Best Supporting Actress Drama Has the Deepest Emmy Field

There are always things to argue about when the Emmy nominations are revealed. Viewers and pundits always find reason to complain that some nominees shouldn't be there, that more deserving shows and actors got snubbed, and that some categories are all too predictable.

It is quite hard to find an Emmy field that has no holes and is deep from top to bottom. But with the 2011 ceremony on the way, such a field does exist in the case of Best Supporting Actress Drama. It may not be the most publicized race of the year, or the closest, yet it is quite hard to find any arguments about how it is made up.

This year's Best Supporting Actress Drama competition includes defending champion Archie Panjabi, her "Good Wife" co-star Christine Baranski, "Mad Men" bombshell Christina Hendricks, "Justified" scene-stealer Margo Martindale, "Boardwalk Empire"'s Kelly MacDonald and "The Killing"'s Michelle Forbes. Even if some fans and pundits were pushing for others to get nominated, they have to concede that the Emmys largely got this right otherwise.

Panjabi scored an upset win last year, and actually got better than ever this year as her mysterious character's greatest sin was revealed. Baranski also helped "The Good Wife" out by being her typical reliable self, and Hendricks kept showing on "Mad Men" that her famous figure isn't all she should be famous for.

MacDonald went toe-to-toe with Steve Buscemi on "Boardwalk Empire" and proved to be more than formidable opposition, while Forbes helped made "The Killing" raw and powerful at the start in spite of what it would become. As for Martindale, even though she was labeled a guest star on "Justified" there was no way she could be stuck in the Guest Actor category, and she may even be the favorite here.

In truth, it is easy to make a case for any one of these actresses winning the Emmy, which is often a rare thing. For most Emmy categories, there are usually one or two undeserving nominees- like Mariska Hargitay and Kathy Bates in Best Actress Drama- or only a few people with a realistic chance of winning-- like Steve Carell, Alec Baldwin and Jim Parsons in Best Actor Comedy. But for Best Supporting Actress Drama, there is no obvious favorite and no potential winner that would really make anyone upset or shocked.

There is probably a pecking order, as Panjabi and Martindale look like the two closest favorites, while Hendricks and Baranski could just be sleepers and MacDonald and Forbes are the nearest things to long shots. Yet since Panjabi pulled off the upset last year, anything can happen in this category. MacDonald could rise a "Boardwalk Empire" tide if the show does well, while Baranski is a familiar face to the voters, Forbes shouldn't have "The Killing" backlash harm her, and the Emmys are due to give Hendricks or some other "Mad Men" cast member a trophy sometime.

Since Best Supporting Actress Drama should be one of the first categories on Emmy night, the suspense over this competition won't take too long. But inevitably, there will be a few categories later in the night that have controversial or unlikely results. Viewers could well be bewildered or upset at how some categories turn out- yet whatever the results of Best Supporting Actress Drama are, it will be particularly hard to argue that whoever won wasn't deserving.