10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2016 Emmy Nominations

1)  I completely understand that in Peak TV, the Emmy voters are going to leave off some obvious choices just because there’s not enough hours in the day to see everything that’s great. But at the same time, now is the perfect time to jump ship on the old shows floundering and let the new ones roll over you like a calm, sunny day. Shows like Homeland, House of Cards, and Downton Abbey are well past their prime, yet are beloved by the Emmy voters. Every year Emmy voters vote on what they did before and not necessarily on the quality of the individual season in front of them, and every year we get upset. I don’t know why we do this to ourselves.

2) Unfortunately, little room for newcomers meant a shut out for an incredible show like The Leftovers. Justin Theroux was always a dark horse to get a Best Lead Actor nomination, which was always a shame, but there was also no love for Carrie Coon, Regina King, or Kevin Carrol. And even though the show was clearly one of the 7 best dramas according to all TV critics, the show couldn’t beat out other shows about old British people and a CIA agent with a mental disorder.

How The Fall of TV's White Male Anti-Hero Will Lead To One Of The Weakest Best Actor Emmy Nominations

Hollywood is not lacking in roles for white men. Considering the massive influence The Sopranos had on prestige television, television networks love to spit out shows starring the White Male Anti-Hero (WMAH). From examples like Walter White on Breaking Bad, Don Draper on Mad Men, and Dexter Morgan on Dexter, the way to create great television was to have it star a middle aged, white, male anti-hero. For the longest time, these male anti-heroes were actually interesting, fascinating, and worthy of Emmy nominations. James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Hugh Laurie (House), and Damien Lewis (Homeland) all have a plethora of nominations (and wins) for playing this archetype. Sprinkle in a handful of nominations for guys like Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom), Timothy Olyphant (Justified), and the two leads of season one of True Detective and you have more WMAHs than you can shake a stick at.

Yet for any problems (mainly lack of diversity and creativity) you may have with these roles and the actors who portray these anti-heroes, it’s difficult to say they weren’t all deserving of their nomination. You could nitpick here and there, but for the most part, these roles were excellent and the actors truly were deserving of an Emmy nomination. However, in 2016, the tide has changed. Networks are still making shows with the WMAH, but they aren’t nearly as good and this trope is starting to feel derivative and less worthy of a nomination.

Final Predictions for the 2014 Emmy Winners

DRAMA

OUTSTANDING WRITING: Vince Gilligan for "Felina" (Breaking Bad) 

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION: Cary Joji Fukunaga for "Who Goes There" (True Detective)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR: Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS: Julianna Marguiles (The Good Wife)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey (True Detective)

OUTSTANDING SERIES: Breaking Bad (AMC)

Predicting the 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Television Show

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Breaking Bad (AMC)
* Downton Abbey (PBS)
* Game of Thrones (HBO)
* House of Cards (Netflix)
* Mad Men (AMC)
* True Detective (HBO)

SURPRISED IT'S NOT NOMINATED: Masters of Sex (Showtime)

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: The Good Wife (CBS)

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

Predicting The 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Actor

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

* Kevin Spacey (House of Cards)

* Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom)

* Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

* Matthew McConaughey (True Detective)

* Woody Harrelson (True Detective)

SURPRISED HE'S NOT NOMINATED: Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Martin Sheen (Masters of Sex)

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

Predicting The 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Actress

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Claire Danes (Homeland)
* Julianna Marguiles (The Good Wife)
* Kerry Washington (Scandal)
* Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex)
* Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey)
* Robin Wright (House of Cards)

SURPRISED SHE'S NOT NOMINATED: Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men)

For five straight years, Elizabeth Moss has earned an Emmy nomination for her work on Mad Men. She was great in Season 7(a)'s penultimate episode "The Strategy" and 2014 should have made it 6 years in a row for Moss.

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

* Claire Danes has won this category twice in a row and I see no reason why she won't make it 3 for 3. The biggest problem with Danes' performance is that the show runners gave her horrific story lines (i.e. having Carrie Mathison be in the psych ward as a "ploy") but Danes did the absolute best with the material she was given.

* I think Kerry Washington is normally a good actress in general, but I don't think she's very good on Scandal. I also don't think Shonda Rhimes is a very good show runner. Washington's Olivia Pope is portrayed as a "Gladiator In A Suit" but she always seems trapped in a corner making her "Oh Shit" face over, and over, and over again. In fact, Washington and Claire Danes are the masters of making that "Oh Shit" face.

