FINAL Emmy Predictions: Limited Series, Reality, Variety and Music
Mark Hill/HBO
It seems inevitable that HBO’s Watchmen, with its field-best 26 nominations, will fare the best in the Limited Series categories, but just how many will it win? Can it become the first series since 2003’s Angels in America to take all four acting awards?
While three of us, Amanda, Kevin Jacobsen and myself, agree on quite a few categories or at least two out of three of us, there’s only one in which we all selected something different: Directing for a Limited Series or TV Movie. Kevin and I are both going for Watchmen – albeit different episodes – while Amanda is going for Unorthodox, whose four episodes were all directed by Maria Schrader.
I’ve broken out from the pack in a few categories: I’m choosing A Black Lady Sketch Show to upset Saturday Night Live in Variety Sketch Series, a super risky prediction. I’m also thinking that Nicole Byer (Nailed It!), who is hosting the Creative Arts Emmys four-night virtual event, can top RuPaul (RuPaul’s Drag Race) for Host of a Reality or Competition Program, which RuPaul has won for the last four years in a row. [Update: neither of those predictions worked out!]
Amanda is a lone wolf in Lead Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie, where she’s picking Jeremy Irons (Watchmen) while Kevin and I are going with the recent trend in this category to skew young and picking Normal People‘s Paul Mescal.
Here’s our complete list of predictions in various Limited Series, Variety, Talk and Music categories plus Character Voice-Over and Narrator. Those highlighted in green denote correct predictions, those in red are incorrect.
Erik Anderson
Limited Series
Watchmen
TV Movie
Bad Education
Limited Series/TV Movie Directing
Watchmen (“It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice”)
Limited Series/TV Movie Writing
Watchmen (“This Extraordinary Being”)
Lead Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Paul Mescal (Normal People)
Lead Actress in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Regina King (Watchmen)
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Louis Gossett Jr. (Watchmen)
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Uzo Aduba (Mrs. America)
Casting for a Limited Series/TV Movie
Watchmen
Reality Competition Program
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Host for a Reality or Competition Program
Nicole Byer (Nailed It!)
Variety Sketch Series
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Variety Talk Series
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Variety Special (Live)
Live In Front of a Studio Audience: “All in the Family” and “Good Times”
Variety Special (Pre-recorded)
Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones
Variety Series Directing
Saturday Night Live (“Host: Eddie Murphy”)
Variety Series Writing
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Variety Special Directing
73rd Tony Awards
Variety Special Writing
John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch
Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Score)
“This Is Not For Tears” (Succession)
Music Composition for a Limited Series (Dramatic Score)
“It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice” (Watchmen)
Music and Lyrics
“All For Us” (Euphoria)
Character Voice-Over Performance
Maya Rudolph (Big Mouth)
Narrator
David Attenborough (Seven Worlds, One Planet)
Kevin Jacobsen
Limited Series
Watchmen
TV Movie
Bad Education
Limited Series/TV Movie Directing
Watchmen (“This Extraordinary Being”)
Limited Series/TV Movie Writing
Watchmen (“This Extraordinary Being”)
Lead Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Paul Mescal (Normal People)
Lead Actress in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Regina King (Watchmen)
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen)
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Jean Smart (Watchmen)
Casting for a Limited Series/TV Movie
Watchmen
Reality Competition Program
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Host for a Reality or Competition Program
RuPaul (RuPaul’s Drag Race)
Variety Sketch Series
Saturday Night Live
Variety Talk Series
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Variety Special (Live)
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: “All in the Family” and “Good Times”
Variety Special (Pre-recorded)
Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones
Variety Series Directing
Saturday Night Live (“Host: Eddie Murphy”)
Variety Series Writing
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Variety Special Directing
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: “All in the Family” and “Good Times”
Variety Special Writing
John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch
Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Score)
“This Is Not For Tears” (Succession)
Music Composition for a Limited Series (Dramatic Score)
“It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice” (Watchmen)
Music and Lyrics
“All for Us” (Euphoria)
Character Voice-Over Performance
Maya Rudolph (Big Mouth)
Narrator
Angela Bassett (The Imagineering Story)
Amanda Spears
Limited Series
Watchmen
TV Movie
Bad Education
Limited Series/TV Movie Directing
Unorthodox
Limited Series/TV Movie Writing
Mrs. America (“Shirley”)
Lead Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Jeremy Irons (Watchmen)
Lead Actress in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Regina King (Watchmen)
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Louis Gossett Jr (Watchmen)
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Uzo Aduba (Mrs. America)
Casting for a Limited Series/TV Movie
Watchmen
Reality Competition Program
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Host for a Reality or Competition Program
RuPaul (RuPaul’s Drag Race)
Variety Sketch Series
Saturday Night Live
Variety Talk Series
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Variety Special (Live)
Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: “All In The Family” And “Good Times”
Variety Special (Pre-recorded)
Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours To Kill
Variety Series Directing
Saturday Night Live (“Host: Eddie Murphy”)
Variety Series Writing
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Variety Special Directing
Live in Front Of A Studio Audience: “All In The Family” And “Good Times
Variety Special Writing
John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch
Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Score)
“This is Not for Tears” (Succession)
Music Composition for a Limited Series (Dramatic Score)
“It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice” (Watchmen)
Music and Lyrics
“The Way it Used to Be” (Watchmen)
Character Voice-Over Performance
Maya Rudolph (Big Mouth)
Narrator
David Attenborough (Seven Worlds, One Planet)
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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