It has been a great year for television in all genres, and it all comes down to television’s biggest night – the Primetime Emmy Awards. The award show will be broadcast live September 18 at 8 PM on Fox, and will be hosted by Jane Lynch.
The nominations were announced on July 14, and leading the pack is Mildred Pierce with a staggering 21 nominations. The most nominated program of the year is sure to win Outstanding Miniseries or Movie and it is likely that the show will win in many other categories, including Kate Winslet for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and Evan Rachel Wood for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. It would be no surprise if Mildred Pierce ends up winning the most awards this year as well.
The Outstanding Drama Series race is a competition between two acclaimed series – Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. Both period pieces, they have earned 19 and 18 nominations this year, respectively, and are essentially equally matched going into the awards show. Mad Men has won the award all three years it has been on the air, and has a very good chance of winning for a fourth year in a row; however, Boardwalk Empire is coming off of a very strong first season and a lot of buzz surrounding the arrival of its second season, which premieres just a week after the broadcast of the awards show. Boardwalk will probably reign victorious, as it deserves proper recognition for its phenomenal freshman season. The true travesty is that Friday Night Lights will go overlooked, but at least it finally got nominated in the category.
Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire will continue to duke it out in both the Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Supporting Actress in a Drama Series categories. Boardwalk’s Steve Buscemi will most likely reign victorious over Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, though don’t be surprised if underdog Kyle Chandler pulls off an upset victory for his role as Coach Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights. As for Supporting Actress, while Kelly Macdonald should win for her role on Boardwalk, it is likely that both she and Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks will succumb to The Good Wife’s Archie Panjabi. The Good Wife had an extremely successful sophomore season, culminating in the honor of being, for the first time ever, the only network drama nominated in the Outstanding Drama Series category.
Other drama categories include Lead Actress, which will most likely go to The Good Wife’s Julianna Margulies (although, once again, underdog Friday Night Lights could come out victorious with Connie Britton); Supporting Actor, which should go to Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage; Guest Actor, which should go to Beau Bridges, who garnered Brothers and Sisters’ only nomination for its final season (although the frontrunner is most likely The Good Wife’s Michael J. Fox); and Guest Actress, which is surprisingly one of the more competitive races, which will be a fight between Grey’s Anatomy’s Loretta Devine, Shameless’ Joan Cusack, and True Blood’s Alfre Woodard.
For the Outstanding Comedy Series category, it seems that for the second year in a row the winner may be Modern Family, which leads all comedy series with 17 nominations. Glee isn’t very far behind with 12 nominations, and is pretty much Modern Family’s only true competition. However, given that Glee is seen as more of a “dramedy,” its chances for victory may be hindered. Regardless, both shows are fantastic and both deserve appropriate recognition.
Ironically, neither show will be winning an award in the lead acting in a comedy categories, as neither show was nominated. Lead Actor will likely be a close race between last year’s winner, The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons, 30 Rock’s two-time winner Alec Baldwin, and The Office’s six-time nominee Steve Carell. Carell may come out with his first win in the category, considering this year was his highly publicized final season on the series. Lead Actress should, and most likely will, go to The Big C’s Laura Linney, who is simply perfection on that series. However, the show is not a typical sitcom, and that may go against Linney, but this has not stopped Toni Collette and Edie Falco from winning the award with their Showtime comedies, United States of Tara and Nurse Jackie, respectively.
The Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress races will be back to a battle between Glee and Modern Family. Supporting Actor will be a battle between Glee’s Chris Colfer, Two and a Half Men’s Jon Cryer, and four actors from Modern Family. Here’s hoping that Colfer will come out victorious, as his acting surpasses all other nominees and his storylines were some of the best parts of Glee this season. Supporting Actress will essentially be a race between two scene stealers, Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara and Glee’s Jane Lynch; either has the potential to win, though Lynch has the slight advantage, having already won last year.
Other comedy categories include Guest Actor, which could go to Justin Timberlake or Zach Galifianakis for their hosting gigs on Saturday Night Live or Matt Damon’s role on 30 Rock, and Guest Actress, which will likely go to one of the three Glee nominees, Kristin Chenoweth, Dot-Marie Jones, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The night is sure to be fun and full of surprises; even Lady Gaga could come out with a win, considering her HBO concert special depicting the Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden is nominated for five awards; including Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special. Be sure to tune in to the show Sunday, September 18 to find out who comes out victorious.