Even with the actual Emmy ceremonies still a few weeks away, the end of the road is quickly approaching. Final Emmy voting concludes on Wednesday, which means I’m ready to cram in three final looks at the race before the proverbial pencils are down: Today’s newsletter, tomorrow’s podcast interview with Noah Wyle, and Wednesday’s special pundits debate about the comedy race.
Still, this time of year also has me thinking back through the season — and the trends that emerged or failed to launch. In the spring, I wondered if The Testaments could overcome the Emmys spinoff trap (not really, but I’m happy for your nomination, Chase Infiniti!) and celebrated crime-adjacent comedies that largely went un-nominated. Now, we’ve got a drama race that feels mostly pre-determined and a comedy race that ought to be a nail-biter (more on that coming Wednesday).
So today, I’m making a highly subjective list of the 21 best Emmy nominations. As with last year’s list, the rule is one nomination per show, and the goal is to get a broad look at the Emmy field, which sometimes feels dominated by just three or four shows but is actually far more fun than that. Without further ado, let’s count it down!
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21. Documentary or Nonfiction Special: My Mom Jayne
Thanks to a relatively recent rule change, documentaries that once campaigned for Oscar consideration can now be eligible at the Emmys — so long as they were not nominated for an Academy Award (we love a confusing rule, don’t we, folks?). So that is how Mariska Hargitay’s passion project, which premiered at Cannes last year, now finds itself here. Not only is it a well-deserved reward for Hargitay’s tribute to her mother, Jayne Mansfield, but it makes Hargitay the rare Emmy host who is also a nominee.
20. Drama Casting: The Diplomat
As the Keri Russell-led political drama continued into its recent third season, the geopolitical stakes got more intense and the cast continued to get larger alongside it. Casting directors don’t get enough credit, period, but the team led by Julie Schubert deserves extra attention for building the ongoing world of this show, including reuniting The West Wing stars Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford in this latest season.
19. Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic): Margo’s Got Money Troubles
When I spoke to Nick Offerman a few weeks ago, he lit up with praise for the makeup team on Margo’s Got Money Troubles, who didn’t just apply his elaborate professional wrestler makeup but de-aged his real tattoos for flashback sequences. But the team, led by Erin Ayanian Monroe, is nominated for “Grudge Match,” an episode that introduces Elle Fanning’s Margo’s OnlyFans character HungryGhost as a green-skinned but appealing alien. Add all that with the more subtle work on characters like Michelle Pfeiffer’s former Hooters waitress, Shyanne, and this is a nominee with a heck of a lot of range.
18. Limited Series Supporting Actress: Joy Sunday, DTF St. Louis
The 13 nominations for HBO’s suburban noir limited series were ample proof that the Television Academy was really into DTF St. Louis — but I think Sunday’s nomination for playing the taciturn Detective Jodie Plumb is proof they were really paying attention. Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini and David Harbour have the flashy roles. But Sunday and Richard Jenkins do quieter, essential work as the detectives unraveling the central mystery — not just moving the plot along but unveiling their characters as well. Watching Sunday think through the case and actively listen to the suspects she’s interviewing was one of the great pleasures of a show that was full of surprises.
17. Limited Series Cinematography: James Laxton, Beef
As I learned firsthand when I sat down recently with Beef’s key creative team, making the second season of this anthology series meant constantly pushing and adapting the visual language — and that is nowhere more evident than in the finale “It Will Stay This Way and You Will Obey,” nominated for James Laxton’s cinematography. There are moments of sweeping romance and bone-chilling marital dispute, but also a gonzo single-take action sequence straight out of a Park Chan-wook movie — which is exactly what Laxton (the cinematographer behind Moonlight and The Underground Railroad), Beef showrunner Lee Sung Jin and episode director Jake Schreier were going for. Truly one of the most unforgettable moments of the last year of television.
16. Drama Guest Actor: Ernest Harden Jr., The Pitt
Picking a single actor among The Pitt’s 13 acting nominees feels impossible, but here’s my logic. Harden’s guest-actor nomination for playing “frequent flyer” patient Louie sums up so much of what The Pitt does best: introducing patient characters who feel like old friends by the end of an episode and hiring veteran L.A. actors for the showcase roles they’ve long deserved. Harden, whose TV credits stretch back to Good Times and The Jeffersons, made Louie a fan favorite across two seasons of The Pitt, a show that works best when every single face onscreen feels like someone you already know.
