10 Highlights of the 75th Emmy Nominations
Yesterday at 8:30 AM PDT/11:30 AM EDT, actress Yvette Nicole Brown (Community, A Black Lady Sketch Show) and Television Academy Chair Frank Scherma announced the nominations in the top categories for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards in a presentation that was streamed live.
As I mentioned in my article previewing and predicting this year’s Emmy nominations, the onslaught of acclaimed new series and the return of numerous high-profile series that were not eligible to contend for last year’s ceremony was bound to result in this year’s nominations announcement being full of surprises. And it certainly was.
Below I highlight some of the most notable trends and themes of this year’s Emmy nominations. Given the gigantic number of categories, I have certainly missed a few interesting tidbits and I opted not to list out all of the major nominations. (I recommend finding the nominations on the Emmys official website, where there are tons of different options to sort through them.)
The Emmy ceremony is currently slated to air on Fox on Monday, September 19. However, the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America and the imminent strike of the Screen Actors Guild will almost certainly result in the ceremony being postponed. Whenever it does get rescheduled for, I will be back take a deep dive into who will and should win and review the telecast. In the meantime, I will be frantically catching up on all the nominees I am behind on!
10 Highlights of the 75th Emmy Nominations
#1) The expected series dominated in the Drama, Comedy, and Limited Series categories. As I predicted, the drama categories were dominated by 3 HBO dramas — the brilliant final season of business dynasty drama Succession received a whopping 27 nominations, the 1st season of post-apocalyptic video game adaptation The Last Of Us was close behind with 24 nominations, and the 2nd season of the class satire/murder mystery The White Lotus received 23 nominations. (Interestingly, The White Lotus was required to switch from the Limited Series categories, which it dominated last year, to the drama Drama Series categories this year due to the fact that the 2nd season featured an ongoing narrative following Jennifer Coolidge’s character.) Those 3 series will face off in Outstanding Drama Series against the 1st season of Disney+ Star Wars prequel series Andor (8 nominations), the 1st season of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon (8 nominations), the 6th and final season of AMC’s Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul (7 nominations), the 5th and penultimate season of Netflix’s British monarchy drama The Crown (6 nominations), and the 2nd season of Showtime’s female-driven survivalist drama Yellowjackets (3 nominations).
Over in the Comedy categories, the 3rd season of AppleTV+’s soccer comedy Ted Lasso utterly dominated with a whopping 21 nominations, exceeding its impressive nomination totals for its 1st and 2nd seasons. I expected the show to perform well this year, but not quite this well given that the latest season’s reception among critics and audiences was decidedly more uneven than it was for the initial seasons. It is a testament to the good will the show has amassed and the strength of AppleTV+’s marketing muscle that it did so well. It will face off in Outstanding Comedy Series against the 5th and final season of Prime’s period dramedy set in the world of stand-up comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (14 nominations), the 1st season of the Chicago set dramedy The Bear (13 nominations), the 1st season of Netflix’s Tim Burton-crafted Addams Family spinoff Wednesday (12 nominations), the 2nd season of Hulu’s satirical murder mystery Only Murders in the Building (11 nominations), the 4th and final season of HBO’s comedy/drama/thriller hybrid Barry (11 nominations), the 2nd season of ABC’s beloved public school-set comedy Abbott Elementary (8 nominations), and the 1st season of Amazon Freevee’s innovative reality hoax sitcom Jury Duty (4 nominations).
Netflix dominated the Limited Series categories, with 13 nominations apiece for the black comedy Beef and the clumsily titled (and controversial) true crime series Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. They will face off in the Outstanding Limited Series category against Prime’s 1970s-set musical drama Daisy Jones & The Six (9 nominations), Fx’s divorce drama Fleishman Is in Trouble (7 nominations), and Disney+’s long-awaited, big-budget Obi-Wan Kenobi (which served as a bridge between Star Wars Episodes III and IV and received 5 nominations).
