Best Television Series – Drama

• Big Love (HBO)
• Dexter (Showtime)
• House (Fox)
• Mad Men (AMC)
• True Blood (HBO)

My pick: “Mad Men.” Regular readers of Premium Hollywood had probably already narrowed my pick down to two entries, anyway, since I’m the designated blogger for both “True Blood” and “Mad Men,” but while “True Blood” had a strong season that was tarnished slightly by an unsatisfying finale, “Mad Men” offered up a full-fledged game-changer for the conclusion of their third year. The most notable omission from this list, however, is “Sons of Anarchy,” which you could almost write off as being too harsh for the voters if you didn’t have a drama about a serial killer in the mix.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama

• Glenn Close, “Damages” (FX)
• January Jones, “Mad Men” (AMC)
• Julianna Marguiles, “The Good Wife” (CBS)
• Anna Paquin, “True Blood” (HBO)
• Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer” (TNT)

My pick: Julianna Marguiles. I know full well that it’s a dark horse pick that almost certainly won’t pay off, but “The Good Wife” has been my favorite drama of the new season, and Marguiles offers a multi-layered performance as Alicia Florrick, a woman having to struggle with the media shining the spotlight on her husband’s infidelity and political and legal misdealings while she’s trying to return to a career as a litigator. And am I the only one who scoffed somewhat at January Jones’ nomination? Of the three primary “Mad Men” actresses, she’s the last I would’ve nominated, and this is one case where I think most would agree with me.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

• Simon Baker, “The Mentalist” (CBS)
• Michael C. Hall, “Dexter” (Showtime)
• Jon Hamm, “Mad Men” (AMC)
• Hugh Laurie, “House” (Fox)
• Bill Paxton, “Big Love” (HBO)

My pick: Hugh Laurie, “House.” God love Jon Hamm, but I said of the “House” season premiere back in September that it was “strong enough to warrant giving Hugh Laurie an Emmy nomination no matter what else he may do on the show during the course of the season’s subsequent episodes,” and I stand by that.

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy

• 30 Rock (NBC)
• Entourage (HBO)
• Glee (Fox)
• Modern Family (ABC)
• The Office (NBC)

My pick: “Glee.” As much as I’d like to see “Modern Family” take home the award, I think that even the people who can’t stand “Glee” will agree that it’s one of the most original shows on television right now. Combine that with the ridiculous sales of the show’s soundtrack recordings, and I just can’t conceive of any other show taking home the award.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

• Toni Collette, “United States of Tara” (Showtime)
• Courtney Cox, “Cougar Town” (ABC)
• Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie” (Showtime)
• Tina Fey, “30 Rock” (NBC)
• Lea Michele, “Glee” (Fox)

My pick: Tina Fey, “30 Rock.” Even if she wasn’t the driving force of the series behind the camera, I’d still pick Fey, just because she isn’t afraid to make herself look and sound completely ridiculous. But with that said, I absolutely dig Lea Michele’s work on “Glee” and certainly wouldn’t complain if she won instead. (Just as a closing note, while I know a lot of people might favor Toni Collette, it just seems like too easy a pick to me. )

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

• Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock” (NBC)
• Steve Carell, “The Office” (NBC)
• David Duchovny, “Californication” (Showtime)
• Thomas Jane, “Hung” (HBO)
• Matthew Morrison, “Glee” (Fox)

My pick: Steve Carell, “The Office.” No one on TV makes me cringe more…and I mean that as a compliment. If I’m to be perfectly honest, though, I think Jim Parsons from “The Big Bang Theory” deserved a nomination, possibly instead of Thomas Jane.

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Georgia O’Keeffe (Lifetime)
• Grey Gardens (HBO)
• Into the Storm (HBO)
• Little Dorrit (PBS)
• Taking Chance (HBO)

My pick: “Taking Chance.” The others are all strong, but this one’s arguably the most moving.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Joan Allen, “Georgia O’Keeffe” (Lifetime)
• Drew Barrymore, “Grey Gardens” (HBO)
• Jessica Lange, “Grey Gardens” (HBO)
• Anna Paquin, “The Courageous Heart of Irena” (CBS)
• Sigourney Weaver, “Prayers for Bobby” (Lifetime)

My pick: Drew Barrymore, “Grey Gardens.” Anyone who’s skeptical of Barrymore’s ability to act in anything other than light comedies need look no further than this film.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Kevin Bacon, “Taking Chance” (HBO)
• Kenneth Branagh, “Wallander: One Step Behind” (BBC)
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Endgame” (PBS)
• Brendan Gleeson, “Into the Storm” (HBO)
• Jeremy Irons, “Georgia O’Keeffe” (Lifetime)

My pick: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Endgame.” Another dark horse pick, but if you saw it, then you know how good Ejiofor was in it. But, then again, he’s good in just about everything. It’s a given, however, that I’d be fine with Bacon takin’ it.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Jane Adams, “Hung” (HBO)
• Rose Byrne, “Damages” (FX)
• Jane Lynch, “Glee” (Fox)
• Janet McTeer, “Into the Storm” (HBO)
• Chloe Sevigny, “Big Love” (HBO)

My pick: Rose Byrne, “Damages.” It takes a strong actress to hold her own again Glenn Close, but for two seasons running, Byrne’s proved herself capable of doing just that.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Michael Emerson, “Lost” (ABC)
• Neil Patrick Harris, “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS)
• William Hurt, “Damages” (FX)
• John Lithgow, “Dexter” (Showtime)
• Jeremy Piven, “Entourage” (HBO)

My pick: John Lithgow, “Dexter.” Is it me, or is this one of the most ridiculous races in recent awards history? Not that Barney Stinson and Ari Gold aren’t anti-heroes in their own way, but pitting them against Arthur Mitchell and Benjamin Linus hardly seems fair. I have to admit that I haven’t caught up on “Dexter” this season, but given the raves that Lithgow’s been getting for his work on the show, I’d be a fool to bet against him, especially since his performance is going to be the freshest in voters’ minds.

