By Dalton DeStefano ’16, Arts and Entertainment Editor

I’ve been watching the Emmys for years, and as each year goes by I become more and more obsessed with award shows. I obsessively check predictions and binge watch my way through the nominated shows. Since we are in a great age of television, I was excited to see what the 2014 Emmys would bring, which aired on August 26^th. The 2013 Emmys were popularly coined the “#WeirdEmmys” due to the downright odd winners in categories that were supposed to be a shoe-in. For example, Jeff Daniels won Best Actor in a Drama for The Newsroom, a show that many people hadn’t even heard of, while beating out Bryan Cranston’s extremely critically acclaimed portrayal of Walter White on Breaking Bad. If last year was called the “#WeirdEmmys”, I would generalize this year as the “#PredictableEmmys”. While we did get to see a handful of upsets in some smaller categories, the major categories largely showed that the Emmy voters are growing lazier and lazier in their choices.

To begin with the few surprising results of the night, we turn our attention to the Mini-series/Movie categories. American Horror Story, which garnered 17 nominations, had just come off its polarizing season (American Horror Story: Coven), and was expected to largely flop at the award show. The extremely popular horror show was supposedly going to be overshadowed by two powerhouse contenders: Fargo and The Normal Heart. Kathy Bates’ role in American Horror Story was not even considered in the running to win the big prize, however, she took home the award for “Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie”, leaving the other nominees (two of which were Oscar winners like Bates) in the dust. Jessica Lange also took home an Emmy for her role in Coven, which was also extremely surprising. While many people felt the wins were undeserved, I was extremely happy–having been a fan of American Horror Story for a long time–that the all-star female cast was finally getting the recognition it deserved.

Other than the completely unexpected winners in the Mini-series/Movie categories, the rest of the show was a predictable snoozefest. Breaking Bad took home three out of four major acting awards, with Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, and Aaron Paul all taking home trophies. The show won for “Best Drama Series” and “Best Writing for a Drama Series” as well. While all of Breaking Bad’s wins were well deserved, many people were praying for a strong actor to finally overshadow Bryan Cranston’s domination in this category (this is his fourth time winning out of the past seven years). That strong actor could’ve been Matthew McConaughey, who was rightfully lauded for his gritty role in the breakout show of the year, True Detective. While McConaughey was seemingly on his way to winning an Oscar and an Emmy in the same year, Bryan Cranston, the “safe” option for the Emmy voters ultimately upstaged McConaughey. In the comedy category, Modern Family dominated once again, despite not being relevant since 2011. The show has won the “Best Comedy” award for the five consecutive years it’s been on air, and as a viewer it’s getting to be quite tiring. The Emmy voters apparently chose to ignore newcomer Orange is the New Black and the hilariously refreshing Veep in favor for the safe option, cementing this ceremony as one of the most predictable in recent history.

Ultimately, the Emmys need to undergo a change if they want to stay relevant to the average American viewer. The show already teeters on being dry and dragged out, and adding a slate of extremely predictable winners makes the Emmys even more painful to watch. It’s time that the Academy begins to recognize more up-and-coming actors, instead of simply giving a second, third, fourth or fifth trophy to people who have already won. Out of the twelve main acting categories, 10 of the 12 winners were people who already have Emmy awards back at home, and seven out of those ten won an award for playing the same role that they had previously won for. Overall this constant repetition is allowing actors to keep racking up Emmys while shutting out the newcomers. Hopefully a change will come soon so that we can experience a little more spontaneity while watching next year’s award show.