CHRISTOPHER MELONI - Lead Actor in a Drama Series - "Paternity"
MARISKA HARGITAY - Lead Actress in a Drama Series - "Undercover"
RICHARD BELZER - Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - "Unorthodox"
TRACEY MARROW - Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - "Fight"
BRADLEY DARRYL WONG - Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - "Harm"
DIANE NEAL - Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - "Impulsive"
TAMARA TUNIE - Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - "Harm"



Mad4SVU: Isabel Gillies should be there too, for Guest Actress in Drama series for Paternity- IMO

i will make sure not to miss this!! thank you!

Sounds good, when are the emmys again?
Mind me.. I'm a bit slow.

Thanks Mad

I hope CM and MH win the emmy!

Awesome! I think that Mariska is a shoe-in, and Chris is a definite threat. I wonder if they will get a Best Drama nod for Undercover or Paternity...

bump

bump

Thanks for the list Mad, I hope Mar and Chris win.

I agree Mad...she did good in Paternity. That had to be hard to act out. Thanks for the information.

Well this just sucks for my opinion!

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Stephen Collins - "Trade")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Matt Davis - "Trade")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Arye Gross - "Blinded")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Jared Harris - "Svengali")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Aidan Quinn - "Savant")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Robin Williams - "Authority")

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Erika Christensen - "Signature")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Melissa Joan Hart - "Impulsive")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Elizabeth McGovern - "Harm")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Cynthia Nixon - "Alternate")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Rhea Perlman - "Unorthodox")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Adina Porter - "Fight")
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (Mae Whitman - "Streetwise")

Thank you for the list Mad.

Yus! Robin ftw!

Where's the little girl from Savant, though? She was amazing!

bumped

You know...and I know it's all speculation at this point...but on the forums for the Primetime Emmys where I lurk....most people don't even have Mariska on the radar for another Emmy. There is constant bashing of her submission as "shameless Emmy bait." Many say she's at best a long shot for a nomination.

Obviously...I HUGELY disagree! MH just blew me away in "Undercover."

I can't see any of the other possibilities on SVU getting nominations, other than *maybe* Cynthia Nixon or Robin Williams in the Guest Actors category.

The gripe is that the SVU writers write one really emotional, really 'stand out' episode for Mariska (and supposedly one for Chris...but I don't see where that happened this year), and that's it. One episode where she is has the majority of the screen time, and it screams "look at Olivia."
And, the rest of the season is only mediocre to crap.

Actors only need to submit one tape, one episode, to be considered in the race. So, for now, the writers can get away with what they are doing.
(and lets face it...she won two years ago...so it worked.)

There was also some talk, right after "Undercover" aired the first time, that it was a 'low blow' to use a rape scene in what will be an Emmy submission.
Because, of course there will be tons of crying, screaming, physical acting...etc.

Now personally, I don't get why the use of a rape scene is an issue. There have been MANY scenes like that done over the years in television...it's wasn't some 'out there' idea.
And, Mariska knocked it out of the park. Those tears weren't forced.

NOt to mention, SVU is a crime procedural, with an ensemble. Mariska is not "The Closer" (I mean, Kyra Sedgwick get's a 'money scene' every week...'cause it's HER show!)
Mariska is not the "Medium" or "Saving Grace" (all of those actresses are the focus of their show. Olivia Benson is NOT.)
SO...I don't know why there is such a beef about one or two episodes having to 'showcase' Mariska's abilities. It's the nature of being a ensemble, crime procedural. I think a ton of SVU fans would NOT want to see more than one or two episodes a season be that centered around "Olivia."

Last year, the gripe on that board was that "Florida" was a hideously boring tape, and that Mariska showed very little range. There wasn't a money scene.
Don't think that can be said this year...

Of course, we must take these comments with a grain of salt right now. We'll just see what happens come nomination day (is that in July? Anyone know?)

Shame on me! How did this NEW thread end up at 2nd page?

They better win!!

Thank you for the list Mad4SVU.
I hope Mariska will win I think she deserves it because her "acting" in undercover was awesome.

With the exception of Robin Williams, Arye Gross and Cynthia Nixon, this list is a joke. And sorry Mad, but I'm glad Gillies isn't on that list. While she was good, there was nothing spectacular about her performance in Paternity.

ANDREA

I didn't see it mention anywhere, but when are the official emmy nods announced?

This is true. Didn't Lorraine Bracco win an Emmy for her rape scene in "The Sopranos?" I don't remember.

