‘Dead to Me’ Season 2 will resurrect comedy category at Emmys, predict these savvy Experts
For more than a decade, Best Comedy Series was one of the stalest categories at the Emmy Awards. “30 Rock” won thrice in a row (2007-09), followed by a record-tying five-year run for “Modern Family” (2010-14) and then a “Veep” three-peat (2015-17). Yawn! Thanks to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (2018) and “Fleabag” (2019), Best Comedy Series has gone through a sort of resurrection recently with fresh shows bringing new life to the category. That trend may continue this year with “Dead to Me,” according to Gold Derby’s Emmy Experts.
As of this writing, 12 out of 19 of our awards gurus have Netflix’s killer comedy in their rankings for Season 2, which will stream all episodes on Friday, May 8. Jen Chaney (Vulture) leads the charge by having “Dead to Me” in her #1 position to win Best Comedy Series. The others predicting a nomination are: Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Chris Harnick (E!), Kelly Lawler (USA Today), Robert Rorke (New York Post), Jazz Tangcay (Variety), Kaitlin Thomas (TVGuide.com), Anne Thompson (Indiewire), Ben Travers (Indiewire), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Matt Webb Mitovich (TVLine) and Susan Wloszczyna (Gold Derby).
The first season of “Dead to Me” earned just a single Emmy bid for Christina Applegate as Jen Harding, a real estate agent dealing with the aftermath of her husband’s hit-and-run death. This year, however, there’s a strong chance the show will explode in nominations as it’s grown in popularity and industry acclaim over the past 12 months. Applegate’s co-star Linda Cardellini may even join her in Best Comedy Actress for playing Judy Hale, a woman whose many dark secrets are revealed after originally meeting Jen in grief counseling.
In this era of Peak TV, it’s not unusual for a show to be skunked its first season and then come on strong in later years. The aforementioned “Fleabag” received zero nominations for its first season, but dominated the Emmys with 11 bids and six wins for its second season. “Schitt’s Creek” is another example of Emmy voters being late to the party. After five seasons on the air, it finally received recognition last year with four bids, a number it will undoubtedly eclipse this time around. Will “Dead to Me” follow the same trajectory?
The seven shows our Emmy Experts predict will earn Best Comedy Series Emmy noms are “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Schitt’s Creek,” “The Good Place,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Dead to Me,” “Run” and “The Kominsky Method.” Rounding out their Top 12 are “Ramy,” “Better Things,” “Modern Family,” “Space Force” and “Black-ish.” Do you agree or disagree with these savvy awards prognosticators?
Be sure to make your Emmy nominations predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before the nominees are announced on July 28. And join in the thrilling debate over the 2020 Emmy Awards taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our TV forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
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