Awards HQ July 18: Complete Emmy Nominations Recap, What To Know
AWARDS CIRCUIT COLUMN: Emmys Trivia: Snubs May Be Good Publicity Now — and Other Unusual Facts From 2022’s Nominations
Apparently the next best thing to being Emmy nominated is being Emmy snubbed. At least, that seemed to be the case on Tuesday morning, when publicists quickly switched gears after their clients failed to get an Emmy nomination — and instead started pitching them to be included in the roundup of this year’s biggest “snubs.”
It’s a further sign of just how important the awards industrial complex has become in Hollywood. If you aren’t nominated, the next best thing is to have fans and the press agonizing about the fact that you should have been nominated. (Better to be on people’s lips as someone who should be in the conversation, than not discussed at all, I suppose!) And sometimes it finally works: Look at how years of “Better Call Saul” star Rhea Seehorn being on the “snub” list got to the point that many of us in the media — myself included — started threatening to burn this whole town down if Seehorn didn’t get a nod. She finally did this year, so Los Angeles is safe. For now.
Of course, we all can still recognize what’s a true snub — a program or star whom we assumed would get a nomination, or was top of mind to receive one — vs. the third supporting star on a show few people have seen or heard. Those aren’t snubs, those were longshots from the start. (That being said, this column has clearly been snubbed for a Pulitzer.)
Besides the exciting inclusion of Seehorn, “Pam and Tommy,” “Station Eleven,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and other contenders we championed this year, here are a few odd, unusual and just plain unique— but mostly trivial — takeaways from this year’s nominations:
BETTER CALL BILLIE: Pop superstar Billie Eilish is this year’s Emmy good luck charm — even though she wasn’t nominated herself. “When Billie Met Lisa,” which featured Eilish in a “The Simpsons” short produced for Disney+, was nominated for short form animated program. And the “Saturday Night Live” episode featuring Eilish as host landed Don Roy King and Liz Patrick a joint nom in directing for a variety series.
WHITHER MULTI-CAM? With so few multi-camera comedies in production, that’s having a negative impact on the number of nominees in the handful of categories devoted to the form. For cinematography for a multi-camera series, there were only three nominees, “B Positive” (CBS), “The Conners” (ABC) and “How I Met Your Father” (Hulu). And in multi-cam picture editing for a comedy series, there were only two: “Father” and Fox’s “Call Me Kat.”
TIME WARP: What should be considered “period” vs. “contemporary”? The Emmy rule is that anything in the last 25 years (this year, that means 1997) is contemporary, and before that is period. But shows diving back into the 1990s — and there are a lot — sometimes straddle that rule, leading to some mixed submissions. That’s why “Pam and Tommy” is nominated for contemporary costumes, but for period hairstyling and period makeup (non-prosthetic). In the case of that show, it depended on specific episodes submitted. The costume episode, for example, came from later in the series, while hair and makeup submissions were from earlier in the series/ decade. Other recent historic series include Peacock’s “Angelyne,” which takes place in the ’80s and ’90s, was nominated for outstanding period costumes — against shows like “Bridgerton” and “The Great.” In contemporary hairstyling and makeup can be found the ’90s-set “Impeachment: American Crime Story” — most of which took place in 1998, narrowly making the “contemporary” cutoff.
FLUKE OF TIMING: Both the 43rd annual Kennedy Center Honors and the 44th annual Kennedy Center Honors fell under the same eligibility year… and Rickey Minor was nominated for both in music direction.
Read more about this year’s Emmy nomination trivia here.
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TV Academy President Maury McIntyre on the Decision Not to Tally Networks, and Whether the Emmys Will Ever Move to 10 Nominees
In a brief interview on Emmy nomination morning, TV Academy president/COO Maury McIntyre explained why the org decided not to include network tallies this year. He also confirmed that Variety‘s ongoing campaign to expand the number of nominees in key categories to 10 is definitely still under consideration at the org, given the sheer number of submissions these days. And he gave an update on the status of this year’s Emmy telecast on NBC, which does not yet have an announced host.
I’ve been pushing for expanding to 10 nominees in some of the categories. Are we ever going to see that? Doesn’t it make sense to just go to a nice even 10, like what the Motion Picture Academy is doing?
