A new voice in the ever expanding
awards for television is the Gotham TV Awards, which came into existence just
two years ago. Focused on recognizing new TV shows of quality that have debuted
in the season just past, it has already proven that it has a knack for picking
out winners. Last years its winners for Best Drama, Comedy and Limited Series
were The Pitt, The Studio and Adolescence and all went on to win
the Emmy in their respective categories just a few months later. However lest
you think that didn't take a genius to predict they were also very favorable to
such dramas as Matlock and Paradise, comedies such as Nobody
Wants This and The English Teacher and Limited Series such as Dying
for Sex and The Penguin, along with other gems such as Dope Thief
and Man on The Inside.
The question was how would they deal
with the 2026 Emmys, which have already seen a number of new contenders in the
early discussion for awards in quite a few categories. Yesterday the
nominations were released and yet again it is very difficult to argue with
them.
BREAKTHROUGH COMEDY SERIES
Rachel Sennot is recognized twice
having produced I Love LA and Big Mistakes. Tim Robinson's The
Chair Company is present as is Netflix's Long Story Short and Lena
Dunham's Too Much.
It's honestly hard to tell if any of
these nominees will break through in the major categories: none of them have
dominated the awards conversation the way so many of the other contenders have.
BREAKTHROUGH DRAMA SERIES
Here we saw quite a few possibilities.
Pluribus and Task are both near sure-things for Outstanding Drama
nominations and will likely contending in major categories across the board. Alien:
Earth was already nominated for Best Drama by the Critics Choice Awards and
it has legs. Knight of the Seven Kingdoms does have the Game of
Thrones lineage and the Emmys has been more than willing to let the first
season of these franchises get nominated for the big prize, if not necessarily
the second. Only Netflix's Dept. Q seems unlikely to contend for prizes.
BREAKTHROUGH LIMITED SERIES
Death by Lightning has already been nominated for Best
Limited Series by the Critics Choice Awards and the Peabodys. The second season
of Beef is almost certain to be a major contender for awards, as is
Richard Gadd's Half Man. DTF St. Louis is a harder call but its'
definitely going to contend for acting nominations. It remains to be seen of
Netflix's Lord of the Flies can have the same success as Jack Thorne's
previous show Adolescence. All of these will be in the conversation in
the weeks to come.
OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A
COMEDY SERIES
Elle Fanning will definitely be in the
conversation for Lead Actress for her work in Margo's Got Money Troubles. As for Taylor Ortega for Big Mistakes and
Rachel Sennott for I Love LA, Sennott has had almost no impact in the
end of year awards for 2025 and it's not clear if either she or Taylor Ortega
can breakthrough what is already a very front-loaded field.
Tim Robinson has had no real
appearance for acting in The Chair Company. Dan Levy can never be
counted out for the Emmys at this point but the field he's in is, if anything,
more frontloaded than Best Actress.
OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A
DRAMA SERIES
Rhea Seehorn, as we all know is a
lock, for Pluribus. As for the rest:
Sydney Chandler for Alien: Earth and
Chase Infiniti for The Testaments have slim chances at best to break
into what is already a heavily loaded field for Best Actress in a Drama. I love
Malin Akerman in The Hunting Wives, I'm glad she was nominated but I'm
not giving her a chance.
Peter Claffey for Seven Kingdoms might
have a possibility if only because many of last year's contenders for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama are no longer eligible, such as Adam Scott
and Pedro Pascal.
OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A
LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES
In order of likelihood:
Carey Mulligan is a lock for her work
in Season 2 of Beef as is Sarah Pidgeon for her work as Carolyn Bessette
in Love Story. Matthew MacFayden has received a nomination from the
Critics Choice Awards for his work in Death By Lightning so his chances
are good. It's hard to know if his co-lead Michael Shannon can break through.
We will have to see if Jamie Bell's
work in Half Man is excellent enough to get him a nomination in this
category. Riz Ahmed's work in Bait is critically acclaimed but there are
already great nominees ahead of him who are locks. MUBI has never really
contended for Emmys so I don't think Lili Reinhart has a chance for Hal
& Harper.
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN
A COMEDY
Michelle Pfeiffer is almost certainly
a lock for Margo's Got Money Troubles and Laurie Metcalf could reign as
a dark horse for Big Mistakes.
Personally I'd love to see either
Daniel Radcliffe or Erika Alexander nominated for The Fall and Rise of
Reggie Dinkins, if for no other reason then we really need network
representation here. I don't think Odessa A 'Zion for I Love LA has a
chance and I think Haley Lu Richardson has none for Ponies.
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN
A DRAMA
Both Tom Pelphrey for Task and
Karolina Wydra for Pluribus are near sure things for nominations. As for
the rest, it's hard to say.
I'd love to see Zach Galifianakis in
contention for The Audacity and Babou Ceesay for Alien: Earth and
Dexter Sol Ansell for Seven Kingdoms might contend. But Supporting Actor
has a lot of contenders just from The Pitt alone.
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN
A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES
Nick Offerman was already nominated by
the Critics Choice Awards for his work in Death by Lightning and Cailee
Spaeny is a near sure thing for Beef. Both Linda Cardellini and David
Harbour will be formidable contenders for DTF St. Louis. Only David
McKenna's work in Lord of the Flies is a question mark.
It's hard to know how the Emmys will
react to Outstanding Original Film. I do think Remarkably Bright Creatures will
contend and so will Color Theories. I don't really think People We
Meet on Vacation has a chance and I know nothing about the other nominees
to speak with confidence. Alison Janney will be nominated this year but its
going to be for The Diplomat or Palm Royale, not Miss You,
Love You. Mountainhead won in this category last year.
No question this is a formidable and
good list of nominees: as I've said with quite a few groups in the past few
months the Emmys could do far worse than giving many of these contenders
nominations in a few months and that's not just the ones that will definitely
be there.
Considering how high I've been on so
many of these contenders I can't really complain that much. I might have wanted
to see All Her Fault in the running for Limited Series and might wonder
at the lack of consistency between some of the contenders but I'm mostly fine.
The two I'm going to look at on this site in the weeks to come are Margo and
Half Men because I believed both would contend even before these
nominations came up and I suspect this is only the start in the weeks to come
for both these shows and trust me I'll get to Death by Lightning even if
its skunked completely.
So Phase Three is off to a good start.
I'll be back when the next major group gives its nominations and when that will
happen – your guess is as good as mine.
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