TAGGED AS: 75th Emmy Awards
Shrinking star Harrison Ford missed out twice in this year’s Emmy nominations
Much of the 2023 Emmy nominations were as predictable as a TV trope.
Befitting the late media oligarch Logan Roy (lead actor in a drama nominee Brian Cox), the final season of HBO’s Succession wiped the floor with everyone and scored 27 nominations — a move that seems appropriate because last season’s best drama series winner really is both a comedy and a drama.
And there were 21 biscuits for the comedy boss that is Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso. Last year’s best comedy series winner is nominated again in that category and also has many repeat acting nominations. Hulu’s grittier newcomer The Bear didn’t even come close to reaching Ted Lasso heights, with only 13 nominations including best comedy series and some acting shout-outs — that’s what you get when you’re a drama competing in the comedy categories.
Even some of the snubs have been done before. Barry’s Sarah Goldberg, who was last nominated in 2019 for supporting actress in a comedy for the HBO series, was shut out again this year (the show was nominated for best comedy and there were nominations for lead actor Bill Hader, among others). The final season of FX’s Atlanta was almost entirely absent from this list (carry that torch, cinematography for a series nominee Christian Sprenger). And creator Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount Network series Yellowstone and its Paramount+ prequel 1923 were also MIA.
But there were still some 2023 Emmy nominations snubs and surprises that are worth noting.
Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us on HBO. (Photo by Liane Hentscher/HBO)
Fulfilling the prophecy set forth by his Saturday Night Live hosting stint, Famcam favorite Pascal received three nominations this year: One for lead actor in a drama for playing de facto parent Joel in HBO’s zombie thriller The Last of Us, one in the guest actor in a comedy category for hosting SNL, and one for narrating the CNN series Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World.
Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face on Peacock. (Photo by Peacock)
Poker Face star Natasha Lyonne is nominated for lead actress in a comedy and Peacock’s tongue-in-cheek murder mystery series also has nominations for stunts, production design, and a guest actress in a comedy (for Judith Light). But the Academy folded on giving the Rian Johnson–created program a spot in the best comedy series category.
Ronald Gladden and James Marsden in Jury Duty on Amazon Freevee. (Photo by Amazon Freevee)
Amazon Freevee’s twist on the hidden-camera format was convicted of four nominations. These include best comedy series and best supporting actor in a comedy for James Marsden. The Westworld actor plays a heightened version of himself, or at least an extreme version of a “celebrity,” in this show about a fake trial where everyone knows it’s fake except for one guy (the non-actor Ronald Gladden).
Melanie Lynskey in Yellowjackets on Showtime. (Photo by Colin Bentley/Showtime)
While Showtime’s horror drama about starving teens trapped in a forest earned three Emmy nominations this year, including best drama series, almost all of its extensive cast was shut out in the cold. But this is the second consecutive lead actress in a drama nominee for Lynskey, who plays the adult version of survivor Shauna, for the show. She’s also nominated for guest actress in a drama for appearing in HBO’s The Last of Us.
Last year, Lynskey’s Yellowjackets co-star Christina Ricci was nominated in the supporting actress in a drama category. Neither actress won that year.
Some awards forecasters were taken aback last year when Mary Lou Belli received a best comedy directing nomination for helming an episode of comedian Patricia “Ms. Pat” Williams’ BET+ series The Ms. Pat Show — not because she’s not deserving, but because the series airs on a comparatively smaller platform. This year, Belli defied those naysayers once again with another comedy directing nomination for the show.
It’s almost too appropriate that Eisenberg, who plays a divorcing man who’s long felt ignored by his ex wife in Hulu’s Fleishman Is in Trouble, was similarly forgotten by the TV Academy. The limited series, which is based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s bestseller, did secure a best limited series nomination as well as nominations for writing for Brodesser-Akner, a directing nomination for team Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, a lead acting nomination for Lizzy Caplan and a supporting actress nomination for Claire Danes. Several craftspeople were also recognized.
Creator Robert Siegel’s miniseries about Chippendales male cabaret co-creator Somen “Steve” Banerjee’s murder of business partner Nick De Noia was fairly well-liked (it has a 73% Tomatometer), but aired so long ago that it could easily have been forgotten in the pile-on that is prestige programming.
Instead, its five nominations include one for lead actor in a limited series for Kumail Nanjiani, who played Banerjee, and supporting actor in a limited series for Murray Bartlett, who played De Noia (one of two nominations for the actor, who is also nominated for his guest actor performance in The Last Of Us).
While she was not recognized for her work in Yellowjackets, Juliette Lewis did receive a supporting actress in a limited series nomination for this project. Other nominees include Annaleigh Ashford, who is also nominated in the supporting actress in a limited series category, and costume designer Peggy Schnitzer, assistant costume designer Derek Bulger and costume supervisor Julie Heath, who are nominated for best period costumes for a limited or anthology series or movie.
Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez in Only Murders In The Building on Hulu. (Photo by Hulu)
Only Murders In the Building, Hulu’s comedy caper that makes fun of our true-crime obsessions, has 11 nominations including best comedy series. However, Martin Short was the only one of its three leads to secure an acting nomination. Steve Martin and Selena Gomez were on the kill list.
It’s not a surprise that Disney+’s Star Wars series Andor received a best drama series nomination, among other accolades. The show has a 96% Tomatometer score and fellow Star Wars series The Mandalorian has twice been nominated in the best drama series category.
Critics and audiences were not as kind to Disney+’s other Star Wars contender, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The prequel series might have an 82% Tomatometer, but it only has a 62% audience score. Nevertheless, its five nominations include best limited series.
Despite winning raves for his work in the Apple TV+ dramedy Shrinking, where he played a gruffly pragmatic therapist with Parkinson’s disease, and Paramount+’s Western 1923, Ford was not recognized by this year’s Emmy nominations. Maybe he should have been in one of the Star Wars series.
The Ali Wong–Steven Yeun road rage comedy Beef was the show to watch this spring — until news hit about past allegations against co-star David Choe stemming from his discussing what he called “rapey behavior” on a podcast.
Series stars Wong and Yeun, as well as creator Lee Sung Jin, defended Choe and said in a statement that he “put in the work” since recording that podcast in 2014.
The TV Academy seems to have accepted this statement. Wong and Yeun received best actress and actor in a limited series nominations, respectively. And a casting for a limited series shout-out for Charlene Lee and Claire Koonce was among the Netflix show’s 11 other nominations.
Mark Proksch and Matt Berry in FX comedy What We Do in the Shadows (Photo by Russ Martin / FX)
The FX vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows was nominated for best comedy series in 2020 and 2022, but the TV Academy was not a-bat to give it another one.
The series did receive, however, four nominations in the crafts categories.
