Last Minute Emmy Nominations Buzz

The 69th Annual Emmy Awards Ceremony airs on Sunday, Sept. 17 (CREDIT ALAN LIGHT VIA FLICKR)

By LINDSAY JORGENSEN

With the fall semester at Fordham Lincoln Center (FLC) underway and students focused and working hard, the Emmy Awards can be easily overlooked. But not to worry, we have provided a short list of the 69th Emmy nominees for the main categories—Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Comedy Series and Best Lead Actor and Actress in a Drama and Comedy Series.

Netflix is receiving special attention, as “Stranger Things,” “House of Cards” and “The Crown” are all nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. Four years ago, Netflix opened up major categories for online content providers through “House of Cards” and the show’s countless nominations, allowing providers like Hulu and Amazon to join in on the award festivities. Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” is up for 13 nominations this year, including Outstanding Drama Series. “Stranger Things” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” are the two most popular shows in this category and will most likely be fighting for the golden statue, but there is one dark horse in the race—AMC’s “Better Call Saul.” The “Breaking Bad” prequel is nominated for Outstanding Drama series for the third year in a row and should not be counted out.

All nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series this year have been nominated in the past, with the exception of FX Network’s “Atlanta.” The comedy about up-and-coming rappers in Georgia starring Donald Glover is who the critics are betting will win this category. However, HBO’s “Veep” is another fan favorite, having won the award the past two years. Netflix’s online streaming success further translates into the Emmy nominations it has received. Two nominations for Outstanding Comedy series—“Master of None” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”—are up for two and four nominations, respectively. “Black-ish,” “Modern Family” and “Silicon Valley” round out the Outstanding Comedy Series nominees.

Nominees for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series include Bob Odenkirk for “Better Call Saul,” Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”), Liev Schreiber (“Ray Donovan”) Matthew Rhys (“The Americans”) Anthony Hopkins (Westworld”) and both Sterling K. Brown and Milo Ventimiglia (“This Is Us”). While all nominees aside from Brown and Ventimiglia have been nominated for Best Lead Actor in the past, none of the nominees have taken home an Emmy for their roles in their respective series. Critics are expecting this to be Brown’s year and have dubbed him the likely winner of the Emmy.

Much like the nominees for Best Lead Actor in a Drama series, the nominees for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series include almost an even mix of first time nominees and seasoned pros. Robin Wright (“House of Cards”), Viola Davis (“How to Get Away with Murder”), Keri Russell (“The Americans”) Claire Foy (“The Crown”), Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) and Evan Rachel Wood (“Westworld”) are all competing for the coveted gold trophy. Davis won this award in 2015, but many think  Moss will be the one to take home the award this year.

Nominees for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series include Donald Glover (“Atlanta”), Zach Galifianakis (“Baskets”) Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish”) Aziz Ansari (“Master of None”) William H. Macy (“Shameless”) and Jeffrey Tambor (“Transparent”). Because of Glover’s captivating and thought-provoking performance as Earnest, it is likely that Glover will take home the Emmy this year.

Nominees for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series are Pamela Adlon (“Better Things”), Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”), both Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda for “Grace and Frankie,” Allison Janney (“Mom”), Ellie Kemper  (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep”). As Louis-Dreyfus has taken home the Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for five years straight, fans anticipate that she will continue her streak this year and bring home the Emmy once again.

Be sure to tune in to CBS on Sunday, Sept. 17 to see for certain which of your favorite shows will win an Emmy!