Will anything stop ‘The Studio’ and ‘Severance’ at the Emmys? A few predictions

By ALICIA RANCILIO and ANDREW DALTON Associated Press Sunday s th Primetime Emmy Awards arrive with clear favorites but scarce sure things Will the acclaim for Adolescence carry it to limited series dominance or will The Penguin complete a run that began with big nomination numbers and continued with a big performance at the Creative Arts Emmys Will top overall nominee Severance reign like Succession and Shogun did before it And can any comedy stop The Studio This image published by Apple TV shows Ike Barinholtz from left Kathryn Hahn Chase Sui Wonders and Seth Rogen in a scene from The Studio Apple TV via AP Associated Press Writers Alicia Rancilio and Andrew Dalton share their predictions in top categories along with a bonus pick Best drama Nominees Andor Paradise Severance Slow Horses The Diplomat The Pitt The Last of Us The White Lotus RANCILIO Severance and The White Lotus were the greater part talked about shows of the year But The White Lotus seems made more for the acting categories I m going to say Severance will take this trophy DALTON Severance felt like the peak of the prestige TV year when its episodes were rolling out Yet as Emmys week arrives a Shogun -style sweep seems extremely unlikely Still it has felt destined for this award since halfway through its second season and despite the surges of The White Lotus and The Pitt it s going to win here Best actor in a drama Nominees Sterling K Brown Paradise Gary Oldman Slow Horses Pedro Pascal The Last of Us Adam Scott Severance Noah Wyle The Pitt DALTON Noah Wyle s narrative is too powerful to deny He gets five nominations without a win for ER only to come back years later and triumph for playing an older warm-but-world-weary version of an crisis healthcare provider on The Pitt Fortunately his actual performance was even more powerful than his personal story His win will be well deserved on the merits RANCILIO Hollywood loves a comeback and it s time for Wyle to get his flowers And like you revealed his win will be well deserved Wyle s performance is not just powerful but his character Dr Michael Robby Robinavitch is the kind of professor manager and yes physician we all wish we had I also saw Wyle say in an interview that he does genuinely know how to perform stitches and that s pretty cool This image circulated by Max shows Noah Wyle in a scene from The Pitt Warrick Page MAX via AP Best actress in a drama Nominees Kathy Bates Matlock Sharon Horgan Bad Sisters Britt Lower Severance Bella Ramsey The Last of Us Keri Russell The Diplomat RANCILIO See above about Wyle for why I think Emmy voters will check the box for Kathy Bates Having noted that Bates Maddie Matlock is such a layered performance of someone-seeking- justice-who-can-occasionally-feel-guilty People are not all one thing life is complicated and Bates nails that DALTON Bates raced to the front soon after Matlock premiered and it still feels like she ll close the deal It ll be well-deserved for one of our great actors giving a bravura performance on the kind of system procedural that has been all-but-absent from the Emmys for years now Best supporting actress in a drama Nominees Patricia Arquette Severance Carrie Coon The White Lotus Katherine LaNasa The Pitt Julianne Nicholson Paradise Parker Posey The White Lotus Natasha Rothwell The White Lotus Aimee Lee Wood The White Lotus DALTON It s nuts that the women of The White Lotus got four nominations in this category and it almost doesn t feel like enough I d ve liked to see the same number for the doctors and nurses of The Pitt My heart here is with Katherine LaNasa whose Nurse Dana was the best character in a hospital full of them But my head tells me Carrie Coon will win as the best of numerous great wine-soaked and pill-addled performances on The White Lotus RANCILIO This is a tough one because The White Lotus women have cornered the area but ultimately I think Parker Posey will prevail Just like Jennifer Coolidge before her Posey s lines on the show weren t just memorable they were meme-worthy And I too don t feel at this age I m meant to live an uncomfortable life Related Articles Tyler Perry faces ABC News overview on actor s sexual assault charges Charlie Sheen gave up threesomes and other sex nearly years ago The Girlfriend star says TV mom directing his sex scenes wasn t awkward At all Star Trek plans packed lineup for the franchise s th anniversary with Lego sets and YouTube show What was the song of the summer Not Ordinary according to the VMAs Best supporting actor in a drama Nominees Zach Cherry Severance Walton Goggins The White Lotus Jason Isaacs The White Lotus James Marsden Paradise Sam Rockwell The White Lotus Tramell Tillman Severance John Turturro Severance RANCILIO I m going to go with Walton Goggins here because this year he not only turned in another great acting performance but he s been experiencing a bit of what s known as a Pedro Pascal zaddy moment that likely put him at top of mind with voters DALTON Goggins gaze during co-star and fellow nominee Sam Rockwell s epic