Tuesday, July 12, 2022

EMMY PREVIEW: 2022 Emmy Nominations Analysis

The 74th Annual Primetime Emmy Award nominations were announced today. I predicted 69.39% correct on Gold Derby, which is down slightly from my 2021 rate (72.22%) and on par with my 2020 predictions (69.87%). Check out the complete list here. Bellow is a look at some of the major storylines from the morning.

DOMINATION FOR "SUCCESSION," "TED LASSO" & "THE WHITE LOTUS"
These three shows seemed to cement themselves as the frontrunners in their specific categories by leading nominations for their respective fields. Succession led all shows with 25 nominations while Ted Lasso and The White Lotus were each next in line with 20 nominations. Most notable was the overperformance of these three shows in the acting categories. Succession saw its entire main cast nominated except for Alan Ruck and basically seemed to get name checked in the Guest Acting categories with seven nominations across those two categories. Along with star Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso got three nominations in each of the Supporting categories including surprise nominations for Sarah Niles and Toheeb Jimoh. The White Lotus saw most of its main cast nominated as it earned seven nominations in Supporting categories including five of the seven available nominations in Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series. We still have a couple months but these three shows seem to be hard to beat for the top prizes though...

LOTS OF STRONG COMEDIES
If any of the frontrunners should be looking over their shoulder, it should be Ted Lasso. That's due to strong performances from Hacks and Only Murders in the Building (17 nominations each), Barry (14 nominations) and Abbott Elementary (only 7 nominations but it showed up in every major category it was eligible for, it just didn't do well with Below the Line nominations - not surprising for a broadcast comedy). Even The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel held on pretty well with 12 nominations despite most projecting it to be a down year (and 12 is considerably less than the 20+ nominations it's received other years but it didn't completely crater). I don't think Maisel is a threat but I think any of the others listed above have a shot at winning the Comedy Series prize even with Ted Lasso's huge performance. It's just been a great year for comedy and all those categories should be fun races to watch.

NOT MUCH LOVE FOR FINAL SEASONS
The final season of Ozark did well with 13 nominations and Issa Rae got a nomination for her final season of Insecure, but in general the Academy did not care much to go back to the well for some frequently nominated shows. Most glaring was This is Us, a one time darling for the Emmys that walked away with exactly one nomination for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. Sterling K. Brown missed a nomination for the first time, Mandy Moore did not make it in despite a lot of love and campaigning in recent months and even former winning Guest Actors like Ron Cephas Jones and Gerald McRaney did not make it in. Despite a well received final season, This is Us goes out with a whimper and who knows the next time we'll see a broadcast drama being a competitor at the Emmys. It certainly doesn't seem like any current ones stand a chance in the coming years. There was also no love for the final season of Black-ish. Anthony Anderson has been nominated every season but was left out this time as was his co-star, Tracee Ellis Ross. On the flip side, Killing Eve still managed to get Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer in for its final season despite a much more divisive season than This is Us or Black-ish.

OTHER SURPRISES AND SNUBS
As always there were some surprises and snubs. Inventing Anna and its star Julia Garner getting in was surprising since the show was trashed by critics. It's especially surprising that Anna made it in over fellow Netflix limited series Maid, which was much more acclaimed. It was surprising to see Pam & Tommy and its stars Sebastian Stan and Lily James all make it in. Hulu did quite well with its nomination haul with this show, Only Murders, The Dropout and Dopesick all doing well. Reese Witherspoon getting in over her The Morning Show co-star Jennifer Aniston was a huge surprise. Sydney Sweeney being a double nominee for Euphoria and The White Lotus was also a surprise. There was a ton of love for Severance as many of its nominees were seemingly on the fence for a nomination. Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult both got in for The Great, perhaps at the expense of the Black-ish stars. Other snubs in addition to Maid, Moore, Aniston, Brown and Anderson were Sarah Goldberg for Barry, Kenan Thompson for Saturday Night Live (SNL was an underperformer in general which is good because it often clogs up too much in the Supporting and Guest categories), Giancarlo Esposito for Better Call Saul (though that show finally got a nomination for Rhea Seehorn), Andie MacDowell for Maid, Under the Banner of Heaven in Limited Series and anything notable for Gaslit

Let the race begin!

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