Emmy nominations slugfest: Our Editors react to those criminal snubs
The Primetime Emmy nominations were announced on Tuesday, July 12 and no show had more to celebrate than “Succession.” The HBO drama received 14 acting nominations, making up more than half of its leading total of 25. “More than any other show in a single year,” reveals Gold Derby editor Daniel Montgomery. “I feel like we need voting reform. If shows like ‘The West Wing’ and ‘The Sopranos’ weren’t putting up numbers like this when there was far less television on the air, we need a system where individual shows aren’t gobbling up three, four, five nominations per category.” Watch our Gold Derby editors’ slugfest with Montgomery, Denton Davidson and Marcus James Dixon above.
SEE Full list of Emmy nominations
Davidson mentions major upsets in the Limited Series acting categories that brought “The White Lotus” to 20 nominations. “‘White Lotus’ killed it in the nominations,” Davidson confirms. “Big congratulations to them, but it also feels like it’s just [show checking]. There’s so much good TV.”
“It’s a crime,” Dixon responds while discussing Andie MacDowell’s snub for “Maid.” The series received just three bids, for its star Margaret Qualley as Best Movie/Limited Actress and additional noms for directing and writing. “Which is odd because ‘Inventing Anna’ got into limited series,” Montgomery interjects. “It only has two other nominations so it’s strange that ‘Maid’ had less support than ‘Inventing Anna.'”
While there were complaints about sweeping domination for some shows, each of the editors had something to cheer. “Rhea Seehorn finally happened,” Dixon exclaims. “She got in for ‘Better Call Saul’ and she got in for a short form show called ‘Cooper’s Bar.’ So she went from zero to two nominations in the same year. That was my favorite.”
“I liked the fact that Lily James and Sebastian Stan both got in,” Davidson says. “‘Pam and Tommy’ was one of my favorites of the year. I was shocked it was nominated for Best Limited Series over ‘Maid’ and some of the other shows we expected to get in. And Seth Rogen got in. I [was also] happily surprised by Sarah Paulson (‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’), who was predicted to be out of it. We should never predict her to be out of it!”
“It’s so nice seeing Adam Scott get his first Emmy nomination,” Montgomery adds. “A Melanie Lynskey get a nomination. And, honestly, just every single ‘Squid Game’ nominee. We were predicting most of those nominations to happen, but you never know until it happens. Especially with an entirely Korean-language show to do what it did at the Emmys is kind of remarkable.”
