SAG Awards TV: ‘Modern Family’ Leads, ‘Homeland’ Lands First Noms, Alec Baldwin And Betty White Keep Rolling, Edie Falco Ties Record
More than any other awards race, the SAG Awards have proven to be a popularity contest. Alec Baldwin and Betty White have won the best actor/actress in a comedy series SAG Award every year their current shows have been on the air — a whopping six consecutive times for 30 Rock‘s Baldwin and two for Hot In Cleveland‘s Betty White. Both are nominated again, with Baldwin having a chance to complete his streak with a seventh statuette for the seventh and final season of the NBC comedy. With Baldwin and White having a stronghold on the comedy categories, awards darling Modern Family is yet to win an individual award. (It won for best comedy ensemble the past two years). The ABC comedy has three more chances this year as it once again leads the list of series nominees with four noms: best ensemble and best actor/actress mentions for Emmy winners Ty Burrell and Eric Stonestreet as well as Sofia Vergara. Two-time Emmy winner Julie Bowen, nominated last year, did not make the cut this time.
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There was very little fresh blood in the series SAG nominations — no Lena Dunham or the Girls cast, no Emmy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Veep, no mention of any new broadcast series. The only first-year shows to land nominations were HBO’s The Newsroom for star Jeff Daniels and USA’s short-lived Political Animals for Sigourney Weaver in the movie/miniseries category.
But the SAG Awards did correct some anomalies from last year. The guild had many scratching their heads last December where it completely ignored Showtime’s drama Homeland, which would go on to dominate the Golden Globes and Emmy Awards. No snub this years as Homeland landed three noms — best ensemble and best actor/actress for Emmy winners Claire Danes and Damian Lewis. Despite four Emmy nominations and two wins, The Big Bang Theory‘s Jim Parsons had never received an individual SAG nomination until today. (His show nabbed its second consecutive ensemble nom.) Also, FX’s Louie finally got on the board with a first nomination for creator/star Louis C.K.
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Otherwise, it was same old same old in the series categories. In a mild upset, Two And A Half Men star Jon Cryer, who last year landed his first SAG nom, was left out again despite his surprise second Emmy win in September. Downton Abbey made a successful transition from the longform to the series categories with three noms for best ensemble and co-stars Maggie Smith and Michelle Dockery — vs. one, for Smith, last year. Smith is the MVP at the SAG nominations with four mentions — two in TV (best actress and ensemble for Downton Abbey) and two in film (best supporting actress and cast for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). Other crossover nominees included Bryan Cranston with three — two for AMC’s Breaking Bad (best actor, best ensemble) and one for Argo (best ensemble) — and Nicole Kidman — best actress in a movie/miniseries (Hemingway & Gellhorn) and supporting actress in a motion picture (The Paperboy).
Edie Falco hit a milestone with two more nominations for Showtime’s Nurse Jackie (best comedy actress and ensemble). She tied David Hyde Pierce for most career SAG nominations — 19. With Nurse Jackie set to return next year, she will have a chance to break the record as soon as the next SAG Awards.
SAG continues to consider FX’s American Horror Story a series, despite the network’s attempts to pass it off as a miniseries. Jessica Lange landed a second consecutive drama series nomination after winning the category last year.
The longform categories were dominated by HBO’s Game Change, with noms for Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson and Ed Harris, History’s Hatfields & McCoys (Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton) and HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn (Kidman, Clive Owen). With the field contracted to one category each for actors and actresses, Hatfields & McCoys‘ Tom Berenger, Emmy winner for supporting actor, didn’t make the cut. The field was more open on the female side, with noms for Charlotte Rampling of Sundance’s Restless, Alfre Woodard of Lifetime’s ratings dynamo Steel Magnolias and Political Animals‘ Weaver.
Here is the TV network tally, once again topped by HBO:
HBO – 10
AMC – 6
NBC – 5
SHOWTIME – 5
ABC – 4
CBS – 3
FX – 3
PBS – 3
HISTORY – 2
FOX – 1
LIFETIME – 1
SUNDANCE CHANNEL – 1
TV LAND – 1
USA NETWORK – 1
List of TV programs with multiple nominations:
MODERN FAMILY – 4
BOARDWALK EMPIRE – 3
(including stunt ensemble nomination)
BREAKING BAD – 3
(including stunt ensemble nomination)
DOWNTON ABBEY – 3
GAME CHANGE – 3
HOMELAND – 3
30 ROCK – 3
THE BIG BANG THEORY – 2
HATFIELDS & MCCOYS – 2
HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN – 2
MAD MEN – 2
NURSE JACKIE – 2
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