The Nominees Ranked By Which Program Should Win:
- FX's The Americans
- Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale
- Netflix's The Crown
- Netflix's Stranger Things
- HBO's Game of Thrones
- HBO's Westworld
- NBC's This Is Us
As I've been saying in many of the drama races this year, the final season of The Americans is one of the best things to air in the past year of television. It deserves to win in every category it is nominated in. Those nominations aren't enough. The show has only won with Margo Martindale in the past. It would be so deserving and fantastic if it were able to win the top prize for drama series on its final attempt. Plus, it was the only consistently strong season of television nominated here. The rest of the nominees above are basically ranked by how inconsistent they were. The Handmaid's Tale, The Crown and Stranger Things still had strong second seasons. But some weird creative decisions were made as well that keeps me from fully supporting them in this race. Meanwhile, Game of Thrones, Westworld and This Is Us were all about producing stunning and memorable moments. Their seasons thrived when they could actually reveal what was going on and surprise the audience with some big moment. Those moments were so powerful as well. Getting to them was what makes them somewhat difficult to watch on a weekly basis. As such, The Americans has my full support in this race.
The Nominees Ranked by Which Program Will Win:
- Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale
- HBO's Game of Thrones
- Netflix's The Crown
- FX's The Americans
- NBC's This Is Us
- Netflix's Stranger Things
- HBO's Westworld
Ever since the nominations where announced, this category has been a battle between Game of Thrones and The Handmaid's Tale. They are the two most recent winners in this category. The Handmaid's Tale became the first streaming series to win here. It prevailed because Game of Thrones took a year off. It's now back in the running after prevailing during the previous two years. It benefits greatly under the current voter system as well. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if the voters split the wealth between the two shows with Game of Thrones winning more technical prizes and The Handmaid's Tale continuing to win for its actors. It would be very surprising if one of them didn't walk away with this trophy. The only potential surprises are The Crown and The Americans. The other three nominees in the category just seem like considerable long shots. The Crown could surprise because it has already picked up more Emmys from the Creative Arts ceremony than what people were expecting. Meanwhile, The Americans could surprise because there has been a groundswell of love and support for the show in its final season and it never quite being recognized the way that it should have been by the awards. But is that love enough to topple the top two contenders? It seems unlikely.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my predictions? Let me know in the comments below!
