My 2017 Emmy Wish List ~ TV TALK with BILL CUSHING

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By: Bill Cushing – July, 2017

The Primetime Emmy nominations will be announced next week and every year I like to review the past year in TV and give my Emmy Wish List, my list of who I would like to see recognized. The past year has had so many amazing performances on TV that it will be tough to remember them all, and not everyone can be nominated. Some will be overlooked, but I hope the actors and actresses that I mention here are not among them. So here goes…
Carrie Coon (The Leftovers) – HBO’s The Leftovers was the best show on TV over the past year, and it has some of the best acting on TV, in fact, you will see it mentioned a few times in this column. It was one of several excellent shows that ended this year so it will be the last time that the TV Academy will have a chance to recognize it. Carrie Coon’s performance as Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family and chases after a chance to reunite with them, all while dealing with the loss of her adopted daughter, has been the best performance on TV for 3 years now. TVLine called her performance in the series finale, “one of the great dramatic performances of the past decade.” I agree, and it definitely deserves to be recognized.

Rupert Friend (Homeland) –Rupert Friend, as Peter Quinn in Showtime’s spy drama Homeland, did one of the best acting jobs of the year. Friend’s role as a once strong and capable secret agent, who has become a shell of his former self, now partially disabled and brain damaged by the effects of a sarin gas poisoning was heart wrenching to watch. Hopefully the academy will remember him.

Freddy Highmore (Bates Motel) – Another of the best acting performances this year belongs to Freddy Highmore and his turn as a young Norman Bates on A&E’s Bates Motel. Watching Highmore throughout this series gradually descend into madness and become the psychotic Norman Bates was incredible to see and so enjoyable for a TV fan. He is long overdue.

Matthew Rhys (The Americans) – Rhys finally broke through with a nomination last year. I’m hoping the academy nominated him again. Rhys, as Russian spy Philip Jennings, consistently delivers one of the best performances on TV.

Justin Theroux (The Leftovers) – Another of the great roles on the Leftovers, Justin Theroux and his performance as Kevin Garvey. Kevin desperately tries to save the world, his sanity, and his relationship all at the same time, and it was mesmerizing. Like Carrie Coon, Theroux should have been nominated last year. Hope the academy doesn’t make the same mistake again.

Regina King (American Crime) – Regina King is always great in everything she does. In the third season of ABC’s American Crime she was so believable, and so touching in her role as Kimara Walters, the social worker helping a teen deal with her unwanted pregnancy, all while wanting to get pregnant herself.

John Turturro (The Night Of) – In HBO’s The Night Of, John Turturro turned in one of the best performances of his career as John Stone, an attorney always looking for the easy way out, until he took a case that woke up his passion for justice.

Aden Young (Rectify) – Aden Young has been criminally overlooked in the 4 seasons that Rectify was on the Sundance Channel. Young gives an amazing performance as Daniel Holden, sentenced to death row after being wrongly convicted of a crime, then released years later and adjusting to life on the outside. Time for the academy to recognize him.

Scott Glenn (The Leftovers) – In case you haven’t caught on yet, The Leftovers had some amazing acting in it this year. Scott Glenn also contributed an incredible performance as Kevin Garvey, Sr. He was so good, we almost believed that only he could stop a biblical flood from happening.

Others I’d love to see nominated: Michael McKean (Better Call Saul), Clayne Crawford (Rectify), Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies), Millie Bobbie Brown (Stranger Things), Amy Brenneman (The Leftovers), Martin Freeman (Sherlock), Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel).

The Nominations for 69th Emmy Awards will be announced on July 13th.

If you have any questions about TV you can email me at BillsTVTalk@gmail.com. I will answer all of your questions and will feature some of the questions I receive in a future Mailbag column.

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