Believe it or not, one of the more highly contested Emmy categories each year is the one for Best Guest Actor in a Dramatic Series, as a lot of shows have gotten incredibly high caliber actors to do short stints on their series. The category often sees the likes of television royalty: Ted Danson, Michael J. Fox, Dylan Baker, John Lithgow, John Laroquette, and Matthew Perry, just to name a few recent nominees. This year’s competition is as fierce as ever, with Michael J. Fox and Dylan Baker once again competing against each other for a nomination, as well as Eddie Izzard (Hannibal), Mike O’Malley (Justified), Ray Romano (Parenthood), Gerald McRaney (Southland and House of Cards), and Harry Hamlin (Mad Men) (my money is on Hamlin).
One wildcard, long-shot contender, however, is Walton Goggins for what is one of the more memorable guest stints on a dramatic series in quite some time: A transvestite prostitute dressed in form-fitting ass-less chaps, and a black wig. Boom.
Kurt Sutter explains to Deadline:
Venus made TV history, and Walton was brilliant. I was only half-kidding about suggesting a spinoff … You know, man, at this point, I’ll kick down the Emmy door any way I f**king can. T-Girls, Best Fake T*ts, Most Profound Tongue Biting. I’m considering dressing Jax in a fur cap and replacing the Harleys with Golden Unicorns.
The whole interview over on Deadline is fascinating, where he talks about the fact that Sons of Anarchy is likely ignored by the Emmys because it’s in the same kind of category as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight: A violent action series, a “blockbuster” that’s not recognized by those who prefer art-house like shows (Mad Men, Breaking Bad) (*cough* *cough*). His thoughts on the showrunner situation over on The Walking Dead were also illuminating:
Glen [Mazarra, the most recently canned The Walking Dead showrunner] is a friend of mine, his kid and my kid are best friends, and so I have personal connection. And Frank Darabont was a friend of mine and the whole way that thing went down was really f**ked up. I think there’s a commonality of people doing this, who experience the pressure and the agony and defeat of whether it’s a good season or a bad season, and who gets nominated for awards. Everybody is going through that same angst, you’re soldiers on the same battlefield. I’ve had my bumps vocally about Matt Weiner but I think Matt’s a brilliant writer and when push came to shove I’d f**king back the guy on anything. There is a sense of awareness of the burden of seeing through your vision. And when you see that being abused, or taken advantage of, or manipulated into something it’s not supposed to be, people get vocal. Shawn and I were the ones who were outspoken about Glen but I follow that stuff on Twitter, and a lot of other writers weighed in on what a bulls**t move that was. I got a lovely email and phone call from Frank, basically saying, thanks for having my back.
You know, Sons had a legitimate shot with Katey Sagal’s performance in season two for some Emmy recognition, and Sutter is rightfully pissed that she was overlooked. But, as much as I like Sons of Anarchy, it doesn’t really have much of a chance now, simply because of the sheer volume of higher caliber competition in the drama categories: Breaking Bad, Homeland, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, and Boardwalk Empire, to name a few. At this point, in fact, Walton Goggins may be the show’s best chance at Emmy recognition.
(Source: Deadline)
