Who Should Win at the 68th Emmys

Aziz Ansari (far left) in 'Master of None'

On July 14, the nominations for the 68th Primetime Emmys were announced. The Emmys recognizes the best of television from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016. There are 40 categories out of 113 that I wanted to talk about, which is a lot, but I'll try to be quick.

Game of Thrones ran away with the most nominations at 23. Its network HBO also had the most nods. The People V. O.J. Simpson is second in line with 22 nominations overall. Fargo has 18 and Veep has 17. Expect to hear those titles a lot come broadcast night, which is Sunday, September 18 on ABC with host Jimmy Kimmel.

Instead of starting with the major programs, I wanted to look at some of the smaller ones in some of the minor or more technical categories. Side note: The Emmys has a category called Outstanding Short Form, which exists to recognize things on the Internet like web series. This year, Honest Trailers got nominated. That web series is up against some other interesting online content, but it's my pick for what should win.

There are two documentary categories. The Outstanding Documentary slot is filled with titles about entertainers. Of the five, one was nominated for the Academy Award, or Oscar, and that title is What Happened, Miss Simone?. It's my pick for what should win. The Exceptional Merit in Documentary slot tackles incredible social issues. Of the six titles here, three were nominated for Oscars and of those three, my pick for what should win is The Hunting Ground.

For Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, only one of the songs here was nominated for the Oscar, and that was "Til It Happens to You," also from The Hunting Ground. That song lost at the Oscars. Lady Gaga and Diane Warren should win to make up for being robbed earlier this year.

For Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program, CNN and W. Kamau Bell should win for United Shades of America, which feels like the recent series by Morgan Spurlock but focusing on racial issues in a really clever way.

For Outstanding Nonfiction Series, Netflix should win for Making a Murderer, which hit the cultural zeitgeist immediately and strongly.

For Outstanding Directing Nonfiction, the directors should win for Making a Murderer, despite the Oscar nominees in the category.

For Outstanding Variety Special, HBO's broadcast of Beyonce's Lemonade should win and is the clear standout. It's not just fun like the other nominees but it's deeply personal and topical.

For Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, Beyonce and Khalil Joseph should win again for Lemonade.

For Outstanding Special Class, the FOX network did an amazing job with Grease: Live. Yes, it's up against this year's half-time show at Super Bowl 50, and pardon the mixing of metaphors but Grease: Live is such a home run.

For Outstanding Technical Direction, the winner here also should be Grease: Live.

For Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, because it's the only opportunity it has, the winner should be Tom Tykwer for Sense8.

For Outstanding Choreography, Kathryn Burns probably won't win for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but she's my pick just cause that show is so fun.

For Outstanding Narrator, there is a lot of stiff competition like Keith David and Laurence Fishburne, but Anthony Mendez was my pick last year and he's my pick this year for Jane the Virgin, again mostly because that show is so much fun.

For Outstanding Host, last year the winner was Jane Lynch whom I love and if she wins again, that would be fine, but Rupaul Charles for Rupaul's Drag Race should win and I hope he does.

For Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, both awards should go to Aziz Ansari for his behind-the-scenes work on "Parents," the most talked-about episode on his Netflix series Master of None.

For Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, Regina King won last year and even though she's great this year, this is the year of Sarah Paulson and her performance in American Horror Story: Freak Show as Siamese twins is notable on so many levels.

For Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, again this is the year of Sarah Paulson who's nominated in this category for playing Marcia Clark in a very iconic role, so she'll probably win here, even though she has very strong competition, especially from Lili Taylor, but my pick for who should win is Audra McDonald in HBO's adaptation of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, for which McDonald won the Tony Award.

For Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Sterling K. Brown should win for The People V. O.J. Simpson.

For Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Courtney B. Vance should win for The People V. O.J. Simpson.

For Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, John Singleton should win for The People V. O.J. Simpson but he's unfairly up against Ryan Murphy and Anthony Hemingway for the same show.

For Outstanding Limited Series, despite all the awards that will go to the show about O.J. Simpson's murder trial, the winner here should be American Crime whose second season was ages better than its first.

For Outstanding TV Movie, given the political year we've seen this year, the perfect display that fits is HBO's Confirmation.

For Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, also given the political year we've had, Kate McKinnon should win for Saturday Night Live, and her amazing impression of Hillary Clinton has been great.

For Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won last year, so she'll probably repeat, but I'd like Ellie Kemper for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

For Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, this is a crowded category with seven choices, but I fell for Tituss Burgess, also for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

For Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy, Thomas Middleditch for Silicon Valley should win.

For Outstanding Comedy Series, HBO's Veep took home gold last and probably will again this year, but that network's other option Silicon Valley is the one that should win instead.

For Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama, because he didn't win last year, which was his best year, I'd give it to Ben Mendelsohn for Bloodline.

For Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama, again because he didn't win last year, which was his best year, I'd give it to Kyle Chandler also for Bloodline.

Viola Davis (center) in 'How To Get Away With Murder'

For Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Darma, of the nominees, I didn't watch their respective shows.

For Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama, Viola Davis won last year and she should win again, twice in a row, for How To Get Away With Murder.

For Outstanding Drama Series, of all the nominees, I either didn't watch or didn't like this year's offerings. If I had to go with an upset, I'd say House of Cards should win the upset.

There were snubs for me, big and small. In the category for commercials, I really wanted to see "Onions," which was the ad for Apple's iPhone. Chicago Fire was snubbed in the field of Outstanding Stunt Coordination. In the comedy series list, Survivor's Remorse and The Grinder were criminally ignored. Here's hoping the Golden Globes picks up the slack. In the animated program or even voice-over category, BoJack Horseman was supremely overlooked.

So many great actors were also left in the dust. This includes Vera Farmiga in Bates Motel, John Stamos in Grandfathered, Ray Liotta in Shades of Blue, as well as the young cast of How To Get Away With Murder and American Crime, specifically Connor Jessup and Joey Pollari. The worst snub was the cast of Orange is the New Black but they had a phenomenal season this summer, so here's hoping it will be recognized at the 69th Emmys.