We asked members of Team Experience how they felt about the Emmy nominations (podcast coming up, too). Here's how they felt about those that were missing from the list.
PERFORMERS
ERIC: It was wonderful seeing so many actors from Severance recognized, but it would have been even lovelier if they'd have made room for lead Britt Lower, who provides a perfect tension between hope and dread, and the off-center comic stylings of Tramell Tillman, the sweet-dancing supervisor. Both actors really helped to keep the show in a dangerous zone...
ABE: In Gaslit, Shea Whigham delivered an astonishing, fully invested turn as G. Gordon Liddy, one of the most committed performances in recent memory. On a show full of great actors playing memorable characters, he was distinctive and unforgettable.
PATRICK: Renee Elise Goldsberry is an actor who understood the tone, energy, and rhythm of the Girls5Eva universe from episode one and delivers unhinged zinger after unhinged zinger to not *nearly* enough acclaim. No one puts Wickie in a corner.
MARK: Anne Hathaway, perfectly, deludedly awful in WeCrashed
BEN: I'm beyond thrilled Rhea Seehorn finally go her nomination, but pour one out for Better Call Saul's Michael Mando. In a role originally perceived as a villain turned into a man embed with doomed sympathy. I hope he gets some meaty material out of it.
NATHANIEL: I will never get over Michelle Pfeiffer's absence for Best Actress in a Limited Series. This is why we can't have nice things. First the Oscars took her genius for granted on the regular and now the Emmys show an indication of doing the same. What can be done?
CLÁUDIO: Part of me wants to focus on the Limited Series Best Actress race, a category with a variety of stellar options that ended up delivering a disappointing lineup (Why is Paulson there?). However, I will, instead, focus my love on Juliette Binoche. She took on The Staircase's most problematic role and somehow made it work, navigating its trickiness with such skill that I momentarily forgot the real-life controversies surrounding her character's role in the show. While I'm ecstatic Firth and Collette made it, the French Oscar-winner deserved an Emmy nomination alongside them.
NICK: Yes, it’s great that the Comedy categories largely backed off from giving slots to SNL and other sketch comedy series, because that is not the same kind of acting that Quinta Brunson is doing. Yet, I am still sad that Robin Thede could not get a nomination for her work in A Black Lady Sketch Show, where she’s as hysterical as she always is, and proves her comedic bonafides in so many ridiculous situations. The whole ensemble is on fire, but the average craziness of Thede’s characters and her brilliance in those roles is probably the highest of her co-stars, so give it to her! She deserves it.
SHOWS
JASMINE: Maid was a heart-wrenching show about the issues and flaws of the justice system. It had beautiful performances and compelling character and you wanted nothing but for Alex (Margaret Qualley) to succeed. Also angry about the acting snub for Anika Noni Rose and especially Nick Robinson. He played an awful character but with such nuance that he gave it depth and meaning.
CLÁUDIO: The continual snubbing of The Good Fight will always be aggravating to me. However, this year, I was rooting for Gentleman Jack to show up somewhere, especially considering it has been canceled after two seasons. Initially, I feared the period piece would lean too much on 'girlboss' clichés. Still, it delivered a thoughtful examination of the lives of queer women in the 19th century and how oppressed people can also be oppressors. Honestly, it reminded me a lot of William Oldroyd's Lady Macbeth in how its complex representational politics articulate brutal realities in our world today. In addition, it shows how certain marginalized people may still benefit from socio-economic privileges that beckon a steady defense of the status quo. On a shallower note, I love the costumes and wish they had been nominated.
ABE: It was probably too under-the-radar to begin with, but anyone who has seen Somebody Somewhere will tell you how incredible and down-to-earth it is, a true gem of a show that's both funny and heartwarming.
BEN: I love that both Fanning and Houlton got nominations, but The Great is worthy of it's own accolades. Not only is the central pair great, the writing, art direction, costumes, and the rest of a deft ensemble should have gotten more attention.
PATRICK: Forever a Survivor stan and after 40+ seasons now, the way it has injected freshness, fun, and new energy into its formula (even with sometimes uneven results) blows my mind. Somehow it’s still such a important part of the television landscape and talked about more than it has been in a decade plus. But the Emmys are just over it. *starts petition to get Daddy Jeff nominated again*
MARK: “Never the new,” always The Gilded Age
NATHANIEL: Beyond the double-worthiness of Abbott Elementary and Only Murders in the Building it was a rough year at the Emmys for fresh comedies. The Television Academy has a very hard time letting old favourites go which makes breaking in more difficult than it should be for new shows that really deliver. It was especially sad to see no love for Minx or I Love That For You, which both had clever writing and ace ensemble casts and, even better, felt like originals. We'll have to hope that both have even better second seasons (if renewed) and can break through all the noise.
ERIC: It's a shame that Netflix didn't enter Sex Education into this race at all, subjecting them to the International Emmys instead. It's the most sex-positive, fresh high school comedy series ever made adn the work the actors and creative team do together each episode is transcendent.
Finally we asked the question, "If you could change one thing about Emmys voting system what would it be?"
8 of the 10 stars of THE WHITE LOTUS were nominated
CLÁUDIO: I would eradicate the current voting system where each member can select an unlimited number of contenders from the ballot. That's how we end up with a category with seven slots only representing two shows. I know the Emmys are notoriously allergic to the whole 'spread the wealth' concept, but this is absurd.
ABE: It would be great to have something about screentime or a reminder of what episodes performers were actually in during this season. Maybe a recurring character category would be helpful, or an additional distinction between supporting and guest? More categories should hopefully mean more deserving nominees, unless voters truly just watch the same shows.
NICK: There just HAS to be something we can do about how each branch treats their supporting and guest acting categories. Two dozen slots per branch at minimum and they all go to four shows. I won’t say any given nominee is categorically undeserving, but it makes a lot of good TV reek of default status because voters don’t try. Supporting Actress in a Limited Series recognizing only two shows is just embarrassing, no matter the quality of the roster.
NATHANIEL: There needs to be SOME form of quality control so that it's not just the same 8 shows over and over again in 117 categories. So I propose a "Executive Committee" solution with two rounds to get the nominations like the Oscars did with International Feature Film category (which inarguably improved the results). There's no reason to think something like that wouldn't work for the Emmys. Say, Emmy voters who volunteer get to choose 75% of the finalists for a category and the Executive Committe chooses the other 25%. Then the entire Academy votes from that narrowed down pool of options. (That and perhaps instituting a limit on how many nominations one show can receive per category -- as great as Succession and The White Lotus were, it's strange to believe that they alone hold 70% of the best performances of television from literally hundreds upon hundreds of shows)
MARK: Keep your number of nominees consistent—not ever changing, all over the place!
WHAT ABOUT YOU, DEAR READER? You've had a couple of days to think about the nominations. What still smarts?