Members of the Television Academy are officially voting for the 2018 Emmy nominations in a year where the awards promotion machine hit new highs. Netflix effectively built an almost 400 seat theater for 37 events at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood (and that doesn’t even count the screenings they did at the Television Academy theater in North Hollywood). Even with fewer players Amazon Studios once again took over the Hollywood Athletic Club for a few weeks to tout their contenders and NBC made substantial pushes for “This Is Us” and “Will & Grace.” The Television Academy even admitted there weren’t enough nights in their screening calendar for every show that wanted to participate as peak TV means simply too many contenders battling for recognition. And, yet, this year’s campaign has us slightly…wanting?
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Outside of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” it’s actually unclear how many new celebrated series will crack the major categories. “GLOW” is likely. “Barry” might sneak in. “Killing Eve” feels like a red herring. “Ozark” will, at worst, earn some acting category love. “Mindhunter”? “Counterpart”? “The Deuce” all should but…? In many ways though some of the juice of that “Big Little Lies” vs. “Feud” showdown in the Limited Series categories last year, a battle the HBO entry eventually dominated, is missing. “Twin Peaks” vs. “The Looming Tower” vs. “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” doesn’t have quite the same pull and probably because the celebrated David Lynch series of the three aired so long ago.
Emmys like all awards mechanisms are cyclical, of course, but last year saw major new players such as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Crown,” “Stranger Things ” “This is Us,” “Westworld” and “Atlanta” establish themselves as major players. All six will return to the fold this year and it would be shocking if “Saturday Night Live” didn’t find itself with another truckload of nominations (it could earn up to nine acting nominations alone). Frankly, the only real question is whether really old favorites such as “Will & Grace” and “Roseanne” (at least in the acting categories) will make the cut. Older returning favorites such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Game of Thrones” are, obviously, pretty safe. “The Americans,” “Black-ish,” William H. Macey, Louie Anderson or Tituss Burgess? They’ll be fine. So, yeah.
Any potential upsets in the Outstanding Variety Talk Series category? Nah. Anyone new cracking the Reality-Competition Program field? Unlikely. Will the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category have more than four eligible nominees as it embarrassingly did last year? Dare to dream.
Emmy nomination voting ends at 10 PM PT on Monday, June 25. Maybe the 23,000 members of the Television Academy will surprise us. Maybe.
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Comedy Series
Outstanding Limited Series
Outstanding Reality-Competition Series
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie