Westworld, SNL lead Emmy nominations
In a dystopian future, robots have prevailed over handmaidens.
HBO’s Westworld leads the Emmy Awards pack with the most nominations at 22 (tied with Saturday Night Live) over 13 for Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
But the fight, in this penultimate battle of the network stars, is not over yet.
Both shows are in the running in the coveted Best Drama category, which includes Better Call Saul, House of Cards, The Crown, Stranger Things and This Is Us.
Canadians have some skin in the game with The Handmaid’s Tale, written by celebrated author Margaret Atwood and shot partly in Toronto.
Canada’s Samantha Bee, meanwhile, capitalized on the backlash over the Donald Trump presidency with a nomination for Best Variety Talk Show, as comics have seemingly become the unofficial opposition to the sitting U.S. government.
Saturday Night Live’s 22 nominations also gained a massive Trump Bump with the cast and hosts, such as presidential impersonator Alec Baldwin and “spicy” Sean Spicer doppelganger Melissa McCarthy, winning nods. Canadian Lorne Michaels, the creator of the show, also received a nomination for writing.
The drama category was wide open this year, absent the mother of all Emmy winners, Game of Thrones, which did not qualify because of a late start date. (It begins its seventh season Sunday.)
Also absent was the reboot of Twin Peaks, which won’t qualify till next year.
Given that power vacuum, networks were anxious to cash in, resulting in a rare five newcomers to the drama category in what has become a tediously calculable awards show. Still, HBO CEO Richard Plepler must be giving himself a raise right about now as Westworld overcame the Game of Thrones deficit in spectacular fashion.
HBO leads all broadcasters with nominations, scoring 110, making it the 17th consecutive year in first. Netflix was second with 91 nominations, an astounding ascendancy for an online network that seemed to have no critical legitimacy only a few years ago.
Hulu, known as the place you go to get reruns, and anxious to get out from the shadow of other online networks such as Amazon and Netflix, was banking on the prestige of The Handmaid’s Tale to get them noticed. It has.
Breakout drama This Is Us took 11 nominations. Remarkably, this is the first Best Drama Series nomination for a broadcast network since The Good Wife in 2011, showing the critical dominance of cable and online.
Missing in action this year was Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany, who won for Best Actress in a Drama last year. The show is ineligible because it debuted outside the awards window.
But it looks like a lock for drama nominee Elisabeth Moss, whose expressive face, always in detailed close-up, is the best special effect on television as it takes you into the horror of Atwood’s Gilead.
The other interesting race is between limited series Feud: Bette and Joan from FX and HBO’s Big Little Lies, which feature a plethora of Oscar winners. Nicole Kidman and Reese Withspoon in Lies, and Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange in Feud.
Big Little Lies is directed by Canadian Jean-Marc Vallée, who received a directing nomination, as did Quebec cinematographer Yves Bélanger. The two have worked together on Wild and Dallas Buyers Club.
Canadian-produced Vikings picked up three Emmy nominations in the hair, makeup and visual effects categories.
Emmy voters over the years have been a predictable, dreary lot. That’s why you have Julia Louis-Dreyfus winning for Veep five years in a row and nominated once again this year.
Voters are no different than most viewers. Television is comfort food and they cleave to shows they already like. There was a 15-per-cent surge in submissions for the first round of voting given the wealth of new shows. And with more than 500 new scripted shows this year, most voters likely don’t get to see everything they should.
Since 2010, there have only been 17 different shows nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. But the newcomers give a jolt of energy to the awards.
“There has never been a more impressive time for television,” Television Academy chair Hayma Washington said.
He’s right. But peak television, ironically, sometimes means voters tick off the box they are most familiar with, making it hard for new shows to get through the clutter. This year may just be different.
The 69th Primetime Emmys air Sept. 17 in Los Angeles, to be hosted by Stephen Colbert.