Secret behind Jim Parsons' and Julie Bowen's Emmy victories

Most Emmy pundits bet that Steve Carell would finally win best comedy actor for his last season on "The Office" just like Sarah Jessica Parker finally won her overdue, elusive Emmy for her final year on "Sex and the City." In the race for best supporting comedy actress, most bets were on Emmy host Jane Lynch winning for "Glee."

But victories were scored by Jim Parsons ("The Big Bang Theory") and Julie Bowen ("Modern Family") instead. How did they do it?

Both stars benefited from a quirk of Emmy voting: They were nominated against costars. Because winners are chosen by a small jury of voters evaluating single episodes, they get to be seen more than once. Parsons also gave judges a performance on costar Johnny Galecki's episode submission. Bowen gave judges an extra performance on Sofia Vergara's episode.

That's why it was no surprise that Ty Burrell won best supporting comedy actor, as widely expected. He was nominated against three "Modern Family" costars: Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O'Neill and Eric Stonestreet.

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Photo: Jim Parsons in "The Big Bang Theory." Credit: CBS

Emmys: Will a 'Modern Family' star win best supporting comedy actor?

The race for best supporting comedy actor at this year's Emmys comes down to which "Modern Family" actor is most helped by his costars' submissions. Four actors from the comedy are nominated this year, more than any other show has ever earned in this category, which means that voters will be watching four submissions in which all four men appear. That's why shows with multiple nominees in a category usually win, instead of splitting the vote.

Last year's winner, Eric Stonestreet, will probably not repeat. When he won, he had submitted the episode "Fizbo," in which he defends his boyfriend's honor while wearing a clown suit. But this year he has entered "Mother's Day," in which he complains about being treated as a woman in his relationship with Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). He complains in most of the episodes submitted by "Modern Family" actors, which may not play well to voters. But his bigger problem may be that his costars' scenes in his episode may be better than his own: Ty Burrell and Ed O'Neill have touching, funny scenes in which O'Neill is embarrassed about crying over his late mother.

O'Neill submitted "The Kiss," in which his wife (Sofia Vergara) tricks him into performing strange rituals during a dinner preparation. He later expresses regrets over raising a son who is afraid of intimacy. But that episode's main storyline helps Ferguson, who is uncomfortable being kissed by his boyfriend in public.

Ferguson submitted "Halloween," in which he struggles to get out of a Spider-Man getup when he discovers that he's the only one who has come to work in costume. Appearing in costume helped Stonestreet last year, and the physical slapstick stands out against his costars' performances, though Burrell does have a strong subplot in which he fears for the security of his marriage.

Burrell's episode gives him the benefit of playing against type. In "Good Cop, Bad Dog," his happy-go-lucky character must reluctantly play disciplinarian to his disobedient teenage daughters, until he goes overboard by leaping onto their car and taping their computers shut. In O'Neill's subplot, he must deliver tough criticism to an eager entrepreneur, but proves to be a big old softy when he adopts the entrepreneur's dog. And Ferguson must figure out how to leave for a Lady Gaga concert while Stonestreet is sick in bed.

Poll: What will be the big Emmy jaw-dropper?

At the Emmys, upsets occur often because of the award's unique voting process. Winners are decided by judges who view sample episodes submitted by nominees as examples of their best work. In the acting races, for example, there are only about 50 to 75 judges per category, all fellow actors, and you never know what they're thinking. No pundit, for example, foresaw that jaw-dropper pulled off last year by Archie Panjabi ("The Good Wife") in the race for best supporting drama actress.

Below is a list of some upsets I believe are possible Sunday night. Which one do you think has the best chance to occur?

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Finally, Emmy jackpot for Ed O'Neill?

Poor Ed O'Neill has endured a long streak of snubs before journeying to the Emmys, but now it looks like it could pay off Sunday with the ultimate Hollywood happy ending: an Emmy win.

In 1987, the funnyman starred in Fox network's "Married with Children" as Al Bundy, a role he played for 11 long years. Not only were O'Neill and his costar Katey Sagal snubbed by Emmy voters every season for playing the rude, crude Bundys, but the sitcom entered the Emmy history books as one of the longest-running series to never win a single award.

After that series ended, O'Neill guest starred on many different shows including "The West Wing," a series with major Emmy clout. But he still never managed to wrestle up an Emmy nod himself. All of that looked to change last year when his ABC comedy "Modern Family" started attracting Emmy buzz from the moment it premiered. Unfortunately for O'Neill, that award season ended with him being the only adult cast member to be snubbed. Once again, Emmy slapped O'Neill.

