As Always, This Year's Emmy Nominations Were A Thrilling Mixture Of Exciting And Stupid
It's that time of year again: the day when TV fans wake up, check social media or their news outlet of choice, and make a sound that's somewhere between "Oooh!" and "Hmmm." Yep, the nominations for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards went live yesterday morning and while the choices made by voters from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will no doubt polarize just about everyone (as usual), this year also includes an impressive crop of performers, artists, and crew members who are just where they deserve to be on the Emmys ballot.
This year's pack of nominations is headed up by the final season of HBO's riveting rich people dramedy "Succession," which earned an incredible 27 nominations. The network's big-budget adaptation of "The Last Of Us" and the vacation-set satire "The White Lotus" also earned roughly two dozen nominations a piece, while Apple TV+ sports comedy "Ted Lasso" followed close behind. All of these shows are in the running for their respective program categories, as are favorites like "Yellowjackets," "Better Call Saul," "The Bear," and "Barry." As usual, though, plenty of the best races will take place further down the ballot — which is also where some of the most egregious snubs happened.
Here are some of the highs and lows of this year's batch of nominees:
Deserving frontrunners dominate the ballot
While the Emmy nominations aren't perfect this year, it's one of the only years in recent memory in which heaps of genuinely great shows have been recognized. Remember when the Emmys tried to get us to care about "Ray Donovan" or "The Kominsky Method," or when a Best Drama Series slot went to some show called "Bodyguard" that we've already forgotten? This year's nominees may not be to everyone's taste, but there are very few shows included that will make your aunt who only watched "Law & Order" start hypothesizing that these productions might be money laundering fronts. In the few spots where there are weaker entries, some of them, like Netflix's "Wednesday" (a hit-or-miss show with a great lead performance and great production design), are still major hits.
The 75th annual Emmys will feature some great name recognition, and with so many talent-stuffed categories, it's clear they'll also reward some phenomenal shows. Two major categories, Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama Series, are made up entirely of the sprawling casts of "Succession" and "The White Lotus." These frontrunner shows are both fantastic, as are other shows that pop up repeatedly on the ballot, like "The Bear," "Barry," "Abbott Elementary," "Beef" (though it's worth noting the controversy around that one), "Better Call Saul," and "The Last of Us." The latter series earned an astounding 24 nominations, including a boatload of deeply deserved nods in the guest acting categories for performers like Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett, and Storm Reid.
Unfortunately, award-voting bodies never seem to be able to fully tap into the zeitgeist or reflect the tastes of fans and critics, but in some ways, this year's nominations seem closer than usual to actually rewarding the best of the best.
The limited series categories are kind of wonky, again
If the previous paragraph could end with an asterisk, it would be for this caveat: the Best Limited Series categories are totally bizarre. This happened last year as well — mediocre shows ended up nominated while incredible ones were overlooked. This time around, the Best Limited Series lineup includes great shows like "Beef" and "Fleishman is in Trouble," but it also includes controversy magnet "Dahmer," the not particularly well-embraced "Star Wars" show "Obi-Wan Kenobi," and "Daisy Jones and the Six," a show that some people who are not me liked despite its parade of bad wigs and an awful twist ending.
Whether you're a "Daisy Jones" fan or not, it's clear that some major frontrunners ended up missing from this category. "Black Bird," the incredible true crime series written by "Mystic River" scribe Dennis Lehane, has been picking up trophies and nominations left and right, yet it was shut out of the Best Limited Series category despite earning nods for leads Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser, and a supporting nod for the late Ray Liotta. Another star-studded series, "George & Tammy," similarly garnered lead actor nominations for Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon. My personal pick to replace one of the current nominees would've been "Tiny Beautiful Things," the powerful Hulu series based on the life of Cheryl Strayed.
Other buzzed-about shows like World War II-era historical spotlight "A Small Light" and Elizabeth Olsen-led crime drama "Love & Death" only earned one nomination each, while "The Patient," a challenging show featuring a powerful performance by Steve Carrell, got none at all.
Jury Duty just keeps breaking the mold
Freevee's "Jury Duty" may feel like an underdog series thanks to its endearing cast and word-of-mouth success, but by now it's clearly a big hit. Last month, a source told Vulture that the mockumentary-improv-reality show hybrid is one of the biggest hits in Amazon history, despite costing only a fraction of some of the streamer's pricier programs. It's impossible not to have a conversation without talking about "Jury Duty" these days, because the premise — a relentlessly nice dude ends up surrounded by actors in the middle of a "Truman Show" style experiment set during jury duty — boggles the mind, as does the show's perfect execution and loveable cast.
All of this hype paid off, as "Jury Duty" landed four nominations today, for supporting actor James Marsden, casting agent Susie Farris, writer Mekki Leeper, and Best Comedy Series. That last nod, in particular, is pretty remarkable given that the show is, in essence, a reality series that's largely improvised by its performers — and in the case of protagonist Ron Gladden, totally unscripted. The fact that "Jury Duty" is funny and beloved enough to transcend the boundaries of its format and end up recognized alongside shows like "Barry" and "Abbott Elementary" is pretty remarkable. It's also just great that Marsden got a nod after losing out on that part in "Lone Pine," you know?
The technical categories feature some glaring omissions
When I was a teen approaching the Emmys as an enthusiastic newcomer, I always had faith that even if my favorite shows weren't represented in the main categories, they'd almost certainly appear in the main behind-the-camera categories — especially Best Cinematography, Best Directing, and Best Writing. Despite the Emmys' most glaring problems, the voting body seems committed to recognizing the true greats who work behind the scenes to bring us some of the most indelible episodes of the year. Except, sometimes, somehow, they still get it wrong.
