The Emmys are here, fall TV is heating up, and I've got plenty to talk about from what I've been watching to what's worth adding to your watchlist.
Welcome back to TV Corner Notes, my weekly roundup of all the big—and not-so-big—things happening in the world of television. This week, the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards take center stage as I make my final predictions before television's biggest night, plus I'm sharing three very different shows I've been watching lately. From a slow-burn Apple TV+ mystery to a comedy that has completely found its groove and one of my favorite rom-coms saying goodbye, there's plenty to talk about.
My Final Predictions for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards
The time has finally come: the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards are tonight, which means it’s time to make a few predictions before television’s biggest night gets underway.
Emmy night is easily my favorite awards night of the year—yes, even more than the Oscars. There’s something about the Primetime Emmys that makes the fall television season feel officially underway, especially as new and returning shows begin rolling out. And with Mariska Hargitay hosting this year, the night already feels like it could be one to remember. She has always been a fantastic presenter, and honestly, it’s time to let her host Saturday Night Live.
This year’s races feel especially interesting, with The Pitt and Pluribus dominating the drama conversation, Hacks looking to repeat its comedy win, and several newcomers hoping to pull off an upset. As always, Emmy night rarely goes exactly according to plan, but that’s part of the fun.
In drama, I’m picking The Pitt to take home Outstanding Drama Series. It has been one of the season’s biggest contenders, and its mix of strong writing, emotional storytelling, and terrific performances gives it the edge. I also think The Pitt will have a strong night with Noah Wyle winning Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Shawn Hatosy taking Supporting Actor, and Valerie Chu winning for writing. Pluribus should still be a major player, though, with Rhea Seehorn as my pick for Lead Actress, Karolina Wydra for Supporting Actress, and Vince Gilligan for directing.
On the comedy side, Hacks remains incredibly difficult to beat. It has already established itself as one of television’s sharpest comedies, and I think Emmy voters could reward it again with Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actress for Jean Smart, Directing for Lucia Aniello, and Writing for Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky. That said, I’m expecting Widow’s Bay to make some noise, with Matthew Rhys winning Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Kate O’Flynn taking Supporting Actress. For Supporting Actor, I’m going with Harrison Ford for Shrinking, who continues to bring heart and humor to one of his best performances in years.
For the remaining categories, I’m predicting DTF St. Louis for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, Matthew Rhys for Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for The Beast in Me, and Sarah Snook for Lead Actress for All Her Fault. In Reality Competition, The Traitors feels like the smart pick, while The Late Show with Stephen Colbert gets my vote for Outstanding Variety Series. Of course, there will be surprises, unexpected wins, and at least a few moments that leave everyone asking, “How did they lose?!” We’ll find out soon enough. What are your Emmy predictions, and who do you think is taking home the biggest awards of the night?
You can catch the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards Monday, September 14, at 8/7c on NBC and Peacock.
What I Watched This Week
What I Watched This Week has a little bit of everything. Last Seen has already hooked me with its mysterious disappearance and one seriously good cliffhanger, while The Paper continues to prove it doesn't need to live in The Office's shadow. And then there's Colin from Accounts, which wrapped up with a finale that somehow made me laugh, get emotional, and not quite ready to say goodbye.
Last Seen Episodes 1 & 2: Apple TV+'s New Thriller Has Me Hooked
Apple TV+ has another thriller that has already pulled me in. Last Seen follows Ian Ridley (Patrick Brammall), a former detective and recovering alcoholic whose three-year-old daughter, Maggie, disappeared 11 years ago. When human remains are discovered in the woods, Ian's ex-wife Deb thinks they may finally have found Maggie. Of course, things aren't that simple—the remains aren't Maggie, and suddenly we're introduced to Sarah, a teenager living with her extremely secretive parents on an isolated farm. The more we learn about Sarah, the more it feels like her story is somehow connected to Maggie's disappearance.
And then Episode 2 ends with one heck of a cliffhanger. After sneaking away from home, Sarah winds up alone and scared and calls emergency services from a phone booth. Ian happens to answer, and when he asks her name, she says Sarah before adding, "Maybe it's Mags." Ian immediately recognizes his daughter's nickname and races to find her, only to discover the phone booth is empty. Yeah... I'm definitely going to need Episode 3.
So far, I'm really enjoying the slow-burn mystery. Patrick Brammall gives Ian plenty of emotional depth, and the mystery surrounding Sarah and her family has me asking all kinds of questions. The pacing is a little slow in spots, but there's enough here to keep me invested. Overall: 8.5/10. I'm hooked, and I need to know who Sarah really is and what happened to Maggie.