* Robin Wright's Claire Underwood had a pretty powerful story line this season as she made her rape by an Army general public on National Television and had to deal with rumors of her own infidelity. Unfortunately for Wright, none of those aspects of her story line are prevalent in her Emmy submission episode- the Season 2 finale. It's extremely difficult to to win three acting Emmy's in a row, and Wright had episodes that could have rivaled Danes, but the Season 2 finale is not even close to being one of those episodes.

* Not surprisingly, Masters of Sex virtually received no nominations this year, but Lizzy Caplan fought her way through the toughest and deepest field to earn one. Appearing nude in virtually every episode probably had a lot to do with that, but even if she kept her clothes on throughout Season 1 of the Showtime drama, she still would have been worthy of a nomination. Caplan's Virginia Johnson played a woman in the 1950's who was comfortable with her body and confident enough to get what she wants- both personally and professionally. Caplan could play the other side of the spectrum as well being vulnerable and horrified if needed. There was nothing Caplan couldn't do in Season 1 of Masters of Sex.

* Another actress who played vulnerable and confident to perfection this past season was The Good Wife's Julianna Marguiles. Like her co-star, Marguiles also chose "The Last Call" as her Emmy submission episode. It's a character driven episode where everybody deals with the aftermath of That Thing That Happens To Will. It's a powerful episode and an incredible showcase for Marguiles. Alicia Florrick has to grieve over the loss of her good friend and significant-other-in-another-life while also trying to hide her former tryst. Season 5 of The Good Wife was an excellent season, and it's nice to honor the show by honoring its lead.

* With Elizabeth Moss, Tatiana Maslany, Keri Russell (The Americans), Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel), and Connie Britton (Nashville) all failing to earn a nomination this year, it's insulting to have Michelle Dockery be in this category. Can we just be done with Downton Abbey already!

WHO WILL WIN: Claire Danes (Homeland)

WHO SHOULD WIN (ACTUAL NOMINEES): Julianna Marguiles (The Good Wife)

WHO SHOULD WIN (ENTIRE ELIGIBLE FIELD): Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)

COMEDY

THE NOMINEES:

* Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)
* Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
* Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep)
* Lena Dunham (Girls)
* Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly)
* Taylor Schilling (Orange Is The New Black)

SURPRISED SHE'S NOT NOMINATED: Anna Faris (Mom)

I have no idea if Anna Faris was even all that good on Mom or not, but "the 6th nomination spot" was up in the air and Anna Faris was the leader in the clubhouse to win it. 

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Ilana Glazer (Broad City)

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

* This category comes down to Veep vs. Orange Is The New Black, so we'll start with the incumbent. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has four total Emmy wins, one for her work on Seinfeld, one for her work on The New Adventures of Old Christine, and two for her work on Veep. She's very good on Veep because Julia Louis-Dreyfus is just a great comedy actress, but I'm very dubious that she'll earn her a third Emmy win for Veep. She was the reason I looked into how difficult it was to win three straight Emmys in a row, and I feel like the odds are stacked against her.

* I thought the first season of Orange Is The New Black was phenomenal and apparently the Emmy voters agreed with me as they gave the Netflix show a butt load of nominations in 2014. Taylor Schilling is the star of the show and plays Piper Chapman, a privileged, upper-middle class white girl who smuggled drugs once ten years ago. Piper may not be your favorite character, but that's only because Jenji Kohan and crew purposefully wrote her that way. Piper's annoyance is a sign of Schilling's incredible acting. The Emmy's love rookie shows (look at how many wins Homeland received a few years ago) and I think Schilling has to be the favorite to win this award. Really, the only thing going against her is her sub par Emmy submission episode "The Chickening".

* Girls is probably the only show that consistently gets Emmy nominations that I regret not seeing. I make no apologies for not keeping up to date on other shows like Downton Abbey and Veep, but I do apologize for not seeing a significant amount of Girls episodes. I saw the pilot and it was pretty bad so I bailed. So that being said, I can't comment on Lena Dunham's acting or Season 3 of Girls as a whole. Although, considering Dunham failed to earn a directing and writing nomination this year and the show itself failed to earn an Outstanding Comedy Series nomination this year, it's safe to say Emmy voters bailed as well.

* I love Amy Poehler on Parks and Recreation. She's so fucking great every single season (sans the terrible first season). The only complaint I have about Poehler is that Leslie Knope was offered a job in the U.S. Department of the Interior, and spent like 10 episodes deciding whether she wanted to take it or not, when in reality, Leslie Knope would have taken that job immediately with no hesitation. However, that's not a commentary on Poehler's acting, but Michael Schur's storytelling abilities. Leslie Knope and Amy Poehler can do no wrong.