I thought that the point of the Emmy award was to showcase/highlight an actor's talent. I thought MH was great in "Undercover." Certainly more memorable to me than "911."

We'll see. If she does get nominated, she'll most likely be up against Kyra Sedgewick or Holly Hunter. Or Minnie Driver or Glenn Close. Women from TV shows I never watch....hahaha!

I thought that the nominations were supposed to be announced today....I don't know why, but that is what I thought.

Hell, they could even show the interrogation scenes because MH was marvelous there too. The attempted rape scenes were very powerful, and regardless of which part of the eppy they show to the audience, the decision would have already been made on who the winner is.


ANDREA

I think that is the list of what episodes the actors/actresses were sending in, not the Emmy nods...Mad can correct me if I am wrong

You're correct. The list is simply recommendations for possible nominations. The nominations do not get announced until July I thought. I could be wrong though.

Nominations are announced July 17th at 5:35am.

Her scene in the car crash, her legs pinned down by the dashboard and moaning, sometimes even screaming while in labor wasn't good acting? I don't have kids, never been in labor, but my gosh, my uterus shuttered by that despite it all being fake. If she had the power to make my own uterus quiver from her labor pains then she's a great actress.
I've even read the toughest EO shippers' posts elsewhere (not just here) marveling over IG's performance, even respecting her a little more then they did before...and that's huge for an EO shipper!

People are certainly entitled to their opinions, and I would not dream of denying anyone that. However, I am not one of those people who believes awards should be passed out like chicklets. I maintain that Gillies did a great job, but it was nothing award worthy.

Call me nuts, but I want powerful performances to be rewarded. I have always felt this way, and I have been extremely disappointed that the bar has dropped recently.

Gillies convinced me that Kathy was in severe pain and she was frightened, but I honestly believe someone else could have done the same.


ANDREA

The day i finished watching Paternity i thought that was her best acting yet. She had me feeling sorry for her and thats seriously something! Her Moans were incredibly real and the way she pushed during delivery was pretty Believable as well. She did an Incredible job showing emotion and i agree she should have been on that list =]

She was good but not Emmy worthy. I have to agree with DEANOLIVIAareHOT on this one. IG is a good actress but average at best. 'Paternity' was one where she was good but I just didn't feel what you felt when she pushed an 8 pound baby out in three pushes. I just didn't by her 'labor' scene. Mariska did a far better job in that episode. Also, If Chris doesn't even get nominated then IG shouldn't even be considered. He is a ten times better actor then IG and he hasn't won crap.

But, as I understand it, whoever are the judges on the Emmy panel, only have to judge the one tape that is submitted. (And this is what has a lot of people steamed.)

So, selection is key. It doesn't matter how well (or not) an actor has done all season...they are only allowed to judge on the tape that is sent. So, even though CM has proven he is a better actor than IG through the years...they are ONLY watching one tape, pitted against the other actors submissions.
(in the 'guest actor' category.)

Well consider this: I have seen more Isabel's work to know that she's a very talented actress. I've seen her play a kidnapped victim, a druggie, a TV producer, a struggling painter looking for work and I can vouch for her talent. Isabel may not be as big as Christopher or Mariska, she may not get as much attention as they do and I agree, Christopher is a wonderful actor and I think it's time he should be awarded for his talent.

I'm sure she is a very talented actress otherwise she wouldn't have stayed on SVU as long as she has and she wouldn't have been in other works but everyone has different tasts. I like her on SVU but I don't love her. That could be the writer's fault but I just wasn't impressed with her performance in 'Paternity.' Obviously neither were the people who selected the possible nominees.

I am with you on that one. Isabel was truly outstanding

Chris was definitely good in 'Paternity'. He better get that emmy!

That scene was very well acted by IG. But it was not an Emmy worthy performance in my opinion. I've seen other guest stars on SVU who've had Emmy worthy performances. I can't put IG in the same category.

Well I'm not going to fight it- what's done is done and it's not my decision to have Isabel be nominated for an Emmy. Although I would like her to be and disappointed that she wasn't, I don't have any power to influence it with the Academy's decisions. I hope they do what's right with the submissions that they've received and I wish everyone on that list good luck and to know that I will root for them.

I do agree with what you are saying, but I'm gonna play devil's advocate for a second.

The issue I have with the episode "Undercover" is that the whole episode felt completely out of context to what L &O usually is. The DW style was- blown right down the toilet.

