Emmy Nomination Reactions Roundtable
Nearly three weeks ago, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced their nominees for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. As always, the nomination list inspired the full spectrum of reactions: happy confirmation that the programs and actors you love were nominated as expected, annoyance at those you knew would be among the nominees but hoped wouldn’t be, glee over the pleasant surprises, and anger at the unexpected and ridiculous snubs.
With just over a month until the show, a virtual ceremony for the first-time ever, there’s only so much crunch-binging you can do to develop personal favorites in the ceremony. To get the pump primed, Christian, Daniel and Sierra have offered some of their initial reactions to the full set of nominees.
We'll start with the objective: personal feelings aside, what was the biggest surprise inclusion or exclusion, in your opinion?
Christian Becker: The two weirdest nominations on the night, I think, were Brad Pitt and The Mandalorian. Don’t get me wrong, Pitt was great as Dr. Fauci on SNL. But overall, it was only just a five-minute cold open that probably didn’t take much time or effort to shoot. This feels more like a way to honor Fauci than the actor himself.
And the Star Wars show for Disney+ was incredibly popular, but in no way did I think this would end up getting into the top category of the night. Star Wars just doesn’t feel like the type of thing that would compete for a Drama at the Emmys, let alone do so via a brand-new streaming platform like Disney+.
Sierra Slaughter: I’m actually confused but excited that Quibi cleaned up. I have no desire to ever watch something on my phone and yet...a few shows appeal to me. They have stacked casts and crews. I watched the pilot of Don’t Look Deeper and I loved it but...come on...on my phone?
Also, JEREMY POPE! An EGOT is coming (he hasn’t won any but nominated for 2 Tonys and 1 Grammy and now an Emmy in less than 2 years, come on).
Daniel Woodiwiss: This could go for my personal favorite too, but I was incredibly surprised to see how much love The Good Place got in the Comedy categories. I know it finally broke through to the Outstanding Comedy Series field last year, and Ted Danson has been a consistent nominee. But it felt like the final season of the terrific NBC show received very little attention or fanfare, and though I still enjoyed it, subjectively I found it the least engaging of its four seasons. So as delighted as I am for all of them, for this to be the year for D'Arcy Carden, Michael Schur and William Jackson Harper to all earn their first nominations was a minor shock to me.
Now for the subjective: whether it was a big surprise or not, what was your favorite nomination announcement?
Sierra: Where to start? Nicholas Britell, Nathan Barr (I haven’t watched Carnival Row or Hollywood but he did The Americans theme which I didn’t skip once so I’m rooting for him I’m sure both themes are iconic), Insecure music supervision, Ramy. Also I didn’t like Normal People but I do like Paul Mescal if you know what I’m saying *wink wink*, Shira Haas for Unorthodox (I read that she learned YIDDISH IN TWO MONTHS!), all the Succession boys <3.
Daniel: I would say it's a tie for two nominees, from the same category of Supporting Actress in a Comedy. The aforementioned Carden was SO GOOD as Janet, one of the most consistently funny and original characters throughout The Good Place, and was on the wrong end of one of last year's worst snubs when she wasn't nominated for the "Janet(s)" episode. And after years of me bellowing about it, Cecily Strong FINALLY gets an Emmy nod. If you've followed my Saturday Night Live writeups over the last few years, it's no secret that I find her massively underrated; she's one of the show's best utility players since Bill Hader, and I maintain that the Matt Damon episode in 2018 should have made her an Emmy winner, let alone nominee.
I'm so excited for both these incredibly talented and hilarious women, and gutted that they can't both win.
Christian: I was absolutely thrilled for What We Do In The Shadows to not only get three nominations for writing, but for it to also break into Best Comedy Series. Shadows is one of my favorite shows currently on television, but it’s also one of those that is so weird and “out there” that I don’t think anyone saw this coming as a serious contender. Hopefully this is a building block for some acting nominations next year!
Also, Succession for pretty much everything. While What We Do in the Shadows is definitely one of my favorite comedies on right now, Succession is far and away my favorite drama.
And what snub are you most upset about?
Daniel: Honestly, this is the most satisfied I've been about a list of nominees in quite some time. I'm a bit confused how they keep sleeping on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but other than that, my only big complaint is neither Joe Keery nor Maya Hawke getting a Supporting Actor/Actress nod for Stranger Things. Maybe there's a perception that it's more of a "kid's show" than the gritty, dark programs that have dominated the Drama categories over the last decade, but the second half of Season 3 of Stranger Things was its best stretch of yet, and a force by any barometer. Hawke and Keery, as Robin and Steve, respectively, were easily the best part of that best part, their effortless chemistry pushing the dramatic narrative and injecting a good deal of fun simultaneously.
Sierra: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, and Mark Proksch. All for What We Do in the Shadows.
Christian: Better Call Saul didn’t exactly have the best morning. I’ve only just started watching the show, but even a newbie to like me knows that Bob Odenkirk is so beloved in the role and has been deservedly nominated every single year up until now. Jonathan Banks and Rhea Seehorn also missed out.
The Morning Show whiffing on the Best Drama Series category was also pretty surprising. I personally really like this show, even if it didn’t get the best reviews right out of the gate. But Apple put so much money behind this, and it got four acting nominations and one for directing, which makes it all the odder that this didn’t make it in for the series itself.
We will plan to do more wholesale predictions closer to the ceremony, but an early prediction on which show, network, or individual is posed for a big night?
Christian: With Game of Thrones no longer around to sweep everything, I think Succession is going to have an incredibly successful night and be the new HBO award winning darling.
Sierra: The individual wins I feel most confident about are Mahershala Ali for Ramy, Yvonne Orji for Insecure, and Fred Willard in Modern Family as a posthumous sign of respect.
Daniel: It feels like a cop-out to just answer with the most-nominated program of the night, but it's going to be Watchmen's night. It's not just the eye-popping 11 nominations, the miniseries was both a cultural and critical smash, and even the creators and writers likely didn't realize just how timely much of the socio-political thematic material was going to be. Besides, it's not uncommon for the Limited Series categories to be more of a one-horse race than anything else (see Chernobyl, Big Little Lies, The People vs. O.J. Simpson).