HBO regains upper hand in its battle with Netflix after earning 137 Emmy nods
This may have been the year Netflix conquered the Oscars, with 10 nominations for Alfonso Cuaron’s
Roma resulting in three wins, including the awards for Best Achievement in Directing and Best Foreign Language Film. Back in TV-land, however, it appears Netflix may have lost ground to HBO, which last week smashed its rival out of the park with a record 137 Emmy nominations to Netflix’s 117.
The past few years of Emmy nominations have been characterised by the ongoing tug-ofwar between Netflix and HBO
to see which would receive the most nods. After snapping at HBO’s heels since it ramped up its original content production, Netflix overtook its rival last year with 112 nominations to HBO’s 108. That at last broke HBO’s 18-year nomination-leading streak.
But it seems that while Netflix had one eye on the Oscars, HBO focused doggedly on winning back its primacy in the TV awards. No one was too surprised that the most-lauded show was Game of Thrones, the most-nominated show in Emmy history, which now has 161 nods including this year’s record-breaking haul of 32 nominations.
This came despite the show’s final series receiving mixed reviews from fans; petitions are still doing the rounds, campaigning for a rewrite of the epic fantasy’s divisive ending. GoT set a another record as the first show to receive four Best Supporting Actress nominations in the same year, with Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) all up for the prize. Kit Harington (Jon Snow) is also nominated for Best Lead Actor this year. Surprise smash hit
Chernobyl, which is currently the best-rated TV show on IMDb, was HBO’s second most-nominated show. Its 19 nominations placed it third overall, with Amazon’s The
Marvelous Mrs Maisel rounding out the top three, and Netflix cut out altogether.
A Netflix show doesn’t actually make it into the most-nominations charts until Ava DuVernay’s miniseries When They See Us pops up in seventh place with 16 nominations.
The streaming service probably shouldn’t be too disheartened, however. It may have been HBO’s year for Emmy nominations, but Netflix was still far and above this year’s third-placed network. Netflix’s nominations haul dwarfed NBC’s 58 nods, ensuring that Netflix and HBO still lead the pack by some distance.
Netflix managed a nomination in every major category except Best Variety Show, a category in which the streamer has a disadvantage over traditional broadcasters. Simply put, the immediacy of shows such as Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and The Daily Show
with Trevor Noah (both nominated) is much better suited to the linear TV format. You don’t go to Netflix for news.
Even taking that into account, former Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj can maybe feel a little aggrieved to have been overlooked in the category for his Netflix show Patriot Act.
Nominations do not equal wins, of course. You only need to ask Jorgos Lanthimos, whose film The Favourite tied with Netflix’s Roma for most nominations at this year’s Oscars.
While Roma left the ceremony with three awards, The Favourite picked up a sole statue after Olivia Coleman won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. The same could easily happen at the Emmys, and 117 nominations probably shouldn’t be sniffed at, even if HBO regained top spot.
Statistically alone, Netflix can expect to leave the Microsoft Theatre in September with an armful of trophies, so we won’t go overboard on the pity.