predictions (50 posts)

NBC Photo: Nicole Rivelli

The Incumbent: 30 Rock

The Contenders:

• 30 Rock
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Entourage
• The Office
• Two and a Half Men

Who Should Win: 30 Rock should win. One of the most outrageously funny shows ever produced, it's staffed by pros who have trained for years in the art of making us laugh, and yet it maintains a genuine, uncynical sincerity.

Who Will Win: With a stunning total 17 nominations, 30 Rock is clearly the comedic golden child of this year's festivities, not to mention the reigning champ of this category. A loss would come as a stunning upset, but should the series be toppled from its perch atop the comedy heap, that's OK, because it's still the smartest comedy on TV, and the absence of a new Emmy for the 30 Rock trophy case will do nothing to disprove that fact.

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ABC / Mario Perez

Kristin's Emmy Predix: Best Drama

The Incumbent: The Sopranos

The Contenders:

• Boston Legal
• Damages
• Dexter
• House
• Lost
• Mad Men

Who Should Win: Sorry, Mad Men and Dexter. I love you. I really do. But I am in love with Lost. It, quite simply, has my heart. It can set that heart racing or make it stop beating, and well, three cheers for emotional manipulation. There is simply no other dramatic cast or TV series storyline in which I am more invested. Lost is quite simply the most interesting, obsession-worthy, affecting, intriguing, weird, fascinating, astonishing, epic and downright cool show on TV. The flash-forward reset was proof of the storytelling genius behind the series, and season four was thrilling from the first minute to the very last.

Who Will Win: With The Sopranos behemoth out of the way, it could be anybody's game. Dexter and Mad Men have limited audiences, despite their sterling quality. House is the most popular scripted series on television, and the excellent two-part season finale ("Wilson's Heart" and "House's Head") might push that series to the top, but I'm of the mind that international superstar Lost simply matters more to more people. True, it has not been nominated in this category since it won for season one, but I believe Lost still has plenty of fans among those who can submit Emmy ballots. For one thing, over the past few years, I've been to almost every "An Evening with..." series showcase that the Academy has hosted for members and TV industry insiders, and no other show has even remotely approached the sheer size and evident passion of Lost panel's audience during season three.

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Sonja Flemming/Showtime

The Incumbent: America Ferrera, Ugly Betty

The Contenders:

• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
• America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
• Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Who Should Win: Parker, who was also nominated last year for playing Nancy Botwin on Weeds, can and will make you laugh. Mary-Louise is also outrageously hot, not to mention one of the extraordinary screen actresses of our time. Her character on Weeds is one of the most difficult, fascinating and complete characters written for women in modern times. This should belong to Mary-Louise, no ifs ands or buts.

Who Will Win: All of these ladies are fantastic and funny, but I can't help but think that Mary-Louise brings a certain gravitas that the others do not possess. The novelty has worn off of Ugly Betty, Fey is as much a personality as an actress per se, and Christine and Samantha don't have a lot of critical traction. Advantage: Parker.

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NBC Photo: Nicole Rivelli

The Incumbent: Ricky Gervais, Extras

The Contenders:

• Tony Shalhoub, Monk
• Steve Carell, The Office
• Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies
• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

Who Should Win: Baldwin should win. Alec's alpha-male extraordinaire Jack Donaghy is brilliant and biting, and with the possible exception of Jack McBrayer, he's easily the most gifted comedic actor on 30 Rock, which is itself one of the funniest shows of all time. He was nominated last year and lost to Gervais for Extras, but hopefully the Academy will recognize the oversight this time around and set things right.

Who Will Win: Baldwin, for all of the reasons above. Shalhoub is in a close second, since his show is uncomplicated and has aired long enough that a statistically significant number of Emmy voters are likely to be familiar with it, but the unstoppable buzz of 30 Rock and the undeniable charms of Jack Donaughy (even Jennifer Aniston wants a piece of him!) should push Baldwin to victory.

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ABC/RON TOM

The Incumbent: Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters

The Contenders:

• Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
• Glenn Close, Damages
• Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
• Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Who Should Win: Field's Nora Walker on Brothers & Sisters is angry, loving, frustrated and fun. She shakes her tiny ineffectual fists at injustice, unkindness and foolishness. Nora would happily carve out one of her organs if it would help one of the Walker kids, and Sally does a brilliant job balancing the intensity of Nora's love with light-hearted kindness, silly anxiety and all the other paradoxical states that combine to form her general awesomeness.