And although Mariska did a stellar job at crying and screaming for her character's life- I feel that it was out of character. Not her fault- Scripts fault. The script was not written with the hard ball Olivia Benson in mind. She didn't even attempt to use her interrogation skills, and her being in that situation was not believable.

They could have done this scene in the radio room with Robin Williams and I wouldn't have questioned it, but the script was disappointing. I hated the way the wrote Olivia in that scene.

The concept of the episode was forced. It was like watching a 2 hour horror flick being squeezed into 40 minutes - starring Mariska Hargitay as some Naomi Jud character and guest appearances by Detective Elliot Stabler and Fin Tutola. Just my humble O.

So although- I do think Mar deserves an award for selling this crappy script- I can understand why some people would be annoyed by the nomination of anything from this episode.

And I mostly agree with your 'devil's advocate' analysis, Scar .

Though, I still ?? how it all works (as far as the Emmy's go), and maybe you can enlighten us here...it's not the actresses fault if the script has bullet holes in it (and yeah, "Undercover" sure did).

Mariska did make MOST of us 'feel' something, though, from the basement scene on through the end. Isn't that the job of the actor? To touch the audience...provoke emotion...

I do have to disagree a little with your gripe of Olivia being 'out of character.'
Though it was VERY rushed...I think they tried to show (albeit quickly!) her use her skills in getting out of the situation.
She tried to play it cool initially...if you remember, she tried to apologize to Harris for the riot...that she 'freaked out' because of the outbreak.
Even after she hid...(it seemed to me, at least) that she tried to act like she was conceding...'You win' she said. Trying to act like she wasn't going to fight.
But...that was it. Again..maybe with two hours, there would have been a lot more dialogue, a lot more of seeing Olivia trying to 'think' her way out of this.
Instead, we got the Cliff Notes.

Is the 'Emmy Panel' (is there a better term for those people who do the judging?) supposed to know or care that the script was not written with the 'true' Olivia Benson persona in mind? Is that something they are supposed to consider?

SO....would SVU even stand a chance in Drama Series category with "Undercover".... of course, A BIG FAT NO!
But does Mariska deserve at least to get the nod (not the win)...I say yes.
The thing that irks me most is...I think Mariska is MORE than capable of another Emmy win ... IMO there is NO WAY that Kyra or Holly or Minnie are better actresses. They are all a very talented lot, in that category.

Mariska's material has just been shoddy...and that is VERY ANNOYING!!

Okay this is a book....

You have some really great quesitons about how the Emmy's are judged. I too would like to know the details of these awards ceremonies, but I really can only give you heresay, as I know noone in the Television biz. Now if these were the SAG awards- bring it. I know how that crap works. Straight down to the little ballot and the free movies.

As far as I can tell- it's a popularity contest. And I'm not saying that in terms of -"What actor has the biggest fan base?" I'm talking about the judges. If you go to the Emmy page and read how they choose the judges and how they judge the award winners- It is pretty vague. http://www.nyemmys.org/en/cms/?31

The webstie says- they're being judged by their peers. I'm assuming that anyone involved in TV or anyone who had a sucessful Television career and wants to participate -directors, producers, actors, writers, etc- these people are the judges. And we the low life audience members are supposed to know what's amazing television and what isn't amazing television, after they are finished.

Now if Martin Scorsese voted for "Medium" and I knew about it- I'd probably watch it, cause that man has amazing taste. (but that would never happen. Cause I watched that once and I can't imagine Martin sitting through ten minutes of that show. OHHHH )

But people like Martin Scorsese aren't voting for the Emmy Awards. You've got people like Paula Abdoul, Paris Hilton, that annoying chick from Grey's Anatomy, Susan Summer's, and all of the actors on the WB ----voting for best actress in a TV drama! Who the hell knows what they like or how they vote!!!!!

As for script- a good actor will be able to tell when the script is just plain bad. They're not going to deduct points from her acting score because the "undercover" part of the episode was unrealistic. The problem is...the script as it's own thing is not that bad. It's the script compared to other SVU scripts and Olivia's character that makes it bad. But these people are only judging her on this episode, so she'll be fine. I'm sure that most of the people judging only see an SVU episode once a year when they're voting. The script isn't going to hurt Mariska at all in this.

I think die hard fans get mad when they change stuff just for the Emmy award. And they keep getting crazier and crazier ever year. But whatever.


