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With the announcement of the 72nd Primetime Emmy nominations earlier today, it's officially official: AWARDS SZN is here. The Emmys is always fun, as it truly highlights one of the mediums we're always invested in: television. Unlike film, TV has still been able to thrive during the 'rona, so we're still getting a great representation of the last year or so of TV.
This year didn't see huge surprises when it comes to the Emmys, but there are some interesting trends, snubs, and takeaways from this year's batch of nominees. From a new record for Black actors to a number of terrible snubs to how streaming services did, nomination-wise, here are the biggest takeaways from the 72nd Primetime Emmy nominations.
'Snowfall' out in the cold
It’s that simple, really. For a series like FX's Snowfall, which has continued to get better with each subsequent season, the lack of AWARDS SZN love for this series—which more than likely would’ve kicked off its fourth season sooner than later if it wasn’t for COVID-19—has been disheartening. Could it be racism? It’s possible. A series that shows how deep the government was in on the crack epidemic in California (and later, the world) might not be something Emmy voters even consider. But it sucks. Give Damson Idris and the entire cast and crew their flowers now. —khal
'What We Do in the Shadows': Big love for FX’s cult favorite
Now and again, the Emmys are capable of scaring up a surprise or two. So I was rather gobsmacked when the absurd vampires of FX’s What We Do in the Shadows ended up with eight total nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series and a staggering three(!) writing awards. Among those latter writing nominations is one for “On the Run,” better known as the now-infamous “Jackie Daytona” episode. Shadows elevated itself far beyond its original premise this season, proving it’s capable of expanding the world interestingly and hilariously. Yet even as Shadows blossomed, the show felt like it was a little too niche and therefore fated to be a cult classic. This certainly won’t be the case now, as the nominations have seemingly declared that the lovable Staten Island scamps are here to stay. Long may they reign. —William Goodman
#SuccessionHive, Baby!
It feels so good to be on the right side of history. Somewhere around the third or fourth week of Succession Season 2, it felt like we were watching a new classic season of television unfolding, and Brian Cox's evil, Proud Dad sneer-smirk as the final frame cemented it. Across 10 episodes we had insane runs like "Vaulter" through "Argestes" and thespian Jeremy Strong clinching his Best Actor nom with a simple, melancholy pressing of his forehead against plexiglass. Eighteen nominations, including Best Series, Best Actor for Strong and Cox, Supporting for Kieran Culkin, Nicholas Braun, Matthew MacFayden, and Sarah Snook, is what this great series deserves; Strong's deserving nomination was an inevitability but still a welcome surprise, because the Emmys love a snub. It could've gotten more, to be honest. Directing noms for "Hunting" ("Boar on the floor!") and the finale make sense, but how do you snub Ternhaven's dinner sequence which wrangled high theater and cohesion out of something like 15 different actors in one scene? How does the finale get the show's only writing num but Ozark gets three? Where’s the nomination for Gerri, dammit! Instead of being greedy though, we'll heed Logan Roy and just take the fucking money. Now we just need the wins. —Frazier Tharpe
Disney+ has entered the chat
After an exceedingly tumultuous start to 2020, Disney has finally gotten some good news. Disney+ offerings garnered a total of 19 nominations, 15 of which were for The Mandalorian—including a much-coveted Outstanding Drama series nom for the splashy Star Wars TV show. It’s a big statement for the eight-month-old streaming service, who outside of Hamilton’s release, has seen a lot of its promised 2020 content slip to later release dates. While there’s likely no chance the series will beat Succession for an Outstanding Drama win, Mandalorian’s inclusion amongst the other shows is likely to drive a bunch of new subscribers for the service or bring lapsed viewers back in to see what all the fuss is about. With the series primed to go deeper into some of the nerdiest parts of Star Wars lore for its second season, I’m not 100% confident we’ll see a repeat nomination again next go-round. Still, in a year where Disney has needed some significant victories, making this much noise out of the gate has got to feel pretty damn great. —William Goodman
Justice for Rhea
