Emmy Predictions: Comedy Series categories

With Veep gone and no new season of Barry or last year’s winner Fleabag, the Comedy categories at the Emmys this year are going to see some wide open spaces that will be prime real estate for Emmy champs like Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the final season of last year’s Emmy breakthrough Schitt’s Creek (PopTV). Both should be able to grab healthy handfuls of nominations as they go up against hot new seasons of Netflix’s Dead To Me and Hulu’s Ramy alongside first season hopeful’s like Netflix’s Space Force and HBO’s Run and final seasons of ABC’s 5-time winner Modern Family, NBC’s The Good Place and HBO’s Silicon Valley.

The Lead Actress category will be filled with returning nominees like Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Christina Applegate (Dead to Me) with a handful of hopefuls aiming for a spot like Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me) and a previous supporting actress winner, Merritt Wever in Run. Issa Rae could return for Insecure, as could Pamela Adlon in Better Things. Is there room for Golden Globe winner Awkwafina in Awkwafina is Nora from Queens or Jane Levy in Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist?

Lead Actor is even more packed with previous winners and nominees here like Ted Danson (The Good Place), Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek) and Michael Douglas (The Kominsky Method) with newcomer and Golden Globe winner Ramy Youssef looking to make his mark with the second season of Ramy. Two old school previous nominees, Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell – both of the UK and US versions of The Office – are each looking for a spot with their Netflix shows, After Life and Space Force, respectively.

The supporting acting categories look primed to be hogged up by actors from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, where I’m predicting 5-6 performances to make the cut. That should still leave room for the likes of Dan Levy and Annie Murphy from Schitt’s Creek, and maybe even Emily Hampshire. Again, the lack of Veep, Barry and Fleabag here really opens the supporting categories up quite a bit. How many supporting actress slots will we see this year? 6? 7? 8? and can D’Arcy Carden finally be one of them, please?

Here are my ranked predictions in the Comedy Series categories in order of likelihood.

COMEDY SERIES

01. Schitt’s Creek (PopTV)
02. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
03. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
04. The Good Place (NBC)
05. Dead to Me (Netflix)
06. Ramy (Hulu)
07. Silicon Valley (HBO)

08. The Kominsky Method (Netflix)
09. Run (HBO)
10. Space Force (Netflix)

LEAD ACTOR – COMEDY SERIES

01. Eugene Levy – Schitt’s Creek (PopTV)
02. Ted Danson – The Good Place (NBC)
03. Michael Douglas – The Kominsky Method (Netflix)
04. Larry David – Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
05. Don Cheadle – Black Mondays (Showtime)
06. Ramy Youssef – Ramy (Hulu)

07. Ricky Gervais – After Life (Netflix)
08. Steve Carell – Space Force (Netflix)
09. Domhnall Gleeson – Run (HBO)
10. Paul Rudd – Living with Yourself (Netflix)

LEAD ACTRESS – COMEDY SERIES

01. Catherine O’Hara – Schitt’s Creek (PopTV)
02. Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
03. Christina Applegate – Dead to Me (Netflix)
04. Merritt Wever – Run (HBO)
05. Pamela Adlon – Better Things (FX)
06. Linda Cardellini – Dead to Me (Netflix)

07. Kristen Bell – The Good Place (NBC)
08. Issa Rae – Insecure (HBO)
09. Awkwafina – Awkwafina is Nora from Queen (Comedy Central)
10. Jane Levy – Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (NBC)

SUPPORTING ACTOR – COMEDY SERIES

01. Tony Shalhoub – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
02. Alan Arkin – The Kominsky Method (Netflix)
03. Dan Levy – Schitt’s Creek (PopTV)
04. Michael Zegen – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
05. Mahershala Ali – Ramy (Hulu)
06. John Malkovich – Space Force (Netflix)

07. Sterling K. Brown – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
08. Kumail Nanjiani – Silicon Valley (HBO)
09. Kenan Thompson – Saturday Night Live (NBC)
10. Ty Burrell – Modern Family (ABC)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS – COMEDY SERIES

01. Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
02. Jane Lynch – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
03. Marin Hinkle – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
04. Annie Murphy – Schitt’s Creek (PopTV)
05. Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live (NBC)
06. Betty Gilpin – GLOW (Netflix)

07. D’Arcy Carden – The Good Place (NBC)
08. Aidy Bryant – Saturday Night Live (NBC)
09. Emily Hampshire – Schitt’s Creek (PopTV)
10. Rita Moreno – One Day at a Time (PopTV)

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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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