Emmy Submission Mission- Supporting Actor in Comedy

The 2011 Emmy Awards will be hosted by Jane Lynch and air on September 18. Over the weeks leading up to the event, staff writer Dan Forcella will watch every episode submitted by various actors in various categories and present to you his analysis on each contender.

It's the TV Fanatic Emmy Submission Mission, readers, and it started with Lead Actor in a Comedy, continued with Lead Actress in a Comedy, and now, we're on to Supporting Actor in a Comedy, which feature FOUR men from one show...

Stonestreet and Ferguson on Modern Fam

Ty Burrell has been the favorite to take home the crown for the past couple of months, but that's mostly because of his performance over the entirety of season two, and pundits figure the voters won’t give Stonestreet back-to-back wins. Burrell’s submitted episode, “Good Cop, Bad Dog,” certainly is a strong showcase for him.

He's funny while having a difficult time trying to be the bad cop to his children, but then becomes hilarious as he turns into an evil monster of torture upon getting sick of Haley and Alex’s behavior. The problem for Burrell is that Jesse Tyler Ferguson is even better in the episode.

Ferguson, who surprised many by making it into the field for a second year in a row, kills in “Good Cop, Bad Dog,” with all of his efforts to make it to the one gay cliché he allows himself, a Lady Gaga concert. Of the four Modern Family men nominated, Ferguson’s Mitchell has been my least favorite over the first two seasons, but in these four episodes he may be the best. In his own submission, “Halloween,” he gets to don a Spider Man costume, hide on top of a toilet, and then climb down the side of his building to escape the horror of being seen in said outfit at work.

Also with a couple of highlights in “Halloween” are Burrell and Eric Stonestreet. Phil gets bad news about a neighbor getting a divorce, which forces him to be as awkwardly romantic as ever with Claire. Meanwhile, Stonestreet’s Cam spends the entire episode complaining about how Halloween was ruined for him as a child, which crescendos with Cam spewing out the story of how it was ruined in front of a bunch of children at the haunted house.

To read the rest of my Emmy Submission Mission for Supporting Actor in a Comedy, head over to TV Fanatic.

Emmys 2010- Fallon's Follies

Jimmy Fallon and Company

People can rant and rave about how the Emmys are terrible, but at the end of the day, I really enjoyed this year's ceremony. Whether it was because some of my favorites won, because Jimmy Fallon did a very enjoyable job hosting, or even because Sepinwall and Fienberg's predictions were so wrong, it was a great night for television.

Let's start with the non-awards aspects of the show. The opening Glee-spoof was just fantastic. I know Jimmy is used to it because he does a segment like that on his late night show, but that didn't make this rendition any less great. You kidding me? Can you imagine if Jon Hamm, Joel McHale and Jorge Garcia were actually in Glee? Almost watchable right? It would be worth it for Hamm's ridiculous dance moves alone.

A lot of Jimmy's other performances were great. He was in a very musical mood as each introduction came with him singing and strumming on his acoustic guitar. I particularly enjoyed his ode to 24, Lost and Law & Order through an array of spoofs.

So now on to the awards...

The Amazing Race lost the best reality competition award for the first time! Finally somebody else getting some love. I'm glad it was Top Chef, but even more excited about how shocked they were upon hearing the news.

As for the Drama awards:

Supporting Actress: Archie Panjabi- The Good Wife
Wasn't even in the discussion of possible winners. Because Mad Men won Best Drama I feel they should've won one acting award and this was the one to get it in. Both Elizabeth Moss and Christina Hendrix could've taken this.

Supporting Actor: Aaron Paul- Breaking Bad
I love this on two accounts, and am sad on another. First, he's a complete stud and deserves this award for his work every season. Secondly, Sepinwall and Fienberg gave this guy absolutely no shot. Now this wasn't "oh we're not good at predicting so it could be any one of these three." This was "Paul is the least likely person to win and we know it." On the sad side, I wanted O'Quinn or Emerson to win for the final season of Lost.

Lead Actress: Kyra Sedgwick- The Closer
Really? Biggest upset ever? Julianna Margulies was the biggest favorite (other than maybe Jane Lynch) of the entire night. I'm pretty sure Alan Sepinwall already handed her the trophy last week. And Sedgwick for a show that has been on for umpteen years?

Lead Actor: Bryan Cranston- Breaking Bad
Ho hum just his third straight Emmy. He deserves it. It's always so weired seeing him not as Walter White now. He's truly acting fantastically in that role.

Best Drama: Mad Men- AMC
I said it before, I wouldn't have picked it out of this group, but it's definitely worthy.

And then there was the comedy:

Supporting Actress: Jane Lynch- Glee
Obviously. Both expected and correct. She was great on Glee and no one is afraid to admit it. Well except for the fact that you have to admit you watched Glee.

Eric Stonestreet of Modern Family

Supporting Actor: Eric Stonestreet- Modern Family
My favorite win of the night. So pumped that he won. If Cryer or Colfer won I was going to be very upset. I would have been happy with Ty Burrell or Stonestreet, but I'm glad a Mod Fam guy won something.

Lead Actress: Edie Falco- Nurse Jackie
She said in her speech..."I'm not funny." You're right. Neither is your show. You don't deserve the award now give it back. Maybe you should take a lesson from the Poolies and put these silly dramedies in the drama category and make another category for Action! Done and done.

Lead Actor: Jim Parsons- The Big Bang Theory
Sure I would've preferred Larry David, Steve Carell or Alec Baldwin (in that order) but rather Parsons than Tony Shaloub. Something about Monk that just irks me and he's won it before.

Best Comedy: Modern Family- ABC
This is one that came down to this or Glee, according to everyone in the know. If Glee had won for best series it would have been a travesty. It's a pop culture phenomenon but it is no way a good television show.

So there you have it. The 2010 Emmys. Can we all admit now that this is just silly compared to the Poolies? Who really cares which people are best at their job? We all want to vote on which character entertains us the most. That's why for the real television awards, tune in every June/July for the Quiet Pool Television Awards.