We absolutely talk about that, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it again this year. Last year, we saw about a 40% drop in overall comedy submissions that’s up 67% this year, which is huge. Limited series, everybody talks to us about the limited series category. That’s up 15% in overall submissions. So I absolutely think it’s something that we’ll continue to look at. The more we can give recognition to the greater number of programs, I think that’s a good thing. But clearly, at the same time, scarcity has value so we’re just trying to balance that. But absolutely, I think we’ll look at it.
You decided not to do a network tally this year. Why?
In all of the material we’ve given, we’ve certainly given everyone the ability to tally up their own. But we realized that it became such a talking point. And what we’re really about is the shows. We’re happy that we can tell that “Succession” has the most nominations and that “Ted Lasso” matched its number of nominations last year, and is up to 20 again. Because that’s what we celebrate, is the programs. But we’re giving the tools to our partners to be able to go tout themselves. In what is in all the material, HBO would be able to go and say, ‘here’s what our tally was.’ Netflix can go do that, but we’ll leave it to them to sing their own praises. And we’re gonna focus on the shows that we’re honoring. And that’s really our focus.
Emmys Snubs and Surprises: ‘Yellowstone’ Shut Out, ‘This Is Us,’ ‘Black-ish’ and More
Adam B. Vary and Kate Aurthur have the skinny on this year’s Emmy nomination snubs and surprises:
Welp, apparently the Emmys hate Westerns.
The stunning lack of nominations for the popular and acclaimed series “Yellowstone” and “1883” were far from the only surprises in Tuesday morning’s Emmy nominations announcement, of course. Between the return of Emmy juggernaut “Succession” and the lack of previous winners like “The Crown” and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” this year’s race was already primed for some unexpected nominations — and some surprising omissions.
Two shows weren’t overlooked, however: Season 3 of “Sex Education” and the inaugural season of “Heartstopper.” While both series earned wide acclaim and major buzz, Netflix elected not to submit either for Primetime Emmy consideration, given the steep competition they were respectively facing in the comedy and drama categories. Instead, “Sex Education” is being submitted for the upcoming International Emmys, and “Heartstopper” will vie for recognition in the Children’s & Family Emmys. (Meanwhile, the latest “Star Wars” series, “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and previous best drama nominee “The Boys” were both ineligible for this year’s Emmys.)
Here is Variety‘s assessment of the biggest surprises among the nominees for the 74th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
“Yellowstone” and “1883” Shut Out of Major Categories
This was thought to be the year of Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone,” which would then extend to its Paramount+ prequel spinoff “1883” in the limited series category. And yet, Taylor Sheridan’s Western, the most popular scripted series on television (among the networks that publicly release ratings, that is) didn’t receive any nominations. No Kevin Costner for actor, no Kelly Reilly for actress, no Sheridan for anything, and no nominations in below-the-line categories, either. It’s honestly a shock! “1883” did receive three below-the-line nominations: two for cinematography and one for music composition.
No Selena Gomez Nomination for “Only Murders in the Building”
While Hulu’s freshman comedy favorite earned a total of 17 nominations, including for leads Steve Martin and Martin Short, their partner in crime-solving, Selena Gomez, missed out on a nomination for lead actress. Perhaps Emmy voters thought her deadpan, straight-woman delivery was lower on laughs than Short and Martin’s antics — and it is, that’s the point! Without Gomez in their podcasting trio, “Only Murders” would be missing a limb.
Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh Nominated for “Killing Eve” Final Season
The audience and critical consensus about the final season of the once-beloved “Killing Eve” — especially its series finale — was that it was an utter catastrophe. It was thought to be so terrible that even Luke Jennings, who wrote the novellas on which the show was based, repudiated its ending in the Guardian . And yet, Television Academy voters are such habitual creatures that they nominated both Oh and Comer (a surprise winner in the category for the BBC America show’s first season).
“Black-ish” and “This Is Us” Shut Out of Major Categories in Their Final Seasons
Both top nominees in previous seasons, ABC’s “Black-ish” and NBC’s “This Is Us” finished their runs with strong finales that landed the plane with style and grace (and many tears). And yet neither show earned any top nominations this year — especially surprising for the career-best work by “This Is Us” star Mandy Moore. “Black-ish” earned nods for contemporary hairstyling and contemporary costumes, while “This Is Us” nabbed just one nomination for original music and lyrics — for a song co-written by star Moore’s husband, Taylor Goldsmith (with Siddhartha Khosla).
