Ken Jennings Is The Most Famous Jeopardy Player of All-Time… But Was He Ever The Best? (2800th Article)

 

 

I once tried to write a long book of the 100 greatest Jeopardy players of all time for many reasons but at the core was a simple one: I was never convinced even after Ken Jennings incredible run that he was the greatest Jeopardy player of all time.

Part of this was naturally due to the rule change. Jennings came on to the scene in Season 20 the year that Jeopardy lifted the five game limit for Jeopardy champions that had been present since the show debuted in 1984 and went back to the original program. As Alex Trebek himself once argued prior to the Ultimate Tournament of Champions: is it possible that had any of the other players prior to Jennings played with no limits they would have gone on as long as him or been better than him?

The former question will never be answered satisfactorily and honestly the UTC didn't really answer that question either. It proved one thing: Brad Rutter, the first playing to win a million dollars in a tournament, was a better player then Ken Jennings and that would be a constant on Jeopardy for the next fifteen years through the Battle of the Decades and the Jeopardy All-Star Games. It wasn't until the Greatest of All Time Tournament took place in January of 2020 that Jennings finally defeated Brad (and James Holzhauer who we'll get to) and after that he immediately retired from active play.

If we use the transitive property of Jeopardy tournaments, arguing that if Jennings beat other Jeopardy champions in a special tournament he was de facto their superior, we get an answer of sorts. Jennings was able to beat Jerome Vered out for second place in the UTC Finals but since he only played against him and Brad in that tournament that didn't prove much. Jennings was able to beat five other Tournament of Champions winners to get to the finals of the Battle of the Decades and they were pretty good ones:

 

Michael Falk, 2006 Tournament of Champions

Rachael Schwartz, 1994 Tournament of Champions

Tom Cubbage, 1989 Tournament of Champions

Russ Schumacher, 2004 Tournament of Champions

Chuck Forrest, 1986 Tournament of Champions

 

Of those five only Chuck gave him a hell of a scare in the semi-finals, in what was the only non-runaway victory he had during the semi-finals. When he got to the finals he was up against Brad and Roger Craig, who among other things had broken Ken's one-day record of $75,000 in his run. There were times in the finals where Roger had both Brad and Ken where he wanted them but in both cases going all in on a Daily Double beat him and he ended up losing to both.

The Jeopardy All-Star Games didn't give a conclusive answer. Ken did do better than Austin Rogers in the Jeopardy round of one game and Double Jeopardy round of another one and was considerably better than Ben Ingram and Julia Collins in both of those games as well.  Beyond that we can't really extend his ability as being better then many of the other players in that tournament very well because he was part of a team. In the finals he went up against Brad Rutter and Pam Mueller in the Jeopardy round of Game 1 and the Double Jeopardy round of Game 2. In Game 1 he actually was better than Brad for once but Team Brad ended up ahead of his team by the end of Game 1 and in Game 2 Brad annihilated Ken allowing himself a runaway. Pam Mueller, who is also an impressive Jeopardy player in her own right, was trounced on both occasions.

Brad was for nearly 20 years the only player in Jeopardy history who never lost a game (to a human). That streak wasn't continuous the same way Ken or any other super champion and essentially amounted to 29 consecutive victories over 19 years. It was always enough for me to consider Brad the greatest Jeopardy player of all time mainly because it led to him being the biggest money winner in Jeopardy history, a figure he still maintains to this day. If we exclude his defeats in both the GOAT and the 2025 Masters Tournament Brad won just over $4.5 million dollars going up against human competition.

And it's not like the players he was up against were exactly pikers. None of them may have been the caliber of Holzhauer or Schneider or even Matt Jackson or David Madden but by the time he got to the GOAT he'd beaten no less than seven other TOC winners to that point in addition to Roger Craig:

 

Million Dollar Masters

Bob Verini: 1987 Tournament of Champions

 

Battle of The Decades

Mike Dupee: 1996 Tournament of Champions

Mark Lowenthal: 1988 Tournament of Champions

Dan Pawson: 2009 Tournament of Champions

Leszek Pawlowicz: 1992 Tournament of Champions

Tom Cubbage: 1989 Tournament of Champions

 

Jeopardy All-Star Games

Colby Burnett: 2013 Tournament of Champions

 

His undefeated streak is actually more impressive because in two of these games he went into Final Jeopardy in a distant third and still managed to win. In the second of these in the Jeopardy All-Star Games both Pam Mueller and Alex Jacob humiliated him in the Double Jeopardy round of the Jeopardy All-Star Games.

Alex Jacob won the 2015 Tournament of Champions in dominant fashion and was superb against Brad in the Jeopardy round of Game 1 until Brad found the Daily Double very late in that round to take the lead.  Both Alex Jacob and Roger Craig had the better of Brad for much of their appearances on Jeopardy and the two of them are considered by their peers as among the most dominant players of all time despite each only winning six games in their original runs. In both cases Brad knew he was lucky to get past them and win.

It was for that reason I always considered Brad a better player then Ken. That being said I was always impressed by many of the players who reached double digits in the last six years of the post Trebek era. But I'm not sure I would ever have considered them at Ken's level even given their prowess in short runs. For one let's look at those players who reached 11 or more wins just for comparison with Ken.

 

Ken Jennings: $376,158

David Madden: $269,101

Arthur Chu: $297,200

Julia Collins: $231,310

Matt Jackson: $339, 411

Seth Wilson: $245,002

Austin Rogers: $394,700

Jason Zuffranieri: $332,243

 

Yes I left James Holzhauer's total out of the discussion in this case. I'll get to it below.

With the exception of Austin Ken was a better player than everyone else at this point in their run and as I mentioned Ken trounced Austin the Jeopardy All-Star Games and did the same to Julia Collins. Seth Wilson was on Julia's team along with Ben Ingram but Ken never played against him in competition. I suspect he knew what he was doing when he made Matt Jackson his first draft choice when picking his team and while Brad would chose David for his team, the two never competed. Arthur and Jason never got a chance to go against him, to the regret of millions like me who would have loved to see the two face off.

Of course as the GOAT played out Ken managed to beat James three times out of four while James beat Ken once. I do wish he'd stop ducking a rematch – and no autocorrect was involved there. (Jeopardy Masters humor.)

It's far tougher to make the argument Brad was better than any of these super-champions because he never faced off against any of them in the All-Star Games: for better or worse all of the double digit players in that tournament only ended up in competition with Ken Jennings or as part of his team or Brad's.  And considering how thoroughly James Holzhauer trounced Brad in the GOAT tournament there's no question that Holzhauer is by far better than Brad as well. Would Brad have done well had he faced off against so many of those super-champions? We may never know.

