2020 Emmys: Episode Submissions List for 72nd Emmy Awards

It’s the new age-old question: do Emmy submissions matter anymore? The Emmys have gone through so many shake ups and changes in how they vote, from blue ribbon panels to the television academy at large. There was a time when seemingly surprising wins could be easily traced to their submission. How did Kyra Sedgwick beat Julianna Margulies, Glenn Close and Connie Britton in 2010? The “tape.” Back in the 2000s we used to call a winning submission a “Whitecaps” tape, referring to Edie Falco’s all-timer episode from season four of The Sopranos. It was a lock and we all knew it. While it’s largely true that submissions don’t seem to have quite the impact they used to, there’s no doubt that some voters, especially those that don’t watch all of the shows nominated, will look at categories on a submission basis. This is where a close race can become a win, sometimes a shocker. No doubt, Emmy fans will have a lot to say about who should submit what and be scratching their heads when someone whiffs their submission but that’s par for the awards course.

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Lead Actor in a Drama contender Jeremy Strong (Succession) was the first out of the gate, submitting “This Is Not For Fears,” the season finale with that epic press conference mic drop, while Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) was not far behind, submitting “Host: Daniel Craig,” featuring the Emmy-winner playing Laura Ingraham, and the ‘Sands of Modesto’ and ‘Deep Quote Game Night’ sketches in her next bid for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Notably, this was the last in-studio episode of the season before the coronavirus pandemic shut down production.

Drama and Comedy Series submit six of their best episodes, while Lead and Supporting actors and actresses submit a single episode. Guest acting submissions are already established from their original nomination submissions. In Limited Series, lead actors automatically submit the entire series, supporting performers get to submit a single episode (something that comes in handy for the women of Mrs. America probably more than anyone).

Variety, Talk, Sketch series and Reality Host submit a single episode for consideration.

Winner voting period is August 21-31. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards (which reveal the guest acting winners) will be a virtual event the weekend before the main show. The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards will also be a virtual event on September 20.

Drama Series

• Better Call Saul (AMC) – “The Guy for This,” “Wexler v. Goodman,” “JMM,” “Bagman,” “Bad Choice Road,” “Something Unforgivable”
• The Crown (Netflix) – “Margaretology,” “Aberfan,” “Bubbikins,” “Tywysog Cymru,” “Moondust,” “Cri de Coeur”
• The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) – “Unknown Caller,” “Household,” “Unfit,” “Heroic,” “Sacrifice,” “Mayday”
• Killing Eve (BBC America/AMC) – “Meetings Have Biscuits,” “Still Got It,” “Are You From Pinner?,” “End of Game,” “Beautiful Monster,” “Are You Leading or Am I?”
• The Mandalorian (Disney+) – “The Mandalorian,” “The Child,” “The Sin,” “Sanctuary,” “The Reckoning,” “Redemption”
• Ozark (Netflix) – “Wartime,” “Su Casa Es Mi Casa,” “In Case of Emergency,” “BFF,” “Fire Pink,” “All In”
• Stranger Things (Netflix) – “Suzy, Do You Copy?,” “The Case of the Missing Lifeguard,” “The Sauna Test,” “E Pluribus Unum,” “The Bite,” “The Battle of Starcourt”
• Succession (HBO) – “The Summer Palace,” “Vaulter,” “Hunting,” “Tern Haven,” “DC,” “This Is Not for Tears”

Comedy Series

• Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) – “Happy New Year,” “You’re Not Going to Get Me to Say Anything Bad About Mickey,” “Insufficient Praise,” “The Ugly Section,” “Elizabeth, Margaret and Larry,” “The Spite Store”
• Dead to Me (Netflix) – “You Know What You Did,” “Where Have You Been,” “Between You and Me,” “You Don’t Have To,” “It’s Not You, It’s Me,” “Where Do We Go From Here?”
• The Good Place (NBC) – “Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy,” “The Funeral to End All Funerals,” “The Answer,” “Patty,” “Whenever You’re Ready” (counts as two episodes)
• Insecure (HBO) – “Lowkey Feelin’ Myself,” “Lowkey Thankful,” “Lowkey Movin’ On,” “Lowkey Happy,” “Lowkey Trying,” “Lowkey Lost”
• The Kominsky Method (Netflix) – “An Actor Forgets,” “An Old Flame, an Old Wick,” “An Odd Couple Occurs,” “A Libido Sits in the Fridge,” “A Shenckman Equivocates,” “A Secret Leaks, a Teacher Speaks”
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video) – “Strike Up the Band,” “Panty Pose,” “It’s Comedy or Cabbage,” “Kind of Bleau,” “Marvelous Radio,” “A Jewish Girl Walks Into the Apollo”
• Schitt’s Creek (Pop TV) – “The Premiere,” “Moira Rose,” “The Presidential Suite,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “Start Spreading the News,” “Happy Ending”
• What We Do in the Shadows (FX) – “Ghosts,” “The Curse,” “Colin’s Promotion,” “On the Run,” “Collaboration,” “Nouveau Theater des Vampires”

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman (Ozark) – “Su Casa Es Mi Casa”
Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) – “After the Fire”
Steve Carell (The Morning Show) – “Lonely at the Top”
Brian Cox (Succession) – “Hunting”
Billy Porter (Pose) – “Love’s in Need of Love Today”
Jeremy Strong (Succession) – “This Is Not For Tears”

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show) – “In the Dark Night of the Soul It’s Always 3:30 in the Morning”
Olivia Colman (The Crown) – “Cri de Coeur”
Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) – “Are You From Pinner?”
Laura Linney (Ozark) – “Fire Pink”
Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) – “Are You Leading or Am I?”
Zendaya (Euphoria) – “Made You Look”

