No surprise, the Comedy Series category is a monster
The good news for those on the fringe of a Comedy Series nominations is that “Veep” and “Master of None” won’t qualify this year. The bad news is there are still a ton of players on the board. Right now it appears the contenders for just seven slots are “Atlanta,” the aforementioned “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Black-ish,” “Silicon Valley,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “GLOW,” “Will and Grace” (a six-time nominee and previous winner) and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” That doesn’t factor in previous champ “Modern Family” (you forgot it was nominated last year didn’t you?), the return of long Emmy-snubbed “Roseanne,” “Barry” with Bill Hader and “almost there with a ton of critical support favorites” such as “Insecure” and “The Good Place.” Throw in other outliers such as the Jordan Peele co-created “The Last O.G.” and it’s an even wider race than many might suspect.
It’s going to be competitive for that one open Drama Series slot
Like its comedic counterpart, the Drama Series Emmy has some missing players this time around in “House of Cards” and “Better Call Saul” which won’t return in time to qualify this season. Of course, “Game of Thrones” is back which, barring some massive nomination upset, means there is really only one slot open. Is it former nominee “The Americans” to lose? Is Starz’ “Counterpart” a contender? Can Showtime’s “The Chi” surprise? Could “Homeland” return to the fold? Will one of Netflix’s other players such as “Ozark,” “Mindhunter,” “13 Reasons Why” or even “Orange Is The New Black” steal it? Will anyone reward CBS’ “The Good Fight” after all the Emmy love its sister show “The Good Wife” received? Place your bets now.
Hulu’s Emmy contenders go beyond “The Handmaid’s Tale”
After almost completely dominating the Emmy and year-end award season, Hulu knows it has a potential mainstay in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Especially if the second season comes anywhere close to matching the first in terms of quality. What you may not be aware of is they have a major contender in the Mini-Series and TV Movie categories with “The Looming Tower,” which is currently four episodes into it’s 10-episode run. Jeff Daniels is so good he’s now competing with his performance the Netflix mini-series “Godless” in the Lead Actor category and Peter Sarsgaard, Bill Camp, Michael Stuhlbarg are all serious Supporting Actor players. It should be another significant step after making history as the first streaming service to win the Drama Series Emmy last year.
A new Best Actress in a Comedy is on the horizon
One Emmy streak that will end this year belongs to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Incredibly, the “Veep” star has won the Best Actress in a Comedy Emmy for six straight years. With the HBO series not expected to return until later this year or 2018 a new Emmy winner will finally be crowned. Familiar faces such as Allison Janney (“Mom”), Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”), Ellie Kemper (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) should be in play as will “Grace and Frankie’s” Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. “Better Thing’s” Pamela Adlon cracked the field for the first time last year and many expect “Mrs. Maisel’s” Rachel Brosnahan and “GLOW’s” Alison Brie to make the cut this time around (and, yes, that means one of the previous names is getting snubbed). In fact, Brosnahan, this year’s Golden Globe winner, could be the frontrunner or Janney could join Helen Hunt as the only actors to ever win an Emmy and an Oscar in the same year. In any case it’s so competitive “Insecure’s” Issa Rae, “The Good Place’s” Kristen Bell, “Crazy Ex-Girlfiend’s” Rachel Boom and “Fresh Off the Boat’s” Constance Wu may find themselves on the outside looking in once again.
There will be diminished star-power in the Movie and Mini-Series acting categories
Let’s be frank. With “Big Little Lies” and “Feud” out of the mix the star power in some of this year’s Emmy categories they qualified for last year may be wanting. There are potential nominations for aforementioned Dern (in two categories), Carey Mulligan, Al Pacino, Michael B. Jordan, Penelope Cruz and Benedict Cumberbatch (practically an Emmy mainstay as a five-time nominee), but that’s really it. Maybe the Emmy telecast producers get a gift and Tiffany Haddish gets nominated for her role in “The Last O.G.,” but they shouldn’t count on it.
“Counterpart” may be Starz’ first real Emmy player ever
Can you think of a Starz series that ever did well at the Emmys? Ponder on that question for a moment. The reason you can’t think of one is because outside of a scattering of Creative Arts nominations over the years and a random nomination for “Dancing on the Edge’s” Chiwetel Ejiofor in 2014 the network has been completely unable to crack the Emmy code. The critically acclaimed “Counterpart” could snap that streak. Oscar winner J.K. Simmons is clearly in the mix for a Leading Actor in a Drama Series nomination and is long overdue for some Emmy recognition considering the lengthy TV credits on his resume. Can the series earn the most prestigious nomination of all? Probably not, but even getting Simmons into the game would be a huge win for the premium service.
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