2 hours ago
7
And just like that, the summer of catching up on TV is over. The Emmys are back, this year on a (non-football competing) Monday night with a healthy mix of lauded veterans and buzzy newcomers. Will The Pitt, leading the night with 25 nominations, once again sweep the drama awards? Will breakout horror-comedy Widow’s Bay spoil the party for the fifth and final season of Hacks? Here are our picks for the night:
Drama series
Nominees: The Diplomat, The Gilded Age, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Paradise, The Pitt, Pluribus, Slow Horses, Your Friends & Neighbors
Last year, The Pitt won three Emmys for its inaugural season, taking home best drama series – in a surprise upset over Severance – as well as acting awards for Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa. I can’t see that momentum dissipating this year, particularly in the wake of a critically beloved second season that saw the hospital staff deal with a cybersecurity attack during a nightmarish Fourth of July shift. It’s a shame that this would mean that the wildly creative Pluribus probably will not see much of a look in here, but I’d be shocked if it didn’t pick up a few gongs elsewhere. OM
Will win: The Pitt
Should win: Pluribus
Comedy series
Nominees: Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking, Widow’s Bay
For the first time in several years, we have a real race here, with two former winners – The Bear and Hacks – up against late-breaking fan favorite Widow’s Bay. (Last year’s winner, The Studio, is on hiatus.) The final season of Hacks may have garnered a record-breaking 24 nominations – the most for a comedy in a single year in Emmys history – but the momentum is with the spooky new Apple TV+ series, which is not far behind with its own 19 nominations and status as the word-of-mouth TV hit of the summer. (And though the hauntings of Widow’s Bay caused me to watch through my fingers at points, it’s far less dubiously a comedy than The Bear.) Given Hollywood’s penchant for rewarding shows about itself, it’s possible the beloved Hacks will walk off triumphant into in the sunset, but my money is on the would-be “next Martha’s Vineyard”. AH
Will win: Widow’s Bay
Should win: Widow’s Bay
Limited or anthology series
Nominees: All Her Fault, The Beast in Me, Beef, DTF St Louis, Love Story: John F Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette
Beef was the most welcome surprise of the year for me – a clever potboiler about hopeless strivers and the deliciously loathsome wealthy elite that built on the promise of the Netflix show’s first season. I would be almost as happy to see the twisty thriller The Beast in Me take the trophy, but DTF St Louis feels like the word of mouth hit of the summer – we are in a golden age for men having problems on television and the show’s viewing figures have been steadily rising since its debut in March. Plus, David Harbour and Linda Cardinelli already took home acting prizes for the show at last week’s early Emmys event. OM
Will win: DTF St Louis
Should win: Beef
Lead actor in a drama series
Nominees: Sterling K Brown (Paradise), Gary Oldman (Slow Horses), Mark Ruffalo (Task), Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat), Noah Wyle (The Pitt)
A stacked category this year, with returning nominees Brown and Oldman alongside reigning champion Wyle for The Pitt. As much as I would love to see Oldman rewarded for his perfectly crotchety ex-spy on Slow Horses or, better yet, Ruffalo celebrated for tender work in HBO’s under-sung Task, there’s almost no way the Television Academy will not honor Wyle a second time for his understated, but still remarkable performance as Dr Robby, a talented and beloved physician buckling under the weight of a broken system. AH
Will win: Noah Wyle
Should win: Mark Ruffalo
Lead actress in a drama series
Nominees: Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age), Chase Infiniti (The Testaments), Keri Russell (The Diplomat), Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus), Zendaya (Euphoria)
You could make a convincing argument for all five of the actors here: Russell is an eight-time Emmy nominee who has yet to take home a trophy Infiniti was famously snubbed by the Oscars for her work in One Battle After Another; Coon is adored in the industry, while Zendaya has won this award twice already for her harrowing portrayal of Rue in Euphoria. But this year you may as well call this the Seehorn award in the wake of her measured, desolate performance in Pluribus as a grieving woman coming to terms with a strange new sci-fi world: there would not be a show without her. OM
Will win: Rhea Seehorn
Should win: Rhea Seehorn
Lead actor in a comedy series
Nominees: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Wonder Man), Steve Carell (Rooster), Matthew Rhys (Widow’s Bay), Jason Segel (Shrinking), Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)
Though Short is beloved and Carrell has somehow never won an Emmy, this category belongs to Rhys, the versatile TV stalwart who still feels under-awarded despite winning best drama actor in 2018 for his all-timer work in The Americans. Rhys is also rightly nominated for his villainous performance in The Beast in Me, but anyone who has ever watched an interview with the lilting Welshman knows he has a penchant for comedy and his bumbling small-town mayor, striving to put Widow’s Bay on the map despite escalating occult disasters (and a hilarious, ill-timed mushrooms trip) was my television highlight this year. AH
Will win: Matthew Rhys
Should win: Matthew Rhys
Lead actress in a comedy series
Nominees: Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), Elle Fanning (Margo’s Got Money Troubles), Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback), Jean Smart (Hacks)
Smart will easily win her eighth (!) Emmy for her endlessly wonderful performance as Deborah Vance as Hacks comes to a close. It’s just bittersweet that her inevitable victory will likely mean a total shut-out for the final season of The Comeback, Michael Patrick King and Kudrow’s groundbreaking and wildly influential meta Hollywood comedy. OM
Will win: Jean Smart
Should win: Lisa Kudrow
Lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie
Nominees: Riz Ahmed (Bait), Jason Bateman (Black Rabbit), Charlie Hunnam (Monster: The Ed Gein Story), Oscar Isaac (Beef), Matthew Rhys (The Beast in Me)
It’s hard to forget Hunnam’s chilling performance as serial killer Ed Gein, but I can’t see voters going for him en masse in this A-list packed category. In any other year Rhys would walk this but he’ll be rewarded in the comedy categories, leaving this one wide open for Isaac to take home the award. OM
Will win: Oscar Isaac
Should win: Matthew Rhys
Lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie
Nominees: Claire Danes (The Beast in Me), Sally Field (Remarkably Bright Creatures), Carey Mulligan (Beef), Sarah Pidgeon (Love Story: John F Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette), Sarah Snook (All Her Fault)
They like her, they really like her, and I can see Field bagging her fourth Emmy for her touching performance in cozy Netflix drama and comfortably beating breakout star Pidgeon, whose Carolyn Bessette evolved from impish coquette to a woman whose spirit was crushed by the pressures of the spotlight. OM
Will win: Sally Field
Should win: Sarah Pidgeon
Variety series
Nominees: The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Saturday Night Live
Another year, another change-up in the late-night awards field; earlier this year, the Television Academy once again merged the scripted variety and talk series into one category, to address the dwindling field of eligible candidates (last year, Last Week Tonight triumphed over SNL in a category of two). Fair enough, though that means the quick response late-night shows are being unfairly compared to the peerless Last Week Tonight, an Emmy stalwart for its meticulously researched deep-dives on a weekly cadence. Still, I can’t see the Emmy voters not using this opportunity to make a statement by celebrating Stephen Colbert and crew after the politically fraught cancellation of the Late Show. AH
Will win: The Late Show
Should win: Last Week Tonight
Supporting actor in a drama series
Nominees: Patrick Ball (The Pitt), Billy Crudup (The Morning Show), Shawn Hatosy (The Pitt), Gerran Howell (The Pitt), Jack Lowden (Slow Horses), Tom Pelphrey (Task), Carlos-Manuel Vesga (Pluribus)
I would love to see Pelphrey rewarded for his scene-stealing work in Task, turning what could’ve been a stock character – a kind-hearted criminal in a cat-and-mouse chase – into a devastatingly complex, contradictory person. He may have a shot with three men from The Pitt splitting the votes, but I’d be surprised if fan-favorite Hatosy didn’t prevail in the end. AH
Will win: Shawn Hatosy
Should win: Tom Pelphrey
Supporting actress in a drama series
Nominees: Taylor Dearden (The Pitt), Fiona Dourif (The Pitt), Allison Janney (The Diplomat), Katherine LaNasa (The Pitt), Sepideh Moafi (The Pitt), Julianne Nicholson (Paradise), Karolina Wydra (Pluribus)
It’s also, unsurprisingly, a Pitt showdown on the supporting actress side, with four (!) nominees for the sophomore season. Never count out Janney, and there may be some momentum for first-time nominee Wydra’s tricky breakout performance as Pluribus’s hive-mind antagonist. But this should once again belong to LaNasa as everyone’s favorite flinty charge nurse Dana Evans. AH
Will win: Katherine LaNasa
Should win: Katherine LaNasa
Supporting actor in a comedy series
Nominees: Colman Domingo (The Four Seasons), Paul W Downs (Hacks), Harrison Ford (Shrinking), Nick Offerman (Margo’s Got Money Troubles), Stephen Root (Widow’s Bay), Michael Urie (Shrinking), Tyler James Williams (Abbott Elementary)
In another year, this would easily belong to Root, the versatile and subtly beloved character actor, for being the stubborn, salty, freaked-out heart of Widow’s Bay. But he’s up against another beloved industry veteran: Harrison Ford, who could become the oldest comedy winner ever at age 84. The Emmys will almost certainly take the opportunity to honor the icon with his first major acting award (!) in a 60-plus year career. AH
Will win: Harrison Ford
Should win: Stephen Root
Supporting actress in a comedy series
Nominees: Dale Dickey (Widow’s Bay), Hannah Einbinder (Hacks), Janelle James (Abbott Elementary), Kate O’Flynn (Widow’s Bay), Michelle Pfeiffer (Margo’s Got Money Troubles), Megan Stalter (Hacks), Jessica Williams (Shrinking)
Reigning champion Einbinder could win again on the strength of her typically excellent work in Hacks’s swan song (and particularly that much-clipped AI monologue). But O’Flynn, the British stage actress who was largely unknown to American TV audiences until this summer, is just too good in Widow’s Bay. Her Patricia, a remix of classic “final girl” tropes with a hilariously deadpan, officious twist, is what makes the show a true horror-comedy. AH
Will win: Kate O’Flynn
Should win: Kate O’Flynn
