Emmy Award PREDICTIONS

The Emmy Nominations have been announced and the awards will be given out in exactly two weeks in Los Angeles on August 27. The awards ceremony will be broadcast on NBC. After my fabulous success at predicting the Oscars in March, I present to you my predictions for the 58th Annual Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Comedy Series

• Arrested Development • FOX
• Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO
• The Office • NBC
• Scrubs • NBC
• Two And A Half Men • CBS

SHOULD WIN: No Opinion! (I don't watch any of these shows)
WILL WIN: The Office.

Outstanding Drama Series

• Grey’s Anatomy • ABC
• House • FOX
• The Sopranos • HBO
• 24 • FOX
• The West Wing • NBC

SHOULD WIN: This is my category! I watched every episode of 24 and the dearly departed Alias (sob!) this season. I have never gotten into The Sopranos. I just don't get the adulation for that show. I watched it a couple times, with a baffled look on my face. House I just plain refuse to watch. Grey's Anatomy I have actually only gotten into it over the summer since I added it to my DVR (read: Tivo) only after Spring Break. My partner calls it "emotional porn." This is not a compliment! However, I do notice he doesn't leave the room when I'm watching it. :) I'm a sucker for politics and I'm very loyal (I still have E.R. in my DVR, okay?) so I loved The West Wing, but ya gotta admit they sorta punted having Matt Santos win the election after his running mate John Spencer Leo McGarry died unexpectedly (not that I was complaining--I think he more people see a Democratic candidate win a Presidential election, even it is a fake election, on TV, the better for the Good Guys to win in 2008. My call: 24.
WILL WIN: Grey's Anatomy.

Outstanding Reality-Competition Program

• The Amazing Race • CBS
• American Idol • FOX
• Dancing With The Stars • ABC
• Project Runway • Bravo
• Survivor • CBS

SHOULD WIN: Survivor. Again, this is the only one of the nominated shows that I watch though all my gay friends tell me Project Runway is a hoot! I refuse to watch American Idol. And I'm not sure I wnat to live in a world where such calculated crap can win an Emmy, even a Reality Television Emmy.
WILL WIN: The Amazing Race.

Outstanding Miniseries

• Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS
• Elizabeth I • HBO
• Into The West • TNT
• Sleeper Cell • Showtime

SHOULD WIN: Elizabeth I. Anything Helen Mirren is in should win, all the time. That should be a rule! I actually watched Sleeper Cell and thought the actors playing the terrorists were improbably handsome, but since the plots were equivalently improbable it made for fun viewing.

WILL WIN: Bleak House.

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

• Christopher Meloni - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit NBC
• Denis Leary - Rescue Me FX
• Peter Krause - Six Feet Under HBO
• Kiefer Sutherland - 24 FOX
• Martin Sheen - The West Wing NBC

SHOULD WIN: Keifer Sutherland.
WILL WIN: Keifer Sutherland.

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

• Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer TNT
• Geena Davis - Commander In Chief ABC
• Mariska Hargitay - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit NBC
• Frances Conroy - Six Feet Under HBO
• Allison Janney - The West Wing NBC

SHOULD WIN: Allison Janney. Allison Janney used to be unbeatable in this category a few years ago when she won 3 Emmys in a row for playing the character of CJ Cregg. She currently has four Emmys. She should win a fifth for showing how the character developed as she went from being the Press Secretary to arguably the most powerful person in the world (or at the very least, the busiest!), the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States. Sadly, she will not. I would really love to see Frances Conroy win (after losing 3 times previously, ouch!) for playing the mother in probably the Best Television Drama Of All-Time (ok, well at the very least the best written and acted) on Six Feet Under. Sadly, I don't think she will win either.
WILL WIN: Mariska Hargitay. I don't know why, I just think she will win. Last year's winner (Patricia Arquette for the execrable Medium) was not even nominated this year. I suspect history will repeat itself. Hargitay will win on her first nomination and not be nominated next year. I'd be very pleased if they gave it to Geena Davis juust to reward her fo r the juevos she showed playing the First Female President of the United States on the now-cancelled Commander-in-Chief. But, I don't really think that's gonna happen.

I probably won't even watch the show as I will be out of town in beautiful Cincinatti, Ohio trying to save the world, but I'll try and do a follow-up report on how well my predictions fared.