January 21, 2013

THE TV TALK BEST OF 2012 – NOMINEES


In the midst of Award Season 2012-13, I’m putting my favorites in television for the year 2012 out here. Do vote for your favorites in the polls alongside. The results will be declared here in the first half of February 2013.

It was a year of great television for me. I started watching several new shows, among which were breakthroughs in drama, like HOMELAND and THE NEWSROOM. I caught up on shows like THE GOOD WIFE, MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD and WEB THERAPY. I gave a few new comedies a shot, like GO ON and THE NEW NORMAL. And here is the best of TV in 2012 for me.
§  To accommodate some noteworthy performances, I have included guest acting categories this year.

§  For all acting categories, I have included the characters’ names, in case any of you are unfamiliar with the actors and actress’ names.
§  Somehow, I just couldn’t do justice to all the good shows by sticking to five or six nominees, especially in Series – Drama. 


Series – Drama
BREAKING BAD
DAMAGES
DEXTER
DOWNTON ABBEY
THE GOOD WIFE
GREY’S ANATOMY
HOMELAND
HOUSE MD
MAD MEN
THE NEWSROOM

Series – Comedy/Musical
THE BIG BANG THEORY
GLEE
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
MODERN FAMILY
WEB THERAPY

Performance by an Actress in A Leading Role – Drama
Marcia Cross as Bree Van De Kamp in DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Glenn Close as Patty Hewes in DAMAGES
Rose Byrne as Ellen Parsons in DAMAGES
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick in THE GOOD WIFE
Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey in GREY’S ANATOMY
Claire Danes as Carrie Matthison in HOMELAND

Performance by an Actor in A Leading Role – Drama
Bryan Cranston as Walter White in BREAKING BAD
Michael C Hall as Dexter Morgan in DEXTER
Johnny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes in ELEMENTARY
Damian Lewis as Nicolas Brody in HOMELAND
Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy in THE NEWSROOM
Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in SHERLOCK

Performance by an Actress in A Leading Role – Comedy/Musical
Beth Behrs as Caroline Channing in 2 BROKE GIRLS
Kaley Cuoco as Penny in THE BIG BANG THEORY
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer in VEEP
Lisa Kudrow as Fiona Wallace in Web THERAPY

Performance by an Actor in A Leading Role – Comedy/Musical
Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper in THE BIG BANG THEORY
Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter in THE BIG BANG THEORY
Breckin Meyer as Jared Franklin in FRANKLIN & BASH
Matthew Perry as Ryan King in GO ON
Michael Urie as Louis in PARTNERS

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role – Drama
Anna Gunn as Skyler White in BREAKING BAD
Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan in DEXTER
Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley in DOWNTON ABBEY
Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma in THE GOOD WIFE
Jessica Capshaw as Arizona Robins in GREY’S ANATOMY
Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris in MAD MEN

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – Drama
Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman in BREAKING BAD
Larry Hagman as JR Ewing in DALLAS
Rob James Collier as Thomas Barrow in DOWNTON ABBEY
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in GAME OF THRONES
John Slattery as Roger Sterling in MAD MEN
Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore in THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role – Comedy/Musical
Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler in THE BIG BANG THEORY
Melissa Rauch as Bernadette Rostenkowski in THE BIG BANG THEORY
Cobie Smulders as Robin Sherbatsky in HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy in MODERN FAMILY
Sofia Vergara as Gloria Pritchett in MODERN FAMILY
Ellen Barkin as Jane Forrest in THE NEW NORMAL

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – Comedy/Musical
Kunal Nayar as Raj Koothrappalli in THE BIG BANG THEORY
Simon Helberg as Howard Walowitz in THE BIG BANG THEORY
Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson in HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker in MODERN FAMILY
Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy in MODERN FAMILY
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy in MODERN FAMILY

Performance by a Guest Actress in a TV Series – Drama
Martha Plimpton as Patti Nyholm in THE GOOD WIFE
Zuleikha Robinson as Roya Hammad in HOMELAND
Jane Fonda as Leona Lansing in THE NEWSROOM
Alfre Woodard as Dee Bennett in PRIVATE PRACTICE
Kate Burton as Sally Langston in SCANDAL

Performance by a Guest Actor in a TV Series – Drama
Andrew Leeds as Christopher Pelant in BONES
Jason Beghe as Det Voight in CHICAGO FIRE
Michael J Fox as Louis Canning in THE GOOD WIFE
Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn in HOMELAND
Jason Ritter as Mark Cyr in PARENTHOOD
Ray Romano as Hank Rizzoli in PARENTHOOD

Performance by a Guest Actress in a TV Series – Comedy/Musical
Sarah Jessica Parker as Isabelle Wright in GLEE
Kate Hudson as Cassandra July in GLEE
Meryl Streep as Camilla Bowner in WEB THERAPY
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Shevaun Haig in WEB THERAPY