ON THE CIRCUIT: ‘Yellowjacket’ Planes, ‘Only Murders’ Pop-Up and More
As Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” received seven nominations, planes took flight in New York and LA to tout these messages, including:
In New York the show had one plane running that said: TEAM YELLOWJACKETS, BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ
And in Los Angeles, two planes used these three sayings: DEAR EMMYS: WELCOME TO THE HIVE
WE STAN SHAUNA SHIPMAN
MISTY, YOU CRAZY TALENTED B*TCH
Meanwhile, Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” is leaning into the online video phenomenon of “ambient rooms,” creating ones for each major character of the series (Mabel, Oliver, Charles), and rooms in the Arconia that filled with easter eggs, as and original score from the series composer. You can find the first ambient room, tied to Selena Gomez’s character Mabel, above.
Local pubcaster PBS SoCal/KCET held a food and wine pairing event and screening celebrating the new PBS cooking competition series “The Great American Recipe” last week. Held at La Plaza Cocina, a recently opened museum and teaching kitchen in downtown Los Angeles, attendees included the series’ local contestants (Foo Nguyen and Silvia Martinez). The contestants’ recipes were prepared by Chef Bret Thompson of Pez Cantina paired with wine tastings from Angeleno Winery. Guests also walked to the nearby La Plaza de Cultura y Artes for an outdoor screening and panel discussion of the show.
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Emmy Diversity Report: ‘Abbott Elementary,’ ‘Squid Game’ Make History, But Representation Lacking Elsewhere
Clayton Davis weighs in on this year’s representation in the Emmy nominations, and the results are mixed:
The glass is half-full in the Emmy diversity landscape. At least that’s what we can tell ourselves with this year’s Primetime nominations.
An undeniable force in the industry, Zendaya became the youngest producer ever to be nominated for drama series for “Euphoria,” which she executive produces. In addition, at 25, she also became the youngest person ever to land two lead acting noms at the Emmys.
And how can we not mention “Squid Game,” the first non-English series to be recognized in TV Academy history? Not only did it rack up an impressive 14 noms overall, but also four acting mentions for Lee Jung-jae in lead actor, Jung Hoyeon in supporting actress and two supporting actor mentions for Park Hae-soo and Golden Globe winner Oh Yeong-su. Even Japanese American director Hiro Murai picked up two noms in separate genre races for FX’s “Atlanta” and HBO’s “Station Eleven.”
“Squid” is only one of the glowing examples of Asian representation and how it’s trending in the right direction. In addition, Sandra Oh picked up her 13th overall acting nom for “Killing Eve,” although she’s yet to walk away with a statuette. Also carrying the torch for API actors are Himesh Patel (“Station Eleven”), Nick Mohammad (“Ted Lasso”), Bowen Yang (“Saturday Night Live”) and Arian Moayed (“Succession”).
Last year, 42 actors of color were nominated in the acting categories (30 in main and 12 in guest acting). This year, we are down to 25 (19 in main, 6 in guest).
That downward trend was deeply felt with the omissions of Sterling K. Brown, Kenan Thompson, Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Rosie Perez, Giancarlo Esposito and others who received noms last year.
Emmy Reactions: Sydney Sweeney, Melanie Lynskey, Steve Martin and Bill Hader Talk Nominations
Variety’s Sasha Urban, Wilson Chapman, Selome Hailu, Marc Malkin had the task on Emmy morning to chat with nominees and get their reactions to the big news. Here are three standouts; more can be found by clicking here. Read on:
Murray Bartlett, Supporting Actor Limited Series (“The White Lotus”)
How are you feeling today? I’m feeling pretty great, as you can imagine. Just a little ecstatic.
The entire cast of “The White Lotus” got a ton of nominations this morning. How are you feeling about sharing that moment with your ensemble together? It feels right. That it’s not one of us or two of us singled out because it’s such an ensemble piece, including the musicians who worked on the show and Mike [White] of course. So it feels like, if any of us are going to be nominated, all of us should be nominated. And it seems like almost all of us are. So it’s thrilling and fantastic. And I’m so happy for Mike, particularly, but for everyone. It’s so well deserved. There’s not a weak link in the show. It’s beautiful to see everyone getting some love for it.