When nominations were announced this year, O'Neill fans rejoiced as the actor finally received his first Emmy recognition. Was he nominated because of the Emmy backlash from last year's snub? Or did Emmy voters simply come to their senses? Whatever the case, he's up for his first trophy this year, and he even has a great shot at winning.

According to predictions at GoldDerby, O'Neill is in second place to take home the award for comedy supporting actor. Experts, editors and users have "Modern Family" costar Ty Burrell out in first place, with Chris Colfer ("Glee") in third, last year's winner Eric Stonestreet ("Modern Family") in fourth, Jesse Tyler Ferguson ("Modern Family") in fifth and Jon Cryer ("Two and a Half Men") in last place.

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Left photo: Ed O'Neill in "Married ... with Children." Credit: Fox

Right photo: O'Neill in "Modern Family." Credit: ABC

Emmys: '30 Rock' may be the spoiler in comedy direction race

At the Oscars, the directing award usually lines up with the best picture prize, but that's not true at the Emmys. Take the Emmys' TV comedy categories. Over the last 10 years, only once has the winner for comedy series also claimed the director's award — back in 2004, when Joe and Anthony Russo prevailed for directing the pilot episode of Fox's cult hit "Arrested Development," which famously won for comedy series despite having very sad Nielsen ratings. Happily, the Emmy victories helped to keep "Arrested Development" on the air for at least another season.

So if the apparent pattern holds in the directing category, this year things might be looking up for Beth McCarthy Miller, who helmed the live episode of "30 Rock." It competes against three "Modern Family" segments and one from  "How I Met Your Mother."

The logic goes, if "Modern Family" is far and away the overwhelming favorite to clinch the trophy for comedy series, then its odds for collecting the directing prize are looking slim. Also, some pundits believe that the three "Modern Family" nominations might split the vote — for the episodes "Halloween" (directed by Michael Allan Spiller), "Slow Down Your Neighbors" (directed by show runner Steve Levitan) and "See You Next Fall" (directed by Gail Mancuso).

"How I Met Your Mother" was generally ignored by Emmy voters this year, racking up only a few technical nominations, including one for often-nominated Pamela Fryman for the episode "Subway Wars." With even perennial nominee Neil Patrick Harris snubbed by voters, things aren't looking too good for "Mother" in the directing derby.

This leaves Emmy favorite "30 Rock" a potential spoiler with McCarthy Miller, who juggled not only the tricky aspects of live television but also brought two versions of the show to viewers — one feed for the East Coast and another feed for the West Coast. If the theory holds true this year, then McCarthy Miller, who has been nominated seven times, including two for "30 Rock" and four for "Saturday Night Live," and has never won, might want to make sure her Emmy speech is good to go.

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Photo: Live episode of "30 Rock." Credit: NBC.

Can any comedy series dethrone 'Modern Family' at the Emmys?

"Modern Family" won a decisive victory at the Emmys last year, taking six awards out of 14 nominations including best comedy, and this year the series is considered an even stronger front-runner with 17 nods, which is more than any other comedy.

TV's top award certainly likes to act a lot like a TV repeat. "30 Rock" won three in a row from 2007 to 2009, "All in the Family" and "Cheers" won four apiece, and "Fraiser" won a record five in a row from 1994 to 1998. Most Emmy pundits are predicting "Modern Family" will continue the trend with a repeat win this year, but is its victory inevitable?

Previous winners "The Office" and "30 Rock" are back in the running this year, as well as last year's nominee "Glee." But this is the first time voters will have the chance to honor "The Big Bang Theory" or "Parks and Recreation" in the top series race. Could Emmy voters buck convention by rewarding new blood?

Support has been steadily building for "Big Bang" since it premiered in 2007. It didn't receive any nominations for its first season, but it broke through in 2009 with acting nods for lead star Jim Parsons and guest actress Christine Baranski. Last year it earned a total of five nods, winning its first Emmy for Parsons. And this year it earned another five bids: a repeat nomination for Parsons, along with a surprise nod for his co-star Johnny Galecki and the show's first-ever nomination for best comedy series.

