September mailbag! (preview)

Once each month, we answer reader questions in a mailbag. It's a paid subscriber exclusive! Here's a little taste of this month's edition. To read the whole thing, you can upgrade your subscription using the button below:

neb asks:

I saw someone post that, once a TV performance is honored with an Emmy, the actor shouldn't be nominated for playing the same character again. Makes sense to me. Spread the love. What do you think of that proposition?

Emily: I do and I don't like this idea! On the one hand, yes, it would clear out some space for new performers. When the Emmys get their teeth into a certain actor, they really get their teeth in. Like Jean Smart is phenomenal on Hacks; did she deserve to win for all five seasons of it? I don't know!

And yet the Emmys have slowly drifted in the direction of rewarding new performers of their own accord. Looking at the top eight acting categories at this year's awards, the only repeat winners were Smart and The Pitt's Noah Wyle, who has only won twice. Like, yes, Allison Janney winning for The Diplomat kind of feels like yet another win for her West Wing character, but on the most technical level, it was not, since it was for a different show and character entirely.

Plus, removing performers from contention after they've won would eliminate one of the best things about TV as a medium: evolution. Was James Gandolfini playing the same Tony Soprano in Season 6 of that show as he was in Season 1? Sort of. The man had also evolved in all sorts of interesting directions. The same goes for Smart's work as Deborah Vance. I would hate to eliminate the ability to reward this aspect of TV – and simultaneously take away a major promotional tool for the networks who win Emmys.

There has to be some sort of middle ground that would work to suit both purposes. I wonder if "once you've won three times for the same role, you can't win another" would allow for the rewarding of performances that evolve while still allowing for periodic new blood. Two just feels like too few wins to me; four feels like too many. I'm sure others will have their own opinions, and they will be wrong.

In many ways, given the enormous structural issues involved, this is the same problem as Supreme Court reform, and no, I will not be elaborating further on that!

amitygardens asks:

Who are your other favorite damaged girls of pop culture like Abigail from Hannibal or Yellowjackets’s Natalie?

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