It is generally
agreed that while drama is now in decline, comedy is getting much better. Considering
that two series that have been on my top ten list before multiple times are
among the favorites and that one of the best shows on the air is part of the
discussion, I can’t disagree.
I’m completely
on board with four of the biggest contenders for this year’s Emmys. Two series
that have come to an end this season are likely nominees in this category: I’m
willing to acknowledge the first and really hope the second gets nominated. I’m
going rogue on the least two betting more on dreams and air. Here are the eight
series I think (and in some cases hope) will be announced in a few weeks’ time.
OUTSTANDING
COMEDY SERIES
Abbott Elementary
(ABC)
This is clearly
one of the best series of the 2020s right now. It’s been number 2 on my top ten
list the first two years it was on the air and it’s hard to imagine it not
being in the top five no matter how Season 4 turns out being.
Three seasons
Quinta Brunson and her incredible troop of performers – many if not most of
whom will be nominated along with her by the Emmys year – continue to make us
laugh and cry with their incredible antics and their utter devotion to their
craft. Even absent from much of the action this season, Abbott continued
to be delightful because the show is as much about the teachers as it is its
wondrous heroine. We watched so many joyful moments, the antics of Ava, the joy
and sadness of Barb, the wonderful bromance of Gregory and Jacob. And the
episode ended with the party of the year: one that put the planning in party
planning and ended with the slow-burn romance between Gregory and Janine
finally igniting. I don’t think the show will win Best Comedy, much as it
deserves too. But it deserves all the nominations it can get and there will be a
lot.
The Bear (FX on Hulu)
Earlier today I
posted my official very late review of Season 2 of the show which has already dominated
all the awards leading up to this year’s Emmys, sweeping the Golden Globes, the
Critics Choice and the SAG Awards. It is the official frontrunner for the Emmy
this year as are most of its performers and guest actors. And even having seen
just three episodes, it’s very hard to deny it doesn’t deserve.
The series has
one of the best casts of performers that, like many of the other shows on this
list, will be dominating all of the major acting categories (and after Fishes,
guest acting) Led by some of the greatest performers in television from Jeremy
Allan White and Ayo Edebiri all the way down, there isn’t a single weak link in
its entire cast. Some might question that The Bear is a comedy. (I don’t,
for the record.) No one questions that its one of the gems of TV.
Breeders (FX)
I’ve gone to bat
for this series a couple of times before over the years and have not been
shocked when both times it came home empty handed. Of the eight series on this
list, this is one of the longshots I talked about before. But that doesn’t mean
it doesn’t deserve a lot of love from the Emmys.
Martin Freeman
and Daisy Haggard have been incredible for four seasons playing the kind of
parents we never plan on being but basically end up being anyway. They’ve had more
downs in their marriage then up and they’ve had more problems with their
children the older they get (the final season had a five year time jump to
emphasize that they didn’t go away) And if anything things get no easier when
their oldest son moves out of the house: the season premiere opens with him
moving in with his girlfriend and announcing that they’re having a baby
together and their daughter has just begun to realize that she’s attracting to
women. Paul’s parents are still dealing with the ramification of his father’s
infidelity and by the middle of the season, it looks clear that his mother is
going into a mental decline.
Freeman and
Haggard ended the series after this season but tellingly none of the conflicts
were resolved with anybody. I actually thought that was the right call: the
issues you have with your family only end once and then those left behind have
to deal with it. This doesn’t make Breeders any less funny; in fact, it’s
easier to call it a comedy then The Bear and some other potential
nominees. And its by far the most realistic show about being a parent I’ve ever
seen. I hope that the Emmys are kind to it but life was never kind to anyone in
the family.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
(HBO)
I make no secret
of the fact I have never liked Curb Your Enthusiasm, never found it
funny, can’t understand why anyone would. But I also acknowledge that it has
lasted twelve seasons over more than twenty years and if that’s not worthy of
at least some recognition before it ends, I don’t know what is.
So while I don’t
particularly merit recognition to bad behavior and as we all know that’s what
we’ve watched Larry David do in some version for nearly twenty five years we do
have to acknowledge the end of an era. This is the end of the Seinfeld type era
of comedy on TV and I still think that’s something to be celebrated, not
mourned, I also acknowledge the need for recognition. I hope there’s never
another show like this but I do have to admit recognition for it is what the
Emmys are for. And if you think that this entire recommendation is back-handed,
well, that’s fitting because those are the kind that Larry would appreciate.
Hacks (HBO Max)
I don’t think
there’s been a series I’ve been anticipating more eagerly during all of 2024
then the return of Hacks. I
ranked it third on my top ten list in 2021, fourth in 2024 and had to way an
interminable two years, through a writers strike and more frighteningly Jean
Smart’s heart surgery. Was it worth the wait? Almost. But it will definitely be
in my top five shows this year, and it will absolutely be part of every aspect
of the Emmy discussion.
