Emmy Category Analysis: Will Netflix, Bravo, Disney or RuPaul win "Unstructured Reality Program"?

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Friday

Aug132021

Friday, August 13, 2021 at 1:30PM

The Film Experience Team takes a look at Emmy categories.

Netflix won Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program last year with "Cheer." Can they repeat with "Selling Sunset" (above) or "Indian Matchmaking"?

By Christopher James

I’m done feeling guilty about it, I love reality TV. Weekly Bravo nights with friends have become a staple of my social calendar. Fill my TV screen with Real Housewives, realtors Selling on Sunset or hot singles looking for “blind” love. I want it all.

Admittedly, the Unstructured Reality Program category skews much less… colorful… than my tastes in reality TV. Shows like CNN’s United Shades of America and Discovery’s Deadliest Catch have won the prize three times each, the current record. They tend to go more for “inspirational” than “drama-filled.” They were able to split the difference a bit with two wins for Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, which was when I first became invested in the category (and her campaign to EGOT)...

This year's nominated slate includes multiple definitions of what Unstructured Reality can be. We have inspirational stories like Disney+’s Becoming facing off against the drama-filled Below Deck, Indian Matchmaking and Selling Sunset. For an added wrench, the supplemental Untucked segments of RuPaul’s Drag Race are also fighting for the crown. Who will win? Let’s take a look at the nominees...

Becoming (Disney+)
Description (from ballot): Becoming chronicles the life stories of entertainers, musicians and athletes. Each episode follows a different celebrity back to their hometown as they revisit memorable locations that were central to their upbringing. Family members, coaches, teachers, and close friends share personal memories of the subjects before they hit it big.

How did you become successful? The path to success is often windy, full of twists and turns. Disney has asked a variety of athletes (Rob Gronkowski and Candace Parker), actors (Ashley Tisdale, Nick Kroll) and singers (Colbie Caillat) to return home and recount how they achieved fame and success. While inspiring, most of the episodes came off more saccharine than genuinely sweet. Some episodes revealed parts of the celebrities lives that were new pieces of information (such as Adam DeVine’s childhood near death experience). Yet, none of the episodes felt really deep, insightful or complicated. One can tell that the show was made primarily for kids. It exists solely to inspire and bring out good feelings only. Still, everything feels very skin deep. The Disney-fication of these stories sanitizes and removes any sort of complication or grit that these subjects' pre-fame lives may have had. It all feels incredibly produced.

Winners in this category have skewed more serious or inspiring (think Born This Way or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition). If the stories of these athletes and celebrities appropriately warms the hearts of voters, Becoming could become the winner. It helps that the rest of the nominees skew more towards interpersonal drama than heartfelt. This could help Becoming stand out and win. Between WandaVision and The Mandalorian, Disney+ has made tremendous headways within the TV Academy, and this could be the year they take many awards.

Below Deck (Bravo)
Description (from ballot): Below Deck follows a group of crewmembers living and working aboard a megayacht. Captain Lee, Francesca Rubi, Eddie Lucas, Rachel Hargrove, Elizabeth Frankini, Isabelle “Izzy” Wouters, Ashling Lorger, James Hough, Shane Coopersmith, and Robert Phillips come along for another season of above-deck demands and below-deck drama.

If Bravo were to make Downton Abbey, it would look a lot like Below Deck. The upstairs/downstairs drama of this luxury yacht crew is utterly insatiable. This season ups the ante even further, as Captain Lee deals with a new crew, familiar guests and very unfamiliar territory as the crew learns of COVID while on sea. For someone who is a fan of most of the Housewives franchises, Below Deck scratched my itch for interpersonal drama, drinking antics and laughing at the ultra-wealthy while also envying the yacht lifestyle. The show knows how to exploit the cognitive dissonance of its hard-working crew and bratty guests for optimal drama. In one episode, the handsome deckhand James is commissioned by guests to have a body shot done on them, which sparks drama between two of the guests who were fighting over him. The star supporting player, chef Rachel, at one point obsesses over making a perfect sushi meal using only the finest ingredients. Once served, the group of spoiled college kids gobbles it down, not understanding what they’re eating. With the charter spanning from February - April 2020, we get prime drama out of watching the crew learn and cope with the onset of the Coronavirus. This is what reality TV is about, happening upon people grapple with their vulnerability.

Despite having eight seasons and two spinoffs (Mediterranean and Sailing Yacht), this is only the first nomination for Below Deck. Additionally, it is only the 13th nomination here for Bravo, with the most recent one coming for Million Dollar Listing: New York in 2015. All the previous nominations have either been for a show about homes, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (which won twice), Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (which won once) and The Awful Truth With Michael Moore. Clearly, the Television Academy doesn’t appreciate Bravo’s brand of heightened drama in the same way that my friends and I do. There needs to be a greater air of importance in order for a show to win. Below Deck is a great time, but voters may write it off as nothing more than fun.

