The 53rd annual Cinema Audio Society Awards this Saturday, February 18 will provide yet another smack-down between juggernaut “Game of Thrones” and upstarts “Stranger Things” and “Westworld.” Each recently defeated “Game of Thrones” for an industry-voted award that “Game of Thrones” won last year. “Stranger Things” won Best Drama Series from the Producers Guild of America; “Westworld” won Best Period/Fantasy Production Design from the Art Directors Guild. “Game of Thrones” is far from out however, having beaten the pair when they went head-to-head for industry-voted awards from the Directors Guild of America, American Cinema Editors and Visual Effects Society.
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Gold Derby’s Experts, Editors and Users overwhelmingly predict “Game of Thrones” to win the CAS Award for Best One-Hour Sound Mixing for the fourth consecutive year, giving it aggregate 1/5 odds. Its nominated episode titled “Battle of the Bastards” has already won the equivalent Emmy, which is especially significant because of voter overlap. “Battle of the Bastards” again competes against the “Better Call Saul” second season finale (100/1), as well as an episode of “Mr. Robot” (50/1), which contended at the Emmys for its first season, but is nominated for its second season here because of differing eligibility windows. The remaining two CAS nominees — the “Westworld” pilot (14/1) and a “Stranger Things” episode (14/1) — will also contend at the 2017 Emmys.
“Veep” (3/10) is predicted to win its first award for Best Half-Hour Sound Mixing, having lost its two previous CAS nominations to “Modern Family,” which is nominated again. “Modern Family” ranks third (16/1), a curious placement for a show that it has won this category the last four years. However, support for the show among sound mixers is declining, given that it lost the most recent Emmy for the same episode that is nominated here — “The Storm” — after winning the previous year (for an episode that took place entirely on a computer screen, no less). However, the comedy that beat “Modern Family” at the Emmys — “Mozart in the Jungle” — was snubbed by CAS. “black-ish” ranks second (9/1), despite having been snubbed its past two years by both the Emmys and CAS for its sound. This is also the first sound nomination for “Transparent” (28/1), which was likewise snubbed its first two years by the Emmys and CAS; it ranks last (28/1). Both “black-ish” and “Transparent” are nominated for episodes that will be eligible at the next Emmys. Also nominated is “Silicon Valley” (22/1), which was actually nominated last year by CAS and the last two years at the Emmys.
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Beware the frontrunner positions for “Game of Thrones” and “Veep.” Because they have won their respective Emmys for Best Series the last two years, they are a reasonable bet by default for most awards. Gold Derby predicts them more often than they win; both were favoured to win the top awards from the Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild, but prevailed at neither.
Following its Emmy win, “The People v. O.J. Simpson” leads the nominees (2/5) for Best Movie/Mini Sound Mixing. It again contends opposite “The Night Manager” (13/2) and “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride” (9/1). The last two Emmy nominees — “Fargo” and “True Detective” — were nominated by CAS last year. Ranking fourth is “Black Mirror” (28/1), which will compete at the next Emmys; rounding out the category is “11.22.63” (80/1) which was snubbed at the last Emmys.
The last CAS television category is Best Nonfiction/Variety Sound Mixing. The nominations comprise two Emmy nominees for Best Nonfiction Sound Mixing (“Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” and “Deadliest Catch”), one Emmy nominee for Best Variety Sound Mixing (“Grease: Live!”) and two Emmy hopefuls (“Mars” and “We Will Rise”).
CAS nominations include Oscar frontrunner “La La Land”
Do you agree with the consensus that “Game of Thrones” and “Veep” will win CAS Awards? Use the Gold Derby predictions center to log your CAS predictions and make your best guesses for other awards shows like the Oscars and Daytime Emmys. You can also predict reality shows and compare your picks and results with experts and other users from across the world.
