Christine Baranski is nominated for an Emmy for her role on “The Good Wife,” but the veteran actress thinks the writers of the hit CBS drama deserve a little love from the Television Academy as well.
“I find it just extraordinary that ‘The Good Wife’ did not get a nomination and it did not get a writing nomination,” Baranski told TheWrap. “I think it’s been consistently one of the most well-written shows in television.”
The actress, who is also nominated in the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series category for “The Big Bang Theory,” touched on the possibility of a reunion for “Cybill,” the 1990s Chuck Lorre sitcom that Baranski co-starred on with Cybill Shepherd. Baranski won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for that show in 1995.
Read below for TheWrap’s full interview with Baranski.
TheWrap: Who is the stiffest competition in your category?
Christine Baranski: Oh my goodness. The only thing that occurred to me is the “Mad Men” and Mad women, actors who have done such extraordinary work. They’re so long overdue. They’re amazing and it’s such an extraordinary contribution to television. I think there may be something there.
Other than that, I think it’s amazing just to be nominated in this period of time when there’s just so much competition. Just to find yourself in a small category of actors, being singled out is such a huge achievement.
What were the biggest snubs this year, either for your show or in general?
Well, I’ll just speak personally. I find it just extraordinary that “The Good Wife” did not get a nomination and it did not get a writing nomination. I think it’s been consistently one of the most well-written shows in television. And week after week, it delivers not just one interesting plot line per episode but multiple, parallel stories that are complicated and so well written. They also address what’s happening in the world, current events, current conflicts, its contributions to how women are portrayed.
I think [Michelle and Robert King] have been really overlooked. I think they should have gotten a writing nomination for the episode that I submitted, which was the episode about the gay couple that can’t get a wedding cake. Actually, the episode was written and then all that happened in Indiana. It was almost like the writers were present.
Have you been actively campaigning?
No, I actually don’t believe in campaigning. I think that the Emmys generate a lot of interest and excitement and if it gets people talking about shows and it brings even more attention to the medium and the wonderful work that’s being done, I’m fine with that. But this whole business of campaigning for awards, it makes me very uncomfortable. I think one should get the nomination for the work one has done and then you submit an episode that you think represents the best of what you’ve done. It shouldn’t be about how hard you campaigned or how charming you were or how often you went on Twitter or Facebook or whatever.
Did you have any naysayers when you decided you wanted to be an actress?
No. I was lucky. Back in the day when I wanted to be an actor most people in my town of Buffalo, I was the only girl in high school who actually wanted to do that. I was the lead in some of the plays and I played Mame for a senior class project. I applied to some really great acting schools, but I had no sense I could get in. And when I did, I was wait listed at Juilliard and I finally got in, which was all very exciting. Nobody I knew at the time when I wanted to be an actress said, “Hey, you know this is gonna be really hard.”
What would your Emmy victory song be?
I would put on Diana Ross’s key change in “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and make my way up there.
Any chance of a “Cybill” reunion in our future?
Oh my gosh! You know, I keep hoping for a “Mamma Mia” reunion. Nobody has said “Cybill.” Wow. Nobody has, but at our best we were… I have to get myself the first 13 episodes and re-watch them because that was Chuck Lorre and he wrote some seriously funny stuff and nobody had seen anything like that at that time. It started spinning off a lot of variations on that kind of character, but when it hit, it was very new and very fun.