Emmy Hopes 2009 – Lead Actor / Actress DRAMA

emmyIt’s Emmy time again!  This week is always so exciting as the last minute predictions make their way around the internets.  I just want to put it out there that I rarely agree with the Emmy voters on what’s funny and what I think is a dramatic performance worthy of accolades, but there are times when they’re right on the money.  Here’s what I’m thinking I would love to hear come Emmy award nominations, announced Thursday, July 16, by Chandra Wilson and Jim Parsons (please note that I don’t know enough about the Miniseries to weigh in on those categories)!

Keep in mind that the ideas I express below are simply my opinion, and I realize that I’m totally neglecting some amazing perfomances, but this is what I would LOVE to see, not what I expect to see!

Lead Actor

  1. Michael C Hall, DEXTER – I love a serial killer.  Reason enough?
  2. Kyle Chandler, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS – If I had to pick my favorite person on TV, Coach Eric Taylor would be my pick.  There is no one who compares in my book!
  3. Denis Leary, RESCUE ME – A few years back, never would I have picked Denis Leary as one of my favorite actors, but the work he does each week continues to blow me away!
  4. Ian McShane, KINGS -King Silas Benjamin is one of the most commanding characters on TV and that’s thanks in humongous part to the brilliance of McShane!
  5. Jonny Lee Miller, ELI STONE – playing a prophet who hears dancing and singing and imaginary planes…he’s just wonderful.  He can cry on key and makes me cry which is a good sign!
  6. Kiefer Sutherland, 24 – So #2 on the list of favorite people on TV?  Jack Bauer, and Kiefer Sutherland was fantastic this season as he dealt with the degenerative nerve gas he inhaled!  Farfetched but wonderful!

Probable spoilers:  Gabriel Byrne, IN TREATMENT; Hugh Laurie, HOUSE; Matthew Fox, LOST; James Spader, BOSTON LEGAL

Lead Actress

  1. Mariska Hargitay, SVU – She’s bold, strong, beautiful, heartbreaking, and one of the best cops on TV!
  2. Holly Hunter, SAVING GRACE – The way Hunter goes for broke with reckless abandon is awesome.  Fabulous!
  3. Evangeline Lilly, LOST – Any other season, I would laugh at myself, but the episode where she says goodbye to Aaron?  I was a wreck.  She was fabulous!
  4. Mary McDonnell, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA – There’s no one who compares with what she can do, period.
  5. Molly Parker, SWINGTOWN – This just might be because I want to see her back on TV, but seriously.  Could she have been more perfect on this show that too few people were watching?
  6. Kyra Sedgwick, THE CLOSER – She’s fantastic, isn’t she?  Every episode, she is a little bit different, and I love that!

Probable spoilers:  Glenn Close, DAMAGES; Patricia Arquette, MEDIUM; Sally Field, BROTHERS AND SISTERS

What do you think?