*Remember, a show, person,
or episode can only be nominated if it is submitted. Even if you want every
episode of Game of Thrones to be nominated for writing, that won't happen,
since they only submitted one episode there.
**You'd be surprised how
often that actor you thought was snubbed wasn't even on the official ballot or
had listed himself as a lead instead of a supporting actor.
I don't do every category. I don't pretend
that I've seen everything or that I fully understand all the categories. I'm a
one-man operation talking about hundreds of shows. I'm doing the best I can.
* Indicates a show that I haven't watched this season.
# Indicates a show I've seen before, not this season.
Nominees
Chernobyl (HBO)
*Escape At Dannemora (Showtime)
Fosse/Verdon (FX Networks)
Sharp Objects (HBO)
When They See Us (Netflix)
B-Team
*The Act
*Castle Rock
The Haunting of Hill House
*King Lear
Maniac
Since these are all single-season series, the
casting is much easier to judge here. Castle Rock employed a town of
people. The Act has a pair of strong leads. The Haunting of Hill
House impressively cast an entire family in two different time periods. King
Lear got every big named Brit it could. Maniac gave me a backdoor Superbad
reunion with Emma Stone and Jonah Hill. The Nominee list has at least 3 of the
strongest casting jobs of the year in the category though. Fosse/Verdon
is packed with familiar faces playing other familiar faces. When They See Us
has a great mix of big names and relative unknowns. Sharp Objects
populates that town with all the right people, and bonus points for finding a
solid teenage Amy Adams look-alike.
Winner: Nominees
(Comfortably)
Outstanding Directing For
A Limited Series, Movie Or Dramatic Special
Nominees
Chernobyl (HBO) (Johan Renck)
*Escape At Dannemora (Showtime) (Ben Stiller)
Fosse/Verdon – “Glory” (FX Networks) (Jessica
Yu)
Fosse/Verdon – “Who’s Got The Pain” (FX
Networks) (Thomas Kail)
A Very English Scandal (Prime Video) (Stephen
Frears)
When They See Us (Netflix) (Ava DuVernay)
B-Team
*Castle Rock – “The Queen”
Deadwood
The Haunting of Hill House
The Little Drummer Girl
Sharp Objects
Maniac
This is among the hardest categories since,
if a limited series is entirely directed by the same person, then the whole
series gets nominated, not a single episode. That puts some shows at an extreme
disadvantage. For my B-Team, 4 of the shows are nominated in their entirety.
Only The Haunting of Hill House and Sharp Objects were really
strengthened by the single vision throughout. I also included the Sissy
Spacek-focused episode of Castle Rock which was among the most highly
praised single episodes of the last year in all of TV. I do think that Fosse/Verdon,
despite being individual episodes, had some of the best direction of any show.
Ava DuVernay's steady guidance of When They See Us was a big plus. Chernobyl
had a surprising amount of variation per episode, given that it was always the
same director.
Winner: Nominees
(Comfortably)
Outstanding Writing For A
Limited Series, Movie Or Dramatic Special
Nominees
Chernobyl (HBO) (Craig Mazin)
*Escape At Dannemora – “Episode 6” (Showtime)
(Brett Johnson, Michael Tolkin, Jerry Stahl)
*Escape At Dannemora – “Episode 7” (Showtime)
(Brett Johnson, Michael Tolkin)
Fosse/Verdon – “Providence” (FX Networks)
(Steven Levenson, Joel Fields)
A Very English Scandal (Prime Video) (Russell
T Davies)
When They See Us – “Part Four” (Netflix) (Ava
DuVernay, Michael Starrbury)
B-Team
*The Act – “Free”
*Castle Rock – “The Queen”
The Haunting of Hill House – “Two Storms”
Miracle Workers – “2 Weeks”
The Little Drummer Girl – “Part 2”
*My Dinner with Herve
The writing category doesn't have quite the
imbalance of the directing nominees, since it's pretty rare that every episode
of a show was written by one person. Only Chernobyl and A Very
English Scandal have that distinction, which gives the nominees an edge. I
love the combination of "Two Storms" and "The Queen" in the
B-Team, although you could argue that each are more of a directorial
achievement.
Winner: Nominees (Barely)
Outstanding Supporting
Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie
Nominees
Stellan Skarsgård (Chernobyl) (HBO)
*Paul Dano (Escape At Dannemora) (Showtime)
Ben Whishaw (A Very English Scandal) (Prime
Video)
Asante Blackk (When They See Us) (Netflix)
John Leguizamo (When They See Us) (Netflix)
Michael K. Williams (When They See Us)
(Netflix)
B-Team
Steve Buscemi (Miracle Workers)
Norbert Leo Butz (Fosse/Verdon)
Stephen Dourff (True Detective)
Michael Huisman (The Haunting of Hill House)
Chris Messina (Sharp Objects)
Justin Theroux (Maniac)
Here's where filling out the list with When
They See Us performances feels appropriate. Add in Paul Dano and Ben
Wishaw, who function as co-leads in their series, and Stellan Skarsgard whose
role on Chernobyl is the Platonic ideal of a supporting performance.
That's a good group. I had to fill out the B-Team with a bunch of misfits.
Norbert Leo Butz was terrific on Fosse/Verdon by not in it enough to get
salty about his snub. Stephen Dourff plays off Mahershala Ali really well in a
forgettable-to-bad True Detective season. I had a blast watching Steve
Buscemi as God in Miracle Workers, although they didn't always know what
to do with him.