This brings me to the players in the post-Trebek era where the super-champions have come at a frankly ridiculous rate and because of that we may want to use bigger numbers. During the first fourteen years after Ken's run ended only one players Julia Collins, managed to win 20 games, which was the second place total for five years. Since 2019 six players have won 21 games or more including the reigning super-champion Jamie Ding. For that reason its worth looking at  Ken in comparison to the five players on the Leaderboard of Legends who are now directly below him with that many wins and see where they were at 21 because the results will surprise you. They certainly surprised me and I'm supposedly an expert.

Jamie Ding: $609,000

Cris Panullo: $748,286

Mattea Roach: $506,584

Amy Schneider: $806,000

Matt Amodio: $740,001

James Holzhauer: $1,608,627

Ken Jennings: $697,760

 

I first noticed just how much Ken was lagging behind so many of the all-time greats when I wrote about Cris Panullo nearly four years ago. That was a celebration of Panullo's greatness but I didn't think to compare it to Jennings. Now's the time to do just that.

That means looking at their track record when it comes to runaway victories to that same point in their run:

Mattea Roach: 16

Ken Jennings: 16

Cris Panullo: 17

James Holzhauer: 19

Matt Amodio: 17

Amy Schneider: 19

Combining these two factors increasingly makes it difficult to argue that Ken Jennings was better than any of the five people directly behind him in wins. So now let's ask the million dollar question (chump change to four of the players on this list, I know): are these five super-champions better than Ken Jennings?

Let's go one by one.

With Cris Panullo its clear he was more dominant a player in his original appearance both in terms of money won and runaway victories. The reason I can't speak with any real confidence is that Cris's postseason record is very short, having been humiliated in the 2024 Tournament of Champions.

With Mattea Roach, in terms of money won Ken is far better than them and dead even in terms of runaways. However we do have to consider the critical factor of their postseason record which is considerable. Roach won the exhibition match of the 2022 Tournament of Champions against Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio. And in the inaugural Jeopardy Masters Tournament they more then held their own. Mattea beat Amy twice and Matt once managed to get into the semi-finals of the Jeopardy Masters and while they never defeated Holzhauer they came this close to doing so in the final something Holzhauer acknowledged. Given their track record against so many players who were superior to them on paper, it doesn't take much conjecture to argue Mattea Roach could do just as well against Ken.

As for Jamie Ding who completed his run in fifth place in both games and money won we'll have to wait until the Tournament of Champions to see how it plays out. However considering that in his 31 games Jamie didn't even come close to a million dollars – a figure that Ken reached on his 30^th game – I'm inclined to ran Ken ahead of him at the present moment

If, when it comes to Mattea and Cris I can't speak with certainty and Jamie has yet to prove himself, then  with the three players directly behind Ken in wins there is absolutely no doubt in my mind. James Holzhauer, Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio are absolutely better players than Ken Jennings. It's not a difficult or close question.

Consider this odd bit of trivia that I only recently discovered. On their 28^th appearance in their original runs both Matt Amodio and Amy Schnedier passed $1 million in earnings. On his 27^th appearance James Holzhauer passed two million dollars in earnings.

It took Ken 30 games just to get to the million dollar mark. On his 38^th win he set the single day record for $75,000 but he was at $1,321,660. By that point Matt Amodio had won $1,518,601. Amy Schneider was basically tied with him at $1,307,200.

Ken after 40 games was at $1,353,461. Amy was at $1,382,800 when her streak ended, which means she's at least his equal but for reason I'll get to I think she's better.

With James Holzhauer the question of whether he was better than Ken is almost a moot point. On just his 32^nd game he had $2,462,216. Ken Jennings must have a generosity in spirit that I can't comprehend: if I were him I'd be sending a birthday card to Emma Boettcher every day for the rest of both their lives. (I wouldn't mind seeing her invited back for either an Invitational or Masters myself.)

So in their original runs all three of the players immediately behind Ken money won and games won are clearly better than him. And that's before you consider the postseason.

To repeat it took fifteen years for Ken Jennings to win a postseason tournament of anytime. Both James Holzhauer and Amy Schneider did so their first time out when each of them won the Tournament of Champions.  James Holzhauer had to defeat the only player to that point in history who'd ever defeated him to do so, Emma Boettcher and she made it very difficult for him. And while he may have lost the GOAT to Ken Jennings he did beat Brad Rutter and Ken once.

That was before he won the very first Jeopardy Masters in impressive fashion, though it did get tougher with each advancement. And despite losing the second Jeopardy Masters to Victoria Groce and Yogesh Raut, it doesn't change the fact that he did finish in third in the quarterfinals and had the highest score in the semifinals. Considering that put him ahead of the three former Masters that's impressive in its own way.

Amy has a different notch on her belt: she's the first player in Jeopardy history to win the Tournament of Champions in its new format of first to three wins. She did so against Andrew He and Sam Buttrey who would become Masters in their own right because of their performances. That's a more impressive triumph then James's in his victory even if she has never done as well as him in the Masters.

And while Matt Amodio has joked about his inadequacy in the postseason in the last few years, there's always been a certain amount of self-deprecation. He did manage to become the first active player to notch a win against James Holzhauer in the inaugural Jeopardy Masters and he did beat Amy Schneider and Mattea Roach quite a few times in that inaugural run even if he did finish first. And he did manage to win the second Jeopardy Invitational Tournament over by beating some pretty impressive players, among them Hannah Wilson and Roger Craig. That's still better than Ken's track record no matter how you slice it.

It's unlikely that Ken will ever deign to stop ducking a rematch and face off against the other challenger behind him, as he spent between 2005 and 2020 doing so with everyone else who came before him. But at this point in time its clear that while Ken may have won more games then anybody in Jeopardy history he was never the greatest Jeopardy player of all time. Brad Rutter had his number for fourteen years and James Holzhauer, Matt Amodio and Amy Schneider have proved it multiple times and will again. Perhaps someday soon, someone like Jamie Ding will add to that discussion and I think Ken can appreciate better than anyone if it did.

 

Better Late Than Never: The Pitt Season 2

 

When The Pitt debuted last February it immediately became a critical and popular sensation; the biggest success by far HBO Max had as a streaming service in its brief run. It became clear when it managed to upset Severance, which had been the overwhelming favorite for Best Drama and win five Emmys including Noah Wyle's well-deserved first Emmy after more than 3 decades in TV. It then swept all four of the remaining award shows for Drama with both the show and Wyle winning the Golden Globe, the Critics' Choice Award and the SAG-AFTRA award.

