I'm truly curious as to what will happen in the game show category. Jeopardy had a rough 2021, although it does have highlights with Matt and Amy closing out the year and the ToC back in May. I do not think it's a lock at all this year. If I had to wager, I'd go with LMAD. Wayne and Co. have been consistently good navigating through the hybrid in-studio/at home stuff.
The thing is, most of the voters are probably voting based solely on whichever episode the production company submits (if that -- the
official rules state that there's simply a minimum percentage of time that each judge is required to watch an episode before submitting a score). So it all comes down to which single episode each production company chooses to put the show in the best light.
Jeopardy! almost certainly will choose either a Matt Amodio episode or an Amy Schneider episode -- what's interesting is that if they go with the former, then Mayim is the host; if they go with the latter, then Ken is the host. That might be telling.
The Price Is Right surely won't choose an episode from the first half of 2021 when there was no studio audience. I would not be surprised if they submitted an episode that drove home the fact that it's the show's 50th season.
Family Feud doesn't really do theme episodes, so they'll probably submit an episode with several big Steve reactions.
Let's Make a Deal has been doing special Monday and Friday episodes all this season -- do they submit one of those? Does
Wheel of Fortune submit the episode where they gave away a house?
That's what the competition will be between.
According to the rules, when the production company uploads the episode for consideration, they also have to designate which 30 seconds they want the Emmys to use if the show is featured in the telecast. Presumably that means the clips shown during "the nominees are" will reveal where each show's priorities lie.
(The official rules also spell out which specific job titles are eligible to be listed in the credits for the names of production company personnel that follow the name of the show. One of the approved job titles is "Zonk Producer(s)." So
Jeopardy!'s zonk producers can rest easy.)