With the deadlines for this year’s Emmy nominations just around the corner (June 21st to be exact), we at theTVaddict.com thought the time was right to give a shout out to a few of primetime’s unsung heroes. Yes, yes, we’re sure everyone who has ever so much as distributed scripts to the cast of MAD MEN, 30 ROCK or GLEE deserve nominations, but so do a lot of people we fear will be overlooked by the Academy. So without further ado, the nominees should be…
For Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series: UGLY BETTY’s Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally: Like the beloved heroine herself, this show has always been underestimated and overlooked. And while being shuffled off to Friday night like ABC’s redheaded stepchild could have caused the writing staff to collectively throw up their hands and say, “Take the money and run… it ain’t like anybody’s watching.” But those of us who were — and there were many — appreciate that instead, they crafted a final season that was funny, compelling, emotional and gave us the kind of closure few shows manage to do. But we’d be criminally negligent if we didn’t single out Poust and Kinnally’s penultimate episode that gave us one of the most beautifully executed coming out stories ever to hit the small screen. If having a profoundly positive impact on millions of young people isn’t worthy of a little gold statue, what is?
For Outstanding Reality TV Program: JAMIE OLIVER’S FOOD REVOLUTION: This just in: Reality shows need not always pander to the lowest common denominator. Which is why, in the category of Outstanding Reality TV Program, we’re putting what little muscle we have behind this tasteful series. Oliver taught us all a thing or two about better eating, better living and better reality television, all while managing to be both informative and entertaining. If he’d been around when we were growing up, maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t be so quick to pass on the veggie dishes.
For Outstanding Actor in a Drama: FRINGE’s John Noble: If year after year of watching such outstanding programs as BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and FARSCAPE be ignored by Academy members has taught us anything, it’s that they’re more likely to show THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF PODUNK a little Emmy love than they are to acknowledge a sci fi show. But here’s hoping that before they click “submit” and cast their on-line ballot, voters consider this: When Noble’s Walter Bishop isn’t solving the unsolvable, the actor is at the center of one of the most compelling family dramas this side of THE SOPRANOS. Yes, you heard us… FRINGE is a family drama, and one made all the more irresistible by a patriarch who this season took crazy to a whole new level. In the wrong hands, Walter Bishop could have come off as a buffoonish romp. Instead, Noble has created one of the most compelling characters to hit the screen in many moons.
For Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama: PARENTHOOD’s Mae Whitman: As regular readers know all too well, I occasionally become a tad fixated on a show coughEVERWOODcough and the actors who bring it to life. (Anybody need a Gregory Smith update?) That said, expect that there will be numerous raves about Mae Whitman’s performance as troubled teen Amber in the years to come, followed by breathless reports on anything and everything she does if and when the show comes to an end. After all, it takes a hell of an actress to play Lauren Graham’s daughter and have us say, “Rory who?”
For Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy: MODERN FAMILY’s Rico Rodriguez: It ain’t easy to steal a scene from Sofia Vergara and her fiery alter ego, Gloria, but Rodriguez manages to do it on a regular basis. The entire cast of this truly ensemble comedy is submitting itself in the Supporting categories, and even if they were the only contenders, that would make the competition incredibly fierce. But the idea of this adorable kid up on stage in a tuxedo giving a droll speech is simply too good to pass up! 
