On Thursday the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the top 10 finalists for this year's Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama and Comedy Series. Now, though ATAS isn't talking, Gold Derby's Emmy guru Tom O'Neil is slowly but surely getting his hands on the lists for the acting categories.

The nomination process is split into two stages. First, a popular vote of all eligible ATAS members determines the top 10 list. Then each of those nominees submits a single episode and those episodes are viewed by judges and ranked. A combination of the popular vote and the episode ranking determines the final five nominees. Yesterday we had Supporting Actor in a Drama and Lead Actress in a Comedy, and now we have Supporting Actress in a Drama.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:
Jane Alexander, Tell Me You Love Me
Candice Bergen, Boston Legal
Rose Byrne, Damages
Jill Clayburgh, Dirty Sexy Money
Sharon Gless, Burn Notice
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers and Sisters
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
S. Epatha Merkerson, Law and Order
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy

It pays to be an older lady on a drama series, as five of these women are over the age of 60. Like the Supporting Actor in a Drama race, this list has 11 names, and yet there was apparently no room for Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell or Yunjin Kim. There's also a good chance you may not have seen or heard of the five cable nominees from much smaller shows. Alexander gets points for being a septuagenarian willing to simulate sex on the HBO drama and while I'm thrilled to see Hendricks, she really should be accompanied by her co-star January Jones, who gave one of the best performances of the year as the original 1960s desperate housewife suffocating in a loveless marriage.

Gless and Merkerson are a bit out-of-left-field, and ironically, both also have great shots at making the final list for Guest Actress in a Drama Series thanks to their respective roles in Nip/Tuck and The Closer. And in a year when a big deal was made over Katherine Heigl not submitting herself for consideration, Candice Bergen did just the opposite. After winning five Emmys for her work on Murphy Brown, she withdrew her name for consideration and did the same last year for her work on Boston Legal. She must have felt better about her acting this year as she submitted herself and is back in the hunt for Emmy number six (and so she can surpass John Larroquette as the Emmy winningest star of Boston Legal).

If you wanted to pick a frontrunner, it could be Sandra Oh, who wisely submitted “The Becoming,” the episode in which she learns of Burke's success and wallows by singing Madonna in the morgue. Her co-star Charda Wilson could also be a contender with her very special episode in which Dr. Bailey narrated the actions of Seattle Grace as she dealt with her disintegrating marriage.


Read More About Emmy Top 10 Finalists:
Comedy and Drama Series
Drama Supporting Actor and Comedy Lead Actress
Comedy Supporting Actor and Actress
Drama Lead Actor and Actress


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: Gold Derby
(Image courtesy of ABC)