PBS, of course, has never been afraid to take the work of Dickens and transform it into a major production, so it’s no surprise to find that they’re to be airing three such adaptations – “Oliver Twist,” “Little Dorrit,” and “The Old Curiosity Shop” – as part of what’s being called “The Incomplete Dickens.”

When you look at Timothy Spall, known to “Harry Potter” fans around the world as the man who plays Peter Pettigrew, you have to admit: the guy was born to play Fagin in “Oliver Twist.” And when you see his performance, you’ll be hard pressed to avoid using the word “creepy” when describing him.

That might sound like an insult, but let’s call it more of a left-handed compliment, shall we? Besides, it’s not like Spall isn’t aware of a recurring thread amongst many of the characters he has played.

“They’re sort of all repulsive,” he admitted. “They are somewhat divine, and they are repulsive, aren’t they? Looking at what I do and standing the way I stand and acting the way I do, I’ve always thought it’s part of my job to give people who are undesirable a really good crack at the game. And then I laugh at trying to turn the tables on characters that are perceived as being pariahs or outcasts or repulsive or repugnant in some way and make you realize that even the most reprehensible and undesirables of characters are human beings. If I get a chance, I try to give it a go and make you feel bad about hating them as well.”

He’s amused, however, by how much one of the smallest parts he’s ever played – Peter Pettigrew – is the one that has become one of his signature roles.

“Wherever I go in the world, it’s one of the most that gets the biggest recognition,” he said. “I don’t mind. I mean, I think that ‘Harry Potter’ is kind of a phenomenon, isn’t it? It’s sort of universally loved. There are a few people in the universe who despise it, but it’s actually one of those places where I’ll go in a lift somewhere in Middle America, and somebody will go, ‘Hey, are you the rat dude?’ And that will be somebody in their fifties, you know? But, no, it’s remarkable. It’s a phenomenon, and the great thing about it, as — and I’m not doing a cheesy segue here, ‘Dickens on the Telly’ – it makes people realize that, you know, you can read a book, actually. It’s not stupid, and it’s not weird if you’re a kid. And I think, you know, one of the most beneficial things of ‘Harry Potter’ is it’s got a whole generation of kids who would never have read reading, and I think that’s going to be great.”

Spall earned bonus points by utilizing a Radiohead lyric to describe the role Fagin in “Oliver Twist” (“he’s a creep, he’s a weirdo”), but despite the character’s reprehensible nature, Spall still manages to find him an inherently sympathetic individual because he’s a victim of his own circumstances.

“I thought, ‘Well, there’s been many brilliant performances of it,’ and I wasn’t an obvious choice for the character, but somebody was willing enough to tolerate me having a go at it,” he said. “I realized that you can’t reproduce or copy, but on the other aspect, you don’t want to try and be clever by being so adverse to what anybody else has done. So I started to think about where he was from, why he was like he was. And I kept having an image of him being an outcast somehow possibly thrown out of a nation Yiddish job and Yiddish culture and cut loose as a child and then had to take care of himself internationally. So he gathered many different attributes of a life of possessions and jewels and just basically trying to keep himself together. And, you know, actors always try and work out what makes a character tick. I was very mindful of why this pariah would end up being in London and hopefully try to make him creepy and exotic, but slightly vulnerable as well.”

Similarly, the cute-as-a-button Claire Foy seems tailor-made for the title role in “Little Dorrit,” though you’re likely unfamiliar with Ms. Foy, given her limited resume. This is her first significant role, but it’s clearly not to be her last, given that she flew in for the TCA panel – it was her first-ever trip to Los Angeles – from the set of the movie “Season of the Witch,” which she’s filming with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman. Still, she’s not likely to forget the audition process anytime soon.

“There were quite a number of rounds,” she said. “Four times. Possibly five. I can’t remember. It was all right, really, because it was never something that you kind of assumed, ‘It’s going to happen.’ Because I grew up watching BBC ‘hair dramas,’ I loved them, so I never took it very seriously. Well, I mean, I took it very seriously, but I was even shocked even down to the last group. But it was wonderful, exciting, and everything. And then I found out I got it, and then I started to worry, and fear set in a bit. Nothing really prepares you at all, I don’t think, except just getting the job done and don’t think about it because, otherwise, if you think about it, you will go a bit mad. So you just have to carry on and ignore it.”

“Oliver Twist” airs on PBS on February 15 and 22, with “Little Dorrit” following from March 29 to April 26, and “The Old Curiosity Shop” closes out the run on May 3. They will also be rebroadcasting their production of “David Copperfield,” starring future-Harry Potter Daniel
Radcliffe in the title role, on March 15 and 22.