Emmys 2019 nominations: Snubs and surprises
“Game of Thrones” took the spotlight once again at Thursday’s Emmy nominations, but not everyone went home happy.
Peak TV means there’s always too many shows and not enough time, but the Television Academy still made missteps when they decided who was worthy.
Here are the most significant hits and misses from the 71st Primetime Emmy nominations:
Snubs
“Homecoming”: A-list actors slumming it on TV isn’t new anymore (see: Clooney, George), but Julia Roberts was truly brilliant on Amazon’s “Homecoming,” not to mention supporting characters like Stephan James, Bobby Cannavale and Shea Whigham holding up their end of the bargain with aplomb. Even medicated gnocchi can’t convince me that the psychological thriller didn’t deserve at least one acting nomination.
D’arcy Carden: “The Good Place” finally earned a best comedy series nomination after three years as one of, if not the best comed on network TV, but Ted Danson isn’t the only one showing off his acting chops in the afterlife. Kristen Bell was snubbed, but the most egregious omission was D’arcy Carden, who was already on hand presenting the nominations. Carden was already doing yeoman’s work as the delightfully inscrutable not-a-robot Janet, but the season 3 “Janet(s),” which saw her channel all four humans – Bell’s Eleanor, William Jackson Harper’s Chidi, Jameela Jami’s Tahani and Manny Jacinto’s Jason – was one of the best episodes of television in the last decade.
“The Good Fight”: Another year, another chance for me to complain that no one appreciates “The Good Fight.” Where “The Good Wife” popped up frequently at the Emmys, particularly for star Juliana Margulies and enigma Archie Panjabi, its (much better) spinoff has never gotten much notice, despite Christine Baranski’s best efforts. She curses! She microdoses! Jonathan Coulton sings about NDAS and alt-right memes! What more could you possibly want? Michael Sheen as not-roy Cohn? Yeah, it’s got that too.
Funny women of color: No women of color were nominated for lead actress in a comedy, just a year after Tracee Ellis Ross (“black-ish”) and Issa Rae (“Insecure”) forced their way into the crowded category with standout performances. In fact, several categories, including supporting actress in a drama and supporting actor and actress in a comedy, all failed to include any diverse nominees and only 24 people of color were nominated for acting awards overall.
Richard Madden: The Scottish actor took home the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama for “Bodyguard,” but was nowhere to be found on the Emmys board Thursday morning. The Netflix drama was nominated for best drama, so I guess they liked the show in spite of him? There was room for Madden; we didn’t really need two leads from “This Is Us,”
“The Other Two”: This one isn’t necessarily on Emmy voters, as the dark Comedy Central show about the adult siblings of a newly famous child pop star was missed by most people (seriously, fix that immediately), but “The Other Two” was a refreshing change of pace from the usual “millennials are killing everything” nonsense. Plus, it was really, really funny.
Surprises
“The Big Bang Theory”: Your mileage may vary on the long-running CBS sitcom about a group of nerds and the hot neighbor-turned-wife, but Chuck Lorre’s team only brought home five nominations – and none for its actors – in its final season. I won’t go as far as to call it a snub, given the paint-by-numbers nature of the comedy, but it’s safe to say most people expected one last courtesy nod in the show’s final season.
“Fleabag”: The Hot Priest may have dominated Twitter for a while, but the well-deserved Emmy recognition for Phoebe Waller-bridge’s “Fleabag” is a pleasant surprise after being snubbed in 2017. The British comedy took home 11 nominations, including best comedy, lead actress, two for supporting actress (Sian Clifford and Olivia Colman) and two for guest actress (Kristin Scott Thomas and Fiona Shaw).