Welcoming the start of the new season for our favorite shows, the Primetime Emmy Awards air tonight at 7 (eastern, or 4 if pacific). Picking winners is actually harder than it looks (since a coin only has two sides), so here’s our predictions and later on tonight we’ll tell you just how badly we are at predicting things- by highlighting the winners. Don’t forget that we live-blog the event on Twitter (Follow us!), so check up on that too.
Our predictions: * *
RED BOLD: winners
LIST OF NOMINATIONS:
COMEDY SERIES
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
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Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Girls (HBO)
Modern Family (ABC) * *
Veep (HBO)
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30 Rock (NBC)
LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
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Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day in New Girl
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer in Veep
Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath in Girls
Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton in Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon in 30 Rock * *
Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn in Mike & Molly
Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation
LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock
Don Cheadle as Marty Kaan in House of Lies
Jon Cryer as Alan Harper in Two and a Half Men
Larry David as Himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm
Louis C.K. as Louie in Louie
Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory * *
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler in The Big Bang Theory
Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey in Desperate Housewives
Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy in Modern Family
Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in Modern Family * *
Merritt Wever as Zoey Barkow in Nurse Jackie
Kristen Wiig as various characters in Saturday Night Live
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy in Modern Family
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett in Modern Family
Max Greenfield as Schmidt in New Girl
Bill Hader as various characters in Saturday Night Live
Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett in Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker in Modern Family * *
DIRECTING IN A COMEDY SERIES
Lena Dunham for “She Did” in Girls
Jake Kasdan for “Pilot” in New Girl
Louie C.K. for “Duckling” in Louie
Steven Levitan for “Baby on Board” in Modern Family * *
Robert B. Weide for “Palestinian Chicken” in Curb Your Enthusiasm
Jason Winer for “Virgin Territory” in Modern Family
WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
Lena Dunham for “Pilot” in Girls
Louis C.K. for “Pregnant” in Louie
Chris McKenna for “Remedial Chaos Theory” in Community
Amy Poehler for “The Debate” in Community * *
Michael Schur for “Win, Lose or Draw” in Community
DRAMA SERIES
Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Breaking Bad (AMC) * *
Downton Abbey (PBS)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Homeland (Showtime)
Mad Men (AMC)
LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Glenn Close as Patty Hewes in Damages
Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley in Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick in The Good Wife
Kathy Bates as Harriet Korn in Harry’s Law
Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland
Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson in Mad Men * *
LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston as Walter White in Breaking Bad * *
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan in Dexter
Hugh Bonneville as Robert, Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey
Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody in Homeland
Jon Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Anna Gunn as Skyler White in Breaking Bad
Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey
Joanne Froggatt as Anna in Downton Abbey
Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma in The Good Wife
Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart in The Good Wife * *
Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway Harris in Mad Men
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad
Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring in Breaking Bad
Brendan Coyle as John Bates in Downton Abbey
Jim Carter as Mr. Carson in Downton Abbey
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones * *
Jared Harris as Lane Pryce in Mad Men
MINISERIES OR TV MOVIE
American Horror Story (FX) * *
Game Change (HBO)
Hatfields & McCoys (History)
Hemingway & Gellhorn (HBO)
Luther (BBC America)
Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia (PBS)
LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Connie Britton as Vivien Harmon in American Horror Story
Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in Game Change * *
Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn in Hemingway & Gellhorn
Ashley Judd as Rebecca Winstone in Missing
Emma Thompson as She in The Song of Lunch
LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt in Game Change * *
Kevin Costner as ‘Devil’ Anse Hatfield in Hatfields & McCoys
Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy in Hatfields & McCoys”
Clive Owen as Ernest Hemingway in Hemingway & Gellhorn
Idris Elba as John Luther in Luther
Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Frances Conroy as Moira in American Horror Story
Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon in American Horror Story
Sarah Paulson as Nicolle Wallace Game Change
Mare Winningham as Sally McCoy in Hatfields & McCoys * *
Judy Davis as Jill Tankard in Page Eight
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Denis O’Hare as Larry Harvey in American Horror Story
Ed Harris as John McCain in Game Change
Tom Berenger as Jim Vance in Hatfields & McCoys * *
David Strathairn as John Dos Passos in Hemingway & Gellhorn
Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson in Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia
VARIETY SERIES
The Colbert Report (Comedy Central) 
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central) * *
Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
The Amazing Race (CBS) * *
Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
Project Runway (Lifetime)
So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Voice (NBC)
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