2000: The West Wing - In Excelsis Deo (Aaron Sorkin and Rick Cleveland)

2001: The Sopranos - Employee of the Month (Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess)

2002: 24 - 12:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m. (Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow)

2003: The Sopranos - Whitecaps (Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess and David Chase)

2004: The Sopranos - Long Term Parking (Terence Winter)

2005: House - Three Stories (David Shore)

2006: The Sopranos - Members Only (Terence Winter)

2007: The Sopranos - Made in America (David Chase)

2008: Mad Men - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Matthew Weiner)

2009: Mad Men - Meditations in an Emergency (Matthew Weiner and Kater Gordon)

2000: The West Wing - Pilot (Thomas Schlamme)

2001: The West Wing - In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Thomas Schlamme)

2002: Six Feet Under - Pilot (Alan Ball)

2003: The West Wing - Twenty Five (Christopher Misiano)

2004: Deadwood - Deadwood (Walter Hill)

2005: Lost - Pilot (J. J. Abrams)

2006: 24 - Day 5: 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. (Jon Cassar)

2007: The Sopranos - Kennedy and Heidi (Alan Taylor)

2008: House - House's Head (Greg Yaitanes)

2009: ER - And in the End... (Rod Holcomb)

To get ready, here are last year's winners:

The Pitt: Drama Series, Lead Actor (Noah Wyle), Supporting Actress (Katherine LaNasa)

The Studio: Comedy Series, Lead Actor (Seth Rogen), Directing, and Writing

Adolescence: Limited or Anthology Series, Lead Actor (Stephen Graham), Supporting Actor (Owen Cooper), Supporting Actress (Erin Doherty), Directing & Writing

Severance: Lead Actress (Britt Lower) and Supporting Actor (Tramell Tillman)

Hacks: Lead Actress (Jean Smart) and Supporting Actress (Hannah Einbinder)

The Penguin: Lead Actress (Cristin Milioti)

Somebody Somewhere: Supporting Actor (Jeff Hiller)

Slow Horses: Directing

Andor: Writing

The Traitors: Reality Competition Program

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Talk Series

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Scripted Variety Series, Writing

SNL50: The Anniversary Special: Variety Special (Live)

Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra this season is operating on another level and it really deserves recognition.

The scene where she sees Jace’s body is heartbreaking in how quiet it is. The shock just drains into grief without any big outburst, and it feels like everything inside her is collapsing at once.

And the scene where she struggles to put Otto Hightower to death really shows the internal conflict. You can see her trying to stay in control, trying to convince herself this is necessary, but it doesn’t come easily. The hesitation, the tension in the silence, it all makes it feel like a breaking point rather than a display of power.

When she sits on the Iron Throne, it’s the opposite of a victory moment. It’s heavy, exhausted, almost like she is forcing herself into a role that is costing her everything.

That balance is what makes the performance so strong. Nothing is exaggerated, but everything lands.

Emma D’Arcy absolutely deserves the Emmy conversation this season.

Here are the 5 shows I think will be nominated for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series:

The Beast in Me

Beef (Season 2)

DTF St. Louis

Half Man

Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

Winner: Beef

Possible Upset: DTF St. Louis or Half Man

They're so funny and quirky in the show, they deserve it. Also Matthew in The Beast in Me was perfect. So different from Widow's Bay, what a talent!🔥🙌🏻💯

>With Oscar season predictions just around the corner (if you’re a maniac like me), lest we forget the little sister of cinema, (in Kenneth Parcell voice) “TELEVISION!” Yes, the 78th Emmy Awards are upon us yet again this September, with nominations being announced on Wednesday July 8, it’s time to make my last minute guesses as to who and what this year’s honorees will be.

>In the Drama Category, of course we have newcomers Task and Pluribus feeling like shoe-ins. The Mark Ruffalo cop drama that was initially positioned as a limited series, makes the sudden jump to Drama after a second season renewal announcement and Vince Gilligan’s sci-fi Apple series Pluribus blew the doors down on the competition last fall with an unforgettable pilot and a towering Rhea Seehorn performance. Seehorn seems very much in line to win her category after years of being ignored for her brilliant Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul (a performance she wouldn’t even be nominated for until the series’ last gasp). Her competition remains the formidable Keri Russell, this year’s SAG winner, with The Diplomat growing stronger each season.

>Stranger Things and Euphoria, once Emmy darlings, bow out with their extremely divisive but widely-seen finales. Euphoria faced harsher criticism, but those performances may be strong enough to rope the show back in one last time. Stranger Things, though, was the end of a global phenomenon and regardless of whether or not it can achieve any performance/writing/directing nominations, it may be too big to ignore in a Drama series category of 8.