Who Will Win: Hands down the toughest category of the year, these ladies have a total of 30 nominations on their records, not to mention plenty of Oscar recognition. Sally won last year, which should give her a slight edge, but it could be anybody's game.

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ABC/VIVIAN ZINK

The Incumbent: James Spader, Boston Legal

The Contenders:

• James Spader, Boston Legal
• Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Michael C. Hall, Dexter
• Hugh Laurie, House
• Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Who Should Win: Hall should win for Dexter. Not only has he turned in an exquisite, fascinating and textured performance as Dexter Morgan (the main character of one of the most thrilling, fascinating series to air in a long time), but he's been due since season one. This is Hall's first nomination for Dex; he was nominated for his work as David Fisher in Six Feet Under back in 2002.

Who Will Win: Spader has been nominated for this part three times before—once while Alan Shore was still a character on The Practice, and twice for Boston Legal. He won all three times he was nominated, and there is absolutely no reason to believe his streak won't continue. Mad Men's Hamm, who won the Golden Globe this year for Best Actor, can be considered the most likely dark horse.

Read Watch With Kristin for More TV Scoop!

Comedy Central; Bravo; FOX; Disney Channel/ Bob D'Amico

The Emmys aren't all about dead presidents and basic-cable dramas you probably don't watch. They'll be handing out honors for everything from cartoons to commercials to whatever High School Musical is. This can make for some pretty epic matchups, too: South Park vs. Family Guy! Bud Light vs. Coca-Cola! And Hannah Montana vs. ...Classical Baby? Really?

Anyway, take our second Emmy prediction poll and let your voice be heard!

CBS; FOX; TNT; Monty Brinton/ Showtime

Yeah, HBO's John Adams dominated noms for the 60th Annual Primetime Emmys, with 23 of 'em. So that'll win. But which shows that you actually watch will clean up next Sunday? Can James Spader house Hugh Laurie? Is Steve Carell more of a man than Charlie Sheen? Will Tina Fey rock Mary-Louise Parker? Could these puns be worse?

Cast your vote in the only official, definite E! Online Readers Predictions poll! (And check back later this week for prediction's from our own Kristin Dos Santos.)

Warner Bros. Pictures

The Contenders:

• Atonement
• Juno
• Michael Clayton
• No Country for Old Men
• There Will Be Blood

Erik Pedersen of Cool Stuff says:  Michael Clayton

You totally expected us to say the odds-on favorite No Country for Old Men, didn't you? Or maybe the odds-on almost-as-favorite There Will Be Blood. But the little-seen Michael Clayton? That's crazy!

And we agree, which is why we'll be putting this George Clooney corporate conspiracy thriller longshot down on our interoffice Oscar ballots.

See, we don't stand to gain much if one of the favorites wins—besides, it's kind of boring when they do (see the acting categories). But what if the Coen brothers and P.T. Anderson split the hipster-auteur vote and cancel each other out?

The electric, exciting and smart Clayton, which doesn't have any love-it-or-hate-it moments like Old Men's controversial conclusion or Blood's milkshake moment, could just swoop in for a sweet Oscar upset. Now, that would be exciting.

Lionsgate

The Contenders:

• Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• Julie Christie, Away from Her
• Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
• Laura Linney, The Savages
• Ellen Page, Juno

The Awful Truth's Ted Casablanca says:  Julie Christie

Keep Reading

David Lee/Universal Studios

• Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
• Ruby Dee, American Gangster
• Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
• Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
• Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

The Answer B!tch Leslie Gornstein Says:  Ruby Dee, of course

E!

She's old. She's venerable. She has no Oscar to date. Cate already has one. Amy Ryan may have really huge chops (The Wire, anyone?), but she's new to the elite nominees club. The Academy probably sees her as too much of an upstart to get a statue just yet. Sure, Mira Sorvino was also a newcomer when she got her Oscar, but she was a fresh face, see, not an upstart. They had huge publicity machines behind them and sexy magazine covers that upped their glamour quotient to Academy-appropriate levels of legendariness. So anyway, Ruby Dee it is.