Fun (or Frightening?) Fact: this year’s Emmy ballot includes nearly 3000 performers. We’ve all known for several years now just how overwhelming television has become, but somehow it still had room to launch into another level. So for my personal wish list, I decided not to think about it too hard. I’ll just include however many or however few selections per category I’d like to. I’ve probably forgotten some worthy contenders, but I won’t stress about it too much. We’ll find out what the TV Academy thinks when the nominations are announced on July 12!
Some years, I watch a lot of limited series. Other years, not so much. This ended up being one of the lean seasons. From what I did watch, overall I appreciated the performances more than the shows.
You might notice that I have Pam & Tommy in parentheses, and that’s because while I did mostly enjoy it, I also felt torn about the whole enterprise, as it was produced against the wishes of the real Pamela Anderson. At least Lily James did her justice. Speaking of justice, more people need to pay attention to the under-the-radar Miracle Workers and its always-up-for-anything lead star.
KEY: Bold=My winner
*=I have placed this nominee in a different category than the Emmy ballot.
**=Not on the Emmy ballot
Limited or Anthology Series
The Dropout Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail
(Pam & Tommy)
Fun (or Frightening?) Fact: this year’s Emmy ballot includes nearly 3000 performers. We’ve all known for several years now just how overwhelming television has become, but somehow it still had room to launch into another level. So for my personal wish list, I decided not to think too hard. I’ll just include however many or however few selections per category I’d like to. I’ve probably forgotten some worthy contenders, but I won’t stress about that too much. We’ll find out what the TV Academy has to say when the nominations are announced on July 12!
My favorite Comedy of the season was Kyle Mooney’s singular Netflix show, Saturday Morning All Star Hits, but I can’t find it anywhere on the ballot! Not in Comedy, nor in Animation. Oh, well.
Anyway, there are a few other newbies that I’d really love to see all over the ballot, like Abbott Elementary, Girls5eva, Only Murders in the Building, and The Sex Lives of College Girls.
And one important note: Kevin Can F*** Himself is in the Drama field on the ballot, correctly. But I’ve got Eric Petersen (as the titular stereotypical thoughtless sitcom husband) down for Comedy, as the scenes with him function best as parody.
KEY: Bold=My winner *=I have placed this nominee in a different category than the Emmy ballot.
**=Not on the Emmy ballot
Comedy Series
Abbott Elementary
The Afterparty
Barry
Dickinson
Girls5eva
Only Murders in the Building
Resident Alien Saturday Morning All Star Hits**
Search Party
The Sex Lives of College Girls
What We Do in the Shadows
Young Sheldon
On September 19, 2021, at 8:00 PM Eastern, Jeff was … at a wedding. And Aunt Beth was … watching something that wasn’t the Emmys.
Then later they watched the Emmys. And made a podcast about it.
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Blue Bayou (Theaters)
–Cry Macho (Theaters and HBO Max) – MACHOOOOOOOOOO!
–The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Theaters)
–The Nowhere Inn (Theaters and On Demand) – Carrie Brownstein and Annie Clark (St. Vincent) team up on screen.
TV
–Sex Education Season 3 (September 17 on Netflix)
-Creative Arts Emmy Awards (September 18 on FXX)
-73rd Primetime Emmy Awards (September 19 on CBS)
–Teenage Euthanasia Series Premiere (September 19 on Adult Swim) – Animated at a funeral home.
–Alter Ego Series Premiere (September 22 on FOX) – The “world’s first avatar singing competition.”
–The Conners Season 4 Premiere (September 22 on ABC) – Another live episode.
–Dear White People Season 4 (September 22 on Netflix)
–The Goldbergs Season 9 Premiere (September 22 on ABC)
–Home Economics Season 2 Premiere (September 22 on ABC)
–The Masked Singer Season 6 Premier (September 22 on FOX)
–Star Wars: Visions (September 22 on Disney+) – Anime-style.
–The Wonder Years Reboot Series Premiere (September 22 on ABC) – Don Cheadle takes over narrating duties from Daniel Stern.
Music
-Lil Nas X, Montero
-Lindsey Buckingham, Lindsey Buckingham
You may have noticed that there’s a lot of TV on TV these days. I sure have! And so has the TV Academy, as they’ve nominated a bunch of those aforementioned shows for the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards. My predictions and preferences for the major categories are listed below. We’ll find out what happens together on the evening of September 19 on CBS!
Musings on a July afternoon about some nominations. (The 2021 Emmys will air on CBS on September 19, 2021. [Jeff accidentally said September 9 while recording.])
It’s that time again! The 2021 Emmy nominations will be announced on July 13, which means I’ve got a Wish List for the nommy noms I’d most like to see! In case you’re wondering, I haven’t held myself to any minimum or maximum number of entrants per category, nor do I strictly adhere to official Emmy rules. (I’ve included explanations for my deviations.) And of course, I must mention that I haven’t seen everything, so there are probably some worthy considerations I may have missed. Finally, on Day 4, we wrap things up with Variety and Reality.
