Los Angeles (AFP)

No red carpet, no celebrities in gala outfits, no "Game of Thrones": the 72nd edition of the Emmy Awards, equivalent of the Oscars for American television, must take up on Sunday the bet of a 100% virtual show, a first in Hollywood since the start of the pandemic.

The coronavirus has been shaking up the entertainment industry for six months, all filming having been suspended in California with confinement.

And it is in front of an empty room that comedian Jimmy Kimmel will present the Emmy Awards on Sunday evening in Los Angeles, while the lucky winners will accept their prestigious award from the comfort of their living room or their bedroom.

To make the exercise even more perilous, the 130 or so candidates were this year invited to swap evening dresses and tuxedos for pajamas and to redouble inventiveness in their speeches.

"For years, audience scores have been at half mast for awards ceremonies. Now is the time to change the game, to have a ceremony unlike any other," said Libby Hill, television award specialist in the editorial staff of the IndieWire site.

“Even if Sunday night turns out to be a disaster, at least it will be an interesting disaster. And that's really all we can ask for in 2020,” she adds.

The "Watchmen" mini-series is the favorite with 26 nominations in its category, and its dark and chaotic universe wonderfully reflects the era of time.

Centered around the massacre of several hundred black inhabitants of the city of Tulsa (Oklahoma) in 1921 by white rioters, "Watchmen" indeed plunges into the heart of racist violence and police brutality, themes which are cruelly topical in United States since the end of May.

In addition, wearing a mask is a key element of the plot of this series, derived from the comics created in the 1980s by the British Alan Moore.

"I think people will quickly get tired of hearing the name of + Watchmen +", prognosis Libby Hill.

- "Last chance" -

With the discontinuation of the hit series "Game of Thrones", also produced by HBO, the competition is finally more open this year in the category of drama series.

"It is a chance for HBO to have + Succession + which comes at the right time", according to Pete Hammond, of the specialized site Deadline.

The dark comedy about the heartbreak of a powerful family to take control of a media empire won an Emmy Award for its first season last year.

It was featured 18 times this time around, tied with Netflix-produced "Ozark" series.

The video-on-demand giant, which was selected 160 times this year, is still waiting to land an Emmy Award in a major category.

In ambush, Sunday we will find "The Crown", dedicated to the British royal family, and "The Mandalorian", the first series from the universe of "Star Wars", which has already earned the new platform Disney + five Emmy Awards in technical categories awarded earlier in the week.

In the comedy category, the Amazon-produced series "La Fabuleuse Mme Maisel", featuring a flouted Jewish wife who embarked on stand-up in New York in the 1950s, was a favorite.

However, she might find the unexpected "Schitt's Creek" on her way.

A Canadian comedy about a family of the fallen privileged, the series went largely unnoticed for its first four seasons before becoming a hit when it aired on Netflix.

This sixth and final season is a "last chance" and that could give him an advantage in the competition, analyzes Pete Hammond.

Among the hundred nominations for actors and actresses, black artists represent more than a third of the contingent in 2020, a new record.

Cruelly topical in the United States, the fight against racism should feature prominently in the Emmys ceremony on Sunday, and we can count on Hollywood stars, often very militant, not to spare President Donald Trump, in the middle of the campaign for his re-election.

The Covid-19 pandemic will also be on everyone's mind.

© 2020 AFP