The Most Surprising Omissions and Omissions from the 2023 Emmy Nominations

 The Most Surprising Omissions and Omissions from the 2023 Emmy Nominations

Which newcomers' stocks might increase? (And more particularly, how fierce a rival will The Bear be?)

While Emmy voters frequently become attached to particular shows and stick with them to the very end, they also like praising new shows. The premieres of programs like Poker Face, The Last of Us, and of course The Bear seemed destined for recognition because they debuted within the Emmy voting period and would almost surely benefit from recency bias.

Voters might be interested in high-budget franchise dramas.

Because numerous popular shows that were nominated for awards last year—including Ozark and Euphoria—are no longer on the air, as my colleague Linda Holmes has reported, the drama category is undergoing some major changes. Comparing the pricey Rings of Power and House of the Dragon to their respective predecessors, audiences and critics alike looked to be less enthusiastic, but perhaps voters would give them a chance on a more level playing field.

Would controversy interest voters?

Following their debuts, a few shows that on the surface would appear to be Emmy contenders also had to deal with PR issues: The absurdly titled Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which was criticized for capitalizing on a true-life horror, and Beef, which was criticized for casting a cast member who had previously made reprehensible remarks,

How does it turn out?

We now have some solutions. The old guard was in full form, with Ted Lasso (21 votes), The White Lotus (23 nods), and Succession (27) maintaining their firm hold on Emmy voters. The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel (14), Better Call Saul (7), and Quinta Brunson and her Abbott Elementary family (8) continue to be favorites. And if not quite as much as it did in its previous season, Yellowjackets still enjoys some popularity, earning three nominations, including one for Drama Series.

However, it's wonderful to note that there's also a good amount of novelty included. Jury Duty, a startlingly endearing feel-good comedy series, managed to squeak out four nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series, putting an ad-supported streaming service (in this case, Amazon Freevee) directly in competition with the major dogs. (For what it's worth, The Nevers, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and Die Hart each received nominations on Tubi and Roku Channel in different categories.

The Last of Us was the second-most nominated show of the year, exactly behind Succession, with 24 nominations, making it the year's unheralded rookie. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise because in addition to the performances of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey being recognized Timothy A. Good and Emily Mendez handled the editing, and Connie Parker and Joanna Mireau handled the makeup. It won a tonne of technical and design accolades.

Similar to The Bear, The Bear received 13 nominations for Season 1, with over half of them going to actors (including Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri) for their performances. Other nominations went to editing, sound design, and casting, which, if you've watched the program, should come as no surprise.

There were also a tonne of people nominated for the first time, even if most of them hardly qualify as newcomers to the field, such as Jessica Chastain (George & Tammy. Jason Segel (Shrinking), Daniel Radcliffe (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story), and Aubrey Plaza (The White Lotus). (Would love to see Dominique Fishback, the undisputed Swarm MVP, receive a nod, though!)

Big-budget franchises won't disappear anytime soon.

Even if The Last of Us took up a lot of space, fans of science fiction and fantasy still had room for other titles. Rings of Power did not qualify for the drama category, while earning six nominations total, unlike Andor (eight) and House of the Dragon (eight).

Controversy? Where?

Each of Dahmer and Beef received 13 nominations, demonstrating their ability to overcome their different public relations challenges. In case it wasn't obvious, Hollywood is returning to Hollywood. (And... I can't lie: Beef earned those nods, icky behind-the-scenes things and all.

Next steps

The most urgent question is: When will we actually find out who wins the Oscars now that we know who is nominated? The 75th awards presentation, according to the Television Academy, is slated for September 18, however at least one report suggests that the existing WGA writer's strike (and upcoming SAG-AFTRA strike) may result in a delay in the procedures. It appears that there is a discussion inside the academy about delaying the awards until November or perhaps January. If this is the case, 2023 could end up being a very ugly awards season where both the Emmy and Oscar campaigns compete for our attention. This is presuming final voting windows are also adjusted. I'm already worn out.