Did you know that there’s a talk show hosted by an alien puppet on Disney+? If you didn’t before, you do now. And you’re going to want to watch all of it as soon as possible before you die. It’s called Earth to Ned, and it’s hilarious and boasts a lineup of fantastic guests. It’s got vibes of Jiminy Glick, but it’s much more kind-hearted. It’s a celebration of talk shows as an art form and general phenomenon, and that’s why I believe that it should win the Emmy for Variety Talk Series.
Variety Sketch Series is where the oddballs that don’t slot easily into any other category end up, and thus that’s where the inimitable How to with John Wilson deserves our love.
And as for Reality, my enthusiasm is much the same as it was last year, when I was demanding praise for the first season of mini-golf extravaganza Holey Moley while the second season was airing. And now this year, I’m demanding praise for Season 2 while we’re in the midst of Season 3.
KEY: Bold=My winner
Variety Talk Series
Conan Earth to Ned Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
WILMORE
It’s that time again! The 2021 Emmy nominations will be announced on July 13, which means I’ve got a Wish List for the nommy noms I’d most like to see! In case you’re wondering, I haven’t held myself to any minimum or maximum number of entrants per category, nor do I strictly adhere to official Emmy rules. (I’ve included explanations for my deviations.) And of course, I must mention that I haven’t seen everything, so there are probably some worthy considerations I may have missed. For Day 3, Limited Series are on the docket.
Some years, I watch plenty of Limited Series (or “miniseries,” in the now-archaic parlance), and I have an abundance of requests on my Wish List. Last year was one of those years. This year, however, was very much not one of those years. Apparently, I watched two Limited Series in their entirety in the past 12 months (or at least, only two really worthwhile Limited Series). Luckily, those two shows are both richly deserving. One is among my favorite shows of 2021 thus far, while the other acquitted itself quite handsomely on my Best of 2020 coverage.
Elsewhere, Jessie Buckley manages to be my lone entrant from a different show.
KEY: Bold=My winner *=I have placed this nominee in a different category than the Emmy ballot.
Limited or Anthology Series
The Good Lord Bird WandaVision
It’s that time again! The 2021 Emmy nominations will be announced on July 13, which means I’ve got a Wish List for the nommy noms I’d most like to see! In case you’re wondering, I haven’t held myself to any minimum or maximum number of entrants per category, nor do I strictly adhere to official Emmy rules. (I’ve included explanations for my deviations.) And of course, I must mention that I haven’t seen everything, so there are probably some worthy considerations I may have missed. Today, it’s Drama’s turn.
My Drama Wish List this year is a tale of two shows whose two most recent seasons were nearly two years apart. But weirdly enough, they were both eligible last year, and they’re both once again eligible this year. One is resurgent, while the other is just as excellent as ever. I’m of course talking about The Handmaid’s Tale and Pose. The former was nowhere to be seen on my 2020 Wish List, while the latter was one of my favorites last time and is even more so this time, as it’s my top choice in Drama Series and ALL the main acting categories. (It’s also striking up plenty of heat in the Guest fields.)
I’d also like to send some love to Disney+’s winning basketball series Big Shot. Who knew that John Stamos coaching high school girls would be the cure for what ails us?! The more you know…
KEY: Bold=My winner
Drama Series
Big Shot
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Mandalorian Pose
It’s that time again! The 2021 Emmy nominations will be announced on July 13, which means I’ve got a Wish List for the nommy noms I’d most like to see! In case you’re wondering, I haven’t held myself to any minimum or maximum number of entrants per category, nor do I strictly adhere to official Emmy rules. (I’ve included explanations for my deviations.) And of course, I must mention that I haven’t seen everything, so there are probably some worthy considerations I may have missed. First up: Comedy and Animation.
Almost every single one of my Comedy Series preferences from last year is not eligible this year, whether because of series finales or longer-than-average breaks in between successive seasons. Luckily we have a plethora of streaming services to fill the gaps, and plenty of them are represented here. We’ve got Hulu! We’ve got Peacock! We’ve got Apple TV+! We’ve even got that dang HBO Max. There’s also some room for basic cable in the form of Syfy’s Resident Alien. And it looks like for the first time since I’ve been making Emmy Wish Lists, there is no broadcast network series making my cut (although one of my choices began as an NBC show and another is a reboot of an NBC show).
In the acting categories, it’s an absolute embarrassment of riches in the Lead Actress category, with every one of the ladies I’ve selected giving the performances they were born to play. That’s also true of Alan Tudyk, who’s my easy winner in the Lead Actor field. (He’s an alien … pretending to be a human! Can you imagine?!) Over in Supporting, it’s a mix of newbies and usual suspects, with plenty of sitcoms really making full use of their deep ensembles these days.
KEY: Bold=My winner *=I have placed this nominee in a different category than the Emmy ballot.
Comedy Series A.P. Bio
Dickinson
Pen15
Resident Alien
Saved by the Bell Search Party
Jmunney's Blog 