Indian Matchmaking (Netflix)
Description (from ballot): Matchmaker Sima Taparia guides clients in the U.S. and India in the arranged marriage process, offering an inside look at the custom in a modern era.

The strength of an Unstructured Reality Program is it can present a new world in a more candy-colored, fun package. The Indian wedding industry is one full of opulence and detail. Indian Matchmaking does a great job of centering the show around matchmaker Sima Taparia and her insane rolodex of prospective Indian singles looking for a match. Each episode starts with a When Harry Met Sally type intro with an older Indian couple talking about their first meetings. Then we lead into Sima traveling across the country finding matches for a variety of different single people. Some storylines are stronger than others. Standouts include Aparna, a picky lawyer from Houston, and Vyasar, a genial school teacher. Yet, the series introduces so many people that it becomes very “mile wide, foot deep.” We don’t dig in to specific people or couples as much as one wishes.

There are some controversies around Indian Matchmaking, specifically how the matchmaking practice can reinforce sexism, colorism and the caste system. Others have piped up in support of the show and its ability to reflect the complicated practice of matchmaking. This debate may keep Netflix’s dating reality series from the top prize. Right now, Netflix is the reigning champion, with Cheer winning last year. It’s likely that voters have watched Indian Matchmaking. However, will the controversy hinder it from winning?

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked (VH1)
Description (from ballot): Untucked brings viewers behind the scenes to the backstage drama as the queens await their fate and see who will need to lip-sync for their life to avoid the week’s elimination.

Throughout the herstory of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Untucked has given us some of the show’s best and most quotable moments. While the main competition focuses on the Queen's lewks, lip syncs and drag talents, Untucked is all about the drama, bringing audiences behind the scenes as the Queens wait for the judges' deliberations. The format is great! However, the adage "if you're not watching Untucked, you're only getting half the story" has been less and less true as of late. This season, Untucked was most notable for early fights between the brash Kandi Muse and the more seasoned Tamisha Iman. While their personalities were explosive, the fight wasn't necessarily quotable and made both Queens look worse coming out of it. Untucked did better this season when it leaned into sentiment. Watching videos from Gottmik's family, as they were breaking ground for trans representation on the show. Still, unlike other seasons, the prime drama was on the runway, while Untucked felt supplemental than essential.

This is the sixth year in a row that Untucked has been nominated in this category. The flagship show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, only has five previous nominations in the Outstanding Competition Program category. Still, it has won that category for the past three years, while Untucked has never won this category. While there are plenty of emotional moments among the episodes, it feels a bit like “bonus materials” or dessert to the main course that is RuPaul’s Drag Race. So far, the Emmys have only felt comfortable rewarding the main course. Still, if voters are watching Drag Race, it's likely they are watching Untucked. The name recognition could make it stand out against the crop of new competitors.

Selling Sunset (Netflix)
Description (from ballot): In the world of LA’s high-end real estate, the most successful female realtors all work under the same roof at the #1 agency in town. They work hard and play harder, while competing with the cutthroat market and each other; while trying to keep their personal lives in tact.

Crafting a new reality show is much harder than it looks. Selling Sunset has a bit of everything that a reality TV fan would love. It combines the luxury porn of Million Dollar Listing with the juicy workplace drama of Vanderpump Rules. With these shows, casting is everything. You can’t just get people who can do drama or hysterics. The key is to find people who have a love/hate chemistry that you can’t take your eyes off. Chrishell and Christine were made for this, and the show is anchored by their highs, lows and rivalry. Much of the drama this season focused around Chrishell’s shocking divorce to actor (and notorious Emmy snub) Justin Hartley and Christine’s quick, yet extravagant wedding. Still, Selling Sunset isn’t all about bickering, it’s also about selling luxury houses. Events like “Botox and Burgers” and Chrishell’s quest to make the valley a viable market prove that real estate makes for good TV. Additionally, we get a great underdog story with new cast member Amanza. The houses, the views and the drama are all too irresistible on Selling Sunset.

While programs that rely on interpersonal drama and fighting haven’t done well in this category, Selling Sunset has a few elements that set it apart. Real estate has done well here, with Million Dollar Listing: New York and Flipping Out winning in the past. Finally, Selling Sunset was a crossover hit, with people gobbling up season three and binging last summer during the pandemic. Time might have dulled some of the buzz on the show. Yet, viewers are still anxiously awaiting a fourth season.

Predictions