Emmys: Nominations Mean Everything; Categories, Not So Much

It’s kind of funny to me that awards show coverage always leads with “[PROJECT] gets a stunning [NUMBER] nods!” I get that it’s a shorthand for how well-regarded a show is, if every possible category landed a nomination. But it’s also indicative of past Emmy discourse, a la “Why is The Bear A Comedy?” 

With 23 nominations in virtually every category, it’s safe to say that, along with Shōgun, The Bear is one of the Academy’s favourite series. Laugh or cry, you’re still coming back for every episode, and the fact that, in addition to the expected nods for Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Liza Colon-Zayas (hooray!), and the show itself for Best Comedy,  there are not one but several categories – Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Comedy Guest Actress, Comedy Guest Actor, and Directing for a Comedy – where The Bear is competing against itself. This will be a nailbiter in all of these categories, but especially Supporting Actor, where Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who’s already won once, is up against his castmate Lionel Boyce (Marcus). Is The Bear a comedy, in the same way as Abbott Elementary or (the criminally overlooked, if definitely extremely light) Girls5Eva? I don’t know. Maybe not. 

But can you think about the phrase “She can go f-ck, my love” without laughing? No? There you go.

It’s worth noting, however, that many of the shows we’re following most closely are in the same boat. Hacks is absolutely, undeniably hilarious, and it deals with thorny, dark actual real-life stuff, albeit not in The Bear’s cold blue-green filter that makes you feel like you might never be happy again. So does Only Murders In The Building. Yes, it’s undeniably goofy right from the title, but when Martin Short’s Oliver has to contemplate whether the love he’s found after so long is real or just another entertainment industry long con?  There’s real pain there, and we feel for him. Similarly, Selena Gomez finally gets an acting nod after three seasons of being the third part of a trio (and, as one of the shows Executive Producers, makes history as the most-nominated Latina producer in the Comedy category.) She’s not landing punchlines in the same way as the Martins – but also, that’s kind of the point of the show? Their humour is of their era, her humour is of hers, and we get to see both. 

However, of all the impossibly stacked categories, Lead Actress in a Comedy is gonna be a bloodbath no matter what. Quinta Brunson and her BFF Ayo Edebiri, Selena, Jean Smart, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig? Please. It’s going to make for amazing roundtable articles and videos, but no matter which way the votes go, they’re going to shut out someone deserving. It’s going to be messy. 

But maybe that’s the point. I would argue that the ‘messiness’ of the current categories means we’re learning to accept nuance in our shows – that comedies can have real feelings in them, and that dramas can make us laugh.   

In fact, nowhere is this more evident, and more curious, than in the nine nominations for Mr. and Mrs. Smith as a drama. On the one hand, it is absolutely a drama. It’s about (spoiler) spies, and they (spoilerrrrr) do bad things. But it’s also very hilarious, very often, and maybe gets away with extremely light moments because it’s supposed to be a drama?  

Then again, maybe it doesn’t matter. Both Maya Erskine and Donald Glover are in the ‘Comedy, sure, but mostly Stuff That’s Interesting’ pool of actors, and the five guest star nominations – Paul Dano, John Turturro, Sarah Paulson, Parker Posey, and Michaela Coel – all fit nicely in that archetype too; the double-threat of modern TV is nobody knowing which way your performance is going to go. It’s worth noting that while the lead actor/actress categories in comedy are both stuffed with the biggest shows of the moment, the lead actor/actress in a drama categories are more populated with, shall we say, legacy names? Donald Glover and the absolutely brilliant Maya Erskine might have a ghost of a chance? 

In short, it’s 2024, nothing is real anymore, and the ‘guest actor’ categories are just several bloodbaths waiting to happen (Colman vs. Curtis vs. Rudolph vs. Randolph? Are you kidding me?) 

But if we take away the tyranny of comedy vs. drama, we’re left with shows we love (and the slightly less arbitrary issue of length) – which is supposed to be the point of the Emmys. Let’s give in to what we all want, which is to love the stuff we love and worry less about what it’s supposed to be – and to delight in all the people we love together in one room, and whatever they’ll cook up to amuse us when the majority of them lose. But we, the viewers, win! 

Here is Selena Gomez leaving her Malibu rental home on the weekend.