In addition to all of his other many virtues – incredible writing, directing and acting of course – I've come to think a huge part of the reason it has connected with so many people is the timing of its release. When Ted Lasso debuted at the end of 2020 it came out right at the time when America was exhausted with all of the meanness that seemed to be at every part of our lives. Here was a comedy that centered around a protagonist who was kind and dare I say lovable, an antidote to the Selina Meyer's and Larry David's that had been part of comedy for the 2010s. The Pitt debuted in February of 2025 three months after the election and America needed a show of competent professionals doing the best they could in an underfunded system that seemed determined to break them at every moment in a never ending rush. The Pitt more then delivered.

 Dr. Robby, the nurses, attendings and med students at The Pitt were dealing with what seemed to be an ordinary shift before a mass shooting changed everything. It was a real time format something that had not even been tried since 24 left the air but none of these people were Jack Bauer. And Rabby was clearly dealing with a deep-seated trauma that caused him to have a meltdown at the height of the mass casualty event. More importantly we saw in subtle ways and some less so that all of the other characters were dealing with their own problems – addiction to drugs, chasing a high and in a horrifying incident one of the nurses was assaulted by a patient. They had no time to deal with their problems; the shift just ate them alive.

 After twenty years of watching White Male Antiheroes who we spent entire series trying to justify their actions, I can't tell you how refreshing it was as a viewer to watch a group of flawed but basically good people trying to do the best they could in impossible positions. I'd noticed this trend going on earlier this decade in other dramas throughout TV -  Slow Horses and The Gilded Age had received Emmy nominations for Best Drama the previous year and the remake of Matlock had been one of the biggest critical and audience sensations of the 2024-2025 season – but The Pitt was by far the one that would resonate the most with viewers.

The question that no doubt everyone was thinking in the leadup to the February premiere was: what was The Pitt going to do to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump? The answer was surprising and after three episodes, it's something I haven't seen an Emmy winning drama try since Mad Men did back in 2008. It acknowledges the passage of time – it's now July 4^th, ten months since Season 1 – but while certain things have definitely changed about the hospital and characters, the viewer isn't truly aware of them at first. Even more fascinatingly it's not clear if the characters themselves are aware of it yet. 

It's Dr. Robby's last day before he goes on a long awaited 3 month sabbatical and he seems very eager to leave. The new doctor whose taking over him Dr. Al-Ashmi seems to be a good doctor but Dr. Robby seems very reluctant to interact with her and seems less than willing to engage with her new approaches to medicine. We don't have much time to deal with it because sure enough the senior hospices have dropped their refuge on the Pitt and were off.

Cassie (Fiona Dourif) is dealing with a patient who's responding badly when he has a wrist fracture and starts having memory loss. Each time she moves forward to a head CT. Mel (Taylor Dearden) starts talking to a friendly patient and gets pushed aside when he reveals he's an armed robber and she's already nervous about a deposition that's scheduled for later today. The always prickly Dr. Santos (Isa Briones) is called in to deal with an eight year old with an injury and notices a series of bruises that increasingly lead her to think abuse is involved. Dr. Whitaker (Gerran Howell) has clearly managed to walk away from the fresh faced med student who was being pissed on his first day and is now more capable of dealing with crises and leading med students of his own, even going so far as to lead a moment silence when a patient passes away. He also has to take the responsibility when his wife, suffering from intense dementia is incapable of remembering every time he tells him her husband is dead which is wrenching in its own.

Other familiar faces are back. Charge Nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) has come back for the first time since her assault as it talking another trainee through how to take care of messy patients. The most notable return is Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) on his first day back after completing ten months of rehab. Langdon does seem to have changed in his interactions with patients and staff but it’s a mixed response. Robby doesn't want to talk to him but Mel seems willing to listen.

Victoria (Shabana Azeez) the prodigal med student is now considering her specialty and is under pressure from her mother to choose surgery over emergency medicine. Dr. Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) seems upset that her mother is getting married to a man she barely knows. And the usual mix of cases are in: a baby has been abandoned in the sink; there's a car accident where the husband is paralyzed but treatable while the wife stays by her side causing them to delay treating was an injury to her spleen which needs an operation. An old Jewish woman is treated for burns and we learn that we just outside the Tree of Life synagogue just before the shooting started. She's being treated by a Muslim nurse – and this patient goes out of her way to thank the Muslims for all they did to help the community in outreach. (There will be more political storylines going forward.) And at the end of the third episode we learn that a hospital has closed to trauma and is about to dump its patients on the pit.

All of this is familiar and all of the actors do it well. And yet beneath the surface we sense the subtle changes.  Dana was the mama bear throughout Season 1; now she seems a bit punchier and less likely to stay still and listen, her barbs have just a bit more of an edge.  Mel, whose on the spectrum, seems just a bit more nervous about the deposition and we wonder how lonely she really is. Langdon is carrying the fact that everyone thinks he betrayed them a year ago and no one wants to look him in the eye.

Most worrying is Robby. In the third episode there's a motorcycle accident and he tells everybody that he always wears a helmet – which is a lie because the viewer saw him riding his motorcycle with no helmet at all. He seems less interested in talking through patient care and working together when he comes back and he's also avoiding the therapist. And when a patient dies he walks out. Whitaker asks about the moment of reflection. "He'll still be dead when we get back," Robby says without even looking back.

We know Robby never dealt with his trauma when we first met him and we remember that he was on the roof at the end of the first season. We saw just how judgmental he was when he learned of Langdon's addiction and he seemed to take it more personally. So far it doesn't seem to be affecting his job but Robby seems more detached then we first met him.

Earlier this week Season 2 of The Pitt got its first official award recognition when the Astras nominated it for twelve awards in drama. These included nominations for Wyle, Ball and LaNasa who've been nominated for a lot of awards after Season 1 and new faces like Dearden, Briones and Moafi. There will doubtless be more Supporting Actor and Actress nominations for the show in a month's time: the main reason they were so shortchanged is because The White Lotus and Severance essentially took up all the real estate in both categories, leaving room just for LaNasa who managed to win in what was a surprise to her. Last year it finished well behind those two series in total nominations but they're not going to be here this year. Wyle is looking like he will be the first actor since Bryan Cranston had his three-peat for Breaking Bad to win back-to-back Emmys and looking at the first three episodes, I'm having a hard time arguing he shouldn't.

