Emmys Drama Race: Which Show Will Fill the Void Created by the Departure of ‘Breaking Bad’?
This story first appeared in the June 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
(On July 17, seven will be declared finalists, as opposed to the usual six, thanks to a rule change made in acknowledgement of how competitive this category’s field and the comedy series field have become.)
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Unless I missed copying some, this is the list:
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Game of Thrones
House of Cards
Mad Men
Parenthood
Justified
Sons of Anarchy
The Newsroom
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
The Good Wife
Homeland
Empire
How to Get Away With Murder
The Affair
Penny Dreadful
Better Call Saul
The Leftovers
Outlander
The Knick
Manhattan
Bloodline
Bosch
Orange Is the New Black
The Americans
Masters of Sex
Ray Donovan
Scandal
The Blacklist
Bates Motel
The Walking Dead
Pick your choices for the TOP SEVEN and post them here. We’ll monitor the progress until July 17.
Okay to list seven whether they’re on this list or not. Odds are in favor of the list, though.
Going with the seven dramas that I, personally, believe are of the highest quality, rather than what I think will get nominated. Note that this is for their most recent seasons, the ones that would presumably be nominated; for example, while I think season 1 of House of Cards is one of the all-timers, the most recent season is not close to consideration. This isn’t the “build up influence over time” vote that happens so often in real life.
The Americans
Justified
Mad Men
(… I have to pick how many more? FOUR?!)
Game of Thrones
Better Call Saul
The Good Wife
(Um… let’s go with…)
The Knick
It’s a thinner group than I thought it would be. Between my wife and I we’ve seen about 22 of that 30. Empire was the other consideration for that last spot: it’s just too soapy for me, but it’s undeniably going to have the most influence as to where TV moves in the next year or three. Justified was my favorite season from the past year, but The Americans was probably ‘better’. Good for FX either way.
I don’t know how long I can keep this layout going, but for what it’s worth at the moment:
The Good Wife (4) Zeldar up_the_junction Chefguy Kiros
Justified (3) Zeldar Chefguy Kiros
The Americans (3) Zeldar Chefguy Kiros
Better Call Saul (3) Zeldar up_the_junction Kiros
Game of Thrones (2) up_the_junction Kiros
House of Cards (2) Zeldar up_the_junction
Mad Men (2) up_the_junction Kiros
Homeland (2) Zeldar Chefguy
The Knick (2) Chefguy Kiros
Downton Abbey (1) Zeldar
Empire (1) up_the_junction
The Affair (1) Chefguy
Orange Is the New Black (1) up_the_junction
Masters of Sex (1) Chefguy
Oh wait, I’m getting it confused with the Golden Globes. Breaking Bad won last year.
I haven’t seen all seven of these, but what I think the top ones will be are:
Better Call Saul
Game of Thrones
House of Cards
Mad Men
The Affair
The Good Wife
As for the 7th spot, I don’t know. Judging by past years they’ll probably nominate Downton Abbey, or will they go for a newcomer like Empire? Or finally show some love to Boardwalk Empire for it’s final season?
I wonder how many forgot the new rule that Orange is the New Black is considered a drama series (because hour-long shows that aren’t “clearly” comedies, like Glee, are now considered dramas)
While some of the traditional “inertia” in Emmy nominations was broken this year (especially in Comedy TBBT and Modern Family were nearly blanked out), they still reverted to form with Downton Abbey. Egad.
Homeland actually had a bit of a revival season. Not top notch, but still a lot better than the previous season.
House of Cards, OTOH, really had a crappy season. It’s just not the same show at all. Even inertia doesn’t explain this one.
