ABC Upfronts

After a cautious year following the pandemic shut down of 2020, ABC is mixing things up with their fall schedule.  The week gets off to an unfamiliar start, as long-time stalwart Dancing With The Stars is being shunted off to Disney+.  Instead, Monday nights will start with the former summer staple Bachelor In Paradise followed by The Good Doctor.  Tuesday night brings another installment of Bachelor In Paradise followed by The Rookie: Feds, a spinoff of The Rookie starring Niecy Nash.

Wednesday’s comedy block switches things around a bit, with The Conners starting things off, followed by The GoldbergsAbbott Elementary, and Home Economics.  Big Sky moves over from Thursday to finish off the night.  Thursdays start the same, with Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy followed by Alaska,  starring Hilary Swank as a disgraced journalist who leaves New York for Alaska.  Friday remains the same, with Shark Tank followed by two hours of 20/20.  Sunday stays mostly all reality, with America’s Funniest Home Videos, Celebrity Jeopardy!, and Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, followed by The Rookie.

On the bench for mid-season are Not Dead Yet, a comedy starring Gina Rodriguez, and the returning The Wonder Years, A Million Little Things, American Idol, The Bachelor, and Judge Steve Harvey.

Shows never to be seen again are Black-ish, Queens, and Promised Land.

2016 Emmy Awards – Comedy

Emmy_statueWith the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here are my predictions for the awards for Comedy shows.  I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.

Outstanding Comedy

Black-ish

Master of None

Modern Family

Silicon Valley

Transparent

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Veep

Veep won last year and would seem to be a good choice to repeat, so I’ll go with that.

Outstanding Actress In A Comedy

Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Laurie Metcalf, Getting On

Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish

Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer

Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won this award the past three years, and I see no reason why she won’t repeat again this year.

Outstanding Actor In A Comedy

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish

Aziz Ansari, Master of None

Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth

William H. Macy, Shameless

Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley

Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Jeffrey Tambor brought home the award last year for his gender-bending role on Amazon’s hit series.  My guess is that Aziz Ansari rides the same wave of good feelings to take home the trophy for his Netflix series.

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2015 Emmy Awards – Comedy

Emmy_statueWith the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here are my predictions for the awards for Comedy shows.  I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.

Outstanding Comedy

Louie

Modern Family

Parks and Recreation

Silicon Valley

Transparent

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Veep

Modern Family won last year and would seem to be the obvious choice here, since the voters love it.  But Veep is certainly my dark horse candidate, so I’ll go with that.

Outstanding Actress In A Comedy

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie

Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer

Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won this award the past two years, and I see no reason why she won’t repeat again this year.

Outstanding Actor In A Comedy

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish

Don Cheadle, House of Lies

Louis CK, Louie

Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

William H. Macy, Shameless

Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Jim Parsons brought home the award last year for his role as Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, but managed to not be nominated this year.  My guess is that Jeffrey Tambor takes home the trophy for Amazon’s hit series.

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