This year’s Emmy nominations are out, so let’s dig into this. In a post-Peak TV world, it’s harder than ever for individual shows to capture the attention of an audience, never mind an awards body, which inevitably means that a lot of very good television will be snubbed.
In his introductory remarks, Television Academy Chairman and CEO Hayma Washington acknowledged an “across-the-board increase in entries”, otherwise known as Too Much Damn Television, before introducing the nominees.
Here are eight of this year’s biggest snubs and surprises.
The Leftovers
HOW? HOW THOUGH? How can you watch the final season of HBO’s stunning semi-apocalyptic drama and not think it’s one of the best things on television this year? This is easily the most critically beloved show not to receive even a single nomination—not for the show itself, not for Justin Theroux, and perhaps most shockingly, not for Carrie Coon’s revelatory performance. Coon and HBO both got nominations elsewhere, so the mind just boggles on this one.
Michael McKean, Better Call Saul
McKean’s meticulous work as Jimmy McGill’s beloved brother-turned-arch-nemesis Chuck has never been more impressive than it was this season, which culminated in a devastating arc for his troubled, troubling character. It’s especially wild that McKean was snubbed in favor of his co-star Jonathan Banks, who is consistently great but had a much slower season.
This Is Us
This doesn’t entirely qualify as a surprise—NBC’s tear-jerking, time-hopping family drama has been a remarkable breakout success story and was widely predicted to get plenty of Emmy love. But in an era where network television has been all but eliminated from the awards conversation as cable and streaming shows monopolize most major categories, it’s striking to see a new network drama sweep up 11 nominations, appearing in almost every category where it was eligible.
Mandy Moore, This Is Us
And yet, no love for Mandy Moore, a surprise since she has some of the most challenging emotional work out of the entire cast, and certainly deserves to be nominated alongside her co-star Milo Ventimiglia. Jack Pearson wouldn’t be half as powerful if he didn’t have Moore’s Rebecca to play off—the pair’s devastating fight in the finale alone should have been enough to get them both a nod.
Girls
It’s been a while since Lena Dunham’s endlessly divisive millennial comedy was truly buzzy, but it bowed out this year with a strong and occasionally exceptional final run of episodes. Even taking into account its jarring, time-jumping finale, this was one of the show’s more confident and surprising seasons, and the lack of any farewell nominations (aside from guest nods for Becky Ann Baker and Riz Ahmed) is unexpected.
Modern Family
But really though, who is still watching this show? Who? Even if people are still watching, does anyone genuinely think it’s one of the best comedies on television? Modern Family had a historic winning streak when it first began, winning five consecutive Best Comedy Emmys in a row (2010-2014), and though that reign is now over, it’s still clinging onto nominations, while more deserving contenders like Fresh Off The Boat, Speechless, Insecure, and The Good Place go unloved.
Insecure
While it's true Issa Rae's hilarious webseries-turned-HBO comedy offers a first-person perspective—a young Black woman navigating adulthood on her own terms—too-little represented in media, that's beside the point. Insecure is simply one of the funniest, most relatable shows on television right now, and its absence in the Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actress in a Comedy (for Rae), and Supporting Actress in a Comedy (for Yvonne Orji) categories is glaring. —Julie Kosin
Fleabag
Another example of an unapologetic woman trying (and occasionally failing) to get her life together, Fleabag, a magnetic six-part Amazon adaptation of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman stage show, guaranteed you'd be crying laughing one minute and sobbing for real the next. The Emmys missed its shot at awarding this rising talent, so hopefully that can be rectified for Season 2. —JK
