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Watch out, Darren Criss (‘Versace’)! The Emmy front-runner could be upset by Benedict Cumberbatch (‘Patrick Melrose’)

Darren Criss has been the Emmy front-runner for Best Movie/Mini Actor since we opened our predictions center in March. He has a showy starring role as real-life serial killer Andrew Cunanan in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” the second installment of Ryan Murphy‘s “American Crime Story” franchise. But later in the spring a challenger emerged who might be Criss’s biggest threat: Benedict Cumberbatch (“Patrick Melrose“).

As we approach the announcement of the Emmy nominations on July 12 Criss has leading odds of 10/3 based on the combined predictions of thousands of Gold Derby users. Among those users are 19 Expert journalists from top media outlets, 12 of whom agree with the consensus that Criss will win: Debra Birnbaum (Variety), Debbie Day (Rotten Tomatoes), Lynn Elber (Associated Press), Chris Harnick (E!), Matthew Jacobs (Huffington Post), Tom O’Neil(Gold Derby), Lynette Rice (Entertainment Weekly), Robert Rorke (New York Post), Matt Roush (TV Guide Magazine), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and Ken Tucker (Yahoo).

Criss has no previous Emmy nominations for acting (he picked up a songwriting bid in 2015 for “Glee”), but that didn’t stop Riz Ahmed (“The Night Of”) from taking down a couple of Oscar winners in this category last year. And the last season of “American Crime Story,” “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” won this award just two years ago for its star Courtney B. Vance.

Based on our combined odds, Criss’s closest competition is Al Pacino(“Paterno”), who ranks second with 9/2 odds. But the Experts think the real dark horse is Cumberbatch for playing the title character in Showtime’s literary adaptation “Patrick Melrose.” It’s a meaty showcase for Cumberbatch, who gets to play a former child abuse victim struggling with addiction, and five Experts say it will be the ticket to an Emmy win: Eric Deggans (NPR), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Pete Hammond (Deadline Hollywood), Anne Thompson (IndieWire) and Ben Travers (IndieWire).

Cumberbatch is already an Emmy darling, with five nominations in this category over the last six years. One of those was for the miniseries “Parade’s End” (2013), and the other four were for playing the title role in “Sherlock” (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017). He won in 2014 for the episode “His Last Vow.”

In fact, if Cumberbatch earns a nom this year as we expect him to, he’ll tie the legendary Laurence Olivier as the second most nominated actor in this category’s history with six bids (Hal Holbrook is the all-time leader with seven). And if he wins he’ll be the 10th to claim this award more than once, joining other esteemed thespians including Anthony Hopkins, Peter Falk, and his possible 2018 rival Pacino.

So who do you think is really out front? Will Criss slay the competition, or will Cumberbatch get his fix?

Watch out, Darren Criss (‘Versace’)! The Emmy front-runner could be upset by Benedict Cumberbatch (‘Patrick Melrose’)

The 7 Current TV Shows That Best Express the Deadly Sins

Every TV show is a story about something going wrong. Since TV shows are invented by writers, and since writers are known for loving idea, it’s hardly surprising that the best usually have some unstated central theme in mind. It may be as simple as “Show life in the West Wing” or a complicated as “What’s identity?” Not that these ideas are planted from the beginning. But eventually a show finds a theme, or it finds its way out of relevance.

Each of the TV shows below are extended meditations on a particular human frailty. The Seven Deadly Sins seemed a fitting categorization. When it comes to lessons on virtue, you could do worse than the shows below. And that’s the point.

Envy
TV Show: American Crime Story

The version of American Crime Story I’m referring to is this spring’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace, which deals with the 1997 slaying of the designer (Edgar Ramirez) by spree murderer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss). But to split apples and call the halves equal, we could be speaking of any edition of Ryan Murphy’s new anthology series.

The travails of The People v. O. J. Simpson were as much about envy, and its hold on the mind of the accused, as Versace is. In the first series, the longing was submerged below the mask of fame. Here jealousy is palpable, floating like an oil slick on a bowl of ocean water. The story of one man’s madness is straightforward in a way that’s new for Murphy. That doesn’t make it any less compelling. When a teacher asks little Andrew his wish, “just one wish, what would it be?” “To be special,” Cunanan replies, and everything erupts from that moment of compressed desire, and all the coveting that comes with it.

