Our Thoughts On The 2018 Emmy Nominations
This afternoon the nominations for the 70th Emmy Awards were released in full, and it’s an interesting collection of shows and stars, with a few arguably glaring omissions. Here we’ll go through some of the categories – not all of them, there’s a lot – and pick out who we think stands a chance, and who we think is missing. If you want the full list of nominations, you can find it here.
Overall, Netflix did amazingly well, not only toppling HBO for the number of nominations for a broadcaster with 112, but beating their record of 91 last year. HBO comes second with 108, and NBC third with 78.
‘Game Of Thrones’ leads the show nominations with 22, followed by ‘Saturday Night Live’ in joint second with 21, level with ‘Westworld’. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ comes in third with 20.
Outstanding Drama Series
The list is pretty much the usual suspects, and is always hard to pick a front-runner. Although ‘The Americans’ is on its final season, so that might sway the vote in its favour. Suprised that ‘Ray Donovan’ didn’t make the list though, given what an epic season it had last year. Also, where the heck is ‘Mindhunter’?
The Americans
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld
Outstanding Comedy Series
Interesting mix of shows, and nice to see ‘Barry’ making its Emmy debut. Much as I think ‘Atlanta’ has probably the strongest chance of taking it after it was beaten by ‘Veep’ last year, I would love ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ to walk away with the Emmy. By far the most entertaining comedy series I saw in the last 12 months.
Atlanta
Barry
Black-ish
Curb Your Enthusiasm
GLOW
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Silicon Valley
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Another tough category, but a great mix of talent. I’ve not seen all the shows on the list, but I would say Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in ‘Patrick Melrose’ was outstanding.
Antonio Banderas, Genius: Picasso
Darren Criss, The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
Jeff Daniels, The Looming Tower
John Legend, Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert
Jesse Plemons, USS Callister (Black Mirror)
Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Jessica Biel, The Sinner
Laura Dern, The Tale
Michelle Dockery, Godless
Edie Falco, Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders
Regina King, Seven Seconds
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Cult
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Donald Glover walked away with the award last year, so it would be good to see someone new take it this time around. Personally, I’d go for Ted Danson in ‘The Good Place’, although people may be tempted towards Larry David’s return to ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’.
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Donald Glover, Atlanta
Bill Hader, Barry
William H. Macy, Shameless
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
For me, Rachel Brosnahan in ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’. It’s a stand out performance of epic proportions, and she deserves all the awards.
Pamela Adlon, Better Things
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Allison Janney, Mom
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
Lily Tomlin, Grace And Frankie
Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Sterling K. Brown took this last year, but it’s a tricky mix of people this time. Milo Ventimiglia has to stand a chance given what happened to his character on ‘This Is Us’, but I’m rather torn between two others. I thought Jason Bateman was utterly brilliant in Netflix series ‘Ozark’, but then so was Jeffrey Wright in this season of ‘Westworld’. Then you also have it being the last chance to hand the award to Matthew Rhys for ‘The Americans’… This is going to be tough.
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Ed Harris, Westworld
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us
Jeffrey Wright, Westworld
Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Tatiana Maslany did, finally get her Emmy for her outstanding work on ‘Orphan Black’ in 2016, so it’s nice to see her on the list again. Elisabeth Moss took the award last year. You then have two actresses on last chances – Claire Foy for ‘The Crown’ and Keri Russell for ‘The Americans’, so it’s UK vs. USA (via Russia) which seems somewhat appropriate…
Claire Foy, The Crown
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Keri Russell, The Americans
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Ann Dowd won last year, and you’d have to think, with 3 noms, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a shoe-in for a win here, but I’m not so sure. Millie Bobby Brown I think would probably get my vote, although Thandie Newton was spectacular in ‘Westworld’ this season too. Somewhat surprised there’s no Mandy Moore or Emilia Clarke in either lead or supporting categories this time around, which seems a bit of an oversight!
Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid’s Tale
Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things
Ann Dowd The Handmaid’s Tale
Lena Headey, Game Of Thrones
Vanessa Kirby, The Crown
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Well… For me, it’s Peter Dinklage… Because he’s Peter Dinklage, and Tyrion is the best thing about ‘Game Of Thrones’. I could see Matt Smith sneaking in there though for ‘The Crown’. Again, no Kit Harington anywhere on the lists, which is a surprise.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game Of Thrones
Peter Dinklage, Game Of Thrones
Joseph Fiennes, The Handmaid’s Tale
David Harbour, Stranger Things
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Matt Smith, The Crown
Supporting Actress In A Comedy
I adore Laurie Metcalf, but it’s possible all the troubles with ‘Roseanne’ will put people off. Megan Mullally is wonderful in ‘Will & Grace’… It does raise the question “why aren’t any of the other ‘Will & Grace’ cast on the list… Or the show itself for that matter!” For me though, it has to be Alex Borestein for ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’.
Zazie Beetz, Atlanta
Aidy Bryant, Saturday Night Live
Alex Borestein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
Leslie Jones, Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne
Megan Mullally, Will & Grace
Supporting Actor In A Comedy
Hard to say which way this would go. Louie Anderson is great in ‘Baskets’, as is Tituss Burgess in ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’. Although, my heart is drawn to giving it to the amazing Henry Winkler.
Louie Anderson, Baskets
Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Brian Tyree Henry, Atlanta
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Henry Winkler, Barry
Outstanding Animated Program
Sure, you could give it to ‘South Park’ or ‘The Simpsons’… But I think what we all want to hear is that “Pickle Rick” won an Emmy!
Baymax Returns (Big Hero 6: The Series)
Bob’s Burgers – V For Valentine-detta
Rick And Morty – Pickle Rick
The Simpsons – Gone Boy
South Park – Put It Down
The ‘70th Primetime Emmy Awards‘ with be presented on September 17, 2018 in the US. We’ll let you know when we have a UK TV air date. If you want the full list of nominations, you can find it here.
