Our frequent forum poster helmetz also happens to be a member of the TV academy in the writers branch, and this year he has revealed his choices in all categories he voted in, including the top program races. He explains, “It was very weird voting this year. With this new system, any voter who cast a ballot in a particular category in the nominating stage is eligible to vote on the final winner. For me, that meant I could now vote in all program categories as well as writing categories. A lot more watching to do!”
‘Game of Thrones’ ahead of ‘Mad Men’ in tight race for Emmy history
He voted for “Mad Men” as Best Drama Series, saying “Matthew Weiner was probably under the most pressure to create a final season worthy of his show’s pedigree. And he delivered.” “Mad Men” ranks a close second in our Emmy predictions, but his choice for Best Comedy Series is a real long shot: “Parks and Recreation,” which he considers “the best-written comedy series of the year.”
His favorites in the variety categories were frontrunners “Colbert Report” and “Inside Amy Schumer,” but while he did pick “Bessie” for Best TV Movie, which won last week at the Creative Arts Awards, he voted for an underdog for Best Limited Series: “Wolf Hall.”
In the writing categories, he didn’t vote for our frontrunners either. We expect “Mad Men” (Drama) and “Transparent” (Comedy) to prevail, Instead he picked “Better Call Saul” (“Five-O“) for the dramatic prize for “Gordon Smith‘s beautifully-layered script.” And he went with the “Louie” episode “Bobbys House” on the comedy side: “one of the most memorable half-hours of the year,” he says.
To see his complete picks along with his reasoning behind each, CLICK HERE. But if you’re considering changing your votes based on his opinions, be forewarned. “As always, a warning not to put any money down following my votes. You’ll lose big,” he says. “But I for one am excited to see whether this new voting system will break up some of the monotony in Emmy winners. We can only hope!”
Experts Emmy predictions: All 32 categories
Who do you think will win tonight? Make your own Emmys picks now to the right or at the bottom of this post, and you could win one of our three prizes ($500, $300 and $200 Amazon gift certificates) as well as a place of honor on our leaderboard and a starring role in next year’s Top 24 Users (the two dozen folks who do the best predicting this year’s Emmys line-up).
Last year, our Experts had an accuracy rate of 58.62% when it came to predicting the Emmy winners. That score tied them with both Gold Derby’s Editors and the Top 24 Users (those two dozen folks who did the best at predicting last year’s Emmys). Our Users scored 51.72% (Click on any of these groups to see what they got right and wrong last year.)
Which group will be victorious this year? Meet the guy who won our contest to predict the Emmys last year — and learn how he did it and how you can be our next Gold Derby superstar.
As some of our Users turn out to be our smartest prognosticators, it’s important that you give us your predictions. Your picks influence our Users racetrack odds, which also factor into our official combined odds.
Photo: “Mad Men.” Credit: AMC
Photo: “Parks and Recreation.” Credit: NBC
Photo: “Inside Amy Schumer.” Credit: Comedy Central
