How ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Could Slay an Emmy Record Held by ‘Maisel’ and ‘West Wing’

variety.com:

Clayton Davis With two episodes left of the second season of Hulu’s mystery romp “Only Murders in the Building,” the series is an undeniable hit on the streaming platform.

Nominated for 17 Emmy Awards for its first season, this season’s final two episodes (titled “Sparring Partners” and “I Know Who Did It”) will be released while voting is underway by the TV Academy, a tactic that helped one of its competitors, “Ted Lasso” from Apple TV+, last year when it won for its inaugural season.Variety Awards Circuit has revealed the updated predictions for which shows and performers could triumph in September.

The John Hoffman and Steve Martin-created mystery is projected to walk away with nine statuettes. If accurate, “Only Murders in the Building” would break the record for most Emmy wins for a comedy series in its first season.

Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” currently holds this record when it won eight in 2018. The classic drama “The West Wing” (NBC) has the record for the most Emmys won for any series in its first season. Read more: Variety’s Awards Circuit Emmys Predictions Hub.What’s interesting about the nine-win projection, one of them is not for outstanding comedy series, which may be foolish based on how the TV Academy has voted “down-the-line” in the last few years, seen with “Schitt’s Creek” and “The Crown” sweeping their respective categories.This begs the question: Is the show just going to win comedy series?“Only Murders” is holding the top spot in guest actor comedy (Nathan Lane), guest actress comedy (Jane Lynch), directing comedy (Cherien Dabis for “The Boy From 6B”), casting, production design, contemporary costumes, main title design, music composition and single-camera picture editing.