Who will take home Emmy?
In the Way Too Much TV Era, it truly is an honor just to be nominated for an Emmy award.
“Game of Thrones,” “Veep” and “When They See Us” look like front-runners for the “71st Primetime Emmy Awards” (Sunday on Fox), but the outcome is anyone’s guess.
Even though AP entertainment writers Lynn Elber and Mark Kennedy agree that “Game of Thrones” and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss will likely take home the statuettes, they offer their picks of who should win in the top categories.
DRAMA SERIES
Elber: “Pose.” The opulent, clear-eyed embrace of the late-20th-century LGBTQ ballroom scene deserves its due.
Kennedy: “Pose,” a loving look at a world that has never been celebrated on TV before, starring the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted series.
COMEDY SERIES
Elber: “Fleabag.” Such shocking sexual abandon and emotional dysfunction is downright un-American. Three cheers for this British invasion!
Kennedy: The second season of “Fleabag” — with a woman resisting her feelings for a priest — and the debut of “Russian Doll” — in which a New Yorker keeps reliving the night of her 36th birthday — were deeply worthy of wins for writing and originality.
ACTOR, DRAMA
Elber: Billy Porter, “Pose.” The Tonywinning actor’s performance, by turns brassy, tender and brave, anchors the sprawling drama.
Kennedy: Yes, yes, yes. Porter is always the best thing in whatever he’s in and he’s truly fierce in “Pose.” But did enough people watch?
ACTRESS, DRAMA
Elber: Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve.” A tourde-force performance of vulnerability and, to her character’s dismay, brutality.
Kennedy: The mouse to Sandra Oh’s cat — Jodie Comer. She has, criminally, not earned enough recognition for her special brand of killer.
ACTOR, COMEDY
Elber: Bill Hader, “Barry.” His scarily winning portrayal of a hit man with a Hollywood dream was voted tops last year and remains deserving.
Kennedy: Should win: Hader already has his Emmy. Douglas won a Golden Globe for “The Kominsky Method.” The Emmy should go to Anthony Anderson, the beating heart of “black-ish,” who makes lovingly exasperated completely hysterical but has been overlooked too long.
ACTRESS, COMEDY
Elber: Catherine O’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek.” Consider it a lifetime achievement award, with her delectably self-absorbed, absurd Moira topping her inventive catalog of characters (and yes, I’m including the Christopher Guest films. Movies, TV — it’s all the same now).
Kennedy: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who in “Fleabag” needs only to look over her shoulder at us, lower her eyes and convey everything that’s churning in her complex mind.
LIMITED SERIES
Elber: “When They See Us.” The superb cast, the unsparing writing, the dismaying currency of a 20-year-old case’s implications for American justice and racial inequality demand an Emmy.
Kennedy: In many ways, this category represented the best of TV this season — “Chernobyl,” “Escape at Dannemora,” “Fosse/Verdon,” “When They See Us” and “Sharp Objects.” Any is a worthy winner.