bear: "Dogs" as Jimmy "Cicero" Kalinowski (FX)
Sam Richardson - Ted Lasso: "International Break" as Edwin Akufo (Apple TV+)
As fun as SNL's Pascal highlights were, Nathan Lane is the returning winner and the co-favorite among Gold Derby experts with Jon Bernthal of The Bear. I predicted Lane winning last year's award and the Gold Derby editors confirmed my prediction, so I'm going to repeat my pick.
Since October, both the experts and editors have mostly switched their votes to Bernthal, as five experts now have Bernthal first, one chose Oliver Platt from The Bear, and one stuck with Lane. The editors are much more split, with three each picking Bernthal and Lane, two choosing Luke Kirby from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Pedro Pascal for Saturday Night Live, one picking Sam Richardson from Ted Lasso, but no one thinking Platt can win. Look, it's "electorates matter" in miniature!

Gold Derby interviewed my preliminary pick, Nathan Lane on making Emmy history with 'Only Murders in the Building' and challenge of learning ASL.

Nathan Lane on making Emmy history with 'Only Murders in the Building' and the 'thrilling challenge' of learning ASL. Plus: The seven-time nominee teases the rest of Season 2. Gold Derby editor Joyce Eng hosts this webchat.
I'm glad Lane finally got his Primetime Emmy for Season 1. He could still win one for Season 2, but I'm not holding my breath. He's not in Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building so he wasn't reminding the voters during balloting for Season 2. Bernthal was in Season 2 of The Bear doing just that, which is probably why the experts are picking him to win.

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Becky Ann Baker - Ted Lasso: "Mom City" as Dottie Lasso (Apple TV+)
Quinta Brunson - Saturday Night Live: "Host: Quinta Brunson" as host (NBC)
Taraji P. Henson - Abbott Elementary: "Mom" as Vanetta Teagues (ABC)
Judith Light - Poker Face: "Time of the Monkey" as Irene Smothers (Peacock)
Sarah Niles - Ted Lasso: "Smells Like Mean Spirit" as Dr. Sharon M. Fieldstone (Apple TV+)
Harriet Walter - Ted Lasso: "So Long, Farewell" as Deborah (Apple TV+)
No Hacks, so no returning winner and an open category. I felt that Brunson might lose this category to the actress who played her mom on Abbott Elementary before I looked at the expert predictions at Gold Derby and seeing them rank Taraji P. Henson first just confirms my feeling. Five experts think Henson will win, while Brunson and Judith Light have the support of one expert each.
Henson has solidified her support while Brunson has lost hers as six experts have Henson first with the lone dissenter switching their vote to Becky Ann Baker of Ted Lasso. The editors tell a similar story, with nine picking Henson, one ranking Baker first, and a lone editor choosing Judith Light for Poker Face. I'm going with the likely winner for the Gold Derby interview, Taraji P. Henson ('Abbott Elementary') on playing a mother who 'doesn't want to grow up'.

Taraji P. Henson ('Abbott Elementary') on playing a mother who 'doesn't want to grow up.' Appearing in the episode titled "Mom," Vanetta barges into Janine's classroom hoping to get some financial assistance from her daughter. Gold Derby's Tony Ruiz hosts this webchat.
I'm glad to see Henson be funny and likely win another Emmy for Abbott Elementary. I agree with her that teachers need more representation on TV.

Now for the bonus performing category I teased above the jump.

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
Julie Andrews – Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: "Honeymoon Bliss" as Lady Whistledown (Netflix)
Alex Borstein – Family Guy: "A Bottle Episode" as Lois Griffin (Fox)
Mel Brooks – History of the World, Part II: "VIII" as Narrator (Hulu)
Maya Rudolph – Big Mouth: "Asexual Healing" as Connie the Hormone Monstress (Netflix)
Wanda Sykes – Crank Yankers: "Wanda Sykes, JB Smoove & Adam Carolla" as Gladys Murphy (Comedy Central)
Ali Wong – Tuca & Bertie: "Fledging Day" as Bertie (Adult Swim)
Maya Rudolph is a two-time winner in this category and would be my choice even without the input of Gold Derby, where both the editors and experts have her as their first choice. The second choice is Mel Brooks for History of the World, Part II with three editors and three experts each ranking him first. I'm sharing an older interview of Emmy winner Maya Rudolph on reprising Kamala Harris on 'SNL' and finding her voice on 'Big Mouth' from Gold Derby before winning her second Emmy for voicing Connie the Hormone Monstress on Big Mouth.

Emmy winner Maya Rudolph on reprising Kamala Harris on 'Saturday Night Live' and finding her voice on 'Big Mouth.' She chats with Gold Derby's Kevin Jacobsen about her first-ever victories last year for these same two series.
Good luck to Rudolph on winning a fifth Emmy and here's to seeing her play Vice President Harris during election season this year!

I close with Experts slugfest: Our 2023 Creative Arts Emmys winner predictions and Best Picture update.

Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng make their winner predictions for the long-delayed 75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Remember those? They were supposed to take place in September 2023. After dominating the limited categories in 2022, how will "The White Lotus" fare in drama versus "Succession" and "The Last of Us"? Which guest category is most likely to see an upset? Plus: Chris makes a major Oscar change, of course.
Just to recap, here are the Gold Derby experts' predictions for the categories I haven't examined yet.
  • Main Title Design: Wednesday (4), The Last of Us (2), The White Lotus (1)
  • Main Title Theme Music: Andor (5), Wednesday (2)
  • Music for Series: Succession (6), Wednesday (1)
  • Music Supervision: Daisy Jones and the Six (6), Stranger Things (1)
  • Drama Casting: Succession (6), The White Lotus (1)
  • Comedy Casting: The Bear (4), Jury Duty (3)
  • Movie/Limited Casting: Beef (7)
I'm done with the nominees in categories at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, but I'm not done with the Primetime Emmy nominees, as I'm planning on blogging about the screenplay and writing nominees at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, and Emmy Awards for National Screenwriters Day tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Previous posts about the 2023 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards
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