The Primetime Emmy award nominees have been announced and the Drama category has seen plenty of familiar faces from shows such as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Mad Men.

When I made my Emmy nominee prediction for Drama, I chose those who had the most likely chance of being nominated, and for the most part, my guesses were correct. I am pleasantly surprised to see the names on the list that I did not foresee, and it is clear the competition is stiff among those who have been selected.

First, outstanding lead actress sees us with Robin Wright, Michelle Dockery, Claire Danes, Julianna Marguilies, and Kerry Washington returning, with nominee Lizzy Caplan for Masters of Sex coming in for the first time. Most of my predictions for who would be on the nominee list came true, and I am pleasantly surprised to see some talented faces in the list as well.

For lead actor, I called everyone except for Jeff Daniels in The Newsroom. As an actor, Daniels has been exceptionally cast and it’s no doubt he is in a fair fight along with the other nominees for this category. With Jon Hamm, Kevin Spacey, Bryan Cranston, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the running as well, it will be hard to figure just who will come out on top.

In the best supporting actress category, Game of Thrones star Lena Heady joined the competition among Anna Gunn, Joanne Froggatt, Maggie Smith, Christina Hendricks, and Christine Baranski. All of the nominees for the shows have had big storylines, so it will be neat to see just how the awards play out among such remarkable actresses.

The supporting actor category saw Aaron Paul, Peter Dinklage, Jon Voight, and Josh Charles, all of whom I thought would be key actors for this category. Mandy Patinkin (Homeland) and Jim Carter (Downtown Abbey) also joined the ranks, so this will be a fight to the finish.

All of the nominated outstanding series came from broadcast shows and none of the network shows. As I have viewed plenty of drama shows on the networks that would deserve to see an Emmy award, I hope in the next few years, we see nominations from more networks, as there are plenty of Emmy worthy shows on television right now.

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