By John H. Foote
Despite being what audiences and critics felt was the weakest season in the history of the Emmy laden drama Game of Thrones, it dominated the Emmy nominations yesterday with a whopping 32 nominations. Other multiple nominee getters were Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel with 20, the HBO drama Chernobyl with 19, Barry and Fosse/Verdon with 17 apiece.
Two very welcome surprises to the line up are Russian Doll, the superb black comedy streaming on Netflix, and the CBC comedy Schitt’s Creek, a cult series booming in the United States.
Streaming has arrived and altered the course of both the Emmy awards and television itself.
I think they need to make a decision, a firm decision on the number of nominees in each category, which has always been five and stick to it. One category has as many as eight actresses nominated for a single award! Way, way too many many nominees. Did they plan to nominate every single actor from Game of Thrones? Certainly seems that way.
Following are the nominees with some commentary about snubs.
BEST DRAMA SERIES
Better Call Saul — Bodyguard — Game of Thrones — Killing Eve — Pose — Succession — This is Us
BEST COMEDY SERIES
Barry — Fleabag — The Good Place — The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — Russian Doll — Schitt’s Creek — Veep
BEST LIMITED SERIES
Chernobyl – Escape at Dannemora — Fosse/Verdon — When They See Us
BEST TELEVISION FILM
Black Mirror — Brexit — Deadwood — King Lear — My Dinner with Herve
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jason Bateman (Ozark) — Sterling K. Brown (This is Us) — Kit Harrington (Games of Thrones) — Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) — Billy Porter (Pose) — Milo Ventimiglia (This is Us)
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) — Laura Linney (Ozark) — Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) — Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) — Mandy Moore (This is Us) — Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder) — Robin Wright (House of Cards)
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson (Black-ish) — Don Cheadle (Black Monday) — Ted Danson (The Good Place) — Michael Douglas (The Kaminsky Method) — Bill Hader (Barry) — Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek)
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Christina Applegate (Dead to Me) — Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) -Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek) — Julia Louise Dreyfus (Veep) — Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) — Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag)
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR FILM
Mahershala Ali (True Detective) — Benicio Del Toro (Escape at Dannemora) — Hugh Grant (A Very English Scandal) –Jared Harris (Chernobyl) — Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us) — Sam Rockwell (Fosse/Verdon)
Wow! No Ian McShane or Timothy Olyphant in Deadwood?
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR FILM
Amy Adams (Sharp Objects) — Michelle Williams (Fosse/Verdon) — Joey King (The Act) — Patricia Arquette (Escape at Dannemora) — Niecy Nash (When They See Us) — Aunjanue Ellis (When They See Us)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) — Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) — Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) — Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul) — Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul) — Michael Kelly (House of Cards) — Chris Sullivan — (This Is Us)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) — Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) — Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) — Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) — Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve) — Julia Garner (Ozark)
LENA HEADEY?? Seriously? For what, her two scenes all season. Bit of overkill? Awarding them all for previous seasons I suspect.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alan Arkin (The Kaminsky Method) — Anthony Carrigan (Barry) — Henry Winkler (Barry) — Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) — Stephen Root (Barry) — Tony Hale (Veep)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) — Anna Chlumsky (Veep) — Olivia Colman (Fleabag) — Sian Clifford (Fleabag) — Betty Gilpin (GLOW) — Marin Hinkle (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) — Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) — Sarah Goldberg (Barry)
EIGHT NOMINEES????? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????
That covers the major categories, there are more found at www.emmys.com
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
