When Jeff Daniels won an Emmy last year for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as jaded TV news anchor Will McAvoy on HBO’s “Newsroom,” industry experts feigned great shock.
Daniels didn’t have the star power of some of the other nominees — Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”) and Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) among them — but they forgot a crucial piece of the puzzle: the monologue, a piece of narration that tests the actor’s ability as a storyteller.
It’s one of the skills other actors watch for when they vote for awards, and Daniels’ delivery was masterful and commanding.
Here, along with Daniels’ monologue, are several other examples of terrific TV monologues.
Jeff Daniels, ‘The Newsroom’
It is an electric moment that provided the actor and the show’s writer, Aaron Sorkin, a platform to crystallize the show’s mission and message: what has happened to television news, and by inference, America.
Jon Hamm ‘Mad Men’
Not all monologues help actors win an Emmy, but they can help you get nominated. Here’s Jon Hamm doing Don Draper’s carousel monologue from the Season 1 finale of “Mad Men.”
Demonstrating how to make the Kodak slide projector an instrument with which people can cherish their memories, Don flicks through scenes of bygone happiness with Betty and the kids when they were very little.
“It’s not called the wheel. It’s called the carousel,” he says. “And it lets travel the way a child travels, round and round and back home again, to a place where we know we were loved.”
It may be Jon Hamm’s finest moment on the show.
Edie Falco, ‘The Sopranos’
Warning: Explicit language
Many actors from this landmark series won Emmys — James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, Drea de Matteo — but Edie Falco was the first, for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in the show’s first season.
She could have very well nailed the prize for this scene in which she tells off professional schnorrer Father Phil. “You know what, Father? I think you like the whiff of sexuality that never goes anyplace.”
Julie Roberts, ‘The Normal Heart’
Roberts, who is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, really outdoes herself, as Dr. Brookner’s fury gets the better of her.
Joe Morton, ‘Scandal’
Nominated this year for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, Joe Morton, who plays Olivia Pope’s father, Rowan, eviscerates Tony Goldwyn, as President Grant, telling him that Grant does not love his daughter.
“You love that she is a door marked ‘exit.’ You love that she is your way out. Because if you are with Olivia Pope, you don’t have to fulfill your father’s dream of being president. If you’re with Olivia, you no longer have to be your father’s son.”
Peter Dinklage, ‘Game of Thrones’
Peter Dinklage has one Emmy for his performance as Tyrion Lannister on the HBO fantasy drama, but this scene, in which he lambastes his family for setting him up for Joffrey’s murder, may bring him a second Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in August.
Joe Mantello, ‘The Normal Heart’
Here he plays Mickey Marcus, whose job with the city of New York is threatened by a high-ranking official in the Koch administration when Marcus becomes a member of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.