What more does Rhea Seehorn have to do? For the fifth time now, the Better Call Saul actress has been passed over for her excellent performance as Kim Wexler, a move that now feels, frankly, outright disrespectful. Seehorn was one of the best parts of Saul’s incredible fifth season and was full of moments wherein she once again elevated an already excellent performance into something exceptional. Emmy voters will have one more chance to fix their mistake when Saul airs its last season in the next year or two (depending on when ‘Rona allows for safe filming), but I’m highly skeptical they’ll give Rhea her kudos accordingly. All I know is that watching her in Season 5 was like watching Michael Jordan go for 63 points at the Boston Garden. Sure, MJ didn’t win, but his status as a legend only grew. I guess Rhea Seehorn will just have to settle for the same legacy. —William Goodman
Zendaya’s award to lose
The streets were already aligned on Zendaya and her commanding performance off of the strength of the eye-opening first series of HBO’s Euphoria. Zendaya, who before this was doing her thing in the most recent iteration of the Spider-Man series, but was mostly known for her work within the Disney world. On Euphoria, Zendaya uses all of her strengths to truly breathe life into Rue, a drug-addicted teen trying to navigate love and strife in a suburb quite like one many of you may have grown up in. The show actually deserved more nominations than it received, but Zendaya’s work, and what she means for the series, is more than enough to shoulder the full worth of Season 1 of Euphoria should she win. —khal
'Watchmen' in Limited, right where it belongs
We are firmly in the camp that Watchmen is perfect as it is and needn't go beyond the nine episodes we were given. So far, HBO agrees with us—and, ya know, creator Damon Lindelof—and placing the show in limited series versus drama should be a closed case on any Season 2 talks. You'd think. Recall that Big Little Lies won five Emmys in the Limited Series category, including Outstanding Limited Series, before hype led to a Season 2 being greenlit. Then recall that, while Season 2 has its peaks and highlights, the majority consensus is that it was an inferior and ultimately unnecessary addition. Hopefully whoever's calling the shots regarding Watchmen's future takes note. And hopefully Regina King and Damon Lindelof already have their statue spot picked out in the crib. —Frazier Tharpe
Black actors receive record nominations
Speaking of Regina King, she is among a number of Black actors who made an interesting impact this year: according to a report from Variety, this year's Emmys nominations featured a record number of Black nominees, to the tune of 34.3 percent of the nominees being Black. That includes Regina King, Sterling K. Brown, Issa Rae, Zendya, the leads from black-ish, Octavia Spencer, Kerry Washington, and many more.
To put this in perspective, the previous record number of Black nominees for the Emmys was in 2018, with 27.7 percent of the actors nominated being Black. In 2019, that number fell to 19.8 percent of the nominees being Black.
Keep in mind that this is only the beginning for proper inclusion; the majority of these nominations are in acting roles. Let's see some more Black writers and directors and such getting nominations as well!
Streaming overtakes traditional
For years, streaming platforms ’ overtaking of traditional television has been deemed imminent. Well, consider it officially arrived. The 72nd Emmy nominations gave us plenty to talk about, but the biggest story just may be the networks/services themselves with this year’s list marking the first time streaming has outdone its cable dependent brethren in total number of spots grabbed. Not quite a massacre, but definitely more than a subtle passing of the torch, the coalition of cord-cutters (AKA Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, and Apple TV+) landed four of the five noms in the category of Outstanding Limited Series, five out of eight in Outstanding Drama Series, and three more in Outstanding Comedy Series. Even HBO, whose name has long stood synonymous with quality and traditionally punched well above its weight when it comes to Emmy nominations proved no match for the production power of Netflix, losing a one-sided battle when all categories are added up.
Some are sure to argue only the wins will matter, and at the end, cable will prevail, but this still stands as the most notable shift of power in the television landscape, and a surefire sign that streaming is starting to get serious about the quality of their original content. —Nate Houston