Performance by a Guest Actor in a TV Series – Comedy/Musical
Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins in GLEE
Matthew Broderick as Dave in MODERN FAMILY
Reid Ewing as Dylan in MODERN FAMILY
Alan Cumming as Austen Clarke in WEB THERAPY
David Schwimmer as Newell L Miller in WEB THERAPY

Writing
DAMAGES
DEXTER
DOWNTON ABBEY
THE GOOD WIFE
HOMELAND
MODERN FAMILY

Character Development
DAMAGES
DEXTER
GREY’S ANATOMY
HOMELAND
PARENTHOOD

Art Direction
BREAKING BAD
CHICAGO FIRE
DOWNTON ABBEY
GAME OF THRONES
GREY’S ANATOMY
MAD MEN

Costume Design
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
DOWNTON ABBEY
GAME OF THRONES
GOSSIP GIRL
MAD MEN

Make-Up & Hair – Prosthetic/Non-Prosthetic
DEXTER
DOWNTON ABBEY
MAD MEN
GREY’S ANATOMY
GAME OF THRONES
HOUSE MD

Music – Background Score
CHICAGO FIRE
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
DEXTER
DOWNTON ABBEY
THE GOOD WIFE
HOMELAND

Music – Compilation
THE GOOD WIFE
GOSSIP GIRL
GREY’S ANATOMY
PRIVATE PRACTICE
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

Titles – Opening & Closing Credits
DOWNTON ABBEY
DEXTER
ELEMENTARY
GAME OF THRONES
THE NEWSROOM
PARENTHOOD


Fine Print
▪ The eligible series are those that I follow (2 BROKE GIRLS, 90210, AMERICAN IDOL, THE BIG BANG THEORY, BLUE BLOODS, BODY OF PROOF, BONES, BREAKING BAD, CASTLE, CHICAGO FIRE, DALLAS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, DAMAGES, DEXTER, DOWNTON ABBEY, ELEMENTARY, FRANKLIN & BASH, GAME OF THRONES, GLEE, GO ON, THE GOOD WIFE, GOSSIP GIRL, GREY'S ANATOMY, HOMELAND, HOUSE MD, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, MAD MEN, MODERN FAMILY, THE NEW NORMAL, THE NEWSROOM, PARENTHOOD, PARTNERS, PRIVATE PRACTICE, REVENGE, SCANDAL, SHERLOCK, SUITS, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, VEEP, WEB THERAPY, WHITE COLLAR) ▪ The episodes being judged are those that have aired in the year 2012 ▪ The maximum number of nominees for Best Series (Drama and Comedy/Musical) is 10 ▪ The minimum number of nominees for Best Series (Drama and Comedy/Musical) is 5 ▪ The maximum number of nominees for all other categories is 6 ▪ The minimum number for all other categories is 4 ▪ The ‘Readers’ Choice’ is based on the polls alongside ▪ The other ‘Best of…’ are according to my judgment ▪ The ‘TV TALK Best Of 2012’ is only an expression of what I considered as excellence in television in the year 2012 ▪

While you should vote for your favorites in the polls, do share your views on the list here in the comments section below.

3 comments:

  1. Where's the poll to vote for Performance by an Actress in A Leading Role – Drama?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry about the delay. I probably should've put the polls out there before publishing the post. But they're up now, so please go ahead and vote for your favorites!

      Delete
  2. DOWNTON ABBEY and MODERN FAMILY lead, with 9 nominations each, followed by THE BIG BANG THEORY, DEXTER, THE GOOD WIFE and HOMELAND with 8 nominations each. See the show and the number of nominations it received below...

    DOWNTON ABBEY: 9
    MODERN FAMILY: 9
    THE BIG BANG THEORY: 8
    DEXTER: 8
    THE GOOD WIFE: 8
    HOMELAND: 8
    GREY’S ANATOMY: 7
    MAD MEN: 6
    WEB THERAPY: 6
    BREAKING BAD: 5
    DAMAGES: 5
    GAME OF THRONES: 5
    GLEE: 4
    THE NEWSROOM: 4
    PARENTHOOD: 4
    CHICAGO FIRE: 3
    DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: 3
    HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: 3
    ELEMENTARY: 2
    GOSSIP GIRL: 2
    HOUSE MD: 2
    PRIVATE PRACTICE: 2
    THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: 2
    2 BROKE GIRLS: 1
    BONES: 1
    DALLAS: 1
    FRANKLIN & BASH: 1
    GO ON: 1
    THE NEW NORMAL: 1
    PARTNERS: 1
    SCANDAL: 1
    SHERLOCK: 1
    VEEP: 1

    ReplyDelete