2013 Emmy preview: Bryan Cranston, Damian Lewis, and Jon Hamm battle it out
Last year with the Primetime Emmy Awards, we had one of the most contentious battles out there between Damian Lewis and Bryan Cranston. It was the clash of the titans, but it was somehow still considered a surprise to some that the man behind Walter White lost his title after four straight wins.
The field this year has quite a bit in common with the one last year, at least when it comes to the primary contenders. Oh, and Jon Hamm still hasn’t won an Emmy for Don Draper (crazy). We’re going to rank these nominees for Actor in a Drama Series based partly on preference, but also on what experts across the board are saying along with past voting history.
6. Jeff Daniels (“The Newsroom”) – Happy to be at the party, but he’s not going to cut the cake. We love the Will McAvoy character and Daniels’ take on it, but not enough people like “The Newsroom” for him to have a real shot.
5. Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) – A very strong, subdued performance, but Bonneville has had seasons with more to do in the past. He was in some ways a surprise nominee this year over Matthew Rhys of “The Americans.”
4. Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) – Despite Don Draper having quite a bit of content this season, Jon still doesn’t have much of a chance thanks mostly to “Mad Men” season 6 being so polarizing. The one thing he has going for him is that maybe some voters will feel for him not winning before.
3. Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”) – Being Kevin Spacey is a reason why he is an Emmy contender, and “House of Cards” has its fans. We just don’t see the show getting as much buzz as the top two, and we have a hard time thinking that Netflix will really be embraced completely at this time.
2. Damian Lewis (“Homeland”) – He’s a great actor, and he is giving a great performance, but we think the bizarre, soap-opera sort of ending to season 2 hurts him, even if it was not his fault.
1. Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”) – “Homeland” did not have the same sort of strong year this time around, and we still believe that the AMC series airing now is an asset. Walt is the best TV character since Tony Soprano in our mind, and this will not even be close.
Want to see some more of our Emmy rankings articles? Just be sure to visit the link here, where we will be posting the rest of these articles over the next several weeks leading up to the September 22 show.
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