WASHINGTON — The 69th annual Emmy Awards air Sunday night on CBS.
And ironically, the most buzzed about show on television isn’t even eligible.
Two-time defending champ “Game of Thrones” missed the May 31 deadline. Nominees had to air between June 1, 2016 and May 31, 2017, but “G.O.T.” Season 7 didn’t hit HBO until July 16.
That leaves the door wide open for Best TV Drama, including Netflix’s Golden Globe champ “The Crown,” AMC’s stellar spinoff “Better Call Saul,” Netflix’s campy sci-fi-horror underdog “Stranger Things,” Hulu’s socially timely “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Netflix’s politically timely “House of Cards,” HBO’s sci-fi western “Westworld,” and NBC’s family favorite “This Is Us.”
The lattermost will try to make network TV viable after a decade of cable dominance. The NBC hit is the first network drama nominated since “The Good Wife” in 2011, while a potential victory would make it the first network show to win Best TV Drama since “24” back in 2006.
On the comedy side, “Veep” is the two-time defending champ for Best TV Comedy, fueled by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ five straight wins for Best Actress. The show just announced that the next season will be its last, meaning the show could be a sentimental favorite among voters.
Of course, the better bet is something fresh, such as FX’s “Atlanta,” which scored Golden Globe wins for Best TV Comedy and Best Actor (Donald Glover), or Netflix’s “Master of None,” which won last year’s Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Writing (Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang). Rounding out the group: “Modern Family,” “Silicon Valley” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”
Still, the biggest Hollywood starpower comes in the Miniseries category, including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley in “Big Little Lies,” John Turturro and Riz Ahmed in “The Night Of,” Ewan McGregor and Carrie Coon in “Fargo,” Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson in “Genius,” and Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange in “Feud: Bette & Joan.”
In terms of total nominations, “Saturday Night Live” and “Westworld” lead with 22 bids each, followed by “Feud: Bette and Joan” and “Stranger Things” with 18 each, and “Veep” with 17.
Check out the nominees in the gallery below:
