Emmys 2016: Why Kathy Bates, Jean Smart, Regina King deserve Limited Series / TV Movie Supporting Actress nods
Being a strong supporting actress in a TV movie or miniseries takes mastery in precision. Often, you’re not getting a ton of time in order to make your material shine, but you still have to find a way to ensure that you stand out. Therefore, you gotta make the most of a few minutes, and for the sake of the Emmys, hope that people remember you long enough in order to give you nominations on the other side.
The following six women certainly managed to stand out, and we’re happy to spotlight them as our personal favorites for this category. Check out our analysis below, and you can also vote for them in the attached poll! We’ll announce some of the winners come July 13, one day before the actual nominees are announced.
Outstanding Support Actress in a TV Movie / Limited Series – CarterMatt Picks
Kathy Bates, “American Horror Story: Hotel” (FX) – We’ll be one of the first to tell you that this was not our favorite season of the show, but at the same time, we have all the praise in the world for what Bates brought to the story as Iris this time. She went from being someone tormented to someone in many ways liberated, and she started to find herself along the way. Bates is great at playing evil, but she’s also great at taking on characters like this one who you really want to root for because of all of the terrible things that happen to them.
Olivia Colman, “The Night Manager” (AMC) – Colman is one of Britain’s greatest underrated treasures, and we’re so thrilled that she had such a tremendous opportunity to shine in this series. Her role of Angela Burr was at times somewhat detached from the action of Jonathan Pine, but she played the complicated authoritative figure rather well and in the final episodes of the series, really stepped into her own and dominated her scenes.
Anika Noni Rose, “Roots” (History) – As we said yesterday when talking about “Roots,” one of the real challenges here is figuring out a way to stand out in the midst of an enormous cast, especially when the story is so big and important that at times it overshadows any individual. Luckily, Rose is one of the ones who broke through the mold as Kizzy, and gave us so much, even in a limited period of time.
Elizabeth Debicki, “The Night Manager” (AMC) – There was an ethereal quality of Debicki’s performance as Jed on the limited series that made her incredibly captivating, but at the same time in ways that are wonderfully complicated to explain. It’s almost that despite hearing her story, there were elements of her that you couldn’t quite figure out, and wanted more time to do so. Unfortunately, time did run out on the series, and there is a certain element of mystery that remains.
Regina King, “American Crime” (ABC) – Terri Lacroix can be added to the great pantheon of amazing characters King has played over the past few years, with everyone of them different from each other in fascinating ways. She also manages to accent their differences even further than what’s on the script thanks to her nuance, power, and range. Season 2 may have been an even stronger year for King, and that is saying something.
Jean Smart, “Fargo” (FX) – We cannot even begin to explain how measured, gritty, and hardcore awesome Smart was on this show playing crime boss Floyd Gerhardt. Pretty much every scene featuring her was magnificent, but the ones near the end of the season clearly take the cake and could go down as some of the most memorable ones we’re going to see in quite some time.