Deb and Ava went
on another ride or die journey this season, this time with the goal of making
Deborah Vance in late night. It was hysterically funny as the journey, particularly
watching the incredible comedy act that Paul Downs and Megan Stalter are now a
part of. (If they can do a spinoff of these two, I’m in no question.) We
watched Marcus go off on his own direction and find independence. We watched
Deb tried to make things better with DJ and her sister, only for both to tell
her the kind of woman she is. And in the finale she revealed who she is – and Ava
did her one better.
All the awards
Ayo Edebiri has deservedly won for The Bear were done without the presence
of Jean Smart in Best Actress in a Comedy. Smart has already won two
consecutive Emmys in this category; it’s going to be hard to stop her run for a
third. Hannah Einbinder has been overdue an Emmy in this category for the first
two seasons and its so clear she’s overdue that she might actually be able to say,
“I beat Meryl!” this September. The entire supporting cast deserves love and
its just certain so many of the Guest performers, from newcomers Helen Hunt and
Tony Goldwyn to old hands like Kaitlin Olson and Christopher McDonald will be
vying in the guest acting categories this year as they do. Deb’s second act has
made the third act of Hacks incredible and wonderfully there’s at least
one more season to come.
Only Murders in
the Building (Hulu)
What can I say
about this show that hasn’t already been said? That its one of the funniest
series on TV, far more obviously a comedy than so many of the other nominees in
the last two years? That it mixes so many genres so perfectly that you honestly
are stunned that it doesn’t mess up any of them? That Steve Martin and Martin
Short continue to dazzle new fans in ways you really didn’t think they could
anymore? That Selena Gomez has revealed depths that nothing in her career could
prepare you for and that this trio is more fun than anything? That even going
into its third season it is still absolutely capable of bringing in new performers
and making you marvel at them? That Meryl Streep was capable of playing someone
who couldn’t act at all?
It is all of
those things and far more. The third season has already received an immense
amount of nominations from every single awards group leading up to this and
will doubtless continue to do so this year. Hopefully this year they will do
the logical thing and nominate all three leads, but the Emmys has never
been logical. The Emmys investigation into this show needs to head into a whole
new direction. And soon.
Reservation Dogs
(FX
on Hulu)
I will grant
that the immense caliber of comedy in this category the last two years has made
it very difficult for one of the best shows of the decade to have a real
chance. It doesn’t change the fact that during those three seasons, every other
awards show BUT the Emmys has been willing to at least nominate it for multiple
awards, from the Golden Globes to the Critics Choice Awards to the Television
Critics Association and the Peabody awards. Yet its never earned as much as a
sniff from the Emmys. Well this is the third and final chance and the Res dogs
went out with a bang. We spent as much time with the elders this final season as
we did the young cubs but they all made us remember why we love this show. It
is a deep dive into a world that most of us had no idea existed, certainly not
this critics. I loved being part of the world of this show, watching the traumas
that cross generations and far more importantly seeing how they heal so that
they can move on.
The Emmys has
made huge strides in diversity among the acting and creative nominations over
the past few years with last year’s field of nominees and winners being the
most diverse in the Emmys history. It would be fitting to nominate this show,
which is staffed and stars entirely indigenous people, with as many nominations
as it deserves – and I’ll be honest, however many the Emmys give it, it still
won’t be enough. I’ll be going over the actors in this group. I think they
deserve nominations but this was one of the great shows of the 2020s so far and
the Emmys need to make reparations.
So Help Me Todd (CBS)
I’m not going to
lie; it cut me very deeply that one of my favorite shows of the last two years
was cancelled without a second thought by CBS and worse still, that there will
be no revival of it on any of the streaming networks. What does it say about
the state of network TV that even a successful network show can’t survive these
days?
So the least the
Emmys could do before it goes out the door is nominate it for as many awards as
possible. It needs to give Marcia Gay Harden the Emmy nomination for a lead she’s
deserved since the second season of Damages. It needs to give Skyler Astin
the recognition he never got for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. It needs
to recognize the incredible roster of guest actors the series had from Jeffrey
Nordling and Dean Winters on down. And it needs to nominate another of the
great mixture of genres that, in truth, is more of a comedy than some shows on streaming.
In short, the Emmys need to help Todd. They won’t of course, but they should.
FOR YOUR
CONSIDERATION
Not Dead Yet (ABC)
I acknowledge
that I may change my mind about this because I have yet to see some of the
other likely nominees in this category. I will probably get to shows like Palm
Royale and The Gentlemen if they are, as is likely to be the case,
among the contenders for Emmys. But I still am comfortable sticking up for what
I at least consider one of the best (and most unfortunately cancelled) shows in
2024.
This show is
more traditionally a comedy than many of the other nominees that are likely and
it does have a gimmick. But its worth noting in Season 2, the series managed to
take a life (ha ha) beyond that. Everyone on the show from Jane on managed to
make a major step forward even if sometimes that meant moving backward. The entire
cast from Gina Rodriguez to Lauren Ash to newcomer Brad Garrett were all at
their usual level, making superb material rise higher. There’s little hope this
show will be resurrected (another chuckle) but it would be nice if it got some
Emmy love.
Tomorrow I deal
with Outstanding Actor in a Comedy, otherwise known as Jeremy Allan White and
the five actors who will lose to him.
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