Wasn’t okay then, still not okay now.
IT’S A WRAP, BUT…: Well, the 2018 Primetime Emmys are officially in the history books. There were some surprises (The Handmaid’s Tale and Atlanta being shut-out of on-air awards) and a few shockers (Thandie Newton?!), but let me be honest: I was really there for The Americans, and I wanted it to win big.
While I’m not turning my nose up at the upset victory for brilliant lead actor Matthew Rhys and a series-honoring writing statuette for co-showrunners Joe Weinberg and Joel Fields, the TV Academy dissing Keri Russell’s season-long acting showcase and the show itself—which ended on a pitch-perfect note—pissed my pop culture lovin’ ass right off.
Then, amid my futile hand-wringing, I realized the sting I was feeling was due to PTSD (Painfully Trifling Sendoff Disorder). Suddenly, it was Emmys 2011 all over again, when another of my all-time favorite shows, Friday Night Lights, got *literally* the same treatment from voters for its swan song season and that familiar ‘WTF?’ feeling came rushing back.
Facts were facts: The Americans had gotten Friday Night Lights’d.
THE TREND WAS IN THE TEA LEAVES: To start, let’s take a look back to set the scene and compare the Emmy fortunes of The Americans and Friday Night Lights—which you don’t have to dig too deep to find almost bizarre parallels between.
For instance, both shows failed to register with voters in the top categories until the second half of their respective runs, when the quality was high but the buzz that comes with being the hot new show on the network block that often gives a nudge into the winner’s circle had cooled.
After that late-in-the-game recognition, The Americans even had to contend with being passed over for an Outstanding Drama Series nomination for its penultimate season last year after finally making the cut for the first time in 2016. So, yes, this year could have been seen as a doubly difficult uphill battle out of the gate. I’m a hopeful optimist, but not a blind fool.
That said, I was thrilled when nominations were announced in July and, like Friday Night Lights before it, The Americans leveraged nearly universal praise for it’s final run to make the drama series shortlist. Also like its predecessor, the show was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for its finale episode. And with both shows essentially being about a marriage at their core, both members of the lead duos—Keri Russell/Matthew Rhys and Connie Britton/Kyle Chandler—once again landed nods.
Both then and now, prospects going into Emmy night were looking possible—if not probable—that the shows would ride industry affection and respect to a slate of dominating final wins.
But what ended up happening to Friday Night Lights in 2011 became a strange mirror image of The Americans this year—a pattern indicating the kind of quiet sendoff the Academy gives to beloved yet subtle, slow-burn shows.
IT’S ALL JUST A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY REPEATING: Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m pumped that these personal favorites got some semblance of proper due from the TV Academy as they signed off. But did voters really have to follow the same template on wins and losses for The Americans to drive us all (okay, maybe just me) nuts with flashbacks to seven years ago?
When the gold dust settled, both The Americans and Friday Night Lights had taken home exactly the same amount of Emmys for their last seasons, in the exact same categories, with wins for writing and lead actor while losing out on lead actress and—the ultimate trophy—Outstanding Drama Series.
I get it, I get it. Both winning for the writing of their series finales was right and just, and can be seen essentially as a pat on the back for a job well done throughout their runs. And while I fully celebrate very deserving recognition for Matthew Rhys and Kyle Chandler, how—HOW?!—do you honor one lead and not the other, who is just as central to the quality and success of the show?
Keri Russell and Connie Britton, I SEE YOU. They were robbed, and there is no excuse for either bad ass TV vet being left out in the cold with no gold. All I can say to the TV Academy is: Pfffft.
NOT THE SAME DIAGNOSIS FOR DRAGONS: So yes, folks, getting FNL’d is officially a thing now, and at best, it’s a mixed bag. But one thing is for sure: next year’s outgoing drama, Game of Thrones, will most definitely not be a victim of the same two-win Friday Night Lights/The Americans fate as it fades to black on the Iron Throne.
I guess that’s what you get when you put dragon slaying ahead of character-driven dinner table conversation. Don’t get me wrong: I like them both. I just wish that the bigger show didn’t always have to do better.