Outstanding Drama Series:
- Breaking Bad
- Downton Abbey
- Game of Thrones
- Homeland
- House of Cards
- Mad Men
So, this is the big category of the night, because everyone is expecting Breaking Bad to finally win Drama Series, and you can count me in as one of those people. I think this is its year, it has all the momentum and all the buzz, it's basically the only show anyone has talked about for the last month. There's no reason it shouldn't finally pull it off, even if the six episodes they submitted (which are from the first part of the season, that aired a year ago) are actually just as good as Homeland's, which didn't have a great Season 2 overall, but did have a great six episodes to submit in the category. I think if Breaking Bad has any competition it's from last year's winner, but the overwhelming cultural obsession with Breaking Bad at the moment threatens to drown everything else out. It has one more shot for the final season next year, but by then it will have been off the air for a long time (not that that may matter, given the absolutely stunning handful of episodes they're going to have for that submission- in fact, it's probably more of a lock next year than this year). The time just feels right- they haven't rewarded it up to this point because it's a dark and gritty show about drug dealing and crime, and the Emmys tend to want to stick with more upright class (see repeat favorites like The West Wing and Mad Men), but when a show gets too huge to ignore they do give in. That's what happened with The Sopranos- it took until its fifth season to win Best Drama Series, but it finally happened when it was too big to ignore, and that's the model I'm following here with this show. It's going to win. Of the rest of them, like I said, I don't see much of a shot for anything except Homeland as an alternative, or maybe House of Cards because of the big name talent involved behind the scenes and the political subject matter they like, but the chances are pretty remote.
Will Win: Breaking Bad
Should Win: Breaking Bad
Dark Horse: Homeland
