BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

What I love about the comedy categories this season is the breadth of options from which to choose. Only one program from the supporting actor category makes a return appearance here as the amazing Anna Chlumsky is impossible to ignore for the best season she’s had to date. You’ve nominated her before—it would be downright silly not to do so this year.

Who joins her on the ballot is a little tougher. “Silicon Valley” is sadly a bit thin on female characters and, as much as I like Carol Kane and Jane Krakowksi on “Kimmy,” they don’t quite make the cut for me. Aubrey Plaza had a good year on “Parks & Rec,” but not a great one. There are no real candidates on ABC hits like “Black-ish” or “Fresh Off the Boat.” So you have to stretch a bit to get to six. There is one ABC show that’s not “Modern Family” that had a truly underrated supporting actress performance this year: “The Middle.” Perennially underrated, Eden Sher got to portray the tumultuous senior year of Sue Heck as she finally made it to graduation. She’s fantastic.

Another actress who has been delivering for years with no Emmy recognition is Kaitlyn Olson on FX’s hit “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” She’d be a daring, left-field choice. And, while this year was relatively awful for “SNL,” it was through no fault of Kate McKinnon, the comedian with the best timing on the NBC stalwart right now.

Chlumsky, McKinnon, Olson, Sher. That leaves two spots and I suspect at least one of them will go (and should go) to one of the three candidates on Amazon’s “Transparent”—Gaby Hoffman, Amy Landecker, and Judith Light. The former “Who’s the Boss?” star had the best single episode (the finale, which Hoffman is great in too, BTW), but Landecker gets my pick for the overall season arc. If voters wanted to go with Hoffman or Light for the sixth spot, I wouldn’t blame them, but one of the most underrated comedies of this season was HBO’s “Togetherness,” a biting, brilliant comedy that didn’t get nearly the buzz it deserved. Amanda Peet never faltered all season and deserves some recognition.

Anna Chlumsky, “Veep”
Amy Landecker, “Transparent”
Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”
Kaitlyn Olson, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
Amanda Peet, “Togetherness”
Eden Sher, “The Middle”