Now that the 2006-07 TV season is well and truly over, it’s time to review the best performances of the past 12 months.
In the next week or two, I’ll interrupt your regularly scheduled Watcher programming now and then to shine a light on actors whose work I found extraordinary and memorable in the last year. Today’s list is of my favorite leading actresses in dramas.
Connie Britton, “Friday Night Lights” (NBC): There are few television shows that depict the heartbreak and the joy of being a parent better than this richly fulfilling NBC drama, and in her role as Tami Taylor, the mother of a smart, headstrong teenage girl, Britton gave an enormously empathetic performance. The scene in which Taylor talked to her daughter about why the young woman should not have sex for the first time was a stunner. Even when she wasn’t speaking, Britton was riveting. And the marriage of Tami and Eric Taylor — the spats, the talks, the love — was one of the best things about the most recent year of television.
Minnie Driver, “The Riches” (FX): How does a well-raised Brit such as Driver play a wily, complicated Southern grifter? By shedding every single shred of vanity and artifice and letting her passion and intensity take over.
Edie Falco, “The Sopranos” (HBO): For eight years, Falco didn’t just hold her own with James Gandolfini and his towering performance as Tony Soprano. She gave as good as she got, and in the course of doing so gave us one half of a twisted, complex yet somehow relatable marriage.
Lauren Graham, “Gilmore Girls” (CW): Those who watched “Gilmore Girls” just refer to it as The Scene. In the series’ waning days, Graham, as a semidrunk Lorelai Gilmore at a karaoke bar, sang a jaw-dropping rendition of “I Will Always Love You,” the memory of which can still bring a tear to the eye. All of Lorelai’s devotion to her daughter Rory and all of her complicated feelings for diner owner Luke Danes was expressed in one weaving, silly, funny, heart-rending, perfectly calibrated performance.
Sally Field, “Brothers and Sisters” (ABC ): This enjoyable family drama was supposed to be a comeback vehicle for Calista Flockhart, but Field is one of the main reasons to tune in. She is the most magnetic performer in this sprawling cast. As the head of the Walker family, Field has given a brave, deeply appealing heart to widow Nora Walker, whose journey from doting mom and worried widow to independent woman has been poignant and even hilarious at times.
Paula Malcomson, Molly Parker and Robin Weigert, “Deadwood” (HBO): Here are three more reasons to mourn the passing of “Deadwood” — we won’t be able to spend more time with these actresses, who made the roles of (respectively) Trixie, Alma Garret Ellsworth and the ferocious Calamity Jane so riveting (allegedly we’ll get two “Deadwood” films in 2008, but that’s not enough). No wonder all three actresses have been appearing regularly on other TV series in the last few months; they’re all so incisive yet sympathetic that I can’t take my eyes off them — not that I wanted to.
Mary McDonnell, “Battlestar Galactica” (Sci Fi): Over the past few seasons, McDonnell has given a fearsome spine to “Battlestar’s” President Laura Roslin, but the tender scenes of Roslin with Admiral William Adama (Edward James Olmos) are the ones that, for me, resonate the most. The sight of these two smart, complicated leaders letting their hair down, so to speak, and taking refuge in their friendship is one of the many joys of the show.
Elizabeth Mitchell, “Lost” (ABC): In the hands of a lesser actress, Juliet on “Lost” could have been a hopeless muddle: Viewers are never sure whether they should trust her or despise her. But Mitchell has given Juliet a core of pain that makes her betrayals understandable and even forgivable. Juliet will do anything to get back to the only people in the world she loves — but let’s hope that doesn’t mean this enigmatic woman will leave the “Lost” islands any time soon.
Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer” (TNT): From Southern charm to steely resolve in the blink of an eye: That’s L.A. Detective Brenda Leigh Johnson in a nutshell. The TV schedule is not lacking in cop shows, but Sedgwick’s canny, surprising moves make “The Closer” a must-see.
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moryan@tribune.com