The 7 Current TV Shows That Best Express the Deadly Sins

Best Drama Series – Feinberg Forecast: Final Emmy Nomination Projections

Best Limited Series

PROJECTED NOMINEES

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (FX)
Godless (Netflix)
The Looming Tower (Hulu)
Patrick Melrose (Showtime)
Genius (National Geographic)

Best Actor in a Limited Series or a Television Movie

PROJECTED NOMINEES

Darren Criss (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)
Al Pacino (Paterno)
Benedict Cumberbatch (Patrick Melrose) — podcast
Jeff Daniels (The Looming Tower) — podcast
Antonio Banderas (Genius: Picasso)
John Legend (Jesus Christ Superstar)

Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Television Movie

PROJECTED NOMINEES

Jeff Daniels (Godless) — podcast
Edgar Ramirez (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)
Brandon Victor Dixon (Jesus Christ Superstar)
Tahar Rahim (The Looming Tower)
Peter Sarsgaard (The Looming Tower)
Ricky Martin (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)

Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie

PROJECTED NOMINEES

Merritt Wever (Godless)
Penelope Cruz (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)
Judith Light (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)
Nicole Kidman (Top of the Lake: China Girl) — podcast
Sharon Stone (Mosaic)
Ellen Burstyn (The Tale)

Best Drama Series – Feinberg Forecast: Final Emmy Nomination Projections

The 24 best TV shows of 2018 so far

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

The second installment of American Crime Story after 2016’s The People vs. O. J. Simpson was less immediately arresting. But its depiction of ’90s America is just as impressive, tracing the circuitous route of serial killer Andrew Cunanan backward from his most famous victim through a gay scene struggling not to be forced back in the closet. Darren Criss’s work as Cunanan is masterful.

How to watch it: American Crime Story is available for digital purchase, or on FX’s streaming platforms. It will eventually be on Netflix.

The 24 best TV shows of 2018 so far

Channelling good entertainment

2. THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY (SoHo)

The latest American Crime Story adaptation is a misnomer, as it follows (mostly in reverse chronological order) the life of Versace’s murderer, Andrew Cunanan. But as played in a tour de force and award-worthy performance by Darren Criss, Cunanan’s and Versace’s (Edgar Ramirez) interwoven stories  are riveting and revealing, a study of the lives and struggles of gay men in the 1990s. At times difficult to watch, the portrait of the spree killer is gilded and fascinating, gorgeous and off-putting from beginning to end.

Channelling good entertainment

The Best TV Shows of 2018 (So Far)

3. THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY

The first season of American Crime Story set an impossibly high bar for later editions of Ryan Murphy’s latest anthology series. While The Assassination of Gianni Versace seemed like the perfect follow up to The People v. O.J. Simpson, the former never quite lived up the hype of the latter. That is essentially a shame—and perhaps its misleading title is to blame. While the 1997 murder of the Italian fashion designer does kick off the season, it’s hardly its focus; instead, serial killer Andrew Cunanan is the leading player as the show follows him on his three-month murder spree across the United States. Darren Criss delivers a phenomenally unhinged performance as Cunanan, bringing humanity to the sociopathic character who left behind little explanation of his motives. —Tyler Coates

The Best TV Shows of 2018 (So Far)

Ryan Murphy: “I Was Told I Was Too Weird, Too Faggy, Too Unusual” for Hollywood

Prolific producer and director Ryan Murphy was recognized at last week’s VH1 Trailblazer Honors for highlighting queer stories in projects like The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, The Normal Heart, and his latest hit, Pose.

Now his full acceptance speech has been released online, and watch as Murphy tells the audience about his years as an out gay man in Hollywood where he was told he was “too weird, too faggy, too unusual.”

“My mannerisms and voice were mocked by executives in notes meetings,” he adds.

When he was about to give up on his dream of making it in the entertainment industry, Murphy got a call from another television pioneer, someone he calls one of the original trailblazers: Norman Lear.

The All in the Family and One Day at a Time creator told Murphy not to give up. “I see you. Keep going,” he told him.

Watch as the Glee creator talks about being inspired by older women, creating the Half Initiative, and how the upcoming episode of Pose directed by Janet Mock is “perhaps the best hour of television in my career that I have been associated with.”

Ryan Murphy: “I Was Told I Was Too Weird, Too Faggy, Too Unusual” for Hollywood