There are 500+ scripted TV shows that air each year. This means there is more programming than anyone can see (even those who only watch television). Talking about Emmy snubs is a distraction. Any new show or performer entering a category with past nominees should be considered a surprise.
But even so, there was a lot to be unexpectedly happy about within this year’s nominees, as well as some disappointing — or even startling — absences. These are some of the most notable from both categories.
Surprise! Rhea Seehorn is for Better Call Saul
Seehorn — the best dramatic actor on television for almost the entire run of the Breaking Bad prequel — was basically in her own category of snub prior to today, having never received a nomination over the course of her career. Better late than never. Since this nom is for the first half of the final season (and thus doesn’t include her spectacular work in last night’s episode) perhaps it’ll turn out to be a situation like Anna Gunn winning for the split final season of Breaking Bad After being neglected for most of the early season. This is an important step forward.
Snub: Station Eleven/Suprise: Himesh Patel for Station Eleven
The HBO Max series about a surprisingly joyful post-pandemic world was one of the most special programs to run anywhere in the last year, and Mackenzie Davis’ performance as a woman who was a little girl when the world as she knew it ended was incredible. The spots that should have been rightly theirs instead went to Netflix’s terrible Anna Invented Its shockingly off-key performance from Julia Garner, an Emmy winner and a former Emmy favorite. On the other hand, who would have expected that Davis’ co-star Himesh Patel would have found his way into the movie/miniseries lead actor category opposite big names like Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, and Michael Keaton? And Station Eleven did well overall, with nominations for writing, directing, Dan Romer’s miraculous score, and more. The two most deserving categories, however, were not included.
Surprise: Quinta and Brunson Abbott Elementary
Perhaps this is a stretch of the definition of “surprise,”Since Abbott Elementary It is becoming increasingly rare for a broadcast network series to become a success. Right out of the gate, he was a critical darling. Many Emmy voters grew up in broadcast and still want to support shows that succeed. Still, seven nominations — including double nominations for creator/star Brunson — was a pretty wide show of support in an ever more crowded comedy field.
Snub: This is Us
Only so much nostalgia can be found for the glory days of the Big Four networks. This is Us The perennial nominee was present for most of its run. However, it was largely left out for its farewell season. There was one nod for the original song. “The Forever Now” from the Kate’s wedding episode.
Surprise: Double nominee Sydney Sweeney
It was a wonderful day for the talented and busy Sweeney. She was nominated as Cassie on, who is a hilarious and irreverent supporting performance. Euphoria (when only Zendaya had been nominated among the show’s cast for the previous season) and as the ruthlessly catty Olivia on The White Lotus. (Count the movie/miniseries supporting-actress category as something of an unexpected, as five of the seven nominations went there. White Lotus Cast members. Emmy voters loved this show.
Snub: Selena Gomez for Only Murders are allowed in the Building
The Hulu comedy is 100 percent a three-hander among Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short, with the generation gap between her and the older men driving a lot of the humor, and her dry yet vulnerable performance delivering a lot of the series’ heart. Yet Gomez’ two older co-stars were both nominated, while she wasn’t. (Brunson and Ellen Fanning — who was snubbed for the first season of The Great — got the two slots that didn’t go to actresses who had previously been nominated for their current roles.)
Surprise: Squid Game sweeps
This South Korean thriller was the most talked about show during the eligibility period. Some nominations were expected. But 14 of them — including five different acting nominees, starting with leading man Lee Jung-jae — was far beyond what even Netflix might have hoped for a non-English series.
Snub: Sarah Goldberg for Barry
Emmy voter inertia is the phenomenon where you stay in the series for as long as you have a nomination. This is especially true if your work continues to be great or gets better. That wasn’t the case for Goldberg, nominated for Barry Season Two but left out for her Season Three work — as raw and weird and sad and disturbingly funny as anything anyone did this year on the hitman comedy.
Snub: Atlanta, Better Things Reservation Dogs
FX did not name the half-hour show that was developed in 2008. It was a difficult year. What we do in the Shadows. (And even the vampire comedy still can’t get any awards traction for its hilarious cast.) Atlanta It received a few nominations for its fourth season, but none for comedy series. Donald Glover was the only actor nominated (when, if there was anyone who should have been nominated from this cast, it was Brian Tyree Henry). Maybe voters just didn’t like the anthology episodes? Pamela Adlon’s intimate family dramedy Better Things Although it received Emmy nominations in the past, it was totally ignored for its stunning final season. The singularly amazing new comedy Reservation Dogs The other side was not recognized.
Snub: Pachinko
Apple TV+ certainly can’t complain about the morning it had, with Ted Lasso Severance Deservingly One of the most-nominated shows overall. (Though ideally, Christopher Walken’s Severance Tramell Tillman would have been nominated, but he had so much more to do. Still, it’s a shame the streamer couldn’t get any awards light (besides a nod for its delightful musical main-title sequence) on its emotionally overwhelming adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s novel about many generations of a Korean family caught up in ongoing conflict between Korea and Japan.
Surprise: Melanie Lynskey for Yellowjackets
The surprise isn’t that Lynskey was nominated for her work on the breakout Showtime drama, especially when the submissions were carefully arranged so that Lynskey and co-star/fellow nominee Christina Ricci were going up for different categories. It’s more that Lynskey has been doing spectacular work in TV and film since she was a teenager with Kate Winslet in Heavenly CreaturesThis is her first nomination for an acting award. Was it really so difficult?
Julia Roberts: Snub Gaslit, Kevin Costner for Yellowstone
These should both be taken in the same sense. Roberts wasn’t nominated for her last TV project, Amazon’s Homecoming, and Costner hadn’t previously been nominated for his work on the Paramount Network hit. But Gaslit is emblematic of how this spring’s usual Emmy-baiting season was wildly out of control, with project after project featuring huge stars struggling to get any notice at all because of how many there were. Once upon a time, it would have been a huge deal for a miniseries to star Roberts and Sean Penn; now, it’s like it didn’t even happen. Paramount invested a lot in marketing to make this miniseries a success. Yellowstone In addition to the media attention about how hugely popular the show is, and the growing TV empire that Taylor Sheridan, its creator, has also received Emmy nominations. If it didn’t happen this year, it’s not going to.