Emmy Submission Mission- Supporting Actress in Comedy

The 2011 Emmy Awards will be hosted by Jane Lynch September 18. In the weeks leading up to the event, TVF 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 and Lead Actress in a Comedy, then moved on to Supporting Actor in a Comedy.

Next up? Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, in which the MC herself is a strong contender, if not the odds-on favorite. Here's TVF's breakdown:

Betty White

It seems as if the year of Betty White has been going on for over two years at this point. She hosted SNL, which she won a guest acting Emmy for, she was in hit movies, and she recently won the SAG Award for Best Actress in a Comedy.

While her new show Hot In Cleveland is much too broad in its comedy stylings to register with the in crowd, White’s performance as Elka has never been the problem. In her submission episode, “Free Elka,” the comedy legend takes advantage of the fact that the elderly blatantly making fun of people and cursing like sailors never gets old.

Between opening the episode playing a harmonica and singing “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen,” a guest appearance by Mary Tyler Moore, and a bunch of perfectly timed zingers by White, there is reason to say she doesn’t have a chance to take down all of the returning nominees in the category.

If she wants to find someone to blame on Emmy night, it might as well be Kristen Wiig. With her third straight nomination in the category for her work on Saturday Night Live, Wiig decided to submit the episode of SNL, “Host: Jane Lynch.”

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

The Veronica Mars Award- Female Character Drama

Named For: Veronica Mars played by Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars
Awarded To: Best female character in a drama series from
June 1, 2009 - May 31, 2010
Last Year's Winner: Julie Taylor- Friday Night Lights

Place. Character (Show) Points (My Vote)

10. Ella Simms (Melrose Place) 0 points

9. Adrianna Tate-Duncan (90210) 4 points

8. Karen van der Beek (Californication) 10 points (4th)

7. Rebecca Logan (Greek) 11 points (3rd)

6. Rachel Berry (Glee) 12 points

5. Naomi Clark (90210) 13 points (2nd)

4. Betty Draper (Mad Men) 14 points

3. Sue Sylvester (Glee) 16 points (1st)

Runner-Up
2. Becky Sproles (Friday Night Lights) 17 points (5th)

and the Poolie goes to...
1. Julie Taylor
(Friday Night Lights) 18 points

This is truly a sad story. Julie Taylor has repeated as the winner of the Veronica Mars Award. Not a single person voted for her first and I didn't even vote for her at all. Don't get me wrong, last year she was very deserving. I recently re-watched a bunch of the third season on dvd and she showed quite the transformation from her terrible season two self. But she brought hardly anything to the table in 2009-10. A female on her own show, newcomer Becky Sproles, outdid her in every sense of the category in my opinion. Sproles was funny. She pined over Tim Riggins. She deserved this more than Julie this year.

And then there is the travesty that Sue Sylvester finished two points behind Julie. Only receiving points from four voters, Sue was picked first by me and Larry and second by Tyson and Jaydon. I understand that many people think that Glee is terrible, and I don't whole-heartedly disagree, but Sue carries it at times and is more deserving of this award.

Having said that, Jules earned back to back honors and deserves a nice pat on the back for her accomplishment. Here's hoping that she gets more to work with in the final season of Friday Night Lights and can win her third straight with dignity.

Party Down- Reading Departure Signs

Spoiler alert...Below are some thoughts on last night's season two finale of Party Down, 'Constance Carmell Wedding'. So watch the ep, eat a tenth of an ounce of marijuana, and read what I had to say.

Patrick Duffy- "After making love in a glider plane over the rain forest...and then again in the waterfall where we crashed."

Constance Carmell- "That was you?"

For me Party Down is sometimes funny, rarely hilarious, mostly clever and occasionally cringe-worthy. It's a comedy that I enjoy, but can't remember a time I laughed out loud during it. Last night's episode was no different in that sense, but everything seemed to come together nicely for a season finale.

Because of Adam Scott's departure to Parks and Recreation and Ryan Hansen's pilot Friends With Benefits getting picked up, it is hard to imagine a third season would be a good idea. Scott's Henry Pollard isn't the funniest of characters here, but he is the glue that holds the whole thing together. It doesn't make much sense to replace him with a similar straight man that we have yet to meet. Party Down really isn't about a bunch of struggling artists who have to work in catering. It's about a struggling artist who has to work as a caterer and deal with this strange assortment of characters.

If this was the last Party Down we are blessed with, I'm happy with the way it went out. The fact that Henry is going to attempt to get back into the acting game is great. I'd really like to see this kid make it out there in this tough world.

As far as the episode itself, the highlight was Jane Lynch returning as Constance to get married to some old dude who croaked immediately following the ceremony. She's no Sue Sylvester, but Constance seemed much more enjoyable than any of her first season episodes. The fire between her and Lydia was fantastic.

What didn't work for me this week? Ron and his ridiculous search for love and success. I really liked this dude in season one for complaining about his employees, but this year he has taken a fall because all he does is fawn after numerous ladies. Not nearly as funny.

I guess I'd say this season was better than the first, but neither one was that great. I want to say that comedies need to be more than ten episodes, but Curb Your Enthusiasm does 10-12 and knocks it out of the park. Party Down is just an average series, I don't care what the high brow critics say.

Glee- Mr. Finn, What Grade Are You In?

Glee has been a huge pop hit in its first season on FOX. Whereas some recent musical shows have failed miserably (see Viva Laughlin) because of the singing, Glee seems to be succeeding because of it. The acting isn't very good, the writing is nothing special and the overall feel of the show has been inconsistent as it gets. But the musical numbers have been sweet for the most part, hence I've stuck around even though I'd like to slap almost every character on the show.

Last night's season one finale was good. It had a lot of good performances, my favorite being Vocal Adrenaline's Bohemian Rhapsody, and it featured the right people. Whenever Sue Sylvester gets to showcase both her unadulterated cruelty towards Mr. Shue as well as her sincerity towards the kids of Glee, it's a win-win. Mercedes, Kurt, Tina and Artie took a back seat, while Rachel, Finn, Puck and especially Quinn were the students of focus in this finale. We should keep it that way from this point forward. No more eps featuring Artie or Kurt please.

Speaking of Jesse's Bohemian Rhapsody, every Lost fan should have loved it that much more because of how much it resembled the final scene of the series with the screen flashing between Jack in the church and on the Island. In this case we were seeing sideways flashes of Quinn getting rushed to the hospital and then having her baby.

So where do they go from here? The students have the summer off so this is obviously the end of a school year. What grade are most of these kids in? If they're going to do a year per season they will quickly run into the problem Friday Night Lights did where they had to start changing characters grades ridiculously. You know how Tim Riggins was best friends with Jason Street and was obviously in the same grade as him in season one? Well he was still in high school come season three, so that means he was a sophomore during the first season? The same grade as Matt Saracen, who was an outcast because he was a young gun? Lot of plot holes in the continuity of that show.

Haven't they already been given a third season? Are they going to say that all these kids are sophomores? How likely is that? Will they get rid of some of these actors to make room for new students? I doubt it. It should be interesting to say the least.

As long as Sue Sylvester is the coach of the Cheerios I'm on board for another season, even though I get angry at the screen any time Mr. Shue, Artie, Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Emma or even Finn says anything. How bout focusing more on Santana? She seems pretty awesome.