Emmy nominations analysis: A deep dive into what’s working and what’s not

If a TV exec had slipped into a coma 15 years ago and woke up on Tuesday to a list of Primetime Emmy nominations that had just been announced, that person would likely have a lot of questions about how much has changed. Now there are approx. 500 TV shows, but are some of the acting categories at least half full of artists from a show? now they are eight spots in the drama and comedy categories, but only one was filled by a broadcast network show? And one of the most nominated shows is a drama in a language other than English?

For that hypothetical TV exec, or anyone else, let’s break down how we got here and what it all means.

In 2017, the Television Academy stopped awarding nomination ballots based on a fixed number of seats per category, and instead began instructing members to nominate as many achievements in each category as they “see and feel.” As I wrote above, an unwanted by-product of this was “groupthink”. In short, the names still circulate on a small handful of “prestige shows” – popular networks/platforms with strong word of mouth and substantive campaigns – that everyone, or at least members, watch. If voters were still forced to choose a finite number of nominees, many would deliberately try to spread their votes across a large number of programs.

Drama was the biggest beneficiary of this year’s selection process. heritage (HBO), Comedy ted’s bow (Apple TV+) and limited series white lotus (HBO) – All great shows, of course, but worthy of acting nominations out of 14 (including seven out of 12 in Drama Guest Actor categories), 10 (including six out of 16 in Comedy Support Acting categories), or eight (including eight) out of 14 in the Limited Supporting Performance/Anthology/TV Movie categories, respectively? At a time when there is so much good television, I’m not so sure.

Another troubling issue is the nature of the TV Academy habit, to the point where voters wonder which season of the show they are voting for. No disrespect, but there really is no other explanation for the drama’s main cast names. jodie eat s SANDRA Oh for the last season killing eve (BBC America), which is 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, or Reese Witherspoon for the second season morning show (Apple TV+), which was registered at 67%.

The problem with thoughtful nominations of previously nominated popular artists is that it deprives others, usually lesser-known artists and/or lesser-known entertainment artists, of the nominations they truly deserve. For example, the three mentioned artists took, among others, Release (Apple TV+) View britt lauer, Mandy Moore for the last season It’s us (NBC) and Kelly Reilly for the fourth season yellow stone (Paramount Network).

insult voters yellow stoneOne of the highest-rated shows on television, Beyond Reilly; The show, which is one of the few loved by people on both coasts and “on the go” in the United States, was completely They closed it across the board, which is absurd. Its first three seasons collectively garnered a name, but it wasn’t until the lockdown that the industry and media took notice and fell in love with the western. Started getting tons of coverage; The Paramount Network aggressively promoted it; And its fourth season received big PGA and SAG nominations. But it seemed too much to demand a fair hearing from the members of the Television Academy. They’ve proven time and time again that if they don’t like a show at first, they’ll give up and move on unless those shows start streaming their leftovers on Netflix, as they did. breaking Bad s shit cove.

Speaking of streamers, their Emmy penetration is only growing. Thanks in large part to the Television Academy’s decision to consider HBO cable television and its HBO Max streaming service as a single entity, HBO/HBO Max led the field with 140 nominations. But every other platform with 30 or more nominations was a streamer who hadn’t even had a show on the air in a decade: Netflix (105, 14 more in its first season). squid gamewhich becomes the first non-English-language show to win a series title (the vast majority had previously only been featured at the International Emmys), Hulu (58, including a comedy series title) Only murders in the building.Nominations for two of the show’s three leads and both comedy leads great, and three out of five anthology/limited series nominees), Apple TV+ (51, led by you ribbon20 and Release14 years old), Disney+ (34, with moon knight counting eight) and Amazon Prime (30, as usual, transferred Amazing Mrs. Maiselwho was 12).

The rise of streamers is not, coincidentally, overshadowing the network’s Emmy decline. in 2011, Each The nominated comedy series was launched from the network. The same thing happened with the 1998 drama series. Right now, voters seem to have only one network show to pay attention to at a time. It was a CBS drama for several years. good wifeSo the NBC drama It’s us Or an ABC comedy black in color; And now it’s ABC’s rookie comedy Abbott Elementary, the network’s only show nominated for best drama or best comedy this year. (Meanwhile, for its final seasons, It’s us s black in color both fell off the cliff – It’s usFor the season, which received a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it was nominated for original music and lyrics only, and black in colorfor which Anthony Anderson s Tracey Ellis Ross (He has been nominated consistently in previous years, with only costume and hairstyle nominations on record.)

One can find endless duel omissions (Sarah Goldberg to hbo Pub! sam elliott s Elizabeth May For Paramount+ 1883! maud apatow to hbo Euphoria! Sink Sadie for netflix Weird stuff! Selena Gomez for that Only murders in the building.!) and there is no shortage of stupid decisions on the part of the Television Academy (like the idiocy of dedicating slots to just two series of variety sketches, presumably from NBC). Saturday night live and hbo black lady drawing show — when, say, a five-point shot wouldn’t hurt anyone, and perhaps draw attention to some more decent shows).

But let’s finish by mentioning a few more good things. Rhea ZehornThe beating heart of AMC You better call Saul.After all, he was nominated for his work on this show. five of excellent interpreters squid game – Lee Jung Jae, Jung Ho Yeon, Park Hae Soo, Oh Young Soo s Lee yu-mi – They stood out. NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers finally broke the race review category, despite being reduced in size to just five slots (it would only be four until the late-night announcers revolted a few weeks ago). great Nathan LaneYour Guest in the Comedy Actor Nomination Only murders in the building.became the exclusive property of most of the guest cast (his actor and son on the show, james caverley, deserved to be gifted with it). and former president Barack Obama is nominated for an Emmy for Netflix Narrative Our great national parksAnd I’ll probably win (you may remember that the ex-president Donald Trump Amy didn’t want anything else Apprenticebut never received).