#2) HBO and Netflix dominate while the broadcast networks hold on by a thread. As has been the case for most of the last 2 decades, HBO dominated the nomination tally this year with a whopping 127 nominations. Admittedly, this is down a bit from 140 last year and it combines nominations for the cable network and its streaming service (recently rebranded Max), but no matter how you slice it it is a remarkably impressive tally. HBO was followed by a host of high-profile streamers. Netflix scored 103 nominations (almost identical to its tally of 105 last year), Hulu scored an impressive 64 nominations (up from 52 last year), AppleTV+ scored 54 (up from 52 last year), Prime scored 42 (up from 30 last year), and Disney+ scored 40 (up from 34 last year). The broadcast networks continue to limp along — ABC scored 28 while NBC scored 27, CBS scored 20, and Fox scored 11. Of the 21 nominations for Outstanding Comedy, Drama, and Limited or Anthology Series, only 1 went to a show on one of the 4 broadcast networks (ABC’s Abbott Elementary in Outstanding Comedy Series). New streamers Peacock and Paramount+ also continued to struggle at the Emmys, scoring a combined tally of only 15 nominations. However, Peacock did break into a major category for the first time with Natasha Lyonne’s nomination for her lead role in Poker Face.
#3) The Emmys continue to show a jaw-dropping amount of love to a few ensemble casts. In 2021, the Emmys gave an astounding 44 acting nominations to just 5 programs — Saturday Night Live (11), The Handmaid’s Tale (10), The Crown (9), Ted Lasso (7), and Hamilton (7). Last year, we saw a similar pattern with 3 dominant programs accounting for 32 acting nominations — seemingly everyone who appeared on screen in the eligible seasons of Succession (14), Ted Lasso (10), and The White Lotus (8) scored a nomination. This year continued that trend, with a whopping 41 acting nominations going to just 4 series — Succession (14), Ted Lasso (9), The White Lotus (9), and The Last of Us (9). If you add the 5 acting nominations apiece for Abbott Elementary, Beef, and The Bear, you have just 7 series accounting for over half of the more than 100 acting slots. My gripe is not that the ensembles of these shows are undeserving (for the most part they are!), but rather that as the number of eligible programs rapidly expands and the number of slots in each category corresponding increases, we are seeing a distressing trend of “box-ticking” in which voters appear to just vote for everyone associated with a show they particularly love. This has extended to winners as well, as evidenced by the recent unprecedented sweeps of all 7 major comedy and drama categories by Schitt’s Creek and The Crown, respectively. This is a trend that cannot stop soon enough. Let’s spread the love, voters!
#4) Several high-profile shows and platforms tumbled in the nomination count. In order to illustrate how impressive it is that Succession, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Barry, and Better Call Saul continued their strong Emmy nomination tallies right up until the end of their runs this year, let’s look at how other shows once beloved by the Emmys plummeted in the nomination count this year. For its 2nd season, Disney+’s The Mandalorian scored 24 nominations — Outstanding Drama Series, 3 for acting, 2 for writing, and 1 for directing. For its 3rd season this year, it received only 9 nominations, all in technical categories. (This is likely due to a perceived downturn in quality in the 3rd season and the acclaim for fellow Star Wars series Andor.) For its 4th season, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale scored 21 nominations including Outstanding Drama Series, 10(!) for acting, 1 for writing, and 1 for directing. For its 5th season, it scored only 1 nomination— for the show’s brilliant star Elisabeth Moss. (Even though the show continued to be a masterpiece in its 5th season, I suspect that its drop is attributable to its most recent season airing over a year ago, the long gap the show has had between seasons, and the show’s fading buzz.) For its 4th season, Netflix’s The Crown made an unprecedented sweep of the major Emmy categories, going 7-for-7. It was nominated for 24 Emmys, including 9 for acting. This year, its 5th season only received 6 nominations — Outstanding Drama Series, 1 for acting, and 4 technical awards. (Some may say that this downturn is unsurprising given that the most recent season received markedly less buzz and critical acclaim than the prior ones — but that certainly didn’t hurt shows like Ted Lasso and Game of Thrones.) Other shows that saw free falls in their Emmy love this year include Yellowjackets (still nominated for Drama Series and Lead Actress, but nothing for the rest of the cast, writing, or directing this year), What We Do in the Shadows (only cited in technical categories this year after its past 2 seasons received nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and 5 writing nominations), and Dead to Me (which settled for a sole nod for Christina Applegate after receiving additional nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and co-star Linda Cardellini for its 2nd season). Although I think all of the shows should have done better this year, there is one show that I am delighted to see a downturn in nominations for — Saturday Night Live. The wildly over-awarded seasons (which is by far the most awarded series in Emmys history) dominated the Supporting and Guest acting categories for much of the last 10 years. This year it only has 2 acting nominations, for Quinta Brunson and Pedro Pascal’s memorable turns as host.