After just two seasons imdb.com has currently ranked The Pitt the 39^th best show in TV history. Considering it has considerably more episodes then the average streaming or cable series these days that means more than you'd think. The Pitt is already establishing that it is one of the greatest shows of the decade. More importantly in an America that has becoming darker over the last decade, it's exactly the kind of series TV and indeed the country needs right now. I'm grateful for it.

My score: 5 stars.

My Reactions to the 2026 Astra TV Nominations, Conclusion: Outstanding Limited Series/TV Movie et al

 

The limited series/TV movie category is by definition always closest to what the Emmys can do. The Astras have limited (unintentional play on words) the number of nominees in this category to six over the last few years, which is as close to current lead up.

That said, the same quirks that are present throughout are often seen, most notably in 2024 when the Astras completely ignored Capote Vs. The Swans, which while it wasn't nominated for Best Limited Series received 12 other nominations in major categories. There's nothing quite as egregious here but there are still some striking omissions and inclusions.

 

OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

Five of the six nominated series will likely be major contenders: All Her Fault, Season 2 of Beef, Half Man, DTF St. Louis and The Beast in Me. The odd one is that The Girlfriend is present rather than Love Story, though it was nominated by the Critics Choice Award for better Limited Series

I'll pass over TV Movie save to say that Remarkably Bright Creatures is already one of the major front-runners and will likely be a possibility in some of the Emmy nominations down the road.

 

LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE CAST ENSEMBLE

Obviously I can't fault them for the nominations for Beef or All Her Fault. The Girlfriend makes sense under their arguments and because Mike, Nick, Nick & Alice is here for TV movie I get that.

I do question Lord of The Flies and Something Very Bad is Going to Happen being here ahead of DTF St. Louis and Love Story. Half Man is far more of a two man show so that's not surprising and Love Story was a coin toss.

 

ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE

Carey Mulligan, Claire Danes, Sarah Pidgeon and Sarah Snook are absolutely going to be fighting it out for Best Actress in the Emmys. I can see the argument for Sally Field for Remarkably Bright Creatures.

I do, however, question Camila Morrone being here for Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen ahead of either Robin Wright or Olivia Cooke for The Girlfriend. Considering Wright was nominated for a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award, this is a striking omission.

 

ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES

Credit where its due: Charlie Hunnam isn't her for playing Ed Gein, despite having been nominated for the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award. Indeed the third season of Monster has no presence at all. I really hope the Emmys follow that.

Richard Gadd, Oscar Isaac, Paul Anthony Kelly and Matthew Rhys are basically locks for Emmy nominations. Lewis Pullman is a dark horse for Remarkably Bright Creatures. I have no idea what the Emmys will do for Riz Ahmed in Bait. We'll have to see. But no notes on this one.

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES

Linda Cardellini is here for DTF: St. Louis. Dakota Fanning will be attending with her sister as a co-nominee as she's nominated for All Her Fault. Callie Spaeny and Youn Yuh-Jung are both here for Season 2 of Beef. And Grace Gummer is in the hunt for playing Caroline Kennedy in Love Story.

Brittany Snow being here for The Beast of Me is an interesting choice. It's possible like Michelle Pfeiffer and John C. McGinley she's double dipping but having seen Beast In Me I know that Snow's work is generally excellent. I might have preferred to see Naomi Watts here instead but Snow's a decent choice and maybe the Emmys will have room for both. Good.

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE

David Harbour and Jason Bateman are both deservedly here for DTF: St. Louis. Jamie Bell is here for Half Man as he should be. Jake Lacy is here for All Her Fault and Charles Melton for Beef.

I'll confess to being slightly surprised to see Troy Kotsur here for Black Rabbit but considering that the show has no other presence her (Bateman was not nominated for Best Actor) I'm basically okay. Besides I'm honestly not sure who my sixth pick will be in a few months' time.

 

DIRECTING IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE

All Her Fault, Beef and DTF St. Louis more than deserve it and I can see the logic for Remarkably Bright Creatures. I could hem and haw about Something Very Bad and The Girlfriend being here instead of Half Man or Beast in Me but honestly The Girlfriend did have good direction and Half Man's strengths are not technical.

 

WRITING

Here I am somewhat annoyed not to see Half Man considered for Best writing and to see Something Very Bad here. All the other nominees are from directing, save Bait which was nominated for writing instead. And honestly given the description of the series I really can't fault the Astras for choosing it.

 

So I'm okay with ninety percent of the nominees. I'm a little annoyed by Something Very Bad doing so very well but considering that four of my choices for Best Limited Series have done best by the Astras and that even the fifth has done better then some of the previous Ryan Murphy series, I'm basically okay. And honestly if The Girlfriend had gotten some acting nominations I might be happier.

 

The remainder of the nominations I have no real skin in the game. I still don't care about reality series, competition or otherwise my interest in talk or variety faded along time ago and I have no real interest in animation, at least group. That said there are some ephemera that I am happy about.

As a Jeopardy fan I take pleasure in seeing both Celebrity Jeopardy All-Stars and Pop Culture Jeopardy nominated for Best Game Show. Several of the documentary TV movies this past year gave me immense enjoyment in different ways and I was thrilled to see Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man and Mariska Hargitay's My Mom Jayne both nominated. And I'm thrilled to see Nikki Glaser nominated for Best Standup or Variety special and I truly hope the nomination for The Muppet Show convinces somebody to make it more than a one-off. (Or maybe I want to see Kermit the Frog give an acceptance speech, which would be awesome.)

The Astra TV Awards are scheduled to be held Saturday August 15^th. I will be back in late August with my predictions and hopefully I can actually see it this year.

I will be back with more on at least one of Phase 3 of Emmy Watch which I've missed sometime next week. Thanks for reading.

Half Man Final Analysis When Toxic Masculinity Looks Like In Two Different People

 

Spoilers for Half Man below

Watching Half Man, without question one of the best shows of 2026, two different thoughts occur to me. On a creative level Richard Gadd has with this follow-up series to Baby Reindeer established himself as one of the unquestioned breakout talents of this decade as a creative force and a rival to such other current masters as Vince Gilligan and Noah Hawley for sheer genius in writing. And on a thematic level it proves to me at least why Adolescence struck me as a derivative story that had nothing really interesting to say about the subject of toxic masculinity while Half Man actually does have something to say and unlike the latter series, doesn't shy away from every aspect of it: the filthy sexual talk, how much it filters down at every conceivable level and most horrifyingly the reality of the violence, something Adolescence never even hinted at.

