Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Emmy Predictions 2018 - Who Will Likely Be Nominated for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series?

From June 11 to June 25, 2018, voting is taking place for The 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. To add to the excitement of the past year in television, I'm providing analysis on which shows and performers are likely to get nominated this year. Next up is Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.





2017 Nominees:
        Anthony Anderson for ABC's Black-ish
        Aziz Ansari for Netflix's Master of None
        Zach Galifianakis for FX's Baskets
        Donald Glover for FX's Atlanta (WINNER)
        William H. Macy for Showtime's Shameless
        Jeffrey Tambor for Amazon's Transparent

Lead Actor turns out to be a fascinating category this year. Two nominees from 2017 are no longer on the ballot - Aziz Ansari because Master of None aired no episodes and Jeffrey Tambor who removed himself from consideration for Transparent. Moreover, there are four actors who have received Emmy nominations for roles they are once again eligible for now - Jason Bateman in Arrested Development, Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Will McCormack in Will & Grace and Matt LeBlanc in Episodes. As such, those could be some strong contenders in this race. William H. Macy and Zach Galifianakis may no longer be safe to get nominations. Or perhaps some flesh blood will spice up this field like Bill Hader for Barry, Ted Danson for The Good Place or Tracy Morgan for The Last O.G. Those would be some exciting nominations as well.

So now, here's my thoughts on the actors most likely to be nominated for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:
  1. Donald Glover for FX's Atlanta
  2. Anthony Anderson for ABC's Black-ish
  3. Bill Hader for HBO's Barry
  4. Larry David for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
  5. Eric McCormack for NBC's Will & Grace
  6. Ted Danson for NBC's The Good Place
And now, for some serious threats that could break into the list:
  1. William H. Macy for Showtime's Shameless
  2. Zach Galifianakis for FX's Baskets
  3. Hank Azaria for IFC's Brockmire
  4. Tracy Morgan for TBS' The Last O.G.
  5. Jason Bateman for Netflix's Arrested Development
  6. Matt LeBlanc for Showtime's Episodes
  7. John Goodman for ABC's Roseanne
  8. Thomas Middleditch for HBO's Silicon Valley
  9. Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki for CBS' The Big Bang Theory
  10. Will Forte for FOX's The Last Man on Earth
  11. Iain Armitage for CBS' Young Sheldon
  12. Alex Lawther for Netflix's The End of the F***ing World
  13. Ralph Macchio and William Zabka for YouTube Premium's Cobra Kai
  14. Timothy Olyphant for Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet
  15. Chris O'Dowd for Epix's Get Shorty
Some considerable long-shots:
  1. Andy Samberg for FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine
  2. Gael Garcia Bernal for Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle
  3. Fred Armisen for IFC's Portlandia
  4. Neil Patrick Harris for Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events
  5. Christopher Meloni for Syfy's Happy!
  6. Josh Hutcherson for Hulu's Future Man
  7. Randall Park for ABC's Fresh Off the Boat
  8. Ben Feldman for NBC's Superstore
  9. Keir Gilchrist for Netflix's Atypical
  10. Thomas Haden Church for HBO's Divorce
  11. Chris Geere for FXX's You're the Worst
  12. Tommy Dewey for Hulu's Casual
  13. Billy Eichner for Hulu's Difficult People
  14. Ashton Kutcher for Netflix's The Ranch
  15. Eugene Levy for Pop's Schitt's Creek
  16. Jessie T. Usher and RonReaco Lee for Starz's Survivor's Remorse
  17. Jason Alexander for Audience's Hit the Road
And now, just some colorful oddities who still have an outside chance:
  1. Peter Serafinowicz and Griffin Newman for Amazon's The Tick
  2. Tom Everett Scott for TruTV's I'm Sorry
  3. Ron Livingston for Audience's Loudermilk
  4. Danny McBride for HBO's Vice Principals
  5. Jason Jones for TBS' The Detour
  6. Glenn Howerton for NBC's A.P. Bio
  7. Ryan Hanson for YouTube Premium's Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television
  8. Keegan-Michael Key for Netflix's Friends From College
  9. Patrick Brammall for CBS All Access' No Activity
  10. Bruce Campbell for Starz's Ash vs. Evil Dead
  11. Josh Feldman for Sundance Now's This Close
  12. Ben Sinclair for HBO's High Maintenance

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my choices? Let me know in the comments below!