FINAL Emmy Predictions: Limited Series, Reality, Variety and Music

Erik Anderson September 9, 2020

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)

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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.