>One series that continues to get better is The Gilded Age, a show with a fanbase that grows larger every year. I’ve seen a lot of doubt that The Gilded Age can crack the 8 this year despite it being the show’s best season, due to its competition, but I still have faith. The final scene of the season even had me saying under my breath “well, that’s Carrie Coon’s Emmy nomination sealed up.” But of course, as was the deal last year, The Pitt is going to steamroll the whole category. Expect many nominations for its supporting cast, many of which were overlooked last year, including Patrick Ball, Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, and Shawn Hatosy, moving up from Guest Actor into Supporting.

>In the Comedy Category, it goes without saying that Hacks‘ final season was everything it should have been, cementing itself as one of the great comedy series of the decade. Jean Smart will receive a win for every season of the show and Hannah Einbinder’s performance in the final episode should guarantee her a second win. Fingers crossed for an overdue Meg Stalter nomination. New Apple series Margo’s Got Money Troubles and Widow’s Bay came late in the voting season, but wowed everybody watching. Margo featuring the excellent trio of Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, and Michelle Pfeiffer and sharp, empathetic writing, and Widow’s Bay being a brilliant horror/comedy mashup that excels in both departments, with a weirdness you could only expect with a show that mixes the creative teams of Parks and Recreation and Atlanta.

>This seemed like Martin Short’s year to finally win for Only Murders in the Building, with his prior competition out of the way, but Shrinking (a show I only thought was fine in its first season, but has blossomed into full comforted appreciation) is in for its best Emmys year yet with its best season, so Jason Segel may take this. Don’t count out Steve Carrell for Rooster, though, as the beloved comic star still has never won this category despite his career-making role as Michael Scott in The Office. Carell pairs his usually loud-comic abilities down while also steering away from the “asshole mode” he’s been stuck in the last few years (The Morning Show, The Four Seasons, etc.), to deliver a surprisingly gentle and nuanced portrait of an author-turned- college professor. The Bear, a former juggernaut, may struggle to maintain its popularity, but the fourth season really had a lot of special moments and career-best performances by its main actors. I can’t imagine we’re done with The Bear just year, especially as its final season just aired this week, and closed strong on a perfect return-to-form.

>My last note on Comedy Series is an obvious one: welcome to the Emmys, Ashley Padilla! Joining a select handful of SNL performers that become the default representative of their ensemble (Bowen Yang likely to get in as well with his last season), Padilla had the strongest debut last year for an SNL performer since Kate McKinnon (maybe even Kristen Wiig) and took charge in her second season to be the most featured player and the comic MVP of the series. We expect her to remain in this category for many years to come.

>And finally, in Limited Series, we are facing what I can only observe as a bit of a quality drought. Maybe we were spoiled in years such as 2021 when we had a category packed with Mare of Easttown, WandaVision, The Queen’s Gambit, The Underground Railroad, and I May Destroy You. This year is filled with “underwatched” and “underwhelming” contenders, with the likeliest winner in my eyes being the strangest one of the pack, DTF St. Louis. Perhaps if Task stayed here, the winner wouldn’t even be a conversation. But when your biggest threats are a season of Beef that many were unsatisfied with, the ultra soapy Peacock thriller All Her Fault, yet another Ryan Murphy historical retelling (two, in fact), perhaps a Netflix thriller people have already forgotten about but was a big hit for the platform, The Beast in Me, can shock. Richard Gadd’s Half Man was dramatically-investing but much softer-recieved in comparison to his prior phenomenon Baby Reindeer. DTF St. Louis, while perplexing, is still a pretty stunning acting showcase, all of which are competing Supporting despite Bateman and Harbour clearly co-leads. Harbour delivers the best television performance of the year and deserves his first Emmy win for his category.

FULL PREDICTIONS LIST HERE: https://jakobtalksfilm.com/2026/06/28/predictions-the-78th-emmy-awards-nominations/

Here are the 8 shows I think will be nominated for Outstanding Drama Series:

The Diplomat (Season 3)

The Gilded Age (Season 3)

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Season 1)

Paradise (Season 2)

The Pitt (Season 2)

Pluribus (Season 1)

Slow Horses (Season 5)

Task (Season 1)

Winner:

The Pitt

Possible Upset:

Pluribus

Here are the 8 shows I think will be nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series:

Abbott Elementary (Season 5)

The Bear (Season 4)

The Comeback (Season 3)

Hacks (Season 5)

Margo's Got Money Troubles (Season 1)

Only Murders in the Building (Season 5)

Shrinking (Season 3)

Widow's Bay (Season 1)

Winner:

Hacks

Possible Upset:

Shrinking or Widow's Bay