The Nominees Ranked By Which Director Should Win:
- Hiro Murai for FX's Atlanta - "Teddy Perkins"
- Donald Glover for FX's Atlanta - "FUBU"
- Bill Hader for HBO's Barry - "Chapter One: Make Your Mark"
- Amy Sherman-Palladino for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - "Pilot"
- Jesse Peretz for Netflix's GLOW - "Pilot"
- Mike Judge for HBO's Silicon Valley - "Initial Coin Offering"
- Mark Cendrowski for CBS' The Big Bang Theory - "The Bow Tie Asymmetry"
Atlanta's "Teddy Perkins" was one of the most distinct episodes of the entire year. It was so unusual and yet so viscerally engaging and engrossing. It's a remarkable achievement for the entire Atlanta team but especially for Hiro Murai. He helped design the visual look of the series but was snubbed last year in favor of star Donald Glover who went on to win the award. He may have won thanks to vote splitting. That could hurt Atlanta this time around with it being the only show with multiple nominations. But "Teddy Perkins" really should sail above the rest. Of course, Bill Hader, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Jesse Peretz all did tremendous work in setting the tablets for their respective series as well. Barry, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and GLOW had some fantastic seasons. Strong visuals helped the storytellers express the stories they were engaging the audience with. This is actually a pretty remarkable selection of nominees this year with many of them doing some incredible and distinct work.
The Nominees Ranked by Which Director Will Win:
- Hiro Murai for FX's Atlanta - "Teddy Perkins"
- Bill Hader for HBO's Barry - "Chapter One: Make Your Mark"
- Amy Sherman-Palladino for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - "Pilot"
- Donald Glover for FX's Atlanta - "FUBU"
- Mark Cendrowski for CBS' The Big Bang Theory - "The Bow Tie Asymmetry"
- Mike Judge for HBO's Silicon Valley - "Initial Coin Offering"
- Jesse Peretz for Netflix's GLOW - "Pilot"
It really is fascinating that the Emmys instituted a rule this year saying that one of the comedy directing nominees had to be from a multi-camera series. It was a rule the voters completely forgot about until several hours after the nominations were announced. As such, Mark Cendrowski getting his own story after the fact could help sail him through to a win. And yet, a multi-camera series hasn't been nominated in this category since 2011 with How I Met Your Mother and a live episode of 30 Rock. Moreover, a multi-cam hasn't won in this race since Frasier in 1997. So, it's very unlikely because it's not the primary driver of conversation in comedies despite some innovative things happening in the format lately. Again, it may be a race between the Atlanta guys but Murai has to have the edge in that regard despite Glover being the reigning champion. And like I mentioned with the comedy writing nominees, Barry and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are bound to win major awards. It is just going to be up to the voters to decide how to split the wealth amongst a number of really deserving series this year.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my predictions? Let me know in the comments below!
