Best TV Performances
Florence Pugh, ‘The Little Drummer Girl: The AMC miniseries devolved, like most John Le Carré adaptations, into convoluted nonsense.
Bill Hader, ‘Barry: Assassin number two. Where Comer was a relative unknown sparkling in a fabulous showcase role.
Jodie Comer, ‘Killing Eve: Our first of the list’s two assassins, and the first of two instances where I had to break a tie between two.
Brian Tyree Henry, ‘Atlanta: In almost every way that matters, Atlanta is Donald Glover’s show before it’s anyone else’s. The one exception.
J.K. Simmons, ‘Counterpart: While I was forced to tie-break in a couple of instances on this list, here we get two performances in one slot.
Elisabeth Moss, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale: As rage-inducing as its dystopian future can be, and as exasperating as the clumsy plot mechanics can be.
Keri Russell, ‘The Americans: After Killing Eve, the big co-star coin flip was Russell versus her Emmy-winning partner (onscreen and in life) Matthew Rhys.
Billy Porter, ‘Pose: Ryan Murphy and company filled the Pose cast with more trans actors than any series had previously. Such boldness meant.
Alan Arkin, ‘The Kominsky Method: What a wonder Arkin is as Hollywood agent Norman in the Netflix comedy. His beloved wife dies at the end of the first episode.