sobriety speech was one of TV s the bulk unforgettable images of the year But Tramell Tillman produced several such moments from his vicious banishment of John Turturo while wearing sharp ski gear to his drum-line dance with an interoffice marching band And underneath the flash he evidenced an unknowable depth and inner life He should get the lone acting win for Severance Best comedy Nominees Hacks The Bear The Studio Only Murders in the Building Abbott Elementary Nobody Wants This Shrinking What We Do in the Shadows DALTON The blockbuster bounty of nominations pulled in by The Studio convinced me this instant that it was going to win best comedy amid beloved but stale competition Bank on it RANCILIO The Studio will win but I d like to give a sincere slow clap to each of the other nominees except The Bear which has never been a comedy Best actor in a comedy Nominees Seth Rogen The Studio Martin Short Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen-White The Bear Adam Brody Nobody Wants This Jason Segel Shrinking RANCILIO About this time last year Adam Brody s performance in Nobody Wants This made me both giddy and nostalgic for the early aughts when he made nerds cool Did you feel it too Those feelings have not waned but logic tells me Seth Rogen will walk away with a win DALTON Brody s charm is endless He ll use it to look gracious in defeat Rogen took his well-established weedy persona to a place that both maintained what people love about him and brought new comic dimensions that even his mother could appreciate He ll get his first of a multitude of Emmys Best actress in a comedy Nominees Uzo Aduba The Residence Kristen Bell Nobody Wants This Quinta Brunson Abbott Elementary Jean Smart Hacks Ayo Edebiri The Bear DALTON Emmy voters have never hesitated to keep picking the same winner See Julia Louis-Dreyfus taking this trophy six straight times for Veep Jean Smart has won for all three seasons of Hacks so far and I ll keep picking her until she loses RANCILIO No disrespect to Louis-Dreyfus or to Smart but I felt then and now that there should be a cap on nominations for the same role It gets to a point where you re like We get it Kelsey you re really good at playing Frasier Alas I do not make the rules and so Smart will win Best limited series Nominees Adolescence The Penguin Dying for Sex Monsters The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Black Mirror RANCILIO If Adolescence doesn t win here I d be stunned That is all DALTON I d be just as stunned This is the surest thing of the night It has to win It s too great a piece of art for voters to snub This image issued by Netflix shows Mark Stanley from left Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in a scene from Adolescence Netflix via AP Best actor in a limited series Nominees Colin Farrell The Penguin Stephen Graham Adolescence Jake Gyllenhaal Presumed Innocent Brian Tyree Henry Dope Thief Cooper Koch Monsters The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story DALTON I think the real winner of this category should be Owen Cooper from Adolescence whose lead-worthy performance as a child accused of murder was just astonishing But like almost all uh adolescents he s stuck in supporting So I m picking his TV dad Stephen Graham whose performance included the greatest visit to a home improvement store in screen history RANCILIO I agree Cooper should be a contender in this category It s almost like Netflix accidentally switched the lead and supporting actor submissions for Adolescence so here we are However I m going to go with Brian Tyree Henry He s not just extraordinary in Dope Thief but I think he s very well-liked in general and Hollywood is a popularity contest Best actress in a limited series Nominees Cate Blanchett Disclaimer Meghann Fahy Sirens Rashida Jones Black Mirror Cristin Milioti The Penguin Michelle Williams Dying for Sex RANCILIO Cristin Milioti fans already knew she could do stage work from Once and also comedy from How I Met Your Mother and the movie Palm Springs Her work in The Penguin demonstrated that she has also mastered drama and can strike the right balance if she s playing an unhinged maniac DALTON The Emmys unprecedented embrace of a franchise show like The Penguin with its noms and eight Creative Arts wins has been the surprise of the season so far And Milioti somehow almost steals the show from Colin Farrell and his jowls But Michelle Williams was a great new semi-stretch for Michelle Williams who is building a body of TV work comparable to her big screen achievements I ll take her by a hair This image circulated by HBO shows Cristin Milioti in a scene from The Penguin HBO via AP Wild card pick DALTON There s no award for best talk show host but when Stephen Colbert s Late Show wins best talk series it ll be a tribute to a beloved figure whose unceremonious cancellation for reasons perceived as political outraged countless of his industry peers And he ll get his own trophy as an executive producer RANCILIO Martin Short could pull off a semi-surprise win for best actor in a comedy over Rogen for Only Murders and I wouldn t be mad at it