Who Will Be The Best Drama ... Next Year?

By Brian Frosti on September 1, 2014

Image via ukzambians.co.uk

Another Emmy Awards has come and gone, and as usual, no one had any idea what was going to happen. The Emmy’s are the most difficult award show to predict in part because, beyond a few favorites the academy selects, the criteria tends to shift each year.

This year “Breaking Bad” won big in its final season, to the surprise of no one, and comedy veterans like “Modern Family,” “Veep” and “The Big Bang Theory” continued to rack up awards. But beyond that, the winners caught everyone by surprise.

“Sherlock,” the much-loved mini-series which had never won an Emmy in three seasons, and wasn’t nominated at all last year, came away with seven total wins including best lead actor, best supporting actor and best writing in the miniseries/TV movie category.

On the flipside, the favorite in that category, “The Normal Heart,” failed to receive any acting wins despite six nominations and contenders such as Mark Ruffalo and Julia Roberts. Even Matt Bomer, who was seen as a heavy favorite going in, lost out to “Sherlock.”

The only stable–read: expected–category was drama. The miniseries and TV movies were a complete surprise, beyond “Fargo” and “The Normal Heart” winning the top awards, and comedy is a jumbled mess with the academy struggling to decide if “Orange is the New Black” really is a comedy or not, but drama was solid all around.

Other than “True Detective” nabbing the directing award, everything played out as most analysts expected. That will not be the case next year.

2014 was the final chance for the academy to look at “Breaking Bad,” which stabilized the category this year, and “Mad Men,” who didn’t come away with any awards but has been highly praised throughout its run and has been named best drama series four times.

You have to go back to 2007 to find an Outstanding Drama Series winner that wasn’t either “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men,” or “Homeland.” But now with the first two gone and “Homeland’s” stock with the Academy in free-fall the drama category is wide open. No one has any inkling who will be taking the reins, though there are many worthy successors.

One potential candidate to jump ahead of the pack is “Game of Thrones.” The HBO series has already seen some recognition, primarily for Peter Dinklage’s performance as Tyrion Lannister, and could be ready to break through and nab some major awards.

Each season has raised the bar over the previous one and it’s conceivable that the show could dominate the category for the foreseeable future, as show-runners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have stated they plan to take the show through seven (or even eight) seasons.

So “Game of Thrones” could very easily take the next three or four Outstanding Drama Series awards, along with a few more wins for the likes of Peter Dinklage (assuming Tyrion doesn’t die of course).

The only thing holding “Thrones” back from taking a “Breaking Bad”-esque hold on the dramas is the lack of any leading actor/actress contenders. But that won’t stop it from vying heavily for every other award.

Another option to take the lead is “True Detective.” The freshman drama exploded onto the scene this past year and astounded audiences everywhere.

Next season will be an adventure as the anthology series will be starting from scratch, leaving many less than optimistic that the show can retain season 1’s heights, but anything is possible. Whatever your opinion of the show’s future, “True Detective” will be one to keep an eye on.

Image via http://www.tigrignamovies.com

Perhaps the strongest contender outside of “Game of Thrones” is Netflix’s “House of Cards.” It has no major wins to speak of, outside of a Golden Globe for Robin Wright, but this may be just the opening the show needs. It isn’t as controversial or sensational as “Game of Thrones” so it may be a safer pick to become the Academy’s new golden boy.

Those are the top candidates, but they’re far from the only ones. “Homeland” could potentially make a resurgence and fall back into the Academy’s good graces. That seems unlikely but it is possible.

The other show that might make the leap to dominance is NBC’s “The Blacklist.”  James Spader (“Boston Legal”) has already proven he’s one of the Academy’s favorites and “The Blacklist” was the biggest hit of the new shows this year. That may or may not amount to wins, but “The Blacklist” is a dark horse candidate going forwards if it keeps up its current pace.

Which of these shows do you think deserves recognition? Are there any others you think will take advantage of the category’s openings?

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