'Watchmen' and 'Mrs. Maisel' Lead the 2020 Emmy Nominations

Oy. These are a real mixed bag for me this year. First of all, that Mandalorian nomination is an embarrassment. Nominating that show for drama series is like something the Golden Globes would do to seem cool, not the Emmys, which are supposed to be a little more of an arbiter of quality (which Mandalorian is not- it’s practically fan fiction). Watchmen dominating in limited series (the most noms ever for any show of that kind) is fine, and it’ll likely win. In fact, I think I can predict right now the three winners in the series categories- Succession, Schitt’s Creek and Watchmen. But shame on them for snubbing Better Call Saul. Yes, it got a series nod, but this was its BEST season and they choose this year to dump the actors? Only Giancarlo Esposito got in, not even Bob Odenkirk or Jonathan Banks made it like they usually do, to say nothing of standouts Rhea Seehorn and Tony Dalton. Which just confirms to me that Emmy voters don’t really watch the show and probably never have- it’s been coasting on leftover Breaking Bad love all this time. But Emmy voters really love Killing Eve, because there’s no way the show deserved all those noms for a season they really shit the bed on. Can’t talk about Ozark- I don’t watch it.

2020 EMMY NOMINATIONS

DRAMA

Succession got nearly every person in its cast nominated- expect it to run the gauntlet in September

OUTSTANDING DRAMA

• Better Call Saul (AMC)

• The Crown (Netflix)

• The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

• Killing Eve (BBC America)

• The Mandalorian (Disney+)

• Ozark (Netflix)

• Stranger Things (Netflix)

• Succession (HBO)

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA

• Jason Bateman, Ozark

• Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us

• Steve Carell, The Morning Show

• Brian Cox, Succession

• Billy Porter, Pose

• Jeremy Strong, Succession

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

• Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show

• Olivia Colman, The Crown

• Jodie Comer, Killing Eve

• Laura Linney, Ozark

• Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

• Zendaya, Euphoria

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

• Laura Dern, Big Little Lies

• Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies

• Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve

• Julia Garner, Ozark

• Sarah Snook, Succession

• Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown

• Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale

• Thandie Newton, Westworld

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA

• Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul

• Nicholas Braun, Succession

• Kieran Culkin, Succession

• Matthew Macfadyen, Succession

• Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale

• Billy Crudup, The Morning Show

• Mark Duplass, The Morning Show

• Jeffrey Wright, Westworld

GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

• Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away With Murder

• Laverne Cox, Orange Is the New Black

• Harriet Walter, Succession

• Cherry Jones, Succession

• Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid’s Tale

• Phylicia Rashad, This Is Us

GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA

• Andrew Scott, Black Mirror (“Smithereens”)

• James Cromwell, Succession

• Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian

• Martin Short, The Morning Show

• Jason Bateman, The Outsider

• Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us

COMEDY

The Emmys love a farewell bow and Mrs. Maisel has won too many times- this season was Schitt’s Creek’s strongest Emmy haul

OUTSTANDING COMEDY

• Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

• Dead to Me (Netflix)

• The Good Place (NBC)

• Insecure (HBO)

• The Kominsky Method (Netflix)

• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime)

• Schitt’s Creek (Pop TV)

• What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

• Christina Applegate, Dead to Me

• Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

• Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me

• Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek

• Issa Rae, Insecure

• Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY

• Anthony Anderson, black-ish

• Don Cheadle, Black Monday

• Ted Danson, The Good Place

• Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method

• Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek

• Ramy Youssef, Ramy

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

• Betty Gilpin, GLOW

• Yvonne Orji, Insecure

• Cecily Strong, SNL

• Kate McKinnon, SNL

• Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek

• D’Arcy Carden, The Good Place

• Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

• Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY

• Mahershala Ali, Ramy

• Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method

• Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

• Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

• William Jackson Harper, The Good Place

• Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek

• Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

• Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live

GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

• Angela Bassett, A Black Lady Sketch Show

• Bette Midler, The Politician

• Maya Rudolph, The Good Place

• Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live

• Wanda Sykes, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

• Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Saturday Night Live

GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

• Adam Driver, Saturday Night Live

• Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

• Eddie Murphy, Saturday Night Live

• Dev Patel, Modern Love

• Brad Pitt, Saturday Night Live

• Fred Willard, Modern Family

LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE

Watchmen’s 26 nominations set a record for a limited series

LIMITED SERIES

• Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)

• Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)

• Unbelievable (Netflix)

• Unorthodox (Netflix)

• Watchmen (HBO)

MADE-FOR-TELEVISION MOVIE

• American Son (Netflix)

• Bad Education (HBO)

• Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: These Old Bones (Netflix)

• El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)

• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend (Netflix)

LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

• Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America

• Shira Haas, Unorthodox

• Regina King, Watchmen

• Octavia Spencer, Self Made

• Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere

LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

• Jeremy Irons, Watchmen

• Hugh Jackman, Bad Education

• Paul Mescal, Normal People

• Jeremy Pope, Hollywood

• Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

• Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America

• Toni Collette, Unbelievable

• Margo Martindale, Mrs. America

• Jean Smart, Watchmen

• Holland Taylor, Hollywood

• Tracey Ullman, Mrs. America

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

• Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen

• Jovan Adepo, Watchmen

• Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend

• Louis Gossett Jr., Watchmen

• Dylan McDermott, Hollywood

• Jim Parsons, Hollywood

REALITY/VARIETY

The talk shows have been filming at home for months, but I’d expect the usuals to take home their standard trophies anyway

REALITY SHOW HOST

• Making It‘s Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman

• Nicole Byer, Nailed It!

• Queer Eye‘s Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness

• RuPaul, RuPaul’s Drag Race

• Shark Tank‘s Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary

• Top Chef‘s Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio

REALITY SHOW COMPETITION

• The Masked Singer (Fox)

• Nailed It! (Netflix)

• RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)

• Top Chef (Bravo)

• The Voice (NBC)

VARIETY SKETCH SERIES

• A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)

• Drunk History (Comedy Central)

• Saturday Night Live (NBC)

VARIETY TALK SERIES

• The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)

• Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)

• Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)

• Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)

• The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)

In other news, I hate to say this but I’m really not well versed in the comedy series categories this year. I keep meaning to catch up on Schitt’s Creek, but 6 seasons of it feels daunting at the moment. I promise to make it my goal before the Emmy “ceremony” (whatever it is they end up doing, because clearly an actual show isn’t going to happen). I never saw The Good Place, I haven’t seen Dead to Me. In fact, this is the first year in forever where I haven’t seen a single show nominated for Comedy Series, so, yeah I really need to get on that. Expect SNL and John Oliver to dominate the variety categories as usual.

Yeah, so this? Is bullshit. Best Drama Series my ass.