* Melissa McCarthy is a really funny actress, a former winner in this category, and is a legit superstar. Plus, these nominations were released before everyone knew just how awful Tammy was. That's why it was dumb of me and everyone else to think McCarthy wouldn't get the "open sixth nomination spot". On this past season of Mike and Molly, the show tried to do their best to make Molly more like McCarthy's crude characters in Bridesmaids and The Heat. I think the writers failed miserably, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoy McCarthy's toned-down comedy stylings, and I think she does a really good job on the CBS sitcom.

* Edie Falco is without a doubt a great actress, and I'm sure she does incredible work with a character that's addicted to pain pills while also being a hospital nurse. However, with so many great shows airing on television, here's how I feel about even attempting to watch Nurse Jackie.

WHO WILL WIN: Taylor Schilling (Orange Is The New Black)

I was a lot more confident with this prediction before I realized what Schilling's Emmy submission episode actually was. 

WHO SHOULD WIN: Taylor Schilling

WHICH LEAD ACTRESS DELIVERED THE BEST PERFORMANCE DURING THE PAST 12 MONTHS? LET US KNOW ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE!

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Predicting the 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Supporting Actor

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)
* Jim Carter (Downton Abbey)
* Jon Voight (Ray Donovan)
* Josh Charles (The Good Wife)
* Mandy Patinkin (Homeland)
* Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)

SURPRISE HE'S NOT NOMINATED: Dean Norris (Breaking Bad)

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire)

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

Predicting The 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Supporting Actress

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad)
* Christina Hendricks (Mad Men)
* Christine Baranski (The Good Wife)
* Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey)
* Lena Headey (Game of Thrones)

* Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey)

SURPRISED SHE'S NOT NOMINATED: Michelle Monaghan (True Detective)

It's not that Michelle Monaghan is a good actress (she's not) or that she was good in the 8 episodes of True Detective (she wasn't), but she did have a solid Emmy submission episode. Plus, this is a weak field and it was a widely held belief that a rising True Detective tide would lift Monaghan's boat. 

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Molly Parker (House of Cards)

Out of the ten million undeserved House of Cards nominations the Netflix show received this year, a nomination for Parker would have given the show at least one deserving nomination. 

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

Predicting the 2014 Emmy Winners: The Miniseries and Movie Categories

FX's Fargo, HBO's The Normal Heart, and PBS's Sherlock: The Last Vow make up about 70% of the 4 major categories (sans Outstanding TV Movie and Outstanding Mini Series). Since those are the only three programs I've seen in these categories, those are the only ones I will be discussing. However, since they make up such a large percentage of the nominees, I feel fairly confident writing a post on this subject matter. Plus, I'd rather have this post than neglect it completely.

BEST LEAD ACTOR

THE NOMINEES:

* Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock: His Last Vow)

* Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dancing On The Edge)

* Idris Elba (Luther)

* Martin Freeman (Fargo)

* Mark Ruffalo (The Normal Heart)

* Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo)

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

Predicting the 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Direction

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Cary Joji Fukunaga "Who Goes There" (True Detective)
* Carl Franklin "Chapter 14" (House of Cards)

* David Evans "Episode 1" (Downton Abbey)

* Neil Marshall "The Watchers on The Wall" (Game of Thrones)

* Tim Van Patten "Farewell Daddy Blues" (Boardwalk Empire)

* Vince Gilligan "Felina" (Breaking Bad)

SURPRISED HE'S NOT NOMINATED: Rian Johnson "Ozymandias" (Breaking Bad)

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: RIAN JOHNSON FOR "OZY-FUCKING-MANDIAS"

James Whitmore Jr. for "Hitting The Fan" & Josh Charles for "Tying The Knot" would also be acceptable choices to be considered snubs if The Good Wife were smart and made each director eligible. However, CBS made a grave mistake, and there's a reason the show didn't earn a nomination here. That just leaves Rian Johnson as the biggest Emmy snub of 2014. 

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

Predicting the 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Writing

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Beau Willimon "Chapter 14" (House of Cards)
* David Benioff & D.B. Weiss "The Children" (Game of Thrones)

* Moira Walley-Beckett "Ozymandias" (Breaking Bad)

* Nic Pizzolatto "The Secret Fate of All Life" (True Detective)

* Vince Gilligan "Felina" (Breaking Bad)

SURPRISED HE'S NOT NOMINATED: Matthew Weiner "Waterloo" (Mad Men)

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Semi Chellas & Matthew Weiner "The Strategy" (Mad Men)

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

Predicting the 2014 Emmy Winners: Best Guest Actress

DRAMA

THE NOMINEES:

* Allison Janney (Masters of Sex)
* Diana Riggs (Game of Thrones)
* Jane Fonda (The Newsroom)
* Kate Burton (Scandal)
* Kate Mara (House of Cards)
* Margo Martindale (The Americans)

SURPRISE SHE'S NOT NOMINATED: Carrie Preston (The Good Preston)

Not only does The Good Wife dominate these guest actor categories (Preston is the reigning champion of this category!), but I don't know how you can watch Preston's Elsbeth Tascioni and not immediately fall in love. I love her upbeat, perky attitude contrasted with her vicious attorney skills. Plus, her reaction to being called a "dirty, stinking Jew" by a man in a bear costume on the streets of New York is priceless.