15. Variety Special (Pre-Recorded): The Muppet Show
I have no idea why we didn’t immediately get 10 more episodes of the new version of The Muppet Show the moment we saw guest host Sabrina Carpenter performing “Manchild” alongside a flock of chickens. Maybe six Emmy nominations will convince Disney to pull the trigger, or maybe we’ve just been waiting for executive producer Seth Rogen to have enough time in his schedule. But while we wait, we may as well celebrate the immaculate return of Kermit, Miss Piggy and company.
14. Short Form Comedy, Variety or Drama Series: SubwayTakes
I’ve written plenty about this breakthrough nomination for YouTube’s efforts at FYC campaigns, and the potential it represents for original short-form video — quite possibly the most dominant form of culture right now — to be properly part of a prestigious awards show. But this is a worthy nomination not just because it’s making history, but because SubwayTakes is a great interview show, and Kareem Rahma is one of the most instantly recognizable hosts of the moment — more than earning his spot alongside Stephen Colbert and Desi Lydic in this category.
13. Drama Supporting Actor: Tom Pelphrey, Task
After a memorable Emmy snub for Ozark that also happened on his birthday, Pelphrey has established himself as a reliable face of modern prestige TV, earning his second Emmy nomination this year for playing the troubled criminal Robbie on Task. The show is a Heat-style two-hander between Robbie and the FBI agent played by Mark Ruffalo, but with Ruffalo reprising his character next season and Robbie (RIP) no longer part of the story, I think this should be Pelphrey’s moment to shine.
12. Comedy Series: Abbott Elementary
Remarkably consistent and still very funny after five seasons, Abbott Elementary has been nominated in this category five years in a row and still has never won. I’m not sure that’s likely to change this year, but Quinta Brunson’s creation deserves far more credit for remaining a bright spot on television, for making the most of its stellar ensemble, and for shining a light on the people who (speaking as an elementary school parent) are holding our entire society together.
11. Period Costumes: Love Story
No, the ’90s don’t feel as far away as the settings of The Gilded Age or Bridgerton, but that can make recreating the decade’s looks an even bigger challenge: Those of us who remember the exact thickness of Calvin Klein spaghetti straps or the most popular style of sandal can immediately clock it if it’s wrong. Capturing Carolyn Bessette’s evolution from fashion publicist to highly scrutinized wife was its own highly specific fashion journey, and the team led by Rudy Mance nailed every detail, allowing Sarah Pidgeon’s magnetic lead performance to shine even brighter.
10. Comedy Supporting Actress: Megan Stalter, Hacks
With its record-breaking haul of 24 nominations for its final season, Hacks really made the most of its last opportunity for the Academy to recognize the many people who have made five excellent seasons possible. And sure, there are many deserving repeat nominees in this group, but I was especially thrilled to see the first-time recognition for Megan Stalter, who plays the over-the-top assistant Kayla. She can be a love-her-or-hate-her character, but even when Kayla and Paul W. Downs’ Jimmy got into increasingly absurd pickles across the show’s run, I was always eager to see their deranged double act at work.
9. Variety Series Directing: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
A swan song so long in the works that we were talking about it this time last year, the final episode of Colbert’s Late Show was both politically fraught and genuinely emotional — and it seemed impossible for a single episode of television to live up to that many months of hype. It took a lot of people to pull it off as beautifully as they did, but I’ll give a special shout-out to director Yvonne de Mare, who had worked as an assistant director going back to The Colbert Report and stepped into the lead director role for what turned out to be the Late Show’s final season. She was too busy directing the episode to be included in the group of staff who joined Colbert and Paul McCartney onstage, but hopefully her first-ever Emmy nomination makes up for it.
