Fancy-schmancy ‘Succession’ got more Emmy nods than gritty ‘Yellowstone.’ Figures . . .
Yellowstone” might be America’s most-watched television series, but that didn’t matter to Emmy Awards voters. For all its drama, sex and, well, Kevin Costner, the Montana-set show got snubbed in this year’s nominations, leaving everyone — including Vanity Fair — to wonder, what gives?
“Yellowstone” boasts stunning scenery and enough family drama to satisfy Shakespeare. It hits important themes that keep people awake at night: power, money, love and fame. Still, that wasn’t enough to satisfy the Television Academy, though its prequel spinoff “1883” did nab a few technical nominations.
Vanity Fair set out to find an explanation for the snub. An unnamed television writer-producer told the magazine: “You see what they kind of put forward as award-worthy — and it is stuff that appeals to the coastal elite, for the most part.”
What, pray tell, appeals to the “coastal elite”? HBO’s “Succession,” of course, which garnered the most Emmy nominations at 25. While the melodrama and familial infighting might seem similar, the writer-producer explains to Vanity Fair that, “A soap set in the big-money world of a publishing empire seems fancy and a ranch in Middle America doesn’t. There’s both a conscious and unconscious bias against the arena of horses and cowboys.”
Glistening office buildings and crisp white hotel sheets might seem more sophisticated than a ranch surrounded by mountains, but good stories happen in all settings. “Succession” is solid, but the differences shouldn’t exclude “Yellowstone” from award nominations.
If anything, voters should recognize the Godfather-meets-TrueGrit style that has endeared the show to fans. More than 9 million tuned in to the fourth season’s finale. Something hits a nerve.
I’ll wager a few guesses: The breathtaking Montana cinematography; John Dutton’s alpha appeal; and the can’t-look-away quality of Beth Dutton’s antics.
The toxic family drama that breaks the laws of man and nature. Someone crossed our clan? The hired hand who looks like a grittier version of Ben Affleck will drop him at the “train station” never to be seen again, no questions asked.
The Duttons fight each other nearly as fiercely as they do their enemies. They say things you could never say, do things you don’t have the courage to do and break laws in ways you’d never get away with.
Fans of “Succession” have long compared it to Shakespeare, and that may be accurate in terms of plot, character and themes. But Shakespeare purposely wrote his plays for the masses and barely 2 million tuned in to the “Succession” season 3 finale. He wanted to appeal to an audience beyond the typical, wealthy theatergoer.
So, if “Succession” garnered dozens of nominations for its elitist appeal and “Yellowstone” didn’t because it appeals to the populist masses, the comparison should be flipped. We can practically hear John Dutton mimicking King Lear in word and deed. After all, “The prince of darkness is a gentleman!”