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Emmy Awards 2020: Date, Nominations, Predictions And How To Watch

Television's biggest night is just around the corner, but this year, it will definitely look a little different.

The Primetime Emmy Awards, which celebrate excellence in television throughout the past year, are soldiering on in 2020 despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, which shut down large swathes of the globe in March. As countries begin to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the initial spread of this devastating novel coronavirus, much of the United States — including Los Angeles, the city in which the Emmys ceremony is normally held — is still largely under lockdown. Despite all of that, the Television Academy has figured out a way to make the Emmys happen after all.

Here's everything you need to know about the 2020 Emmys — from when it will air to who will host this year's proceedings to what the show will look like during the age of COVID-19, where large indoor gatherings are all but impossible. If you're a television fan, it's definitely exciting that the Emmys have found a way to keep the festivities going in 2020, so we've also got to scoop on how to (remotely) join them for TV's most important evening.

When are the 2020 Emmys, and how can you watch them?

The Emmys typically air in mid to late September, and despite how different this year has been, the 2020 Emmys are sticking to this particular tradition. The Emmys will air on ABC on Sunday, September 20 at 8 PM EST (5 PM on the West Coast), and the ceremony is set to last three hours. ABC's own late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has been tapped to host the ceremony for a third time, after his well-received hosting stints in 2012 and 2016. Kimmel returns after a hostless 2019 ceremony — an experiment that provided middling results — and will hold the ceremony solo in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, with nominees and presenters streaming in over live feeds.

As usual, the Primetime Emmys will be the final night after five nights of the Creative Arts Emmys, which gives out awards in a wide variety of categories from scripted shows to reality television, and which will be hosted by Nailed It! fixture Nicole Byer.

If you have any sort of local streaming access or even a cable subscription, you can simply watch the Emmys through your local ABC affiliate, or you can catch the highlights online the next morning after the winners have been announced. There's also a ton of pre- and post-Emmys coverage, including after-party on E! as well as a postmortem on IMDbLive on Monday, September 21 at 2 PM EST, which will air on IMDb.com, Twitter, and Twitch.

And the nominees are ...

On July 28, 2020, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the full line-up of nominees for the upcoming Emmys ceremony. Netflix dominated the pack with a staggering 160 nominations across various programs — from the British royal family drama The Crown to the grippy crime-centric series Ozark to Stranger Things, Big Mouth, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend, GLOW, and Orange Is the New Black. HBO also cleaned up nicely, specifically with its graphic-novel-based seriesWatchmen, which pulled in an astounding 26 nominations. 

Find the complete list of 2020 Emmy nominees below.

Drama Series

Better Call Saul

The Crown

The Handmaid's Tale

Killing Eve

The Mandalorian

Ozark

Stranger Things

Succession

Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman, Ozark

Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us

Steve Carell, The Morning Show

Brian Cox, Succession

Billy Porter, Pose

Jeremy Strong, Succession

Actress in a Drama Series

Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show

Olivia Colman, The Crown

Jodie Comer, Killing Eve

Laura Linney, Ozark

Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Zendaya, Euphoria

Comedy Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Dead to Me

The Good Place

Insecure

The Kominsky Method

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Schitt's Creek

What We Do in the Shadows

Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson, black-ish

Don Cheadle, Black Monday

Ted Danson, The Good Place

Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method

Eugene Levy, Schitt's Creek

Ramy Youssef, Ramy

Actress in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate, Dead to Me

Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me

Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek

Issa Rae, Insecure

Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish

Limited Series

Little Fires Everywhere

Mrs. America

Unbelievable

Unorthodox

Watchmen

Television Movie

American Son

Bad Education

Dolly Parton's Heartstrings: These Old Bones

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend

Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Jeremy Irons, Watchmen

Hugh Jackman, Bad Education

Paul Mescal, Normal People

Jeremy Pope, Hollywood

Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True

Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America

Shira Haas, Unorthodox

Regina King, Watchmen

Octavia Spencer, Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of C.J. Walker

Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere

Variety Sketch Series

A Black Lady Sketch Show

Drunk History

Saturday Night Live

Variety Talk Series

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Jimmy Kimmel Live

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul

Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid's Tale

Billy Crudup, The Morning Show

Mark Duplass, The Morning Show

Nicholas Braun, Succession

Kieran Culkin, Succession

Matthew MacFadyen, Succession

Jeffrey Wright, Westworld

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Laura Dern, Big Little Lies

Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies

Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown

Samira Wiley, The Handmaid's Tale

Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve

Julia Garner, Ozark

Sarah Snook, Succession

Thandie Newton, Westworld

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

William Jackson Harper, The Good Place

Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method

Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Mahershala Ali, Ramy

Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live

Dan Levy, Schitt's Creek

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Betty Gilpin, GLOW

D'Arcy Carden, The Good Place

Yvonne Orji, Insecure

Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live

Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live

Annie Murphy, Schitt's Creek

Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Dylan McDermott, Hollywood

Jim Parsons, Hollywood

Titus Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen

Jovan Adepo, Watchmen

Louis Gossett Jr., Watchmen

Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Holland Taylor, Hollywood

Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America

Margo Martindale, Mrs. America

Tracey Ullman, Mrs. America

Toni Collette, Unbelievable

Jean Smart, Watchmen

Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Andrew Scott, Black Mirror

Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian

Martin Short, The Morning Show

Jason Bateman, The Outsider

James Cromwell, Succession

Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us

Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid's Tale

Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away with Murder

Laverne Cox, Orange Is the New Black

Harriet Walter, Succession

Cherry Jones, The Handmaid's Tale

Phylicia Rashad, This Is Us

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Dev Patel, Modern Love

Adam Driver, Saturday Night Live

Eddie Murphy, Saturday Night Live

Brad Pitt, Saturday Night Live

Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Angela Bassett, A Black Lady Sketch Show

Maya Rudolph, The Good Place

Wanda Sykes, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Bette Midler, The Politician

Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Saturday Night Live

Animated Series

Big Mouth

Bob's Burgers

BoJack Horseman

Rick and Morty

The Simpsons

Reality/Competition Series

The Masked Singer

Nailed It!

RuPaul's Drag Race

Top Chef

The Voice

Structured Reality Series

Antiques Roadshow

Love Is Blind

Queer Eye

Shark Tank

A Very Brady Renovation

Unstructured Reality Series

Amy Schumer Learns to Cook: Lunch Break and Pasta Night

Cheer

Kevin Hart: Don't F**k This Up

RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked

We're Here

Who will win big at the 2020 Emmy Awards?

As for who will take home the night's biggest prizes at the Emmy Awards, that's still anybody's guess. After the Emmy nominations were announced, fans and critics took to the Internet to discuss some of this year's pleasant surprises and shocking snubs.

As far as the surprises go, fans of popular feel-good comedies The Good Place and Schitt's Creek — both of which aired phenomenal final seasons in 2020 — made their way into Outstanding Comedy Series, along with FX's buzzy vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows, earning its first-ever nomination in the category for its second season. Disney+'s flagship Star Wars series The Mandalorian managed to crack Outstanding Drama Series after just one short season, while HBO hits like Watchmen and Succession helped the premium cable network earn a whopping 107 nominations.

Meanwhile, Better Call Saul fans were stunned when the beloved FX series managed to score a nod for Outstanding Drama Series but no nominations for its star performers Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn. Though pretty much everybody from The Good Place was nominated for their performances, star Kristen Bell was left out of the running for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Fellow multi-talented bubbly blonde Reese Witherspoon, who had three chances for a nomination — between Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere, and The Morning Show — came up empty-handed.

If you can't wait to see who takes home the gold on Emmy night, you don't have to wait long. The 2020 Emmy Awards will air on ABC on Sunday, September 20 at 8 PM EST.