When comes down to the judging- they base it on acting in this one episode only. And I'm not sure what the categories are but this is this is how I would judge it.

1.) Physical-----How well they used their body to portray a character or emotion. Cynthia Nixon uses her body brilliantly in the SVU eppy she did. Mariska in "Undercover", also brilliant. The one thing the writers did for her in this episode, is that they gave her an oppurtunity to change her mannerizims. When she's talking to the other prisoners- especially in the prision yard- she walks differently, hunches a bit, changes her speech. Beautiful! I give her a 10 in the category!

2.) Emotional connection------Did the actor truthfuly connect with the moment? Did they stay in the moment? Mariska was IMO emotionally connected to everything they gave her. The other thing that I liked about this eppy was the Voice Over. If you listen to Huang's voice over- he basically tells you what she's going to feel and go through- and you can pin point every note that he gives her,through her stay at the prison. Even in moments that you weren't expecting. Like you'd expect her to be humiliated as she stands naked in the dirty shower- but her biggest moment of humiliation is when the jerk guard pushes the basketballs over and makes her pick them up in front of Fin.

I'd give Mar a 10 for this too.

3.) True to the character or charactirization------How well did this person stay true to the life of the character? How well did they bring this character to life? And did the character change? Was there an arc?

This is super tricky, because the people judging have to ignore everything they know about SVU and only judge this episode. If they've never seen an eppy -then it's fine. And in that case- Mariska would get a ten. We see tough cop, undercover cop with one hell of a good prisoner persona, and then broke down "Out of her eliment" cop--finishign up with some ass kicking recovery and a heart breaking moment with Elliot.

If the judges are die hard SVU Olivia Benson fans they may not be so forth giving. There was a moment durign teh attack scene. Right after she's been hiding and he finds her that I would have LOVED to have seen some mental minipulation interrogation skills. Instead of losing her mind and giving up, using her logical detective brain to talk her wayout of it. OR at least- knock him out and steal the damn keys to get the hell out of there. She wasn't even trying to look for something to hit him with. She just sat there. ARG. Sorry- writing, writing writing! Not her fault.

So based only on the eppy- I give her a 10
Based on what I wanted to see---I give it a 5



Use of language-----How well did they use the words and their voice to portray moments and character.

Watch the prison yard scene. She totally changes the tone of her voice and a bit of her accent. It's sublte, it's nice, I love it.

As far as words- or doing anything outragiously different to make something funny or extra dramatic- AH- not sure you can really go that far or do anything brilliant on a TV show. But for a good example of this- Watch Judy Dench in "Notes on a Scandle". There is a scene with her in a cafe and the way she says some of the lines makes that scene hilarious. "They always let you down (pause) in the end."
On paper thats not very moving, but the way she says it and pauses......Chilling.

Mariska didn't really do anything like that in this episode. Although I don't know that she could have.

I give her an 8.

and Lastly!! Do DOOOO

Shutzpah!----- AKA-that magic something that makes you want to watch more. And this is what makes it a popularity contest. This is something that is subjective and different for every person. it's like- damn I love Obama- he'll be the best President IMO- But Hilary is my Beotch. I had to vote for her.

SO see, in the end it doesn't really matter. It doens't matter how good of an actress you are, certain people will always be drawn to certain things. She can just do the best with what she's given and hope that her judges aren't Krya fans.

Big TEN for me on this one.

Total= 44

And now you all should do the Scarlett Von Uttenburg Emmy ballot.

1.) Physical
2.)Emotional COnnection
3.)True to Character
4.)Use of Verbal/language skills
5.) Shutspah!

This is very interesting

Scar, Christopher Meloni put in his scenes for Paternity- which scenes do you think he selected from that episode?

I'm going to have to re-watch it again, but off the top of my head I'd say his best moments were

-The bed scene- where he and Kathy talk
-The deck scene with him and the father.
-And the end- the baby/Kathy moment.

And I doubt they will show the hug. I think they keep Chris and Mar separated during the Emmy Episodes for a reason.

Those scenes show a really nice arc. You can see his character changing and painfully struggling to answer a really tough conflict in his life.


Honestly though, I don't think anything he did in Paternity is interesting enough to win an Emmy. It will show that he can be an emotional actor without being angry. And the scenes are different from anything we've ever seen him do, but probably not more interesting than his compeditors.

If the people judging him take his past performances into consideration- he'll have a chance, but if they were just judging this episode- ah--I'd say Gillies would out shine him.