SHOULD BE NOMINATED: Patricia Arquette (Boardwalk Empire)

Arquette's Sally Wheet was Nucky's connection both to the Miami port and to being a normal human being. In an up and down season for Boardwalk Empire, Arquette was one of the highlights.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ACTUAL NOMINEES:

5 Emmy Battles We're Looking Forward To Watching

True Detective vs. Breaking Bad

Easily, the most compelling battle of the Emmy ceremonies will be the final season of AMC's Breaking Bad vs. the rookie season of the HBO mini-series True Detective. In my humble opinion, Breaking Bad is the greatest television show that has ever existed, and it took Emmy voters (as well as actual fans of the show) a little while to get on board. After four great seasons of Emmy failure, Breaking Bad finally won Outstanding Drama Series in its fifth attempt. After AMC aired the final 8 episodes of the show, it seemed inevitable that Breaking Bad would repeat at the 2014 Emmy's. But then True Detective came along and declared itself eligible in the drama categories as opposed to the mini-series categories. I think the two shows will legitimately go head-to-head in four major categories: Outstanding Writing ("The Secret Fate of All Life" vs. "Felina"), Outstanding Direction ("Who Goes There" vs. "Felina"), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Matthew McConaughey vs. Bryan Cranston), and Outstanding Drama Series. History tells us that True Detective is going to come out on top because great rookie shows have had great success in the past, but there's just no precedence for Breaking Bad finally winning its fifth eligible season either. I think we live in an age will voters will honestly vote based upon which one they legitimately liked more. But that's a coin flip. 

Taylor Schilling vs. Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Rookie Taylor Schilling from Orange Is The New Black is competing against the heavyweight Julia Louis-Dreyfus from Veep in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, and I think Schilling is going to come out on top. There is a lot of precedent at the Emmy's for a great rookie show to dominate the main categories. Most recently, Homeland did it when it beat out incumbent Mad Men for Outstanding Drama Series and Damien Lewis beat out Bryan Cranston and Jon Hamm for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series back in 2012. Further, it's also extremely difficult to win an acting Emmy three times in a row. Both Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Claire Danes from Homeland are eligible to do that in 2014, and the odds of BOTH of them doing it are very slim. It's possible that Danes loses and Louis-Dreyfus wins, but my gut instinct tells me otherwise. On the other side, Taylor Schilling did incredible work for Orange Is The New Black. While her character Piper Chapman may not always be likable, that doesn't mean Schilling is doing bad work. On the contrary, that means she's doing an excellent job. I think 2014 is the year of Orange Is The New Black, and I believe that Emmy voters are just as big of OITNB fans as the rest of us are.

4 Biggest Emmy Surprises That Shouldn't Have Been A Surprise

There are three things that are guaranteed in life: Death, Taxes, and Award Snubs. No matter how much an award show gets right, they will always get something wrong. Always. That same holds true for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's. They of course got things wrong. Many, many things wrong. Don't believe me, check out my 5 Biggest Emmy Snubs. Just ask any Tatiana Maslany fans. However, many of the fan's vitriol was misplaced. If they just had the correct expectations, then they would have expected the "snub", and then they wouldn't be so angry. Life is all about expectations. Here are some of the things Emmy fans should have expected and the 4 Biggest Emmy Surprises That Shouldn't Have Been A Surprise.

