Emmys 2020 predictions: Who should win the top acting awards

It’s that time of year again, when the television industry celebrates its best and brightest with the 2020 Emmy Awards.
This year’s ceremony host Jimmy Kimmel and crew will soldier on with a telecast conducted remotely.
But that doesn’t mean there won’t be the nail-biting envelope-opening (how will that work?) and the crowning of winners in many major categories.
Here are my picks for who will be (virtually) rewarded with a prime time Emmys statuette Sunday at 8 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. PST on ABC.

Best Drama

Nominees:

• “Better Call Saul”
• “The Crown”
• “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• “Killing Eve”
• “The Mandalorian”
• “Ozark”
• “Succession”
• “Stranger Things”

Predicted Winner: “Ozark”

I feared it ran out of steam after two seasons, but Season 3 was riveting: gripping, edge-of-your-seat drama with a twisty season finale that took the series in a completely different direction.

Best Comedy

Nominees:

• “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
• “Dead to Me”
• “The Good Place”
• “Insecure”
• “The Kominsky Method”
• “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
• “Schitt’s Creek”
• “What We Do in the Shadows”

Predicted Winner: “Schitt’s Creek”

“What We Do in the Shadows” should win here — I’ve been a fan of darling in its final season and will walk away with a statuette.

Outstanding Limited Series

Nominees:

• “Little Fires Everywhere”
• “Mrs. America”
• “Unbelievable”
• “Unorthodox”
• “Watchmen”

Predicted Winner: “Watchmen”

It’s a shoo-in: The alt-history, several Creative Arts Emmys (the ones you don’t see on TV).

Best Actor, Drama

Nominees:

• Brian Cox, “Succession”
• Jeremy Strong, “Succession”
• Jason Bateman, “Ozark”
• Billy Porter, “Pose”
• Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”
• Steve Carell, “The Morning Show”

Predicted Winner: Jason Bateman

This is a race between Brian Cox and Bateman. I’m going with the latter for his steady work as unflappable, devious, win-at-all-costs Marty Byrde.

Best Actress, Drama

Nominees:

• Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”
• Jennifer Aniston, “The Morning Show”
• Laura Linney, “Ozark”
• Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”
• Olivia Colman, “The Crown”
• Zendaya, “Euphoria”

Predicted Winner: Jennifer Aniston

Yeah, yeah, I know, she’s this year’s out-of-the-box pick — but Aniston can win her first Emmy in a surprisingly weak field vis-à-vis originality (that’s you, Olivia, Jodie and Sandra).

Best Actor, Comedy

Nominees:

• Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”
• Don Cheadle, “Black Monday”
• Ted Danson, “The Good Place”
• Michael Douglas, “The Kominsky Method”
• Eugene Levy, “Schitt’s Creek”
• Ramy Youssef, “Ramy”

Predicted Winner: Eugene Levy

I’m going to jump on the “Schitt’s Creek” bandwagon and go with this true pro, who was terrific through the entire run of the series. He deserves to be recognized for his years of solid (and very funny) work.

Best Actress, Comedy

Nominees:

• Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish”
• Christina Applegate, “Dead to Me”
• Linda Cardellini, “Dead to Me”
• Issa Rae, “Insecure”
• Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
• Catherine O’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek”

Predicted Winner: Issa Rae

She’s struck a chord among younger viewers by wrapping her perspectives on friendship, dating and life in general into one funny, poignant package.

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy

Nominees:

• Mahershala Ali, “Ramy”
• Alan Arkin, “The Kominsky Method”
• Andre Braugher, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
• Sterling K. Brown, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
• William Jackson Harper, “The Good Place”
• Dan Levy, “Schitt’s Creek”
• Tony Shalhoub, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
• Kenan Thompson, “Saturday Night Live”

Predicted Winner: Dan Levy

He’ll ride the “Schitt’s Creek” popularity train to victory. That being said, he was very funny as savagely snarky David Rose, who was, by the series finale, humanized by his down-to-earth husband Patrick (Noah Reid).

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy

Nominees:

• Betty Gilpin, “GLOW”
• D’Arcy Carden, “The Good Place”
• Yvonne Orji, “Insecure”
• Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
• Marin Hinkle, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
• Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”
• Annie Murphy, “Schitt’s Creek”
• Cecily Strong, “Saturday Night Live”

Predicted Winner: Annie Murphy

Boop! Her dim-bulb, fish-out-of-water Alexis Rose transformed over the course of the series into, well, a brighter bulb with surprising depth — while keeping us laughing with her cartoonish turns of phrase and mannerisms.

Best Supporting Actor, Drama

Nominees:

• Nicholas Braun, “Succession”
• Giancarlo Esposito, “Better Call Saul”
• Bradley Whitford, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Kieran Culkin, “Succession”
• Mark Duplass, “The Morning Show”
• Matthew Macfadyen, “Succession”
• Jeffrey Wright, “Westworld”

Predicted Winner: Giancarlo Esposito

This one’s a tough call, since nominees in the same category (Braun, Culkin and Macfadyen) traditionally cancel each other out. I’m going with Esposito who was, as always, terrific as Gus Fring — a man whose neutral demeanor, as we know all-too-well, masks an evil core. (Esposito is also one of the industry’s nice guys.)

Best Supporting Actress, Drama

Nominees:

• Laura Dern, “Big Little Lies”
• Meryl Streep, “Big Little Lies”
• Helena Bonham Carter, “The Crown”
• Fiona Shaw, “Killing Eve”
• Samira Wiley, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Julia Garner, “Ozark”
• Sarah Snook, “Succession”
• Thandie Newton, “Westworld”

Predicted Winner: Sarah Snook

It’s her first nomination — and it’s time this fine actress was recognized for her work as Siobhan “Shiv” Roy in “Succession,” which has everyone talking. I found Streep’s performance extremely grating (the bad prosthetic teeth didn’t help) and she’ll cancel out Dern in a series that did not need a second season. (Samira Wiley barely registered in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”)

Best Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie

Nominees:

• Jeremy Irons, “Watchmen”
• Hugh Jackman, “Bad Education”
• Paul Mescal, “Normal People”
• Mark Ruffalo, “I Know This Much Is True”
• Jeremy Pope, “Hollywood”

Predicted Winner: Mark Ruffalo

Playing identical twins is never easy, even with state of the art film technology — but Ruffalo made it look easy and etched two extremely different portraits of brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey in a compelling, bravura performance. This one’s a no-brainer.

Best Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie

Nominees:

• Cate Blanchett, “Mrs. America”
• Shira Haas, “Unorthodox”
• Regina King, “Watchmen”
• Kerry Washington, “Little Fires Everywhere”
• Octavia Spencer, “Self Made”

Predicted Winner: Regina King

Shira Haas will get some votes — “Unorthodox” was good, not great — but expect King to walk away with this one, for all the reasons I noted in picking the series to win for Outstanding Limited Series.

Best TV Movie

Nominees:

• “American Son”
• “Bad Education”
• “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: These Old Bones”
• “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie”
• “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend”

Predicted Winner: “American Son”

This category makes me feel like Bill Murray in those old “SNL” sketches where he picked Oscar winners: “No one cares.”  “El Camino” was overrated and unnecessary, while “American Son” (starring Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale) was socially conscious and timely — important to Academy voters.