#5) The Emmys continue to do an adequate job of embracing diversity…among its nominees at least. By my count, 31 of the 108 (29%) acting nominees in the acting categories identify as a non-White or as Hispanic/Latino. There are certainly some reasons to celebrate. First and foremost, that is a notable step up from the 22% who identified as such last year. Second, the nominations for 4 Asian actors from Netflix’s Beef represents a continued breakthrough for Asian actors in recent years that includes high-profile award wins for films like Everything Everywhere All at Once and shows like Squid Game. Third, Quinta Brunson and Pedro Pascal pulled off the rare feat of scoring multiple acting nominations in the same year. Fourth, the category of Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series is particularly impressive from a representation perspective with 4 of the 7 nominees being black women. Nevertheless, the majority of representation of non-white actors is in lower-profile categories (e.g., Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, Outstanding Actress in a Short-Form Series) and the Emmys have not historically done a particularly strong job of actually giving wins to racial and ethnic minority actors over the years. (Although last year’s historic wins for Zendaya, Lee Jung-jae, and Sheryl Lee Ralph were certainly a step in the right direction.)
#6) As always, there were a number of high-profile omissions. One of the most curious aspects of the Emmys is that they actually have a long history of not nominating A-list stars (particularly those best known for film). This year was no exception. Film legend Harrison Ford was expected by many to get 2 nominations this year (Lead Actor in a Drama for Paramount+’s 1923 and Supporting Actor in a Comedy for AppleTV+’s Shrinking), but he remains without a single Emmy nomination to his name. His on-screen wife on 1923, Oscar-, Tony-, and multiple Emmy-winner Dame Helen Mirren also failed to score a nod. Oscar winner Kevin Costner once again was overlooked for his role on the show that 1923 spun off from — Paramount Network’s smash hit Yellowstone. But there were other major omissions, even outside the Yellowstone universe. Carol Burnett, one of television’s greatest living legends, was overlooked for her acclaimed supporting turn on Better Call Saul. 13-time Emmy nominee Steve Martin and pop star Selena Gomez were left out of the lead acting categories for Only Murders in the Building (despite the show getting into Outstanding Comedy Series and their co-star Martin Short making it in). 6-time Emmy winner John Lithgow did not make it in for Fx’s The Old Man. Christina Ricci did not make it in either to Supporting Actress in a Comedy for Wednesday or Drama for Yellowjackets. A host of big-screen stars that were thought to have excellent shots at getting into the Limited Series acting categories were all omitted — Emily Blunt (The English), Elizabeth Olsen (Love & Death), Rachel Weisz (Dead Ringers), Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers), Steve Carell (The Patient), and Olivia Colman (Great Expectations). And, in a pair of omissions I find particularly crushing, the Emmys missed their final opportunity to nominate Sir Patrick Stewart for his brilliant and iconic work as Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Paramount+’s Star Trek: Picard) and once again overlooked Lisa Ann Walter’s brilliant work on ABC’s Abbott Elementary.
