Emmy Confidential: Publicist Part Deux!

Throughout the week, we’re revealing the thoughts and preferences of voting members of the Television Academy in our annual Emmy Confidential series. Today, our network publicist reveals his picks in the top series categories!

Our network publicist is a lover of television and all things pop culture. When he is not catching up on our garbage fire of a political landscape, he is consuming television in any way he can–he loves film and television. Despite his young age, he has worked with both streaming platforms and in network broadcast television. Our network publicist pays attention to how other networks run their campaigns. Trust me, people, he sees you…and he has opinions on how you run your FYC campaigns.

Variety Talk – The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

“I really like and respect all of the nominees in the entire category. I really like John Oliver—I think he’s brilliant and smart and what he does is great. What Colbert was able to do 5 days a week is a feat. Oliver and Samantha Bee are fantastic, but I just think what Colbert can do multiple times is incredible. I respect all of the nominees, and I think it’s a great lineup in this category. Colbert is killing it every night. I hope Seth Meyers is nominated next year, but I don’t know who drops out. I’m glad they got a writing nomination. I’m so glad Bill Maher dropped out—what did it take to get that to happen? Make that your headline, please. If Bill Maher gets back in next year, what happens next? InfoWars? Come on.”

Comedy Series – Atlanta

“I thought Kimmy Schmidt was good, but it was hard to vote for something for just 6 episodes. Your nomination is your reward for coming back. Finish strong and I’ll vote for you. Bye. Mrs. Maisel, I loved so much.

Atlanta just felt of the moment. I think of this more with Best Picture than with the Emmys, but I think of it as a time capsule. When you look back, it should be indicative of the time, and Atlanta is so of this moment. It improved on last season, and Donald Glover is incredible all around. It didn’t win last time, so it deserves to this time. Only Veep and Modern Family have won in the last 8 years. That’s depressing. No matter what wins this year, it will be something new, and that’s great. This’ll be an award for both seasons.”

Limited Series – The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

“My favorite limited series this year was American Vandal, and I’m so glad it got the writing nomination. By far. That was the best thing I saw on television last season. I’m sad it didn’t get more. I voted for Versace because I went to high school with Darren Criss, and he’s incredible in the show. I voted for the show because of the pedigree behind it, and that show was everywhere. Even now, it’s everywhere. Nothing else in that category is as good as Versace. The Alienist has a great cast though. Not Godless. Not Picasso. There’s no way people watched Picasso, and people thought, ‘I should vote for that!’ ”

Drama Series – This Is Us

“Last year, I went with The Handmaid’s Tale, but this year I made it half way through the season. I think I liked it? With all the stuff that’s happening, it was just too much. I watch the news religiously, and it was a lot to watch. I started it, and then I never got back into it. It felt brutal and I kept with it as long as I could. I wasn’t turned off by it or resistant to it, but it didn’t become appointment viewing because of that. I think it’s going to repeat win. The Americans had a phenomenal ending, but the Emmys don’t like giving awards to final seasons—as good as they are. Mad Men had an amazing final season and Jon Hamm finally got his, but they had to give it to Game of Thrones again. It took The Americans four seasons to get nominated—the same with Friday Night Lights.

I voted for This Is Us. I thought they had a really good season this year, and the Super Bowl episode made a lot of waves. I work for a broadcast network, and we are constantly trying to compete both campaign-wise and programming-wise with streaming and cable networks that can spend more than us ten times over. A win for This Is Us would be a really great reminder for people to come back to the broadcast networks. A broadcast show hasn’t broken in since…The Good Wife? It would be an appreciation for a 22 episode season and breaking through to people despite being on NBC. Speaking from a publicist perspective,  that cast shows up. They are gracious and enthusiastic. I really respect a cast that is so supportive of their show. They believe in it to go the extra mile—and that does not happen with every cast on every show. You wonder sometimes whether actors showing up at these events matters during Emmy voting, and I say yes. I think it matters.”

The Win that Would Make Him Happiest – Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

“The amount of chatter that came out of her nomination was insane. Going into the nominations, she was probably the least known, but coming out of it, she was all the headlines. With Crazy Rich Asians topping the box office, it’s such a hot topic. If they want a Viola Davis-like moment, this is it. Diversity is in. When you’re the headline of every piece, there’s your publicity. My only hesitation is that I think the Oscars can do that type of group mentality, but the Emmys are too big of a group. I think it’s between Elisabeth Moss and Sandra Oh. It’s not going to be Keri Russell. And it’s definitely not going to be Evan Rachel Wood. I would love it if Oh won.”