outstanding lead actress in a drama

With the Emmy awards a week away, I'm continuing to pick who I think should and who I think will win the major awards.

On Friday, I discussed the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy category. Now come the categories for lead actress and actor, starting with the six worthy nominees for Lead Actress in a Drama.

Nominees:
Connie Britton, 'Friday Night Lights'
Glenn Close, 'Damages'
Mariska Hargitay, 'Law & Order: SVU'
January Jones, 'Mad Men'
Julianna Margulies, 'The Good Wife'
Kyra Sedgwick, 'The Closer'

Who will win: The temptation here is to say that one of the previous winners, such as Hargitay or Close, will take the award because of the Academy's lack of creativity with their picks. But Margulies is a known quantity -- she's been nominated six times for 'ER,' both in the lead and supporting categories, winning after the show's first season -- and 'The Good Wife' was widely-watched enough to make me think that she may get the award this year. She carried the first year hit on her shoulders and did a great job playing the wounded but resilient Alicia Florrick.