The Paper Season 2 Is Even Better—and It Doesn't Need to Be The Office
Sometimes a spinoff stops feeling like a spinoff and just becomes its own thing. That's exactly where The Paper is after Season 2. The Toledo Truth-Teller crew is back with bigger stories, more newsroom chaos, questionable journalism choices, and even some tornado chasing thrown in. And somehow, it might be even funnier this time around. What I like most is that the show has really found its own identity. Sure, it's still connected to The Office universe, but it doesn't need that connection to carry the series anymore. These characters can totally stand on their own.
Ned and Mare are still two of my favorite parts of the show, while Esmeralda, Ken, Nicole, and the rest of the newsroom bring plenty of the wonderfully ridiculous moments that make The Paper so much fun. Oscar Martinez also pops up again, which is always a fun reminder that we're still in The Office universe, but The Paper never feels like it's trying too hard to prove it. It might not be The Office—and that's exactly why it works. After Season 1, I thought this show had the potential to become something special. After Season 2, I'm convinced it already has.
Overall: 9.5/10. The Paper is funny, weird, heartfelt, and full of characters I genuinely want to spend more time with. If you haven't caught up yet, take this as your sign. You can stream Seasons 1 and 2 on Peacock. Have you watched Season 2? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!
Colin from Accounts Season 3: One of TV's Best Rom-Coms Gets the Ending It Deserves
Sometimes the most awkward meet-cute can become one of television's best love stories. That's exactly what happened with Colin from Accounts, which has gone from a disastrous car accident and an injured dog to one of my favorite comedy discoveries. The third and final season picks up three years after Gordon's disastrous proposal, with Ashley now a qualified GP and Gordon running a craft brewery. They've gone their separate ways and are seeing other people, but when Gordon unexpectedly ends up in Ashley's examination room, that wonderfully awkward chemistry comes rushing back. Episodes like "Monstera," "Druggy Druggy Sex Party," and "Matching Set" deliver plenty of the hilarious, uncomfortable chaos we've come to expect, while still giving Ashley and Gordon's relationship more emotional depth.
But it's the finale that really got me. After everything these two have been through, the show doesn't give them some huge, overly sentimental romantic gesture. Instead, they simply choose each other—and somehow, that makes the ending even more meaningful. Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer have been fantastic throughout the series, and their chemistry is a huge reason Colin from Accounts works so well. It's weird, crude, awkward, ridiculously funny, and surprisingly heartfelt, and I'm honestly a little sad to say goodbye. Overall: 9.5/10. If you haven't watched this one yet, consider this your sign to catch up. You can stream all three seasons of Colin from Accounts on Paramount+.
Have you seen the final season? Were you satisfied with Ashley and Gordon's ending? Let me know in the comments!
What to Watch This Week
What to Watch This Week is absolutely packed, and the fall TV season is officially kicking into high gear. The Emmys lead off Monday, but after that we've got new and returning favorites arriving practically every day, including Agatha Christie's Tommy & Tuppence, Neagley, Slow Horses, Monster, Stranger Things: Tales From '85, MobLand, and Outlander: Blood of My Blood. Throw in football, reality competitions, documentaries, movies, and plenty of Halloween programming, and your DVR is about to get very busy.
Monday, September 14
8/7c 78th Primetime Emmy Awards (NBC, hosted by Mariska Hargitay)
8/7c Monday Night Football Season 57 (ESPN)
9/8c Halloween Baking Championship Season 12 (Food Network)
9/8c Somebody Knows Something Season 1 finale (Freeform, two episodes)
Tuesday, September 15
The Creep Tapes Season 3 (AMC+ and Shudder, two-episode premiere)
Agatha Christie's Tommy & Tuppence (BritBox): In this contemporary adaptation, Tommy and Tuppence (played by Josh Dylan and Antonia Thomas) are a detective duo for the ages. They fall in love, fall out of it, and tumble back in, all while solving mysteries along the way; Imelda Staunton co-stars.
8/7c Dancing with the Stars Season 35 (ABC & Disney+, two-night premiere)
8/7c Kitchen Nightmares Season 3 finale (Fox, two episodes)
8/7c A Very Haunted Renovation (HGTV): Six designers live inside a haunted mansion while completing a top-to-bottom transformation, all in pursuit of a $50,000 dollar cash prize, while design expert Michel Smith Boyd will mentor and evaluate each unnerving overhaul alongside guest judges including Hannah Beachler, Jack Osbourne, Billy Porter, Cassandra Peterson, Eli Roth, and LuLu Wilson; Anna Camp hosts.
