Emmy nominations arrived Tuesday morning, and if you made the list, it’s a “White Lotus” Full Moon Party vibe, full of celebratory cheers, toasts with your beverage of choice (it’s still early, maybe some of that Thai Red Bull?) and techno music playing loud enough to have Interpol banging on your door.
And if you didn’t hear your name called, well, you’re feeling like poor Pornchai watching Belinda sail away into the sunset. Or maybe you’re like Saxon, compartmentalizing the whole thing, pretending it never happened. We feel you.
With Emmy submissions down this year, there aren’t as many slots available to salute all the worthy work, leading to some sad omissions — which, for the sake of alliteration and search engine optimization, we’ll call “snubs.” There were also some surprises, some worthy, some about as welcome as one of those poison piña coladas Jason Isaacs blended up in the “White Lotus” finale.
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Grab something to eat (maybe an item from the Old School Hollywood buffet table) while we run down the morning’s notables.
SURPRISE: The all-encompassing love for “The White Lotus”
Yes, as you could tell from my intro, the third season of Mike White’s deep dive into miserable white people and fabulous brand collaborations gave us much to discuss, even if discourse was often centered on complaining about the show’s slow pace and dearth of plot. I don’t begrudge some recognition for a series that dominated the pop culture landscape for its two-month run, but nominating seven of its regular cast members reveals a lack of imagination among voters. Pity the poor ensemble member not nominated. I’m not even going to name them and put that FOMO out into the universe.
SNUB: Any actor from “The Pitt” who wasn’t nominated
Conversely, just one nomination for the supporting crew at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center — for Katherine LaNasa as charge nurse Dana Evans — is an act of voter negligence. I get it. There were a lot of interns and residents and nurses working that 15-hour shift. And just about every one of them was a more fully realized character than anyone on “The White Lotus.” Maybe voters had a hard time focusing their attention with so many choices. I’ll console myself with the knowledge that it’ll win the Screen Actors Guild drama ensemble award next year.
Sterling K. Brown received an Emmy nomination for his role in “Paradise.”
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
SURPRISE: “Paradise” (drama series)
The dystopian drama that asked the question, “Would you want to be trapped in an underground bunker with the likes of these people?” I can’t think of anything more frightening, and enough Emmy voters agreed to give the series a drama nod, plus accolades for actors Sterling K. Brown, James Marsden and Julianne Nicholson.
SNUB, Allison Janney, “The Diplomat” (drama supporting actress)
Given the mood right now, maybe it’s not a good time to be playing a vice president, even if you’re an actor owning seven Emmys.
SURPRISE: Sharon Horgan, “Bad Sisters” (drama actress)
Maybe the morning’s biggest surprise, as it’s the only nomination that the Apple TV+ series pulled in for its second season. Clearly voters weren’t in the mood to catch up with the final go-round of “The Handmaid’s Tale” (sorry, Elisabeth Moss) and went with Horgan and her stylish story of sisterhood.
SNUB: “The Four Seasons” (comedy series)
You kind of hated these wealthy, entitled boneheads, and not in ways that were intended or even fun.
SURPRISE: Colman Domingo “The Four Seasons” (comedy supporting actor)
Because even if the show is mediocre, it’s impossible to ignore Domingo in any season.
SNUB: Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face” (comedy actress)
To quote Lyonne’s human lie detector Charlie Cale, that’s “bulls—.”
Uzo Aduba received an Emmy nod for her starring role in “The Residence.”
(Bexx Francois/For The Times)
SURPRISE: Uzo Aduba, “The Residence” (comedy actress)
Is it a surprise for an actor to earn a nomination for a series that was canceled after one season? Kind of … but then again, Emmy voters love Aduba, having given her three trophies and six nominations over the years.
SNUB: Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building” (comedy actress)
Gomez earned her first Emmy acting nomination last year, but with the category trimmed to five nominees from six, something had to give. Detractors fault her flat, monotone delivery, though if you’re acting opposite Martin Short and Steve Martin, you need to find your own lane. Arguably, Gomez has. Look for that debate to continue next year when the show returns for a fifth season.
SURPRISE: Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This” (comedy actress)
Not a surprise that’s she’s nominated — everyone watched this show in one sitting. But a surprise that this is her first nomination ever. Well earned, even if I’m not convinced Adam Brody’s rabbi would throw everything away for her character.
SNUB: Kate Hudson, “Running Point” (comedy actress)
The Lakers can’t win anywhere, can they?
Bridget Everett, star of “Somebody, Somewhere,” was snubbed in this year’s Emmy nominations.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
SNUB: Bridget Everett, “Somebody Somewhere” (comedy actress)
Somebody, somewhere voted for Everett, so tender and vulnerable and utterly charming on this now-ended HBO series, one that seems destined for a long life of cult appreciation along the lines of “Enlightened,” created by (yes) Mike White.
SNUB: Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building” (comedy actor)
How do you nominate Martin Short and not Steve Martin? Big always wins over subtle. You have to wonder if voters forgot, or didn’t watch, the show’s last season — it has been a while — which had Martin carrying the plot’s emotional weight as his character grieved the loss of longtime stunt double and friend, Sazz (played by Jane Lynch).
SNUB: “The Rehearsal” (comedy series)
How could a show about airline safety produce more laugh-out-loud moments than any other comedy series this year? How could a show so funny, insightful and, yes, occasionally terrifying not be nominated for comedy series? (Also, and not completely unrelated: How could it take this long for the TSA to let us keep our shoes on?)
SNUB: Megan Stalter, “Hacks” (comedy supporting actress)
If her star turn in Lena Dunham’s “Too Much” had dropped during the voting window, Stalter might have secured her first Emmy nomination. Or maybe not. (Dunham is polarizing.) At any rate, Stalter might have two shots next year, provided “Hacks” premieres its next (and last) season in time.
Meryl Streep didn’t receive an Emmy nomination for her role in the most recent season of “Only Murders in the Building.”
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
SNUB: Meryl Streep, “Only Murders in the Building” (comedy supporting actress)
Only a “snub” because it’s Streep and she’s nominated for everything.
SURPRISE: “Black Mirror” (limited series)
It’s like it’s 2020 again, as voters went big for the Netflix anthology series, nominating it and lead Rashida Jones, who was spectacular in the episode “Common People,” a trenchant look at the corporate greed plaguing our healthcare system.
SNUB: “Disclaimer” (limited series)
What a disappointment. Alfonso Cuarón’s highly anticipated seven-chapter psychological thriller premiered at the Venice Film Festival last August, screening four episodes over two nights. It then went to Telluride, Toronto and London. It was an event … until people saw it and were left baffled. How could the filmmaker behind “Children of Men,” “Gravity” and “Y Tu Mamá También” make something so dull that few people could to finish it?
SURPRISE: Jake Gyllenhaal, “Presumed Innocent” (limited series/movie actor)
Few people thought voters would remember “Presumed Innocent,” the twisty legal thriller starring Gyllenhaal as a prosecutor accused of killing a colleague with whom he was having an affair. It’s an odd choice, made presumably because people liked the various levels of anger Gyllenhaal delivered. Exclamation-point acting!
SNUB: Renée Zellweger, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (limited series/movie actress)
When “Love Island” defines romantic comedy for a lot of people, she didn’t stand a chance.
