My Fearless, Somewhat Frightening 2015 Emmy Predictions
I have a bad feeling that Jane the Virgin is about to get royally screwed.
Emmy Nominations will be announced this Thursday at 11:30 am/EST, and my gut is telling me that the sublime freshman comedy — and its sterling ensemble led by Gina Rodriguez —will fall victim to the Academy’s long-held bias against The CW.
I really hope I am wrong.
I also fear that FX’s dramatic one-two punch of The Americans and Justified, as well as HBO’s immensely satisfying revival of The Comeback, will receive a grand total of zero nominations — despite Emmy’s decision to increase the Outstanding Drama and Comedy Series playing field from six to seven nominees.
But Thursday’s announcement is poised to feature some pleasant surprises, too. Among the expected highlights: Nods for such deserving fresh blood as Empire‘s Taraji P. Henson, Transparent’s Jeffrey Tambor, How to Get Away with Murder‘s Viola Davis and Bloodline‘s Ben Mendelsohn.
Scroll down to review my fearless predictions in the major drama and comedy categories, and then hit the comments with your own Emmy forecast. And remember — these are predictions not endoresements. To get a sense of who I’d like to see nom’d on Thursday, click here to view TVLine’s Dream Emmy Nominations.
OUTSTANDING DRAMA
Better Call Saul
Downton Abbey
Empire
Game of Thrones
House of Cards
Mad Men
Orange Is the New Black
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Claire Danes, Homeland
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Taylor Schilling, Orange Is the New Black
Kerry Washington, Scandal
Robin Wright, House of Cards
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Kyle Chandler, Bloodline
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Terrence Howard, Empire
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Kate Mulgrew, Orange Is the New Black
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Michael Kelly, House of Cards
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Jon Voight, Ray Donovan
OUTSTANDING COMEDY
The Big Bang Theory
Grace and Frankie
Louie
Modern Family
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Veep
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Lena Dunham, Girls
Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Louis CK, Louie
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
William H Macy, Shameless
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Anna Chlumsky, Veep
Allison Janney, Mom
Judith Light, Transparent
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family
Tony Hale, Veep
Martin Sheen, Grace and Frankie
Sam Waterston, Grace and Frankie
I think TJ is going to swipe one of the Supporting Actor in a Comedy spots, but other than that I think this is going to be pretty close to what we see.
Hope the nominations are more like you’re dream nominees! Caitriona and Sam from Outlander need to be nominated for sure — incredible performances!!
*your. Ugh sometimes I could slap myself.
If you ever need a volunteer, I’m sure there’s hundreds of trolls waiting to respond..
Ha! So true.
Unfortunately I don’t think outlander will get any nominations. I think it is more likely to get golden globe nominations
I hope they do too. I just recently watched Outlander a few weeks. Such a great show. I may actually start reading the books too.
I highly encourage you to read the books. I started reading the after watching the show and am completely obsessed. I have less than 200 pages left in the series and I don’t know what I’m going to do when it’s over.
Totally agree. Penny dreadful needs some nominations too.
The chemistry of the leads (and the pretty costuming) was the only thing that kept me watching the series. There was so much stupid going on (the book’s fault).
Broad City really deserves Emmy nominations
I said this last year … there needs to be a split between cable and network. Cable (Netflix and other “non traditional” viewing ways) can get away with SO much more than network television. There is a lot of quality on network but it all seems to get pushed aside.
And can someone PLEASE explain to me the appeal of Empire (other than Taraji – she’s great, missed on POI) and Jane the Virgin? I tried watching and just could not see what all the hype was about. Maybe I’m just old (43). And before you ask, yes, I like my Criminal Minds and NCIS. I also love Arrow, The Flash and AofS.
I used to share your opinion, but I’ve exposed myself to a WIDE range of television over the years and I’ve come to disagree. Network shows like The Good Wife, Person of Interest, and earlier season of Hannibal for example have shown that just because you’re on a network doesn’t mean you don’t have to try or that you can’t be creative and compete with the best of the best. If anything it demonstrates that network shows, while entertaining, just don’t try as hard sometimes OR lack creativity and quality writing.
