When the Television Academy decided to change the rules this year, one television show above the rest seemed to be most affected: “Orange is the New Black.” By restricting genre submissions to time constraints, the hour-long (at least) episodes of Jenji Kohan’s Netflix series have been forced into the drama category.
Even without last year’s winner (“Breaking Bad”) and one of 2014’s new
nominees (“True Detective”), the race for best drama isn’t an easy one
to break into. But “Orange is the New Black” succeeded in doing so, which is no small feat. So did newbie “Better Call Saul,” though it basically replaces the series (“Breaking Bad”) it spun off.
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Beyond those two, the nominations were all about the old guard, with “House of Cards,” “Downton Abbey,” “Game of Thrones” and “Mad Men” all returning for the third, fourth, fifth and eighth times in a row, respectively, and “Homeland” is back for a third time after sitting last year’s race out. That meant Golden Globe-winning Showtime drama “The Affair,” Fox’s ratings-record obliterating “Empire,” and critical darlings “The Americans,” “Bloodline” and “The Knick” were all left out — all quite unfortunate given the weak seasons some of those perennial nominees had.
One thing that won’t repeat, though, is the winner. “Breaking Bad” won this category the last two years, leaving it up for new hands this time around. Will “Mad Men” get a swan song trophy? It’s won four times in this category, but not since 2011. Or will “House of Cards” or “Game of Thrones” finally get a win? Or maybe “Orange is the New Black” will pull of a shocker amidst its category confusion?
Below
are predictions for Outstanding Drama Series from both Indiewire Awards
Editor Peter Knegt and TV Critic Ben Travers. Check back as
they might very well change ’em up between now and September, and stay up-to-date on all the races with our predictions in all the categories here.
The nominees:
“Better Call Saul”
“Downton Abbey”
“Game of Thrones”
“Homeland”
“House of Cards”
“Mad Men”
“Orange is the New Black”
Ben’s predictions:
Will win: “Mad Men”
Could win: “Game of Thrones”
Should win: “Mad Men”
Shoulda been here: “The Leftovers”
Peter’s predictions:
Will win: “Mad Men”
Could win: “Game of Thrones”
Should win: “Mad Men”
Shoulda been here: “The Americans”
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