That seems to be the case this year with a few bizarre snubs involving the people whose work ties an entire series together. Despite recognizing the hairstyling, makeup, music, writing, directing, and acting for the heart-wrenching "The Last Of Us" episode "Long, Long Time," the Emmys left out cinematographer Eben Bolter, who captured the many seasons of the story with delicacy and emotional impact. "Better Call Saul" also suffered a similar fate, as its stunning finale earned nods for editing, sound mixing, and writing, yet no recognition for Peter Gould's direction or Marshall Adams' cinematography, which brought the gorgeous, bittersweet conclusion home.
In a head-scratcher of a case, "Poker Face" is also mysteriously missing from the writing, directing, and cinematography categories. Plus, "Abbott Elementary," one of the most well-rounded and consistently excellent comedies on TV, didn't nab a writing nomination, despite winning in the category last year.
It's tough to tell exactly what went wrong with these categories when so many others went right, but this will go down in history as a year when a surplus of great writing and filmmaking remained unrecognized by Emmy voters.
Worthwhile hidden gems get some love
It's easy to point to egregious Emmy snubs as a reason for throwing the whole award show system away, but this year's lineup features a few bright spots in the form of underrated shows getting their flowers despite perhaps never finding a massive audience. "Blindspotting," the Starz offshoot of the 2018 movie of the same name, is a stylish, passionate, homegrown show that I can never convince anyone to watch, but voters apparently did, as they rightfully rewarded it with a choreography nomination for a soulful musical number called "San Quentin Blues."
Similarly, the Kathryn Hahn-led comedic drama "Tiny Beautiful Things" is one of the most exquisite and powerful shows on TV. While it deserved program and writing nods too, it's great to see it get recognized for both Hahn and Merritt Wever, who do some of the best work of their respective careers on the show. The same goes for "Poker Face," the Peacock detective series that earned a few technical nods and acting nominations for Natasha Lyonne and Judith Light, but deserved approximately 500 percent more recognition than it got.
Other TV underdogs that managed to make a splash in the crowded streaming landscape include Guillermo del Toro's "Cabinet of Curiosities," HBO's "Perry Mason," Starz's "P-Valley," and Genndy Tartakovsky's "Primal." Sure, a few shows could end up sweeping the major categories, but some of the shows that are the most worth paying attention to will face off largely in the technical categories.
Key awards darlings are winding down
Just as People's Sexiest Man Alive consistently awards a guy approximately 3 years after everyone stopped talking about him, the Emmys can sometimes have a sort of zeitgeist hangover that leads to prizes handed out to shows that are past their prime. That seems to be the case this year, as the polarizing final season of "Ted Lasso" still managed to nab a whopping 21 Emmy nominations, and "The Crown," whose latest season lost its edge in an unignorable way, ended up with six including a Best Drama Series nod.
The opposite can be true as well. Another acclaimed series, "Atlanta," was nearly shut out entirely for its final stretch of episodes, which were perhaps the most creative of the show's whole run. The six-time Emmy-winning series was relegated to just a single award category this year, for cinematography. While the final two seasons had their problems, it's bizarre to see a show that's been heralded as a decade-defining masterpiece fall out of vogue during its last award season.
It's also worth noting that next year's Emmys will look a whole lot different, as in addition to the shows mentioned above, acclaimed favorites like "Barry," "Succession," "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," and "Better Call Saul" will all be out of the running for good come 2024.
Egregious snubs stand out
The acting categories in particular this year included a significant number of snubs. Harrison Ford's turn in "Shrinking" is among the best parts of the Apple TV+ comedy (the other best part is Jessica Williams, who thankfully did get a nom), yet he was iced out for both that show and his "Yellowstone" spinoff "1923." Another veteran actor, Steve Martin, also couldn't secure a spot in the Best Lead Actor in a Comedy category. While I'm not particularly partial to the practice of giving actors Emmys that clearly double as lifetime achievement awards, I do think both of these comedy roles merit recognition.
As noted, the "Atlanta" cast, including Brian Tyree Henry and Zazie Beetz, didn't break through this year, nor did nearly every excellent guest star on Rian Johnson's "Poker Face." The case-of-the-week series seemed like it should've been an Emmy nomination smorgasbord, yet tremendous actors like Nick Nolte, Ellen Barkin, and Stephanie Hsu are nowhere to be found on this year's ballot. Also conspicuously absent? The entire cast of "House of the Dragon," HBO's "Game of Thrones" heir apparent. The show's incest, time-jump, and bloody-birth-filled first season wasn't exactly user-friendly, but leads Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, and Olivia Cooke did an excellent job making dense fantasy material engrossing and emotional.
Some firsts and fun facts
The Emmys are always a mixed bag, but each year also brings a few great, groundbreaking nominations. This year (per Collider), Pedro Pascal became the first Latino actor to be recognized in the Lead Actor in a Drama category this side of the 21st century (Jimmy Smits was nominated in 1999), while Jenna Ortega is only the third Latina actress recognized in a lead acting category ever.
Although it'll hopefully change soon, "Better Call Saul" remains the most Emmy-nominated show ever with no wins under its belt, now with a whopping 53 to date. "Succession" is the first drama to ever have 3 lead actors go head to head (per The Wrap), while 10-year-old Keivonn Montreal Woodard, who played Sam on "The Last Of Us," is the youngest guest actor Emmy nominee ever, and the second-youngest Emmy nominee overall (per Entertainment Weekly).
Audiences will see what other records might be broken when the Emmys air on Fox. They're currently slated for a September 18, 2023 telecast date, but that's subject to change depending on the status of the ongoing fights for fair treatment and compensation in Hollywood.