I have some time this summer, so I’m resurrecting this series where I try to predict who will be the nominees at this year’s Emmy Awards. With a lot of last year’s nominees ineligible, in theory it will be easy to predict who the Academy will make room for. But it probably won’t, especially in loaded categories like Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Check out my picks for the Comedy and Variety categories below.

COMEDY SERIES
Barry
Black-ish
GLOW
The Good Place
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Veep
Ineligible: Atlanta, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley
Potential Spoilers:
Dead to Me (Netflix) – new show
Russian Doll (Netflix) – new show
In my dreams: Fleabag
The skinny: Veep‘s last hurrah has this in a walk, though personally Barry should win for defying expectations and turning in a second season in some ways even better than the first.

ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Bill Hader, Barry
William H. Macy, Shameless
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Potential Spoilers:
Jim Carrey, Kidding (never nominated for acting)
John Goodman, The Connors (7 nominations for this role on Roseanne)
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek (never nominated for acting)
Randall Park, Fresh off the Boat (never nominated)
Ineligible: Larry David, Donald Glover
In my dreams: Pete Holmes, Crashing
The skinny: There’s a small possibility Jim Parsons could win for his final turn as Sheldon Cooper, but he hasn’t been nominated since 2014. Also, let’s just reiterate: He has four Emmys already. FOUR. That is a crime. So Bill Hader can and should win once again.

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Pamela Adlon, Better Things
Candice Bergen, Murphy Brown
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Allison Janney, Mom
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Natasha Lyonne, Russian Doll
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
Potential Spoilers:
Christina Applegate, Dead to Me (2 nominations in this category for Samantha Who?)
Kristen Bell, The Good Place (never nominated)
Alison Brie, GLOW (never nominated)
Aidy Bryant, Shrill (1 nomination for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Saturday Night Live)
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me (1 nomination for Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Mad Men)
Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie (1)
Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2)
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek (1 nomination for Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Temple Grandin)
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie (4)
Tracey Ullman, Tracey Ullman’s Show (4 wins for acting: 2 for Individual Performance in a a Variety or Music Program for The Best of the Tracey Ullman Show and Tracey Takes on New York; 2 for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Love & War and Ally McBeal)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag (never nominated for acting)
Ineligible: None
In my dreams: Maya Rudolph, Forever
The skinny: By far the most crowded category, with none of last year’s eight nominees ineligible. The only new blood I’m expecting is Natasha Lyonne (who could have a serious shot were she not running against Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Also, Emmys gonna Emmy and bring back Candice Bergen, who once won so many times here she took herself out of contention. But how great would it be to see the likes of Catherine O’Hara or Phoebe Waller-Bridge here?

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Tony Hale, Veep
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Matt Walsh, Veep
Henry Winkler, Barry
Potential Spoilers:
Ed Asner, Dead to Me (7 nominations in this category including 3 wins for The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Anthony Carrigan, Barry (never nominated)
Gary Cole, Veep (1 nomination for this role as Guest Actor in a Comedy Series)
William Jackson Harper, The Good Place (never nominated)
Manny Jacinto, The Good Place (never nominated)
Marc Maron, GLOW (never nominated)
Andrew Scott, Fleabag (never nominated)
Timothy Simons, Veep (never nominated)
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live (1)
Ineligible: Louie Anderson, Brian Tyree Henry
In my dreams: Kevin Dunn, Veep
The skinny: Maybe we’ll all be spared another nomination for Alec Baldwin’s tired Trump impression and let a worthy actor take the spot, but complacency comes easy to this group. My worst fear is that Timothy Simons, who has been crushing it on Veep since the very beginning – but especially the last two seasons – will become like Nick Offerman, crafting one of the all-time great TV characters with nothing to show for it.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Aidy Bryant, Saturday Night Live
Anna Chlumsky, Veep
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
Leslie Jones, Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Laurie Metcalf, The Connors
Megan Mullally, Will & Grace
Potential Spoilers:
D’Arcy Carden, The Good Place (never nominated)
Olivia Colman, Fleabag (1 nomination for Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for The Night Manager)
Sarah Goldberg, Barry (never nominated)
Jameela Jamil, The Good Place (never nominated)
Rita Moreno, One Day at a Time (6 previous acting nominations in other categories, including 2 wins)
Ineligible: Zazie Beetz
In my dreams: Paula Pell, A.P. Bio
The skinny: I think they can probably give Aidy Bryant and Leslie Jones some time off, and replace them with the ladies of The Good Place, but the most deserving nominee (Sarah Goldberg) is going to have a tough time breaking into this group.
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