Were there any nominations outside “The White Lotus” that you were happy to see today? I adore Laura Linney, I’m a huge fan of “Ozark”, and I think she’s absolutely spectacular in that show. I got to work with Laura a few years ago on “Tales of the City,” so on a personal level, I just think she’s an exceptional human.
What are you working on next? Where can your fans from “The White Lotus” see you in the future? At the moment, I’m wrapping shooting on another limited series called “Welcome to Chippendales. That’ll be out later in the year, in November. And I’m also doing the HBO adaptation of “The Last of Us.” It doesn’t come out until next year, but it’s an amazing team working on it. And it’s a beautifully crafted show. I think the scripts are amazing, and I love what I got to do in that show.
Were you a fan of “The Last of Us” before you joined the cast? Do you play video games at all? I don’t know if it’s me or if it’s like my generation, but I’m not a gamer and I’m not very plugged into that world. But as soon as that job came up, and I mentioned it to people, they just gasped. And then when I dug into it, I mean it’s a phenomenon on many levels. It seems to be a game that people really respond to on a deep emotional level. It’s very cinematic and beautiful. So I gained a strong appreciation for it, but I’m not in that gaming world. So I was new to it when the job came up.
Obviously, you’re not going to be in future seasons of the White Lotus on account of Armond dying… Well, you never know. Mike had joked to me about another season where we go back in time. I think that was a joke, but I like to think that it wasn’t, so we’ll see.
I would love to see it. We know the second season is taking place in Italy. Where do you think future seasons should be set? I wonder whether Mike just invented this show so he could spend time in incredibly gorgeous places. So I think it’s going to be somewhere incredibly gorgeous if it goes into other seasons. Maybe somewhere, beautiful in Morocco or Portugal or some phenomenally gorgeous place that Mike gets to spend a few months in.
Sydney Sweeney, Supporting Actress Limited Series (“The White Lotus”); Supporting Actress Drama (“Euphoria”)
How are you doing today? Congratulations on your double nomination! Thank you. I’m doing just fine. I’m honestly kind of out of words. I don’t know what to say.
One of the shows you were nominated for, “The White Lotus,” saw a lot of the cast get recognition.How does it feel to share that moment together? We are just cheering each other on in our group chat. And we are so proud of one another. We’re so excited to be able to be sharing this moment with each other. It’s such a beautiful and lovely cast and experience that we had. So it’s great to see good people get to enjoy this.
You’re not going to be in the second season, but are you interested in going back to “The White Lotus” for a future season? I would love to be back. I love working with Mike White, I think he’s such an incredibly talented writer and director and he’s such a joy to work with. You’re really laughing every day.
Season 2 is going to be in Italy. Any ideas for where future seasons should take place? I mean Italy is one of my favorite places in the world so I’m a little bummed I missed that. Where should we go? I feel like if I say it, it could happen. so I want to make sure I choose very wisely. Spain could be fun. Japan could be interesting. Maybe like a safari jungle cruise through Africa.
Do you have any idea when “Euphoria” begins shooting again? What are you looking forward to doing with Cassie after the very messy season she had this year? We will all be getting back together soon. I don’t know if I can actually say when, but soon. I’ve fallen in love with Cassie, and she’s on such a crazy roller coaster. I selfishly hope that she might still be on the ride, it’s really fun for me to be able to stretch my legs and challenge myself in that way. But I believe and trust Sam [Levinson] and what he does with these characters in the story. So I’m just excited to see what’s next.
Were there any shows outside of the two you were in that you were happy to see get recognized this morning? I’m always a huge “Succession” fan. And I love “Ozark” so I’m really happy for Julia Garner, I think she is beyond talented. “Yellowstone” didn’t get anything, did they?
No, “Yellowstone” didn’t get anything. I was cheering for “Yellowstone.” I feel like “Yellowstone” got snubbed.
What other projects are you working on? What can fans see you in coming up? Currently I’m filming “Madame Webb.” And I can’t really say anything about my character, but I’m very excited. My first Marvel movie. So it’s been a lot of fun, a lot of training and just prep work to get into it and then I previously just finished “National Anthem” directed by Tony Toast from Bron studios. So I’m very excited for that character. Her name is Penny Joe, and she was a cute, sweet-hearted character. I loved her.
Melanie Lynskey, Lead Actress Drama (“Yellowjackets”)
How are you feeling? I feel very overwhelmed. This is not a normal experience for me. So it’s a lot. I’m trying to be present.