Richard Gadd's work as Rueben is extraordinary. Buffed up, with every sentence out of his mouth the kind of braggadocio and sexist talk, groping men's genitals through their clothes, with violence in every moment about him, talking what makes a man a man you could see Rueben as a living, breathing incarnation of any of those from who we consider part of 'the manosphere'. And all the more astonishing because the show begins in the late 1980s and ends in 2014 when the truly toxic portions of that subculture were barely known beyond the cultures of the dark web.  Gadd's Rueben is a living, breathing argument that the problems with masculinity starting long before the internet even existed and have always been there beneath the surface.  If he's not able to give a real explanation at any level as to how Rueben got that way, that's not a flaw considering how much of our culture is just as uninterested in dismissing their problems even in a far less politically correct era and an area of the U.K. that would have been more disinclined to ignore.

What's all the more remarkable is how Gadd makes it clear that at every level Niall is the other side of Rueben, a young man who is perpetually bullied as a teenager and is so filled with self-loathing about his homosexuality that as the world becomes more accepting of it, he feels more determined to hide it – and not from those around him, who make it clear that they all know but from himself. After his college relationship with Alby ends in Rueben's horrific beating of the young man, an event that eventually leads Reuben to prison, Niall seems more determined to hide his true self, having sex with men in the library where he works trying to self-publish novels, then ended up marrying and even impregnating Joanna and using money to engage in conversion therapy. Considering all the horror stories we've heard about in America over the 21^st century, there's something rather shocking about a man at that same time voluntarily deciding to engage in it rather than face who he is.

Niall and Reuben both have a deep-seated self-loathing: Reuben takes out his rage on those around him but Niall punishes himself. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about Half Man is how openly Niall's mother  seems to prefer Rueben to her own son, despite the fact of his clear sexual preferences which mirror her own. She's never physically abusive to him in the series but at every level we can see a kind of emotional abuse that began in his childhood and has always been there.  Gadd never has her state it directly but its possible she sees Niall as a living, breathing embodiment of her experiments to be part of 'normal society' and she has been taking it out on him ever since. She always seems more interested in her relationship with Rueben's mother then anything Niall does and the fact that she essentially wants to bully him into perjuring himself as his trial is telling. The fact that Mona has cancer is something of a beard: she cares more about her lover then her son's well-being.

Even as Niall mentally degenerates to the point of having to be institutionalized she seems to think less of his emotional well-being. She doesn't bother to tell him Rueben's been released from prison and she hides from him that she's been borrowing money from him all this time to pay for her sons wellbeing at any level. She clearly thinks her son doesn't deserve any respect and has no problem arguing he's got no gifts.

Our sympathies should be with Niall but the moment Jamie Bell starts playing him as an adult we see him as a needy little man who can't get over the fact Rueben is doing so well after getting out of prison. He's worn himself into an emotional panic and insanity sure that Rueben would go after him even when he was behind bars and when Rueben basically chooses to ignore him and even help him financially, this actually enrages him even more then if he'd chosen to take revenge. He eventually stalks him on social media, finally going to his home and is outraged to see Rueben is doing well financially and has married his childhood sweetheart (who as we saw took Niall's virginity) The best thing for Niall to do would be just to walk away but the two are drawn together like magnets.

By the penultimate episode Niall seems determined to destroy Reuben and take away everything he does. When Rueben asks for the money back he lent him years ago Niall takes it as a sign of him bullying him again, while ignoring the fact he used the money he was supposed to return for the ill-fated conversion therapy.  Reuben is angry because Mona wants to take dance classes mainly because he thinks she's cheating on him. Niall starts hanging out with her and basically says she should, pushing her. Niall then gets Mona drunk, learns that Rueben has fertility problems (which for a man who cares so much about being a provider is a blow to his masculinity). After that he deliberately tells Reuben that's he going to be a father which is clearly to goad him. Eventually Rueben explodes at her and it's only through intervention that Niall stops him from going to back to prison – after which he and Mona have sex on the kitchen floor. When Niall learns Mona has been cheating on Rueben with someone from dance class, it's not clear what bothers him more than Rueben was right or that she doesn't seem bothered about having sex with her brother-in-law. Niall then seems determined to tell Rueben what happened just so he can piss him off – and then he learns not only has Reuben lost his job as an oil-rigger because of his violence but he needed the money back because he has told Mona he's lost everything.  Niall's reaction is to have sex with a male prostitute – and then when Reuben comes back and demands to know the meaning of a voicemail, he takes the blame away from himself. This leads to Reuben going to the home of the man Mona was having an affair with – and basically beating him nearly to death just as Niall arrives.

The series finale plays all of these things out in a horrible fashion. Niall has finally achieved literary success by making a fictionalized version of Reuben's behavior and yet it's only Reuben that anyone's interested in. Reuben is back in prison now for the second assault and by this point Mona's had a child – but she has no idea who the father is.  She's ended up backing in Rueben's orbit which paralyzes hum further.

Rueben is now addicted to cocaine and is regularly going to bathhouses where it’s the only place he can confront his sexuality. After one of them he ends up at Mona's deathbed where's she finally passing and he ends up vomiting on her. Reuben is allowed out on compassionate release but not before he makes it clear he hates that he's been robbed of everything.

During this period Niall reencounters Alfie who's recovered and has even become a nurse. Niall is still in such denial he can't even acknowledge his sexuality on a hospital form. Even after admitting he immediately goes to another bathhouse and this time everything goes wrong. He crashes into a police car where someone who recognizes him takes photos and sends to his agent. This all happens on the day of Mona's funeral which he shows up late to and can't get through without cocaine.  Rueben ends up giving a eulogy in which he acknowledges his horrible failures, including that his mother was never proud of him and that he knew he'd failed her. He wanted to apologize.

Even at her funeral all Niall cares about is keeping his secrets which are really about him. When he finally goes to see Alfie after everything that happens he admits why he's terrified to come out – he's afraid of what Rueben will think.

Its in the penultimate scene of the series where the biggest conversation comes out and its behind prison walls. Niall finally confides his greatest secret – and Reuben tells him he's always known, ever since they were kids. When Niall tries to argue how much Reuben's talk affected him Reuben says "I'll accept ten to fifteen percent of the blame. No more. The real homophobe, it was you."

