Before the 2012 Emmy Nominations are officially announced (July 19th), I wanted to jump in and highlight some of what I believe to be some of the best underrated performances on television this year.  Putting aside some of the perennial winners, the following discussion for each of the major categories is likely to mention plenty of names who won’t get Emmy mentions this year, but certainly should (and others who may get a nod, but likely won’t win).  Hit the jump for the (spoiler-free!) list that is not meant to be exhaustive (after all, I do watch an unhealthy amount of TV but I’m not caught up on everything), but hopefully brings at least a few of those dark horses to light with the recognition they deserve.

The Showtime drama series The Borgias is a complex, unvarnished portrait of one of history’s most intriguing and infamous dynastic families.  No matter the outside threats, the biggest problems that Pope Alexander (Jeremy Irons) had to face throughout Season 2 came from inside his own family, most specifically the sibling rivalry between sons Cesare (François Arnaud) and Juan (David Oakes), which came to a head in Episode 9.  Please be aware that there will be spoilers, so stop reading now if you don’t want to know.

During a recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, British actor David Oakes talked about the outcome for his character, what it was like to shoot the penultimate scene with François Arnaud, trying to delay the inevitable fate of his character, what he thinks Season 3 might be like now, how it’s been to have such overwhelmingly positive fan support, and working with such an amazing cast.  He also talked about where he’d like to go next in his career, and how he ended up as an actor.  Check out what he had to say after the jump:

We haven’t heard much about Showtime’s forthcoming series The Borgias since it was greenlit with Jeremy Irons (Die Hard with a Vengeance) leading the series back in January. But today the cable network released the first official trailer for the series which follows Rodrigo Borgia (Irons), head of the infamously corrupt Renaissance family and a man who, despite his unsavory reputation, became pope in 1492. Likely looking to capture the audience who loved The Tudors, this historical series seems to be full of erotic romance, corruption, period drama and elaborate costumes. After all, cable can never have too much sex, murder, betrayal and all those things that make humans a lovely little species. Check out the lengthy trailer after the jump.