
LIMITED/ANTHOLOGY SERIES
Dopesick (Hulu)
The Dropout (Hulu)
Inventing Anna (Netflix)
Pam & Tommy (Hulu)
The White Lotus (HBO)
Will and should win: The White Lotus
Could win: The Dropout
Should have been nominated: Under the Banner of Heaven (Hulu)
The skinny: Spring 2022 brought us a glut of miniseries based on real criminals, but it’s still surprising voters decided on Inventing Anna and Pam & Tommy instead of the superior Under the Banner of Heaven and The Staircase. But it doesn’t matter, because the only purely fictional show here will dominate the evening. Mike White’s The White Lotus took everyone by surprise last summer: a caustic, deeply funny and often uncomfortable show about the rich guests and poor staff of a luxury hotel in Hawaii. It will have been more than a year since the last episode aired by the time Mike White accepts the first of many awards at the ceremony, but its power won’t have diminished.

ACTOR IN A LIMITED/ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR TV MOVIE
Colin Firth, The Staircase
Andrew Garfield, Under the Banner of Heaven
Oscar Isaac, Scenes from a Marriage
Michael Keaton, Dopesick
Himesh Patel, Station Eleven
Sebastian Stan, Pam & Tommy
Will win: Colin Firth
Could win: Michael Keaton
Should win: Andrew Garfield
Should have been nominated: Jon Bernthal, We Own This City
The skinny: Firth already has an Oscar, but his turn in The Staircase is his greatest performance. This is a stacked category, and I won’t be bothered if any of these gents win. I still think Garfield – who plays a Mormon detective whose faith is rocked by a grisly case – is the clear champion, but judging by how little the show was recognized, he feels like a longshot.

ACTRESS IN A LIMITED/ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR TV MOVIE
Toni Collette, The Staircase
Julia Garner, Inventing Anna
Lily James, Pam & Tommy
Sarah Paulson, Impeachment: American Crime Story
Margaret Qualley, Maid
Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout
Will win: Amanda Seyfried
Could win: Julia Garner
Should win: Margaret Qualley
Should have been nominated: Jessica Chastain, Scenes from a Marriage
The skinny: Here’s where I admit I haven’t seen The Dropout, despite its acclaim. I’m still skeptical of any story that’s already been told succinctly in two hours – in this case Alex Gibney’s doc The Inventor – spread out over 8-10 hours. This feels like Seyfried’s award to lose, even going against heavyweights like Garner and Paulson. I still prefer Qualley, giving the performance of her career so far as a single mother running into the buzzsaw of bureaucracy after leaving her abusive husband.