“Born This Way” won the Emmy for Best Unstructured Reality Program in 2016 on its first nomination. Will the A&E docuseries defend its title this year? It faces tough competition from one new contender and several returning favorites.
Airing since December 2015, “Born This Way” is still relatively new to the airwaves, but it has already made a significant impact. It follows the lives of seven adults with Down syndrome as they overcome obstacles to live full and rewarding lives. It’s nominated for its second season, which aired last summer from July 26 to September 27, but it may still be fresh in voters’ minds since season three aired this summer and concluded on July 18, just a few days after Emmy nominations were announced.
“Born This Way” is also helped by its impressive nominations haul, which indicates strong support across multiple branches of the television academy. In addition to Best Reality Program it’s also up for Best Reality Casting, Best Reality Cinematography, and three times for Best Unstructured Reality Picture Editing. That’s six nominations total, which is double the show’s haul in 2016 and more than any other show in this category.
But that depends on how you count “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked,” which is the only first-time nominee in this category. That YouTube series has no other nominations, but the show it’s spun off from, the reality competition series “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” has seven bids, so at least some of the support for that program is bound to extend here — enough to defeat the defending champion?
Two other past winners are nominated again. “Deadliest Catch” won in 2014 and 2015. And before that, when structured and unstructured shows were combined into one category, “Catch” prevailed in 2011. The long-running “Intervention” has been nominated five times total, and it won the combined category back in 2009.
Rounding out the category are two second-time nominees. “United Shades of America” and “Gaycation” were both nominated for the first time in 2016 and are back in the running this year. This is the only bid for “Gaycation,” but “United Shades of America” added a second nomination: Best Reality Host for W. Kamau Bell.
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