Have you been talking to your fellow Yellowjackets? I have. Tawny [Cypress] texted me immediately. And I texted Christina [Ricci], Christina and I are so excited and then all the young girls are sending messages. It’s really sweet. Like the most supportive cast of all time. [Sophie Nelisse] sent me the sweetest message and I mean, honestly, I just love them all so much. The best part about it is that the show got nominated and we can all celebrate together. It’s just like, so exciting.
Was there anything that you were excited about outside of Yellowjackets? There was one I was bummed about because I voted for Britt Lower. She’s such a genius. Next year, I trust that it will happen. But I was so thrilled for Adam Scott. I just think he’s wonderful. And Sarah Paulson is a very dear friend of mine. I thought she was so incredible in that show and I’m really happy that she felt recognized for that performance. Hamish Patel for “Station Eleven” was so exciting.
Your husband, Jason Ritter, was on “Candy” with you and you had said that you would love for him to be on “Yellowjackets.” Has there been any movement on that? There hasn’t been. I don’t know. He was like, “Oh god, why would you say that?”
I know you’re starting filming for Season 2 soon. What is Shauna most worried about? I haven’t read any scripts. And I’m constantly surprised by the scripts. They always take it in a direction that is more interesting than anything I could have imagined. So I don’t know. I don’t really know what is going to be happening with Shauna. I would imagine that she would be slowly coming to terms with the fact that she killed her lover and covered it up — my personal feeling is that’s not going to stay a secret. It’s so amazing to be on a show where whatever I’m doing the moment, I see that script pop up on the email, I just read it instantly. I cannot wait to read them.
The show has obviously been so great with casting actresses from the ‘90s. Is there anyone that you would love to see on a future season of the show? For some reason Robin Tunney, because she was such a great support for me when we were starting out in the ‘90s. She had a much fancier agent than me and she was always showing the scripts that she was getting to audition for and being like, “You should go out for this!” and she was so supportive and lovely. I just thought of Robin, but I mean, there’s any number of people, of course.
How are you celebrating today? Do you have any plans? I think we’re gonna go out and buy a fridge. Very glamorous. I think Best Buy.
Well, I hope it’s the best fridge you’ve ever had. Thank you, I might like level up a little bit on the fridge. I’m feeling extra fancy.
Pearlena Igbokwe, Alex Kurtzman Among AAFCA TV Honorees
Wilson Chapman writes:
Universal Studio Group chairman Pearlena Igbokwe, Alex Kurtzman and Warner Bros. Television have been announced as the special achievement honorees for the 4th annual AAFCA TV Honors.
Hosted by the African American Film Critics Association, the AAFCA TV honors recognize achievement in television, with an emphasis on entertainment representing the Black diaspora. At the invitation-only ceremony on Aug. 20 at Los Angeles’ SLS Hotel, Igbokwe will receive the Ashley Boone Award, Alex Kurtzman will receive the Ally Award, and WBTV chairman Channing Dungey will accept the Inclusion Award on behalf of the studio.
The Ashley Boone Award, named after the executive, is presented to executives for their achievement within the industry. The first Black woman to lead a major U.S. television studio, Igbowke leads four studios as chairman for the Universal Studio Group, including Universal Television, Universal Content Productions, Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal International Studios.
“AAFCA is so excited to be honoring Pearlena, Alex and Warner Bros. Television Group for their achievements,” AAFCA co-founder and president Gil Robertson IV said in a statement. “In the ever-changing landscape of television, their creativity and progressive leadership is the foundation on which our industry is built and provides inspiration to all of us.”
The Ally Award is presented to a company or individual who has made diversity and inclusion in their projects a priority. Kurtzman, who operates his own production company Secret Hideout, is best known for his work on the “Star Trek” franchise, including “Discovery,” “Picard” and “Strange New Worlds” on Discovery+. He also worked on the recent Showtime series “The Man Who Fell From Earth;” co-wrote films like “Star Trek,” “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” “The Amazing Spider Man 2” and “Transformers;” and directed “The Mummy” and “People Like Us.”
The Inclusion Award is presented to an organization with a commitment to inclusion both in in their programming and corporate activities. Warner Bros. Television Group is being honored for their inclusion in several current programs they produce.