10/9c Password Season 3 finale (NBC)
10/9c R.J. Decker Season 2 (ABC)
Jo Koy: Blue in the Face (Netflix comedy special)
Vanessa Gonzalez: Mamona (Hulu comedy special)
Wednesday, September 16
Golden Axe (Paramount+, 10-episode binge): Legendary warriors Ax Battler, Tyris Flare, and Gillus Thunderhead (voiced by Liam McIntyre, Lisa Gilroy, and Matthew Rhys) as they reunite to save Yuria from the evil giant Death Adder, who just won't seem to stay dead.
Neagley (Prime Video, eight-episode binge): In this Reacher spin-off, when private investigator Frances Neagley (Maria Sten) learns that a friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident, she becomes hell-bent on justice.
Reacher Season 4 finale (Prime Video)
Route 187 (Paramount+, four-episode binge): Along South Winslow's violence-plagued Route 87, a relentless print journalist investigates a deadly bus ride and uncovers a serial killer who has been operating undetected for years; Christopher Livingston, Taiv Lee and Elijah Collins star.
Slow Horses Season 6 (Apple TV)
8/7c The Great American Road Rally (The CW): Ian Ziering takes audiences on a journey across Route 66, combining adventure, competition, entertainment, community celebration, and philanthropy.
8/7c MasterChef Season 16 finale (Fox)
8/7c The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 7 (Bravo)
9/8c Nation's Dumbest Season 1 finale (Fox)
9:15/8:15c Next Gen NYC Season 3 Reunion, Part 1 of 2 (Bravo)
10/9c Ages of Ice (PBS): Narrated by David Tennant, the three-week docuseries event follows scientists into Earth's frozen frontiers to investigate the dramatic changes transforming the planet's polar regions/
10/9c DWTS After Party (ABC special)
10/9c South Park Season 29 (Comedy Central; new episodes air biweekly)
Thursday, September 17
The Howard Stern Show (HBO Max): Stern brings his long-running SiriusXM program to HBO Max with weekly video editions of his Monday show.
Monster Season 4 aka The Lizzie Borden Story (Netflix, eight-episode binge)
Stranger Things: Tales From 85' Season 2 (Netflix, eight-episode binge)
8/7c The Traitors: New Blood (NBC): Every day, Americans compete in missions to build a prize fund worth up to $250,000 while rooting out the Traitors hidden among them; Alan Cumming hosts.
8:15/7:15c Thursday Night Football Season 20 (Prime Video)
10/9c The Voice 30th Season Celebration (NBC Special)
Friday, September 18
MobLand Season 2 (Paramount+)
7/6c Friday Night Baseball Season 5 finale (Apple TV, two games)
8/7c The Greatest @Home Videos: CEDY Awards (CBS): Donnie Wahlberg, Jerry O'Connell, Kevin Frazier, Nischelle Turner, and Phil Keoghan join this year's celebration.
8/7c JAY-Z in 8 (HBO, two-episode premiere): The four-week docuseries event features a candid conversation between JAY-Z and Rick Rubin as the rap star breaks down his writing process and traces how his words reflect his childhood, the experiences that shaped him, and the evolving world he navigated as his career grew.
8/7c Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 (Starz)
9/8c Scariest Houses in America Season 3 (HGTV)
10:30/9:30c iHeartRadio Music Festival Day 1 of 2 (Disney+ and Hulu)
Best of the Best (Netflix movie): Childhood best friends (played by Maitreyio Ramakrishnan, Priyanka Kedia) join UCLA's competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team, only to discover that the road to winning the U.S. Championship is far more raucous and cutthroat than they ever imagined; Hasan Minhaj, Lilly Singh, and Janina Gavankar co-star.
Now You See Me: Now You Don't (Prime Video)
Saturday, September 19
10:30/9:30c iHeartRadio Music Festival Day 2 of 2 (Hulu, and Disney+)
8/7c Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage (Hallmark Channel Movie): Lori Loughlin returns as Jennifer Shannon, whose true-crime book club becomes the center of a real-life murder mystery when a member is killed during the group reenactment of the Lizzie Borden case.
8/7c Sole Survivor of Flight 119 (Lifetime movie): After a routine flight takes a harrowing turn, Lisa Foster (Sarah Wayne Callies) survives a devastating plane crash deep in the Mexican jungle; Joy Cryant co-stars.
And that's another week in the TV Corner! Between the Emmys, new premieres, returning favorites, and a few shows that are already earning a spot on my must-watch list, there's certainly no shortage of television to keep us busy.
What are you watching this week, and who are you rooting for at the Emmys? Grab the remote, check the DVR, and I'll see you next time right here at the TV Corner!
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