#7) Star Wars and Game of Thrones continue to be surprisingly popular franchises with Emmy voters. After generally eschewing genre series and large franchises for most of their 75-year history, the Emmys have surprisingly embraced them in recent years. We’ve seen Game of Thrones become the most-awarded drama in Emmy history and shows from the Star Wars (i.e., The Mandalorian) and Marvel (i.e., WandaVision) universes earn dozens of high-profile nominations. This year was no exception. Even though love for The Mandalorian dissipated this year (as discussed above), Star Wars series Andor scored several major nominations (Outstanding Drama Series, writing, and directing among them). Another Star Wars series — the limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi — scored a somewhat surprising nod for Outstanding Limited Series (along with 4 others). And Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon scored 8 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series (although it was interestingly overlooked in all other major categories). Other franchises were not so lucky, however, with Prime’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Paramount+’s various Star Trek series failing to secure any major nominations.
#8) The Television Movie category continues to be a bit embarrassing. This category once feted memorable films like Brian’s Song (1972), The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), A Woman Called Golda (1982), And the Band Played On (1994), Miss Evers’ Boys (1997), Wit (2001), Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007), and Behind the Candelabra (2013). In recent years, however, the Academy has struggled to find 5 worthy candidates to fill out the category and has given the awards to feature-length episodes of series like Sherlock and Black Mirror, a supremely cheesy Dolly Parton Christmas musical (Christmas on the Square), and a Disney animated film that was moved to streaming (Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers). This year, the category was comprised 2 films that were intended to be theatrical releases but eventually transitioned to stream on Hulu (the innovative Predator prequel Prey and the clever LGBT comedy Fire Island), a Disney+ sequel to an early 1990s cult classic (Hocus Pocus 2), another supremely cheesy Dolly Parton Christmas musical (Dolly Parton’s Magic Mountain Christmas), and a satirical biopic of musician “Weird Al” Yankovic (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story). This year’s lineup has a couple of genuinely inspired films, but this category has become an utterly bizarre hodgepodge of varying projects.
#9) Most of the top races will be real nail-biters all the way up until the Emmys are held on September 19th (or whenever the Emmys end up airing). Last year, it was pretty obvious from the get-go that Ted Lasso, Succession, and The White Lotus would dominate their respective fields, leaving only a handful of acting races as the source of any excitement. This year, however, things are a bit different. On the comedy side, Ted Lasso could certainly dominate again given its huge nomination tally, but many were decidedly unsatisfied with the show’s most recent season. This could lead the way for the 2nd season of the under-nominated but beloved Abbott Elementary or recent breakout The Bear to win big. On the drama side, Succession’s final season seems poised to dominate but the extraordinarily strong showings for the 1st season of The Last of Us and the 2nd season of The White Lotus suggest that many voters’ loyalties will be divided. And the Limited Series race lacks a clear front-runner with a neck-and-neck race between Beef and Dahmer seeming likely. Add that to the realignment of the Variety categories, which will pit perennial winners Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Saturday Night Live against each other for the first time, and we are certain to see some photo finishes at the ceremony.
#10) My predictions were excellent this year, but weakest in the Limited Series categories. Last year, I predicted 77% of the nominees in the Top 16 categories, up significantly from the prior year. This year, I was down slightly to 75%. I did exceptionally well in the key Drama categories (successfully predicting 80% of the nominees) and the Comedy categories (successfully predicting 81% of the nominees), including correctly predicting 15 of the 16 nominees for Outstanding Drama and Comedy Series (my only miss was not expecting the 1st season of Jury Duty to take the last spot in Comedy Series from What We Do in the Shadows). As usual, I struggled the most in the Limited Series/Movie categories, where I only scored 61%. (Click here to see you for yourself with my final predictions that were posted on Tuesday.)