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HBO’s Casey Bloys on His Huge Emmy Nom Haul, the Future of ‘Succession’ and ‘House of the Dragon’ Expectations
“Succession” dominated this year’s Emmy nominations with 25 noms — including a record-breaking 14 in the acting categories, the most ever for a series. But beyond the upcoming Season 4, HBO/HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys said there’s no report yet on how much longer the show will continue after that.
“Those questions, ‘How many more seasons do you want to go and do you have the story to tell?’ We always will defer to our showrunners,” Bloys told Variety on Tuesday afternoon, still on a high after HBO and HBO Max scored a combined 140 nominations — a new record for the company, beating out a singular HBO’s 137 nods in 2019. “So that is really for varietyschneider Jesse Armstrong to decide. He wanted to break this season, the fourth season, and then see how he was feeling. I think he’s currently deciding what he wants to do. I don’t think he wants to close anything off. I think he just kind of wants to see how he feels, and I totally respect that. Whether he decides to keep going or call it a day, is really up to him.”
When HBO and HBO Max are separated out, HBO still beat Netflix in this year’s network tally — pulling 108 for HBO (over Netflix’s 105) and 32 for HBO Max. The TV Academy opted not to include a network tally in this year’s announcement, and Bloys said he was fine with that — maintaining his position that HBO and HBO Max should be considered as one.
“We had this conversation last year,” he said. “I can’t think of another platform that has the same management, the same business affairs, the same production, same programming head. Everything on HBO airs on HBO Max. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that the shows get recognized. And I think everything else is just kind of white noise. But regardless, it was a good day, whether you look at them individually or combined.”
As for the overall performance, “I was very pleased with the amount of shows and the depth,” he said. “In other words, it wasn’t one show that dominated. We had a number of shows that did really well. I would like to see all of our shows recognized, but it’s really nice to see a lot of them recognized and a lot of them not just a passing nomination here or there but really, really deep. That’s always a nice endorsement.”
Besides “Succession,” other big HBO performers included “The White Lotus,” which landed 20 nominations (the most of any limited series), “Hacks,” “Euphoria” and “Barry.” But there were snubs as well, including “The Gilded Age,” “And Just Like That” and “Winning Time.” But Bloys opted not to dwell on that.
“You’d like to see everybody’s hard work recognized. But today’s not the day to worry about the snubs and I’d rather just celebrate the nominations and leave it at that,” he said.
Meanwhile, “The White Lotus” is about to wrap Season 2, and Bloys said creator Mike White has come up with “a really interesting premise. Examining a new group of characters in a different setting is really fun. So we’ll see how Season 2 does. I’m excited to put together another amazing cast. And, like the conversation with Jesse, it will really depend on, does Mike feel like he’s got more story to tell or more themes to explore? And we would really kind of defer to him on that.”
AWARDS CIRCUIT PODCAST: Variety’s Awards Circuit Roundtable Dissects the Winners, Losers and Surprises of 2022’s Emmy Nominations
The 2022 Primetime Emmys nominations were announced on Tuesday, and there were plenty of surprises — both welcome and, well, unexpected. Variety’s Awards Circuit roundtable team of Michael Schneider, Emily Longeretta, Jazz Tangcay and Clayton Davis gathered a day later to dissect the announcement. What did the Television Academy get right? What were the big shockers? Was anything really snubbed?
On this special mega-roundtable edition of the Variety Awards Circuit podcast, the roundtable dives deep into this year’s announcement, including their favorite choices — and biggest WTFs. Listen below!
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, produced by Michael Schneider, is your one-stop listen for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much, much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post every Thursday and Friday.
Why the Emmy Supporting Acting Nominations Need a Serious Refresh (Column)
Caroline Framke writes:
It was hard not to feel a pang of frustration while scanning through the supporting and guest acting categories for this year’s Emmy nominations. As has become an increasingly alarming trend, they saw fit to reward actors from a precious few series while leaving so many fantastic other possibilities in the dust. With so many of television’s very best performances unfolding in supporting roles, and at a time when there’s more TV than ever, it remains a curious shame how few shows tend to dominate the Emmys come nomination morning.
Just like last year, “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” made their presences known. As my colleague Adam B. Vary calculated out of sheer nerdy curiosity (his words), “Ted Lasso” cast members comprise a quarter of the total comedy acting nominees, while a full 35%(!) of the drama nominees belong to “Succession.” Between “Ted Lasso” and “Hacks” alone, in fact, almost half the total comedy nominations were spoken for. On the limited series side, eight actors from “The White Lotus” flooded the supporting acting zone; when paired with the six nominations for “Dopesick,” 53% of the limited series acting slots went to the same two shows.