Five nominations may seem like scant support compared with 17 for "Modern Family," but unlike the Oscars, where the most-nominated film usually wins best picture, at the Emmys sometimes less turns out to be more. Remember, in 1998 "The Practice" won its first Emmy for best drama series with only four nominations, compared with the 16 earned that year by "ER" and "The X-Files." And last year, even though "Glee" had more nominations than "Modern Family" (19 to 14), it still lost the top prize.

Which star is most in need of an Emmy intervention?

As every Emmy fan knows, winners are chosen based upon the strength of a sample episode of their TV show that they choose to submit to judges. Sometimes actors make the perfect choice as Jim Parsons did last year by picking "The Pants Alternative" segment of "The Big Bang Theory," which resulted in his big win as best comedy actor. And sometimes they really blow their chances like Sarah Jessica Parker did by submitting the notorious farting episode ("The Drought") of "Sex and the City" in 1999. She lost to Helen Hunt, who prevailed for "The Final Frontier" segment of "Mad About You."

Our forums moderator Rob Licuria believes that eight current nominees in the acting categories (lead, supporting and guest) entered weak choices: Alec Baldwin ("Respawn," "30 Rock"), Cara Buono ("Chinese Wall," "Mad Men"), Dot-Marie Jones ("Never Been Kissed," "Glee"), Randee Heller ("Beautiful Girls," "Mad Men"), Cloris Leachman ("Don't Vote for This Episode," "Raising Hope"), Eric Stonestreet ("Mother's Day," "Modern Family"), Sofia Vergara ("Slow Down Your Neighbors," "Modern Family"), Kristin Wiig ("Host: Jane Lynch," "Saturday Night Live").

"Who wins the prize as the worst Emmy episode submitter this year?" Licuria asks. "Who is most in need of an Emmy intervention? Could it be Sofia Vergara ('Modern Family'), buzzed about all season long as the sexy younger wife of family patriarch Ed O'Neill, only to come up short with an episode ('Slow Down Your Neighbors') in which she rides a bike and is completely outshone by her co-star and fellow nominee Julie Bowen? Or perhaps the real howler is on the drama side, like early frontrunner Kelly Macdonald ('Boardwalk Empire'), who could have picked a much stronger episode than the one she did ('Family Limitation'), where her few scenes are unremarkable, especially in comparison to her category competitors."

Licuria wants you to pick the worst submission, thus deciding the nominee most in need of an Emmy intervention. To see plot descriptions of the choices made, click on the episode titles listed above. Here's a full list of every episode entered by all contenders with links to plot descriptions.

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Photo: Ed O'Neill and Sofia Vergara in the "Slow Down Your Neighbors" episode of "Modern Family." Credit: ABC

Emmy contenders: Jane Lynch has a secret advantage

As the Emmys approach, Jane Lynch may look like the inevitable winner of best supporting comedy actress. Not only did she bag the category last year, but now she's hosting the Emmycast. But beware: She doesn't have the advantage she had last year -– she doesn't have that single powerhouse episode of "Glee" to submit to Emmy judges.

Last year, Lynch won for "The Power of Madonna," which was an impressive showcase for her skills as an actress, comedian, singer and dancer. She may have been competing in the supporting category, but she had so much screen time in that segment she seemed like a lead star.

The episode Lynch submitted this year isn't a blockbuster. "Funeral" is much more quiet and subdued as Lynch's character, Sue, mourns the loss of her sister, who had Down's Syndrome. Lynch shows a sadder and angrier side of her character and she doesn't get a chance to show off comedic skills. And she has much less screen time than she did in "The Power of Madonna."

Lynch does have another advantage this year though. She appears extensively in the episode submitted to Emmy judges by rival nominee Kristen Wiig. For some unknown reason, Wiig entered the episode of "Saturday Night Live" hosted by Lynch last fall. It's a perfect showcase for Lynch to show off her chops as a singer and comedian as she appears in a wide range of skits. It's a great complement to the dramatic performance Lynch gives on her own "Glee" submission, thus showing off her range as a performer.

Often this phenomenon helps a star to win. Felicity Huffman won for comedy actress in 2005 when her "Desperate Housewives" castmates Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher submitted episodes that assisted Huffman in showing off her range. The same crossover aided Eric Stonestreet in 2010 (up against Ty Burrell and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, "Modern Family"), Cynthia Nixon in 2004 (up against Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis, "Sex and the City"), and all throughout Emmy history ("The West Wing" supporting actors, "The Golden Girls" lead actresses, etc.).

