Emmy Submission Mission- Lead Actress 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. Now, we're on to Lead Actress in a Comedy...

The past two years at the Emmys, a leading lady from a Showtime dramedy has taken home this trophy. Will that trend change in 2011? It's unlikely, as Laura Linney of The Big C has been the favorite since her pilot aired last August.

Laura Linney on The Big C

The show is one that I tired of after four episodes, but re-watching the pilot, it's easy to conclude that it's the best highlight reel of any of the submitted episodes by any of the nominated actresses. Linney’s character is newly separated from her husband, recently found out she has cancer, has a crazy brother and she is raising a teenage, prank-loving kid.

The amount of emotion that Linney has to bring to the table to pull this all off in the premiere is astounding. On top of all that, she still manages to be funny. In a comedic category, that helps.

While I would be surprised if Linney didn’t walk away with the trophy, there certainly are a bunch of great performances that deserve acclaim out of this group.

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

The Big C- C Is For Comedy

Spoiler alert...Below are some thoughts on last night's series premiere of The Big C. So watch the ep, pay me one hundred dollars for every pound I lose, then read what I had to say.

Cathy- "Fat people are jolly for a reason. Fat repels people, but joy attracts them. Now I know everyone's laughing at your cruel jokes, but nobody's inviting you to the prom. So you can either be fat and jolly or a skinny b*tch. It's up to you."

So The Big C, starring Laura Linney, premiered last night on Showtime. It is another in a long run of premium cable half hour comedies that aren't all that funny. Between Weeds, Nurse Jackie, United States of Tara, Entourage and Hung, you can probably get two laughs per week. Having all that in mind, I went into this premier not expecting to like it. In fact I thought about reviewing it before I watched it, because I wanted to write a scathing critique.

Well what do you know, I actually enjoyed it. I have never watched the other three Showtime dramedies, but after one episode I'll tell you that I enjoy this ten times more than Hung, and it's definitely funnier than Entourage (not as enjoyable, but more comedic). Five to 10 minutes in, I was planning on writing about how great an actress Linney was, but that didn't mean she was necessarily entertaining. That changed about a half of the way in. Maybe it was the run of mean comments she made to Gabourey Sidibe's character about being fat, or maybe it's because I kept imagining she was acting in a completely fake world (because I can only picture her in The Truman Show), but I jumped right on board the Laura Linney train.

The rest of the cast is fine so far. Oliver Platt is funny per the usual. Both Sepinwall in his latest podcast, and Linney's character herself refer to Platt's Paul as being an overgrown child. And that works for me. The son seemed just okay and Linney's doctor hasn't done much yet, but I'm seriously considering continuing to watch this for a while.

As opposed to others, who have watched the other Showtime non-comedies, this doesn't seem that repetitive to me. It's definitely not innovative, but it could be a nice change of pace until the fall season kicks into gear.