And its there Reuben gives his biggest secret about his father, how the beatings were the best of it and in fact he was sexually abused. Because there was some part of it that almost seemed to enjoy he has spent his entire life unable to accept who he is and has been acting out ever since. This is a variation on the story Gadd told us that affect Danny in Baby Reindeer but in his case we see a man who has spent his entire life acting out. The title 'half man' comes from what he's felt himself as..

It's at this moment of pure honesty that Niall and Reuben are by the far most open: they reveal that they hated each other's mothers, all the things they've done – and Niall lets slip he had sex with Mona. This explains why Niall knows why Rueben has come – at the start of the episode he promised he was going to kill the man who was responsible for keeping him away from his mother all these years and he came back to just that.

And in the final moments we see him do that. Reuben rapes Niall and suffocates him, and despite his biggest struggles Niall ends up dead. We also know Reuben will die of his wounds

Gadd admitted this ending would be polarizing to viewers but from the moment this story began the viewer knew it couldn't end with both of them alive.  Throughout the ceremony Reuben said of Niall Kennedy "He knows what he wants and he takes it." As we've seen throughout the series that's exactly what Niall has done. He's seen Reuben as the cause of all of his suffering when it was at most 10 to 15 percent and he has spent the second half of the series taking as much of what Reuben had as he could. Some of it Reuben did by himself but as we saw throughout the series Niall has done everything he can to push Reuben there, directly or indirectly.  The only thing Niall could take from Reuben was his life and he manages to do just that - even though it kills him in the end.

Half Man is not an easy watch by any means; Baby Reindeer seems like a feel-good romp almost in comparison. But it is a necessary one and it more than demonstrates that maybe there is no such thing as toxic masculinity. Perhaps just the idea of masculinity can be toxic for men to embrace. Niall and Reuben are two sides of the same coin, two men who each destroy their own lives. In Reuben's case he takes his aggression out on the world; in Niall's he takes it out entirely on himself and in both cases it leads to other wreckage. The sad part is by the end of the series Niall says that Reuben is the only person in the world that fully understands him, the best and worst thing that's ever happened to him. And Reuben agrees.

Half Man will be a major contender for Emmys in a few months' time but I can't say whether it deserves to win. There have been many strong limited series over the 202-5-2026 season. I still believe All Her Fault deserves to win and I could argue just as strong for Love Story.  Season 2 of Beef and The Beast In Me are likely to be the other major contenders and while I haven't finished either both are more than formidable.

I can't say whether Richard Gadd deserves to repeat for Best Actor; this is already a formidable field which includes Matthew Rhys,  Oscar Isaac and Paul Anthony Kelly all of whom are more than deserving. I do believe Jamie Bell, who has submitted himself for Best Supporting Actor even though he's technically a co-lead, probably should win in that category although at this point my personal preference remains Jake Lacy for All Her Fault. (Lacy portrays a different and more frightening kind of toxic paternal and fraternal figure.)

And Half Man truly needs to be applauded for targeting several subjects that are difficult viewing and that our society is still struggling with even now. And it is a truly more realistic portrayal of violence among males in a way that Adolescence for all its technical marvels refused to. Adolescence struck me as false because it only told us the consequences and never showed us the brutality. Half Man shows us the consequences in more detail then the viewer may be comfortable with but that is necessary that we as a society look at if we are try to understand the lost lives of Reuben and Niall.

Final Score: 5 stars.

My Reactions to the 2026 Astra TV Nominations. Part 2: Drama

 

 

First of all the first major awards show that has to deal with Season 3 of Euphoria is not particularly high on it. It has a presence, probably more nominations it deserves but the Astras don't seem to like it much more than their critics or the fans do. For this relief much thanks.

We also see no real presence for Knight of The Seven Kingdoms the most recent and exceptionally acclaimed series from Game of Thrones. Ditto Industry The Morning Show or more strangely Slow Horses.  And there is a certain bizarre disconnect between what series are nominated for Best Drama and those that receive the majority of the acting and other nominations.

So what is here?

 

DRAMA SERIES

 

The Diplomat, The Pitt, Paradise and Pluribus are almost certainly going to be nominated. Heated Rivalry is ineligible.

Of the remaining five From is an intriguing show that has never been able to break in. The Boys has managed a presence before but its final season has been polarizing among both critics and fans and its series finale underwhelming. Outlander has never been able to make much headway at the Emmys.

Landman was nominated by the SAG-AFTRA and other critics groups but to this point Taylor Sherdian's shows have never been able to make an imprint at the Emmys. I'd really like to see High Potential nominated for Emmys but I think Matlock has a better chance. I'm shocked that there's so little presence by HBO here: not just Euphoria but also Task and The Gilded Age. That doesn't mean they're not going to be recognized, see below

 

BROADCAST NETWORK ENSEMBLE

Can't argue about High Potential, Matlock or Will Trent. Grey's Anatomy and 9-1-1 are perennial presences here. I'm kind of surprised to see Marshals here but I guess that's the Taylor Sheridan effect.

 

CABLE DRAMA

Seriously? Euphoria over The Gilded Age and Task? Then again they did nominate Welcome to Derry so I shouldn't complain that much. From and Outlander were listed above.

I really do think The Audacity deserves to be considered for nominations and will be advocating for it in my predictions in the weeks to come. I'd have preferred either Dark Winds or Dexter: Resurrection to The Beauty.

 

STREAMING ENSEMBLE

Paradise, The Pitt and Pluribus deserve to be here. The Boys and Stranger Things are odd choices over Slow Horses. I don't know about Landman.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Sterling K. Brown, Noah Wyle, Gary Oldman and Mark Ruffalo are locks for nominations. Walton Goggins was nominated by the Emmys for Fallout for Season 1 and could repeat. Billy Bob Thornton has received nominations from the Golden Globes for Landman.

Sam Heughan has little chance of being nominated for Outlander and Antony Starr has less for The Boys. Billy Magnussen for The Audacity is another story: there has been a lot of buzz for his performance and the Emmys do have a habit of nominated lead actors from AMC series. I think he has a better chance than perennial favorite of mine Ramon Rodriguez for Will Trent.

Decent group. I could argue for Harold Perrineau for From but basically fine.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Kathy Bates, Rhea Seehorn and Keri Russell have been nominated by every awards show group at the end of 2025 and Carrie Coon was nominated for Season 2 of The  Gilded Age. Zendaya may still be able to carry over for Season 3 of Euphoria though her odds of a three-peat are dropping like a stone.

