Who is going to win at the Emmys? Our critics’ tips
What We Do in the Shadows, Watchmen and Toni Collette are already winners in our critics’ eyes.
Cate Blanchett probably shouldn’t win but will. Watchmen should win but might not. And Jeremy Irons is set to pip Hugh Jackman at the post.
That’s the view from Graeme Blundell, veteran of the small screen and TV columnist for The Weekend Australian Review.
While declaring he is not overly enamoured by Blanchett’s recent body of work, Bundell says he is deeply impressed overall by the field for this year’s Emmy Awards.
“This is the strongest line-up that we’ve ever seen, I think. This is television at its absolute peak.”
And he has strong praise for another Aussie. “Toni Collette was terrific in Unbelievable — I love Toni Collette as an actor. I directed her in her first appearance on camera — pasta to go, a 15-second commercial.” Blundell, together with Eddie Cockrell, Review’s TV critic, examines the shows and their stars in what is arguably television’s most significant year.
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Outstanding Drama Series
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession
Blundell’s tip: “Succession. It was the most pungent commentary on so many different aspects of the culture, including the privileged elite, and the acting was just so extraordinarily well done. Every aspect of it was high end.”
Cockrell: “My heart says Better Call Saul but my head says Succession, so put me down for Succession as I think the wind’s behind it.”
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Outstanding Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Schitt’s Creek
What We Do in the Shadows
Blundell votes for Insecure: “I loved What We Do in the Shadows, an absolute sleeper of a series, but my favourite of all the nominees is Insecure, it’s a slice of African-American Los Angeles life that you would never get to see otherwise. Absolutely superb. It’s also an example of the sort of innovation that’s happening because it was originally a web series and so much of the best new talent is coming from such series.”
Cockrell declares What We Do in the Shadows is “the Kiwi surprise of the day: Taika Waititi is an evolving Hollywood powerhouse at the moment, so even though the deck is heavily stacked against this show here and in the three other categories — Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour), Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series — Emmy voters are laying out a red carpet for the future of the show and the franchise co-creator”. So who gets the gong, Eddie? “My heart says Curb Your Enthusiasm but Emmy loves a show that goes out on top so I think we’re all up Schitt’s Creek — with or without a paddle.”
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Outstanding Limited Series
Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen
Says Blundell: “Watchmen for me — loved it. A superb exercise in genre filmmaking. I don’t think it will win but the first sequence in the first episode is one of the greatest bits of television I’ve ever seen, which is a recreation of the Tulsa race massacre of 1921.”
Cockrell: “The heart’s definitely with Unbelievable, the head says Mrs. America.”
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Outstanding Drama Actor
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
Brian Cox, Succession
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession
Blundell: “Jeremy Strong — I just love Succession. The acting is just so good.”
Cockrell says: “Brian Cox is the overwhelming favourite here, but Jason Bateman gets it for Ozark. The actor’s moved with seeming effortlessness into directing, and between this and The Outsider he’s a major force with which to be reckoned. If not Bateman, then Cox.”
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Outstanding Drama Actress
Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Zendaya, Euphoria
Blundell: “Jodie Comer, Killing Eve — her versatility was astonishing. I hadn’t really seen her before but it’s gasp-making to watch her work. Beautifully, vilely evil and so gloriously attractive at the same time.”
Cockrell says: “Five nominated actresses across these distaff categories have won Oscars, so the competition, particularly in this race, is white-hot. It’ll be Linney or Colman, leaning towards the former. The field’s so good, Better Call Saul’s Rhea Seehorn wasn’t even nominated.”
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Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen
Octavia Spencer, Self-Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere
Blundell: “I’m not such a Cate Blanchett fan at the moment — I think it’s all a bit kind of received. But Regina King in Watchmen is an unusually interesting performance; I think she’s an outside chance but she was my favourite of that bunch.”
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Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series
Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True
Blundell overlooks Jackman for this one: “Jeremy Irons in Watchmen. I just love Irons’ work, you just have to watch him whatever he does. Even if he moves an eyebrow, it’s significant.”
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Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
The Good Place, “Whenever You’re Ready”
The Great, “The Great” (Pilot) Schitt’s Creek, “Happy Ending” and “The Presidential Suite”
What We Do in the Shadows, “Ghosts” and “On the Run”
Cockrell: “Schitt’s Creek is nominated for plenty of other awards in its final season, and it’s an honour for What We Do in the Shadows to be here. But Tony McNamara’s The Great is a sustained blast of historical revisionism worthy of the prize”.
Additional reporting: Imogen Reid