Winner: Nominees
(Dominant)
Outstanding Supporting
Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie
Nominees
*Patricia Arquette (The Act) (Hulu)
Emily Watson (Chernobyl) (HBO)
Margaret Qualley (Fosse/Verdon) (FX Networks)
Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects) (HBO)
Marsha Stephanie Blake (When They See Us)
(Netflix)
Vera Farmiga (When They See Us) (Netflix)
B-Team
Carmen Ejogo (True Detective)
Julia Garner (Maniac)
*Sissy Spacek (Castle Rock)
Eliza Scanlan (Sharp Objects)
Elizabeth Reaser (The Haunting of Hill House)
*Emma Thompson (King Lear)
This is a great matchup. I can't argue with
any of the nominees chosen. Maybe Marsha Stephanie Blake's role in When They
See Us is a little thin (Aunjanue Ellis and Niecy Nash would've been
perfect had they submitted themselves for Supporting). Otherwise, that's a
great list: Arquette, Watson, Qualley, Clarkson, Farmiga. I heard a ton of
praise for Sissy Spacek in Castle Rock, especially in her spotlight
episode. Ejogo does as much as she can with iffy material in True Detective.
Reaser is my representative from The Haunting of Hill House, although I
could've gone a lot of ways with that. I could've easily picked Florence Pugh
or Emily Watson from King Lear instead of Emma Thompson. There is no
wrong choice. While Clarkson had the showier role in Sharp Objects, I
think I actually prefer Eliza Scanlan in it. And, I just like the idea of
nominating Julia Garner for everything since she was in FIVE shows in 2018!
Winner: Nominees (Barely)
Outstanding Lead Actor In
A Limited Series Or Movie
Nominees
Jared Harris (Chernobyl) (HBO)
*Benicio del Toro (Escape At Dannemora)
(Showtime)
Sam Rockwell (Fosse/Verdon) (FX Networks)
Mahershala Ali (True Detective) (HBO)
Hugh Grant (A Very English Scandal) (Prime
Video)
Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us) (Netflix)
B-Team
*Peter Dinklage (My Dinner with Herve)
Jonah Hill (Maniac)
Ian McShane (Deadwood)
Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood)
Daniel Radcliffe (Miracle Workers)
*Anthony Hopkins (King Lear)
I really like Daniel Radcliffe's sweaty
performance in Miracle Workers, which is the rare comedic Limited
Series. The Deadwood pair are long overdue Emmy recognition, although
their work on the movie falls well short of their work on the series. The
Nominees list has all the top contenders for this though. Harris, del Toro,
Rockwell, Ali, and Grant are all easily better leads than anyone in the B-Team.
The only reason I don't include Jerome in the list of great nominated leads is
because he's buried by the ensemble with only a single episode in which he's
really a lead.
Winner: Nominees
(Dominant)
Outstanding Lead Actress
In A Limited Series Or Movie
Nominees
*Joey King (The Act) (Hulu)
*Patricia Arquette (Escape At Dannemora)
(Showtime)
Michelle Williams (Fosse/Verdon) (FX
Networks)
Amy Adams (Sharp Objects) (HBO)
Aunjanue Ellis (When They See Us) (Netflix)
Niecy Nash (When They See Us) (Netflix)
B-Team
Florence Pugh (The Little Drummer Girl)
Emma Stone (Maniac)
Geraldine Viswanathan (Miracle Workers)
Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill House)
Kathryn Hahn (The Romanoffs: End of the Line)
Christina Hendricks (The Romanoffs: House of
Special Purpose)
My B-Team interests me a lot more. Florence
Pugh carried The Little Drummer Girl and had no business getting snubbed for
the clearly supporting When They See Us performances. Emma Stone does some wild
work in Maniac. Hahn and Hendricks make the most out of their very uneven
Romanoffs episodes. While not really a lead, Gugino is the focal point of The
Haunting of Hill House. Viswanathan makes the most out of her
lightweight-by-design role in Miracle Workers. I'd like to give this to the
B-Team, but I just can't. Arquette, Williams, and Adams are the holy trinity of
the category this year and Joey King had a real breakout performance.
Winner: Nominees (Comfortably)
Outstanding Limited Series
Nominees
Chernobyl (HBO)
*Escape At Dannemora (Showtime)
Fosse/Verdon (FX Networks)
Sharp Objects (HBO)
When They See Us (Netflix)
B-Team
The Haunting of Hill House
The Little Drummer Girl
Miracle Workers
*The Act
A Very English Scandal
The rise of the Limited Series still doesn't
have quite enough depth to make a competitive B-Team. The Haunting of Hill
House and Miracle Workers are unfairly ghettoized because of their genres. The
Act was pushed out because of space. A Very English Scandal was a little too
off the radar. I think The Little Drummer Girl would've had more traction if
there was another performance in it to match Florence Pugh's. But, you'd have
trouble finding someone who didn't think the best Limited Series was in the nominee
list.
Winner: Nominees (Dominant)
Outstanding Television
Movie
Nominees
*Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Netflix)
*Brexit (HBO)
Deadwood (HBO)
*King Lear (Prime Video)
*My Dinner With Hervé (HBO)
B-Team
*The Bad Seed
The Romanoffs: End of the Line
The Romanoffs: House of Special Purpose
The Romanoffs: The Violet Hour
Nope. Not close. The buzz of Bandersnatch +
the anticipation of Deadwood + the star power of King Lear + the star
performance of My Dinner with Herve beats anything in the B-Team.
Winner: Nominees (Dominant)
---
I'm disappointed that I couldn't find room for the B-Team to win a single category. The Nominees went 9-0. We're still maybe a year or two away from this being truly competitive.
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