In descending order of likelihood Ella Purnell might get in if there's enough momentum for Fallout: she's been a force in TV during the 2020s and deserves recognition. Olson might be able to get in if there's enough of a push for Hacks and Michelle Pfeiffer could pull it out for double dipping as well. Chase Infiniti's presence depends just how much the Emmys wants to honor The Handmaid's Tale anymore and given how it dropped off the map for its final seasons I think the answer might be know. Angela Bassett deserves recognition but I don't think she'll ever get it.

I'm slightly surprised Helen Mirren isn't here for Mobland but maybe the Golden Globes were an anomaly.

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Billy Crudup and Tom Pelphrey have been among the few constants in the awards in the end of year awards. Patrick Ball will probably be for The Pitt and James Marsden deserves to repeat for his work in Paradise. Zach Galifinaakis has now received his second award nomination for The Audacity which means he will likely be considered. Shawn Hatosy has decided to go for Best Supporting Actor for The Pitt and considering he won as Best Guest Actor last year I think he'll carry over.

Personally I would love to see Jason Ritter considered for Matlock or Bill Skarsgard for recreating Pennywise in Welcome to Derry. I think Jack Lowden has a better chance of getting nominated then either Jamie Campbell Bower or Jensen Ackles. Why are they here instead of Lowden? Who knows?

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

The Pitt gets a lot of love, deservedly. Katherine LaNassa and Taylor Dearden strike me as lock with Isa Briones next. I'm less sure of Sepideh Moafi at this point.

Alison Janney was robbed of a nomination last year for The Diplomat; the Emmys will make it right this year. Christine Baranski is a shoo-in for The Gilded Age as she was nominated for Season 2. I'd like to see Emilia Jones considered for Task.

I have to say I'm disappointed to see neither Kristin Scott Thomas for Slow Horses, Skye P. Marshall for Matlock, Julianne Nicholson for Paradise or Karolina Wydra here for Pluribus. I'll grant the considerable talent of Alfre Woodard, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Rebecca Hell (here for The Beauty) but these are superior choices. Still it's a good list and I'm glad not to see any presence from Euphoria in either supporting category.

 

GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Eric Dane is clearly here for the sentimental vote for Euphoria. Bradley Whitford will almost certainly be nominated for The Diplomat. Giancarlo Esposito has been nominated for The Boys before.

The rest of the nominees are question marks. Paul Reiser may not get nominated for anything; Bill Pullman has little chance for The Boroughs. As for Macaulay Culkin for Fallout, you never know.

 

GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Shailene Woodley is the frontrunner at the Emmys for Paradise and I'm glad to see Miriam Shor for Pluribus. I'm always glad to see Kieran Shipka nominated for anything and her work in Industry was superb. Isabella Rosellini was magnificent in The Beauty. I'll withhold comment on Tai Anderson till I see her work and I'm not sure if Elisabeth Moss can carry over to The Pitt.

 

DIRECTING AND WRITNG

Paradise, Pluribus, The Pitt and The Diplomat are nominated in both categories and will likely contend in both. Now to break it down for those in separate categories

Task will be contending for writing and having seen The Audacity I think it deserves to as well. The Gilded Age deserves to contend for direction as do Welcome to Derry and Fallout. If The Boys earns a major nomination it will be for directing. It's conceivable Industry will contend for writing. Much as I'd like to see High Potential in the hunt for directing or writing, I doubt it will. From and The Testament will likely contend for nothing and just as like 9-1-1 and Will Trent will come up short. Euphoria is nominated for nothing in either category which is correct and neither is Slow Horses which is wrong.

 

In the Book to Screen category we see A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms and The Testaments. This is the only nomination the former series got at all from the Astras. Whether that means the Emmys will similarly shaft it remains unclear but it is worth noting that the Astras have been kind to House of The Dragon in its two previous seasons, so the fact they've ignored a series that many feel is superior is striking.

How much this tells us about what the Emmys will do is unclear after the nominations. Its worth noting that Season 4 of The Morning Show has essentially been shutout by the majority of the other awards shows leading up to the Emmys save for Crudup. This group has given an official boost to The Audacity that it didn't have and perhaps for Matlock. Everything else pretty much falls along the pattern of expected. The Astras have never been fans of Slow Horses at any time, so Oldman's nomination is actually an outlier.

And the fact that the biggest contenders on HBO for nominations didn't get nominated for Best Drama while an HBO Max series that is ineligible did, is just another sign of how the Astra beat to their own drum. Again I tip my hat. Don't always agree with them, can't stay mad at them.

 

Tomorrow I'll wrap things up with Limited Series/TV Movie and any other ephemera I consider useful.

 

Emmy Watch 2026 Phase 3 Continues - The 2026 Astra TV Nominations Never Cease To Awe Me Part 1: My Reactions to Their Nominations for Comedy

 

At this point in my career I believe the two best groups when it comes to recognizing TV are the Critics Choice Awards and the Astra TV Awards, formerly known as the Hollywood Critics Association. The latter still has a slight edge because while it continues to evolve away from its pattern it still acknowledges fairly evenly network, cable and streaming as equal forces when it comes to great TV. In the last couple of years they have been moving away from recognizing them individually but that doesn't make them any less superb when it comes to overall recognition.

Today they gave their annual set of nominations and for the sixth consecutive year I continue to be in awe of how well they recognize not just the best shows on TV but also quite a few that might otherwise fall under the radar of the viewer or might not get recognized by the Emmys. They have their quirks and foibles to be sure, but like the Critics Choice Awards, they get far more right in the nominations and awards then they do wrong and to this point they have as good a track record as both the Critics Choice and the Golden Globes.

Because they nominate so many shows, actors and unlike other award shows writing and directing I've always given multiple articles to assess each group. Before I would break them down between broadcast/cable and streaming, now its easier to do it the same way I do every other awards show: comedy, drama and limited series. There are also some other awards they give that have overlap as well as miscellaneous and I'll deal with them in the final entry.

Since this is the first official awards to deal with the 2025-2026, as opposed to almost every other awards show which basically only deal with 2025, the Astras are the first awards show that may give the first complete picture of what shows the Emmys might nominated in just over a month's time. Some of them the Emmys will almost certainly ignore because of their own prejudices; others they might very well be forced to take a certain look at. So let's take a look at the nominations and see the shows that are already favorites and the ones that, with these nominations, might be enough to get them over the hump.

This time I'll start with comedy.

 

COMEDY SERIES

Bill Lawrence has a big presence here with three nominations. I'm happiest by far for Scrubs being nominated but I'm also overjoyed for Shrinking and Rooster, which I might get too.