I also think you have to add the network development process and their obsession with trying to appeal to all viewers, for a lot of the mediocre network dramas. It also amusing how people focus on the content of cable/streaming and what they can get away with, when I think the biggest advantage cable has over network is the ability to make episodes longer than 43 minutes.
Wow, that Alicia/Kalinda split screen sure freaked these folks at TVLine. Not including Juliana Margulies and Matt Czuchry here is really sort of pathetic.
Czuchry has never been nominated so not including him isn’t a big shocker. His prison work in the first part of the season was ok, but not emmy worthy.
Margulies’ work just wasn’t very strong this year. What outstanding work did she do?
I agree. At this point, despite his great work, Czuchry was probably never going to get a nomination. And despite criticisms on this past season, I think Margulies is still perfection when it comes to her acting. She’s constantly at the top of her game when playing Alicia each and every year. I think her best episode or the best episode of this past season for me was “Oppo Research”. She was great in it and it was one of the best episodes of the show, I think.
I agree as for Matt Czuchry. It really irkes me that the damn feud will likely end up hurting his chances to be nominated. He was really great and that was probably his last chance to be nominated for the show. It’s a shame.
Network can do everything Cable can do, but choose not to. That is their own doing.
I hope your Best Drama Actress is right!! I just can’t see them nominating three African American women. ( which I would love though)
To be fair, Kerry Washington doesn’t really deserve the nomination so if she doesn’t get nominated, I don’t think its because of her race.
Agreed. Scandal jumped the shark this past year. I really really hope Tatiana Maslany does not get shafted. She deserves this honor and it is overdue.
I agree with your comments but Washington did pretty well in the eps she submitted
lets go for the work, not the race.
I hope you’re wrong about Best Drama. Game of Thrones should NOT be nominated for the abortion that was this season and The Americans SHOULD be nominated because it’s incredible.
Take your Americans and raise you 8 Justifieds!!
GoT submitted season 4. They always submit the season prior.
U R so wrong, U might think about Downton Abbey, because Season 5 of Game of thrones was eligible for this EMMY year.
You are incorrect. Season five is the eligible season for the 2015 Emmys. Season four was up for consideration in 2014.
Please Emmy, Shake it up this year!!!
No Downtown Abby. I still love Modern (so a nod not a win is ok). The awards need some new blood.
Downtown Abby?? Is this the ghetto version of Dear Abby?? I agree that Downton Abbey was not at its best this season so the auto-nom is not justified.
My favorite show always gets screwed. Even when Breen Frazier has his mind set on an Emmy nomination or win, as far as I know it hasn’t happened yet. If it has, I’ll take back my statement.
EDT, not EST.
Love Empire as a guilty pleasure but is it really Emmy worth?!?? It feelso more in line with Scandal/Murder.
I kind of agree. I’m obsessed with Empire, but overall as a show, I don’t know if it should be nominated. However, there’s no doubt in my mind that Taraji P. Henson is deserving of a nomination for her work as Cookie.
Agree Taraji is Empire
Empire the show does not deserve it. Taraji and Terrence need to be nominated though!
That seems to be the general thought
I think Empire is totally overrated. If anything the more enjoyable and fun How to Get Away With Murder should get a nomination over Empire.
No. It’s (HTGAWM) never held my attention but I see it may appeal to some. But Empire is stronger, just not my taste simply because of the ‘music’ involved….
I really hope your predictions, particularly for the Lead Actress in a Drama Series category (one of the main categories I care about), are wrong. Take out Robin Wright, Taylor Schilling, Kerry Washington (really?), and Claire Danes.
To me, the list should be:
– Eva Green (Penny Dreadful) – Seriously she HAS to be nominated. Emmys, you SUCK if you don’t nominate her!!!!!!
– Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel)
– Caitriona Balfe (Outlander)
– Taraji P. Henson (Empire)
– Viola Davis (HTGAWM)
– Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
I can go with Catriona Balfe, Julianna Margulies and Taraji P. Henson, the rest not so much.
Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)
I doubt Empire or OITNB will be nominated. It will all be straight laced drama. Maybe The Americans and Homeland. Maybe ‘The Affair’. I doubt Empire will get anything. And how the fudge is OITNB a drama and Shameless isn’t? WTF? Stupid Emmys.
I’m tired of personal assessments supposedly making for ‘valid’ consideration. For every one of the ‘votes’ above, it’s purely personal. I agree with some of the shows/actors being worthy, but don’t try to tell me you’d agree with all my preferences because you plainly wouldn’t, so why should I agree with yours??
Are my eyes deceiving me? No Tatiana Maslany for for Best Actress?! Taylor Schilling, Claire Danes, and Robin Wright…replace any one of them with Tatiana for sure! How she has never been Emmy nominated…is actually…beyond…me. And Michael…you KNOW she deserves a nod :P
Michael did not post who he thinks SHOULD be nominated, he posted who is predicts WILL be nominated
*who he predicts will be nominated. I wish there was an edit button
No unbreakeble kimmy Schmidt? C’mon! At least in the dream-nominations they deserve a spot!!
Yeah, that surprises me. It seems to be on every other Emmy nomination prediction list, I don’t know why it’s not on this one.
I cannot believe you would not nominate the two main male actors of Outlander. If not both, then at least one of them. Sam Heughan was amazing, the pain he had to go through still makes me cry. Tobias Menzes was also amazing as the cause of the pain.
Totally agree. At least ONE actor from the show. But at least they all know we love them and the show!
This isn’t his wish list, it’s what he actually thinks the Emmy people will nominate
The academy really has to recognize Bates Motel in the Drama categories for their best season yet. In Comedy, I too am hoping that both Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin get nods for Grace & Frankie. But Martin Sheen sure doesn’t deserve a nod (much too stiff in this role). But Sam Waterson sure does.
– Jane the Virgin will be on the list instead of Grace and Frankie
– The Affair will be on the list instead of Better Call Saul or Empire
– Dominic West will be on the list instead of Kyle Chandler
– The Middle will be featured instead of Silicon Valley
– Taraji is gonna own this night
You don’t think ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ will get a nod? That’s disappointing. I hope it’s not true!! That show is top notch comedy.
I think you picked the wrong Kerry. Kerry Washington for last season of Scandal? Nope, not deserved. Try replacing with Keri Russell for the Americans.
Washington or Schilling need to be bumped for Russell. It’s ridiculous that “The Americans” has been ignored by the Emmys so far.
These are is his predictions, not a wishlist.
I really hope The Affair gets nominated for series, actor, and actress.
Too bad VIKINGS is never considered.
I love Transparent, but I really struggle with the fact that it keeps getting nominated and wins in comedy categories. Just because it is 30 minutes instead of 60, a comedy it does not make. Sure, there are moments that are funny. But I honestly think I laugh more at Game of Thrones than Transparent. I know the Emmys made OITNB go back to the drama category this year, but I think that show, too, is more comedic than Transparent. But I suppose we’ll keep having this debate until the Emmys make a Dramedy category.
Agreed. Besides Jeffrey Tambor’s great performance, it also really isn’t that good of a show in my opinion and the majority of the characters are unlikable (i.e. all of his children)
As someone who recently just binged all three seasons of OITNB in the past few weeks, I have to say that o feel overall it’s more of a drama. Yes, there are some hilarious moments on it, but overall I feel it’s perfectly placed in drama category. What isn’t perfectly placed? Taylor Schilling nominated for best actress! Maybe I just hate Piper so much but man I feel she doesn’t deserve it. Uzo Aduba and Natasha Lyonne and Laverne Cox yes, Taylor Schilling… No thanks
Tatiana Maslany NEEDS an emmy nod. She deserves it.
I am totally agreed with you ! I am watching these day the last episodes of the season and everytime I see Elena, Alison, Cosima and Sara, I can’t believe there are the same person, she is amazing!