Downton Abbey Remains Strong

Hitfix's Daniel Feinberg does some amazing work predicting both the Emmy nominations as well as the winners. He incredibly predicted that Homeland would win Outstanding Drama Series and that Damien Lewis would beat out Bryan Cranston for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series three years ago. But I didn't understand why he was continually discounting Downton Abbey. He didn't think the PBS show was going to earn any nominations in the Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, or Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series categories. I asked him why (I think on Twitter?) and he said the decrease in quality of the show's last season combined with an incredibly deep field means no Downton Abbey this year. GoldDerby also agreed with Fienberg. I, however, disagreed. I predicted Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Maggie Smith, Joanne Froggatt, and the show itself would all earn nominations. The only one I was wrong about was Bonneville. The conventional wisdom was that only Smith (and maybe Froggatt, maybe) would earn a nomination. I even wrote on Twitter the day before the nominations were released that Downton Abbey's downfall was severely overstated. I was right. While this may have frustrated everybody (including me, as much as I love being right, Downton Abbey is a terrible show), it was obvious that the British show was going to remain strong. Do you know why? Emmy voters are lazy and are nothing but creatures of habit. The Emmy's have gotten a lot better recently nominating quality over everything, even if that means nominating a fringe candidate, but they are still human. I'd bet you dollars to donuts that most Emmy voters didn't get around to watching the last season of Downton Abbey, but still voted for it based upon its reputation and past seasons. That's just the way the Emmy's role.

10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2014 Primetime Emmy Nominations

1) Modern Family

Holy cow, I don't think anyone saw this coming as Modern Family took a huge blow this year (or at least a huge blow according to its expectations). Again, two-time winner Eric Stonestreet fails to earn a nomination, but Sophia Vergara and Ed O'Neill join him. Only Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Julie Bowen earn a main acting nomination for their work on the show. The show also only earned one Outstanding Direction nomination (see, high standards, it normally gets at least two), and failed to earn any writing nominations. While the show itself was still nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, it lost a lot of nominations in 2014, and I suspect Modern Family is going to come up lame come award time.

2) Game of Thrones

While Modern Family is trending downwards, Game of Thrones is trending upwards. For those who said the Emmy's hate Game of Thrones is just absurd, considering the show had three Outstanding Drama Series nominations and Peter Dinklage is a former winner from the show. Not only does the show itself and Peter Dinklage earn another nomination this year, but this time they're joined by Lena Headly. Last year, Emilia Clarke earned a nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category, and this time it's Headley. It's nice to see other actors other than Dinklage get rewarded for their work on the show. Game of Thrones also earned an Outstanding Direction nomination for Neil Marshall for his work on the penultimate episode "The Watchers on the Wall" (although I would have preferred if it went to Alex Graves) and creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss earned a writing nomination for their work on the finale "The Children" (although I suspect it's for their work on the show as a whole).

Final Predictions for the 2014 Emmy Nominations

COMEDY

OUTSTANDING WRITING:

* "Beach House" (Girls)

* "Can't Fix Crazy" (Orange Is The New Black)

* "I Wasn't Ready" (Orange Is The New Black)

* "London" (Parks and Recreation)

* "Pamela 3" (Louie)

CONFIDENCE LEVEL: Poor

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION:

* Beth McCarthy-Miller (Modern Family)

* Gail Mancuso (Modern Family)

* Lena Dunham (Girls)

* Louis C.K. (Louie)

* Michael Trim (Orange Is The New Black)

CONFIDENCE LEVEL: Medium

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

* Allison Janney (Mom)

* Anna Chlumsky (Veep)

* Julie Bowen (Modern Family)

* Kate Mulgrew (Orange Is The New Black)

* Merritt Weaver (Nurse Jackie)

* Sophia Vergara (Modern Family)

CONFIDENCE LEVEL: High, even though no Mayim Bialik scares me

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Outstanding Comedy Series

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Comedy Series category. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the series isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life, then it's not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

COMEDY

WHO I THINK WILL GET A NOMINATION:

- Girls (HBO)
- Louie (FX)
- Modern Family (ABC)
- Orange Is The New Black (Netflix)
- The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
- Veep (HBO)

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Best Writing

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Writing in both the drama and comedy categories. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the series isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life, then it's not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

DRAMA

WHO I THINK WILL GET A NOMINATION:

- Erin Levy (Mad Men) "The Monolith"

- George Mastras (Breaking Bad) "To'hajiilee"
- Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) "Waterloo"
- Nick Pizzolatto (True Detective) "The Secret Fate of All Life"

- Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) "Felina"

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Best Direction

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Directing in both the comedy and drama series categories. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the director isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life (a la Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron for directing the Believe pilot), then he or she is not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

DRAMA

WHO I THINK WILL GET A NOMINATION:

- Alex Graves (Game of Thrones) "The Children"

- Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) "Who Goes There"

- Rian Johnson (Breaking Bad) "Ozymandias"

- Tim Van Patten (Boardwalk Empire) "Farewell Daddy Blues"

- Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) "Felina"

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Best Actor

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Lead Actor in both the comedy and drama series categories. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the actor isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life, then he's not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

DRAMA

WHO I THINK WILL GET AN EMMY NOMINATION:

- Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
- Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)

- Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom)

- Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

- Kevin Spacey (House of Cards)

- Matthew McConaughey (True Detective)