Abbott Elementary, Hacks and Margo's Got Money Troubles will all be among the major contenders for nominations and awards. Elsbeth is a dark horse, but as with the Critics Choice Awards its doing well with nominations. I Love LA is a long shot and frankly I'm surprised it was nominated over The Comeback. Ted has no realistic chance.

The Hunting Wives has been getting some buzz in the last few weeks since Netflix decided to treat it as a comedy. However I'm pretty sure some other shows will get in over it.

 

NETWORK COMEDY ENSEMBLE

No surprise seeing Abbott Elementary and Ghosts here; they've been getting nominated in this category since they debuted. Glad to see Scrubs and St. Denis Medical here. Odd to see Best Medicine treated as a comedy and Shifting Gears. Almost expected Reggie Dinkins to be here but a good group

 

CABLE COMEDY ENSEMBLE

Rooster, I Love LA and The Chair Company are here. The Comeback isn't which is a big shock. I'd like to see if MGM+ superb American Classic could make it and The Lowdown deserves discussion. Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia is always going to be the bridesmaid.

 

STREAMING COMEDY ENSEMBLE

Here are Hacks, Margo's and Shrinking. In case you were wondering where Nobody Wants This and Only Murders in the Building were when it came to outstanding comedy, here they are in streaming. You know what isn't here?

Season 4 of The Bear. The fact that the Astras chose to nominate the just cancel Gen V over The Bear is incredibly telling. As you'll see below The Bear was all but ignored by the Astras in the nominations. This is the second major group to all but ignore a show that just two years ago was the most nominated show at the Emmys. We may debate whether The Bear is a comedy or a drama but my fellow critics on one thing: it's not worth their nominating any more. I don't know if the Emmys will do the same this year; but this is another red flag as to just how much its fallen in less than two years.

 

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Four of the most likely nominees for Best Comic Actress are here, maybe even five. Jean Smart of course, Selena Gomez, Quinta Brunson and Lisa Kudrow. Jenna Ortega, who was nominated for the SAG Awards and the Golden Globes for Wednesday is here – but its notable that show wasn't nominated for Best Comedy Series. Elle Fanning is here for Best Actress for Margo.

Who isn't here? Ayo Edebiri for The Bear or Kristen Bell for Nobody Wants This, both of whom were nominated for Emmys last year. Who is here: Carrie Preston for Elsbeth, who has already been nominated for a Critics Choice Awards. Malin Akerman and Brittany Snow for The Hunting Wives. Akerman has received a nomination from the Gotham TV Awards. Rachel Sennott for I Love LA and Keke Palmer for The Burbs.

Overall I can't fault most of the nominations. I might have wanted Bell in for Palmer or Sennott but this basically covers most of my major contenders.

 

ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

THEY NOMINATED ZACH BRAFF FOR SCRUBS! (Deep breath) I mean I know he doesn't have a huge chance but THEY NOMINATED HIM OVER JEREMY ALLAN WHITE. I love the Astras and not just for this.

Steve Martin and Martin Short are here, as they've always been. So's Adam Brody and Jason Segel. And I've overjoyed that two of my other dark horses are nominated: David Alan Grier for St. Denis Medical and Ethan Hawke for The Lowdown. Either of them probably have a better chance getting nominated than Braff, if I'm being honest: both have received nominations from other critics groups.

And there is superhero recognition: Yahya Abdul-Matteen II is here for Wonder Man and John Cena is back for Peacemaker.

No notes.

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Harrison Ford the out and out favorite this year is up for Shrinking as is Ted McGinley his co-star. Paul W. Downs present for Hacks as is Tyler James Williams for Abbott Elementary. Thrilled to see Nick Offerman here for Margo; overjoyed to see John C. McGinley here for Rooster, along with Phil Dunster and Donald Faison for Scrubs. Fine with Daniel Radcliffe here for Reggie Dinkins.

My one note is that Josh Hutcherson is here for I Love LA. I would have preferred Timothy Simons for Nobody Wants This or Michael Urie for Shrinking or even Andrew Scott for The Comeback. Still a good group and I suspect many of the Emmy nominees will be here.

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Much as I hate Hannah Einbinder for her opinions I still love her work in Hacks and I'm glad she's her. At least four of the nominees here are locks: Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James for Abbott Elementary; Michelle Pfeiffer for Margo's and Jessica Williams for Shrinking.  I'm overjoyed that Sarah Chalke is here for Scrubs.

The other four nominees are an interesting group. Charly Clive and Danielle Deadwyler for Rooster; Emma Myers for Wednesday and Odessa A 'Zion for I Love La. Again no one from The Bear is here as is no one from Nobody Wants This or Only Murders.  Some of the nominees in this category may start to rise.

 

GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Jamie Lee Curtis is the only nominee for The Bear. How the mighty have fallen. Kaitlin Olson and Cherry Jones are on the rise for the final season of Hacks. Taraji P. Henson has been here before for Abbott. I'd love to see Christina Ricci nominated for anything. Amy Sedaris is a long shot for Elsbeth but you never know.

 

GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

John C. McGinley double dips and in the best way for Scrubs. He will be competing against two greats for Shrinking: Brett Goldstein and Michael J. Fox and Christopher McDonald, the perennial bridesmaid for Hacks. Can Elijah Wood get nominated for playing himself? Hey Ryan Gosling, is for hosting SNL

 

DIRECTING AND WRITING

First the overlaps: Abbott Elementary, Hacks, Only Murders in the Building, Rooster, Shrinking, Ghosts, Ted and Gen V. The first four are almost certainly going to dominate both categories at the Emmys, the latter three no chance of nod either.

Elsbeth, Scrubs and The Comeback are all nominated in the writing category. The latter two have a chance of getting nominated as they in previous years even it was decades ago. Elsbeth's chances are dim, but not impossible. As for directing Wednesday might get a nomination but I'm less confidence about The Lowdown.

I should also mention two of these series were nominated in other categories: Margo's Got Money Troubles was nominated in the brand new Book to screen category and Seth McFarlane is nominated for lead voice over performance for Ted.

 

OVERALL REACTION

Aside from how thoroughly skunked The Bear was, the biggest omissions relatively are The Comeback and Nobody Wants This. I honestly thought they'd do much better. I'm shocked how well I Love LA and more positively how Scrubs did. But these are the reasons I love the Astras.

Palm Royale, which was a major Emmy figure for its first season was shutout for Season 2 (before it was cancelled). A foreshadowing? We'll see it

 

Tomorrow I'll deal with Drama which I'm mostly happy with even though…well, you'll see.