Emmy Watch Phase 2 Concluded

 

Well life has been busy for me and this column the last month so I have spent the last few weeks basically ignoring the results of so many of the awards for television that will no doubt be a factor in the Emmy nominations in the next few months. However since we are now approaching the conclusion of the truncated 2023-2024 season, I think it is time to take a look at the awards that have passed to see if we can presage the future.

I basically chose to forego the SAG awards for two reasons: it aired live on Netflix at a time I could not see it, and most of the awards had to do with the previous season then the future. However there are some signs that my light the way ahead.

As expected The Bear swept all of the awards for comedy: Best Ensemble in a Comedy, Outstanding Male Lead for Jeremy Allan White and Outstanding Female Lead for Ayo Edebiri. Considering that in the last month Season 2 has won basically every award in sight, from the Golden Globes on down, it would seem the Emmy for Best Comedy is spoken for. However, I thought the exact same thing this time last year after Abbott Elementary completed a similar trifecta with the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG awards and we all saw how that turned out.

As expected Succession took Best Ensemble in a Drama. However, as in 2022 when both Lead Acting Awards went to performers from Squid Game, yet again we saw major upsets in both acting categories. Pedro Pascal was surprised (he actually said he was pretty drunk) when he took Best Male Lead in a Drama, but he shouldn’t have been; he did take the Best Actor prize in the Astras the previous month against Kieran Culkin and he has been dominated many of the acting awards for The Last of Us well up to this point. We’ve all kind of enjoyed their ‘feud’ the last few months, but now that Succession is over, whenever Season 2 of Last of Us premieres Pascal will be among the favorites.

Elisabeth Debicki seemed similarly shocked when she took the prize for Outstanding Female Lead for her work in The Crown, but she should have been considering she has already taken the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work as Princess Diana. It is likely Debicki will follow the pattern of her co-stars in The Crown Josh O’Connor and Gillian Anderson, who managed a similar sweep leading up to the Emmys. Emma Corrin, it’s worth noting, couldn’t manage the same feat when they played Diana but Corrin did lose to Olivia Colman.

Ali Wong’s win for Beef was historic in more ways than one: she has become the first actress to win all five major acting awards since the Astra’s were established in 2021, at least in this category. In 2021, the awards for Limited Series in what were the HCA were not broken down by category and as a result Anya Taylor-Joy was the only winner for The Queen’s Gambit. Kate Winslet did a sweep for Mare of Easttown starting with the Emmys, but ‘only’ got four of five. Amanda Seyfried was upset by Jessica Chastain for the SAG award last year; the only major award for The Dropout she lost. Steven Yeun’s run is significant but not quite as historic; Michael Keaton completed this exact run for Dopesick during the 2022 awards season. Still now that it is done, trying to fathom the acting winners for Best Limited Series – and the award itself – will be a tough job ahead.

Now let’s move on to the People’s Choice Awards. I actually did watch that one but most of the awards I was interesting in were awarded off-screen. So let’s look at the winners.

It is not a huge shock to me that the major Drama winner was The Last of Us; it has been one of the most popular series as well as the critical favorite of nearly as many. Pedro Pascal took another award, this time for Male TV star of the year. Just as interesting was their choice for Drama TV star of the year: Jennifer Aniston for The Morning Show. Aniston was a heavy favorite for Best Actress in a Drama when the show debuted in 2019  but was upset (by me) by Zendaya for Euphoria. With Euphoria ineligible Aniston might very well have an opening she didn’t before and may never have for a while.

Selena Gomez won the prize for Best Female TV star of the Year, and while this may be far more due to her enormous popularity, it can’t be denied that one of the more egregious snubs the Emmys have managed the past two years is to nominate everyone in Only Murders in the Building but shut her out for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy. Now with Christina Applegate, Rachel Brosnahan and  Elle Fanning’s series having concluded and Natasha Lyonne likely ineligible it’s going to take a lot of effort to deny her this year. That said Ayo Edebiri is going to be competing in this category and Hacks will return in just a few weeks, so anything is possible.

Jeremy Allan White continued his reign as Comedy TV Star of the year, so nothing new there but Only Murders in the Building did manage to defeat it for Comedy Show of The Year. As for the rest of the awards it’s hard to see any of them being pertinent considering the majority of them either went to series that have already ended (Swarm) or that the  Emmys will likely ignore (The Summer I Turned Pretty). Still, the fact that best Sci-Fi Fantasy series went to Loki and that the series has done well in other awards shows does not rule it out as a contender. And it is a near certainty that two of the major drama nominees: The Crown and The Morning Show will be major contenders for awards down the road/ And for all we know Young Sheldon might end up part of the discussion in the Best Comedy category for its final season.

Now we shall wrap things up with the Image awards which was just this past weekend. The awards were given over a period of several days and I have been learning of the results gradually. As you would expect Abbott Elementary was for the second straight year the dominant winner, taking Outstanding Comedy and Quinta Brunson’s second consecutive prize for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy. William Stanford Davis, Mr. Johnson himself, took the prize for Outstanding Supporting Actor and I don’t think most of us would object if the Emmys would nominate him this year. Ayo Edebiri took another Supporting Actress prize.

Drama was a different story: Queen Charlotte took the prize and India Ria Amartefio won Outstanding Actress. Damon Idris and Gail Bean took Outstanding Actor and Supporting Actress in a Drama respectively. Adrian Holmes won for Bel Air. None are likely to contend down the road, sadly.

There was little clarity in the Limited Series TV Movie category either. Swarm took Best TV Movie Limited Series but Dominique Fishback and Ali Wong lost Outstanding Actress to Chloe Bailey for Praise This. Aja Naomi King, a heavy favorite for her work in Lessons in Chemistry lost to Phylicia Rashad for Heaven Down There. I have to say in this case some of these awards really seem like a popularity contest; I can’t see why Don Cheadle would win for Secret Invasion.

Writing had similar odd vibes. In Comedy, Abbott Elementary and Swarm lost to Saturdays; in Drama, Bel Air defeated a slue of more deserving nominees, among them Beef. Swarm also lost direction to Grand Crew, though Power Book II: Ghost’s win in the Drama category is not a poor choice. I was glad to see Black Lady Sketch Show win Outstanding Variety Series and I was thrilled to see Michael B. Jordan win for his guest spot on SNL.

It is like the Emmys will take its model from the Comedy category rather than Drama, though Nicole Beharie might very well receive an Emmy nomination for The Morning Show. UnPrisoned might manage to make its way into the Comedy category and with Succession, The Last of Us and Yellowjackets ineligible, Angela Bassett might be a possibility for Best Actress in a Drama.

This ends the second phase of our Emmy watch. The next phase will come later this spring when the TCA gives its nomination and we see the first nominations from the Dorian Awards. After that we will be able start making some estimation as to which shows will be contending in Drama and Comedy, though in many cases we might very well know many of the contenders already. See you then.