Edie Falco would complete Emmy triple play with nomination for ‘Bupkis’
Although Edie Falco’s Emmy Awards history began with a successful Best Drama Actress bid for “The Sopranos” in 1999, she has since racked up more comedy nominations than drama ones. After receiving a comedy guest notice for “30 Rock” in 2008, she earned half a dozen lead ones for “Nurse Jackie” between 2010 and 2015, the first of which led to a win. Now, as a Best Comedy Supporting Actress contender for Peacock’s “Bupkis,” she could become the eighth entrant on the list of women who have earned recognition in every possible comedy Emmy category.
After “Nurse Jackie,” “Bupkis” is only the second comedy series on which Falco has played a regular role. Her character, Amy Davidson, is a fictionalized version of series star Pete Davidson’s own mother, who raised him and his younger sister as a single parent after her husband died during the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. The show’s first season is built around the premise of Pete moving back in with Amy at a time of career uncertainty and her attempting to help him through it while trying to make the most of her time with her terminally ill father (Joe Pesci).
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The precedent of collecting Emmy nominations in all three comedy female categories was set in 1976 by Cloris Leachman, who earned one lead notice for playing Phyllis Lindstrom on “Phyllis” after netting supporting (1972-1974) and guest (1975) bids for originating the character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” She was followed two decades later by Betty White, who already had supporting (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” 1975-1976) and lead (“The Golden Girls,” 1986) wins under her belt at the time of her 1996 guest victory for “The John Larroquette Show.”
Next came Katherine Helmond, whose first career bids having been for “Soap” (1978-1981) make her the only one in this bunch who was nominated as a lead first. Her subsequent supporting and guest mentions were for “Who’s the Boss?” (1988-1989) and “Everybody Loves Raymond” (2002). Jennifer Aniston then emulated Leachman by being recognized in two categories for one show (“Friends”; supporting, 2000-2001 and lead, 2002-2004) before her single appearance on “30 Rock” landed her a spot in the 2009 guest lineup.
The last three additions to this group were Laurie Metcalf (supporting: “Roseanne,” 1992-1995; guest: “3rd Rock from the Sun,” 1999; lead: “Getting On,” 2016), Amy Poehler (supporting: “Saturday Night Live,” 2008-2009; lead: “Parks and Recreation,” 2010-2015; guest: “Saturday Night Live,” 2016) and Jean Smart (guest: “Frasier,” 2000-2001; supporting: “Samantha Who?,” 2008; lead: “Hacks,” 2021-2022). Smart, who succeeded on all five of those tries, followed White as the second actress to conquer all three categories.
At age 60, Falco would be the fourth youngest actress to join this club, after Aniston (40), Poehler (44) and Leachman (50). As of now, she is one of 19 women with comedy guest and lead nominations but no supporting ones. Included among those who recently joined her in this regard are Issa Rae (lead: “Insecure”; guest: “A Black Lady Sketch Show”), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”; “Saturday Night Live”) and Natasha Lyonne (“Russian Doll”; “Orange is the New Black”).
This potential new bid would make Falco a 15-time Emmy nominee across five different categories. She last competed as the star of the limited series “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders” in 2018. Since she also won for “The Sopranos” in 2001 and 2003, the trophy she might nab this year would be her fifth overall. The star power of “Bupkis” could end up being the key to its awards success.
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