If we look to television for more than entertainment – and let’s face it, we do – then Sunday’s Emmy Awards ceremony will have something for everyone. As much as I would love to see “Mad Men“‘s Moss strut up to the stage in black sunglasses and a cigarette, this will probably be Viola Davis’s year for playing Annalise Keating, the prickly, unpredictable defense lawyer and law professor in ABC’s “How To Get Away With Murder”.
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The epic fantasy “Game of Thrones” has 24 nominations on the upcoming Emmy Awards on September 20.
Growing pressure on media to reflect American diversity, and Emmy voters’ response, will be a crucial part of the ceremony as well. Some fan favorites will be Amy Schumer for best actress in a comedy for “Inside Amy Schumer” and groundbreaking series like “Transparent” about a transgender person. Or now that “Orange is the New Black” falls under the drama category instead of comedy (about time), will that show be the victor ?
That was until just two years ago, when Netflix muscled its way in with “House of Cards” and “Arrested Development”.
Will win: Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men“.
Amy: “Any show other than the Emmys, Game of Thrones would win”.
Finally, Jon Hamm will win. But the drama with the most nominations ever in one year is still “NYPD Blue” with 27.
A “Game of Thrones” victory, a follow-up to the 2005 best-drama win by another genre series, the sci-fi saga “Lost”, would keep “Mad Men” from earning its fifth trophy and setting a record as most honored drama ever. He texted me, ‘Dude, you won!’ (The Television Academy) said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to send it to you tomorrow.
“Most of the experts are picking Viola, but Taraji is certainly in the hunt and we will see an overdue milestone happen in that category”, O’Neil said. “They are powerhouses and they are awesome people, and they will forever win, whether they win that night”. In this unusual role, his ability to win over a courtroom with a wink and a smile (and a song) seemed like the ideal, simultaneous embrace and critique of his more famous character’s ability to do the same with women and clients on “Mad Men“.
Cosby won again, in 1967 and 68, with two other black actors following him after a barren stretch of more than two decades: James Earl Jones for Gabriels Fire in 1991 and Andre Braugher for Homicide: Life on the Street in 1996. House of Cards leads the way with nine Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama, and Lead Actor and Lead Actor and Actress nominations for Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. We can at least hope she makes things right Sunday night by at last embracing Hamm.
Henson, who plays Cookie, a soap villainess in the tradition of Dynasty’s Alexis Colby, has “a very good shot” at the prize, says Daniel Montgomery, a senior editor at awards prognostication website GoldDerby.
And while he’s been to the Emmys many times before, having won a statuette in 2007 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics (Saturday Night Live), this will mark Andy Samberg’s first time hosting the awards show.
The Emmys are on Sunday and Netflix set a new record for their number of Emmy nominations with political drama House of Cards leading the way.
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This time around, all academy members are eligible to vote and will do so online, a change that could encourage more young members to participate and potentially boosts the chances for less traditional series like Game of Thrones.
