The surprises, the ninguneos and the nonsense of the Emmys nominations

Every time nominations are announced, the brain tends to think "what about mine, where are my favorites.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
12 July 2023 Wednesday 17:15
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The surprises, the ninguneos and the nonsense of the Emmys nominations

Every time nominations are announced, the brain tends to think "what about mine, where are my favorites." We are human and so are the voters of the Emmy Awards who, when it comes to recognizing the best of the season, have committed acts of justice, injustice and others that are difficult to understand, such as nominating a Jedi for one of the most deplorable works. from the Star Wars universe. Here, therefore, are the surprises, the neglect and the nonsense of some nominations where Succession and Ted Lasso start as favourites:

The second season of The White Lotus was unmistakably a sex comedy. Succession's scripts, despite their bad temper and more serious episodes like the one about the plane, have as many (cruel) jokes per minute as a sitcom of a lifetime. Curiously, both are competing for best drama while The Bear, which is tension, anxiety and depression, takes advantage of its half-hour format to compete as a comedy, like Barry, who had a devastating final season, or Wednesday, which no one would have seen before. hesitant to qualify as a light teen drama.

Any critic knows that Wednesday's nomination for comedy is recognition of the audience phenomenon on Netflix, but the most insulting nomination is that of Obi-Wan Kenobi for best miniseries, a quality disaster. How could it have passed in front of, for example, Alice Birch's Inseparables? Or Black Bird, which did get nominations for Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser and Ray Liotta? The Star Wars series that did deserve a place in best drama was Andor, which has also seen Beau Willimon's script recognized.

Any lover of television fiction always has the same conversation: there are so many good series that it is impossible to watch them all. For this reason it is striking that, when it comes to recognizing the best secondary dramatic performances, Succession and The White Lotus can monopolize almost everything. F. Murray Abraham, Michael Imperioli, Theo James and Will Sharpe from the Sicilian Hotel take on Waystar Royco's Nicholas Braun, Michael, Matthew Mcfadyen, Alan Ruck and Alexander Skarsgard; and Jennifer Coolidge, Meghann Fahy, Sabrina Impacciatore, Aubrey Plaza and Simona Tabasco take on J. Smith-Cameron for Succession, Elizabeth Debicki for The Crown and Rhea Seehorn for Better Call Saul.

One of the news is that HBO has four series nominated for best drama: Succession, The White Lotus, The last of us and The house of the dragon. But, while the first three place all their nominable actors and are in direction and script, the Game of Thrones prequel settles for a total of eight nominations, seven of them technical. Why this sense of duty? Well, the voters did not tremble when it came to relegating The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to the technical awards with six nominations. The same can be said for The Crown, which after sweeping its fourth season, settles for a secondary nomination for Elizabeth Debicki as Diana Spencer and three others in technical categories. Wouldn't it have made more sense to nominate Apple TV's Bad Sisters for Best Drama? After all, it's present in three key categories: Lead Actress for Sharon Horgan, Directing, and Screenplay.

Unsurprisingly, Succession and Ted Lasso lead with 27 and 21 nominations respectively. As Emmy winners for Best Drama and Best Comedy for their previous two seasons, this recognition was to be expected. The strength with which The Last of Us has penetrated drama with 24 nominations, one more than The White Lotus, and The Bear in comedy with 13 nominations, must also be applauded. Furthermore, the adult and quality miniseries front should not be underestimated: Bronca (13), Everybody Loves Daisy Jones (9) and Fleishman is in trouble (7) are Dahmer's main opponents (13).

Andor and Yellowjackets in drama, the combo of Bronca, Daisy Jones and Fleishman in a miniseries, a cult series like The other two in a comedy script, that a hybrid format between reality and fiction like Jury duty has entered comedy. In the acting categories, welcome are Camila Morrone for Daisy Jones, Phil Dunster for his MVP status in the last season of Ted Lasso, Ayo Edibiri for The Bear, the quintet formed by Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, Young Mazino, Joseph Lee and Maria Bello for Bronca, and Jessica Williams for Terapia sin filtro, where she was an oasis of good vibes.

Inseparable and the interpretation of Rachel Weisz deserved to make an appearance in a miniseries; Poker Face had to scratch more than Natasha Lyonne's nomination in the main categories, especially considering that the scripts and direction are both classic and distinctive in tone; and The Other Two was due to score a Schitt's Creek and suddenly rack up a multitude of nominations for its final season after being adored by critics for its scathing portrayal of show business.

It is also noteworthy that the television academy does not feel any interest in Harrison Ford: his comedic interpretation in Therapy without a filter and in a miniseries around 1932 have been ignored. It's annoying that Martin Short is nominated for Murders in the Building Only and this time Steve Martin has been forgotten and that Selena Gomez has yet to see his interpretation recognized.

It's also insulting that Melanie Lynskey is the only Yellowjackets nominee having Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci in a state of grace, not to mention that the younger actresses could have filled a couple of supporting spots. And can you find out where Somebody somewhere is, HBO's best kept treasure?