Emmy contenders: The nominees speak their minds

 
With all the excitement over their Emmy nods, the nominees have a lot to think about these days. But more important than what they will wear or who they will thank at the Sept. 18 ceremony were far more pressing questions such as, “Is Jane Lynch going to tease me?” The Envelope had a chance to run this and other thoughts past some of the Emmy contenders; here's what they're thinking:

As Sue Sylvester on “Glee,” Jane Lynch can be downright mean. With her as host, are you nervous that she’ll poke jabs at you during her monologue? And what would she tease you about?

“Who could be the meaner person.”
— Margo Martindale, “Justified”

“She probably could talk about my [character’s] terrible wardrobe. Or the fact that I never smile.”
— Mireille Enos, “The Killing”

 “I love her, I think she’s going to be incredible. But we should all be a little worried.”
— Connie Britton, “Friday Night Lights”

“Bring it! It’s all in good fun.”
— Matt LeBlanc, “Episodes”

“Oh, she’s a great gal; she’s fun. I’m not afraid of her. I’m a big fan.”
— Betty White, “Hot in Cleveland”

"I’ve known her for a long time. She’s certainly a searing character. She’s always been very sweet to me in person, so I’m hoping she might give me a 'get out of jail' card [otherwise] I’ll just have to roll with the punches."
-- Johnny Galecki, "The Big Bang Theory"

“If she brings me up in her monologue, I’ve got reason to be nervous. But she’s very funny. I hope I can be recognized by her. That would be an honor.”
— Kyle Chandler, “Friday Night Lights”

“I’ve worked with Jane. She’s a great broad and hilarious. She can do anything she wants. She can sit on my lap. Or maybe I can sit on hers.”
— Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”

“I’d be so happy to get a hard time from Jane Lynch. She could say anything and I’d laugh. I adore her!
I’m sooo excited. I’m such a huge fan!”
— Evan Rachel Wood, “Mildred Pierce”

'Modern Family' stars may help each other to win the Emmy again

Emmy contenders nominated against costars have a secret advantage. Since winners are chosen by judges who view one sample episode from each contender in a category, costars are seen on each other's episode submissions in addition to their own. Thus, they get twice as many chances to show off their acting chops. This curious Emmy factor probably helped Felicity Huffman, for example, to win lead comedy actress in 2005. The performance she gave on her "Desperate Housewives" episode wasn't great, but she was so amazing on Marcia Cross' submission that the two taken together put her ahead of the pack. 

Now consider this year's contest for supporting comedy actor in which "Modern Family" has four of the six slots: Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O'Neill and Eric Stonestreet. Last year, when "Modern Family" had three of the six nominations, Stonestreet prevailed. In the contest for supporting comedy actress, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara are going head to head. Meantime, over in the category of guest actor in a comedy, Nathan Lane is the only "Modern Family" contender. Even though it's unlikely that many judges will overlap, the seven actors up from this series have submitted seven different episodes in the three categories. 

Below is a breakdown of each episode.

Julie Bowen's episode is "Strangers on a Treadmill," in which she tries to help her husband with his Realtor's banquet speech. Who else gets to shine? Burrell, who is seen as sympathetic for much of the episode until he makes the speech and winds up scoring with the crowd.

Ty Burrell, "Good Cop, Bad Dog": Burrell must become the bad parent for a day and force his daughters to do their chores. Who else gets to shine? Ferguson, who desperately wants to go to a Lady Gaga concert, but has to watch after his sick partner instead.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, "Halloween": Ferguson wears a Spider-Man costume to work only to realize that wearing costumes is not the norm at the office. Who else gets to shine? Vergara, who has a hilarious storyline involving her family trying to correct her thick Colombian accent.

Ed O'Neill, "The Kiss": O'Neill is made to realize that he's emotionally closed off, resulting in his son not feeling comfortable kissing in public. Who else gets to shine? Ferguson again, who squirms around throughout the episode trying to avoid Stonestreet's kisses.

Eric Stonestreet, "Mother's Day": Stonestreet is made to feel self-conscious when he is seen as Lily's mother figure as opposed to her father. Who else gets to shine? O'Neill, who has an unexpected emotional moment when he remembers his deceased mother's cooking.

Sofia Vergara, "Slow Down Your Neighbors": Vergara is taught to ride a bicycle for the first time, showcasing various scenes of physical comedy. Who else gets to shine? Bowen, who has several memorable tantrums as she deals with a speeding neighbor.