Do you know who his competition is? I tried looking on the Emmy site, but I couldn't find it. I could only find last years.

I have a feeling that if he wins it's going to be one of those Pity vote ins. Like Martin Scorsese and Rockell Welch. They were both nominated a bunch of times for brilliant work and lost. Then the damn judges finally give them the award but it was for "so so" work.

I don't care how he wins it though. And I'm sure he doesn't either. I just want him to win. He freak'n deserves it and he's running out of chances. I mean, he's not that old, he can still get on another TV show, but the chances of doing that and then winning????? That's pretty questionable.

THANK YOU!

If/when TIIC decide to give Chris the material, he is going to have to deliver. There was nothing in Paternity to even be considered for an Emmy.


ANDREA

I completly agree. Chris may deserve an Emmy for all of his hard work on the show but for this particular episode, I doubt he will win anything. He was good in the episode but not worthy of an Emmy. IMO that is.

When he was nominated in 2006, he submitted the scene in Ripped where it's just him and Mary Stuart Masterson where Elliot had a roller coaster of emotions.

Yeah and that's the episode I think he should have won the award for. Although, at the moment I forget what took place in the episode. Is that the eppy where he punches the locker?

I thought he was great in the locker punching episode. I also think he deserved an award for his OZ performances.

But Elliot in "Paternity" is just kinda Mah for me. It's a fine performance.

We'll have to see what he's up against.

If anyone knows the rest of the nominee's post them. I'll try to find them again. I was being lazy earlier.

Rage was the eppy where he beat up the lockers. God I hated Chris in this eppy!

The eppy where he goes to see the shrink is Ripped when the teenage boy beat up his female classmate. The dad was beating the kid up in the bathroom, and El came in and beat up the dad...


ANDREA

I haven't watched those episodes in a long time. I think I'm meshing the two together. The scene where he's sitting on Mary Stewart Masterson's couch is the episode or scene I'm specifically thinking about that I thought was good. But when you think about it- both of those episodes are focused on Elliot beating someone or something up and then forcing himself to cry. You can see him thinking too much about the cry, which is what I think you hate about the acting. And I have to agree that he could have done it better.

It's kind of interesting because I just went through a big thing breakthrough, having to cry in this play that I'm doing every night. It took me the entire rehearsal period to figure out how to believably cry every night. It's tough because you can do certain breathing techniques and mental excercises to get yourself there, but until you learn how to do it without thinking about it---it's not believable. But it's so so so subtle.

I'm not sure why I'm telling you all this. I guess my point is, that it's interesting how something so slight can make a performance amazing as opposed to good.

Again, thanks Scar for shedding some light on the Emmy process, not to mention the acting critique.

Breaking an actors performance down, based on what you described, is really interesting...and puts a lot of things into focus. It's kind of no wonder Chris hasn't won anything yet.

I agree with you on your breakdown of Mariska's performance in "Undercover."
Initially, I was thinking she (or the director) didn't do enough to show the 'junkie' side of her character early in the charade. But, as an someone untrained in acting (and also someone who knows little about junkies ), I was expecting her to do what I've always seen done in movies, t.v, where someone is going through withdrawal. The shakes. The sweating.
What she did do, was subtle, and maybe someone addicted to prescriptions behaves differently when they are going 'without.'

Her 'physical' acting spoke for itself. And as far as emotional connection...right on the money (and not just because she screamed and cried!)
There was a difference in the emotion she was able to convey during the attack. Initially, Olivia had the 'fight or flight' thing going...screaming with ferocity, with energy. After the punch in the face...you could hear in Mariska's voice when Olivia 'broke.' It was that next pitiful 'Nooooo' that really broke my heart!

The use of her words...I think she DID make some of her lines 'her own' (geez, now I'm sounding like Paula Abdul ) ...
"Did I strike a nerve?" was priceless....not to mention the strain in her voice when she realized Harris didn't have TB...'he tried to kill me.' Enough emotion to sense what she was feeling...but enough restraint for us to understand how Olivia was trying to keep it together.

At least, to the untrained ear...that's what I heard!

Chris...I don't know what to say. "Paternity" gave him NOTHING to even chew the fat on....I've said it before...I wonder if he really ticked off someone big last year, during contract negotiations or something. His character has just drifted off into blandness....

Scar...I'd love your Emmy acting analysis on the episode "Fault."
I actually think Chris did more in THAT episode than in anything in the last two years....