Sunday, September 18, 2016

Emmy Predictions 2016 Results and Post Mortem

The Emmys are over, so now it's time to look back. I'm going to break this into two parts: My 2015 predictions for 2016 and my thoughts on this year's winners.

Part 1: 2016 [Blind] Predictions:
Perhaps my favorite tradition on this blog is when I make predictions for the next Emmys right after the current ones. In other words, on September 23, 2015, I made the following predictions about the 2016 Emmys. Let's see how I did.

Previous Editions:
2012 Predictions
2013 Predictions
2014 Predictions
2015 Predictions

Prediction: Two of these three nominations happen: Matthew Rhys (Lead Actor), Keri Russell (Lead Actress), The Americans (Drama Series).
Reasoning: The Americans was gaining steam in 2015 and the Drama field lost a lot of perennials.
Reality: Three of three happened. If anything, I wasn't optimistic enough. (+1)

Prediction: Lady Gaga gets a Emmy Nomination for acting.
Reasoning: American Horror Story spent years taking advantage of the weak Limited Series field and Gaga looked too flashy to deny.
Reality: FX provided the Emmys with Fargo and American Crime Story. Afterwards, there was no room left for Gaga. I'm still surprised about this one. (+0)

Prediction: Veep gets a second term.
Reasoning: The comedy field lost a lot of the strong competitors and none of the upcoming series looked strong enough to unseat Veep. Also, I assumed that the loss of Armando Ianucci wouldn't be felt too strongly.
Reality: Veep had arguably its strongest season. While Master of None put up a good fight and Blackish made "the leap" in season 2, Veep was too good to deny. (+1)

Prediction: HBO has more than half the TV Movie nominees.
Reasoning: The TV Movie field is the weakest out there. As long as HBO had three films it was proud of, it's likely it could get them all nominated.
Reality: I'm not sure if HBO even had three TV movies. As a result, it "only" got two nominations (Confirmation, All the Way). (+0)

Prediction: There will be no repeat winners for any of the four main Drama acting categories.
Reasoning: It's pretty common for Emmy voters to change their mind all around. The same thing happened in 2011 and 2008. Only Jon Hamm was guaranteed to not be back, but none of the other winners (Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Uzo Aduba) were dynasties.
Reality: Nailed it. All sorts of crazy wins happened this year. Tatiania Maslany was the most shocking. (+1)

Prediction: A Marvel or DC Series gets a stunt coordination nomination
Reasoning: Between Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Daredevil, Gotham, and Jessica Jones it was getting to the point that it was more improbably that none of them were nominated.
Reality: Gotham (shocking) and Daredevil (not shocking) broke through. (+1)

Prediction: Last Week Tonight dominates the Variety categories.
Reasoning: David Letterman, Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report were all gone, leaving a clear field for Last Week Tonight.
Reality: It won for Variety Talk series and Writing. A directing win was always a long shot, so I'm not counting that against me. (+1)

Prediction: Silicon Valley gets an acting nomination.
Reasoning: Season 2 of Silicon Valley proved it had staying power. The only new nominations available were for acting. Supposing it didn't fall out of voters' favor, it seemed likely.
Reality: Thomas Middleditch broke through. That was totally deserved. (+1)

Prediction: In with Emmy Rossum. Out with Tatiana Maslany.
Reasoning:Maslany's nomination was so delightfully unexpected that I didn't dare assume she'd get a second (Boy was I wrong). Meanwhile, with Amy Poehler, Edie Falco, and Lisa Kudrow all gone, there was no reason to think that Emmy Rossum couldn't finally make it in.
Reality: Not only did Maslany stay nominated. She won! As for Rossum, I'm going to have to get let go of that dream. (+0)

Prediction: The Amazing Race falls out of the Reality Competition field.

Reasoning: The Reality Competition field is super old and The Amazing Race is the oldest of them all.
Reality: There was room for American Ninja Warrior to break into the field. The Amazing Race was still there though. It can't be killed. (+0)

Bonus Prediction: I will have see a combined five nominees from Limited Series or TV Movie.
Reasoning: I knew I'd watch Fargo. I assumed Show Me a Hero, True Detective, and American Horror Story were locks for two nominations, given how weak the Limited Series field normally is. And, it wouldn't be that hard to see an HBO movie or two.
Reality: I saw six of the ten nominees. Other than Fargo, they weren't the ones I expected. Instead, it took American Crime Story, American Crime, Roots, Sherlock, and All the Way. (+1)

With the bonus, I got 7/11 predictions, which, I believe, is the best I've done yet. And I don't think I went either on myself either. Yay, me!

Part 2: Thoughts on the 2016 Emmy Results
As for this year's ceremony, I'll break this down into my standard Good, Bad, and Meh.

The Good 
Veep
I wouldn't've minded Veep sweeping the field. As is, I'm pleased with the wins it did get. It's the best comedy series on TV, so no complaints there. Julia Louise-Dreyfus' fifth consecutive win is, in a word, absurd. It's also, in another word, deserved. Given the otherwise weak field, her win was the right call.

Game of Thrones
The Americans would've been nice, sure. Game of Thrones is a totally deserving winner though. I could be bummed by the lack of wins in the Support Actor and Actress fields. The writing and directing wins made up for it.


Tatiana Maslany
I didn't think it would happen. I didn't even consider it. I'm so glad to see her win, not only since she and Keri Russell were the clear top two, but because I like whenever an upstart network (BBC America) can get a win.

The Bad
Dame Maggie Smith
Did Downton Abbey really need a farewell win? Frankly, I just don't understand how Emilia Clarke and Lena Heady could both lose. Vote splitting, perhaps? Do we have any evidence that that's a real thing that happens?

Ben Mendelsohn
I would've been fine with a season 1 win. This was just weird though. Jonathan Banks is never going to win.

The Meh
Louis Anderson
His supporting actor win is fitting with the oddness of the supporting categories historically. From everything I hear, it's a deserved win. It would've been nice for Matt Walsh or Andre Braugher to sneak in a win though.


American Crime Story over Fargo
I loved American Crime Story. It's one of my favorite things from the last year. I'm just disappointed that its wins came at the expense of Fargo, which I like even more than The People v. OJ Simpson.

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
Look, it's not like I felt that strongly about any of the other nominees. This sure felt unearned though.

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