It’s a surprisingly solid two-to-one ratio on the good vs. bad.
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The annual tsunami of midsummer awards show jockeying crested and crashed into Hollywood earlier today as the 2019 Emmy nominations were revealed. I always have gripes with these lists, but dare I say the Television Academy got it pretty much right this year? Here’s my rundown on the ‘Woo-Hoo!’ hits and ‘WTF?!’ misses—the former outweighing the latter—of this year’s final roster of contenders as we look toward the envelopes being opened on September 22nd.
The ‘Woo-Hoo’s!’
- A big showing for the divine Fleabag and its creator/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, including her personally receiving noms for Comedy Series, Lead Actress and Writing
- A stacked Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series line-up that boasts two of the ladies from Fleabag (Oscar winner Olivia Colman and Sian Clifford), Marin Hinkle (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Sarah Goldberg (Barry)—all deserving first-time nominees for their shows
- Fiona Shaw scoring dual nominations for her Fleabag cameo and regular supporting role in Killing Eve
- Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer getting a year-delayed Best Actress nomination alongside co-star Sandra Oh, who is a double nominee herself for Guest Actress for her Saturday Night Live hosting gig (up against her other co-star, Shaw)
- Mandy Moore finally getting recognized for her consistently solid work on This Is Us
- The groundbreaking Pose breaking into Outstanding Drama Series
- Russian Doll having a major across-the-board presence for its first season
- The Good Place getting a long overdue Comedy Series nod for its best season yet
- Schitt’s Creek finally hitting the Academy’s radar with big nominations: Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actor (Eugene Levy) and Lead Actress (Catherine O’Hara)
- PEN15 co-creators/stars Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine being recognized with an Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series nomination—an especially huge feat as it represents the only show in that category to get a nod without a corresponding mention for Outstanding Comedy Series
- Broad City co-creators/stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson scoring swan song nominations for Outstanding Short-Form Comedy or Drama Series and Outstanding Actress in a Short-Form Comedy or Drama Series, respectively, for the show’s digital series off-shoot, Hack Into Broad City
- All the love for the harrowing When They See Us, especially so many nominations for the limited series’ incredible ensemble cast
- The dull and unremarkable Homecoming getting left off the top-tier roster, including star Julia Roberts
The ‘WTF’s?!’
- The lack of overall love for Dead to Me and The Kominsky Method, especially in Outstanding Comedy Series
- A bit too much recognition for overrated seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, This Is Us, Barry and Succession, as well as the not-as-consistently-great-as-it-could-have-been Fosse/Verdon
- Further to my previous point, Barry registering three Supporting Actor nominations, while the men of Veep (save for Tony Hale) and Fleabag’s ‘hot priest,’ Andrew Scott, get left out
- Richard Madden not making it into Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, while his show scores Drama Series and Writing nominations
- The group of great actresses that were left out in the cold: Christine Baranski (The Good Fight), Susan Kelechi Watson (This Is Us), Allison Janney (Mom), Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul) and the Pose ensemble
- Lack of writing nominations for two of the season’s best episodes: The Conners’ pitch-perfect series premiere dealing with the death of family matriarch Rosanne, and the epic play-like installment of The Affair that explored the lead-up to Alison’s death and served as an effective narrative pivot point for the entire series
- No love for the Deadwood cast, the final season of Catastrophe, new gem Forever or a Limited Series nod for the otherwise recognized A Very English Scandal