Before the “White Lotus”/ “Ted Lasso” / “Hacks” / “Succession” hives come after me for denigrating their many, many supporting nominations, let me first say: I am one of you! I have loved all of these shows, and would have a hard time arguing against any of their individual nominations. But there’s a difference between rewarding a show and defaulting to the same few, thus giving the impression that there was barely anything else worth the while. Because that simply isn’t true.
If the Emmys wanted to nominate a fuller breadth of supporting acting talent, voters could have very easily turned to other shows they recognized in passing. In comedy, Issa Rae could have been joined by “Insecure” castmates like Yvonne Orji and Jay Ellis for their final season. Any single one of the “What We Do In the Shadows” leads — Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Kayvan Novak, Harvey Guillén, or Mark Proksch — certainly did worthy work in the show’s third season. In drama, “Yellowjackets” wouldn’t have had half its punch without the younger generation holding down the flashback timeline, particularly Sophie Nelisse and Samantha Hanratty as the teenaged versions of characters played by nominees Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci. Looking to limited series, Amanda Seyfried absolutely burned up the screen as Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout,” but her performance shone as bright as it did thanks to the grounded work of actors like Naveen Andrews, Stephen Fry, Elizabeth Marvel and Michaela Watkins surrounding her.
Clayton Davis’ Emmy Winner Predictions: Drama Series – Noms Show the Battle Between Cable and Streamers, But Who Will Win?
We’ve dive into a different category each week to examine Clayton Davis‘ Emmy predictions. As Phase 2 begins, first up is drama:
HBO’s “Succession” leads the nomination tally with 25 noms, including 14 in the acting categories, breaking the record for the most acting nominations for a drama series in a single year (was held by “The West Wing” with 12) and for any series in history (long held by “Roots” with 13).
With such a robust total, you can never assume it’s over, especially when it comes to Emmys. Netflix’s “Squid Game,” a show that premiered in Sept. 2021, maxed-out with its acting noms, nabbing the necessary mentions for SAG winners Lee Jung-jae (lead actor) and Jung Hoyeon (supporting actress), along with Golden Globe winner Oh Yeong-su and Park Hae-soo.
Of the other nominated counterparts, Apple TV+ showed strength with the 14 noms for “Severance,” hoping to emulate the run of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” in 2017. With the added boost of bringing in acting nominees Adam Scott, John Turturro and Christopher Walken, this dystopian drama has the chops to go the distance.
The TV Academy made right with its omission of HBO’s “Euphoria” during its first season, showcased by its 16 nom tally, the second most nominated drama of the year. That will undoubtedly translate into Creative Arts categories, and with Zendaya frontrunning in lead actress drama, the show is in the conversation. However, without writing or directing noms, it’ll be a challenging hurdle to overcome.
Showtime’s freshman series “Yellowjackets” had a solid showing, with its stars Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci picking up mentions, but unfortunately not having enough momentum to bring in Juliette Lewis or Jasmin Savoy Brown for the ride. However, those double writing noms, along with Karyn Kusama’s directing mention for the pilot, point to the survival drama being the network’s most viable contender since its winning drama “Homeland” back in 2012.
Netflix’s “Stranger Things” returned for its fourth season and continued its run with an impressive 13-nomination haul. While hearts are broken for the omissions of our guitar-rocking Joseph Quinn and the hill-running Sadie Sink, many of its creative arts categories are well within reach of winning, including – outstanding period and/or character hairstyling, period and/or character makeup (non-prosthetic), prosthetic makeup, music supervision, sound editing and sound mixing. Those add up and could make it a dark horse during phase two, but with no acting, writing or directing noms, this could be another consumer-facing hopeful that’s “too cool for school” (i.e., “The Mandalorian”).
Finally, AMC’s “Better Call Saul” has had a perfect run, picking up six noms for outstanding drama series, including this first part of its final sixth season. Tied for the series with the most noms for drama series (alongside “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law,” “NYPD Blue” and “St. Elsewhere”), with a series total of 46 mentions, it’s never walked away with a single statuette. Could that final season sentiment do the trick?
