2020 Emmy Nominations – And Our Opinions, Of Course

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The 2020 Emmy Awards nominations are out and if there’s one thing we’ve learned from them, it’s that we really need to up our TV reviewing game. We’ve missed a lot in the last couple of years writing and promoting the book. Will that stop us from having opinions? Are you new here?

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Black Monday
Don Cheadle as Mo Monroe

black-ish
Anthony Anderson as Andre “Dre” Johnson Sr.

The Good Place
Ted Danson as Michael

The Kominsky Method
Ramy Youssef as Ramy

Schitt’s Creek
Eugene Levy as Johnny Rose

Honestly, this feels like a race between Ted Danson and Eugene Levy. Like some of the other Schitt’s Creek cast member nominees, Levy is going to go into the voting with that sheen of “long neglected but highly deserved,” which will benefit him in the long run, we think.

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
black-ish
Tracee Ellis Ross as Rainbow Johnson

Dead To Me
Christina Applegate as Jen Harding

Dead To Me 
Linda Cardellini as Judy Hale

Insecure 
Issa Rae as Issa

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 
Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel

Schitt’s Creek
Catherine O’Hara as Moira Rose

See our previous entry. We don’t see how Catherine O’Hara doesn’t take this. Weird that Kristen Bell didn’t get a nod.

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OUTSTANDING VARIETY TALK SERIES
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah

Full Frontal With Samantha Bee 

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver 

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert 

We don’t have strong thoughts either way, except Samantha Bee is the one whose work we catch most and she deserves a win just for being the only woman at the sausage party.

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
The Morning Show
Steve Carell as Mitch Kessler

Ozark 
Jason Bateman as Martin ‘Marty’ Byrde

Pose
Billy Porter as Pray Tell

Succession
Brian Cox as Logan Roy

Succession
Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy

People are pissed poor Bob Odenkirk didn’t get nominated. Of this lot, we suspect the members of the Roy family will be duking it out, as they tend to do. Love to see Billy Porter get the nod, but none of his sisters from Pose did, and that seems kind of wrong. MJ Rodriguez deserved.

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
The Crown
Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II

Euphoria
Zendaya as Rue

Killing Eve
Jodie Comer as Villanelle

Killing Eve
Sandra Oh as Eve Polast ri

The Morning Show
Jennifer Aniston as Alex Levy

Ozark
Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde

To our eyes, this looks like a contest between Jennifer Aniston and Zendaya. It could honestly go either way, but if this had been a normal year with the usual Emmys ceremony, there would have been a TON of speculation about Jen showing up with fellow nominee (for SNL) Brad, we’d bet.

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OUTSTANDING COMPETITION PROGRAM
The Masked Singer

Nailed it!

RuPaul’s Drag Race

Top Chef

The Voice

Drag Race doesn’t deserve it this year, we’re sorry to say. It’s Nailed It‘s time.

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Bad Education
Hugh Jackman as Frank Tassone

Hollywood 
Jeremy Pope as Archie Coleman

I Know This Much Is True
Mark Ruffalo as Dominick Birdsey/Thomas Birdsey

Normal People
Paul Mescal as Connell

Watchmen 
Jeremy Irons as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias

On buzz alone, this would seem to be Paul Mescal’s to win, although Irons and Jackman were both excellent.

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Little Fires Everywhere
Kerry Washington as Mia Warren

Mrs. America
Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly

Self Made: Inspired By The Life Of Madam C.J. Walker
Octavia Spencer as Madam C.J. Walker

Unorthodox
Shira Haas as Esther Shapiro

Watchmen
Regina King as Angela Abar / Sister Night

Reese Witherspoon got snubbed for no less than three different roles (Big Little Lies, The Morning Show, Little Fires Everywhere), which means she’s having a sucky morning. Cate Blanchett probably has the most buzz based on her pedigree as a movie star, but we think this comes down to Regina King and Shira Haas. It’s a shame Merrit Wever didn’t get a nod for Unbelievable.

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OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES
Little Fires Everywhere

Mrs. America

Unbelievable

Unorthodox 

Watchmen

It’s a tossup between Mrs. America and Watchmen, both of which pushed some hot-topic buttons in the zeitgeist (although Watchmen seems almost prescient in retrospect).

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OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
Curb Your Enthusiasm

Dead To Me

The Good Place

The Kominsky Method 

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Schitt’s Creek

What We Do In The Shadows

Again, we’re looking at the beloved and departed Schitt’s Creek going up against the beloved and departed The Good Place.

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OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Better Call Saul

The Crown

The Handmaid’s Tale

Killing Eve 

The Mandalorian

Ozark

Stranger Things

Succession

LOVE that The Mandalorian got a nod, but we’re thinking Succession for this one.

UPDATED:

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
GLOW
Betty Gilpin as Debbie Eagan

The Good Place
D’Arcy Carden as Janet

Insecure
Yvonne Orji as Molly

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Alex Borstein as Susie Myerson

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Marin Hinkle as Rose Weissman

Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon as Various Characters

Saturday Night Live
Cecily St rong as Various Characters

Schitt’s Creek
Annie Murphy as Alexis Rose

Ooooh, Annie Murphy vs. D’Arcy Carden. That one hurts.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Andre Braugher as Captain Raymond Holt

The Good Place
William Jackson Harper as Chidi Anagonye

The Kominsky Method
Alan Arkin as Norman Newlander

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Sterling K. Brown as Reggie

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Tony Shalhoub as Abe Weissman

Ramy
Mahershala Ali as Sheikh Malik

Saturday Night Live
Kenan Thompson as Various Characters

Schitt’s Creek
Daniel Levy as David Rose

Sorry, William Jackson Harper, if Dan Levy doesn’t get this, we riot.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Big Little Lies
Laura Dern as Renata Klein

Big Little Lies
Meryl Streep as Mary Louise Wright

The Crown
Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret

The Handmaid’s Tale
Samira Wiley as Moira

Killing Eve
Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens

Ozark
Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore

Succession
Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy

Westworld
Thandie Newton as Maeve

Much as we love Miss Thandie, her season sucked. This is probably Sarah Snook’s.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Better Call Saul
Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring

The Handmaid’s Tale
Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph Lawrence

The Morning Show
Billy Crudup as Cory Ellison

The Morning Show
Mark Duplass as Charles ‘Chip’ Black

Succession
Nicholas Braun as Greg Hirsch

Succession
Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy

Westworld
Jeffrey Wright as Bernard

Braun vs. Culkin for the trophy.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Hollywood
Holland Taylor as Miss Kincaid

Mrs. America
Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm

Mrs. America
Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan

Unbelievable
Toni Collette as Detective Grace Rasmussen

Watchmen
Jean Smart as Agent Laurie Blake

Uzo by a MILE.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Hollywood
Dylan McDermott as Ernie

Hollywood
Jim Parsons as Henry Willson

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend
Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon

Watchmen
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Cal Abar / Dr. Manhattan

Watchmen
Jovan Adepo as Officer Will Reeves / Hooded Justice

Watchmen
Louis Gossett Jr. as William Reeves

Louis Gossett, Jr. for his line reading of “Wounds need air” alone.

[Stills: Television Academy via YouTube.com]

• Awards
• Emmy Awards
• Emmy Awards 2020