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MSN Entertainment
September 18, 2003
Who'll Go Home With the Emmy?
It's like déjà vu all over again as we pick TV's big winners
by Kat Giantis
Predicting the Emmys sure would be a whole lot more interesting if the nominees actually changed from year to year. Case in point: the 2003 Best Comedy Series and Best Comedy Actress categories are identical to 2002. This year, "Six Feet Under" leads the field with 16 nods, with "The West Wing" close behind with 15. "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Sex and the City," and "The Sopranos" are tied with 13. All have been there, accepted that.
Now don't get us wrong. We're not saying these shows aren't deserving (well, in some cases we are). We're just asking the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to spread the love a little. Where's the recognition for Dennis "Mr. President" Haysbert from "24" or "Buffy's" Alyson Hannigan, snubbed again in the show's final season? What about the stellar dramas "The Wire" and "Boomtown," or the sharp-edged comedy "Scrubs"?
OK, that concludes the indignant ranting part of our Emmys coverage. Now on to the predictions... We've broken down the major categories into who we think should take home the prize and who we think will be thanking their deity and their agent (in that order) on the big night.
Tune in to the Emmy ceremony on Sept. 21 (Fox, 8 p.m. ET/PT) to see how we did. And be sure to check back with MSN Entertainment after the prizes have been handed out to get all the post-Emmy skinny, from the ceremony's best and worst moments to red-carpet fashion highlights and lowlights.
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Actress, Drama Series
Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under," HBO
Edie Falco, "The Sopranos," HBO
Jennifer Garner, "Alias," ABC
Marg Helgenberger, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS
Allison Janney, "The West Wing," NBC (last year's winner)
Who Should Win: Jennifer Garner. With "Buffy" now gone, "Alias" is one of the few primetime shows solely dependent on its female lead -- and what a lead it has in Garner. Spy girl Sydney Bristow's combination of beauty, brains and brawn makes her appealing to both men and women, and Garner imbues her with an air of believability as she effortlessly moves from rappelling down a building to conversing in Japanese to drop-kicking a bad guy to emoting while wearing binding bondage gear. Her hard work should be recognized.
Who Will Win: Edie Falco. Marg Helgenberger is definitely in the "it was nice to be nominated" camp. Same for Garner. Frances Conroy was terrific this season as she finally grew a spine, but she belongs in the supporting category. Allison Janney won in 2000 and 2001 in the Supporting Actress category and last year as Lead Actress, but her reign will end now that two-time winner Falco is back in action (she was ineligible in 2002). Falco submitted the season-ending "White Caps" episode to voters, in which Carmela finally confesses her feelings for another man to husband Tony. That scene is as good as anything you're likely to see on any screen -- big or small. Check out Falco's heartbreaking delivery as she tells Tony, "You were my guy. You were so sweet. Nobody could make me laugh like you." She's a lock.
Supporting Actor, Drama Series
Victor Garber, "Alias," ABC
Michael Imperioli, "The Sopranos," HBO
Joe Pantoliano, "The Sopranos," HBO
John Spencer, "The West Wing," NBC (last year's winner)
Bradley Whitford, "The West Wing," NBC
Who Should Win: Joe Pantoliano. There are few characters on TV as despicable as the murderous and misogynistic mobster Ralph Cifaretto, but Pantoliano somehow managed to make this borderline psychotic human. Just watch Ralph's swan song episode "Whoever Did This," in which he swings from homicidal rage over the near death of his son to pathos as he wonders how different his life might have been had he married someone like Tony's wife Carmela. (Well, for starters, maybe his head wouldn't have ended up in a bowling ball bag at the end of the episode...)
Who Will Win: Victor Garber. The cast of "The West Wing" has dominated this category for the past three years, but since neither Spencer nor Whitford distinguished themselves this year, they could cancel each other out. Imperioli got down and dirty as drug-addicted (and later rehabbed) made man Christopher Moltisanti, but he and Pantoliano face the same voting trouble as the "West Wing." Garber, who plays Sydney's unflappable spy dad on "Alias," could sneak under the radar with a win. He has brought a needed gravitas to the show, which has built up strong buzz, if not ratings.
Supporting Actress, Drama Series
Lauren Ambrose, "Six Feet Under," HBO
Stockard Channing, "The West Wing," NBC (last year's winner)
Tyne Daly, "Judging Amy," CBS
Rachel Griffiths, "Six Feet Under," HBO
Lena Olin, "Alias," ABC
Who Should Win: Lena Olin or Lauren Ambrose. Please don't ask us to choose between the preternaturally preserved Olin and the dewy Ambrose since we feel both are equally deserving of recognition: Olin because of her subtle smoldering and subterfuge as Sydney's duplicitous double-agent mother Irina and Ambrose for turning funeral home-dwelling misfit Claire into the most likable cynic on primetime.
Who Will Win: Lena Olin. Tyne Daly already has 14 nominations and five wins from previous roles, so Emmy voters may feel (as we do) that she's been rewarded enough. Ditto for Stockard Channing, who won two Emmys last year (for "The West Wing" and "The Matthew Shepard Story"). Ambrose is the more solid "SFU" pick over Griffiths, whose reformed bad girl Brenda was in limbo much of the season. But we're betting on Olin, who turned in a finely measured performance, creating a multilayered character whose undefined loyalties kept viewers guessing. Olin's one-on-one scenes opposite Jennifer Garner packed a real emotional wallop, even when they were just sizing each other up from opposite sides of Irina's jail cell.
© Microsoft Corporation 2003
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