My Generally Pleased Reactions to the 2026 Emmy Nominations Introduction and Part 1: Drama

 

After the 2024 Emmy nominations came out and I was by and large fine with most of them I wondered if I was starting to get soft. When last year's nominations came out and I was basically fine with them to, I started to wonder if the Emmys was finally beginning to get things mostly right.

Well now the 2026 nominations have come out and at this point I now have to conclude that after decades of frustration and rage by the mid-point of the 2020 the Emmys seems to have basically worked out eighty to ninety percent of the flaws in its system and is finally getting far more right than it does wrong.

Oh to be sure the usual flaws are overwhelmingly present. The Emmys has essentially determined that network drama is persona non grata and is mostly doing the same things for comedy. The usual suspects among cable and streaming are being nominated across the board. But at this point it's very hard for me to avoid the fact that the Emmys is by and large breaking out of the patterns I found so frustrating for much of my adult life: nominating the same shows and actors over and over regardless of how weak the quality of the series and performers were.

Take drama which has been the bane of my existence for most of my years. In previous years the habits of the club of nominating the same series year after year would have led the final seasons of Euphoria and Stranger Things to be nominated for Best Drama despite the drop in quality noted by fans and critics alike. And yet neither show was nominated for Best Drama and with the sole exception of Zendaya being nominated for Best Actress it had no real presence in the acting categories. The Emmys of even five years ago would have done that in a heartbeat and while there would have outrage. This time they did the right thing. To be sure there were the usual flaws which I'll get to but far fewer then recent years.

Just as present was in comedy in regard to The Bear. In addition to the controversy whether the show is a comedy or not the respect for the series overall has basically sunk like a stone among critics since Season 3. Last year despite that it was nominated for twelve Emmys though it won zero. This year the general consensus among every critical group was that the fourth season deserved no recognition at all but many expected that sense memory would prevail.

And it did but to a point of almost non-existence. It was nominated for seven Emmys by far the fewest since it debuted. And of the cast only Ayo Edebiri was nominated for an acting award. None of the previous nominees who've in many cases have won multiple awards – Liza Colon-Zayas, Jeremy Allan White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach were even nominated this year. The series that just two years ago set a record for most nominations and wins for a comedy finished its fourth season tied for fifth place in total nominations with Abbott Elementary.  And while can and will debate those were nominated in the place of The Bear (and other shows) this again is something that would have happened even a few years ago.

Now am I still annoyed that shows like Matlock, Will Trent and Dark Winds are being shutout in the dramas and St. Denis Medical and Elsbeth are ignored in the comedies? Of course I am. I would not be human if I wasn't. But after so many years of having to endure Game Of Thrones and Succession taking nominations from Better Call Saul and The Americans and Veep taking nominations from Parks & Rec, it's nice to finally see that the Emmys are showing a pattern of getting it far more right than they are wrong after living through the 2010s. So there will be notes but not as many as before.

Let's actually start with drama this time.

 

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

The Pitt and Plur1bus as expected will be fighting it out for the grand prize: The Pitt getting 24 nominations, Plur1bus with 18. That latter is the most that any Vince Gilligan drama has ever gotten in his career to this point.

Paradise, The Diplomat, The Gilded Age and Slow Horses all did pretty well, each series getting seven or eight nominations and as we'll see most of them in major categories. Knight of the Seven Kingdoms presence isn't much of a surprise as many expected it to contend for Best Drama, but it got no other nods.

The most bizarre outlier is Your Friends And Neighbors being nominated for Best Drama and basically nothing else while Task was nominated for eight awards, including writing and directing but not Best Drama.  Maybe the Emmys just didn't want nominate every series from HBO for Best Drama this year the way they did last year. And hell they nominated The Gilded Age over Euphoria. I can't complain.

 

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA

The four nominees everyone expected to be here are here: Sterling K. Brown, Gary Oldman, Mark Ruffalo and Noah Wyle. The fifth nominee is a surprise – but for a change it’s a pleasant one.

Rufus Sewell has been doing superb work on The Diplomat ever since the series premiered but the Emmys and indeed many awards show have not shown him the respect they have Keri Russell. Perhaps they were unsure he was a supporting actor or a lead. Now here he is nominated for the first time in this category. And for an actor who has spent of his career in both film and television never getting any real respect or nominations for his incredible work this is a job well done by the Emmys.

 

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Obviously I can't fault the Emmys for nominated Carrie Coon, Rhea Seehorn or Keri Russell. I'm not shocked they nominated Zendaya for the third season of Euphoria; old habits die hard.

I am very annoyed, to put it mildly, that the Emmys seem to have fallen into The Handmaid's Tale trap and nominated Chase Infiniti for The Testaments over Kathy Bates for Matlock. And for those of you who are happy about this that's the only nomination The Testaments got this year. This is a fail.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA

I'm more than thrilled to see Patrick Ball and Shawn Hatosy here for The Pitt because I argued for them, I'm thrilled to see Tom Pelphrey present for Task and Jack Lowden for Slow Horses as I picked them both as well. Billy Crudup's presence for The Morning Show isn't a surprise – though he is the only major nominee.

As for Gerran Howell being nominated for playing Dennis Whitaker and Carlos Manuel-Vesga being picked for Pluribus...I would have advocated for both had I the chance and I really have no objections to their presence over some of my own picks. (James Marsden and Jason Ritter were pipe dreams.)

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

I advocated for Taylor Dearden and Katherine LaNasa for The Pitt as well as Julianne Nicholson, Alison Janney and Karolina Wydra. And the Emmys by far chose the right two female actress from The Pitt to fill out the ranks: Fiona Dourif for her superb Dr. McKay and Sepideh Moafi as Dr. Al-Hashimi, the new resident who we learn has a dark secret. Who I am to pick nits among details.

Now let's deal with some of the other major categories that I didn't cover in the Emmys.

 

Writing

Glad to see the pilot for Pluribus here as well as the season 1 finale of Task. Always glad to see Slow Horses present and I'm pretty good with the two choices for The Pitt.  Also glad seeing The Diplomat here rather than say, Euphoria.

Director

Pluribus earned it for the Pilot, another for Vince. Paradise earned it for the season 2 finale, ditto Salli-Richardson Whitfield for The Gilded Age – and Task for that matter. (Will she cancel herself out?") Slow Horses is here for the third straight year and I guess Noah Wyle is a good choice for The Pitt. Given the nature of that episode in particular I can see how he got it. Again nothing for Sam Levenson and Euphoria, so I'm good. (I intend to drive that knife in, so let me have this.)

 

Guest Actress in A Drama:

I'm thrilled to see Shailene Woodley here for Paradise and tickled Merritt Wever is for The Gilded Age. I'm glad to see Miriam Shor here for Pluribus and I'm more than fine with all three nominees for The Pitt included Tai Anderson.

Guest Actor in a Drama

More than fine with Jeff Kober being here and Ernest Harden Jr was magnificent as Louie in The Pitt. Bradley Whitford seems to be getting nominated every year, I'm glad its for playing Alison Janney's husband. Make up for lost time with Jeff Hiller and Jonathan Pryce should have won last year for Slow Horses. I knew Colman Domingo was going to be here for Euphoria; I'm just glad it's here rather than Supporting Actor.

 

So there is very little drama from me this year about the nominees for drama. Tomorrow I will deal with comedy where, if anything, I'm happier.