It has all led up to this as it
always does. We are less then one month away from the Emmy nominations for the
2025-2026 seasons.
Most of the awards shows at the
end of the year were very unhelpful, mostly giving the lion's share of the
awards in comedy, drama and limited series to The Studio, The Pitt and Adolescence
respectively. Only The Pitt will
be a major contender for drama due to its extraordinary second season. The
Studio is still working on Season 2 and for the first time in the entire
decade the race for Limited Series in nearly every category is completely wide
open.
Because comedy will likely have
more familiar faces as well as a fascinating bunch of newcomers I've decided to
break my pattern and start with it this year. It helps immensely that for once
I'm on top of the majority of contenders for a change and the ones I'm not on
top of yet I'll be watching soon enough.
So strap in awards shows fans.
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
Two things before we begin. The
first is a detail I usually neglect in these predictions. I'm going to list
prior to each category the number of nominees that will be picked in each
category according to the rules. For Best Comedy its eight,
The second thing will be more
controversial. I've decided to almost completely omit the fourth season of The
Bear from consideration in these nomination. This doesn't have much to do
with whether I consider a comedy or not. It's the fact that nearly every awards
show in the last year has either ignored Season 4 of The Bear in
consideration (Critics Choice Awards, The Astras, TCA) or has given just token
nominations compared to previous years (SAG-AFTRA only nominated it for
ensemble cast). Throw in the fact that last year The Bear was more or
less skunked by the Emmys in terms of wins there's a very good chance its
moment in the sun is over. It may contend, but if it does it will be more due
to the institutional laziness that I've sadly become used to from the Emmys for
much of my adult life. So far this
decade the Academy's mostly been past it – they did honor Reservation Dogs and
Somebody Somewhere for their final seasons with nominations and awards
something they'd never have done even five years ago – but you never know. I
won't advocate for it here, especially when there are so many programs eligible
that are genuinely funny.
With that said, here we go.
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
Always a bridesmaid, never a
bride. Going into its fifth spectacular season the show that almost
singlehandedly revived the network comedy shows absolutely no sign of flagging.
If anything it keeps finding new and hysterical ways to make us love it.
We spent much of the winter break
for Abbott Elementary with the teachers and the students trying to deal
with educating in a mall, something the district tried to use to their
advantage to attack our poor teachers. We saw Mr. Johnson finally find love
with a fellow janitor after wondering why women couldn't know their place as
astronauts or diplomats. We saw the teachers readjust to teaching new classes
in wonderful ways such as Melissa being moved up to dealing with seventh
graders and learning that they knew some tricks about scheming. And we saw some
upward mobility for Jacob as he finally managed to take his meddling to new
levels – and he might actually be able to do some good.
The personal was just as fun. We
saw Ava finally find a relationship with a working class man that was good for
her and she finally accepted that she could find happiness with a man with a
good heart. We saw Melissa manage to find romance with a fireman even though he
decided to be a chief. And we saw Gregory and Janine go through the ups and
downs of their relationship including the horrible moment when they broke up
after their first fight. We were devastated, though not nearly as devastated as
Jacob was. Fortunately with the help of Barbra and Mr. Johnson they managed to
work through their issues in a few episodes – and wedding bells may soon be in
the air.
All this and the show keeps
providing the small joys in life you didn't know you needed every season. I
didn't know I needed to see the teachers and students doing the Macarena in the
halls of Abbott until I saw and now I can't imagine my life without it.
Elsbeth (CBS)
After two years of getting nowhere
with Emmy nominations when they classified it as a drama Robert and Michelle
King have decided to try to work with Elsbeth as a comedy. This has paid
some dividends: both the Critics Choice Awards and the Astras nominated the
show as a comedy this past year. And let's not kid ourselves Elsbeth has always
been a more charming version of Charlie Cale during its run and the Emmys were
more than willing to recognize Poker Face in these categories.
Part of the reason it helps is
that Carrie Preston has spent two seasons making Elsbeth Tascioni just so darn
lovable. This is something that served her in good stead when she stealing
everything nailed down on The Good Wife but now we see that she has a
heart of pure gold. There's a part of her that really wants to believe the best
in people and you get the feeling every time she ends up taking apart the lies
and falsehoods of the wealthy murderers in New York City on a weekly basis,
she's genuinely disappointed because there's a part of her that even likes her
enemies. And the show leans into it by having so many of the criminals she
takes down each year liking her even as she sends them to prison.
As is always the case with a King
Size production the world of Elsbeth began to widen. Elsbeth spent must
of the season dating a candidate for Mayor who she ignored the fact of all the
lies in his story but let her good-natured behavior blind her from it.
Eventually she forced him to tell the truth and at a cost: she chose the truth
over romance. We've also seen the world of television, always a fun part of the
King's world expand, as we see her looking at a network TV show who's lead she
exposed as a killer last season but is still on the air with a new cast member.
And this is a show with so many
wonderful guest actors: from Stephen Colbert and Andy Richter to Jaime Pressley
and Tony Hale to Anna Camp and Patti LuPone all of them playing wonderful,
tweaked versions of themselves. Perhaps a group of guest acting nominations
will be in store.
How realistic a chance does Elsbeth
really have of nominations? Not very good. But like the title character I
want to believe the best in the system even if I'm disappointed. So come on
Emmy voters, be nice.
Hacks (HBO Max)
Every season it has been on the
air Hacks always wins at least one Emmy. Jean Smart has won every year
it's been nominated; the show has won for writing twice and most wonderfully it
managed one of the biggest upsets in recent Emmy history when it beat The
Bear for its third season.
But all good things must come to
an end and the team decided that the fifth season would be the last one. It was
assumed, even before the fifth season was released, that Hacks would be
the frontrunner to win in this category. And unlike so many series that have
come to an end in the past year (think Euphoria and Stranger Things)
Hacks completely stuck the landing.
Admittedly that's easier to do for
a comedy where the stakes are lower but the best thing about the final season
is that Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky knew that the most important thing was
about the relationship between the characters more than the success they
managed. So after putting Deb at rock bottom after losing it all, they decided
to have one last realistic goal: Deb was going to sell out Madison Square
Garden and everything was built to that.
Because of this Hacks could
spend its final season on character bits which were always its strong suit. We
saw Jimmy and Kayla trying to find a way to keep their fledgling agency afloat
and then when things fell apart they found a way to rebuild. Ava and Deb's
fights and feuds were over so they could spend the season building their
sisterly bond while still messing things up. Ava being more ashamed of a
potential boyfriend being a magician then a sex worker is a highlight. And as
always with Hacks the guest star parts were incredible throughout with a
string of nominations for every category. If Kaitlin Olson doesn't finally win
an Emmy for her work on Hacks Deb Vance should engage in litigation.
I will miss Hacks now that
it is gone but as the other nominees in this category prove there are more than
a few eligible candidates to join it among the classic comedy legend. The Emmys
for the final season will be sequins on an overly bedazzled Vegan wardrobe but
Deb and the show have earned it.
Margo's Got Money Troubles (Apple TV)
Here's a question I didn't know I
needed asked: What if David E. Kelley decided to stop writing adaptations of
mysteries and return to his roots as one of the most frank writers of sex and
deal with every bit of quirkiness he hasn't had a chance to use since Harry's
Law was cancelled in 2012? Well, the answer you get one of the funniest and
most sublime comedies on any service and one of the best shows of the year.
Technically Margo is an
adaptation of a best seller but given the storyline and characters I really do
believe all of the elements of plot, character and theme were from a 2008 pilot
that ABC never picked up. Margo takes a creative writing class, has sex with
her professor and gets pregnant. This leads to her single mother (Michelle
Pfeiffer) being concerned because she's getting engaged to a very religious man
at a choir she sings at. Her father, a professional wrestler, gets back into
her life after two decades of absence. And in order to make money she starts
doing work on Only Fans, ostensibly as sex work but more or less using her
writing skills to create wrestling themes art. This works fine until she is
outed which leads to the overbearing mother of her baby daddy suing for custody
of her child, leading to an ex-wrestler who has a law degree defending her in
court. (The ex-wrestler is Nicole Kidman, because of course.)
These are things that anyone who
grew up watching Picket Fences and Ally McBeal at one point had
on their David E. Kelley bingo card. You throw in the excessive use of 1980s
music and the decision to insult penises as if they were Pokémon and it's hard
to believe Kelley didn't have some version of this in his back pocket for
years. What makes it all the more worth it is how sublimely funny this.
Kelley's work adapting bestsellers during the last decade has been incredible
but this is the first time you can see him throwing caution to the win and
deciding just to have fun. It's picked up by his entire cast and it’s a
whirlwind of pure joy from start to finish.
All of the shows I've listed are
good comedies but Margo is just unpretentious fun and done extremely
well. I'm glad its been renewed for a second season. I want to see how much
trouble Margo keeps getting into.
Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
When we left Joanne and Noah it
seemed that happy days were finally here for our favorite Hot Rabbi and Shiksa.
Of course it's never that easy.
Noah was forced to learn his
career goals no longer aligned with his personal ones and had to leave the
temple. Joanne had to deal with this baggage as well as how this was going to
weigh down their relationship. Sascha's marriage is somewhat in trouble because
he became friends with Morgan and hid it from his wife which annoyed her.
Morgan has been dealing with her own issues – including that she's now dating
her therapist and much of the season is spent towards their impending nuptials
which no one thinks is a good idea – not even Morgan. And Bina is determined to
destroy everything in her wake for the good of the family, regardless of what
her family thinks is good for her.
Nobody Wants This did very well in the early awards
circles, particularly the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards in terms
of nominations. It has fallen slightly behind in odds as newer, shinier
comedies such as Rooster and Widow's Bay have been demonstrating
their glory. But I think it'll hold its own against the contenders.
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
At this point the only question we
still have to answer is why anybody still lives in the Arconia? As we saw in
Season Five, even the podcasters may be relocating soon. But that doesn't mean it's
not still fun.
The season began with Lester, the
doorman who was a recurring character for four seasons being killed – and
having it rated as an accidental death. Then we found a finger in Lester's
wedding shrimp and we spent much of the season finding out who the finger
belonged to. Then we learned there was a secret casino under the Arconia that
once was run by the mob but now is run by the one percent (specifically Logan
Lerman, Christophe Waltz and Renee Zellweger) and that they might be willing to
kill to turn the Arconia into a casino. Then the doorman was replaced with a
robot where Howard Morris has clearly so infatuated with it really seems like
he's sexually attracted to it.
All of this is spent with the
usual array of personal growth that are podcasters keep having. Oliver (the
wonderful Martin Short) is now happily married to Loretta and is considering
relocating for a fresh start with his young bride. (Only flaw of Season Five.
Not enough of promising newcomer Meryl Streep.) Charles is taking testosterone,
getting involved with the wives of suspects, and is unable to use dating apps
properly all of which impede the investigation. Mabel thinks her life is
improving then one of her closest childhood friends the pop-singer 'The'
(Beanie Feldstein) moves into the penthouse above her and she starts having
inferiority complex. And we constantly
learn more about the hotel and the lives of our characters, this time learning
the haunting backstory of Oliver and why he is who he is.
It's disappointing but not
surprising Only Murders has done so poorly in the Emmys overall. I mean
look what its up against. But the show keeps finding ways to keep the formula
fresh, the comedy laced with poignancy and with a typical New York sensibility.
Maybe this year it'll finally win an Emmy or two. Hey, you never know.
Scrubs (ABC)
I know that the other Bill
Lawrence comedy show I should be pushing for is Rooster which is almost
certainly more likely to be here. But come on. Even before I was predicting the
Emmys, even before I was getting my articles published online, I was always
pushing for Scrubs. And now the reboot has finally worked in my favor.
I know revivals are supposed to be
comfort food in an unpredictable world but part of the reason Scrubs may
never have been a popular or awards heavy hit was that the show never took
the easy way out. Set in Sacred Heart this was always one of the darkest
comedies of the 2000s and while it makes it clear that the three leads have
grown older, they haven't grown up.
This made it clear from the first
episode of the reboot when we learned that Eliot and JD's marriage ended in
divorce. Turk and Carla are still chugging along but Carla is dealing with
menopause. Dr. Cox's rough treatment of interns was too much for the new breed
and JD came in to take over, even though he has to deal with an HR that never
existed. And Cox eventually came in with a diagnosis of a disease that mind end
up killing him. All of this is set among a world that is no kinder to medical
staff then it was twenty years and if anything is even more unforgiving.
And yet despite this – maybe even
because of it – Scrubs remains as much a joy in its new version then it
did twenty years ago. There's something sublime about seeing so many characters
still dealing with a broken system and not being broken by it, something about
them still trying to prevail despite the blows.
And considering how much audiences responded to The Pitt, its
small wonder they returned to this one. JD and his colleagues may not be
superman but they're still the characters we need.
Shrinking (Apple TV)
A lot has been changing for Jimmy
and his friends. For one Jimmy is facing Alice going to college and empty nest
syndrome. Brian and Charlie are waiting for their surrogate to deliver. Liz and
Derek are facing health issues. Paul is dealing with a health setback. Nothing
is good.
But sometimes there are
improvements. Jimmy is finally beginning to heal and is willing to go on his
first date. There are weddings and other joys to go with the grief. We meet new
faces and learn how much of this deals with the parents and the ones we love.
We finally meet Jimmy's father and Paul ex-wife. And a cast filled with
brilliant professionals just keeps adding to it: such talents as Michael J.
Fox, Candice Bergen and Jeff Daniels are now visiting.
Bill Lawrence is, as they say,
having a moment. This will be the fifth consecutive year that one or more shows
he has been behind has been nominated for Best Comedy. It couldn't happen to a
nicer guy and a greater group of actors.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
St. Denis Medical
Since both the medical drama and
the workplace comedy have now been successfully revived, why not have the Emmys
recognize a series that pulls both together in such a spectacular fashion? With
an ensemble that rivals any of the ones on this list, particularly the
spectacular David Alan Grier, the title hospital continued to become more
joyful even as it struggled to find its footing? Joyce attempted to create the
premier birthing center in the Northwest and simultaneously become more popular
with the staff?. (Not possible) Ron spent the year trying to maintain his
grumpiness but loosening up – we finally met his son and we saw the two of them
clumsily but successfully rebuilding their bond. Serena and Matt, who connected
briefly last season spent all year going through the will they, won't they and
finally decided on Will. And in the finale everyone got together for Ron on a
surgery – and we learned of a crush so shocking it surprised even us. There are other shows – even on NBC – that
might have more of a chance of a nomination in this category but few that I
think deserve it more. That's my diagnosis.
Tomorrow I deal with Outstanding
Lead Actor in A Comedy. This will break some hearts, mine included.
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