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson (black-ish) – “Love, Boat”
Don Cheadle (Black Monday) – “Who Are You Supposed to Be?”
Ted Danson (The Good Place) – “Whenever You’re Ready”
Michael Douglas (The Kominsky Method) – “A Libido Sits in the Fridge”
Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek) – “The Pitch”
Ramy Youssef (Ramy) – “Are You Naked in Front of Your Sheikh”

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate (Dead to Me) – “It’s Not You, It’s Me”
Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) – “A Jewish Girl Walks Into the Apollo”
Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me) – “If Only You Knew”
Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek) – “The Incident”
Issa Rae (Insecure) – “Lowkey Happy”
Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish) – “Kid Life Crisis”

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul) – “JMM”
Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid’s Tale) – “Sacrifice”
Billy Crudup (The Morning Show) – “Chaos Is the New Cocaine”
Mark Duplass (The Morning Show) – “The Interview”
Nicholas Braun (Succession) – “This Is Not for Tears”
Kieran Culkin (Succession) – “Tern Haven”
Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) – “This Is Not for Tears”
Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) – “Crisis Theory”

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Laura Dern (Big Little Lies) – “Tell-Tale Hearts”
Meryl Streep (Big Little Lies) – “I Want to Know”
Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown) – “Cri de Coeur”
Samira Wiley (The Handmaid’s Tale) – “Sacrifice”
Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve) – “Management Sucks”
Julia Garner (Ozark) – “In Case of Emergency”
Sarah Snook (Succession) – “The Summer Palace”
Thandie Newton (Westworld) – “The Winter Line”

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) – Ransom”
William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) – “Whenever You’re Ready”
Alan Arkin (The Kominsky Method) – “A Secret Leaks, a Teacher Speaks”
Sterling K. Brown (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) – “Panty Pose”
Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) – “Marvelous Radio”
Mahershala Ali (Ramy) – “Little Omar”
Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live) – “SNL At Home #2”
Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek) – “Happy Ending”

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Betty Gilpin (GLOW) – “A Very GLOW Christmas”
D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) – “You’ve Changed, Man”
Yvonne Orji (Insecure) – “Lowkey Lost”
Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) – “Marvelous Radio”
Marin Hinkle (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) – “A Jewish Girls Walks Into the Apollo”
Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) – “Host: Daniel Craig”
Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live) – “Host: Eddie Murphy”
Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek) – “The Presidential Suite”

Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Alexis Bledel (The Handmaid’s Tale) – “God Bless The Child”
Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black) – “God Bless America”
Cherry Jones (Succession) – “Tern Haven”
Phylicia Rashad (This Is Us) – “Flip a Coin”
Cicely Tyson (How to Get Away with Murder) – “Stay”
Harriet Walter (Succession) – “Return”

Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman (The Outsider) – “Fish in a Barrel”
James Cromwell (Succession) – “Dundee”
Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian) – “Redemption”
Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us) – “After the Fire”
Andrew Scott (Black Mirror) – “Smithereens”
Martin Short (The Morning Show) – “Chaos Is the New Cocaine”

Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Angela Bassett (A Black Lady Sketch Show) – “The Baddest *****”
Bette Midler (The Politician) – “Vienna”
Maya Rudolph (The Good Place) – “You’ve Changed, Man”
Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live) – “Host: Eddie Murphy”
Wanda Sykes (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) – “A Jewish Girls Walks into the Apollo”
Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Saturday Night Live) – “Host: Phoebe-Waller-Bridge”

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Adam Driver (Saturday Night Live) – “Host: Adam Driver”
Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) – “It’s Comedy or Cabbage”
Eddie Murphy (Saturday Night Live) – “Host: Eddie Murphy”
Dev Patel (Modern Love) – “When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist”
Brad Pitt (Saturday Night Live) – “At Home #2”
Fred Willard (Modern Family) – “Legacy”

Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Dylan McDermott (Hollywood) – “Meg”
Jim Parsons (Hollywood) – “Outlaws”
Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend) – Full Movie
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen) – “A God Walks into Abar”
Jovan Adepo (Watchmen) – “This Extraordinary Being”
Louis Gossett Jr. (Watchmen) – “See How They Fly”

Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Holland Taylor (Hollywood) – “Jump”
Uzo Aduba (Mrs. America) – “Shirley”
Margo Martindale (Mrs. America) – “Bella”
Tracey Ullman (Mrs. America) – “Betty”
Toni Collette (Unbelievable) – “Episode 6”
Jean Smart (Watchmen) – “She Was Killed By Space Junk”

Reality Competition

The Masked Singer (FOX) – “The Super Nine Masked Singer Special: Groups A,B,C”
Nailed It! (Netflix) – “We’re Scrooged!”
RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) – “I’m That *****”
Top Chef (Bravo) – “The Jonathan Gold Standard”
The Voice (NBC) – “Live Finale Part 2 (#1818)”

Reality Host

Nicole Byer (Nailed It!) – “Jungle Bungle”
RuPaul Charles (RuPaul’s Drag Race) – “I’m That *****”
Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio (Top Chef) – “The Jonathan Gold Standard”
Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman (Making It) – “What Are You Made Of?”
Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness (Queer Eye) – “Disabled But Not Really”
Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary (Shark Tank) – “Episode 1101”

Variety Sketch Series

A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO) – “Your Boss Knows You Don’t Have Eyebrows”
Drunk History (Comedy Central) – “Bad Blood”
Saturday Night Live (NBC) – “Host: Eddie Murphy”

Variety Talk Series

Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central) – “Mental Health Stigma in the Black Community”
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS) – “Episode 5144”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) – “Episode 20-3051: Adam Sandler”
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) – “Episode 629”
Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) – “Episode 05012020: Thandie Newton/Ina Garten”

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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