Did the casting directors call it? Among the past week’s Emmy winners were the casting teams for “Succession,” “Schitt’s Creek” and “Watchmen.” Those happen to be the three major frontrunners as the 72nd Emmy Awards get underway on Sunday night — with host Jimmy Kimmel live from the Staples Center.
Besides which shows ultimately come out on top, the other big question is whether HBO or Netflix — the two titans of the Emmys — will exit with bragging rights. After five days and 100 Creative Arts Emmy awards, as of Saturday night, the two titans entered the Sunday thunderdome at a tie: 19 awards each.
Playing a slightly surprising spoiler to this year’s competition: Disney Plus, which scored a strong eight Emmys in its first year of eligibilty, including seven for freshman sensation “The Mandalorian.”
Besides seven early wins for “Watchmen,” and “Succession,” HBO’s wins have included incumbent variety talk show victor “Last Week Tonight,” which also won for outstanding writing for a variety series and picture editing for variety programming.
“Watchmen’s” wins so far included casting for a limited series, movie or special; cinematography for a limited series or movie; sound editing for a limited series, movie or special; sound mixing for a limited series or movie; single-camera picture editing for a limited series or movie; fantasy/sci-fi costumes; and music composition for a limited series, movie or special (original limited score) — which went to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Netflix’s history-making tally was the most ever for a network, but HBO’s “Watchmen” led all programs in nominations thus year with 26 nods. On the comedy side, Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” led the nomination crop with 20 (the same as last year). The leading dramas were Netflix’s “Ozark” and HBO’s “Succession,” both of which pulled 18 nods.
Stay tuned here for analysis and a recap when the show is all finished.
Meanwhile, some info on what to expect tonight, and what has transpired so far: