Hacks will compete against Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking and Widow’s Bay for best comedy series.
The contenders for best limited or anthology series are All Her Fault, The Beast in Me, Beef, DTF St. Louis and Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jnr & Carolyn Bessette.
Double nominees included Colman Domingo for Euphoria and The Four Seasons, Jason Bateman for Black Rabbit and DTF St. Louis, Matthew Rhys for Widow’s Bay and The Beast in Me, and Nick Offerman for Death by Lightning and Margo’s Got Money Troubles.
Mariska Hargitay will host the ceremony, broadcast on NBC, on September 14 at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.
“Nobody Wants This” starring Adam Brody as Noah and Kristen Bell as Joanne has lost some of its mojo. That didn’t stop the show from being nominated. Photo / Erin Simkin, Netflix
Snub: ‘Rooster’ for comedy
A messy but well-liked series about the sexual politics of campus life, Rooster was almost entirely excluded from the nominations. Steve Carell managed a nod for lead actor in a comedy. For Carell, a 12-time nominee, it could be a consolation prize. Maybe voters struggled with its depiction of academia. Or they were sick of seeing Dr Cox from Scrubs (John C. McGinley, who plays a blithe college dean here) after the mediocre reboot. Either way, a single nomination was unexpected.
Surprise: Zendaya for actress in a drama
Every time Zendaya has been nominated for her role as Rue in Euphoria, she has won. But she faced headwinds this round because of the show’s final season, which received largely negative reviews for its miserable conclusion. Still, Zendaya’s star power peeked through, landing her a third nomination for best actress in a drama series. It’s difficult to predict whether she’ll go three for three this fall, though, as she’s up against Keri Russell’s titular role in The Diplomat and Rhea Seehorn’s live-wire act for Pluribus.
Zendaya as Rue in “Euphoria”.
Surprise: Brittany Allen for guest actress in a drama
When HBO decided not to include an Emmy submission for Brittany Allen, whose performance in The Pitt as a dying mother garnered raves, she decided to take things into her own hands. After self-submitting, which a handful of other actors from The Pitt also did, Allen ran a campaign on her social media – which was shared by Emmy-winning actress Sarah Paulson. This morning, Allen found out that she was an Emmy nominee for The Pitt. “You have to fight for yourself,” she told Variety about the process. “You have to believe in your work, and you can’t expect other people to do that for you.”
Snub: Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach for ‘The Bear’
The one-time Emmys juggernaut earned plenty of love, including nods for outstanding comedy series (cue the annual category-fraud-induced eye rolls) and actors Ayo Edebiri, Jamie Lee Curtis and the late Rob Reiner. But Jeremy Allen White, a two-time winner who was nominated for each of the show’s first three seasons, missed out on a lead actor recognition. The same went for Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who earned two statuettes as a supporting actor. Just as the writing stagnated for Chef Carmy and Cousin Richie in a wheel-spinning fourth season, so did the actors’ Emmy momentum.
“The Bear” cast reunites as acclaimed kitchen drama serves its emotional finale. Photo / Getty Images
Surprise: ‘Nobody Wants This’ for comedy
Emmy voters were warm to the first season of Nobody Wants This, a rom-com about a rabbi and an agonistic woman, offering nominations for its leads (Kristen Bell and Adam Brody) and outstanding comedy series. But even as the show’s second season trailed off in quality – the Washington Post’s then-TV critic, Lili Loofbourow, said that “the way it innovates on old formulas set[s] it up for failure” – its return was rewarded with another nod for comedy series. The residual goodwill, combined with a need to find eight nominations for this category, might explain why.
Snub: ‘Stranger Things’
The first four instalments of Netflix’s sci-fi fantasy nostalgia trip earned best drama series nods, but the send-off season – which proved so polarising that it launched conspiracy theories about a secret unreleased finale – was blanked from the above-the-line categories. That meant no nods for past nominees David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown (although Harbour did get in for DTF St. Louis) or scene-swiping baddie Jamie Campbell Bower. This from the same awards body that went on autopilot and gave the maligned final season of Game of Thrones the best drama series win.
Surprise: Laurie Metcalf for ‘Hacks’
It’s hard not to love Laurie Metcalf. She’s extraordinary in Lady Bird. It’s always a pleasure to realise that it’s her when watching JFK or Bulworth, or spotting her on an old episode of Monk. Her Tony for Death of a Salesman is well-deserved. But for her return to Hacks, where she plays a tour manager, she’s barely in the episode. Talk about a reputation nomination.
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