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Get ready for some drama at this year's Emmys, people.
After years of predictable wins and categories filled with the usual suspects, this year there's some serious competition in the drama categories *cue drumroll*.
Four of the seven nominated drama series are new on the scene, and consequently, at least half of the nominees in the Best Drama Actress, Actor and Supporting Actor categories come from new shows.
In the Best Supporting Actress category alone, five of the six nominees are from brand new shows.
No wonder the Best Drama field has confounded odds-makers. Any one of those nominees could take home the trophy if you consider the wide range of contenders:
- Better Call Saul (AMC): This is the show's third consecutive Best Drama nomination, but they've had no luck so far.
- Westworld (HBO): This is Westworld's first year in contention.
- The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu): A newcomer to the Hulu streaming service, and also its first year in contention. It's potentially Hulu's maiden Emmy win.
- House of Cards (Netflix): House of Cards is no stranger to the Emmys and has been nominated for its fifth consecutive season. Netflix is also well-established.
- Stranger Things (Netflix): Also on Netflix, in its first season.
- The Crown (Netflix): Yet ANOTHER Netflix entry, also in its rookie season.
- This Is Us (NBC): This could be big for NBC if it wins. Legacy broadcasters have been shut out of this category for years — CBS's The Good Wife was the last drama series on a legacy broadcaster to be nominated and that was in 2011. The ABC's Lost was the last to win, way back in 2005.
Who will win?
Tom O'Neil, the author of The Emmys reference book predicts Stranger Things will take the prize.
But he thinks the show is too young-skewing and too "genre" to be an Emmy slam-dunk.
The drama category, he sums up, is "wide open".
"You could make a compelling argument for all seven nominees," he said.
So why is this year different?
For starters, this year more than half of the field come from streaming channels — a distribution system that wasn't represented by the Emmys until House of Cards claimed three statuettes in 2013.
Shows from both premium and basic cable channels are also represented — the Emmys didn't even recognise cable shows until 1988.
And as the category's biggest surprise, broadcast TV — which once had the Emmys all to itself — has pulled an upset by a network denied a drama-series win for 14 years.
There's also less chance of getting Emmys deja vu
Another oddity about the Best Drama field this year: it looks like Emmy voters have kicked the habit of picking the same series time and again.
Consider the Best Comedy category, where Veep has been nominated yearly since its 2012 premiere and won twice so far.
The last time as many as half the drama field were newcomers happened more than 30 years ago.
Game of Thrones is out
HBO's Game of Thrones has been nominated for its entire six-season run, but the latest season didn't air during the 2016-17 qualifying year.
And another trusty challenger, PBS's Downton Abbey — which has now concluded — has freed up slots those shows claimed for years.
And the voting system has changed
Meanwhile, recent revisions in how Emmy votes are cast and counted has potentially boosted the chances for more edgy entries.
Last year, the academy switched from a ranking-and-points system to simply letting voters check off a single top choice.
That could account for how Rami Malek, the star of USA's dystopian drama Mr Robot, upset voter-friendly candidates like Kevin Spacey, Bob Odenkirk and Kyle Chandler.
Will the winner be the best show?
It's true, the coveted prize that is Best Drama will serve up guaranteed suspense this year, but according to O'Neil, it likely won't represent the best show on offer.
"The Emmys have never picked the best shows on TV," he said.
He needs only to cite HBO's The Wire, a permanent fixture on many best-shows-ever lists that, every one of its five seasons, got the Emmy brush-off (apart from a pair of writing nominations).
"There's tons of outrageous examples you can point to," O'Neil said.
But it's not so hard to understand, he explains: "The Emmys pick what they like".
When will we know?
The Emmys kick off on Monday next week at 10:00am AEST.
ABC/AP
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, television, united-states
First posted