8. Drama Actress: Zendaya, Euphoria
Euphoria is not the critical favorite or Emmys juggernaut it once was, but in a year where Zendaya has been so dominant on the big screen, her return to playing troubled former addict Rue was maybe her best work of all. Her screen presence and ability to ride with Euphoria’s wild tonal swings have never been more evident, and in the season’s opening sequence she even turned into a pretty great silent comedian. It will probably be a long time before we see Zendaya on the small screen again now that she’s become a massive movie star, but this was a very good way to say goodbye.
7. Drama Series: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
I wanted more nominations for this surprisingly fleet-footed and warm-hearted return to the Game of Thrones universe, but with a second season already wrapped, I consider this nomination for outstanding drama series a placeholder for many, many more nods to come.
6. Comedy Actor: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Wonder Man
Mateen seems to know better than anyone how absurd it is that between the announcement of a second season of Wonder Man and its abrupt cancellation, he became the show’s sole Emmy nominee — presumably exactly the kind of prestige Disney and Marvel were chasing with this quirky, incredibly enjoyable spin on both Hollywood inside baseball and superhero origin story. Even if it deserved a second season, one season was all it took to showcase Mateen’s nuanced performance as an aspiring actor burdened with both self-doubt and superpowers, whose unlikely friendship with Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery could have fueled many seasons’ worth of stories if we’d only been that lucky.
5. Drama Writing: Vince Gilligan, Pluribus
Only the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul could have convinced Apple to back a show as twisty and ambitious as Pluribus — about a cynical novelist (Emmy nominee Rhea Seehorn) who is one of the handful of people on Earth immune to an alien virus that turns the rest of the world into a hive mind — much less pulled off such an incredibly satisfying first season. Gilligan is already on the Mount Rushmore of modern prestige TV, but unbelievably has never won an Emmy for writing. I suspect this is the year we finally fix that.
4. Limited Series Writing: Mike Makowsky, Death by Lightning
Everyone may have their own moment that they realized Death by Lightning was a very different type of political period piece, but mine was when Shea Whigham, playing the morally bankrupt Senator Roscoe Conkling, shouted across the floor at the Republican National Convention, “You can kiss the deputy treasury goodbye, motherfucker!” Series creator Mike Makowsky conjures titans of the past as just as venal and ridiculous as our modern-day politicians, spinning an endlessly compelling limited series from a mostly forgotten chapter of American history.
3. Drama Guest Actress: Shailene Woodley, Paradise
After boldly ending its first season on a cliffhanger as Sterling K. Brown’s Xavier escapes the underground bunker where the show is set, Paradise got even bolder by building its season two premiere around a brand-new character, Shailene Woodley’s Annie. Her story should have felt like a frustrating detour, but Woodley helped make the shift essential — both with her brief love story with Thomas Doherty’s Link and her eventual connection with Xavier, culminating in a childbirth scene that’s one of the most emotional moments of the year in television.
2. Variety Series Writing: Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Even after talking to head writer Molly McNearney earlier this year, I still don’t really understand how the team at Jimmy Kimmel Live! managed to thread an impossible needle, delivering a pitch-perfect monologue when the show returned to the airwaves after several days of politically motivated pre-emption. Telling jokes about the biggest headlines when you are the biggest headline ought to make anyone sound pompous, but Kimmel — with the help of McNearney and a staff of longtime collaborators — still comes across as a regular guy just doing his best despite being locked in a feud with the president. The show’s writers have also never won the Emmy together, in case any voters feel like changing that.
1. Comedy Directing: Hiro Murai, Widow’s Bay
Before working alongside creator Katie Dippold to shape the wonderfully strange, beautiful and sinister world of Widow’s Bay, Murai was a key creative force on Atlanta and directed episodes of standout shows including Barry, Station Eleven and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The new Directors Guild rule allowing directors to be credited for directing a show’s pilot episode on all future episodes — controversial as it may be — is absolutely designed with distinctive directors like Murai in mind. And yet, one of the key architects behind our current, auteur-driven era of television has only one Emmy, as an executive producer of The Bear. It’s not just that Widow’s Bay is among the most perfectly executed, precisely directed shows on TV this year or any year; it’s that Murai is wildly overdue to win this category, and the clearest case we have of a nominee who will win and absolutely should.
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