The Nominees Ranked By Which Program Should Win:
- FX's Atlanta
- HBO's Barry
- Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
- Netflix's GLOW
- ABC's Black-ish
- Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
- HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
- HBO's Silicon Valley
Leading up to the nominations, there was the sense that voters could completely reinvent this category by welcoming in a ton of new and very deserving nominees. After the nominees were announced, it was more of a mixed bag. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Silicon Valley still got in the race. But the more exciting entries were Atlanta, Barry, GLOW and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Now, Atlanta isn't a newcomer to this race. It was nominated for its first season and lost to Veep. But it's certainly deserving because the second season only continued the odd experiments that pushed the boundaries of television to their limits. That was such a remarkable and stunning season of television. It's one of the best things to air in 2018 so far. And so, there is no real competition for which show should win in this race. However, those other three nominees all had phenomenal debut seasons. They came out of the gate so strong in some very distinct ways. Amy Sherman-Palladino was able to apply her writing sensibilities to a period drama to great effect. Barry showed that Bill Hader should be considered yet another influential voice in the medium as an actor, writer and director. And GLOW just had so much fun while telling compelling and strong female-centric stories. Comedies continue to push the limits of what is possible and this category is really starting to reflect that with a bunch of very different but so compelling nominees.
The Nominees Ranked by Which Program Will Win:
- Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
- FX's Atlanta
- Netflix's GLOW
- HBO's Barry
- HBO's Silicon Valley
- ABC's Black-ish
- HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
HBO is the only non-broadcast network to have ever won in the race for Best Comedy Series. That's insane considering how the nominees from the broadcast side have been dwindling over the years. There is only one nominee in the race this year. Black-ish had a strong season. It continues to pull off experiments that work immensely. It just doesn't seem like the winner because the voters have embraced cable and streaming. As such, the first streaming show could win in this race. The first basic cable show could win in this race too. Of course, HBO also has three nominees to keep its current streak going. However, the pay cable giant never seems to win for the first seasons of its shows. Usually, the voters embrace them over time and shower them with awards. That's what happened with Sex and the City and Veep - the only shows from HBO to win here. That means it's probably unlikely that Barry will prevail even though it had such a strong season. Plus, Silicon Valley and Curb Your Enthusiasm are probably long shots for seasons that weren't operating at their peaks. For so long, this race has seemingly been between The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Atlanta. A win for either would be historic for the category. Amazon may not have been the first streaming service to win an Emmy in a series race. And yet, it sure would be ironic if Hulu and Amazon managed to prevail in that distinction ahead of Netflix which is so overwhelming to that marketplace. Netflix has a serious contender in the race too with GLOW. It won some awards at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend. But it may not have the broad support that Atlanta and Mrs. Maisel have to win in this race.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my predictions? Let me know in the comments below!
